You notice the Apostle says,
verse 3, I delivered unto you first of all that which I also
received, how this Christ died for our sins according to the
Scriptures. Now I want to ask the question,
what is your gospel? All of us have a gospel that
we believe. But if our gospel that we believe
and the gospel that we have and the gospel we put our hope and
trust in and find to be our salvation, it has to be according to the
scriptures. That's the first thing. It has to be according
to what God says. It can't be according to what
man says. And Paul talked about his gospel. He said, you know, God judges
secrets of men's hearts according to my gospel. And he said, you know that the
gospel that I received, I didn't receive it of men. Even the Lord
himself taught me the gospel, brought me the gospel. And I know this, that if you
preach works, there's no offense in works. But the offense is
in the gospel. When you preach the gospel and
preach grace, it takes away all hope in a man for himself. But why did Paul call it his
gospel? Because first of all, God taught
it to him. Secondly, it was the gospel that
he received. Thirdly, it was his gospel because
it was the gospel that he placed his whole hope and salvation
in. He said, according to my gospel.
You and I know that all preachers in churches are not preaching
the same gospel. They're not doing it. They're
not preaching the same gospel. According to what I hear today
and what you hear today, there are many gospels. Many gospels. One of Shirley's sons went to
a church and he'd been raised in Don Fortner's and he went
to a service with a young lady and when he got there he said,
I didn't have any idea. He said, I was so uncomfortable.
Everything they said was contrary to what I'd heard all my life.
He said, I was shocked that anything like that would go on. And he's
not even a believer. And he just was because of what
he had heard all of his life. He said, I didn't know anything
like this even existed. Didn't even exist. But there's
many Gospels. many gospels some seek salvation
in their family ties family ties parents who are in the church
you know I want I gotta go where my mom and daddy goes and when
mom and daddy leaves I'll leave too and I tell you what and there's
people who have their infants sprinkled catechize them confirm
them and call it salvation I was talking to Bruce Crabtree the
other day, and a young woman, God had saved her, and her husband
is a Presbyterian, and Ed Dunn sprinkled one of their babies.
And she talked to her husband, she said, oh, I just couldn't
bear that. I just can't bear it. We can't
do that anymore. We just can't do that. And he
said, honey, I understand. We won't sprinkle no more babies.
We won't sprinkle no more babies. So they were going to move to
somewhere where the gospel was preached. They were going to
move somewhere where the gospel was preached. One time we was
in a meeting up in Louisville, Kentucky. And a woman brought
out all the kids where she had catechized the kids. She had
catechism class. She brought out all the kids
and all the kids told what they had been catechized with. And
how all that they had learned that day. You know, they just
rattled it off. And I got up to preach and I
said, you know, I said, you know, it's one thing to catechize these
kids. But I said, you know, it's another
thing for God to save them, for God to teach them. I said, you
can teach them a catechism, but only God can teach them Christ.
And that woman, it troubled her so much, God saved her, and she
started teaching those kids the gospel instead of the catechism. I can remember that just so well. But then you know there are some
who seek salvation like I said in family ties. Some seek salvation
in church membership. If I can just join the church,
if they'll just let me in the church. I know and that's what
everybody says, you need to go to church. Why don't you tell
people they need to go hear the gospel. Instead of needing to
go to church, tell them they need to come hear the gospel.
They need to come hear about Christ. They need to come and
hear the gospel. Not just go to church. Going
to church, anybody can do that. But boy, somebody to come and
hear the gospel. And I tell you what, people say
all the time, I'm going to go to church one of these days.
And they think by getting into church that that's going to make
them okay. But oh no, if you're not in Christ, church membership
won't do you a thing. If you're not in Christ's church,
the church that he purchased with his own blood, it won't
do anybody any good. And then some seek salvation
in the ordinances. It's one of them gospels, you
know, where they say, you know, that in the Lord's table and
in baptism, they call them sacraments. Now why do they call them sacraments?
Because if you take the Lord's table, grace comes through that.
And if you take baptism, God gives you grace in the baptism.
But the scripture is God's got to give you grace before you're
able to take the Lord's table. And He's got to give you grace
before you even want to be baptized. There's no grace. The only place
grace comes from is from Christ. It's from God. It ain't coming
from no place else. Is that not right? And some seek
salvation in what they call morality. Morality. Like that rich young
ruler. What good thing must I do to
inherit eternal life? They don't even ask that. Oh,
listen, you try to witness to them. Oh, don't worry about me.
