Ephesians chapter 4. There are some that say we're saved
by grace. But we need the law as our rule
of life. And I say we're not under law
at any time, we're under grace. But in these scriptures we're
going to read, there's a list of things I call the way of the
believer. So let's begin reading in verse
29. Let no corrupt communication
proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use
of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. And grieve
not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby you are sealed unto the day of
redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath
and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you
with all malice. And be you kind one to another,
tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's
sake, has forgiven you. Be you, therefore, followers
of God as dear children, and walk in love, as Christ also
has loved us and has given himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice
to God for a sweet-smelling savor. the fornication and all uncleanness,
or covetousness, let it not be once named among you as become
of saints, neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting,
which are not convenient, but rather giving of thanks. For
this you know that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous
man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom
of Christ and of God. Let no man deceive you with vain
words, for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon
the children of disobedience. Be not ye therefore partakers
with them, for ye were sometimes darkness, but now are you light
in the Lord. Walk as children of light, for
the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness
and truth, proving what is acceptable unto the Lord, and have no fellowship
with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove
or expose them. For it is a shame even to speak
of these things which are done of them in secret. But all things
that are reproved are made manifest by the light, for whatsoever
doth make manifest is light. Wherefore, he saith, awake thou
that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give
thee light. See then that you walk circumspectly,
not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time because the days are
evil. Wherefore, be you not unwise,
but understanding what the will of the Lord is. And be not drunk
with wine, wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit.
Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,
singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. Giving
thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the
name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Submitting yourselves one to
another in the fear of God. Wives, submit yourselves unto
your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the
head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, and
he is the saver of the body. Therefore, as the church is subject
unto Christ, so let the wife be to their own husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, even
as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it. that
he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water
by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church,
not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but it should
be holy and without blemish. So ought men to love their wives
as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth
himself. For no man ever yet hated his
own flesh, but nourish and cherish it, even as the Lord the church. For we are members of his body,
of his flesh, and of his bones. And for this cause shall a man
leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his
wife, and they too shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery,
but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless,
let every one of you in particular so love his wife, even as himself,
and the wife see that she reverence her husband." Let's pray. Our most gracious, holy, heavenly
Father, Lord, we come tonight seeking
thy face, seeking to hear thy word, seeking to glorify, magnify,
and honor thy son. Enable us to do this. Give us
grace. Oh, have mercy upon us. We thank
you for the many mercies that you've shown unto us. We're thankful
for the healing hand you've given to Jim. Pray that you would continue
to bless him and strengthen him. Pray for Kathleen, that you would
be mindful of her, that you would restore her health to her. She
may once again be with us. For Carol, Lord, that you would
give the doctor's wisdom that she may recover from her illness. Bless Peggy and enable her to
draw a good breath. Others among us, Lord, that because of slowness and slothfulness,
I probably have overlooked them, but thou knowest, Lord. Thou
knowest our needs before we ask. Father, now I pray for our pastor.
Give him an unction to proclaim thy word. Give him clarity of
thought and clarity of speech. Know, Lord, for us, oh, that
we would have an ear with which to hear. Oh, that we'd hear of
our Savior. We'd bow and submit to him. Look
to him as our only means of salvation. Forgive us where we fail Thee,
and so often. For it's in Christ's name we
pray. Amen. Again, to 1 Corinthians chapter
1. I'm going to finish the message
I started this morning. I had four points. I dealt with
two. And talked about Verse 24, unto thus which are
called, 1 Corinthians 1.24, unto them which are called, called
of God, called by His grace, effectually called, whether you're a Jew or whether
you're a Greek, whether you're a Jew or a Gentile, Christ, when
you're called of God, when God separates you to Himself, God
calls you to trust Christ, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ
himself becomes the very power of God to you and becomes the
wisdom of God to you. And this morning I talked about
how the Lord Jesus Christ was the power of God in purposing
salvation for he was the lamb slain from the foundation of
the world. How he was the power of God in his sinless humanity.
The power of God in his death. He laid down his life, nobody
took it from him. He's the power of God in his
resurrection. He rose raised from the dead by his own power.
