Ephesians 1, look with me there in verse 12
and 13, that we should be to the praise
of His glory who first trusted in Christ, and whom ye also trusted
after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your
salvation. whom also after that she believed,
you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise." There he's
talking about the gospel of your salvation. And my question today is, and
I asked myself this, and I remember here a while back I brought a
message on what is your gospel. Today I ask if you heard the
gospel of your salvation. That's what Paul said here. Verse
13, in whom ye also trusted, ye trust Christ after that ye
hear the word of truth. The gospel of your salvation. There has to come a time when
the gospel becomes your gospel, and it's the gospel that you
say is my salvation, my only salvation, my hope, my plea before
God is what this gospel is. Now, there are words in the Bible,
in the word of God, that are synonymous Sin and death, they
go together. They mean the same thing. Where
there's sin, there's death. Death means where there's sin.
Justified and righteous, same word, mean the same thing. Justified. God clears you of all guilt,
all condemnation. And in doing that, you're also
declared righteous. God only clears righteous people.
But I want to talk about today or deal with the word hear. Let
him that hear have ears. Let him hear what the Spirit
says. Heard, have you heard? That word heard or hear means
do you hear with understanding? Do you comprehend what you hear?
Believe. When you've heard, you believe.
In whom you also believe. See? The word see. When you hear,
you say, I see. Told a fellow the other day,
I finally understand what it means. He says, now I see. You
know? I see, said the blind man to
his dear wife. What I mean, you know, now I
see is that I understand it. I got it. I grasped it. Coming means the same thing. When you've heard, you come.
When you see, you come. You understand. You trust, faith,
commit. All these words is what I want
to deal with today. And they're all interchangeable
words. You can put them in one place or another. You can put
faith for her, faith for see, commit for believe, trust for
faith. And I know that, I also know
this, that what stirs my heart, what does my heart good will
stir your heart. Whatever God teaches me and blesses
me, I believe it's what you'll also rejoice in. What gives me
assurance, I believe that God, by His grace, will give you assurance.
Because I think we're all in the same boat, if I can say it
that way. And, oh, beloved, in God's intents,
I really believe this, God intends for His people to have confidence,
confidence in Him as the Father and covenant God. You know, that's
what our Lord Jesus Christ, you know, that's what Paul says,
you know, call Him the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
God intends for His people to have confidence in Him as their
Father and covenant God. He intends for His people to
have assurance and faith in His blessed Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. He intends for His people to
have boldness to approach the throne of grace and find mercy
in their time of need. And also, He intends for them
to have rest in their souls. rest in their souls. Now, I know
a lot of folks, you know, they think there's humility and doubting. No, there's not, really, there's
not. It's not presumptuous for us to have this confidence or
assurance in the Father, in the Son, boldness to come before
God. In fact, I believe it's arrogance
and presumptuous not to believe God. Now, you know, if you told
me something, I'd believe you. If you said, I'm telling you
something, and if you know, you'll believe your neighbor. You'll
believe your preacher. You'll believe your lawyer. But
to say, I don't believe God? You know, to say, I won't believe
what God said? To make Him to be a liar? To
say you couldn't trust what He says? Couldn't believe what He
says? Couldn't trust what He says? Couldn't commit to what
He says? Oh, that's the height of arrogance
and presumption to me. But God has a means by which
He gives us this strong confidence. He has a means by which He gives
us this assurance. And that means is His gospel.
His gospel. You know, faith comes, but how
does it come? By the word, hearing the word
of God. He that hears the word of God. And when God, you know,
uses His gospel, That's what he says here, after you've heard
the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. And the means
he uses is his gospel to give us this assurance, give us this
confidence, give us this rest for our souls. And I know this
about God's people. I know this about you today and
wherever they are, that when God's people hear the gospel,
they know it. They know it. Not only do they
know it, but they rejoice in it, they embrace it, and they
confess it, and they do it every time they hear it. It's not just
a one-time deal. Well, I heard the gospel, let's
move on to something else. I mean, they hear it, they know it, they
rejoice in it, they embrace it, and they confess it. Our Lord
Jesus says, My sheep hear My voice, and what do they do after
they hear it? They follow Him. Now, let me ask you this question.
