Alright, I'm going to start off
back in psalms 119 119 psalm And I want to read verses 129
and 130 again Psalms 119 verse 129 Thy testimonies are wonderful
Therefore doth my soul keep them The entrance of thy words giveth
light. It giveth understanding unto
the simple. Now Henry Mahan wrote a couple
of books that I have. You may have them too. And the
title of these books are With New Testament Eyes. Walter talked
about this a little while ago. In these books he writes from
the Old Testament, about the Old Testament, from the perspective
of knowing the New Testament, looking for Christ in the Old
Testament and seeing him. In every sacrifice and offering
and part of the law, a part of the work of our Lord Jesus Christ
is seen. In every deliverance in the Old
Testament from enemies, foreign and domestic, is shown a part
of the deliverance that Jesus Christ has purchased and provided
for his people. Christ is there in every type,
every picture, and every prophecy. And if we don't see him, it's
our fault, not God's and not Christ's. And this is what I see here in
Psalms 129 through 135. because the psalmist is clearly
writing here of the power and glory of God in the work of Jesus
Christ in his people, in his people. Now I got a question
to ask you. Well, I was gonna ask Walter
and Paul. Have you ever kicked yourself
all the way home and not, and specifically, after preaching
a message and then you're on your way home and you kick yourself
all the way home. Usually it's because something
I forgot to say or something that didn't occur to me to say,
and sometimes because I think I said something wrong. Well,
that happened to me last week as I was leaving. Now it didn't
happen to me while you were preaching, it didn't happen to me while
Walter was preaching, but once I got in the truck and started to go home,
I thought, why in the world did I not go there? I mean, it just
hit me all of a sudden. And now that happens. And that
happens maybe more often than you think. And usually I can
say, OK, next time I'll do it, or I'll do something else. But
I'll scribble a note on my notes so that if I do ever preach this
message again, I'll have it right there. But I couldn't get rid of it. It stuck with me for days. And
I kept thinking about it, and I kept coming back to it. And
I thought of a scripture, and it just would not go away. And
it's in the New Testament, and that's where I'm gonna go, but
still referencing Psalms 119 verses 130 to 32, or 129 to 135.
Excuse me, because I want to compare that Old Testament proclamation
and prophecy of what Christ was doing, what Christ is doing,
what Christ shall do, with the New Testament writing of the
Apostle Paul. And I am of the opinion this
is a good example of what the psalmist was writing. So if you
would, now turn to 1 Thessalonians chapter 1. And I want to begin reading in verse
4. knowing, brethren, beloved, your
election of God. For our gospel came not unto
you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost,
and in much assurance, as ye know what manner of men we were
among you for your sake. And ye became followers of us
and of the Lord. Having received the word in much
affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost, so that ye were in samples
to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia. For from you sounded
out the word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia and Achaia,
but also in every place your faith to God were to spread abroad,
so that we need not to speak anything. And I'm gonna stop
right there. Paul starts us out saying, knowing,
brethren, beloved, your election of God. Now Paul is writing here
to the saints that are in Ephesus and the faithful in Christ Jesus. And folks, if you believe Christ,
you qualify. If you believe Christ now, you
qualify. These words are to us as well
as unto Ephesus. And here's two things I want
to tell you where it says, knowing, brethren, beloved, your election
of God. So I wanna tell you two things
about election. I'm not gonna go into it in any great detail,
but here's two things about it. Number one thing, the Apostle
Paul knows the election of God. He knows about it. And number
two, the election of God is the election of grace. What's that mean? Well, Paul
wrote it in Romans 11. I'm not gonna go into it, like
I said, in great detail, But he says if it's of grace, it
is not of, and I'm gonna be a little more specific here, it's not
of your works. Understand? There's works in
grace, but it's not yours. It's the works of Christ. Just
like salvation's free, but somebody else paid for it. Grace is free
