Ecclesiastes chapter 8. I'll read those first five verses. Who is as the wise man? And who knoweth the interpretation
of a thing? A man's wisdom maketh his face
to shine, and the boldness of his face shall be changed. I counsel thee to keep the King's
commandment, and that in regard of the oath of God. Be not hasty
to go out of his sight, stand not in an evil thing, for he
doeth whatsoever pleaseth him. Where the word of a king is,
there is power, and who may say unto him, What doest thou? Whoso keepeth the commandment
shall feel no evil thing, and a wise man's heart discerneth
both time and judgment." Let me go back and read again that
fourth verse. Where the word of a king is,
there is power. And who may say unto him, What doest thou?" I am, like all true gospel preachers,
a servant. Just as Paul said, we are your
servant for Christ's sake. But I am first of all a servant
of the King, and as such, I am commanded to preach the Word."
Preach the Word. Not my opinion on that Word. or not my theories concerning
that Word, and certainly no other man-made notions about the Word. And in this preaching of the
Word, it does not depend on my ability to persuade you, Nor
is it my intention to debate the Word. The servant's work
is a work of proclamation. We say, if we say rightly, what
thus saith the Lord." Hold your place and turn over to 2 Timothy. 2 Timothy, where the Apostle Paul,
writing to Timothy in that second chapter, says this in verse 24, And the servant of the Lord must
not strive, but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient in meekness instructing
those that oppose themselves, if God peradventure will give
them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth. Repentance has
something to do with acknowledging the truth of God, and that they
may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are
taken captive by him at his will. Solomon, by the Spirit of God,
says, not concerning himself, but concerning the king, where
the word of a king is, there is power. And power has to do
both with authority and also ability. And if this be true
concerning earthly kings, we do know if we know something
about history, that this has been the case again and again,
that when a king spoke, there went with it authority and also
ability. But if this is true about earthly
kings, how much more, how infinitely more the word of the King of
kings must be. The word power here is also translated
elsewhere, dominion. The King of Kings has dominion
over all things and all peoples. And this means that the warrant
for believing His Word, the warrant for believing His Word and obeying
it is simply this, it is the Word of God. The Word of the
Almighty God. And so, Solomon says, after that,
no man can really respond with anything. And he simply says
about the same thing, that Nebuchadnezzar said and confessed after God
had brought him as a great king down to the dust. He said he
does according to his will in the armies of heaven, and among
the inhabitants of men, and no one can say unto him," no one
can stay his hand or say unto him, "'What doest thou?' No one
can say anything concerning what he's done, and none can reply
against what he has said." That is His Word. And so this means that the only
basis upon which any true discussion can take place, it must be on
this basis. Both parties must agree that
this is the Word of God. In other words, that the Word
of God is the final say, is the objective standard by which we
weigh and judge all things. Everything. In the end, it's
not what I think about it, and it's not what you think about
it, is what God says. Look over also in Psalm 119. Psalm 119 means that if we believe
the Word, and Psalm 119 has all these verses in it, and in each
verse there is some kind of a reference to the Word of God. But notice
not only what he says here by the Spirit of God concerning
the Word, but the conclusion that must necessarily be come
to and drawn if we believe that this is the Word of God. Psalm 119 verse 104. The psalmist says, through thy
precepts I get understanding. In other words, through the Word
of God, through the truth of the Almighty, I get understanding,
therefore I hate every false way. Someone always in a kind
of a false piety makes statements like this, well, I don't hate
anything. If you don't hate something,
number one, you don't know anything and you don't love the truth. He said, I hate every false way. Because it is through God's precepts
that we get understanding. Alright? Look down also in verse
128. He says something similar, Therefore
I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right. And I know what people say of
those who truly believe the gospel of the grace of God. They make
statements like this, well you people think you're the only
ones that are right. No. But we know that God is the
only One that's right, and it is His Word that states what
He actually would have us to believe. He said, "...therefore
I esteem all thy precepts," all the Word of God, "...concerning
all things to be right." and I hate every false way." Now
oftentimes in our day when men and women are confronted with
the truth as it is in Christ Jesus, We live in such an ignorant,
biblically generation of people that when men and women are actually
