Turn with me to Galatians chapter
1. Galatians chapter 1. Kathy Bell
is telling me this morning her son, he had a stroke a couple
of years ago and a week from tomorrow he's going to go in
the hospital and of course his brain's open in a way and they're
going to put some drains in there and drain a bunch of fluid off
it that went down from swelling enough. And then they're going
to put the drains in there and drain off the fluid things. And
then on Wednesday, they're going to put the skull back. And he'll
be in intensive care for about a week. And that stroke really
affected him. He's a very young man. So you
all please remember him. And I'll remind us of it again.
First correlations. Look what the Apostle said here
starting in verse 6. I marvel that ye are so soon
removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ
unto another gospel, which is not another, but there be some
that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though
we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you, than
that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As
we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any
other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be
accursed. For do I now persuade men, or
God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I yet please men, I should
not be the servant of Christ. But I certify you, brethren,
that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of
man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus
Christ. For you have heard of my conversation
or my manner of life in time past in the Jews' religion, how
that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God and wasted
it and profited in the Jews' religion above many of my equals
in my own nation, being more exceeding zealous of the traditions
of my fathers. But when it pleased God, who
separated me from my mother's womb and called me by His grace
to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the
heathen, immediately I conferred naught with flesh and blood. If you look back here with me
to Galatians, the Apostle said in verse 6, I marvel that you
are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace
of Christ unto another gospel, which is not another. There's
not another gospel, that's what he's saying. But there are some
that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ, pervert
the gospel of Christ. And he says, if I come, or an
angel even comes from heaven, and preaches any other gospel
unto you that I've preached unto you, let him be cursed. And my question today is what
is your gospel? What is the salvation? What gospel
is the gospel that saved you? What gospel is it that you believe,
that you find hope in, you find your salvation in, you find your
comfort in, you find your assurance in? What gospel is it? You know,
the apostle said, that which I received, the gospel that I
received, I preached unto you. How that Christ died for our
sins according to the Scriptures. That He was buried and He rose
again according to the Scriptures. Now I tell you, you know and
I know that all preachers in churches do not preach the same
Gospel. They don't preach the same Gospel.
And what we hear today, what many people say, there's many
Gospels. Many, many Gospels. Lots of Gospels
out there. A lot of people saying a lot
of things. And they seek salvation in so many different ways other
than the gospel. Some seek salvation in their
family ties. You know, my family ties. You
know, and there's some churches that's built entirely on one
or two families. And you know, because their parents
are in the church, they get in the church. And boy, parents
who are in the church, they have their infants sprinkled. They
have them catechized, they get them confirmed, and they call
that salvation. I know some of my family just
had some of their grandchildren confirmed. Confirmed. I don't
know how you confirm somebody, but they confirmed them. They
had them confirmed into the church. And they'll live their lives
being conformed and confirmed into some church. And a woman
was the one that confirmed them. It was the pastor, preacher,
so-called. And some seek salvation in the
church membership. If I can just get in the church,
if, oh, I'll just, you know, I'll just join the church today.
I'll join the church. Boy, and everybody's tickled
to death to have you, you know. You've really made the church
so much better by your presence. You've made everything so much
gooder. You know, you just, oh my, without you being in the
church, I don't know what in the world we'd have done if you
hadn't have joined. And then some seek salvation in what we
call the ordinances. Baptism and the Lord's Supper
and they churches that call them the sacraments and when you call
them sacraments that means that you get grace through them and
they call them sacraments so when you get baptized grace comes
to you through that baptism and if you take the Lord's table
and the bread and the wine you get grace given to you through
that bread and wine. That's why they call them sacraments.
If you ever hear anybody call them sacraments, that's what
they mean by that. I'm going to get something, I'm
going to get grace going to be given to me when I do this. and
then some seek their salvation in their morality or what they
call their morality and they say don't worry about me if you
if anybody makes it to heaven i will i'm just as good as anybody
else so i'm gonna make it no problem about that and then how
many people have made a decision for jesus how many people have
made a decision and said, I made my decision, I signed the card,
and I got my certificate to prove it. And then there's others that
seek their salvation in their doctrine, in their doctrine.