I'll be in heaven. I've been a good man all my life.
Been a good husband. I've been a good son. I've been
a good daughter. I've been good all my life. I'll
be, and if anybody makes it, I will. Yeah, okay. And then there's people, and
I've met so many like this right here. They seek salvation in
a decision. They made a decision when they're
7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 years old. They made a decision for Christ.
They come to the front. The preacher told them it's okay. And they just keep going back
to that decision they made. Back to that decision they made. Well, and then some seek it in
doctrine. I know some men that seek it
in doctrine. If they get their doctrine right,
they think they're okay. But I want to tell you clearly,
clearly and plainly, if I can. Salvation is not in the doctrine. Salvation is in Christ. Some
men think if I could cross all my T's and dot all my I's, I'll
be okay. You know how you can tell that
somebody is just trusting in doctrine? It's because they generally
deal with one issue all the time. Generally deal with just one
issue. And they make that one issue, you know, like imputed
righteousness. Just deal with that all the time. You know, justification at the
cross. I know men that just deal with that all the time. That's
all they ever preach. It's not who justifies them,
it's justification at the cross. Christ is the one that justifies
us. So I hope you understand what
I'm saying. And then the scriptures tells us that there is a way
that seems right unto man. But you know what the end of
it is? Death. Death. You know, look at, keep
1 Corinthians and I want you to look over here in Isaiah 55.
Look what God says to us. In Isaiah 55, listen to what Brad told me that him and Pam
listened to a message of Brother Henry on these two verses the
other day. Look what God said here in verse 8. Isaiah 55, 8. For my thoughts are not your
thoughts. Neither are my ways your ways, neither are your ways
my ways, saith the Lord. Boy, that'd shock some people,
wouldn't it? You know, like my dad said, but don't worry about
me, D.B. Me and Jesus got this thing worked out. We done negotiated
this. My ways are not your ways. My thoughts are not your thoughts.
For as the heavens is higher than the earth, That my ways
are higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. In fact, I'll tell you something
about God. He never thought. He's never
had a thought. God's never had a thought. God's
never had an idea. He always has been, always will
be, and He ain't never ever had a thought. Wonder what God thinks. He don't. He don't need to. When you know everything, you
don't have to think. When you can declare the end from the
beginning, and said, I'll do all my own pleasure, said, when
he works all things out to the counsel of his own will, who
did he ever ask and said, oh listen, I want to do this. What
do you think about it? We can't even, our minds cannot
comprehend God. And according to the word of
God, there is but one gospel. Is that not right? One gospel. One gospel. Paul said, if I come
and preach another gospel, or an angel from heaven comes and
preaches another gospel, then that I have already preached
to you, let him be accursed. Because I tell you what, there
ain't but one gospel. And I want to talk about that gospel today.
And I want you to look with me in another place. In Romans chapter
1. Look in Romans chapter 1. You know he said if an angel
comes and preaches another gospel. Because there ain't but one gospel
no matter what anybody says about it. There ain't but one gospel. And it has to first of all be
according to the scriptures. Look what he said here. Paul,
a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated.
Here's what it is. It's the gospel of God. That's
the first thing. It's the gospel of God. And then
he said, which he had promised afore by his prophets in the
Holy Scriptures. There we are again by the Scriptures.
And it's the ancient gospel. He had promised this in the beginning. Genesis 3.15, he promised the
gospel. And then listen here, what it
says, and it concerns His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who was
made of the seed of David according to the flesh, but was God according
to the Spirit. And I tell you what, Son of God,
Son of David. So my question is to you and
then is to myself, what is our gospel? What do we actually believe? Is my gospel the gospel of God?
Is my gospel the one saving gospel? Let me give you some things about
the gospel that I understand clearly and I believe you do.
First of all, the gospel. My gospel and your gospel, if
you have the same gospel, exalts a sovereign God. That's the first
thing about it. It puts God higher than anybody
else. Puts man way put man down far
enough. There's no way in the world we
can put man down far enough. Only God can put him down. But
I know one thing that God is sovereign and rules in heaven
and earth and all the sea and all deep places. The gospel exalts
the sovereign God. And you know where it exalts
Him at? In creation. People talk about evolution.