And he's the power of God right now sitting at the right hand
of God. He's the wisdom of God because
it was by him that this world was made. All the wisdom and
all the uniformity and the things that consist continually and
constantly day in and day out, year in and year out. Christ
is the wisdom of God in this creation. And of course, Christ
is the wisdom of God and our salvation of how God can be just
and justify. Now I want to talk about the
gospel. The gospel being the power and wisdom of God, the
gospel itself. You know, Over in Romans 1.16,
turn back over there. Let's look at this just a minute.
I want you to look at this. In Romans 1.16, the gospel, the gospel of the
grace of God, the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ is the power
and wisdom of God itself. Here in Romans 1.16, Paul said,
I'm ready to preach the gospel at Rome. And the reason I'm ready
to preach the gospel, for I'm not ashamed of the gospel of
Christ. I'm not ashamed of the cross of Christ. I'm not ashamed
of a suffering Savior. I'm not ashamed that I was such
an awful, awful sinner that it took the Lord Jesus Christ, God
manifested in the flesh, to put my sin away. How could I be ashamed
of Him beaten? bloodied and marred beyond recognition
because I was such an awful sinner. I was such a rebel against God.
I was so against the grace of God, so against Christ, and I
was such a sinner in the depth of my depravity. that it took
the Lord Jesus Christ himself to bear my sins away, to put
them away, and to make God himself accept me and him be my righteousness. See, I'm not ashamed of that
gospel is what he's saying. I knew something about the law.
I knew something about works. But I tell you what, I'm ashamed
of all my works. I count them but done. But I'm
not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. And he says, for it is
the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth. Now
the gospel is the very power of God in the gospel. When it
says there that it's the power of God, that means it's the dynamite.
It actually has the power that dynamite has to bust open, to
break open, to tear down everything that's against it if it pleases
God to do that. When I say the gospel, I mean
the gospel plus nothing, minus nothing is the power of God.
You can't add anything to it and don't take anything away
from it. And the gospel. just by its very naked power
is the power of God unto salvation. You don't have to add anything
to it. You don't have to dress it up. You don't have to beg
and plead. All you got to do is declare
it because we're not ashamed of it. And I tell you this gospel
that I'm talking about that's the power of God, it's a thing
of God's supernatural power. It's something that God himself
Sin is something that God himself protects. It's something that
God himself provided. It's something that God himself
gave to us. And it's a thing of supernatural
power. And when you think about the
gospel in this world, how it is now, how could the gospel
of the grace of God have been established in this world if
it wasn't by God's supernatural power? How could it have been
established in this world? How could it have been? The scripture
says that no man receives anything except it be given him from heaven.
And when it comes to the gospel, it comes to that gospel of the
grace of God, the gospel that stands by itself. It don't need
my emotional appeal. It don't need your emotional
appeal. It don't need us begging or pleading. It doesn't need
us to do anything, just declare it, preach it, leave it in the
hands of men and women and God and God will do His work because
it's the power that God Himself uses to save sinners. And this
gospel that I'm talking about, who spread this gospel? I preached
about Christ being the power and wisdom of God, this gospel.
Who spread this gospel? How did this gospel, where did
it come from and how did it go out into the world? How did it
go out into the world? Well, I tell you one thing, it
wasn't educated men that did it. It wasn't philosophers that
did it. It wasn't doctors of the law
that did it. It wasn't doctors of divinity
that did it. But you know who it was that
spread the gospel? It was tax collectors. and fisherman. That's who it was. Look over
here in Acts chapter 14. Look in Acts chapter 14 verse
13. Or excuse me, chapter 4 and verse 13. Not 14, chapter 4 and
verse 13. And this gospel, this is what
I mean about it being the power of God. there was a time that
this gospel began. And that's what Paul said in
Romans 1, he says, this gospel, which is a promise of four by
the prophets in the Holy scriptures concerning his son, Jesus Christ,
our Lord. And then look what he says here.
Now they brought these men in, Peter, James, and John, and they
brought them in and stood them before them, because God had
done a mighty work through these men. And look what it says in
verse 13. Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, they
saw how bold they were. They weren't intimidated by the
Pharisees, weren't intimidated by the council, weren't intimidated
by men, because they weren't ashamed of the gospel. And they
perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men. Now, how did
they perceive that? They began to ask questions around,
where did these men come from? Where did they get their education?
