And I want to talk about God's
revelation. God's revelation. You know, how
in the world is God, who is invisible, eternal,
who is pure spirit, how is He going to be known? How is He
going to be known? The wisdom of this world says
by philosophy. Go learn some philosophy. It's up to man's choice. Make a decision for Christ. Do
a lot of good deeds as often as you can. Live a good, moral,
upstanding life. And science says we don't need
God because we can create a child and life in a test tube now. But how in the world is God going
to be known? He makes himself known. He made
himself known to the prophets. He made himself known to the
Apostle Paul. I know that he dwells in a light
that no man can approach unto. I know that and John 1 5 says
this this is the message that we declare unto you that God
is light God is light he is holy he is righteous and in him in him is no darkness
at all and then he tells us the apostle does about the wisdom
of God down here in verse 7 we speak the wisdom of God When
we preach we're talking about God's wisdom. Things that God
taught us. The wisdom of God. It's a mystery. It's a mystery. It's a mystery. Who's it a mystery to? Anybody. Anybody. Until God reveals it. Anybody. Even the hidden wisdom. This
wisdom had been hid. It's been hid. You know, mystery
says something previously unknown. And then God took this wisdom
and ordained it before the world under our glory. Our Lord Jesus
Christ, in Matthew 11, He said this, lifted up His eyes and
He said, O Father of heaven and earth, O my Father of heaven
and earth, I thank you, I thank you that you've hid, hid these
things from the wise and prudent, from the princes of this world,
from the philosophers and scientists and PhDs and all the men who
think they know everything and can control everything and make
all the decisions for everybody else. He said, I want you to
know, I thank you that you hid these things from the wise. people
who think they've got this great understanding. And has revealed
them unto who? Babes. Babes. Somebody stands, I stand in fear
and trembling before you. And I tell you what, you know
here Paul in this mystery has been Previously unknown, but
now we know it and Paul says we know it So let's look at the
revelation of God the revelation of God in Christ Look what he
says here in verse 9 But as it is written I Have not seen nor heard of
Neither have entered into the heart of man the things which
God has prepared." When did he prepare these things? Before
the foundation of the world. For them that love him. And let
me tell you this, this revelation of God. God revealing himself. It can not possibly be the invention
of man. It'd be impossible to be invention
of men. Look what he said about the natural
man down in verse 14. Look what he says about him down
there. The natural man received not the things of the Spirit
of God. He can't even know them. He'd never know them. They're
foolishness to him. They're spiritually discerned.
Let me tell you three things about the natural man. The natural
man. Some of you have unconverted
husbands and wives and children. Let me tell you something about
it. My children are the same way. Three things about the natural
man. He refuses to believe and face the only
answer to his problems. God in Christ. He won't believe
God, but when something goes wrong, he wants to blame God. And secondly, and that thing
about a natural man, he's a hero worshipper. And he's a self worshipper. They'll go to great extremes
to see their heroes. And brag about their heroes.
But have no interest in the greatest person that ever lived on the
face of this earth. And accomplish something that
no one ever did. And the only way in the world
a man can come to God is in Christ. They have this hero worship and
luck to go to them. But they're not interested in
the greatest man who ever lived on this earth. No interest in
him whatsoever, the Lord Jesus Christ. He's interested in great
events. In great events. Super Bowls. Super races. Super heroes. They're interested
in great events. But he's not interested in the
greatest event that ever happened. And that's the cross on which
Christ died and accomplished salvation. He's not interested
in those things. And you try to talk to him about
those things. Just save your breath to cool
your coffee most of the time. Now ain't that right? And look
what he says here. Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard,
neither hath it entered into the heart of man the things that
God hath provided him. Now this is what I'm saying.
Man's natural eye, man's natural eye has not seen, or his eye
of his carnal mind has never seen. Never seen. The ear of man's worldly wisdom
has never heard it. It has never entered into the
heart of a natural man. And any man apart from the Holy
Spirit, the things that God has prepared for them, who? Them
that love Him. Princes didn't see it. They didn't
see it. The powerful people of His day
didn't see it. They didn't see anything about
Christ. They didn't see any natural,
no any, they were just another Jew. He was just another man.
And they said he was king, so they said, well, we'll just put
king of the Jews over his cross. He just says he's king of the
Jews. The princes didn't see it. The world didn't see it.
The world didn't see it. God, by his own wisdom, said,
I'm going to tell you, all you wise men of the world, you ain't
going to know nothing. You think you got all the answers.