And I've seen an article yesterday, if you want to live 33 years
longer, you do what this scientist said, and you can live 33 years
longer. Do you know if I live 33 more
years, I'll be over 100? No, no, I'll be... Well, I'll be old. I don't want
to listen. I don't know why I say things
like that. I don't mean to. My brain don't
work just like it used to. But he's sovereign, I say he's
sovereign in creation. The scripture says the earth
is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. This earth belongs to
him. It don't belong to scientists. It don't belong to the climate
changers. It don't belong to anybody but the Lord. And you
know how long men have been taking gold out of the earth? And they're
still taking gold out of the earth. You know how long they've
been taking silver out of the earth? They're still taking silver
out of the earth. You know how many shrimp they've taken out
of the ocean? They're still taking shrimp out of the ocean. Huh? You know how many diamonds they've
been taking out of the earth for centuries and millennia and
they're still taking diamonds out of the earth. You know why?
Because the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof is His
too. And I tell you what, He's sovereign in providence. What
providence means is that God is just carrying on His work
in this world. That's all it means, that God's
governing the world right now. The world's not, it looks like
it's in chaos, but it's exactly going on according to what God
willed before the world ever began. Everything that'll happen
today will happen because God willed it before the world ever
began. Is that not right? You know,
I tell you how God governs in Providence. He said, see that
sparrow up there? He said, I watch everything in
this world so closely that that sparrow ain't gonna fall to the
ground without my will. I got, I feed the birds, I got
three bird feeders and the birds all over the place. And them
little old birds, you know, every one of them that hits the ground,
God said, that's where I want him to be. Right there. Ain't that something? And he said, listen, you know,
I'll tell you, I govern things so well and I care so much for
you, I remember the hairs of your head. That's how much I
care for you. And I tell you, I care so much
for you if somebody offends you, somebody hurts you, somebody
mistreats you, it'd be better for him to have a millstone put
around his neck and throw down in the depths of the ocean. That's
how much I care for you. He said, you're the apple of
my eye. I've loved you with an everlasting love. And I'm going
to watch over you and keep you and order everything in your
life exactly the way it ought to be. Get up every day and say, Lord,
I thank you that it's your day. Today is the Lord's day. Listen,
every day is the Lord's day. And then He's sovereign in salvation.
This is what I love. God said, I will be merciful
to whom I will be merciful. I'll have compassion on whom
I'll have compassion. Ain't you grateful that he had
mercy on you? Oh my! He said, I will be merciful
to whom I'll be merciful. And he looked at some of his
people and said, I'm going to be merciful to that one. I'm
going to be merciful to that one. I'm going to be merciful
to that one. And I'm not going to be merciful to that one. I'm
not going to be merciful to that one. I'm going to have compassion
on this one and compassion on that one. And I'm not going to
have compassion on somebody else. I'm going to love Jacob, but
I tell you one thing I'm going to do, I'm going to hate Esau. Oh my! The scriptures tells us,
beloved, They said, David, where's your
God? He said, my God's in the heavens and He's doing whatever
He pleases. Huh? Oh, listen, I'll tell you
what. God is ruling this world. God's controlling this world.
And I'm thankful that He is. Like that song said, one of these
days... He had that in that hymn this morning. You know, one of
these days He's gonna make this body anew. This body's not meant
to live here forever. This body's not meant to go on
forever. And ain't you glad that God has
ordered your life for you? Ain't you glad that God sits
on the throne and not man? Ain't you glad that God's will's
done, not man's will? Man can get up and shake both
of his fists in God's face and say this is what I'm going to
do and God said you know what you're going to do? You're going
to do just what I want you to do and what I will for you to
do. When they crucified Christ, you know why they done it? Because
God determined before that Christ should be crucified and everybody
that would be involved in it, He ordered everybody to be just
exactly where they're supposed to be doing what they're supposed
to be doing. Is that not right? Oh, I'm telling you, I'm grateful. I am so grateful. I'll tell you
what, you know when I said He does whatsoever He pleases, let
me tell you some things it pleased Him to do. He said it pleased
God to make you His people. It pleased God that in His Son,
the Lord Jesus Christ, all fullness should dwell. I tell you something,
it pleased God to bruise him and make his soul an offering
for sin. Paul said, it pleased God to
reveal his son in me. And it pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. Huh? Oh, the gospel. It recognizes and acknowledges
a sovereign God. It ain't no good news to talk
about free will. Ain't no good news to talking
about God just, you know, here's the thing. Men will let God reign
in heaven. He can be sovereign as long as
He stays up there. But when He comes down here and
starts interfering in your life and sends something your way
you don't like, well now listen, He's getting out of hand here.