They got all their I's dotted and all their T's crossed, and
they think everything's all right. But the scriptures tells us that
there is a way that seems right unto man, but the end thereof
are the ways of death. There is a generation that's
pure in their own eyes. And I tell you this, and look
over here with me. You keep Galatians and look in
Psalm 14. Look what God said here about Psalm 14 in verse
2. Psalm 14. Look what the Lord
said here in Psalm 14 in verse 2. This is what God had to say. And I tell you what, if you want
to know what's going on, you should look what God has to say.
That's why He says, My thoughts, My ways are higher than your
ways. My thoughts are higher than your thoughts. I'm not like
you at none whatsoever. I'm not like you. And look what
God said here in Psalm 14 and verse 2. The Lord looked down
from heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any
that did understand Seek God now. He looked down and said
is there any that understands and seeks God? He said he didn't
find a woman he didn't find a woman And so according to the Word
of God, according to this blessed truth, this song we sung about,
oh, you know, bless thou the bread of life to me, bless thou,
oh Lord, your bread of life. According to the Word of God,
there's only one gospel, one gospel, and I read it to you
tonight, this morning there. That gospel that I've preached
to you, if anybody comes preaching another, and they came with their
law, they came with their ceremonies, they came with their works, they
came with Moses, they came with their Sabbath keeping, they came
with their holy days and their holy weeks, and Paul said, that's
another gospel. That's another gospel. And look
with me now in Romans chapter 1. This is what I'm talking about. This gospel. And I want so much
for us to know that, and I've preached the gospel, and it's
good for us to look at it again to see if we really believe it,
if it's the gospel of our salvation. But look what God said here in
Romans 1. Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ,
called to be an apostle separated unto the gospel of God. This
one gospel is called the gospel of God. It originated with God. It did not originate. That's
why Paul said, I didn't receive this gospel from man, but I received
it by revelation of Jesus Christ. I didn't go up to Jerusalem and
see what the apostles were preaching to find out what my gospel was.
He said, Christ taught me my gospel. And if you know the gospels,
it's going to be the same Christ that teaches it to you. So it's
the ancient gospel, the gospel of God. And then look in this
ancient gospel we had promised to for by his prophets in the
Holy Scriptures. It's the ancient gospel. It's
all, listen, that's the only gospel that's ever been. And
then this gospel concerns God's Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, made
of the seed of David. That's His manhood, and declared
to be the Son of God. So He's God and man in one blessed
person. And so that's what our gospel
has to do with. It's the gospel of God. It's
an ancient gospel. And that's why I ask myself,
my question to myself and to you is, what's your gospel? What's
the gospel of God? What's the gospel that's the
saving gospel to you? I ask myself what the gospel
is that saves me, that gives me my blessed hope, huh? That's
what I'm talking about. Paul called it his gospel. And
I say it's my gospel. And that means as a preacher,
he said I'm a preacher of it, I'm committed to it. He said
it was committed to my trust. And he called it my gospel and
I call it my gospel because the message that I own is the only
message I own. The one I'll be judged by, saved
by, established by the preaching of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. My gospel, he called it, because
the one I preach and have a hope in is mine because my salvation
comes from it and the salvation of others to whom I'm going to
preach to. It's a very serious business about the gospel, very,
very serious. You refuse the gospel and there's
no hope for anybody. And if I believe the gospel,
if I trusted Christ, if I heard Christ in the gospel, do I see
Christ in the gospel? And it's called my gospel to
distinguish it, to show how opposite it is from the gospel of all
the days and preaching that's been preaching today of the apostles
in Judah. And you know the gospel of grace
is only offensive to people that don't believe it. It's only offensive
to people that don't believe it. Why is it offensive? Why
would the gospel of grace, works not offensive. If I preach works,
it wouldn't offend anybody. It wouldn't upset anybody. But
why is the preaching of grace, the preaching of the cross, why
is this so offensive? Well, it offends man's pride
because it tells him that spiritual knowledge and salvation is a
revelation, that you can't get it by reading books and by joining
a church or making a decision. It's not of human wisdom. It
offends man's idea of his ability. He thinks he has some ability.
