Galatians chapter one, starting in verse six. I marvel, I stand in amazement,
I marvel that you are so soon removed from Him, from Christ,
that called you into the grace of Christ, a marvel that you
removed unto another gospel, which is not another. There's
not another gospel. And Paul says what it is, but
there be some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel
of Christ. How do you pervert the gospel
of Christ? Very simple. add anything to Christ, and you
perverted it. Add anything for anybody to do,
and you perverted it. You make Christ to be less than
He is, you perverted it. You make grace to be anything
less than it is, you perverted it. And that's what happened,
they perverted the gospel. And he goes on to say this, but
though we Me, Paul, Silas, John, anybody else, Simon Peter, or
any angel from heaven. If angel comes down, preach any
other gospel unto you, than that we have preached unto you, let
him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now
again unto Annie, preach any other gospel unto you, that you
have received, that we preached to you, let him be accursed.
For I doubt, do I now persuade men or God? God certainly doesn't
need to be persuaded. Nor do I seek to please men.
For if I yet please men, I should not be the servant of Christ.
If I preach to satisfy the whims and imaginations and the wills
and reasonings and opinions and feelings and attitudes and things
that men was interested in, tried to please them, forget about
being the servant of Christ. But I'm going to certify something
to you, brethren. And this is certified. You ever
get a certified letter? That means ain't nobody can get
it but you. You've got to sign for it. He
said, 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 ye have heard of my conversation,
my manner of life, in times past in the Jews' religion. See, I
made the Jews' religion different from the gospel, different from
relationship with Christ. How that beyond measure I persecuted
the church of God, God's church, God's people. And I wasted it. and oh my how I've profited oh
I've gained a lot in the Jews religion above many my equals
in my own nation being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of
my fathers and what did our Lord says you teach for men for traditions
the doctrines of men and leave off the mercy and grace and judgment
of God But when it pleased God, bless His name, 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. Forgot the Jews, you go among
the Gentiles, among the heathen like us. Immediately I conferred
not with flesh and blood. I didn't go to Simon Peter. I
didn't go up to John. I didn't go up to Jerusalem.
I never went to anybody. I never went to any of the apostles.
I did not go and say, now tell me what this is about. I didn't
go up to Jerusalem, which them were apostles before me, but
I went into Arabia and then returned unto Damascus. You know, that's
where he was converted at and they had him in Damascus and
he straightway preached Christ and they had to let him down
out of a basket. That's when he went to Arabia for three years
and he come back to Damascus, started right where he started.
But he says, my gospel, my gospel, he said, oh, yet though I said,
he said, but brethren, I first certify you in verse 11 that
the gospel which the priest has made is not after man. I received
it neither by man, but was taught it by the revelation of Jesus
Christ. He called it my gospel, not after man. And Paul called it my gospel
because he was a preacher of this gospel. This gospel was
committed to his trust. And he told the Thessalonians,
even as God allowed us to be put in trust with the gospel,
even so we speak not as pleasing men, but God which tries our
heart. And he called it my gospel because
the message is the message I own. As one I'm going to be judged
by, as one I'm going to be saved by, one I'm going to be established
by, is this gospel that God taught me in Christ. And he said over
in Ephesians 1, he said, after he heard the word of truth, the
gospel of your salvation. Has the gospel ever become your
gospel? And that's what Paul's talking about here. He said,
he calls it my gospel. I certify you the gospel which
was preached after me. My gospel, the one I preach,
The gospel I have a hope in. The gospel because it's my salvation,
it comes from it. My salvation comes from this
gospel. And the salvation of others that
I preach to. And he called it my gospel to
distinguish it, to show how it's opposite to the gospel of the
false apostles, to these Judaizers. And I do know this. If you ever
hear the gospel of the grace of God, ever hear the gospel
that's only in Christ, the gospel of free grace, the gospel that
absolutely will leave no boasting in the flesh, that's only when
the gospel will become your gospel. The gospel of your salvation. And all the apostles said, what
makes my gospel different? He said there's another gospel,
which really is not another gospel. Not another gospel. He said it's a gospel that's
against Christ. It's a gospel that's not true
to Christ. It's a perversion of the gospel. And he says, what
makes my gospel different? Why am I so confident that it's
right, that it's true? Why did he say that? Because
he said in verse 11, Brethren, I certify you, the gospel which was preached
to me was not after man, not after man. And why am I so narrow
about it? I'll tell you why it's so narrow,
because of the way he received it. He said in verse 12, Neither
I received it of man, but was taught it by the revelation of
Jesus Christ. And let me tell you something
why we love this gospel and why it becomes our gospel and why
we're so interested and dedicated and committed to preaching the
gospel. Because we didn't receive it from man. Now let me explain
that. The apostle truly didn't receive
it from man. He spent three and a half years
in Arabia and the desert. And the Lord Jesus Christ came
and by revelation revealed himself to Paul and taught him the gospel.