He's getting out of control here. We've got to put Him back where
He belongs. Put Him back in heaven and let us alone down here. But
that's not the way life works. That's why God said my thoughts
are not your thoughts and my ways are not your ways. Tell you something else the gospel
recognizes. It recognizes a total and complete
fall. Now why in the world are we talking
about a total and complete fall? And why is it called a fall?
I'll tell you why it's called a fall. Because here God made
Adam. God made Adam. God made man upright. God made him holy. He had a righteousness
of his own. But yet he was still under authority
to the one who created him. And God entered into a covenant
of works with him. And he said, Adam, this is what
you got to do. You tend this garden, you keep
this garden, you take care of this garden. But there's one
thing over there that you're not going to touch. One thing
over there, don't do it. Do not do it. Well, Satan come
along and said, God don't care. God's not just. God's telling
a lie. God don't want you to, He don't
want you, He wants you to have some glory and He's trying to
keep it to Himself. So that tree of good and evil,
that tree over there, he took that fruit. And what happened right then
and there? Man says that, preachers say that man started at the bottom
and has been working his way up. God said man started at the
top and fell all the way to the bottom. One minute he's having communion
with God, the next, He can't stand to be in God's presence.
One day he was standing naked and didn't know it. The next
minute he said, I'm naked. One minute he wasn't afraid of
God and the next minute he said, I'm afraid. What happened? He's way up there and he fell
all the way to the bottom. Just like this right here. As
long as I got that in my hand, it'll stay right there. I can
lay it down, it will stay right there. And that's the way God
was with Adam. As long as he was trusting God,
when he didn't, it fell just that far. And made that much
damage. Is that not right? And that's
the way we are right now. If God let's us go, you know
what we would do? Just like that book. We'd fall
right, boom, down we go. And I tell you what, God made
man upright, but he sought out many inventions. Many and many
inventions. You know, I want you to look
at Psalm 14 with me. Look at Psalm 14. I was reading
something on this the other day. And the preacher that I was reading
after, He says that this psalm here,
and he was commenting on this psalm. He says, the fool has
said in his heart, there is no God. And what this man said was,
if you look at it, and of course he knows Hebrew and all that.
He says, the fool has said, I hope there isn't a God. And that's
what he's saying here. The fool has said in his heart,
no God. No God. Leave the there is out.
No God. Why do they say no God? They're
corrupt. You see he said it in his heart.
He didn't want to say it out loud. He didn't want anybody
to know that. They are corrupt. They've done abominable works.
There's none that doeth good. And listen to this. Talking about
fall and talking about sinful. The Lord looked down from heaven
upon the children of men to see if there were any that did understand
and seek God. And you know what he found out?
All are gone aside. They all are filthy. There's none that doeth good.
No, not one. Oh my goodness. God said He looked
down and didn't find one person. Not one. Not one. You know man
at his best state. Best state is vanity. Vanity. And I got another scripture I
want you to look at with me. John chapter 5. I want you to
look at this with me. You know, How did men get in the shape
they're in? How did men become so sinful? How did men become so nasty?
How did men become so wicked? How did men become so sinful?
How did men's imaginations get so far-fetched? How did it happen? By one man. Disobedience to God. By one man, sin entered into
this world. By one man's sin, death entered
upon all of us. By one man. And the other side
of that is, by one man was obedience wrought. By one man, righteousness
came. By one man, death came. By one
man, life came. But look what he said here in
John 5.40. This is what our Master said. People want to go on about
their will, but listen to what it says here. and you will not
come to me that you might have life and listen to what he says
now I receive not honor from men Men ain't got sense enough
to know who I am and honor me the way I need to be honored
and glorified. But I know you, I know you, that
you have not the love of God in you. God's love's not in you.
