If you would, and you want to
follow along, I'm going to be in the book of Colossians, chapter
1. Colossians, chapter 1, and I'm
just going to read the first four verses. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
by the will of God and Timotheus, our brother, to the saints and
faithful brethren in Christ, which are at Colossae. Grace be unto you and peace from
God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We give thanks to God
and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you,
since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love
which ye have to all the saints. And I'm just gonna stop right
there. I've got a couple of quotes here
I've run together from Charles Spurgeon. It is the whole business of the
whole church to preach the whole gospel to the whole world. I like that. But here's another
one most people don't know. There are in truth but two denominations
on this earth. the church, and the world. And that's it. I like that. I'm not going to keep you long
today, and I'm not going to say anything new today. All I've
got is the same old story, and I love it. And that old, old
story is this. Christ is all and in all. Even if you don't see it, if
you don't know it, and if you don't love it, I'm still gonna
say it. Christ is all. Christ is all. But here, I wanna begin in verse
two. To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ, which are
at Colossae. This letter is written by the
Apostle Paul. And he says this letter is from
Paul and Timothy. It's addressed, and this is the
thing the world doesn't seem to understand, this is addressed
to the saints and faithful brethren at Colossae. That's who this
letter was written to. Now, I also say it was written
to us if we are saints and faithful brethren. We're brothers and
sisters in Christ if you are in Christ this letter applies
However Let me say this saints are faithful and The faithful are saints Faithful
brethren are saints You can't have one without the other you
understand I I'm not going into it in any
detail. I've got somewhere I need to
go. But this is something most professed Christians don't understand. The Apostle Paul, in writing
this letter, was not writing to the lost. He was writing to
the brethren. He was writing to believers.
That's who he was writing to. And this is something that the
world doesn't understand. The Bible is not the light of
the world. It's light for Christians, for
believers, true believers. It's the light of the church.
And what's he say? Grace be unto you, and peace
be unto you. It's not unto the world. Grace
and peace did come when Christ came. Good tidings of great joy,
you know. There's a Savior, but He's not
everyone's Savior. Christ the Lord. He is the Savior,
but He's not everyone's Savior. And He is the Lord, and He is
everyone's Lord, whether you know it or not. But that's another
thing. Grace is to you and peace is
to you Believers the church of Christ that as that that was
at Colossi and to us today Because this epistle is written to believers
and this epistle is written for believers the church of Christ
at Colossi and Grace and peace come from God the father in the
Lord Jesus Christ to us who believe, freely given to the faithful
saints by the source of all love and grace and peace. Then Paul
writes this beautiful statement here. Verse three, we give thanks to
God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always
for you, for you, for you. We give thanks to God for you. The saints and faithful brethren
at Colossae. Paul thanks God for the saints
at Colossae. The faithful brethren in Christ
Jesus. And I'm gonna tell you something,
the prayers of the apostle are for the people of God. He says
it always, always for you, always. Thank God for his people. Thank God for his people. Thank
God for believers. The faithful, brethren. Now, I'm going to do that same thing
here today, if I can, in front of you. I want to tell you, this
assembly, and I know we're not all here, but it includes the
ones that aren't here for whatever reason. Not going into that,
but this assembly is my family. These are the people I want to
be with. I know we're spread out. And I know some of us got
jobs now. I don't, since I retired. But
I have other things I have to do. We are constrained. Well, to quote a very wise philosopher
named Curley, I'm a victim of circumstance. I am, and you are
too. I'm going to tell you something.
I'd like to see more of you people. I really would. I'd like to be
around you more. And one day, maybe we will. We'll see what's going on. But
here's the thing. I believe this assembly of saints
and faithful brethren are at the Sovereign Grace Chapel. I
do believe that. think back upon it, this assembly
has been through a lot of stuff. I'm not gonna go into a whole
lot of it, but we started out going on 40 years ago as two
separate assemblies. One at Browns Road down at Kellysville,
and one at Mabscot. And then we came together. And
thank God, since then we've never been apart. We've had people
come and we've had people go. I mean, understand, the gospel
was preached in both places, Earl and Mabscot and Walter at
Kellysville. And here's the thing, it was
the same gospel, even then, 40 years ago. It doesn't seem possible. God, I was young when we started
this stuff. It's amazing. I mean to me even
to think about it now But and I've known Walter his family
and the people from Mabscot for going on 40 years and We're still
here We're still here You know Understand that's the grace of
God in Christ Jesus for us and And now, the same gospel is preached,
the same Christ is preached. Folks, you're faithful brethren.