Have you heard the gospel of your salvation? That's what Paul
asked here. He said, in whom, verse 13, in
whom also you trusted. Trusted in Christ, that's who
he's talking about. After that, you heard the word
of truth. You ain't going to be saved by a lie. God's not
going to save a man by a lie. And after you've heard the word
of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Have you heard the
gospel of your salvation? Let me tell you how we know that
we've heard the gospel of our salvation. When a man has heard
the gospel, the gospel, that becomes the gospel of his salvation,
he knows there isn't but one gospel. Knows there isn't but
one. Just one. Look with me, now you
keep Ephesians and look back over in Galatians chapter one
with me. He knows there isn't but one gospel. Oh my, when, you know, there's
only one gospel, and I had to come to that to myself. A fellow
wrote me, asked me a question this week about that. He says,
You know, if there was one gospel, what about all of us that, you
know, had our professions and had our experiences and all that
before we heard that gospel? That's what Paul said, so I'll
count it all done. But here in Galatians 1, verse
6, he says, I marvel. I absolutely marvel. I stand
amazed that you are so soon removed from him that called you in,
now watch this, into the grace of Christ unto another gospel. You're removed to another gospel. Watch what he says now. Which
is not another. There's not another gospel. But there'll be some that trouble
you, and he said this in another place in Galatians, them that
trouble you, may God cut them off. Oh, cut off them that trouble
you. And I tell you, when somebody
brings another gospel, we say, cut them off. If they trouble,
cut them off. Get rid of them. If you've got
rain green in some part of your body, you better cut it out or
it'll kill you. Ain't that right? And that's
what he says. But there be some that trouble you and would pervert
the gospel of Christ. You see, there ain't but one
gospel, and they pervert it. How'd they pervert it? By adding
anything to what Christ did, or taking anything away from
what he did. Anything away from his person,
anything away from his work, or adding to his work. And oh,
he says, but if we are an angel from heaven, Preach any other
gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you. Let
him be accursed." Now, that's strong language. As we said before,
so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto
you than that you have received, let him be accursed. Now, if
Paul got up and said that in an average place today, you know
what they'd say to him? Boy, you're just too hard, you're
too dogmatic, you're too narrow. You're not ecumenical enough.
You're not all-inclusive enough. You don't believe in relativity,
do you? Oh, beloved, but listen. Grace, faith, blood, redemption,
forgiveness, justification, and righteousness, these words have
meaning to you. Grace has meaning to you. When
we talk about grace, we're talking about free grace. That there's
no conditions to it. That grace was given us before
we ever existed. That God gave us grace in Christ
before you and I ever come into this world. So it can't be something
that we have conditions on. And faith, we understand faith,
that God gave us faith that there was a time we didn't have it.
And blood, oh, blood has meaning to us now. Without the shedding
of blood, we know there's no remission of sins. And redemption,
oh, my redemption, beloved, now has a meaning to us, that Christ
paid the debt, the sin debt, with His own blood, His own sacrifice. And if he paid a man's debts,
then his debts are paid. And if he paid them for everybody,
everybody's debts paid. But if he paid them for his people,
only his people's debts paid. Is that not right? Oh my, these
words have meaning to us. They're not just words that religious
people use. They have power to us. They have
effect upon us. They have definition to you who
have heard the gospel. They mean something to us. And
all, beloved, others have a gospel. Paul talked about those relations.
They come in with another gospel. He said, there's another gospel
out there. There's another spirit. There's
another Jesus. But God, in His sovereign mercy,
gave us the gospel. And that's what Paul says, the
gospel and the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation.
Have you heard that gospel? If you've heard that gospel,
you know the difference between that other gospel and the gospel.
I mean, you know it just like that. And I'll tell you the second
thing, not only do you know there isn't but one gospel, he knows
this, he knows that this man who's heard the gospel, that
becomes the gospel of his salvation, he knows that all God has for
sinners is in a person. Is in a person. And who is that
person? Jesus Christ, the Lord of Glory.
