But here in 1 Corinthians 1,
this last Sunday I've done an introduction to 1 Corinthians. Tonight we'll start our message.
Paul called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will
of God, and Sophonies, our brother, unto the church of God which
is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called
to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name
of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours. Grace be unto
you, and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
I thank my God always on your behalf for the grace of God which
is given you by Jesus Christ, that in everything you are enriched
by Him in all utterance and in all knowledge, even as the testimony
of Christ was confirmed in you." You see how many times he mentioned
the Lord's name? mentioned the Lord's name. So
when he said, I determined to know nothing among you save Jesus
Christ and Him crucified, it's obvious that it's just not empty
words to him, just not empty religious rhetoric and religious
words. Now, the apostle had been in
Corinth for quite some time, and he was getting ready to leave
because of persecution. The Lord said, Don't you leave.
I've got many people in this city. You stay right here. So
he stayed another year and a half, and he preached, and the church
was After that, he left and went into Syria. And while he was
down there, he heard from the house of Chloe that there had
been great divisions, that there was divisions among the people.
They had unscriptural practices. They misused the gifts of God.
More interested in the gifts than they was the Lord Jesus.
They had questions about marriage. Men were going to law. Brothers
were going to law with one another. Some even doubted the resurrection.
And they abused the Lord's table when they met together. Many,
many issues here in this letter to Corinth. So when Paul, he
opens up here with his salutation, he says, Paul. Paul is his Greek
name. That's the name among the Gentiles.
That's what he became known after he started preaching among the
Gentiles. Saul of Tarsus is what he is
known as. by all the Jews. A heretic is
what they thought he was. That was his Jewish name. And then he talked about Sothenes.
Sothenes, if you'll remember, when you read there in Acts,
18, the Greeks took him and beat him. He was the ruler of the
synagogue. And after they brought Paul to Galilee, the governor
there, the mayor there, whatever, the town ruler, they beat Sothenes. And so evidently, Sothenes became
a believer. He was the ruler of the synagogue
there in Corinth. But look what he says. He says,
Paul, and then he says this, called to be an apostle of Jesus
Christ. Now, what he meant was here,
beloved, he didn't assume this office. He didn't take this office
to himself. In fact, he lived both of his
adult life as a persecutor of the Lord Jesus Christ, as a Pharisee,
a Pharisee's full-blooded Jew. And he didn't assume this office.
Christ called him to this office, appointed him to this office.
And I'll tell you something, beloved, there's no other men,
no other apostles. When these fellas died, that
was the end of the apostleship. No more apostles. No, I don't
care what people call themselves. But these men had unique gifts,
unique callings, unique powers that nobody else had. They were
blessed to write the Scriptures, blessed to raise the dead. I
mean, these men had unique gifts. They were miracles and wonders
and signs. And there's nobody working miracles
and wonders and signs today. I mean, these fellows have such
power that they even took parts of Paul's garments and would
take them and give them to people, and the people would be healed
by the very garments. And nowadays, you know, they
give a prayer call to folk. Listen, I'm telling you, these
men had power, and the power when they died, it died with
them. And that's why Paul said about preaching, I'd rather preach
the truth with five words, with my understanding, than speak
ten thousand words in an unknown tongue. If I got up here and
spoke in a language you didn't know, you'd never want to sit
there and say, boy, I don't understand the things going on here. So
that's why I said we're preachers. And God called these men as apostles,
as messengers, and they were messengers of Jesus Christ. They
were called of Jesus Christ. They didn't appoint themselves
to this business. And let me show you something.
You keep this and look over it with me in Ephesians chapter
2. I want you to see this here.
These apostles, they were men greatly blessed of God. And they
were men called and gifted as no others. You know, nowadays, if somebody's
supposed to be working a miracle, that's what they'll say on their
signs, and I say, oh, signs and wonders and miracles being worked.
When Peter and John went into the temple that day at the gate
called Beautiful, and there lay that lame man, and he said, silver
and gold, I don't have any of that, but in the name of Jesus
Christ, what I have I give you. Rise up and walk. Everybody come running around,
they all were bragging, whoa, Peter, what a great thing you've
done. He said, I didn't do this. He said, this man stands here
whole, not because of anything, and not in any cause. I'm holy.