You're saints in Christ Jesus. And you're my brothers and sisters
in Christ. And I thank God for you. And
I said it, now people have come and people have gone. We have
lost many. In the words of Darrell McClung, They beat us in. He looked at
Earl when he was in the hospital and he said, I'm going to beat
you in. And smiled when he said it. We've lost more. And we've had
some who had to move away because of family, because of a job,
or whatever. And some of those, though, still
visit when they can. And it's kind of like a family
reunion when they come in. Because it is. It is. And we've gotten to know some
others in other places and other assemblies that are family also. There may be somewhere else,
but I'm going to tell you something, folks. We're going to do the
Lord's Table next week. If you're part of Christ's family,
you're part of our family. We do not participate indoors
or recognize anything called a closed table. only for the
people of a certain assembly. I know some people do. But you
understand, our family's bigger than this. I'm gonna tell you something.
We may be a small assembly, but Christ doesn't have a small church.
He has his people everywhere. And even if I don't know them,
they're still part of my family. Well, I'm part of theirs. It's
Christ's family. Oh, I like that, I do. It'd be
a little bit like a family reunion when people show up. But we know some others from
other places and other assemblies, and we also know in other places
the same gospel is preached. They're family, too. And I thank
God for them also. Now, let's be honest. We've had
other people come and then go unhappily. Now they may have
came happy, but they left unhappily. But I'm gonna tell you why they
left unhappily. It's because of the same gospel
we preach. And that we've been preaching,
I know, for 40 years. Earl preached longer than that. But for the
last 40 years, and hopefully today, The same gospel we've been preaching
all these years, the same Christ, the world will not have. And they hate it. And they hate
the preaching of free and sovereign grace in the ultimate, plenteous,
eternal redemption of Christ Jesus. That all our salvation
is in Him and nowhere else. Not in what we've done, not in
what we do. We've been preaching the same
Christ. What does it say in Ephesians 4 and 5? One Lord, one faith,
and one baptism. One God and Father of all, who
is above all, and through all, and in you all. That's not the
world. That's faithful brethren and
the saints in Christ Jesus. Oh my. I mean, we've seen it
more than once. They went out from us, but they
were not of us. Had they been of us, they would
no doubt have continued with us in the same gospel. But they went out. They went
out. Why? To show. Not to make them,
just to show, to manifest that they were not of us. And that's
just the way it is. And the same gospel is still
preached here. If they want to come back, they can. I won't
stop anybody from hearing the gospel to save my life. I want people to hear the gospel.
If they want to come back, by God's free and sovereign grace,
we're still here, and we're still preaching the same gospel. Oh
my. The gospel of Christ is still
held forth because He is our banner, our Ebenezer, our salvation,
our Lord, our Savior, but most of all our Lord, Lord Jesus Christ. Now, this small assembly, I do
want to, I don't know if I want to call it boast about you people,
but That's sort of what it is, but it's not really boasting
if it's true, is it? We're on Facebook, aren't we?
We're still on Facebook. Okay, great. We're on Facebook.
I don't have Facebook, okay? I've looked at it through Debbie's
sign-on because she had it and she don't use it. But anyway,
we're on Facebook, we're on YouTube, we're on Sermon Audio, and we're
on the World Wide Web at sgchapel, one word, dot com. And if you
want to go up on YouTube, you can look it up under SGChapel,
one word, on YouTube, it'll come up. But anyhow, I don't know
who visits our website. I don't know who the people are.
But Paul can get you the numbers and stuff. And I can look at
the numbers on Sermon Audio. But we reach a good bit of people
through our webs, through the websites and through Sermon Audio.
I looked yesterday, and I backed it up for a year. I can look
this up on there. Paul gave me access. He may regret it later, but I've
got the access now, for now anyway. But last year, this small assembly,
we reached people in 43 states in the United States last year.