confronted with what the Bible says, they run quickly to get
a second opinion. And there are a world full of
so-called preachers, There are volumes after volume of commentary
and books written by men supposedly to give understanding concerning
what God says in His Word. But God, being God, knows what
He means and that is exactly what He has said. And so what
we ought to always do is we ought to, rather than run to a second
opinion, we ought to try every sermon, every commentary, every
opinion, we ought to try those things and test them to see if
they are in agreement with the Word of God. It is the Word of
God. And this understanding that the
psalmist speaks of is most particularly understanding concerning who
God is. It is understanding concerning
how God is. It is understanding truly how
you and I are. And it is understanding most
particularly in how He saves sinners. And when He gives by the prophet
Isaiah these clear instructions, These clear and distinct words
that He is to tell men, He says this in Isaiah 45, "...tell ye,
and bring them near, yea, let them take counsel together, who
hath declared this from ancient times." who hath told it from
that time, have not I the Lord? And there is no God else beside
me." We live in this politically correct generation in which men
and women are allowed to have many gods, many faiths. But God Himself, and if we had
any brains whatsoever not wrought by our fallen nature to nothing,
we would know that the whole idea of God requires that there
be just one God. He said, there is no God else
beside Me. And then He gives us a few words
of description about Himself. He says, a just God and a Savior,
there is none beside Me. In other words, if we find out
how God is, it will have to be from His Word, and He sums up
Himself in those two words, a just God and a Savior. Not a just God, but a Savior. But a just God, and a just God
first, and a Savior. And it will only be when through
His Word and by His Spirit that we learn something about how
God can be at the same time a just God and a Savior that we begin
to have any understanding about who He is and how He saves sinners. You see, the Word of the King
is not a verse here and one there. It's not verses twisted to say
what one wants them to say, but it stands as a body. It is the whole truth. Paul described it as all the
counsel of God. And it is not to be divided and
separated and set part against part and such as that. It is
a whole body, and let me tell you this, it is a whole body
that speaks in harmony every part together. The contradictions. that men and women raise concerning
the Scriptures, they are contradictions that flow out of their own blindness
and their own natural ignorance and their own rebellion against
what God says about Himself. And what we find set forth in
the Scriptures is to be believed, it is to be received in a far
greater testimony and weight of testimony even more than that
which we see. I know what our saying is, seeing
is believing. But certainly in our day we ought
to realize with all the fakes and the phonies and the frauds
that are put forward before us and we are deceived by them,
we ought to know that seeing is not believing. As a matter
of fact, the Bible sets forth not seeing, which is simply faith,
and believing far above seeing. The Apostle says, "...faith is
the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not
seen." Turn over to 2 Peter. And listen to the Apostle Peter,
who in this text reminds those he writes to that he was an eyewitness
to that glory of Christ there on the Mount of Transfiguration. He heard God speak from heaven. He heard the Lord Jesus Christ
speak audibly from His own mouth. He saw as that glory just permeated
all that was around and about Christ on that Mount of Transfiguration. But listen to him in 2 Peter
chapter 1 beginning in verse 19. He says, we have also a more
sure word of prophecy. He said in verse 18, this voice
which came from heaven we heard when we were with Him in the
Holy Mount. But He says, we have also a more
sure word of prophecy A more sure word than the audible voice
of God? A more sure word than seeing
the Lord Jesus Christ personally? A more sure word of hearing Him
speak Himself? He said, we have also a more
sure word of prophecy whereunto you do well that you take heed
as unto a light that shineth in a dark place." We're always wanting some light. Well, let me tell you this. While
the world says there is no absolute truth, the Scriptures, as they
are given by God, through his prophets and through the apostles,
they are like a light shining in this darkness." And he said,
we would do well to take heed of them. "...as unto a light that shineth
in a dark place until the day dawn, and the day star arise
in your hearts." Do you know what the day star is? The day
star is the sun. And Christ, and the revelation
of Christ to a sinner, is likened to the sun that rises and its
beams shine forth to bring the new day. We sit in darkness until
He causes the light of His truth to shine into our hearts and
make that darkness go away. He said, you do well. You do
well. Men and women sit under the ministries
of men who obviously are absolutely Bible ignorant, and many more