to me and to you if you believe Jesus Christ, but it wasn't free. And that's why it's free, and
that's why there's no works, because it's all about the grace
of God in the face of Jesus Christ because of his works. And like
I said, Paul knows the election of God. And here it is, grace
is no works. No works of man. And works is
no grace. If it's of your works, it can't
be grace Now that sort of seems pretty simple and it is in principle
You got works over here. You got grace over here and never
the twain shall meet That's what the Apostle Paul told us in Romans
11 But There are people all over
this planet Trying to mix them together And it doesn't work
It doesn't work. Yet Paul writes here, and here's
the thing. He writes to the church that
is in God the Father, and this church that is in Christ Jesus,
the Lord Jesus Christ, saying, knowing, brethren, beloved, your
election. And then he tells us how. For our gospel came not unto
you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost,
and in much assurance, as ye know what manner of men we were
among you for your sake. Now, for our gospel came not
unto you in word only, but also in power. Now let me read Psalm
119 and 130. The entrance of thy words giveth
light. It giveth understanding to the
simple. I'll tell you folks, Paul's writing about the same
thing the psalmist is writing about. The psalmist is plainly
writing of the work of God in the elect. It's plain in scripture,
very plain in scripture, not everyone in the presence of a
gospel message believes. I mean, that's just the truth
of God in Christ. That's the truth of God in this
book. Hebrews 4 and 2, Paul wrote it this way. For unto us was
the gospel preached as well as unto them, but The word preached
did not profit them. Why? Not being mixed with faith
in them that heard it. And Paul's writing there about
the people in the Old Testament. And he's writing, though, about
the people in the Old Testament who did not have faith. They
did not believe. We who believe And I'm gonna
include myself in that we. We who believe by faith do enter
into his rest. And the psalmist says, the entrance
of thy words gives light and understanding. Christ himself
told us in Mark 16, verses 15 and 16, he said unto them, go
ye. Go ye into all the world and
preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. But he that believeth not shall
be damned. You can't get any more simple
than that, folks. Not everyone believes the gospel. even when it's the true gospel.
Boiled down, it's preached by the apostles. How many cities
did Paul go into and preach the pure gospel of God, the gospel
of Christ, and they took up stones to stone him? He said he got
stripes from the rod. Five times was hit with 40 stripes
minus one, 39 stripes. And he preached the same gospel
there that he did everywhere else. Not everyone believes the gospel. What is this, what did Christ
say? John 17 and verse two. Well here, read verse one, I
can't help it. These words spake Jesus and lifted
up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour is come. Glorify
thy son that thy son also may glorify thee. Then he says this,
as thou, father, has given him power over all flesh. He's given Jesus Christ power
over all flesh. Why? That he should give eternal
life to as many as thou, the father, has given him the son. And people wonder why we say
elections everywhere in the Bible. The father has given some to
the son, and the son's gonna give him
life. He got power over all flesh,
but he only gives life to some. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall be damned. And he told us to go into all
the world and preach the gospel, who? To every creature. Not everyone believes. And the
gospel is to be preached. The gospel is necessary. Why? Because Jesus Christ said it
was necessary. Jesus Christ said so. Now let
me be extremely clear here. The gospel of Jesus Christ shall
be heard by every one of God's elect. Why is that? Because Christ said so. Christ
promised it so. Christ has promised to send his
word. Christ has promised to send his
men, his preachers. And Christ has promised that
those who were dead in trespasses and sins, those who had no light
and no life in them, shall hear his voice. And those that hear
shall live. Shall live. Shall live. What am I saying? I'm saying
the gospel of Jesus Christ has power. But that power's not in
the preacher. It's in Jesus Christ. I said it last week, I'll say
it again this week. Ralph Barnard said it to Henry Mahan. If my voice is the only voice
you hear, nothing of any eternal significance will happen. You
understand what he's saying? Excuse me. I can tell you you're
a sinner. I can tell anyone they're a sinner.