And not only that. We reached people in 42 different
countries last year. Isn't that amazing? Thank you. Y'all make this possible. Y'all make this possible. 42 countries. I look from England
to Belgium to Singapore and to Australia. All from a small assembly
in Crow, West Virginia. It's amazing to me. It's amazing
to me. I thank God for that. Walter and Paul have been asked
to preach in other places. I thank God for that. Because
you know what? I know they're going forth and
preaching the exact same gospel that they preached here. They're
preaching the same Christ. I thank God for that. We are
all family, and there is only one church. Now, I do know this. I know the gospel was preached
to them all, and all that listen to Sermon Audio and YouTube and
Facebook, and here I'm gonna tell you something. I know the
results of all that preaching. That's right, I'm very smart.
I can read the scripture. God revealed it to me. I know
the results. I'm not a psychic. I'm not an
Old Testament prophet, but I know the results of every gospel message
ever preached. Because it's the same as the
results that the Apostle Paul got. You'll find it, you don't
have to look here, but I'm going to read it to you. In Acts 28
and 24, I always try never to forget this verse. Luke was recording
that Paul had been speaking, and he recorded what Paul had
spoke to these people at that time. And here's what Luke wrote,
and some believed the things that were spoken, and some believed
not. That's the results of every gospel
message ever preached. Some believed, and some don't. And we reached 43 states and
43 countries, counting the United States, 42 foreign countries. And some believed, and some did
not. And that's all we can do. And
thanks to you, and I thank God for you, we can do this. And
we are doing this. But I do know this, his word
will not return unto him void. It's going to accomplish exactly
why he sent it out there. Oh my. We can't get too puffed
up about doing all this because we didn't do it anyway. God's
the one who enables us to do anything. His word accomplishes
what he sent it forth to do. Period. Period. And some believed
and some did not. Some believed not. And you support
his gospel being preached. And for that, I thank God for
you. I thank God for you. Because I can tell you this,
I believe this, the assembly at the Sovereign Grace Chapel
is faithful. It's faithful. And I, and I believe
I can speak for Walter and Paul in this, we thank you for it.
And we thank God for you. Then verse 4 says this, since
we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love which ye
have to all the saints. Now, when I read that verse,
we give thanks to God, and then since we have heard of your faith
in Christ Jesus, I had to think of 2 Thessalonians. And if you want to, you can turn
over there just for a minute. I'm going to pretty much wind
up on this. If you read 2 Thessalonians chapter
1, verse 2 and 3 are almost the same address. Grace unto you
and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We
are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet,
because your faith groweth exceedingly. and the charity of every one
of you all toward each other aboundeth." I like that. I like that. Your charity and
love abounds to the brethren, to the brethren. But here's the
part that gets me going. I like this. This is an infamous scripture.
Second, Thessalonians chapter 2 and verse 13 But we are bound
to give thanks all way to God for you brethren beloved of the
Lord Now that's a good place to be Beloved of the Lord, but
why does he say this? Because God hath from the beginning
chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit
and belief of the truth, whereunto he called you by our gospel to
the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, brethren, stand fast,
and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether
by word or by our epistle. Stop right there This is the
same gospel. We're preaching right here that
is preached from this place The sanctification the purification
and the setting apart of the holy spirit comes first That question that Earl got on
the phone that one time what comes first life or faith the
answer is life Dead men don't believe a thing Dead men don't
do a thing. Dead men can't do anything. Life comes first. The Holy Spirit
comes first, and the belief of the truth. And it is in that
order. Paul wrote it specifically. The
belief of the truth, the gospel we preached unto you, the very
same gospel, because there is only one gospel. One gospel. And it's the gospel of our Lord
Jesus Christ who has power over all flesh. And what? We are bound to give
thanks always to God for you, brethren, because what? God hath
from the beginning chosen you to this salvation through sanctification
of spirit and belief of the truth, whereunto he called you by our
gospel. That's the gospel coming in truth
and in power. Understand the Lord Jesus Christ
who has power over all flesh to give eternal life to as many
as the father gave him What? He gives eternal life to as many
as the father gave him in his good time and the Lord Jesus
Christ who gives us eternal life Gives it in free and sovereign grace. We don't deserve it. Matter of