How do they know the scriptures the way that they know them?
How can they stand up here and proclaim what they proclaim without
any fear or favor, and us intimidating them and trying to stop them?
How can this be? And they perceived that they
were unlearned and ignorant men, and then they marveled at it.
They marveled at how in the world of these men have this boldness
and this power. And they took knowledge. They
said, how did these fellas get it? And they took knowledge,
said these fellas had been with the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
why they're that way. That's why they're that way.
And oh, beloved, that's what we're talking about. And how
did they spread this gospel? Did they use a sword? Did they
use hateful speech? Did they use overbearing power? Were they mean? Were they cruel?
No. That's the way the Muslims do.
That's the way so many other religions do. But how do they
spread the gospel? By words. Words, the words of
Christ and Him crucified. It's words that we use, and words
have meaning. And when we use words, those
words mean something to us. And when we talk about Christ
and Him crucified, we understand that to be the gospel of who
it was that was crucified. And the gospel, just using words.
And the gospel was carried around the world within a century after
our master died. And within a century, the gospel
went all over the world. And I'll tell you something,
right now, there's not a country on the face of this earth that
the gospel's not heard now. Not a country. Not a country. I got my download report today
from Sermon Audio. And anybody that's there and
all the other men that's preaching the gospel goes into China, Singapore,
Taiwan, even into Syria, Saudi Arabia. Oh, there's not a country that's
hardly not represented that the gospel don't go in. Four downloads
in China. Four people in China listening
to me preach the gospel. Not some jakeleg somewhere, somebody,
and they're listening to people like Henry Mahan, and Tim James,
and Don Fortner. So how did the gospel go around
the world when it started in Jerusalem with twelve men? How
did the gospel start there, and how did it go around the world
within a century? Because men went out with a desire
to honor God, to glorify Christ, and tell men about who Christ
is, the eternal God manifest in the flesh. And that why he
came, we sung it this, why was he nailed to the tree? Why, tell
me, why was he there? It was for atonement he made.
My sins, all my iniquities on him were laid, and my sin debt
he did pay. And oh, they went around telling
men that. They went everywhere teaching
and preaching that Jesus Christ and Him is the words of life.
And that's why our Lord Jesus, when He prayed in John 17 and
20, He said, I pray not for these alone that's here with me right
now, but for them who shall believe on me through their word. And
when we read Acts, we're reading what Luke wrote down. When we
read John, we're reading what God blessed John to write down.
When we read Corinthians, we're reading what Paul was blessed
to write down. And so we're reading the things
that men wrote down, blessed of God to write, thousands of
years ago, and we read them and say, that's the word of Christ,
and these men were there, and now this gospel was started there.
It went all over the world. How did it spread? Huh? They wished used words. Used
words. Don't have to get the music just
right. Don't have to have invitations. Those men didn't give invitations
in those days. They didn't have no altars for
people to go to. The only altars they knew is
that they offered lambs on them. And they offered burnt offerings
on them, and they shed blood and put them on them. They didn't
know nothing about men coming to the front and praying. They
had men standing around, standing up, and they'd preach the gospel
while they were standing up. And men would say, Oh, what must
we do? Then they'd say, Oh, would you
carry me down to the river? Would you carry me over to that
water? Would you baptize me? And they come and told the men
that they believed. They didn't have preachers telling
who believers were and who weren't. Oh, and why did they spread and
achieve? Why did it spread this gospel of the grace of God? That's
the power of God. And I'm talking about it being
the power of God. Why did it spread and achieve so much? When
you think about it, the gospel is absolutely contrary to this
flesh. It said it absolutely is against
everything that this flesh thinks, believes, and hopes in. Is that
not right? And I tell you what, and you
know what else it does? It doesn't offer paradise right now. It
doesn't offer paradise on this world. It doesn't offer an easy
road in this world. Our Lord said in the world you're
gonna have tribulation. Why would anybody wanna believe
a gospel that says in the world you're gonna have tribulation?