who are obviously ignorant of the message of this book. He said, knowing this, that no
prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation. What does that mean? Well, let
me tell you what it means primarily. It means that you do not take
one verse of Scripture and hold to it, believe it the way you
want to, apart from every other verse of Scripture. Not only
do you not privately interpret it the way you want to, But you
don't even interpret a verse of it except in the light of
every other verse of Scripture. He says, for the prophecy came
not in old time by the will of man. Isn't it just somebody decided
to sit down one day and write them a book of the Bible? Here
we have all these various books written at all these various
times by all these various human authors as they were moved of
God, but they all say the same thing. And if you don't think
they say the same thing, then you've missed the message. You're
still in darkness. You're still without understanding. He says, but holy men of God
spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. You see, the Word
of God is as unchangeable as God Himself. And that's why it
is so utterly ridiculous to think that we need a more contemporary
message, or a more relative message, because the truth is, God is
the same. And not only that, man is the
same. You say, oh no, man's much different. Really. You go back in the garden
after the fall and you find man's inhumanities, they say, against
man. Cain slew his brother Abel. But
the truth is, that's not man's inhumanity against man. That's man's humanity against
man. And it's been man against man,
because man is against God from that day forward right down to
this day, and especially man against man in the name of God. Which means man's need is the
same. And Christ is the same. He's
the same yesterday, today, and forever. And salvation is the
same. Still, there is one way, one
truth, one life, one salvation, one mediator between God and
men, the man Christ Jesus. So it's like the psalmist says
again in 1 Corinthians 19, he said, "...forever, O Lord, Thy
Word is settled in heaven. And not only that, since it is
the Word of the King, now listen, since this is the Word of the
King of Kings, it is always successful. The Word of God is always successful. Turn over to Isaiah. Isaiah chapter
55. And listen to God as He says
in Isaiah 55 and verse 6, He says, "...Seek ye the Lord while
he may be found. Call ye upon him while he is
near. Let the wicked forsake his way."
Now who are the wicked? The wicked is simply everyone
outside of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he calls, he said, let the
wicked forsake his way. And somebody said, well, that
means let him quit this, let him quit that. If he will just
quit that and that and the other thing, God will save him. No. He said, let the wicked forsake
his way. that seemeth right to a man,
the end thereof is the ways of death." The way that God saves,
the way a man is righteous in God's sight, the way men naturally
think and want to think is the way to please God. He said, "...and the unrighteous
man his thoughts." and let him return unto the Lord, and he'll
have mercy upon him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon."
Listen to what he says, "'For my thoughts are not your thoughts.'"
You remember old Naaman, the leper? When he went as a leper
to be cleansed, to the prophet of God, and the prophet of God
says, you go and dip in that muddy river Jordan seven times
and you will come up clean. And Naaman said, well, I thought, I thought he was going to tell
me to do some fantastic thing. I thought he would maybe wave
his hands over my leprous flesh. This is the way I thought he'd
do it, which translated is simply the way of every sinner. I thought
this is the way God is. I thought this is the way God
saves sinners. No! He says, "...For My thoughts
are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith
the Lord. For as the heavens are higher
than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My
thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain cometh down,
and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth
the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give
seed to the sower, and bread to the So shall my word be that goeth
forth out of my mouth. It shall not return unto me void."
Somebody said, the Word of God is going to be such a waste with
all these people who are going to perish. No, it's not. God
sends forth His Word, His Gospel, to accomplish His purpose. It will not return unto Him void,
but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall
prosper in the thing whereunto I send it. The Word of God, the Word of
the King has to be successful. We're not on a fool's errand
to preach the Gospel that gives all the glory to God. And so
opposite is this thought to natural thinking, and that's why men
seem to feel like they've got to help the Word of God. Someone said, you don't have
to make a lion strong, all you have to do is turn him loose.
That's the Word of God. That's the Word of the King.
And though the Bible is a closed book, though it falls on deaf
ears, to blind and ignorant sinners such as the Pharisee of whom
Christ said, you search the Scriptures. You're
real students. You can quote a lot of verses.