I'm coming in my Father's name and you don't receive me. You
don't believe anything I got to say. If another shall come
in his own name, I'm Dr. So-and-so. I'm Dr. Sound and Brass. I'm the physician
that will make you well. If you think I can't hear you,
come up here with your crutches and I'll put my hands on you
and down you go. We were talking about Oral Roberts
the other day. Any of y'all remember Oral Roberts?
You know he used to start out in a big tent meeting and he
had people just flock to him and he'd heal all these people.
He was a faith healer and I mean he was a big shot. Well he decided
he wanted to build a hospital. He wanted to quit healing people
and build a great big hospital. So he built him a big old hospital.
And he said how come they noticed you were going to build that
hospital? He saw a 900 foot Jesus that told him what to do. You
know what I thought when he said that, and I'll tell you what
I told her. I said, he's too small. He's too small. You know our Lord Jesus Christ
inhabits eternity. He was before he was, and he is as he
is, and he always will be what he is. There was a time it wasn't
never will be a time when it won't be Then look what he goes on to
say in verse 44 men come in his own name How can you believe? How can you believe which receive
honor one of another? brag on one another honor one
another and seek not the honor that comes from God only and
Oh my! Man seeks his own honor, but
he ain't looking for what God can do for him. What God can
do for him, huh? And okay, so listen, the gospel
exalts the sovereign God, recognizes total and complete and utter
and absolute thought. Man wasn't wounded in the garden.
He don't need some help. He needs life. He don't need
a shove in the right direction. He needs to be raised from the
dead. He didn't get just wounded and he's hobbling around here.
No, he can't even walk. He can't walk in the ways of
God. He can't walk in the way of the scriptures. He can't do
it. He don't have no ability. He lost ability to walk, talk,
and do anything in the sight of God without life from God
himself. I'll tell you the third thing
about the gospel. The third thing about the gospel. The gospel is based on a covenant
of grace. A covenant of grace. You know
how many times the word covenant appears in the Bible? 250 times. So evidently covenant
is pretty important. God mentions it 250 times. Huh? The first covenant was with
Adam. Adam blew that covenant. Destroyed
that covenant that God made with him. And then God made a covenant
with Noah. And you know what that covenant
with Noah was? He said, every time you see a rainbow in the
cloud, he said, I'm going to tell you, there's not going to
be a flood anymore that's going to destroy the earth. So of course,
when Noah got out of that ark, he said, oh my goodness, what
if it starts raining? Every time it started raining,
he'd think, oh, what am I going to do? How am I going to get
back in the ark? No, no. You know, God said, Noah,
I'm going to tell you, when he got out, he said, I'm going to
put a bow in the clouds. And said, every time you see
that bow, God made a covenant with you. I'll never cause it
to rain on you. And you'll be drowned ever again.
That'll never happen again. And then he made a covenant with
Abraham. He said, Abraham in thy seed. What seed is that? The Lord Jesus Christ. He said,
in thy seed shall all nations of the earth be blessed. Shall
all nations of the earth. And then he made one with David.
Look at 2 Samuel 23. We made one with David. Talking
about the covenant of grace. 2 Samuel 23. Everybody knows what this is. You know, in this covenant of grace, Let
me mention this about the covenant of grace. The covenant of grace
and the covenant was between the Father and the Son. And it concerned us only as we
were in Christ. But look what he said here now.
David said, now these be the last words of David. Boy, when
you hear the last words of a man, you pay attention to what the
last thing he says. And then he said in verse 2,
the Spirit of the Lord spake by me and his word was in my
tongue. And then look what he said in verse 5. Although my
house, my children, people in my house, be not so with God,
yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant. Listen to this now.
Ordered. God ordered this covenant. He
said, I've got a covenant. He ordered a covenant. And he
ordered all things about it. And it's sure, this covenant
is sure. This is all my salvation. And
this is all I desire. is to know Him. Oh, an everlasting
covenant. Our Lord Jesus, when He prayed,
He said, Father, Thou has given me all power over all flesh. Why? That I should give eternal
life to many as Thou has given me. He said, Father, I pray not
for the world, I pray for them that You gave me out of the world.
And he says, Father, I will, that thou hast given me, be with
me where I am, that they may behold my glory. He's talking about a people that
is His, given to Him. What were they given to Him?