Isn't that what he says there in verse 12, that we should be
to the praise of His glory, who first trusted in Christ? He didn't
say trusted in facts, trusted in ideas, trusted in principles,
trusted in doctrine, trusted in a person. who first trusted
Christ, and who you also trusted. Who? In Christ. Oh, my, back
there in Ephesians 1, 3, it says this, Blessed be the God and
Father by the Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places. Where at? In Christ. He hath chosen us. Where at?
In Christ. He predestinates adoption of
children by Jesus Christ. He made us accepted in the Beloved. We have redemption in Christ.
Oh, Beloved. The Gospel proclaims all the
sinner's needs. Every need that a man has in
this world is provided for him in the Lord Jesus Christ in a
person. And you know what it is? It boils
down to this. God says, I will and you shall,
or I shall and you will. according to the good pleasure
of His will, the purpose which He purposed in Himself." Oh,
my! We need spiritual blessings,
we get them in Christ. We need repentance. We need a
change of mind. Our mind needs to be changed,
and I mean not just a little bit. You know, I can change my
mind about doing this, doing that, doing another thing. when
I weigh out all the pros and cons. But in this business, we
need our mind changed. We need it radically changed.
And God radically changes our mind away from ourselves to Christ,
away from our righteousness to the righteousness of Christ,
away from our merit to the merit of Christ, away from our obedience
to the obedience of Christ. Away from the fact that we think
we just made a few mistakes in our life, to the fact that we
know we're unable, we're sinners from the top of our head to the
sole of our foot. There ain't a spot on us, nowhere,
inside or out, that God can look at and say, I find approval in
it. Until He gives us this in Christ. Ain't that right? Oh
my goodness. In all faith, where are we going
to get that at? You know, I believe I'll go get
a preacher to lay hands on me, see if he can give me some. Oh, I tell you what, I know how
I'll get it. I'll start giving all my money to feed the poor,
and God will give me faith. No. No, if I get faith, God's
going to give it to me. You know why? Lest I should boast
and say I earned it. Huh? Oh, listen. All these things. Righteousness is given to us
in Christ. Oh, my. And I'll tell you what,
in talking about all that God has for sinners in a person,
and that's where most people really, truly miss it. And we say this, and we say this,
and you know, I say, I'm trusted in the finished work of Christ.
But you know, And there's people that are saved that use that
statement, I'm sure. But the thing is, if you know
who finished the work, you can make that statement. But if you don't know who it
is that finished the work, then that don't mean nothing. Ain't
that right? See, we know who did the work.
We know who accomplished the work. We know it was who it was
that was on that cross. We know whose it was blood was
shed. We know who it is that satisfied
God. We know who it is that put away
our sin by the sacrifice of our sin. And that's why we can say
we can trust in His work, because His work is complete, is perfect,
it's finished. That's why He says you're complete
in Him. Perfect in Him. Huh? Oh, you see it pleased God to
bruise Him. The Lord laid on Him the iniquity
of us all. It pleased God that in Christ
all the fullness of the Godhead should dwell in Him. And it pleased
God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. And
I thought about that this morning, started thinking about that.
And I got to thinking, here's all of you folks sitting here
this morning. And you come in here week after
week, year after year, service after service after service,
and have somebody a nobody like me and other nobodies that get
up here and let us talk to you and tell you that there's nothing
to you. You have no strength. You have no ability. You're sinners
from the top of your head to the sole of your feet. You have
no righteousness. You have no merit. You're a grasshopper. You're a worm. And then I turn
around and tell you that, you know, that there's nothing you
can do to save yourself and that Christ did it all. and all the
hymn we owe, and you'll let me talk to you that way because
I turn around and tell you where you get your hope at. If I talked
to you that way and never told you where you got your hope,
none of you would come back. And that's why he talks about
the foolishness of preaching. You sit here and listen to another
man prattle on and prattle on and tell you things that you
know is distasteful to you, but at the same time, you've got
to have it. The gospel brings you down and
up at the same time. Empties you and fills you. Strips
and closes you. And that's the most mysterious
thing in the world, that you'll sit there and listen to it. Not brag on it. Not recognize
it. Let's recognize the oldest person
in the service today. Let's recognize the one that's
got the newest baby. Let's have a penny, boys. Let's
recognize who gave the most money for the missionaries last month. We just will not recognize them.