He thinks his free will is what's going to have all the deciding
factor and the power in salvation. And the scriptures and the gospel
tells us that salvation is of the Lord. It's Christ's ability
that saves us. not our ability, it's Christ's
ability. It's God's will that saves us,
not our will. Our will damned us and our will
will damn us. And if God's will don't save
us, and if Christ's will is not the one that we trust in and
look to, and his ability, we'll perish. And that's what the gospel
teaching offends man. It's not of him that willeth,
it's not of him that runneth, but it's of God that shows mercy. Huh? Salvation. Jonah said, I
found this out. Salvation is of the Lord. If
I'm saved from here, God's got to be the one to save me. And
it offends the gospel of grace and the gospel that we're preaching.
It offends man's idea of his worth. His worth see salvations
by mercy not by merit Man thinks he's worth something to God thinks
he's worth something and anything he does is worth something before
God And God just said I look down from heaven to see if there's
anybody that understood If anybody sought me and he said I didn't
see anybody you salvations by grace not by man's goodness And
oh my, it really offends men, concept of their self, because
it addresses all men, all men everywhere, as sinners. Huh? Now that's what makes the gospel
offensive. That's what makes it offensive. And oh my, I tell
you, beloved, let me give you something about this gospel.
Is this the gospel you believe? It's the gospel I believe, and
I hope, and I pray that it's the gospel that you believe.
It's the gospel you believe. The gospel I preach, and I pray
it's the gospel you believe, exalts the only gospel, one gospel,
exalts a sovereign God. gives him all the glory, attributes
all power to him. Well, people don't mind him being
sovereign over creation because the scripture says the earth
is the Lord's in the fullness thereof. And you know there's
people now that believe that you can believe in creation and
evolution at the same time. It is an impossibility. God's
the sovereign in creation. People want to debate how long
the world's been here. I don't care how long it's been
here. I know that in the beginning, God created the heaven and the
earth. He spake and it was done. He
commanded and it stood fast. This earth is the Lord's and
the fullness thereof. And He's sovereign in providence.
You know what? He said the sparrow won't even
fall to the ground without my Father knowing it. And I watched
this morning. There were sparrows all over
the front yard. A sparrow nest everywhere, all
over the place. And there are sparrows all over the ground
this morning. And I sat there outside looking
at my notes and I watched all them sparrows. And all I could
think was is that they're right there where my father put every
one of them. They're all finding what he meant for them to find
to eat. That's all I could think about was God. And then there
was a little old chickadee. He flew out of his nest. Then
he got on an old tree and went to pecking on that tree to get
him some little old bugs off the tree. My father took care
of that. If he feeds the sparrows, what
in the world will he do? If he takes care of the sparrows,
what's he going to do for us? And all and I'll tell you this
is the this is the kicker. He is sovereign in salvation
Oh, he said I will be merciful to whom I will be merciful. I
will have compassion on whom I'll have compassion Ain't that
what he says and how he said I saved you according to the
good pleasure of my will Oh, let me show you something in
Psalm 135. Let's look at this together Psalm 135 look at this
together I love this gospel. I love the
truth that God is sovereign. I love the truth that what sovereign
means that God reigns. That's all it means. He reigns
in every way, in every place, in every form, over everything. That's all it means. And folks
say, well, wait a minute. No, there's no wait a minute.