taught him the gospel. You read the book of Romans and
you see how God taught this man. You read Galatians, you see how
God taught this man. You read Ephesians, you see,
he said things that had been hid from ages and from generations.
God made me to know that so I could explain it to him. Nobody, the
Jews never believed that God would save a Gentile. But God
made me know that that was hid and now it's revealed. God made
me know that the Lord Jesus Christ was the Lamb slain. Everything
that I know, God taught me. Peter never taught me nothing.
John never taught me nothing. Luke never taught me anything.
Mark never taught me anything. I didn't go to those men. I didn't
go and sit down at their feet and say, now let me learn of
you. No, no. And God uses instruments. He
uses means. And He uses vessels. And that's
why the Apostle said, we have this treasure in earthen vessels,
in clay pots. So you see, the treasure is in
the treasure. It's not in the clay pot. And
God uses means. He uses preachers. He uses teachers. He uses His Word. In this sense,
we received it from men, but not the Apostle Paul. He says,
neither did I receive of men, but was taught it of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And let me say this about every
one of us. But whoever one of us can also
say that we've received the gospel in a way that's past the power
and ability of man to produce or to convey to us. Now you hear
my voice, and everybody hears the same words that I say. And
yet it's the ability for you to convey the gospel, to produce
the gospel in you, and the power is beyond my power. It's above
my ability to convey. So it's a power that if you ever
hear the gospel, it takes the power and grace of God to do
it. Is that not right? We bring it
to your ears, but only God can put it in the heart. I can get
to your head, But only God can get to your soul. I can preach
things and you can understand the words that I say. But you
can't experience them without God, without the Spirit of God.
And what the Holy Ghost does is He makes a distinct act. And
He makes the truth operative upon our soul. You know, let
me show you over here, turn to your right until you get to 1
Thessalonians. We've got Philippians, Galatians, Philippians, Ephesians,
Philippians, Colossians, then you have 1 Thessalonians. Look
what he said. The Holy Ghost in a distinct act, an act that
only He can do, makes the truth operative upon a man's soul.
And that's why he says, you know, our gospel, if it's here, it's
here to them that are lost. And look what he said here in
verse 5 of 1 Thessalonians 1. For our gospel, again, our gospel,
not another gospel. Our gospel, the gospel Christ
taught us, the gospel that God gave us, came not unto you just
in word only. But it did come in word. You
ain't gonna hear the gospel without hearing words. And then, but
he goes on to say, but it came also in power. Not in the preacher's
power. Not in the preacher's ability.
Not in somebody so that your faith would stand in the wisdom
of men. But it came unto you in power.
And it came unto you in the power of the Holy Ghost. And when it
comes in the power and in the Holy Ghost, it gives you assurance
that what you're hearing is true. That what God is teaching you
and what God is putting in your heart is right and true. And
it brings assurance with you that this is God speaking to
your heart and to your soul. And we don't receive this gospel
by birthright. David said, I shape it in iniquity
and conceive it in sin. And our Lord told Nicodemus,
he was of the Sanhedrin, one of the 70. And our Lord told
him, Nicodemus, you've got to be born again. You was born wrong
the first time. You're like David. You come out
of your mother's womb speaking lies. And you're teaching lies
right now and accept God's... You're born again from above.