Not because I'm perfect, not because I'm anything special,
except this man's made whole by Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
whom you crucified. He took the opportunity to preach
Christ to them people. And now, dang, if they weren't
assigned to one, didn't everybody run up to the fellow and say,
oh, what a great miracle worker he is. But over here in Ephesians
2, look what it says here. Lost it again. I had it. But
over here in Ephesians 2, look what it says, down here in verse
19, talking about how God used these men. Now, therefore you
are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the
saints of the household of God, and are built upon the foundation
of the apostles, What foundation? The foundation of the Word of
God that God used them to write. The testimony of Jesus Christ
that they gave. And the prophets, you know, to
Him all the prophets gave witness. And what's this? Jesus Christ
Himself being the chief cornerstone. That's why Paul said there's
no other foundation can be laid than that which is laid. So back
over here we see that Paul didn't take this office to himself.
And look what he says, Paul called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ. Now watch this, through the will
of God. Through the will of God. Now
how did he know it? Did you know? Let me tell you
something. He was called to be an apostle before he was ever
born. He says, through the will of
God, he says, you know, when it pleased God who separated
me from my mother's womb. Now, it was 37 years later before
God called him, but when it pleased God who separated me from my
mother's womb and called me by His grace. And he was on the
Damascus road and Christ smote him down there and he says, Lord,
what wilt thou have me to do? And then the Lord Jesus said,
I have called you and chosen you and ordained you and caused
you to be a light to the Gentiles. And let me show you something
about the will of God. An old man told me the other
day, look over in Acts 21 with you. That old fellow that started
talking to me the other day, first thing we was taught we
could have come about was we start talking about the hot water
condition our nation's in, you know, and how we ought to vote.
And he says, but when it's all said and done, you know, everything's
predestinated. Boy, my ears perked up and I
said, wait, where's this guy going here? He said, yeah. I
said, everything's predestinated. He said, you know, even everything
about the will of God, but even when we pray, we don't pray for
God to change His will or change His purpose to do anything different
in this world than He does. He said, we pray so that our
will would be subject to His will, and whatever His will is,
we would submit to it and find assurance in it. I had to say
amen to that. But look here, in talking about
the will of God, Acts 21.10, And as we tarried there many
days, there came down from Judea a certain prophet named Agamas.
And when he was come unto us, he took Paul's girdle, that means
a belt that went around his waist, and bound his own hands and feet,
and said, Thus saith the Holy Ghost, So shall the Jews at Jerusalem
bind the man that owneth this girdle, and shall deliver him
into the hands of the Gentiles. And when we heard these things,
both we and they of that place bestowed him not to go up to
Jerusalem. Then Paul answered, What mean
ye to weep and to break mine heart? For am I not ready to
be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of
the Lord Jesus Christ? And when he would not be persuaded,
we see say, The will of the Lord be done. The will of the Lord
be done. Let me tell you something about
the will of God. Everything that happens is by the will of God. Ephesians
111 says He works all things after the counsel of His own
will. In fact, you know, beloved, He
works in us both to will and to do His good pleasure. We wouldn't
do anything. Let me show you that. Look over
at Hebrews 13.21. I want you to see this. I want
you to see. God works in us both to will
and to do of His good pleasure. And we know it's His good pleasure
for us to believe on Christ. He worked that in us. It's His
good pleasure we believe the Scriptures. He works that in
us. It's His good pleasure that we call on Him. He works that
in us. It's His good pleasure that calls us to Zion. He works
that in us. It's His good pleasure for us to love one another. He
works that in us. Hebrews 13, 20 says this, Now
the God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord
Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep through the blood of
the everlasting covenant, now watch it, make you perfect in
every good work to do His will. Working in that in you, that
which is well-pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ,
to whom be glory forever and ever. You know why we do that's
well-pleasing in His sight? Because He works His will to
do it. And you know, here's the thing
about it, I'm here because I will to be here too. Why do I will
to be here? He worked the will in me. Why
do I delight in the gospel? He worked the gospel in me. He
works these things in us. Why do some folks want to do
something else? Because they haven't never had
the will of God worked in them. And, oh, Bill, that's why we
say we pray for His will to be done, not ours to be done. Christ
our Lord came to do the will of God. He said, I came down
from heaven not to do my will, but the will of Him that's in
me. His will created the world. His will upholds the world. And
His will be done in the final day and throughout all eternity.