God reigns and rules in His world, in His universe, over His creatures,
over His people. And oh, and salvation is in His
blessed hands to give. And look what He said in Psalm
135 in verse 3. Praise the Lord. for the Lord is good, saying
praises unto his name, for it is pleasant to do that. For the
Lord hath chosen Jacob unto himself, and Israel for his peculiar treasure. For I know that the Lord is great,
and that our Lord is above all gods, whatsoever the Lord pleased. That did he in heaven, and in
the earth, and in the seas, and all the places. Oh, listen. And when it says,
it pleased God, whatever pleased God, I've dealt with this last
week. It pleased God, He said, to make you His people, His sovereign
in salvation. It pleased God that in Him, in
Christ, should all fullness dwell. It pleased God to bruise Him
that He might see His seed and be surveilled and be satisfied. 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. No wonder Jonah said,
salvation is of the Lord. Salvation is of the Lord. And
I tell you, I love it like that. And people say, well, does that
make you a robot? I've told you this before. I
wished I was. I wished I was a puppet on a
string in God's hands. Then that way, I would never,
ever have to worry about what I say, what I do, what I think,
how I feel. God would do everything through
me. I'd love it like that, wouldn't you? But that ain't the way it
is. And that's why we bow to Him. And let me tell you something
else. Not only is this gospel, my gospel,
this truth that I'm preaching, exalts sovereign God, but the
gospel that I believe and preach recognizes a total and absolute
and complete fall. And what do we mean by a fall? Why do we call it a fall? Because
Adam, God made man upright. Ecclesiastes 7.29 says God made
man upright, made Adam upright. And what did he do? He sought
out many inventions. And the first invention he sought
out after he fell was to make himself a covering. And even
with his covering, he had to tell God, I'm still naked. I'm
still naked. And I tell you, beloved guests,
this gospel recognizes an absolute fall. I mean a complete and total
fall. When man failed, how in the world
does somebody become a sinner? How does anybody become a sinner?
David said, I was shaping in iniquity and in sin did my mother
conceive. The wicked go astray from the
womb speaking lies. and I tell you a baby when it's
born it's just this you know I'm telling you I'm not saying
that listen babies when they grow up they're just they're
just like ever they're born in sin and shaping in iniquity and
they're going to grow up and they're going to be just as lost
and I tell you every child you bring into this world if you
don't pray for them before they're born and if you don't seek the
Lord for them all You know, I can't find my sin
by what somebody else did. Well, listen, we was born sinners. We was born that way. Nobody's
ever taught their children to lie. Nobody's ever taught their
children to sin. Nobody's ever taught their children
to be a rebel. Nobody didn't have to tell your
children to say no. Nobody had to tell your children
to throw a fit. Nobody had to tell your children,
you know, just don't stop acting that way. Why? Because they're
born that way. God have mercy on them and save
them before they get an age. And look in John 5 with me. And
you know people think that sin, you have to do a lot of bad things
to be a sinner. All you have to do is be born.
That's all you have to do, is be born, be born. And you know
a baby, it won't be anything, you feed it, you diaper it, you
wash it, and you get them just, everything's just right. And
they just cry and cry and cry and cry and cry and cry. You
know why they do that? Because they want all the attention. That's the truth. They're going
to get it one way or another. If they've got to get it negatively,
they're going to get it. Ain't that right? That's why
they say about girls, you know, sugar and spice and all things
nice. Tell all little girls, you're
a little princess. Oh, yeah, sure you are. Oh, what do they say about boys? I was trying to remember it,
but that's what you know. Men are sorry, women's princesses,
but I tell you that the scriptures tells us that man at his best
state is altogether vanity. And look what he said here in
John 5, 40, what our Lord said. He said in John 5, 40, and you
will not come to me that you might have life. He said, you
will not. I receive not honor from men.
Men don't honor me. They're not seeking my honor.