You think you're going to make all these promises, you're going
to accomplish all these things in this world? He said, I'm going
to tell you something, I'm going to make your wisdom to be absolutely
nothing when it's all said and done. You know, the only people
that know anything about the wisdom of God is those that God's
revealed Himself to. Huh? And I'll tell you what,
and you know how long this business has been? Since the beginning
of the world. I want you to look in Isaiah
64, at verse 4. Look at Isaiah 64 verse 4. How long has this been? How long
has this wisdom, this thing that can't enter into the heart of
man, but only those that God has blessed to do it? Look what
he says here in Isaiah 64. How long has this been since
the beginning of the world? Look what God said here in verse
4 of Isaiah 64. For since the beginning of the
world, man hasn't heard. He hasn't understood,
perceived when he hears it. His eye can't see it. Oh God! only you can see it and only
you can make a scene what what he has prepared to listen to
this he qualifies it for them that wait for him or them that
love him over here so the natural man's eye don't see it ear don't
hear it heart don't perceive it but oh my but it has entered
into some men's heart well how in the world is God going to
be known then? Since you can't see it, you can't heal it, but
God said, we see it, we hear it, it's entered our hearts.
How do we know? Verse 10, but God, but God revealed, but God, huh? Them. What things? These deep things of God. These
things that natural man can't get. These things that natural
man don't understand. But God hath revealed them unto
us. Who? Them that love Him. Them
that believe Christ. But God. But God hath revealed
them unto us by Spirit. For the Spirit searcheth all
things, the deep things of God. You know, only God knows the
Son. Our Lord Jesus Christ said that.
Only the Father knows the Son. And only the Son knows the Father. You know what He said? To him
whom He revealed it. And you know, I'm going to let
you look at several places, but look at Matthew 16. Matthew 16. This is what I'm talking about.
A man can't see nothing. He can't know nothing unless
God does something for him. And God has revealed these things
to us. He revealed them to us. And we're
going to go through the things He's revealed us here in a moment.
But oh my, only the Son and to Him whom the Father reveals Him.
God has to reveal something to a man. Man can't see, he can't
hear, he can't believe until God reveals something. He said,
you ain't seen it, you ain't heard it, you don't know it.
But God said, for them that He loves. He said, I revealed it
to them. I revealed it to them. Look what
He says here, verse 13. When our Lord came into the coast
of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples. His disciples
went out and about. They heard what was being said
and what was being taught and what was being said about Christ.
He said, Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am? I want
you to know. Tell me what people are saying
about me. And I tell you, we know what men are saying about
Christ today. They're still doing the same thing. They're saying
all kinds of things about Him. They got all, everybody's got
an opinion about him. And they said, some say you're
John the Baptist. That's what Herod said, John
the Baptist had risen from the dead. Some say he's Elias or
Elijah or Elisha. And they say others, others say
you're Jeremiah because you're so sorrowful. And you're acquainted
with grief and sorrow. Or you're one of the prophets,
maybe you're Samuel, maybe you're Isaiah. Maybe a Zechariah. But he looked them square in
the eye. And here's the difference. This is what I'm talking about.
God hath revealed them unto us. He saith unto them, Whom do you,
whom do you say I am? Now Peter, listen to what he
said. And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ. You're the Son of the Living
God. He said, I want to know what they say about the Son of
Man. He said, listen, you're the Son of the Living God. You
know what our Lord said to him? Oh, Simon, are you so blessed? You are so blessed. Flesh and
blood didn't make you know that. They didn't reveal it to you,
but my Father which is in heaven. He made you see that. He made
you understand that. And look at John 6. Look at John
6. You know, I could quote this
and you could quote it too. But here we go again. I tell
you what, we're talking about this revelation of God. This
revelation of God. John 6, look in verse 44. This
is what we're talking about. You know, oh, this God's got
to reveal. Do you know, He does reveal it.
It's entered our hearts. It's entered our minds. We see
with our eyes. Our Lord said in John 6, 44,
No man can come to me Except the father, here we go again,
which hath sent me, draw him, bring him, and I will raise him
up at the last day. It is written in the prophets,
they shall, listen to this, they shall all be taught of God. God teaches his people. We're
not left to flesh and blood. Listen, he said, God said, God
will teach you. They shall all be taught of God.