They commit sin, they live in sin. And somebody might say,
well, yeah, I guess you're right about that and go on their way. But if you hear God's voice telling
you you're a sinner, you're gonna go away saying, woe is me. If
you see him, you're gonna go away knowing you're a sinner
and say, woe is me. My voice can't help you. Ah, but the entrance of thy words,
what, are light, giveth light, and giveth understanding. And the understanding is this,
the power is of God. The power is of Jesus Christ,
even to believe him. See this is, you know, in the,
Armenian churches I had been in in times past, where probably
I am not welcome now. It's okay, I don't mind. They
think every man has faith and you have to believe. That's your
part. Well, you're gonna believe, it's
true. But here's what Paul wrote to
the Ephesians. that the God, oh, this is in Ephesians 1 and
verses 17 to 19, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the
Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and
revelation in the knowledge of Him. The eyes of your understanding
being enlightened. that ye may know what is the
hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his
inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness
of his power to usward who believe. How? How do we believe? According
to the working of his mighty power. Our gospel came to you not in
word only. No, unto you the gospel came
in power, in the Holy Ghost and much assurance. The entrance
of God's words give light and give understanding. The entrance
of God's words come in the power of Christ Jesus by the Holy Ghost,
the Holy Spirit. Now there are those, there are
those to whom the gospel comes in word only. It doesn't come
in power, it doesn't come in the Holy Ghost, and it doesn't
come in much assurance. I know of people who have given
their testimony, and I've heard it, where the fact they sat in
a grace church, hearing the gospel, and there was one fellow Henry
told about that he was there and he used to count the ceiling
tiles. He went to church because he was a schoolteacher and he
thought schoolteachers ought to go to church. And he would
go there while Henry was preaching and count the tiles in the ceilings.
Now, if you've ever been in that church, you understand, those
ceiling tiles are like three foot by three foot. And I recognized
what he was talking about, because you got them little tiles, you
can't count them things. But these were big ones. But
one day, he heard the message. Now, I know Henry Mahan's ministry
well enough, I've got his tapes, his recordings, to where I know
Henry preached the gospel all the time. But this time, that
man heard it. It's not, I can't say there's no hope for
anybody because there's hope for everybody. If Christ gives
you life, gives you light, and gives you understanding, you're
gonna have life and light, and you're gonna understand. And
not until. And that's just the way it is.
Our gospel came not to you in word only, to these Ephesian
believers, it came in power, in the Holy Ghost, and in much
assurance. And that's the way the gospel
comes, to believers. Because here, Jesus Christ gave us the parable
himself. There are wayside hearers. There are those on the stony
ground who hear. There are those on the thorny
ground who hear. But the word only profits those
that are of good ground, ready to receive. ready to be a cornfield,
ready to be planted, ready for the plant to come up and bud
and come forth and bring forth much fruit. Because the wayside hears, the
stony ground hears, and the thorny ground hears, they do not enter
into his rest. Only those of the good ground. And then Paul says the result
of this. The gospel coming in power in the Holy Ghost and much
assurance. He says this, and ye became followers
of us and of the Lord. Having received the word in much
affliction with joy of the Holy Ghost. Psalms 119 and 131 puts
it this way. I opened my mouth and panted. For I longed for thy commandments. The entrance of his words has
an effect on the one that he enters. The gospel of Christ, when it
comes in power, in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance, has an
effect on believers. And ye became followers of us
and the Lord, They long for Christ's commandments. They long for Christ's gospel.