In a covenant of grace before the world ever began. God gave
us grace in Christ before the world ever began. I've told you
this time and time again. One verse of scripture that God
used to just unlock the Bible to me. Just like that. 2 Timothy
1.9 God. That's the first word. The gospel
starts with God. Like I did today. God. Sovereign
God. Eternal God. Almighty God. Immutable God. All wise God. All powerful God. God. Everything starts with God. Who
has from the beginning. Who saved us. Who saved us. God. Who saved us. Called us. When did He save us? And then
He called us. with a holy calling. Only a holy
God can give a holy calling. He said not according to our
works. Our works ain't got nothing to do with it before, during,
or after. Not according to our works, but
according to His own grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus,
when? Before the world began. That's
a long time ago. Oh, Mephibosheth! David and Jonathan entered into
a covenant. He says, now when I died, David,
he said, show mercy to my house. He said, is there any yet left
of the house of Saul that I can show mercy to? He said, there's
just one. His name Mephibosheth. But he's
lame on both of his feet. He can't get to you. He said,
I tell you what, go fetch him. And after he fetched him, he
said, listen, you sit at my table and you eat at my fare and I'm
going to take care of you the rest of the day of your life.
And we sit at the king's table. He sets the table for us. You
know what? He sits right in the middle of it. I'm going to tell
you what he sets right in the middle of the table. He sets
grace right in the middle of the table. Huh? That's the first thing he sets
for us, grace. I am what I am by the grace of God. Huh? When he's going to set the table
for us, the first thing he puts in the middle of the table, grace.
And everything flows out of that grace. And where did that grace
come from? It comes from the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, listen. Our gospel is based on a covenant
of grace. And oh, thank God for a covenant
of grace. And let me tell you something
else. The gospel, the gospel declares and recognizes and knows
and incarnate God. And incarnate God. What do I
mean by that? That God came down to this world. God who inhabits eternity. God
who is spirit. Don't have eyes, don't have ears,
don't have anything. God said, I'm going to make myself
known to man. Well, how are you going to do
it? I tell you what I'll do. A virgin shall conceive and bear
a son. You know what you're going to
call him? Emmanuel. What does that mean? God's with us. That's
what it means. God's with us. Huh? Unto us a
son is given. Unto us a child is born. What
are we going to call him? Wonderful? Oh, he's wonderful. It's full of wonder. Oh, He's
full of wonder. Oh, it's a wonder that He'd even
consider us. It's a wonder that He'd save
a sinner. It's a wonder that His blood
would be shed to save sinners like us. Oh, He's wonderful.
He's the mighty God. And He's the Everlasting Father.
How can He be the Son and the Prince of Peace and the Everlasting
Father? He's all things. Huh? He can be the Father and
the Son. Listen, our Lord Jesus said in
John chapter 3, He said, I'm here and I'm there at the same
time. I'm here but yet I'm there with
my Father. Now how can He be in both places? He's God! Huh? I've told you this before. Our
Lord Jesus Christ, as a man, he would get tired and he would
sleep. And he was asleep one night on
a ship and a great big storm rose up. Big old waves was roaring. And those fellas had been on
the ship. That's all they'd ever done, be on ships and fish. And there the Lord was laying
asleep. They went down there and woke him up and said, Master,
Master! Don't you care that we're going
to perish? What a question to ask Christ.
Our Lord just got up, walked out there, looked at that storm,
and He said, Peace, be still. Now God don't sleep. He don't
slumber either. But man does. But man don't tell
the wind to be still. and the ocean to become calm.
Only God can do that. Oh, what an, oh, He's God. Oh, God. And I tell you, an incarnate
God, God manifest in the flesh. Thou shalt call His name Jesus.