His will. His will. That's what Paul said.
I'm an apostle through Jesus Christ by the will of God. And
then watch what he says here in verse 2. 1 Corinthians 1. Under the church of God. Which
is at Corinth. Under the church of God. Now
the church. Church of God. The church is
a term used for people of God called out of the world. All
the people of God called out of the world. God's got a church
all over this world. He's got His church. And sometimes
it means all of God's people. You know, it says, you know,
our Lord Jesus bought the church, purchased the church with His
own blood. Sometimes it's called, it's God's
professing believers in any one place, like here, the Church
of God, which is at Corinth. Now that's all He's writing to,
the people at the Church of God at Corinth. The people at Ephesus,
to the faithful in Colossae. And like the church here at Lantana
Grace Church, just as if we're a people meet, professing believers,
that don't mean everybody is a believer in the group. But
when he calls it church, he's addressing God's people all over
the world at any one time purchased by him. And I don't care how
small the group is, he says, where two or three are gathered
together to meet in my name, there I am in the midst. And
however small the group, when people meet the Lord, worship
the Lord Jesus Christ, and you go through the scriptures, Philemon
had a whole church in his home. Priscilla and Aquila had a church
in their home. A lot of people met in their
homes. And it's called the Church of God. Do you know why? Because
it belongs to Him. People say, you know, you hear
preachers talk about, my church this, my church that, my church
does this. Ain't no preacher on the top side of God's earth
got a church. They may pastor a local congregation. They may priest to a group of
people. But they do not have a church. They didn't buy it.
They didn't pay for it. They didn't call it. They didn't
choose it. They didn't name it. They didn't wash it in their
blood. They didn't call it by the Spirit. Christ, that's called
the Church of God because it's His. He bought it and paid for
it. He called who was going to be in it. He put the people in
it. Isn't that right? He has bought it with his own
blood. And then he says here, under
the church of God, we take course to them that are sanctified in
Christ Jesus. Oh! Where else are you going
to be sanctified at? Huh? Oh boy, I remember years
and years ago, I started out in Pentecostalism. And boy, Mary
asked a good question one time, you know. You got saved and then,
you know, then you got sanctified. And how do you know you got sanctified?
You speak in tongues. And you know, and they say that
you're saved, but if the Lord comes back and you got any sin
in you, you wouldn't even get up off the ground. Well, she
says, well, what in the world am I saved from if I'm not saved
from the sin? If I'm not saved to go to be
with Christ? And how can you be more sanctified
than being in Christ? They say, oh Lord, take me up
to higher ground. You can't be on higher ground
than being in Christ. And to be sanctified in Christ
means to be cleansed. It means to be made holy. It
means to be pure. Now, beloved, the old hymn writer
says, Lord, save me. Let thy power be of sin, the
double cure. Save from wrath and make me pure. And we were polluted by sin. Guilt, filthy, sin's power and
sin's guilt, both. Sin had us in its power and we
were guilty and filthy. Christ cleansed us and purified
us and sanctified us with his own blood. And it also means,
sanctified means to be set apart. Set apart to God, set apart to
His will, set apart to His purpose, set apart to His use. And here's
the key to it right here, Brandon. Here's the key to it. It's in
Christ Jesus. Everybody claims, a lot of folks
claim to be sanctified. Stay sanctified and filled with
the Holy Ghost. Well, we need to be, we need
to sanctify ourselves. We need to really be devoted
to the Lord. Well, listen, I'm telling you something. It's because
of our union with Him that we are sanctified. And it says on 1 Corinthians
1.30, "...of Him are you in Christ Jesus, who of God has made unto
us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption." Let's go over
here. I think it's 1 Corinthians 6.9.
I think that's where it's at. I think that's where it's at.
Yeah. You know what? And it's because of the union
with Him that we have this sanctification. Look what He says here now in
verse 9. Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit
the kingdom of God? Be not deceived. Neither fornicators,
idolaters, or adulterers, or effeminate, abuses themselves
with mankind, thieves, covetous, drunkards, revilers, extortioners,
shall inherit the kingdom of God." Now listen, such were some
of you, but you are washed, but you are sanctified, but you are
justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and by the
Spirit of our God. Now, I know, it just says we're
sanctified. I don't believe what God says
about it. I don't feel sanctified. I certainly don't feel holy.