Because the believer wants the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. He pants after them. What's that
mean? The believer joys in the gospel
being preached. The believer rejoices in the
gospel of God's dear son. Sometimes the believer will drive
for hours just to be in a meeting to hear God's God's Son Jesus
Christ our Lord preached and proclaimed Some believers may drive an hour
every Sunday just to get to church or more What did Christ say my sheep
What? My sheep hear my voice, and I
know them, and they follow me. What does this mean? I'm gonna
tell you this. The entrance of thy words never
stops. The entrance of thy words give
light and understanding, and that never stops. Why? My sheep hear my voice. He didn't say my sheep heard
my voice. He says my sheep hear my voice. Present tense. And they follow me. And he already
told us why they follow me. I know them. I know them. You may not know them. I may
not know them. But he knows them. He knows them. And they follow
him. so that ye were in samples to
all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia. Excuse me. When the words of
the Lord make entrance into you, it'll leak out on you. I always
say it'll leak out on you. It'll show up, and guess what? You will walk, you will walk. You won't walk perfectly, you
won't walk without stumbling, but you will, and I'll use this
word, consistently walk. Your steps may wander, but Christ
will bring you back to his path. He'll bring you back to exactly
where he wants you to be. He'll put you in his body, fitted
for the place that he put you. Psalms 37 and 23 says this, the
steps of a good man are ordered of the Lord. And, this is the good part, and
he delighteth in them. He delighteth in his way. See, not only are your steps
ordered by the Lord, the believer loves to have it so. You understand, if you don't
like God being in charge, you don't know God. That's just all
there is to it, because he's gonna be in charge whether you
like it or not, so you might as well get used to it. But I
like it. I want my steps to be ordered
by the Lord. I want to walk in his paths,
and I know this, he's gonna have to make me to walk in his paths. It's not something I would do
naturally. Matter of fact, it's about one
of the most unnatural things I ever do, is to walk uprightly,
and to walk rightly. I want to, but I'm not good at
it. The believer delights in God's
way. You know why? Because God's way
is Christ, Jesus the Lord. I am the way, the truth, and
the life. No man comes to the Father but
by me. That's what he said, and that's
what he meant. No one comes to the Father but
by me. And here, I do want to point
this out, because it just kind of hit me as I was looking at
it. I never paid a whole lot of attention to this, and I don't
know how many times I've read this. So that you were in samples
to all that believe. You understand what people in
churches right now are being told? Let your little light shine. Let people see Jesus in you. That's what Paul says here. You're
an example to believers. You're not an example to the
world. You understand? You're not an example to the
world. And Paul's not telling you to
be one. Because all that's going to get you is somebody trying
to wrap a golf club around you, Walter. It's going to get you
in a fight. You're an example to believers. The world may think that you're
crazy, deluded, or brain damaged. But that's OK, too. believers
know Christ. And here's the thing. He has
given it to us to know other believers, to those who also
rejoice to hear him preached. Oh, you know, those in Macedonia
and Achaia, Macedonia and Achaia and Princeton,
and Shady Spring, and Beckley, and Cottageville, and Rocky Mount,
and Cherokee, and all other places where Jesus Christ is preached. Where the name of Christ is known,
they also rejoice that Christ is preached. Because all believers
are a member of the family of God in Christ Jesus. So the title of this message,
Paul, it's a question. Does the gospel come in power
to you? Now, let me be clear. I'm not
asking, has the gospel come in power to you? I'm asking you,
does it? You understand? Because if it
stops, it never started. Is that too hard? Is that too hard? I don't think
so. I don't think so. Does the entrance of his word
still today give you light and understanding? Believers continue. What did Christ say? If you continue
in my word, then are you my disciples indeed, indeed. Back to Psalms 119 for just a
second here. It says, order my steps, order
my steps in thy word. And let not any iniquity have
dominion over me. Deliver me from the oppression
of man. So will I keep thy precepts.
Make thy face to shine upon thy servant, and teach me thy statutes. Understand? It's continual, continual,
continual. If ye continue in my word, then
are ye my disciples indeed. Heavenly Father, thank you for
this time and this place. Lord, help us to continue. Make us to walk in thy paths.
Order our steps and have us delight in them. Thank you, Lord Jesus. Be with Walter and Paul as they
come to preach your gospel. In Christ's name we pray, amen.