Why? Because He's going to save His
people from their sin. It says, shall save him, but
that means he's going to do it. He's going to do it. And our
Lord Jesus Christ, you know, Philip said, show us the Father
and that will satisfy us. He said, if you've been such
a long time with me, Philip, and you've not seen me, he that's
seen me hath seen the Father. He that's seen me hath seen the
Father. Let me tell you something he does for us. Let me show you
over in Isaiah 36. Let's look at Ezekiel 36. This
is what an incarnate God does for us. He does something for us
that nothing else can do. He said, 1st and verse 24, I'm
going to take you out from among the heathen, gather you out of all countries,
and bring you into your own land, and what a land he's going to
bring us to. Then I'm going to sprinkle clean
water on you, and you're going to be clean. And look what else
he said. You know, you've got an old sorry
spirit in you. He said, I'm going to put a new
spirit in you. Oh, we've got to have a new spirit. And then
you know what? You've got an old stony, stony
heart. I'm going to take away that stony heart out of your
flesh. And you know what I'm going to
do? I'm going to give you a heart that can be touched. I'm going to give
you a heart that can be touched. Huh? And then I'm going to put
my spirit in you. And then you know what I'm going
to do? I'm going to cause you. I'm going to cause you. He didn't
say, I want you to, I hope you do, I'd like for you to. He said,
I'm going to cause you. To walk in my statutes walk in
my word And you gonna keep my judgments. That's what I'm trying
to do this morning. Keep this just but this is the
judgments He's made the things that he said about himself You
know, and so we have an incarnate God And I'll tell you let me
tell you this It's my last point in the gospel
The Gospels, the Declaration, that's what it is. You know,
I said, I won't share the Gospel with you. God don't say I won't
share. You know, people use that, I
understand that. But the Gospels, the Declaration. He said, I declare
unto you that which I also received. The Gospels, the Declaration.
We're not here to debate, we're not here to talk, we're not here
to reason things out. We declare an effectual salvation. An effectual salvation for all
his elect. Did you notice how I said that?
Not just an effectual salvation, but an effectual salvation for
all his elect. You know what our Lord said,
I'll lay down my life for who? The sheep. He said, you know, said, if you
be the Christ, tell us plainly. He said, I told you and you don't
believe. Why don't you believe? Because you're not my sheep.
My sheep hear my voice. Huh? It's an effectual salvation. Oh, listen, I'm the good shepherd
that lays down his life for his sheep. Nobody takes it from me.
I've got the power to lay it down. I've got the power to take
it up again. And I tell you this, you know it's such an effective
salvation that God made Christ to be sin, who knew no sin, that
He could turn around and make us to be the righteousness of
God in Christ. It's Christ who bore our sin.
Oh my, in whom we have redemption through His blood. You know,
I started preaching on this a couple
of weeks ago, maybe I will soon. But you got two illustrations,
so many illustrations in the scriptures about what we call
an effectual salvation or effectual call. Zacchaeus was a man of
a little stature. I'll tell you a little story
that Spurgeon told one time. He used to have preachers, you
know, out of his preacher school. They'd all get up. Henry used
to do that in his preacher's classes. The preachers would
get up and preach after they'd been to the class for a while.
And then he would judge them on their preaching. He'd tell
them what they said, what they'd done, how they'd done it, and
all that, you know. Well, this little fella, Spurgeon asked
him to get up and preach. And he said, well, I'm like Zacchaeus. I'm a man of little stature.
And I'm like Zacchaeus, I'm up a tree. And I'm like Zacchaeus,
I'm going to get down and make haste and get up. I feel like doing that every
once in a while myself. Mr. Spurgeon told that. But I
tell you, this is, we talk about an effectual salvation. Zacchaeus
was a man of a little stature. He climbed up a sycamore tree,
climbed up a tree. to see Christ he wanted to see
Christ and you know there's no telling how many kids was up
in those trees all the boys and all them boys you know they climbed
up in the tree too because they had little boys so that tree
was probably plump full of people but I Lord Jesus walked by and
he stopped and looked up why would he stop and look up well
he looked up and he saw a fellow and he said Zacchaeus That tree
was full of people. Suck ass! You know what he said
next? He said, make haste! Hurry up! He come out of that tree a lot
faster than he went up it. And he said, do you know why
I said make haste? He said, today. Today, I must Would you please let me come
home with you today? Would you open your door and
let me come in? I must abide at your house for today salvation
has come to you. Now that's the way God's done
everybody that He saves. Today! Oh my! And we are complete in Him. Complete, perfect in Christ. Now let me give you quickly,
I've done preach too long, but listen. We ain't got nowhere
to go but back there, so let's just take, I rarely preach this
long, but I'm going to take my time today. I think I've got
something to say. Let me tell you a closing. Let
me tell you something. Look over in Galatians chapter
5 and verse 11. Look at this with me. Galatians
chapter 5 and verse 11. Look what it says here. He's talking about the offense
of the gospel. And he says, I brethren, he's talking to the people of
Galatia. Brethren, you that are in Galatia, if I still preach
circumcision, if I still preach the law, why do I suffer persecution
if I'm preaching the law? If I'm preaching circumcision,
then is the offense of the cross ceased. So the cross is offensive
is what Paul is saying. He said the cross is offensive.