Why do you wanna believe a gospel that said through much tribulation
you must enter into the kingdom of God? And about the time you
think you're out of trouble, somebody you love's going into
trouble. And look at all the people Gary
prayed for this evening. Four out of this congregation
alone. Jim, Kathleen, Peggy, and I forget the other one. Carol, yes, Carol. Carol Locker. And as you know, and it doesn't
offer paradise now. And any preacher that says that
it does, that's why people end up quitting. Preachers off from
this paradise, off from this easy road, off from if they accept
Jesus, everything, and marriage is going to be good, you're going
to make a good living, all you got to do is claim it. When our
Lord Himself said, I'll tell you what you're going to get
out of this world. He said, the world will hate you just like
it did me. They troubled me and they persecuted
me. That's what they're going to
do to you. They're going to mock you, make fun of you, and ridicule
your gospel. Because your gospel will not
give any hope to the flesh in this world. And I'll tell you something else.
It doesn't offer any hope to Tell you about your lust and
you can delight in your flesh and in your senses. It's just
the opposite of that. It's opposed to the flesh. It's
deposed to the senses. It's opposed to everything that
a man thinks and feels and delights in as far as this world goes.
And I tell you, it doesn't give licentious ideas to men. No,
no, no. And I tell you something else,
why is the power of God and why it spread the way it did and
why did it spread and achieve so much? It doesn't offer health
and wealth, does it? No. No, that's why it's the power
of God. How did it do so much? Because
it's God's power. And it was a gospel. This gospel
that I'm talking about is a gospel of strict morality. It's entirely
spiritual. A gospel that puts the flesh
down in the dust. Look in Titus. Titus is that
little bitty book, three chapter book, right before the book of
Hebrews. You know, if any man be in Christ,
he's a new creature. He's a new creature. He's a new
creation. And the next verse said, after
that, he says, for all things are of God. How come we know
men are new creatures in Christ? It's because he said all things,
the next verse said, all things are of God. And I tell you what, and it's
a gospel of strict morality, entirely a spiritual thing. And
look what he said here in Titus 2, 11. For the grace of God, that brings
salvation, and only grace can bring it. Grace brings it. Grace works it in us. Grace keeps
us believing. And it hath appeared to all men,
not every man on the face of this earth, but to all men chosen
of God. The all men there tells us who
it is that he teaches this grace of God to. teaching us that denying
ungodliness, deny ungodliness and worldly lusts. You deny them. Deny them who? Deny them in yourself. and that we should live soberly,
that means with some sense in this world, not acting a fool,
and live righteously and godly in this present world. Why do
we do that? For we're looking for the blessed
hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus
Christ. Now that gospel, nobody wants
that. But this gospel spread is the
power of God. And here we are right now, right
now, here in this building in Cumberland County, Tennessee,
out on Lantana Road, here's a body of believers where it spread
all the way here outside of Jerusalem 2,000 years later. It spread to here. There's a
time you didn't hear it, and there's a time you didn't know
it, but it's spread to here. And here we are, we're believing
it. We're living by it. And we love
it. And why? Because it's the power
of God who's going to stop it. And how in the world has the
gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ been maintained? How has it been
maintained for 2,000 years? With all the things that's opposed
to it. The devil hates it. He's opposed
to it. The world has put forth all its
power to step out the gospel, to step out the Lord's people,
and yet the gospel continues on and people continue to believe.
And you look down through history. Right now, look at history. What's
going on around us? We've got people in this world
that they absolutely despise Christianity. Absolutely hate
it and despise it, and they're making it known in the media.