We have no confidence in the flesh, none whatsoever. Have you heard the gospel of
your salvation? Oh, you rejoice. I told you you'd rejoice in it.
You'd embrace it. You'd believe it. And it pleased
God to reveal His Son. Amen. Oh, to reveal Christ in
you. And oh, beloved, you've heard
that Christ is all and in all. All and in all. And you've heard,
and when you've heard this gospel, that through faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ is how sinners justify. How sinners justify. And you
keep Romans, look with me, I mean Ephesians, look with me in Romans. I forget which one of them was
talking to him and told Job. He said, Job, you know, God,
they was condemning him. They said, Job, you know, God
won't cast away a perfect man. Just will not do it. And he will
not help the wicked. He will not aid the evildoer.
Now, that's two things about God. If a man is perfect, God
will not cast him away. If you're perfect, if you're
perfect and you're righteous, and you're obedient, and you've
kept the law, and you stand before God, and you're perfect, God
said, I will not cast you away. I won't do it. But if you're
evil, and you do any evil, God said, He will not never, ever
help him that does evil. He cannot do it. You know what old Job said? He
said, I know it is so of a truth. But how? Can a man be just before
God? How can a man be perfect before
God? To where God said, I will not
cast you away. How can that happen? Huh? How can men and women who all
their life, everything they've done has evil to take? I mean,
we ain't never prayed a prayer that hasn't had sin in it. We
ain't never shed a tear that hasn't had sin in it. Our tears
need to be wept over. And I mean, I know that from
my own experience. I know that because of the glory
and holiness and righteousness of God. That I mean, it has to
be just exactly right. Well, how in the world, then,
with all this wrong with us, how in the world is God going
to justify us and clear us and make us righteous? And if you've
heard the gospel, you know how that happens. Romans 3.23. He says, for all have sinned.
Now, that means all. When He says all here, that means
everywhere. Whereas by sin in the world, death has caught all
men. Why? Because all have sinned. And,
O beloved, He goes on to say, and come short of the glory of
God. Oh, but listen now. He goes on
to say, though, that all these that have sinned, all of them
that come short of the glory of God, every single one of them,
Now this is talking about God's elect now here. Being justified,
freely, without any cause being found in us, by His grace, through the redemption, through
the payment price, through the bloodshedding, that's in Jesus
Christ. And whom God set him forth, where
did he set him forth at? He set him forth in the covenant
of grace, set him forth through the womb of a virgin, set him
forth in the scripture, set him forth in his life, set him forth
on the cross, set him forth in his tomb, set him forth when
he raised him from the dead, and set him, grab now his old
right hand, set him forth. And set him forth to be what?
A propitiation. What's a propitiation? A mercy
seat, whereby where the blood is put, it takes the wrath of
God away. And God looks at that blood and
says, I'm no longer angry. I can't be angry. I see the blood,
and I smell a sweet savor. And oh, beloved, to be of appreciation
through faith in that blood that's on that mercy seat. God declares
His righteousness. If you believe What that blood
accomplished. God declares that I'm righteous.
Sending forth My Son, justifying men freely, Christ being the
Redeemer, the payment price for sins. For the remission, for
the payment of sins that are passed through Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob, and everybody else's sins. And verse 26, He said to
declare. And it's a declaration. I say
at this time, His righteousness, God's righteousness. He was righteous
to make His Son the payment of Christ's sin. He was righteous
to make His Son a propitiation. He was righteous to justify us
freely, because the payment's been made. And He is just to
do it. Why? Because everything's been
done. And then He justifies who? Them that believe in Jesus Christ. Oh, my. But what do we need to
do? Believe. And you can do that, beloved,
and nobody, see, there's no one but you. How many are believing
right now? And I can see in your heart that
you're believing. All right, back over in our text.