Who? Them that love him. And every
man therefore, now listen to this, I as a senior hasn't heard,
listen, and hath heard and hath learned of the Father was he
new. He comes to me. Oh, that's like Pilate. Pilate, our Lord Jesus Christ
was before Pilate, and Pilate said, Art Thou the King of the
Jews? He said, Do you believe this for yourself? Did you come
to this conclusion yourself? Or did somebody tell you? And
that's the thing about it. Do you know for yourself? Or
did somebody tell you? And I tell you what you know
like a thief on the cross Here's what I'm telling you about God's
revelation There's thieves on the cross two of them one of
them cussing Christ Say if you save yourself and save me with
you But that other one he looked at him and you know what he saw
He saw a man dying blood all over him Bones sticking out. His ribs were sticking out. That's
what the scriptures say. His back was bloody. Fizzies
was marred more than any man's. Still had a crown of thorns on
his head. Blood streaming down his face.
Blood all over him. On his legs. And there's men
down there below him. rolling dice, gambling for his
clothes. And that man looks at that other
man standing there just a bloody mess. Dying like he's dying. And you know what he said? Lord!
How do you know he's Lord? Remember me! when you come into your kingdom. What made that man know right
there at that instance that that was his only hope in his dying
hour? That's what I'm telling you.
God has revealed him. Do you know how deep it was? That man dying on that cross,
he looked at him And you know how deep things God made him
to understand right then and there? Just in a few moments? He took the things of God and
showed them to that man right there. And I tell you what, he's done
the same thing to us. Oh, that's why Paul said, I'm
determined. I'm not going to do anything
else but preach. What are you going to preach,
Paul? Christ. What are you going to say about
Him? He is crucified. He is crucified. He died. Not for Himself. Not for anything He did. The priests of this world and
the wisdom don't know nothing about it. But God revealed them unto us.
Oh my! He says the mysteries of Christ
now. We understand this, the things of God. You know, it's
a mystery to us. Eternal election. But God revealed
it to us. God's sovereign mercy. I'll have
mercy on whom I will. I'll have compassion on whom
I will. God revealed that to us. God said, Jacob have I loved,
Esau have I hated. God made us to understand that.
We can believe that He can hate us. We find it hard to believe
that He can love us. But that's what He said, He's
going to make it known to them that love Him. And all the incarnation,
What about the Incarnation? What do we know about the Incarnation
of Christ? God who dwelt in eternity. God
who dwelt alone. God from the beginning come into
this world and put himself in the body of a woman. In Trinity, how in the world,
listen, how can you believe there's only one God but yet there's
three people in that God? There's only one God. Here on
Israel there's only one God. But there's three persons in
the Godhead. How do you explain that? We believe
it? Oh my! Oh my! And the death of Christ, crucified? Martin Luther sat one day and
looking at the Word of God and he was studying the death of
Christ and he saw Him dying there and he looked at the cross and
looked at what was said there and he knew that it was God and
he just flabbergasted and he said, how can God die? He can when he's in a man. And
that man that died on that cross was as much God as God the Father
was. had the power to save himself
but he said I will not do it. Why? Because Father you gave
me a cup to drink. You gave me a will to do. You
gave me a work to accomplish. You gave me sinners to save. You gave me people that you gave
to me and I'm going to make sure that every single one of them
are brought home to you. Huh? Oh my. Oh, what about his resurrection? If he was dead, people don't
come back from the grave. He did. How do you know? He stayed on
this earth for 40 days. And everybody saw it. And oh
my, he was going to go back to glory. And He walked outside
Jerusalem to the Mount of Olives and all of a sudden He was standing
there and the disciples with Him and up with the Lord Jesus
Christ. And they stood there and watched Him go. And there were two angels appeared
to Him. You men of Israel, why in the world are you standing
gazing up? Said, the way you see Him going,
He's coming back the same way. Oh, bless His Holy Name. And
how did He reveal these things to us? By the Holy Spirit. By His Spirit. I know this without a shadow
of a doubt. Anything I know about the Bible, about God, about Christ,
about myself, anything I know about God, God taught it to me. Anything I've got, God gave it
to me. I don't doubt that one moment. Not one moment. I'd be an idiot
apart from the revelation of God. And all He did it by the Holy
Spirit. Our Lord Jesus Christ said this. He said, when He,
the Spirit of truth has come, He Hey a person will teach you all
things. Look what he says here in verse
10. The Spirit searches all things
the deep things of God. You know people think prophecy
is deep. They think prophecy is deep.