They make it known in the political system. They make it known. They're
more interested in killing babies and defending a woman's rights
than they are defending a Christian and his rights. Is that not right? That's where we're at. But all
the devil in the world puts, and Mary, Queen of Scots, you
know how many Christians she put to death in her day? She
went into Scotland and slaughtered them. And old John Knox stood
his ground. And then there's the Catholic
Church. It started existing in the year 300. Let me tell you
something about the Gospel. Now listen, I was telling Shirley
about this today. Any religion that started, apart from the
Gospel, you can go to the time and the place it started. You
can go to when the Catholic Church came into existence. You can
go when the Seventh-day Adventists Mary G. Ellen White started that
Seventh Day Adventist. You can go when it started. You
can go when the Jehovah's Witnesses, Russellites started. You can
go to time in history. You can go when free willism
started. You can go when Pentecostalism started. You can find out when
the Church of Christ started. You can go to a specific point
in time in history and find out when any sect started. But you
cannot find anywhere where the gospel started but in the scriptures. Ain't that right? Now, you try me on that. You
go down through history and you can find where every sect, every
error ever started except the gospel. The only place you're
going to find out it, it's in the scriptures. And all listen, that Catholic
Church, they persecuted them, had the Inquisition, and then
the Church of England, they wanted to step out the gospel, so the
king said, what an act of conformity. And that put every preacher that
wasn't in the Church of England, put him out of his church. And
that's where all these wonderful books came from. John Flavel,
Thomas Goodwin, all these wonderful books that came from. Because
men were put out, Thomas Manton put out their pulpit, so they
began to write and gather with people. John Bunyan put in prison
for 12 years because he said, we don't want you preaching the
gospel. And they said, we'll let you out, John, if you just
quit preaching the gospel. He said, the moss will grow on
my lip before I'll quit. Get out of here if you tell me
to quit preaching the gospel. So I mean, there's been people
against the gospel. And there's Rome and its Colosseum
where they took Christians and fed them to the lions. And people
would just, by the thousands, stand up and rejoice as lions
tore people, men and women and children, all to pieces. Blood
running everywhere. They just jump up and scream
and holler and shout. And then men under the good providence
of God fled to America and colonized it. You know what for? The first
reason they came over here? For religious freedom. I want
to go somewhere where I can worship God according to my own conscience
and according to what I believe the Bible says that I'm to believe. But now I tell you what, you
know what Satan's master plan is now? He got a plan and he's
got it just right now. What Satan and the world is doing
now and what it's been most successful at is with prosperity and materialism
and causing the church to just explode in these great big mega
churches and they says, Gain is godliness. God's surely got
to be in this place. We couldn't be having this many
people. We couldn't have this much going on. We couldn't get
this many people saved if God wasn't in it. Have armored cars
to come in to pack the money away. And people come here and said,
where do y'all take an offering up at? When do you take an offering
up? They don't. You don't have to worry. Y'all
exist. But I tell you what, the church
lives on, the gospel lives on, and the gospel's still being
preached. Why is it? Because it is the power of God. That's why it is. The gospel
has outlived persecution, and I'll tell you a greater proof
of its power is that it continues with all of its lying, hypocritical,
unfaithful professors. You can go through the scriptures
and you can find so many people, Diotrephes, Demas, Judas, Ananias,
Sapphira, Alexandra, Philetus, Korah, Dothan, all these people. And then all the people that
we've known, all the preachers that we've known that started
out preaching the gospel. Next thing you know, they've
denied particular redemption. Next thing you know, they're
off raising money. Next thing you know, they're
into everything but the gospel. I know a fellow that you know,
he went, he was so educated. And he says the only place I
can preach at is in a Presbyterian church. And so he joined the
Presbyterian church and he said under Henry Mahan's service for
years and traveled with Henry. And then he went to a Presbyterian
church and started sprinkling babies. But the gospel still goes on
and there's gonna be men still preaching it. And I tell you
in the gospel still the power of God with all the false doctrines
that have plagued the church. There's people who believe that
the resurrection's passed already, like Hymenes and Philetus. And
there's these priests that raise up, and they have this priesthood,
they call it priestcraft, where they can absolve you of your
sins, and all you got to do is confess your sins to them. And
if you even die, if the priest can get to you and say something
over you after you're dead, you just... And they burn candles
to help get people out of purgatory. I'll tell you what I want, I
want a Yankee candle and I want it lit and set on the... Island and I want it to smell
good That's all the candles. I won't burn it or else when
we're having a romantic dinner, you know That's all the candle I want
You know, could you imagine going in light the candle? Well, I'm
gonna instead of saying, you know, I'll pray for you I'm gonna
light a candle for you. Oh my goodness. I And all these
false doctrines, free will, oh, to be taught that man in his
own free will has the power to accept or reject the death of
Christ, to accept or reject the blood of Christ, to accept or
reject the death of Christ, to accept or reject God himself
who created this world and upholds it by the word of his power.
and all the unfaithful members and preachers of today. And yet
the gospel lives on. Why? Because it's the power of
God. It's the power of God. And I
tell you, let me give you one other thing about the gospel
being the power of God. Look at the people that's been
converted by it. People that's been saved by it.