Let me look at this with you. Oh, man. Oh, you know that through
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is how sinners justify. And oh, my, there's people that
don't even know what substitution is, what justification is, what
righteousness is. And all of our blessings, all
of these blessings, not only we justified in Him and by Him
and through Him and because of His doings, Our blessings are
in Christ. We're chosen in Him. God chose
us in Christ, predestinated to the adoption of children, accepted
in the Beloved, redemption through His blood. And listen, He says,
according to the riches of His grace. How wealthy is God? How wealthy is God? How wealthy
is Christ? How much grace do you think He
has? He said that's according to what
He gave us, according to the riches of His grace. Now how
wealthy is He in grace? How much does He have? There's
people that can't count their money. Got more houses than they could
ever live in. Own their own jets and fly all
over the world. But I tell you, there's not nobody,
nobody has the wealth that God has for His people in Christ.
So basically, you'll run out, but not Him. And all He has manifested, I
love this right here, down there in verse, I believe it's verse
8, where He hath abounded toward us in all wisdom, and watch this,
having made known unto us the mystery of His will. What's the
mystery of His will? to justify us in Christ before
the foundation of the world. Now we know His will. He revealed
it to us. You see, when you've heard the
gospel, you know that the gospel's not just in the New Testament.
You start finding it in Genesis. That's what's one of the glorious
things that we understand, one of the glorious things that God's
taught, that we're not just looking at Old Testament stories. And,
you know, little picture books for kids to look at. No, no,
we see that Christ was able sacrifice. That He was the ark that Noah
got in and the door was shut. He was saved from the wrath of
God and come out on a new land. We understand that Christ was
that ram that was caught in the thicket, and Abraham took Him
and put Him in Isaac, His son's dead, and Isaac came off that
mountain. We knew and understand that Christ
was that Passover lamb that was slain, and his blood put over
the little of the door. And then he was roasted with
fire and ate with bitter herbs. And then when God said, when
I see the blood, I'll pass over you. Oh, beloved, we understand
that Christ and believe that Christ was that rock in the wilderness
that was smitten and the water got scattered. And by it, Israel
was had water that followed Him all the days. And we understand
and know that Christ is that bread which came down from heaven.
And not only that, but He's the one who gave it to us. And beloved, when we've heard
the gospel, we understand that our Lord Jesus Christ was the
tabernacle that dwelt among men. And outwardly he appeared, no
beauty about him, no comeliness. But boy, when you go inside that
tabernacle, I mean, there's nothing but glory, tapestry and beauty,
and all these colors. And there's that light, and there's
that table of showbread, and there's the mercy seat, and there's
the golden ark, and there's the covenant, and there's the censer, golden censer, and everything. Crying all the way to Christ,
that tabernacle, but everything that was in it. Oh, we know that
Christ was the priest and the sacrifice, and He was
the priest that offered the sacrifice. He was the mercy seat on which
the blood was shed and the blood was sprinkled, and He sprinkled
the blood Himself. He was the ark that was under
that mercy seat in which the law was kept. And then He's the
Shegolah glory who came down and accepted it for sinners who
believe the gospel. Everybody here knows every bit
of that, understands that, believes that, rejoices in that. And let
me hurry on here. Those who have heard and believe
and trusted, like I started out the first, they know that there's
only one gospel. And they also know that Everything
that God has for them is in and by and through the Lord Jesus
Christ. And He knows that He's saved
by it. And I'll tell you another reason
why we know we've heard it. Because God's glorified in this business
of salvation. And He's glorified in His Son.
That's why we trust Him. That's why he knows he's saved,
because God gets all the glory, and he's glorified in his Son.
Look there, I think it is in verse 6. Look at verse 6 with
me. Ephesians 1, to the praise of
the glory of His grace. Down in verse 12, that we should
be to the praise of His glory. Down in verse fourteen, the last
part of the verse, under the perch of possession, under the
praise of His glory. Down in verse seventeen, look
what it says. That the God of our Lord Jesus
Christ, watch it now, the Father of glory. God gives all the glory in this
business of salvation. Not under us, not under us, but
under thy name. Give glory. And oh, you know
why he gets all the glory? I tell you why, because he purposed
his business, which he says there in verse 9, that which he hath
purposed in himself. And not on verse 11, it says
he works all things after the counsel of his own will. We say
don't purpose. People say, boy, don't pass up
your chance. Well, God don't save me in my
chance. He saves them on purpose. And
our beloved religion is today, and you know this as well as
I do, they always want to see signs. Give me a sign. I don't
know how many preachers will go to services today. And I thought
of this this morning. I said, they'll go to church
and they'll go to get up to preach. And they say, Lord, if you want
me to stay here and continue to preach here, let somebody
be saved today. If somebody ain't saved, I'm
going to hang it up. So, you know, he'll do his dead
level best to get somebody saved. What in the world does that mean?