But I know you that you have not the love of God in you. You
don't have God's love in you. I'm come in my Father's name
and you receive me not. If another shall come in his
own name, him, you will receive. How can you believe which receive
honor one of another and seek not the honor that cometh from
God only? Oh, that's what our Lord said. That's why the new
birth is so essential. The new birth. That's why Paul
talked about you that were dead in trespasses and sins. Dead. Dead man can't do anything. You
that were dead in trespasses and sins hath he quickened. He's
got to quicken you. He's got to give you life. He
said he hath quickened you and forgiven you all your trespasses. And that's the thing about it.
except you'd be born again. You can't see the kingdom of
God. That's why man is so dead and so lifeless and he fell in
Adam and he fell so far from God that he can't get himself
back up. He fell so far away from God
that he can't find his way back. He fell so deep that he can't
come out and if he gets saved God's got to come to him and
give him life. Gotta give Him life and the seed
of God, the Word of God. Our Lord Jesus said the Word
of God is the seed. And that seed's got to be sown
in the heart. And where that seed's in the
heart, it'll germinate and bring forth life. And that's what's
necessary because man's dead. God got to quicken him and give
him life. Oh, He hath quickened you and
forgiven you all your trespasses. Oh, listen, this new birth, the
new birth is so, you hear people talk about, I got saved, I got
saved, I got saved. Listen, salvation's of the Lord,
and God's got to give you life. He got to quicken you. He got
to come where you are. Got to come where you are. No
more than me and you can go to a graveyard and give life to
the people that's in the grave. Or at a funeral when the casket's
open and you look at them, you can't give them life back. And
that's the way a man is outside of Christ. He cannot give himself
life. I can't give it. Your mama can't
give it. Your brother can't give it. Your
wife can't give it. Your husband can't give it. Only
God can give it. You know what I'd be doing if
I didn't have the life of God in my soul? I'd say, Lord, that
preacher said that you had life in you and that you could give
it. Give me life. Give me life. And let me tell
you something else. My gospel is the air conditioning
turned off. My gospel, gospel that I preach
and I pray it's your gospel, is based and founded on a covenant
of grace. A covenant of grace. The word
covenant, you know the word covenant or testament appears in God's
word over 250 times. So it's evidently a very important
subject. You know, and it's used over,
Adam, God made a covenant with Adam as a covenant of works.
Adam disobeyed, Adam got lost, Adam failed, Adam separated from
God. God made a covenant with Noah.
that covenant says from now on whenever you see it rain you'll
see it said won't never be another flood there'll be a rainbow in
the sky and that's the covenant i'll make when you see that rainbow
you'll understand that i'll never destroy the world again by flood
and then he made a covenant with abraham he said oh i'm making
a covenant with you that through you through you there will be
a multitude saved through your seed through your seed, the multitude
saved, that no man can number." I looked at the stars, the last
time I've been out looking at stars, seeing those shooting
stars, play out there, look at those shooting stars. And I look
up at them stars, and Shirley and I was talking about the other
night, I says, you know, that's what we are. When God told Abraham,
look at the stars, He said, we're God's heavenly people. Oh, that's
where our salvation comes from above. And that's where that
light's at. And I tell you, this is an everlasting
covenant of grace. David said this, the Lord hath
made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered, ordered in all things. And you know what he said? And
it's sure, it's sure. And he said, you know what else
he said? This is all my salvation. And it's everything that I desire.
That's all I desire. And I tell you, beloved, this
gospel, look at Hebrews 8. Let me show you something here,
Hebrews 8, about this covenant. It's an everlasting covenant.
And everything God does is everlasting. He's everlasting. Salvation's
everlasting. Justification's everlasting.