He says, you can't enter the kingdom of God. He said, how
in the world can that be? I don't know how that can be. Billy Graham wrote a book on
how to be born again. Our Lord didn't even tell you
how to be born again. He just said you had to. And he says
the wind will blow where it will. And when it comes, It'll come
where it wants to, it'll come in power, sometimes it'll come
as a whisper, it'll come as a small gentle breeze, but when it comes,
you'll know it, you'll feel it, you don't know where it comes
from and where it's going, but when it comes by you, you know
it's done that. And he said, that's everyone
that's born of the Spirit. And I tell you what I, Lord Jesus,
because, and I tell you our children, because our parents are children
of God, doesn't mean we're going to be children of God. I know
that Presbyterians and Catholics and a whole bunch of people you
know that baptize their babies and sprinkle water on them and
tell their parents that they're as good as church. You know that
they're in the covenant now and that they'll raise them right
and teach them right and everything goes right. They'll be in the
church when they grow up. But it's not being in the church
that's going to save a man. It's being in Christ that's going
to save a man. They're just making babies and
making mothers and daddies twofold a child of hell than they themselves
are. What if you baptize a sprinkler
esau? What if you sprinkle a nadab?
What if you sprinkle a shimei? What if you sprinkle a chain?
Is that going to put him in Christ? Only God can put a man in crisis.
That's what we're talking about. That's what our gospel does.
You see, we don't receive our faith from our fathers. And all
you got to do is watch a child, and that will teach you just
how lost and how they're prayed, and how wicked the human race
is. And that was what the Jews' prize and defense was against
the gospel. You know what they said? We're
Abraham sinning. Oh, listen, that's what they
said. We're Abraham's seed. There's no way we can be lost.
There's no way we cannot be the children of God. We're not born
of fornication. Oh, that's what Paul said here. He said, oh, there in verse 13,
you've heard of my manner of life in times past in the Jews'
religion. And I was exceeding zealous of
the traditions of my fathers. And that was the thing that they
said, I was born of a Jew, my mother's a Jew. And that was
his whole defense against Christ and the gospel. And that's the Jews' defense,
and that's still their defense against the gospel. Abraham's
defense. And our Lord said, if you were
Abraham's children, you know what you'd do? You'd believe
me. You'd believe me. Abraham believed me. Abraham
looked to my day, and he saw my day, and he rejoiced in my
day. And our Lord Jesus Christ himself,
you know what? He's our spiritual father. He's
our life. He's our gospel. He's our hope. And everything we have, bless
His holy name, comes from Him. Oh, that's why He said, Christ
is all and end all. And let me tell you, beloved,
we have not, nor shall we, we have not, nor shall we receive
the gospel because of the teaching of any man or group of men. And
what do I mean by that? That's why Paul said here, down
here in verse 18, he said, Then after three years I went up to
Jerusalem to see Peter. He waited a long time to go up
there. A long time. And now let me ask you, do we
receive the gospel because Calvin taught it? Do we receive it because
Spurgeon preached it? Do we receive it because it's
called the Augustinian gospel? If a man does, he better look
at his foundation because it's not a good one. Our Lord Jesus
Paul said, there's no other foundation can be laid than that which is
laid, which is the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, God's way for
His people to receive the truth is by the Holy Ghost. He said,
the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are
life, and the flesh is nothing. And He said, the spirit of truth,
when He has come, you know what He'll do? He'll guide you. He'll
take and guide you into all truth. Now, do you get all truth at
one time? Do you get all truth at the same time? No. He guides
you into it, guides you through it, guides you to it, teaches
you as you go. Now, we love good men. We respect
their judgments. It's good for us to know their
doctrine, know their gospel. I'll never forget the first time
I heard Brother Henry preach. I never had met him. But oh,
His message was so powerful it stripped me and put me in the
dust and made my gospel appear to be what it was, another gospel. When I heard Him preach, I realized
right then and there that my gospel was another one. My gospel
was not right. And Henry and Scott, their opinions
carried some weight. They carried great weight with
me, and great weight with many of you. And I'd be very, very
hesitant to disagree with any grace-taught man. But we don't
say it, I believe it, because Calvin or Henry or Richardson
is our authority. Oh, we love them, we respect
them, and I'll tell you what, I wouldn't, I wouldn't, oh my! I'd love to stand at their feet
and hear them preach the Gospel. But they never taught me the
Gospel, God did. Through these men. And that's
what our Lord says, search the Scriptures. First the Scriptures. If we'd be grown men, if we'd
be strong in the faith, we must not be dependent upon men. Now,
when we're little babies, that's fine. Faith cometh by hearing,
hearing by the Word of God. And let me tell you, the Church
is not the authority. Catholicism or any other thing
is. That's why the Apostle said,
we've not so learned Christ. I'm talking about my Gospel now.