Look in Luke chapter 1 with me. You keep 1 Corinthians. Look
in Luke chapter 1. People say, well, that's, prophecy
is deep. You know, people, somebody going
to come and preach some prophecy and tell you about the beast
and all the things that's going to happen and all this, that
and the other. They're going to tell you all the mysteries
and all that. They're going to split the hairs on a horse's
tail. You know, and gonna do some silly things. Got charts, you know, got charts
up there. This goes this way and that goes
that way and this goes this way and this goes around that way
and gonna end up over here and this gonna go there and this
gonna come up out of this. And they'll have you so mixed
up you don't know whether you're up or you're down. And you say,
what did he just teach me? I don't know what it was, but
it sure was deep, wasn't it? But that's what people think.
They say, oh my, that's so deep. But let me show you this. You
listen to this now. Plumb this that I'm fixing to
tell you about. In verse 26, and in the sixth
month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of
Galilee named Nazareth who descended to a virgin engaged to a man
whose name was Joseph. Joseph was the house of David
the same place our master was to come from and the virgin's
name was Mary named her and the angel came in under her And said,
hell, I got something to say to you. God sent me to you. You're
highly favored, highly graced of God, much graced of God. And the Lord is with you. And
you're going to be blessed among women. And when she saw him,
she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind, started
wondering what in the world is going on here? What manner of
salutation this should be? For the angel noticed her mind
was troubled, and the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary, for
thou hast found grace with God. God's graced you abundantly.
and listen and behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring
forth a son and this is what you're going to call him Jesus
Jehovah Savior now you plumb this would you rather listen
you plumb the depth of this and listen to what he goes on
to say he shall be great He's going to be called the Son of
the Highest. See how that's capitalized? Son's capitalized. And the Lord
God Jehovah Himself shall give unto him the throne of his father
David. And he shall reign. He's not
going to try to reign. Over the house of Jacob. Who's
the house of Jacob? Jacob Abelad. And forever in his kingdom. Listen
to this. It's never going to stop. Never
going to be an end to it. Oh, listen, this is what Mary
said. Well, how in the world shall this be? I know him not
a man. And the angel answered. Oh, listen, I'm going to tell
you what, God's going to come on you. God the Holy Ghost is
going to come upon you. He's going to overshadow you.
Listen now therefore all soul that holy thing didn't know what
else to say that holy thing which shall be born of thee Shall be
called as the Son of God Now you plumb the depth of that Would
you rather the people think prophecy something plumb the depth of
what just happened right there? Huh? Oh my No wonder you second
Corinthians 521 plumb the depths of this People think they just
know this like it's willy-nilly. And I made this statement one
time. This is one of the most mysterious things. If this doesn't
keep you in awe, and keep you in awe of God, in awe of God
and His glory and His mastery and His gospel, God made Christ to be sin. How in the world can
that be? Here's a sinless man, a perfect
man, a holy man. The Son of God. Eternal as God
is. As old as the Father is. And God made Him to be sin. How could He make Him to be sin?
He said, see all my people? See all up from Adam to the end
of the world? See all their sin? I'm going
to make you to be them. And then he took that righteousness,
that sinlessness, that perfection, that blessed righteousness of
Christ that only belong to Him in God and He turned around He
took our sin and then He gave us His righteousness He took
our death and gave us His life He took our curse to redeem us
from the curse No wonder I hadn't seen, you
hadn't heard I hadn't heard such things until I heard the gospel.
I'll never forget when I first heard it. I said, that's the
most amazing thing I ever heard. I just rejoiced. I thought everybody
would be as happy as I was. But they're not. They're not. I'm going to tell you a true
story. Shirley was showing me somebody's name on Facebook and
they lived right across the street. from Steve Dishman years ago.
What was their name? Spurlock. Wanda and Tom Spurlock. Steve lived there and Bruce Crabtree
lives there now. But they were holiness people. That means they wear their hair
a certain way. That's the thing about false religion. They all
dress alike. They all wear their hair the
same like. They all wear the same stuff on their clothes. And they all act the same way.
And they all act pious and all that. You can tell they come
in with their long dresses on. And they come in with their long
skirts on. It really was like that. You wouldn't even go to
a swimming hole unless you pinned your skirt together at the bottom
so it wouldn't rise up. That's just, that's how foolish
people are. I know a preacher who went to Myrtle Beach and
went off into the ocean with his shoes and clothes on because
he wanted to wade in the ocean. He's so religious he wouldn't
even take off his clothes. When you go get in the ocean,
go run a good pair of shoes. But anyway, this Spurlock, she's
sick now. Very sick. cancer, bone cancer. But I said, oh, let's say this.