Life's everlasting. And that's why he said here in
chapter 8 and verse 6, look what he talked about. talking about
our Lord Jesus Christ, talking about Christ. But now he hath
obtained a more excellent ministry, more excellent ministry than
who? Than Moses or any of the priest. But how much also he
is the mediator of a better covenant. And look here, and is established
on better promises. 1320, here's that everlasting
covenant, Hebrews 1320. You know, when our Lord prayed,
When our Lord prayed, He says, Thou hast given Him power over
all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as Thou
hast given Him. Where were they given to Him
at? In a covenant of grace. HE SAID, I PRAY FOR THEM, I PRAY
NOT FOR THE WORLD, BUT I PRAY FOR THEM THAT YOU GAVE ME. AND
HE SAID, ALL THAT THE FATHER GIVETH ME, WHEN WERE THEY GIVEN
TO HIM? IN A COVENANT OF GRACE. EVERYONE
THAT THE FATHER GIVETH ME SHALL COME TO ME, AND HIM THAT COMETH
TO ME, THERE IS NO WAY I WILL EVER CAST HIM OUT. AND I GIVE
UNTO THEM ETERNAL LIFE, AND THEY SHALL NEVER PERISH, AND I WILL
RAISE THEM UP AGAIN AT THE LAST DAY. I WILL RAISE THEM UP. AND LOOK WHAT HE SAID HERE IN
HEBREWS 13, 20. Now the God of peace that brought again from
the dead, our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep through
the blood of the everlasting covenant. And you know what that
covenant does for us? Look what else it says it does.
God established peace through this blood covenant. Christ signed
this covenant with his own blood. Make you perfect. This covenant
makes you perfect in every good work to do his will. How's that
happen? Cause he's working in you. That's
it well pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ to whom
be glory forever. That's what that covenant does
for us. That's what he meant when he said I have power over
all flesh to give eternal life to who? As many as thou'st given
me. That's why when Mephibosheth, here's a perfect illustration.
Mephibosheth was an enemy of David. He was the grandson of
Saul, David's enemy. Saul sought to kill David on
Amitabh. And if he had grown up and had been a healthy man,
he would have tried to take the throne back from David. But he
was lame. He couldn't walk. How did he
become lame? He fell. The nurse dropped him
and fell. He had to be carried from then
on. David was the rightful king.
Our Lord Jesus Christ of the seed of David. And David says,
Is there any yet in the house of Saul that I may show mercy
to? He said, There's one over there,
his name Mephibosheth, and he lives over in Lodibar. What's
the matter with him? He's lame on his feet and he
can't get over here. David said, Well, I'll tell you
what I want you to do. I want you to go fetch him and
bring him to me. That's what the covenant of grace
does. And you know why he did that? Because he made a covenant
with Jonathan, Saul's son, and said, I'll save that boy. And
he did. And he did. And I listened. Oh, this gospel. Is this your
gospel? My gospel declares and incarnate
God that God came down to this earth. Behold, a virgin, God
said, I'm gonna give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive
and bear a son. And you know what you're gonna
call him when he gets here? You're gonna call him Emmanuel.
What does that mean? That means that God is with us,
huh? And listen, thou shalt call his
name Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father,
the Prince of Peace, and the government shall be upon his
shoulder. Oh, and he's all those things.
And oh, listen, thou shalt call his name Jesus, and he shall
save his people from their sins. Our Lord Jesus Christ was the
Word, in the beginning was God, the Word was with God, the Word
was God, the same was in the beginning with God, and all things
was made, was made by Him, and without Him was not anything
made that was made. And this Word that was in the
beginning was made flesh. You could see Him, you could
touch Him, you could handle Him, you could embrace Him, He became
flesh, and we beheld His glory. What glory? As the only begotten
of the Son of God. And oh, listen, oh, that's why
they said, oh, show us the Father and that'll be sufficient. Now,
Lord Jesus said, if you spent such a long time with me and
not seen the Father, if you see me, if you see me, you've seen
the Father, which is in heaven. Me and the Father's one. I'm
God. And you know why they picked
up stones to stone him? Because he said, not for any
good work that you've done, because you blaspheme, you being a man,
say you're God. And if He's not God, then who
in the world could save us? Huh? If He's not God, who could
save us? And I tell you, that's where,
you know, folks say, well, that's just, that's hard for me to grasp
that He was a man. And He lived on this earth. And
He slept. He got hungry. He got tired. He had to pray. He bled. And he died, and yet he was God. How can God die? God can't. But man can. But man cannot satisfy. But God can. So God and man in
one blessed person. Christ did not... Listen, this
is the only thing I got out of John Gill's Body of Divinity.