Paul called it my gospel. And then man brings in the other
gospel, let him be anathema, let him be damned, let him be
cursed, even if it's in even an angel. But look at all of
those that's been converted by it, not only converted by it,
but kept by it and growed under it by the preaching of it. You
look at Saul of Tarsus, who became Paul. You look at Mary Magdalene,
out of whom came seven devils. How many people that has been
drunks been made sober by the grace of God. How many people
that are sick, Christ raises them up. How many thieves and
sinners? There was a man that he was dying
beside Christ, and he was on his deathbed gonna die, and our
Lord saved him in his dying hour, right before he took his last
breath, He saved that man. Now, you think the gospel ain't
got power? It's got the power to save you,
didn't it? It's had the power not only to save you, but to
keep you and cause you to start growing under it. Oh, is the
gospel the power of God? It works, don't it? It works. Now, let me give you another
little point here. Obie, you're keeping track of
time. And I'll tell you something,
the gospel, the gospel not only is the power of God, But it's
the wisdom of God. How do we know it's the wisdom
of God? For therein, in the gospel, is revealed what? God being a
righteous God. That everything he does, he has
to do righteously. Has to do it just exactly according
to his nature. And in the gospel, that's how
we can see that God can be just, stay righteous, Be holy. Be absolutely just in His character
and upholding His holy nature. And at the same time, come and
justify sinners like you and me and all the sinners since
the beginning of time until the end of time. How He can justify
them and clear them of all their guilt before God Himself. God
Himself looked down and said, I justify that man. I see no
fault in him. I see nothing but righteousness.
I see nothing but perfection and He's just to do that. How's
He just to do it? Through Jesus Christ being made
sin for us and Him bearing our sin in His own body and then
God clears us when we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And
all volumes upon volumes have been written upon the Bible.
But let me tell you something and I've got I've got hundreds
of books in there, hundreds of them. And I ain't read one in
quite a while. But the gospel, the gospel is
the only subject you can read all these books. John Gill's
six big volumes, they're about that thick and the print about
that little. Need a magnifying glass to read
it. Two Big Bodies of Divinity, got a book on cause of God and
truth. Six volumes of John Newton, six
volumes of John Flavel, and on and on and on and on and on.
Sixty-two volumes of Charles Spurgeon in there. Volume upon
volume written on the Bible, but the gospel, the gospel is
the only subject that gets bigger and more glorious the more you
study it and the more you hear it. You know, if I got up here and
said, I'm going to give you a discourse on John Gill and his life, every
one of you would be asleep by now. And if I'd done that a time
or two, you'd stay at the house. And you should. You should. But oh, the gospel. When this
gospel, the more we study it, how bigger it gets, and how more
glorious it gets, and how more wondrous it gets. And oh, and
I tell you what. People call these masters of
divinity. You find me somebody that's mastered
divinity, huh? Oh, they used to call preachers
divines. I know that's a crazy thing.
But if a man will look at it honestly, he'll see that the
gospel is the wisdom of God, that the wisdom of God's in the
gospel. Now, let me tell you this. There's no wisdom in works. for a man to have works and try
to be saved by work. There's no wisdom in that. Any
fool can understand that. There's no wisdom in free will
religion. Any fool can understand free
will and brag about his power of it. And there's no wisdom
in fatalism. But oh, everything that happens
in this world happens through the wisdom and power of God,
not fatalism. And oh, let me hurry. And let
me tell you this about us as believers. Christ in our heart,
Christ in our heart, true religion in our soul, is the power and
wisdom of God to us. Ain't it? It's the power of God
and the wisdom of God experienced in our hearts and in our soul.
You see, the believers experience Christ and the gospel to be the
power of God in their very soul. How can you explain your conversion?
How can you explain your life? How can you explain your desire
for God and your love for Christ and your love for one another?