They'd come over to Steve's house. We'd hold meetings up there.
And we'd sit and talk way up in the hours of the morning.
And they came over. And we talked to them. I couldn't
tell you the times. But I told them the gospel as well as I
was able to tell it. Told them about Christ. How did
he accomplish salvation? How that Christ did it all. How that Christ died for a particular
people. How that works don't enter into
it. Salvation is by grace, not of
works. I mean, He saved us with a holy
calling, not of works, but according to His own grace. Giving us in
Christ before the world began. She sat there and listened to
that, and listened to that, and listened to that. And finally
she said, That's just too good to be true. I cannot believe
it. I believe it, nobody else does. You know why? Because God has
revealed them unto us by His Spirit. I tell you what, this
is the only thing that makes sense. That's what he said comparing
spiritual things with spiritual. and all my the scripture says all the wisdom
and knowledge of God the wisdom and knowledge of God
passes understanding and then it says there I think it's in
verse 12 last part of the verse that we might know the things
that are freely given to us of God these things are freely given
to us If we had to earn them and pay for them, we couldn't
get them. It's freely, freely given to us. And oh listen, let
me hurry up, and oh my goodness, I hope I ain't preached too long,
but let me show you what this revelation, it's a revelation
from God. And what this revelation is, what it concerns. Look what
he said in verse 1 and 2. And thy brethren, When I came
to you, I came not with excellency of speech or of man's wisdom. I did not come showing you how
smart I was. I didn't come using great big
words. I didn't come using the Greek
philosophers. I didn't come talking about what
a fine, fine person you are. Using the wisdom of the world. Talking about Christ loves you
and Christ died for all of you. And oh my he wants to save you
so he wants to save you so bad. He said I didn't come doing that. He said you know what I did?
I gave you the testimony what God said. I'm going to tell you
what God said. The testimony of God. Ain't that
what he says? Declaring the testimony of God. I'm going to tell you
what, God's got a testimony. John called it over, God hath
given us a record. This record is of his son and
eternal life is in his son and he that hath the son hath life
and he that hath not the son hath not life. That's the record
that God gave. And he said he's got a testimony.
God testified. Who did he testify of? His son. What did he say about his son? He's the only man that's ever
lived in this world. From Adam to the last man, the
only man that God ever looked at and said, that's my beloved. And I am so well pleased in Him. And whoever God's pleased in,
that's who I'm pleased in. If it pleases God, it pleases
me, don't you? Oh my! It's the testimony of
God concerning Christ and Him crucified. And oh my, how He
died on the cross. And who it was that died on that
cross? The Son of God. What He accomplished
on that cross. He actually put sin away. He
actually honored God. And oh, God said He was delivered
for our offenses, for all of our crimes, for all the things
that we did. And raised us for our justification. You know there's three appearings
of our Lord Jesus into this world. Three appearings. Well I shouldn't
say in this world, but three appearings. He appeared once
at the end of the world to put away sin by the sacrifice of
Himself. Then He appeared into heaven
itself with His own blood to obtain eternal redemption for
us. And He's going to appear the second time And listen to
this, without sin, He's not coming to put sin away anymore, that's
been done. He's not coming to accomplish
salvation, that's already been done. He's coming without sin
unto salvation, our final eternal salvation, to be with Him. And you know who He's going to
appear to? Them that's looking for Him. Oh my, He's coming again. Oh
my goodness. I'm going to finish. In fact,
you know what, I've just got to finish. I tell you. Not only
is it a revelation of Christ crucified, it's a revelation
of super abounding grace. Where sin abounded, and oh it
abounded. You know, I watch the news and
I get so aggravated, I get so stressed out. I watch these people
burning these buildings down and tearing everything apart
and destroying police cars and nobody doing anything about it.