And God... Christ offered His humanity upon
the altar of His divinity, and God accepted it. Oh, listen, that's why God couldn't
charge it. He had no sin of His own, so
when He died, why did He die? Because He had somebody else's
sin on Him. And wherever God finds sin has
got to inflict death. And so when He laid all of our
sins on Him, He inflicted death on His blessed Son. Huh? And when He inflicted death on
His blessed Son, sin was put away once and for all by that
sacrifice. And now God can have mercy on
us and justify us because our sins are gone. Huh? Oh, they
can call him Jesus all they want to. They can sing about him and,
you know, put him in a manger at Christmas, have a big deal
about Easter and get the bunny out and get the bonnets out and
get the pretty dresses out. That's why he said, Paul said,
I'm so marveled that you so soon removed from the grace of Christ
unto another gospel. That's how pagan men has become,
that they make Christmas all about Christ and it has absolutely
nothing to do And they make Easter all about eggs and bunnies and
pretty bonnets and pretty dresses and it has NOTHING to do with
Christ. That's another gospel. You can't
get no more pagan than that. And people want to talk about
how pagan the Catholics are. You can't get no more pagan than
a bunch of Baptists and the things that they do, can you? You can't
get no more pagan than that. You know, that's the truth. Oh my goodness and you tell people
that and they say oh my goodness that fella he don't he's a Jehovah's
Witness. He don't even believe this. He
certainly don't believe in Santa Claus. I'm going to tell you
a true story. My neighbor stopped and talked
to me one day and and he is talking about his preacher where he went
to church. And he says, you know, I know there ain't no Santa Claus,
and you know there ain't no Santa Claus, but said, you know, we
tell our children that Santa Claus is going to bring them
something. And Santa Claus is going to bring them their toys
and all that. And so, you know, they get up
on Christmas morning and all their toys is under the tree
and they get all excited. He said it was getting pretty
close to that time. We went to church and our preacher
preached that there wasn't no such thing as Santa Claus. He
said, he said, he said, what do you think about that? And
I said, well, he didn't tell the truth, did he? He said, yeah,
but he says more. He said, we've been telling our
kids Santa Claus and it confused our kids and messed them all
up. So he quit going to church because his preacher preached
against Santa Claus and he had done to all these kids that there
were Santa Clauses. You can't make it up, that's
the truth. He wanted me to take sides with
him. Tell him how bad that preacher was for confusing his kids. He was the one lying to the kids. The preacher didn't lie to the
kids. Papi and Grandpa and Daddy lied to the kids. Oh my. And let me move on. The gospel
that we believe, the gospel I call my gospel. It declares an effectual
salvation, a salvation that actually saves sinners. And I tell you
what, not only an effectual salvation, but it's only effectual for His
elect, for His elect. It's only effectual for God's
elect, Christ's elect. Now, ain't that right? That's
what he said. You know, he says, Oh, listen,
it pleased the Father that all fullness should dwell in Christ.
And I'll tell you what, you know, we are righteousness. God gave
us a righteousness in Christ. He redeemed us by the blood of
Christ. And he made Christ unto us wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. and we're the
we fill up the body of christ with the fullness of him in all
fullness dwells in him and we're filled up with all the fullness
that's in him and all listen we're complete in him complete
in him in whom all the fullness of the godhead dwells finally
you know there's this this idea the salvation my you know our
lord jesus let me show you this i i just look in john chapter
chapter uh five with me right quick. I think it's five. I want
to look at it. No, John chapter 10. John chapter 10. That's where
I want to go. John chapter 10. You know, the
salvation, this is the salvation that actually saves. The gospel
we preach is the salvation that really truly saves the sinner.
It's a redemption that actually redeems men, not left up in atonement
that atones. Look what he says in verse 24. Then came the Jews round about
him, and said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt, hold
us in suspense? If thou be the Christ, just tell
us plainly. Our Lord answered, I told you,
and you believe not. The works that I do in my Father's
name, they bear witness of me. but you believe not because you
are not of my sheep as I said unto you now listen to the difference
you don't believe because you don't belong to me my sheep hear
my voice and listen to this I know them and look what else it says about
them and they follow me and what happens how they become his sheep
I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish.