Get somebody saved. Oh, beloved. And they look for
miracles. Expect a miracle today. God's
got great blessings in store for you. God's got a great plan
for your life. Let me tell you something about
that word plan. Get your concords down and see if you can find
the word plan in the scriptures anywhere. From Genesis to Revelation. See if you can find that word.
Five letter word. P-L-A-N. four words, four letters. I had to count. You know, if
it had been twelve words, I don't know what I'd done to run out
of digits. Thanks, Kyle. Kyle doesn't like kids. But you know it's not in there.
It's not in there. And they're looking for blessings.
But those who have heard the Gospel, They're like Moses. They say, Lord, show me your
glory. Show me your glory. Have thy
own way, Lord. You're the potter I look like.
Mold me and make me after thy will. I'll just lay here and
I'll be still. You just do with me what you
will. Ain't that what we believe? God's people know who did the
choosing. We didn't choose Him. He chose
us. And we choose Him now, after He's chosen us. We know why He
did the choosing, because it pleased Him to do it. We know
when He did the choosing, before the foundation of the world.
And those who've heard the gospel know that the gospel concerning
God's Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, is their only hope for salvation.
They know they're weak. They know they're hopeless, they
know they're helpless, they know they're unable, they know they're
unwilling, but they also know that Christ came to save people
just like that. And not only have they been saved,
but they are being saved because they never get any better. Let me give you a little, see
if you can understand. Well, I know you can't, but the
way I'm going to say it, you know the reason God's people
were redeemed. It's because they were ruined.
If they were not ruined, they wouldn't need to be redeemed.
That's why most folks don't have anything to do with the redemption
of Christ and go on it, because they're not ruined. They've made
a few mistakes. I may not be perfect, but beloved,
the reason that Christ redeemed us was because we were ruined.
Absolutely ruined. Could not do anything under any
circumstances to please God or save ourselves. And the reason
that we were regenerated and given new life and God brought
the gospel to us and quickened us from death to life is because
we were redeemed. We were redeemed because we were
ruined. Regenerated, given life because we were redeemed. And
only the redeemed are going to be regenerated. Right? And I tell you, and let me tell
you something. I've used this illustration before.
This is Christ, His redemption, His blood, His work, His person. He paid the debt, paid it all.
Now we don't come up here to make it effective for us, we
don't mix our faith in it. It can't be if, you know, say,
well, you know, His redemption don't do us any good until we
mix our little faith in it, put us a few tears in it. We know
we got to add our works to it. I got a little bit of merit I
need to mix in here. Oh, listen, I'm doing the best I can and
now Jesus is, you know, He's come and helped me. No, no. No,
no. We don't mix anything with it.
Huh? See, it's not even our faith.
Our faith didn't die for us on Calvary's cross. Faith didn't
put our sins away. Faith came. The gospel came and
made itself known to us and we said, man, that's it. That's
it. And where'd that faith come from
that you say, oh, that's it. I see it. I heard it. I believe
it. I trust it. I commit myself to that. That's it. He did it all. Over him, our
old sin left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow. And,
oh, beloved, there's hope. There's hope in the gospel we've
heard. And those who have heard the gospel know that it's the
only gospel, listen to me now, that will keep them saved. Why
do you keep coming, hearing it over and over and over and over
and over? I heard Henry Mayhem one time. I don't know how many times,
preached the same message with the same title. And I've been to
so many different conferences, and I tell you, every time I
heard it, I just like I heard it the first time. Rejoicing
it. And oh, why? We know it's only
gospel that'll keep us safe. Why? Because salvation's of the
Lord. And if we had any part in it,
it'd be gone just like that. Right? It's not of our will,
it's not of our past, not of our ability, it's not of our
good, it's God which begun a good work in you. Huh? For whom He
did foreknow, them He also did predestinate. Them He did predestinate,
He called. Them He called, He justified.