Do you feel holy? Do you feel clean, real clean?
But we don't go by what we feel, we go by what the Lord says.
If God says I'm sanctified, I'm sanctified and it says it's in
Christ Jesus. That means that God considers
me clean, considers me pure, considers me set apart for Him. And who done that? It's in Christ
Jesus. And O beloved, we're in Him as
our head. We're the body. We were in Him
as our representative. You read that back there in the
study tonight. As in Adam all died, even so
in Christ shall we be made alive. As we were represented in Adam,
we're also represented in Christ. First, there was the natural
man, that's Adam. Second, there's the spiritual
man, the Lord Jesus Christ from heaven. And beloved, we were
in Him as our representative, and we're justified by His righteousness. Just like there's the vine, we're
branches in the vine, and every branch in that vine derives from
that vine everything that's in that vine. Derives its nature, its life,
its fruit, Everything necessary to it, because it's joined to
the vine. And everything that's necessary to make us acceptable
to God and righteous and holy and pure is in Christ Jesus,
because as He is, so are we in this world. Then look what he
goes on to say here. Sanctified in Christ Jesus, called
to be saints. Call to be saints. And I'm not
going to deal saints and sanctified. It's basically the same thing.
But how do you end up calling to be saints whenever you find
yourself called? Factually called. Effectually
called. When God calls, I mean, beloved,
it's an effectual call. Effectual. Our little old great-granddaughter
already, and I'm the only one that can do this, because everybody
does it, you know, they say, now, no, no, no, no, don't do
that, just touch the little ant. She'll sit there, you don't know
why. And she'll start moving, I'll say, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah,
ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah,
ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah,
ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah,
ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah,
ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, She's not even a year old yet. You know, you all remember, some
of you remember years ago, we got so far astray. For years
and years ago, your mommas would tell you, say, when your daddy
gets home, you're going to get it. I'm going to tell him what
you did, and you'd dread all day long. Momma told that. Huh? That's just as good as a factual
call. I mean, you know, we all know, you know what is coming.
And that's what it is with Christ, when He speaks and calls His
sheep. And listen, He calls them by
name, every place. Oh, my. Zacchaeus, come down. Lazarus, come forth. Barnabas,
come over here. I'm telling you, beloved, I mean,
He calls us to be saints, sacred, set apart to holy use. It's like
the tabernacle and the altar and the priest and Israel. They
were called holy because they're set apart by God. And God effectually
calls us and He says, I call you to be saints. And we are saints. God says we're
saints. You know, that's Anglican Church,
I got a lot of books back there, and people that was in the Church
of England, they always called Saint Paul, whenever they referred
to him in any of their writings, Saint Paul or Saint Peter, you
know, they referred to him as Saint all the time. We call him
Paul or the Apostle Paul. You know, and I'm not going to call you
Saint, but that's what God says we are. Ain't that right? Boy, that's a St. Bill. St. Herman. Oh! But that's what
God says. Holy. Holy. And I love this right
here. I love this. I'd love for the
Lord to give me a message on this one of these days. With
all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ
our Lord, both theirs and ours. Oh, my. With all they call upon
the name, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall
be saved. How shall they call upon Him
of whom they have not heard? How shall they believe in Him
whom they have not heard? How shall they believe in Him
whom they have not heard? How shall they hear without a preacher?
But here He says in every place, there are people who think we're
the only ones, we're the only people who know anything about
Christ. Well, Paul says, you know, that's not true. You all
have this division. I'm of Christ. I'm of Christ.
He's of Paul. I'm of Christ. And, oh, beloved,
there's people, and he says, in every place, in every place,
that call upon the name of Christ. And you know, to call here means
to call for help. To call because you're in need. To call because you need aid. To call because there's something
wrong. And we call upon Him because
He has all power. Call upon Him to worship Him.
And this calling upon Him means it's an habitual state of mind. Once you start calling on Him,
you cannot do anything but spend the rest of your life calling
on the name of the Lord. I mean, we're continually calling.
That's an habitual state of mind. We don't wait until we get in
trouble to call on the Lord. We call on the Lord all the time.
We call on Him in worship. We call on Him in power. We call
on Him to honor Him. And we just call on Him because
we need Him. We call on Him for our children.