This is an effectual salvation. Neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand. My Father which gave them me
is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of
my Father's hand. Now that sounds like an effectual
salvation to me. That sounds like a salvation
that actually saves you. Don't it to you? And let me say,
I've got just another thing or two to say. Another thing or
two to say. This gospel, my gospel, is good
news to all who believe. Ain't it good news to you that
believe? Is it good news to you? Is this the best news you've
ever heard? Huh? Oh, listen, look at Hebrews 10.
I want to, you know, Hebrews 10, I want you to see this. Oh,
it's good news to them that believe. Good, good news to them that
believe. Now, all that the question asked is, do you believe? Do
you believe the gospel? Do you believe this gospel that
I preached about a sovereign God, about man's utter and absolutely
inability to save himself because of his sin, his fault? The gospel
of an everlasting covenant, the gospel of an effectual salvation.
And look what he said here in Hebrews 10, in verse 10. Our Lord Jesus said, I come to
do thy will. So this is by the witch will,
the will that Christ came to do, the will of God. We are sanctified,
made holy through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once
for all. And every priest now, they stand
daily ministering offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, but they
can't never ever take away sins. But this man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of
God. You know, there wasn't no place
for the priest to sit in the tabernacle, because they never
could stop. They always had to labor, offer sacrifices. And
he sat down at the right hand of God, expecting till his enemies
be made his footstool. Now listen to this. For by one
offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. And
you know what? The Holy Ghost comes and bears
witness to us. He tells us this, teaches us
this, because this is what He said. This is the covenant that
I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord. I'll put
my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them,
and listen now, listen, and their sins and inequities will I remember
no more. Now, where payment of these sins
is, there's no more offering for sin. If your sins has been
atoned, if your sins has been paid for, why do you need another
offering? So now, listen to what he says. Having therefore, brethren, boldness,
since Christ did this, since Christ sanctified us, since Christ
perfected us, since God won't remember our sins anymore. And
there's no more offering for sin. Having therefore, brethren,
boldness, to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus by a new
and a living way that our Lord Jesus Christ newly made for us
through the veil. What veil was it? His flesh and
His flesh put away that veil. Huh? Oh, listen, like old Scott
used to say, come to Christ and don't move a muscle. Come to
Christ and don't move a muscle. Don't move a muscle. Well, how
do I know this gospel is the gospel? Henry and Scott got together
and come up with this. Henry and Scott were sitting
around talking one time and they began to ask, Henry, how do we
know that the gospel we're preaching is the gospel? And they come
up with five, six things. First of all, how do we know
our gospel is the gospel? It gives God all the glory. Scott
and Henry come up with this one, sitting talking together, and
it's true. Secondly, it's true to all the Old Testament types
and pictures. You can go back and find the
gospel in Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, Leviticus, Deuteronomy. Joshua,
Judges, Ruth. I mean you find the gospel all
over the Old Testament. Types and pictures. And thirdly,
I know it's the gospel. It's the gospel of God because
it enables God to be just. To stay holy, perfectly holy
and just and always do what's right and yet justify the ungodly. How does that happen? Because
God made a way for sin to be put away through our Lord Jesus
Christ. And the man that believes on
Christ, God justifies him, clears him because his sin was put on
Christ. And I tell you what, the fourth
thing about this gospel is it gives real hope to real sinners. Real hope to real sinners. And
the fifth thing about this gospel is that it'll keep a man saved. It'll keep a man sane. He won't
go looking any place else. He's satisfied right here, finds
rest right here. And sixthly, it's the only gospel
that allows any sinner, any sinner, to have any assurance. You didn't
have any assurance when you had works, did you? You didn't have
any assurance when you had legalism, did you? You didn't have any
assurance when you was a fundamentalist, would you? You didn't have any
assurance. Number nine in the first part
number nine, let's stand together