Them He justified, He glorified. Who shall separate us from the
love of God which is in Christ Jesus? And I tell you, beloved,
those who've heard this gospel, they keep coming as they came
at the first. They come as sinners, they keep
coming as sinners, and they keep looking outside themselves to
the Lord Jesus Christ. It's guaranteed totally to death
to trust in themselves in any way, shape, form, or fashion.
Just keep coming outside themselves. And oh, let me quickly. I haven't
been 40 minutes yet. I really haven't. I'm keeping
time right here. Y'all surely you can make it
another minute or two. Those who have heard the gospel,
have you heard the gospel of your salvation, say with the
Apostle Paul. Well, let's just look at Romans
3. Romans 3 again. Let me show you this. Those who have heard the gospel,
that it becomes the gospel of their salvation, the word of
truth. They say with the Apostle Paul,
here in Romans 3 and verse 3, they say, What if some did not
believe? Well, what if people don't believe your gospel? Shall
their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? Will it
make what God does, the faith that He gives, the message that
He sends, make it of none effect? God forbid! Yea, let God be true! But every man a liar. And that's what we say when we've
heard the gospel. People ask us questions all the
time. They attack our gospel. And when you don't have an answer,
sometimes we don't. Thank God we don't have to know
everything. But we'll say, let God be true.
And he says, and this is what he says, and this is what God
says, man has to be saved. A man must be born again. I mean,
and that's something he can't do. Man can do a lot of things,
but he can't give himself life. If you didn't give yourself life,
your natural life, and you certainly can't, if you can't change your
stature, you can't give yourself spiritual life. And, oh, beloved,
he must believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord said, except
you believe I am He, you'll die in your sins. Now, I mean trust
in a living person, not some facts. And I'll tell you, if
you've ever seen You will believe Him. You will trust Him. You
will come to Him. And the third thing, let God
be true in every man and wife, that a man must submit to the
righteousness of God. He can't go about to establish
his own righteousness. He quits doing that. And he submits to the righteousness
of God. What is that righteousness of
God? It's the Lord Jesus Christ. How do you receive it? Believe,
by faith. Not by doing. And then he must
continue in the faith. Hebrews 10. Let me show you this,
and then I'm going to wind it up. Hebrews 10. 1038. He must continue in the
faith. You say, well, a hog will go
back to the wall in his mind. There's a world of difference
between a hog and a sheep. Christ said he gave his life
for the sheep and aphids, sheep and goats. And then he's talking
about how men act like a natural beast when he used that word.
And a dog would turn again to his vomit, as the world is between
a dog and a sheep. So if anybody goes back, you're
looking at hogs and dogs and goats. Hebrews 10.38. Those that are justified, and
we talked about that a minute ago, shall live by faith, shall
live by faith, not by sight. And if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure
in him. But we are not of them who draw
back unto perdition, unto judgment, unto damnation, but unto them
that believe, believe, till the days our souls enter into glory,
to the saving. Now, Paul said, now is our salvation
nearer than we believe. Now, people give lots and lots
of reasons why they quit. But it all comes down to this.
They never heard the gospel of their salvation. If they ever
hear it, they ain't going to quit. They ain't going to quit.
That's just it. That's just the long and the
short of it. And I ask you, have you heard the gospel? Do you
believe? Have you trusted Christ? Did this gospel today, that you
heard, did it strengthen you? Did it encourage you? Did it
give you hope? Did, while you was listening
to it, hear it, say, well, I believe that! That's it! I see it! That's it! Or, if you did, confess it! Yes, say, yes, I've heard the
gospel of my salvation, and I believe it. And now it's the gospel of
my salvation. Has God done that for you? And
this is the first time, and you say, yes, that's it, that's it.
If you don't feel like telling the whole church, tell me. But
tell somebody.