fact, we deserve the exact opposite. But he has saved us. Oh, my. Life comes first from the Holy
Spirit of God. And what's he say? He called
you. by our gospel, but it's he that called you. Understand,
Earl didn't call you, I didn't call you, Walter didn't call
you, Paul didn't call you, no other preacher called you. If
you believe in Christ, he called you. He called you. Now he did
it by the gospel. Oh, we preach his gospel, the
same gospel, and he called you. He called you. Oh, I like that. Praise his holy name we the church
at Sovereign Grace Chapel are still here and Preaching the
same gospel. I said I didn't have anything
new today. I don't elections not new Maybe new to you that
you don't understand because people won't preach it not on
TV not on radio People get upset about it If
you put the choice solely in God's hands and not in man's,
just like Jesus Christ did, He said, told His disciples, you
didn't choose me, I chose you. You know why? Because they couldn't choose
Him. Until He comes, until the Holy
Spirit comes, until you hear the voice of the Son of God,
they that hear, shall live and not until. Not until. We preach his gospel, but he
calls. He calls. And thank God for you
all. We may be gone tomorrow. I don't
know what's going to happen, but today we're still here. And
by God's grace, today we will continue. And tomorrow, if we're
here, we'll continue. I have to say, that's just amazing
to me. You understand, when I met you
folks, OK, for the first time. Walter's not here. I talk really
bad about him. But when I met you folks for
the first time going on 40 years ago, I had no idea that 40 years
into my future, I'd be standing here. I had no clue. I had no clue we'd have a camera
right there, and we're streaming live over the web. to Singapore,
of all places, to Belgium. England and Canada, I can kind
of understand. They speak English. But no, I
mean, and to be honest, I didn't think
I'd live this long. But that's just a whole other
discussion. But here we are still continuing,
by his grace and by his power, preaching his gospel. and you
all supporting it. Oh my. Preaching and hearing
the same gospel that Jesus Christ is both Lord
and Savior. He is both just and justifier
of them that believe in Jesus. Oh, I like that. He is the same
yesterday and today and forever. And he saves his people. They're
all sinners. All of them are sinners. He has
to make us saints. He has to make us faithful brethren.
All we are before he came was sinners. Now, we're still sinners,
but we're sinners saved by grace. We're sinners saved by his son. Oh, I like that. And he saves
them all. Not a one's gonna be left out.
What does it say? God hath from the beginning chosen
you to salvation. I'm going to tell you something.
Anybody God chose to salvation is going to be saved. Guaranteed. Why? Because he said it. And
if he said it, he'll do it. And if he does it, nothing can
be put to it. Nothing can be taken from it.
God does it. He called you. Oh, I like that,
I do. We're bound to give thanks always
to God for you, and for you, and for you, if you support his
gospel. Oh my, we've got some that mails
a check. We didn't ask for it. I'm not
asking for it now, but we'll take it. But this is the thing. They give out of the abundance
of their heart. You give out of the abundance
of your heart. And you give as God has given
to you. That's grace, folks. That's grace. Because his gospel is still the
same. Good news for sinners. For sinners. And that's us. I
got a song here I found. by a fellow I never heard of
called Josiah Condor, C-O-N-D-E-R. And this is how it goes, just
two stanzas, or two verses, excuse me. "'Tis not that I did choose thee,
for Lord, that could not be. This heart would still refuse
thee, hadst thou not chosen me. Thou from the sin that stained
me hast cleansed and set me free of all thou hast ordained me
that I should live to thee. T'was sovereign mercy called
me and taught my opening mind. The world had else enthralled
me to heavenly glories blind. My heart owns nuns before thee,
for thy rich grace I thirst. This knowing, if I love thee,
thou must have loved me first. That's pretty good. That's pretty
good. And I looked, and oh, I got three
different old hymn books. And I could not find that anywhere
in there. But I found it on the web. Well,
I had to first stanza. on it, but I wanted to find the
rest of it. Understand, God loved us first, God chose
us first, God gives us life first. And, and, We live because He
gives us life. We believe because He gives us
faith. And we continue because of the
working of His mighty power. We are kept by the power of God
through faith. And Christ said it, if ye continue
in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed. Heavenly Father we're
thankful again for this time in this place Thank you Lord
for the Sovereign Grace Chapel This place you've given to us
to assemble a small portion of your church together and to worship
you at best we can in spirit and in truth and believe the
words of your son Lord Jesus Christ Be with Paul as he comes
to preach and Lord help us to hear and believe your word In
Christ's name we pray amen