Every child of God has received the truth personally by the revelation
to their souls by the Holy Spirit and the Spirit of the Lord. Every
single person here today that knows the Gospel, the Holy Spirit
came to you personally and taught you that Gospel. Put the Gospel,
put Christ in your heart. And I believe I can make good
on that. Turn with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 2. 1 Corinthians 2. But we know that, I know that.
I come here sometimes and I sit at home sometimes and I say,
surely, surely, surely today somebody with this message here
will make a confession of faith in Christ. Surely somebody will
be moved by this message today. Surely somebody, somewhere will
embrace the gospel today through this message. I'm just so burdened
about it and so concerned about it. And then when I go, It's the same way it was last
Sunday. But we're still going to pray. That's why it's not
in our power. Only God can do it. Oh, we can
pray and trust and hope. But look what the Apostle said
here in 1 Corinthians 2, in verse 11. For what man knoweth the things
of a man? Save the spirit of man which is in him. Oh listen, you know what's in
yourself, you know what's going on in your mind, you know what's
going on in your heart. You're the one that knows, understands
yourself, understands what you think, understands what you feel,
know what's in you. Now listen, so even so, the things
of God, nobody knows, but the spirit of God. You may know what's
in you, and I may know what's in me, but I don't know what's
in the Spirit of God, and I don't know what the things of God are. Only God knows what they are.
Now listen to it. Now we have not received the
Spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God. Now listen
to it. That we might know the things
that are freely given to us of God. If we know anything, God's
the one that teaches it to us. A man, and let me tell you something,
every soul in this building tonight, every single one of you, I ain't
leaving nobody out, everybody in this building tonight knows
whether or not he has received the truth by the inward teaching
of the gospel and the spirit of God. Everybody in this building
tonight knows, you know, whether you receive the truth by the
Holy Ghost teaching you in your heart. Every one of you know
that. And if you're not sure of that
and you don't know that, then you ain't. He ain't taught you.
I know it. I know where I was. That's why
Paul said, I know whom I believe. Oh man, listen. And remember,
some of you, you remember this. You remember how the truth You
remember how the truth came and when it started to break in on
you? You remember when the truth started, the lights started to
shine on you and began to break in on you a little at a time? Let me show you something in
Romans 8, just a minute. Look in Romans 8. This is what
I'm talking about. You remember that truth came
to you? And oh my, you just... Sometimes you'd go home and ponder
it, and you'd say, boy, that's so different than anything I've
ever heard. That's so different than what
I've been taught. That's so different than the
church I go to. That's just so different. Then
I've heard anybody else ever say, I didn't know that was in
the Bible, where'd that come from? You know, that's the way
it comes to you, this truth, it comes to you just a little
at a time, it comes to you and it starts to break on on you
and the light starts to shine. Look what he said in Romans 8
and verse 9. You remember this? Verse 8 says,
They that are in the flesh cannot please God. The natural man,
that's what he's saying, cannot please God. But you're not in
the flesh. But you're in the Spirit. Do
you feel like you're in the Spirit? But that's a matter of fact.
That's what God says. You're in the Spirit. You're
a spiritual person. The Spirit of God's in you. And
so be the Spirit of God dwell in you. How do you know the Spirit
of God dwells in you? The truth, you react to the truth
positively, really, it's alive, it's vital to you. Now if any
man have not the Spirit of Christ, then you know whether you do
or not, he's none of it. Now look down at verse 14. For
as many as are led by the Spirit of God, Where does the Spirit
of God lead you? It leads you away from the flesh.
Leads you away from tradition. Leads you away from self-deceptions. Leads you away from yourself.
Leads you away from lies. Leads you away from any hope
and trust in yourself. And it leads you, and if it leads
you, beloved, away from yourself and away to God and away to Christ
and to the truth, you're a son of God, is what it says. And
he says, you've not received the spirit of bondage again.
You're not brought back to sin. You're not brought back to legalism.