We call on Him and praise Him and bless His holy name. And
oh, let me show you this over here in 2 Corinthians 10.7. You
keep 1 Corinthians. And you know, Paul, this is what
he's talking about here. 2 Corinthians 10.7. Our Lord, both theirs and ours.
I've run across a lot of folks lately. God's got a lot of people out
there. A lot of people. Just because
we don't know them, that don't mean that they don't know the
Lord. And the thing is, if the Lord knows them, that's what
counts. But here in 1 Corinthians 10, 7, do you look on things
after the outward appearance? If any man trusts to himself
that he is Christ, let him of himself think this again, that
as he is Christ, even so are we Christ." Oh my, you're looking
on the outward appearance here. You're trying to decide who's
a believer by what they look like. He said, I'm telling you.
He said, you think you're Christ? You think again, I'm on Christ
too. I'm on Christ too. And then back over here, calling
on the name of the Lord. Theirs and ours. You know, Christ
is Lord to both of the dead and the living. God gave Him a name
that's above every name. And oh, may God cause people
to call on His name. Call on Him. Them lepers came
down from the mountain. They said, Lord. They called
on His name. They called on His power and
His sovereignty, if you will. You make me clean. You can cleanse
me from this. What do you want, Bartimaeus?
I'd just like to see. Just so you know, I'm blind.
I'd like to see. Christ's going to go away with
me. Oh, He can do something for us.
Then He says in verse 3, Grace be unto you and peace from God
our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be unto you. Grace is God's favor. Grace is
favor from God itself. Grace be unto you and peace from
God. Grace is the favor of God and peace is its fruit. When
God gives you grace and He gives you that peace to go with it,
gives you that peace to know that God's not mad at you and
you're not mad at Him, gives you that peace of heart, that
peace of mind, that peace of soul, that peace in your home,
that peace among the brethren we enjoy. And they come from,
listen here, from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Why did he say both of them? Because they come from both of
them. What one wills, what one gives, they both give. What one
does, they both do. And oh, listen, I thank my God
always on your behalf. On your behalf. Now, what are
you thanking God for, Paul? For the grace of God which is
given to him. by Jesus Christ. Now listen here. He is thankful for grace. And
notice it's given. Grace is given. Grace is always
given. Never earned, never deserved.
If it's so, it ceases to be grace. And he's thankful for the grace
of God for them because of where it comes from. It comes from
Jesus Christ. And to whom it's given, these
people, on your behalf. And this word grace here, where
he's talking about grace, this grace here includes all that
grace brings with it. This word grace here is all-inclusive
of everything that grace brings with it. Now, what did grace
bring with it when it came to us? It brought everything grace. When it came to us and was given
to us and brought to us and taught to us and put in our hearts and
given to our understanding, it brought with it life, brought
with it repentance and faith, forgiveness, Justification, sanctification,
righteousness, peace, joy. It brought with it its calling.
It brought with it preservation. It brought with it glorification. Everything that grace has in
it. Paul said, I thank God that He
gave it to me. You know, Paul said over Ephesians
2, so that in the ages to come, he might show the exceeding riches
of his grace. What's the riches of his grace?
How rich is God in grace? He's got enough to fill our little
old cup. Oh, everything that we need.
And watch this, given you by Jesus Christ. Grace only comes
through, and always comes through, Jesus Christ. Oh my soul, I just have to go
back to that, that folks got to understand that God does not
give anything to anybody apart from Jesus Christ, and He gives
us grace because of our union with Christ. That's why Paul
says, when it pleased God to separate me from my mother's
womb and call me by His grace, that grace was given Christ in
Christ before the world began because we have a union with
Christ before the world began. You say, boy, that's strange. Well, it's so. When I, before
I was ever born, was I not given to Christ? When I was ever born,
was I not chosen in Christ? When I was born and ever born,
was I not justified in Christ? When I was in, before I was ever
born, was not my sins put away in Christ? Amen. Amen. Bless His holy name. Oh, my soul,
you're talking about worship and honor. And blessing, you've
got to bow down when you understand those things and hear those things.