How can you explain somebody coming in here and calling you
worms and grasshoppers and that your flesh is rotten, that you
sin from the top of your head to the sole of your feet and
that only Christ is the only one that can do anything for
you and tell you nothing? You ever said, done, or ever
say, will do, can make you acceptable to God in any way. And you keep
coming back. You know why that is? It's in
your heart and soul, in your experience. Christ is the power
and wisdom of God. The gospel is. You've experienced
it. Oh, from the time you got converted,
from the first to last, from your conviction of sin, till
you rest in Christ, until you reach that celestial city, every
trial you go through, every doubt, every fear, God'll put you in
the furnace of affliction. And yet, you continue on. You know why? Because Christ
is the power of God and the gospel's the power of God in your heart
and soul. Watch your battle cry in this world. What's your battle
cry? What's your hope? What is it
that keeps your heart? Christ. What is it that you plead
before God? Plead to your own heart. Christ. When it comes time to cross Jordan
and we gotta cross that river. You know what the believer will
find his experience is? Christ is the power of God. He's
like Job. He says, though He slay me, I'm
going to trust Him. I'm going to trust Him. And I
tell you our Lord Jesus, Christ is the power of God to the believer
in all of his troubles and all of his joys. And I say this,
I told some of them people over in Ireland that I was with, I
said, I said, if anybody enjoys life, and has been blessed
more, and is more content with the life that he has, and enjoys
it more than I do, I've yet to meet that person. And they said, that's a wonderful
outlook on life. And I said, that's not an outlook
on life, that's my reality. Nobody that I've ever met has
more, been blessed more, that God's been better to, and enjoys
and has contentment and peace, and enjoys life more than I do. If they have, I ain't met them
yet. You know why? Because Christ,
and I said I've got everything I need in this world, but all
I need in this world is Christ and God. I gotta have them too.
Gotta have Christ. And I got Him. How do you know
I got Him? Because I experience Him in my
heart and soul. My soul desires Him above everything
in this universe. When I face darkness, Christ
is my life. When I face despair, Christ is
my comfort. When you face the darkest troubles
and things you can go through in this world, Christ, when you're
so weak you can't even pray, Christ enables you to stand. When you can't think and put
two words together, God will help you get up and preach and
you prove that his grace is indeed sufficient, that his strength
made perfect in weakness. Oh, yeah. The gospel in Christ
is the power of God in our experience, in our soul, in our life. And
I tell you what, in the believer's experience, Christ is the wisdom
of God. And I tell you why we say that.
Because Christ has made unto us the wisdom and righteousness
of God. Because it's by Christ that we
know God. We could not know God apart from
our Lord Jesus Christ. It's by Him that we have any
spiritual knowledge. And if you want to really be
a learned person, Gary Spraker and I talked about it this morning.
Christianity, true Christianity, the gospel of the grace of God
is a thinking man's religion. You cannot hear the gospel and
believe the gospel that we do and it not overwhelm your mind. You think about the things that
you think of, but when you come to thinking about God, and the
gospel, and Christ, and your salvation, and grace, and righteousness,
and justification, and you start studying this Bible, your mind
can't get it. But anybody can believe words.
You don't have to think anything about believing in words. But
if you want to really be learned, start with the Bible. And then
start with Christ in the Bible. And you see him to be the center
of all things. And when you do that, you know
what happens? Everything comes right into focus. And you know
what you see? The Lord Jesus Christ to be your
all and end all. Amen? Amen. Oh, our Lord Jesus. Oh, bless
your name. Bless your name. Oh, thank you for the day. Thank
you for the gospel. Thank you for our Lord Jesus
Christ. Thank you for your salvation. Thank you for the grace of God.
Thank you for the for working in us, oh Lord, thank you for
what you did for us on the cross and in working in us what you
did on the cross. God bless these dear saints.
Lord, continue to bless and strengthen Jim, raise Kathleen back up,
comfort and strengthen Sister Carol, and oh God, bless and
strengthen Peggy. And Lord, save sinners in this
place, save sinners here, and other places where the gospel
is preached. Bring glory to yourself and to
the praise of the glory of your grace in saving sinners for Christ's
sake. Amen. Jesus Christ is made to me. All I need. All I need. Gee, his wound is all my plea. He is all I need. Justness and power, holiness
forevermore. My redemption full and sure,
He is all I need. And we all said amen.