You're not brought back to sin. You're not brought back to the
flesh. You're not brought back to the life. But you've received
the spirit of adoption. Dustin is spirited behind. And
we cry, our Father, our Father. And the Spirit Himself comes
and bears witness with our spirit. We are the children of God. Is
the Spirit by witness with you that you are a child of God? Oh my! And do you know what the
truth with truthfulness, truth comes to you? Do you know what
it does to you, it leads you? This gospel is truth. It brings us the truth of our
sinfulness, how guilty we are before God. The truth of God's
holiness and His blessed justice. The truth of peace only through
the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. And He is a great sacrifice for
sins. And oh beloved, we labor to make
Christ known. But for any man to reveal the
Son of God in us is beyond the power of any man. Only the Spirit
of the Lord can make these truths vital to us. And I tell you beloved,
the Spirit of God, the Gospel, And I love this about it. I'll
tell you what. I wrote this down here. It says
the gospel is continually being opened to us and to our understanding. Is it not true? It's the gospel
you all pray. Lord, bless Brother Donnie or
whoever up here preaches. To preach the gospel to make
Christ known. To reveal Christ to our hearts and our understanding.
Make us grow in these things. The gospel is continually being
opened up to us. And opened up to our understanding.
And our progress is of God, it's not of man. We read, we listen,
but in the strictest sense, we only learn when we're taught
of God. He said, all thy children shall
be taught of God. And ain't we learning still?
Ain't we learning still? And the Spirit guides us, beloved,
into all truth, all truth. He never let a man into a lie.
Never let a man to believe a lie. Never let a man to preach a lie.
I never feel forget when a man told me that. God never sent
a man to misrepresent Him. And if anybody's out there misrepresenting
Him, God ain't sent Him. When He separated Jeremiah from
his mother's womb, called him to be a prophet before he ever
come out of his mother's belly. Every time Jeremiah opened his
mouth, he was preaching the truth. After God saved the Apostle Paul
on the Damascus road, he came out of the desert. He knew some
things, beloved, that even Peter says, Paul, our brother Paul,
teaches some things that are hard to be understood. And men
will take what he said and rest them to their own damnation.
But oh my, the Spirit of God just sent all truth. He has taught
us truth. And how sweet the truth has been,
and how surprising sometimes it is when he opens our understanding.
Oh my. And he often, I'll tell you what,
you know what he often teaches his children the truth? He often
teaches to them in the school of tribulation. He read that
tonight. Tribulation worketh patience. Tribulations, trials, troubles,
burdens, heartaches. These tribulations, these great
trials that God sends our way, they were patience. And that
word patience means that you just be still and know thy God. Wait on the Lord. That's all
that means. It don't mean sit down and just be patient, patient.
That means you go on living, you go on doing, you go on doing
what you do. But you just wait and wait and
wait on God until that tribulation passes. And that tribulation
that works as patience, it brings experience. And you say, the
Lord got me through that tribulation. And I waited on the Lord and
He got me through that. And now the sun is shining and
the burden is gone and the darkness is away and the trial is over. And that's why the apostles of
the old timer said, buy the truth and don't you dare sell it. And
we learn from experience. Oh how we learn from our experiences. Sickness, depression, fear, enemies. You know how long Moses was on
the backside of the desert? 40 years for God to teach him
anything. I don't want to be on the backside
of the desert 40 years. You know, the Lord's will be
done. And let me tell you back over here in our text. Paul says, oh my, in verse 10,
do I now persuade men or God? You see, we're persuading men. God doesn't need any persuading.
We don't need to beg God to do anything. God's going to do what He's going
to do. We don't have to persuade God to do anything. God's will's
going to be done. Or do I seek to please men? If
I have pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.
But rather my gospel, the gospel which was preached of me, is not after man. Ain't that
what he says there? The gospel, the truths of the
gospel is not after man. Let me give you just, if you
think about the truths of the gospel, it's not after man. The
gospel is not one of many ways of religion. It alone, the gospel
alone, claims by the word of God itself to be the only gospel
that God uses to save a man. Paul said, I'm not ashamed of
the gospel. That's the power of God. The gospel alone is the
power of God. And what he said, he said, you're
removed from Christ is to be removed from the gospel. And
if an angel comes and preaches, don't you listen to him. If somebody
comes with any other gospel than I've preached to you, you curse
him and you let God curse him and don't you give him an ass
break. And oh beloved, and you compare
it, compare the gospel to the pretenders, compare the gospel
and the scriptures, compare it with the Koran. Compare it with
the Jehovah's Witnesses Bible. Compare it with the Mormon's
Bible. They say there's another gospel. That's not what they
say when they advertise on it. There's another gospel of Jesus
Christ. There ain't another gospel of
Jesus Christ. I don't care what these Mormons
say. And as we compare and we receive
the scriptures, we understand that the gospel, the Word is
divinely inspired. And it's not after man. And listen to this, beloved.