You've just got to bow down your soul and say, Lord, bless your
holy name. Unbeknownst to me, when I lived
in high-handed rebellion and deep-seated sin, you gave me
grace in Christ before the world ever began. You had me joined
to Christ in an eternal covenant of grace. And when your time come, you
came and called me by that grace. Oh my, don't that fill your heart
with awe and wonder and worship and adoration and love for such
a wonder Savior that would do this for us before we ever were,
knowing what we'd be, and then making us what we would become. Then here in verse 6, verse 5,
it says this, that in everything you are enriched by him. You know what that word enriched,
that in everything you are enriched by him, that means to be made
wealthy. Wealthy! Made wealthy. Oh my goodness. Made wealthy, wealthy, wealthy.
Or how wealthy is he? Well, whatever he's wealthy,
he's made wealthy in utterance, in all utterance. If you can
speak of him, speak highly of him, acknowledge him, call on
his name, preach of him, witness of him, God makes you wealthy
in the ability to speak of Christ, to call on his name, to honor
his name. And He gives some preachers gifts
to preach His holy name, to preach His blessed word. And He gives
you, makes you wealthy and uttered that you can tell somebody about
Him. That you know Him and you can tell somebody about Him.
And what's this? And in all knowledge, made us
wealthy in knowledge, Oh, there was a time we was ignorant. And
how many, Paul goes through I Corinthians, I don't know how many times he
says, brethren, I would not have you to be ignorant. I'd have
you not to be ignorant. I don't know how many times he
says that. But here he says, you're made wealthy in all knowledge.
And what kind of knowledge he's talking about here? Knowledge
of the Lord Jesus, of course. Knowledge of Him and His person.
Knowledge of His glorious Godhead and His deity. And I tell you,
knowledge of self. When you have a knowledge of
Christ, you very quickly get a knowledge of yourself. Now,
you can't know Christ and not have a knowledge of yourself.
And the higher you see Him, the lower you see yourself. Hope
your prayer gave a really, really good illustration about that
one time. You know, you ever been on a seesaw? You know, you
get on a saw, your seesaw, you know, Big ol' Owen in here. Back
and forth and back and forth. He says, when you're down like
this, the other fellow's way up there. And when he's down your way up
there, he says, when we put ourselves up here, Christ's
down there. And when we're down here, Christ's
up there. And so let's just stay right
here. Let's stay right here. As old Scott Richard said, make
your headquarters in the dust. Oh my, can we exalt Him too much? Can we honor Him too much? Uh-huh. And oh, you can't know Him and
not know yourself. He gives us a knowledge of His
Word. Oh, thank God for His Word and
giving us some understanding of it. He gives us a knowledge
of our need. We need Thee. Oh, we need Thee. Do you need Him now as you started
out needing Him? Do you still need Him? Do you
need Him tomorrow? Do you need Him? No, He gives
us a knowledge of God's will, of God's power. Gives us a knowledge
of eternal life, of grace. Oh, He gives us all these things
in Christ. Knowledge. Oh, my. And I'll tell you, Doug, as I
was talking, you know something? Faith is not ignorant. Faith
is not stupid. Faith is not ignorant. Christ
gives you faith and grace. He gives you faith and grace
based on what you know of Him. And the more you know Him, the
stronger your faith, the more you know He gives you this grace,
the more you know Him, the more you'll evade yourself in His
presence. Is that not right? Folks would say, well, if you
wouldn't hire an electrician, would you hire one who didn't
know anything about electricity? If you hired a plumber, would
you hire somebody who didn't know a thing in the world about
plumbing? But there's folks out here trusting Jesus who don't
have a clue who He is, and what He did, and what He accomplished,
and know anything about Him. Oh, I just trust Jesus. How do
you know who and which one? I say, well, I just, well, I've
known Him all my life, and I've heard about Him all my life.
Since I was a little boy, I've heard about Jesus, and I trust
Jesus. But tell me what He's like. What
kind of power does He have? What's His glory? Where did He
come from? What did He do while He was here?