You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal
life. and they are they which testify
of Me." What are the Scriptures about? The Scriptures are about
the Lord Jesus Christ. The Word of the King is about
the King. And you will not come to Me that
you might have life. What's their state? Blind to
what the Scriptures say. Dead spiritually, because the
only life that's to be had is in Christ, and rebellious against
God. You will not come to me that
you might have life. You see, because the Word of
the King requires the revealing work of the Spirit of the Truth. All are blind. You say, if I
believe what you believe, that men are spiritually dead and
blind, which is exactly what God says they are, there'd be
no need to preach. Oh, wait just a minute. Men and
women are dead and blind spiritually, but God is the life giver. They
can't see, but He gives sight. They don't have life, but He
gives life. He said, "'Howbeit when He, the
Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth,
for He shall not speak of Himself, but whatsoever He shall hear,
that shall He speak. And He will show you things to
come. All things that my Father hath
are mine.' Therefore said I, that He, the Spirit of truth,
shall take of mine and show it to you." How do we know? How do we know if the Spirit
of God is at work? How do we know if the Spirit
of God is in a person? How do you know if the Spirit
of God is in a place? Well, I can tell you this. If
the truth of God is not being preached, He's not in that place. And if a person is looking to
anything or anyone other than Jesus Christ and Him crucified
alone, He's not in them. He's not in
them. Because the Spirit of God takes
the things of Christ. Where do we find the things of
Christ? We find it in the Word of Truth,
what Paul called the gospel of your salvation. People look for
some kind of extra-biblical revelation. They follow preachers who say
that God woke them up in the middle of the night and told
them to tell them these things. No. We've received this gift
of His Word. And that brings us to what it
is to preach the Word. It is to preach Christ who is
the Word, the living Word. He's the one that John spoke
of in John chapter 1, and he said, in this glorious mystery,
in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God, and the
Word was with God. among us. And we beheld His glory,
full of grace and truth." You see, you cannot separate the
living Word, Christ the Word, from the written Word. The written
Word speaks of Him who is the living Word. And the living Word
bore a witness to the truth of the written Word. No preacher
in the New Testament made reference to the Old Testament prophets
more than Jesus Himself. That's right. You see, the Word
is not merely about history. It's not about mere moral lessons
or ethics or even about Jesus as a martyr or a teacher. It's about the Son of God. And
the Apostle Paul, he set the standard aside from Christ Himself. The Apostle Paul set the standard
as to what preaching the Word is. Turn over to 1 Corinthians
1. 1 Corinthians 1. Rather, chapter 2. I'm sorry.
We're going to look at chapter 1. But 1 Corinthians 2, beginning
in verse 1. Now listen, not only is he an
apostle, But he's writing these words, this epistle to the Corinthian
church, and he says, "'And I, brethren, when I came to you,
came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto
you the testimony of God.'" He was not an orator. He didn't
speak philosophically, but he declared the testimony of God. For I determined not to know
anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Somebody said that the Apostle
Paul was like a musician who sits down at the piano And he
keeps hitting middle C. Middle C. Christ and Him crucified. And I was with you in weakness
and in fear and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching
was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration
of the Spirit and of power that your faith should not stand in
the wisdom of men, but in the power of God." I don't want you
to believe anything simply because I said it. As a matter of fact,
if you believe something simply on the basis that a man said
it, you don't really believe in the Bible sense at all. We
only believe that which we know for ourselves to be true from
the Scriptures, that your faith should not stand in the wisdom
of men, but in God. Howbeit we speak wisdom among
them that are perfect, Yet not the wisdom of this world, nor
of the princes of this world that come to naught, but we speak
the wisdom of God in a mystery that is heretofore not revealed
as it is in the written word now in the New Testament, even
the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the world unto our glory."
which none of the princes of this world knew, for had they
known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory.