The gospel, our gospel is beyond the reach of human thought. Huh? Why didn't men think of and devise
it before? Where were there other men who
thought like Moses, like Isaiah, who thought like Paul? Where were there other men? Mohammad
certainly didn't come up with a gospel worthy of anything.
Confucius didn't come up with anything worth believing. Did
he? The Pope surely ain't come up
with nothing worth believing. Huh? The Hindus, the Buddhists,
the philosophers of Greece, why didn't they think of free and
sovereign grace? Why didn't they think of the
incarnation and sacrifice of the Son of God? Why didn't they
think of a system that God and all his attributes would be glorified
in? of how that Christ would bear
sin to his own body on the tree that God could be just and justify. Why didn't they come up with
that? I'll tell you why I didn't, because our gospel's not after
me. Huh? Where would we be? God and man
accomplished redemption without Him. Why didn't they come up
with these things? And I tell you why it's not after
our gospels, not after man, because it's beyond human reason, beyond
human thought. It's not after man because it's
immutable. It never changes. Jesus Christ
the same today, yet today and forever. And he says, because
I changed, not you sons of Jacob, you're not consumed. And I tell
you something about man, man ain't never produced anything
that's immutable. We're the most mutable thing
you can think of. And oh, you look, and that's
why it says, Thy word, O Lord, is forever settled in heaven.
You look at man to gospels of men. They got the social gospel.
Let's open us up a store here. Let's open us up a place to feed
the poor. Let's open us up a place here
and let's do all these things. Our gospel ain't worth anything
if we don't open up a place that they can come in and get in out
of the rain and do. Just got to do all these things for these
poor folks. Just leave off the gospel of
Christ. As long as we're doing good works, that's all we're
interested in. And then there's the water gospel.
You know what that is, don't you? And then there's the saved and
the lost gospel. Saved a while, lost a while.
Saved a while, lost a while. Saved a while, lost a while. And I tell you, come to our church
and I'll tell you, whoever can pack the biggest pew, said we're
going to give them a hundred dollar bill. That's all the gospel
is to them. That's all Christ is to them.
It's a righteous indignation to me. And it can't be after
man because I tell you why it's so opposed to man's pride. This gospel is opposed to man's
pride. If you ever find a gospel that
flatters you, it's another gospel. Paul talked about four nuns in
Romans chapter 3. You ever hear about the four
nones? You look at Romans chapter 3, four nones. And you want to
talk about nones where? None righteous, no not one. None that understandeth, no not
one. None that seeketh God, no not
one. None, none, none, none. Gospel
doesn't flatter men. It tells them the truth. Causes
worms, grasshoppers. Where's boasting been? Where's
my part in it then? If you've got a part in it, get
rid of it just as fast as you can. God old Spurgeon one time said,
boy, your preaching breaks men to despair. He said, I certainly
hope so. If a man's brought to despair,
only God will bring him up out of that despair. Only God can.
Oh, he says there's no flesh and glory in the salvation of
the Lord. All of our righteousness is ours. And God's going to bring
us to we only glory in Christ and Him alone. Oh, listen. And I'll tell you
something else about our gospel. That we know it's of God. It
makes no allowance for sin. It does not give sin one. It
does not give sin any approval. That's why it's not after man.
It makes no excuses for sin. It don't say, well, it's because
of the flesh. It don't say, because of my nature. It does not call us to do sin
again. He said, let's continue to sin that greater may abound.
Paul said, God forbid! How can we that are dead to sin,
How can we go on living in sin? And I tell you, it will not give
any approval to sin, that's why it's not after man. You take
Mormons, they're married to a lot of women. I'm not going to marry any of
them. I've got one wife. Through sickness, through health,
through richness, through poorness, through life, through death,
through everything we've been through. One woman. One wife. Don't want no more, don't need
no more, ain't looking for no more. And these fellas that want
a half a dozen, I don't... Her fellas told me that this
man's wife, let me tell you a true story. This is a true story now.