Why did He come to start with? Where is He right now? What's
He doing right now? And if He saved you, what did
He save you from? And you start asking folks that,
Mickey? All I know is I know Jesus, preacher. You're confusing
me now. No, I didn't confuse you. Nobody's
confusing you. You're born confused. You'll
die confused if God don't do something for you. And then it goes on down here,
and that's what he says in verse 6. Even as the testimony of Christ
was confirmed in you. You know what the testimony of
Christ is? It's the gospel. The testimony of Christ is the
gospel. God testified of it. Testified
of Him in the Old Testament, said, He's coming. And Christ
came. I'll sing, you read it tonight,
that you'd raise up a shepherd David after my own heart. That's
Christ. The Holy Spirit testified of
Him. And Christ testified of Himself. He said, I came to honor Him. I came not seeking my own glory,
but the glory of Him that sent me. If I speak of myself, my
witness is not true. There's others that speak of
me. The Father speaks of me and bears witness to me. My words
bear witness to me. John bore witness to me. My miracles
bear witness to me. The Holy Spirit bears witness
to me. And that's what he says. We believe the testimony of Christ,
and that's the gospel. And listen, it's confirmed in
you Do you know whether you believe the gospel or not? It's confirmed
in you. Ain't that what he says over
here in verse chapter two of verse one? Talk about the testimony. He said, And I, brethren, when
I came to you, came not with thanks to speech of wisdom, declaring
unto you the testimony of God. What's the testimony? This is
the record that God hath given to us, eternal life, and this
life shall be so. And oh, beloved, the truth of
the gospel, and I want you to look with me quickly, and then
I'm done. 1 Thessalonians 1.5. He says that testimony of Christ
was confirmed in you. When he'd come and testified
of Christ and preached the gospel, testified of his atoning sacrifice,
his blood, his righteousness, Him being sin of God, being crucified
on a Roman cross outside Jerusalem, being raised again from the dead,
justified by the Spirit. Look what he says here in verse
5. For our gospel came not unto you in word only. Now, when you
hear preaching, and you hear me, all you hear is words coming
from me. But now listen. But the gospel
Don't come just in words only, but it also comes in power, and
it comes in the Holy Ghost. And when it does, it comes and
gives you assurance that what you're hearing is the gospel. The Holy Ghost doesn't give you
assurance, it gives you assurance that what you're hearing is true. That's what that means right
there. There's nothing like the gospel
and what it does for you when you hear it. Nothing like it.
Nothing in this world like it. And all firmly established among
you. That's what he's saying. And
oh, beloved, the gospel comes to you in power. And when you
hear some of the things you heard tonight, assurance comes with
what you heard, says the Holy Ghost gave assurance to your
heart. That's true. That's true. That's true. It's not just the words of the
preacher. And that's why Paul said, I'm not ashamed of the
gospel. You know why I'm not ashamed of it? Because it, it
is the power of God unto salvation. Not the preacher, not the church,
not our testimonies, not our words, not our tears, not our
altars. The gospel, naked power of God
is the power of God unto salvation. it? Amen. Oh, blessed, blessed, blessed,
blessed God. Oh, our Father, in the name of
the Lord Jesus Christ, we're calling on His name. For we just
read, calling on His name. calling on Him, to praise Him,
to thank Him, to bless Him, to honor Him, to prosperate our
hearts before Him in wonder, praise, and adoration. Great
joy and thanksgiving in our heart for this wondrous, blessed salvation
You give us in Him. And how You brought the Gospel
and brought Christ to our hearts, brought grace to our hearts,
brought grace to our understanding, brought the truths of the Blessed
Word of God to our hearts and our souls and our understanding
and gave us both the knowledge of Christ to us. We'd be left
in darkness and death and depravity and utter ruin had not you come,
Lord, and done this for us. And, oh God, we pray that you'd
continue to send the Holy Ghost in power. Open hearts, open minds, open
wills. call your people to yourself
according to your will, according to your riches in glory, in Christ
our Savior. Amen. Amen. Amen. This stand is saying, Rock of
Ages, 126. No, we'll just sing it at 127.
Hallelujah, one second. Man of sorrows, what a day for
the Son of God who came, ruined sinners to reclaim. Hallelujah. Savior. Bearing shame and scoffing
rude, In my place condemned He stood, Sealed my pardon with
His blood. Alleluia! What a Savior! Filthy, vile, and helpless we,
spotless Lamb of God was He. Full atonement can it be? Hallelujah! What a Savior! Lifted up was He to die, His
name is what is right. Now in heav'n we glorify. Hallelujah! What a Savior! When He comes, our glorious King,
All His ransomed home to bring, In a new, this song we'll sing,
Hallelujah, what a Savior! I'll see you Wednesday night,
God willing.