I get so stressed and upset. Now I get so aggravated about
it, and here's the thing, even when we have this animosity,
and this frustration, and all this aggravation, and the things
that upsets us so bad, and we sin in those things. We do, we
get so upset, we sin in those things. So they better be glad
that I'm not running this outfit, and I tell you what, and that's
what you feel about it. The sin abounds. It abounds in
us every day. It abounded in us when we was
born. It abounded in us while we lived. It will abound in us
until we die. But where sin abounded, listen
to this, grace did much more abound. It's a revelation of Christ's
ability, Christ's power to save to the uttermost them that come
to God the only way they can is by Him. And it's a revelation
that all that a sinner needs is in Christ. His righteousness,
His merit, His work. That's all a person needs to
be accepted of God is Christ. It's all you need. And if He's
all you need and He's all you got, then you're in good shape. Oh my. Then the believer's attitude
toward this revelation. Over here in verse 2 again. This is the believer's attitude
about it. I determined not to know anything
among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Why did he say
that? There were a lot of contentions
in Corinth. Oh, they just contended about
everything. They were all upset about something
all the time. There was contention over speaking
in tongues. There was contention over marriage. There was contention over a man
committing adultery. There was a contention over the
spiritual gifts. There was contention over giving
of your substance. There was a contention over idolatry
at the Lord's table. There was contention over one
brother going to law against another brother. It would be
like me and a brother in this church ended up in court suing
one another over something. Not being able to work it out
by the grace of God. Huh? But one thing is needful
to put down contentions. You know what it is? Christ. Christ crucified. That'll keep
down contentions. Huh? Look over here at verse
10 of 1 Corinthians. That'll keep down contentions.
Oh my. Look what the Apostle said here.
Now I beseech you brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
I say Lord, I beg you, I implore you by the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Let's all speak the same thing.
Oh don't let there be no schisms or divisions among you. That
you be perfectly joined together. And that we're joined in Christ
in the same mind, in the same judgment. We're all together
about the gospel, ain't we? We're all on the same page. We're
all on the same thing. And there's lots of things that
cause contentions today. Politics will cause contention.
Abortion will cause contention. Gun control will cause contention.
Prophecy will cause contention. Dispensationalism, Christian
liberty will cause contention. But one thing is needed. One
thing puts contention down, knowing nothing but Christ and Him crucified. I'm determined. I'm determined. Ain't you determined? I'm determined
to do this one thing. And oh my! I'm going to tell
you this and then I'm going to quit. Talking about contentious. There's a dear brother of mine. passes another church and they
got a church board. A church board. Four men. A church
board. And any church board that I've
ever seen is rotten. Rotten. They had a church board. Some of these men on the board,
they wanted to talk to the preacher. They wanted to tell him all of
his misgivings and all of his Messes and all his inability
to preach and oh, they just had a whole bunch of things. They
wanted to bring against him You know, so they said we want to
meet with you Could you imagine having four
or five men decide you know that you know I I don't like the way
he preaches. I don't like the way he stands
out from behind the pulpit. I don't like the way he's you
know what one of the things that they accused him of? He's not
deep enough. You can't get deeper than preaching
Christ and him crucified. Y'all know Clarence Poore from
up in Bruce Crabtree. He's a big old man. Big old man. A fella got up one time and was
preaching and says, you know there's something in the Bible
besides Christ. He no sooner got that said than Clarence was
running up in the pulpit with him and said, you done said something
that ain't true. If you think there's only one
thing in the Bible besides Christ, you done missed it. You need
to shut up now. A man was preaching down in the
islands and Greg Elmcrest, you talking about, we're talking
about determined to know nothing but Christ crucified. A man was
up preaching. Greg Elmcrest stood up and says,
man that's not true, that's not true. While a man was preaching. I hope you'll never do that to
me, but I have talked to several men that I've heard preach that
you didn't get in spitting distance of the gospel. And how do we
know the gospel? I'd have never known the gospel. I hath not seen, ear hath not
heard, heart has never entered into it, the things that God
hath prepared. When did he prepare these things
for us? Before the world ever began, from the beginning. But
God hath revealed them unto us. May God keep on revealing. We're
at His At His mercy, what a wonderful place to be. Amen. Our Father, oh blessed Savior,
thank you for allowing us to meet here this morning. Thank
you for your gospel. Thank you for the wonderful attention
that people give to the gospel. Lord, help us to not ever be
contentious. Forgive me of all my contentious.
I've been contentious at times over the years. I've failed miserably
as a believer, as a preacher. But Lord, I bless you that with
thee there's forgiveness. With you, you put all our sins
away. And we'll never lose your grace as an excuse to sin, to
be ill, to be contentious, to be argumentative. But Lord, teach
us to love, to love you, to love one another. Love our families and pray for
them. Please receive the things that's done today. For Christ's
sake, in His holy name we pray. Amen. Amen. Oh, how merciful, how merciful