The preaching of the cross is offensive. The gospel is offensive.
Let me give you five things that makes it offensive. First of
all, it offends man's wisdom. The idea of his own wisdom. You
know why it offends man's wisdom? It tells him that salvation is
a revelation that comes from God. It has to be revealed. You
can't figure it out. You can't reason it out. The
natural mind can't get it. So man, he said, boy, anybody
knows that. But listen, this gospel is a
revelation. Christ is a revelation. Man's
wisdom can't get it. And I tell you what, not only
that, but it offends man's idea of his own ability, his free
will, his choice. Because the gospel says salvation
is of the Lord. It's of Christ's ability. You've
got no ability. It's of God's will, not your
will. I like a God-willed gospel. Gotta
have a God-willed gospel. Everybody else has got to have
a God-willed gospel for they're ever saved. Ain't that right? And I'll tell you the third thing.
It offends man's idea of his own worth. Man thinks he's really
worth something. Oh, everybody's trying to teach
people, you know, have self-esteem, self-esteem. I got lots of self-esteem. I was born with it. But in the sight of God, I'm
nothing. In the sight of man, I've got
everything. You know why I've got everything? Because I've
got God. I'm not going to let the world know that there's anything
wrong with me. I'm not going to let the world
know that I'm suffering or doing without in any way, shape or
form. Before the world, I'm full. Before God, I'm full. Only in
Christ. But it offends man's idea of
his worth. Oh, he thinks he's worth something.
You know how much I'm worth? Yeah. As old Scott said, a warm
pitcher of spit. That's what man's worth. He thinks
old people say, you know what I'm worth? Yeah, I do. Zero. That's what you're worth. Well, I'll tell you what. Man
is worth that. In the sight of God. In the sight
of God. I want you to understand that.
Salvation is by mercy. It's not by merit. Now you go
out here and get a job. You ought to get a job on your
merit. You ought to be able to stay on your job by your merit.
I'm a firm believer in that. If you get a job, get it on your... because you're worthy of getting
that job, and then you stay on that job by what you do. That's
the way the scriptures teach us. But I'll tell you why. When it comes to having merit
before God, something to commend you for God, you ain't got any.
Oh my! Salvation is by mercy, not merit. By God's grace, not man's goodness. And last of all, it offends man's
pride. You know why? Because it addresses
all men as sinners. All men are sinners. There's
not a human being on this earth that's ever been on this earth
that's not born a sinner, live a sinner, and will die a sinner
if God don't save him. And the difference between us
and lost sinners is that we're saved sinners saved by grace. You know William Huntington used
to sign all of his letters S.S. You know what that meant? Sinner
saved. It addresses all men as sinners.
The gospel absolutely makes no distinction in men. Men make
distinction in one another, but God doesn't, neither does the
gospel. Is that not right? Amen. Our Father, O God, in the name
of Christ our Lord, thank you for your Gospel. Thank you for
the truth. Thank you for a Gospel that gives
you all the glory. Thank you for a Gospel that gives
us comfort, gives us assurance, gives us a blessed hope. A Gospel
that brought salvation to us through your blessed Son. When
we heard the Gospel, it became the Gospel of our salvation.
The gospel that we, causes us to come to Christ, to look to
Christ, trust Christ, our Lord. God bless it to the hearts and
minds today, and do it for Christ's sake. And as we meet here in
a while, to eat together and have some fellowship. I thank
you for the food, I thank you for the love and care that went
into preparing it. I thank you for everyone that
will stay, Thank you for these dear saints of God. Lord, thank
you for the love you put in our hearts for one another. Lord,
bless us together this afternoon. Keep us and keep us safe. Keep
us cleaving. Keep us believing in our Lord
Jesus Christ. In his name we pray. Amen. Amen.