This fella's wife's having trouble. She's having trouble. She's taking
some kind of medicine or something. She got off of it and she was
just, oh, she was in a tizzy. She said, boy, I tell you what,
if I had a gun, I'd shoot myself. And her husband told her, he
said, if I had a gun, I'd give it to you. Oh, see, it's not a mistake.
It's a crime against God. And I tell you, it can't be absolved. Sin can't be absolved by a priest
or by money. Our gospel condemns sin, makes
no cloak for sin. But it makes a way for a sinner
to be saved. And how all our sin put away
by another. It tells us how sin is put away.
And oh, listen. And I'll tell you, it's our sins
put away through the atonement of our Lord Jesus Christ. And if a man can't make peace
with his conscience, who tried to harbor sin in his heart, he
can't do it. He's going to have to repent
of it. He's got to bring it to God. And I'll tell you another reason
our gospel is of God. Because it's the same for all
men. We don't have a different gospel
for different people, in different places, in different situations.
I remember a friend of mine, years and years and years ago,
I don't think he's converted, well I know he's not converted.
Because he preaches another gospel. But he'd go places to preach
and I tell you what, Pentecostals would come, Methodists would
come, Free Will Baptists would come, Independent Baptists would
come. Everybody loved hearing him preach. Primly Baptists.
I mean, every kind of ism that you can think of, come love to
him and preach. And what he'd do, he'd go preaching until he
hit a note that people started calling amen. And when he done
that, boy, where'd he go? When he found that rabbit trail
and every ball of dogs were going to bark at him, that's where
he'd settle down. But he'd go here and yonder and
everywhere, all over the place until he got on there. But our gospel's not that way.
Ain't you glad of that? It's the same for everybody.
You can't turn your hands for the difference for any man on
the face of the earth. The only thing that makes us to differ
from anybody else is the grace of God. Ain't that right? And
oh, let me hurry, I'll quickly be done. Our gospel is not after
man because men are so opposed to it. They're so opposed to
it. You mentioned God's sovereignty. You mentioned election. You mentioned,
Howard, that you have chosen in Christ before the foundation
of the world. That God's got a purpose according to election.
That God predestinated us to be called by the gospel. And
you watch how most people react to it. The gospel that's after
man will be welcomed by man. But only the power of God can
make us so willing to receive the distasteful gospel of the
grace of God. And let me say this in closing.
I bet you never thought I was going to say that, did you? That's what they say. Now in
closing, but they teach this in soul medicine school. Several
people told me this. This is what they teach in soul
medicine school. Don't ever say in conclusion, because folks
will get ready. Don't ever say, I'll go right
on and get done and bring right on in and go right on and call
them in. Call them in. But let me tell you, if we've
not received the gospel from men but from God, let us continue
to receive the truth by the way God meant for us to receive it,
through the gospel, through the scriptures, through the appointed
means. And oh, we can expect opposition
if we receive the truth from the Lord. And you know where
we get the greatest opposition from? Ourselves. Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief. Lord, my spirit's
willing, but how to perform, I don't know how. Lord, I'm sorry
that I can't get involved in the gospel no more in the service
than I did tonight. And then when you do, the Lord
bless you to really get involved in it, you leave and say, Lord,
thank you, thank you, thank you for letting me hear that today.
Oh, I'm so grateful that I heard that today. So grateful that
you let me get involved in that today. And oh Lord, conquer our pride.
Bring us to the place that only truth dominates us, despite our
hearts. And remember this, If you receive
the truth only through the power of the Spirit of God, don't expect
anyone else to be able to receive the truth any different than
the way you did. You said, boy, I don't see why
he can't see that. A blind man can't see. And you don't get
mad at me for being blind. Huh? If God taught our things these
things, and our souls safely rest on these things, If He can
teach us, He can sure teach other people. He can teach our children,
teach our wives. Can't He? Can't He? Oh, our blessed, blessed Savior. Oh, thank You, thank You, thank
You. Oh, for the grace tonight. Oh, helpin' me. Oh, blessed be
Your name. Make these truths real and vital
to us. We know they're so. We know they're
so. Keep us, preserve us, for Christ's
sake. Amen. Learning to lean, learning to
lean I'm learning to lean on Jesus Finding more power Then
I better know I'm learning to be Let's do that again. Learning
to live, learning to live, I'm learning to live. Oh, Jesus, Finding more power than I've
ever dreamed, I'm learning to live on Jesus.