But as it is written, I hath not seen nor ear heard, neither
have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath
prepared for them that love Him, but God hath revealed them unto
us by His Spirit." For the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the
deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things
of a man save the spirit of man which is in him? Even so the
things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God." Now I want you to look at this
next verse. Now Paul puts himself among those who believe. And he says, now we, God's people,
those who believe, now we have received not the spirit of the
world, but the spirit which is of God, that we might know the
things that are freely given to us of God. Now these things
are spiritual things. And he goes on to say that the
natural man receives not the things of God, because they are
spiritually discerned. And the message of this book,
the message of the gospel, the gospel of the grace of God in
Christ, must have a spiritual revelation to us. And what will
that be? Why does the Spirit of God take
the Word of God, the Word of the King? What does He reveal
to the people of God? Well, I know what preachers take
the Word of God and do. They give you the Word so they
can tell you what to do. If you do this, God will bless
you. If you walk down this aisle, you'll be saved. If you go in
this water, you'll be saved. If you raise your hand, if you
repeat after me a sinner's prayer." All these things telling men
and women what to do rather than telling them what has been done. He says, "...but the Spirit which
is of God, that we might know, That is, have the knowledge of
and the assurance of the things that are freely given to us of
God. Now, you notice he didn't say
the things that are offered to us of God, or the things that
are made available to us by God, or the things we ought to have
from God. But he said that we might know
the things that are freely, without any cause in ourselves, given
unto us of God. That is a message foreign to
our day. A message of that which is freely
given to those in Christ of God. You see, if we knew what we are
as bankrupt sinners, that'd be the only message that could comfort
us. But we think we're rich and increased
with personal righteousness and have the ability to do this to
please God and that to please God. No. What we need to know
about is what is freely given to us of God. That's what I want to preach.
Because that's what I need. I'm a sinner. And you can tell
me what to do all you want to to be saved, I'll never be able
to do it. A man asked the Lord, what must
I do to be saved? And Christ said, nothing. You say, no, he said believe.
That's what believing is. Believing is our ceasing to do
for ourselves and trusting what God in Christ has done for us. That's what grace is. Unmerited
favor. For by grace are ye saved through
faith, and that not even faith is of yourselves, it is the gift
of God." But you see, we're just like those Israelites of old.
We like to be told what to do. They said to Moses, tell us what
God wants us to do and we'll do it. They never did. And we
never could. The law stands before us, and
it requires It requires us to do what we cannot do. There's
no imperfection in the law, the imperfection and inabilities
in us. All it can do is condemn us.
It can't give us anything. You see, salvation is about the
gift of God's grace. This Word is about what God in
His mercy has done for a people in Christ. Peter said, in account
that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation, even as our
beloved brother Paul also, according to the wisdom given unto him,
hath written unto you, as also in all his epistles, speaking
in them of these things, in which some things are hard to be understood."
Impossible to be understood apart from God's mercy. that are unlearned and unstable
rest, twist, as they do also the other Scriptures. I don't know how much Peter knew,
but he knew that what God had led the Apostle Paul to write,
it was on the same plane as the other Scriptures. He says, they
rest it, they twist it unto their own destruction. And I preach knowing this, that
it's not how one preaches, it's what he preaches. And even more
than that, it's who he preaches. That's why John writes in 1 John,
he says, try the spirits, test to see if they be of God. For
there are many false prophets gone out into the world. Christ plus anything is false. Anything without Christ is false. He's the Savior. which means
he's salvation. Who he is enabled him to do that
work? The perfect, sinless God-man. And as that God-man, he fully
accomplished all that's necessary to save his people, to save these
that believe. It's all about who? Look back
in that first chapter of 1 Corinthians, beginning in verse 17, and listen
to what the Apostle says. He says, "...for Christ sent
me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of
words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect."
It's amazing how men can stand and read the Scriptures and hide
the gospel. They can preach sermons and hide
the gospel. They can hide the message of
Scripture in their terms, their intellectual phrases and words
that nobody really understands. They can hide it in their illustrations. They can hide it in their humor.
And in doing so, they can also preach salvation by works. and make the cross of Christ
of none effect. For the preaching of the cross
is to them that perish foolishness." Preacher, I don't want to hear
about the blood. I don't want to hear about the
dying of Christ. We're much too civilized and
modern people to hear about that. But he said that's foolishness
to them that are perishing. But unto us which are saved are
being saved. It is the power of God. It's
the Word of God. It's the authority of God. For
it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and will
bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the
wise? Where is the scribe? Where is
the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the
wisdom of this world? For after that, in the wisdom
of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the
foolishness of preaching to save them that believe." The foolishness
of preaching, that has to do with the method and the message. It's through the preaching of
the cause. For the Jews require a sign,
and the Greeks seek after wisdom. But we preach Christ crucified
unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness.
But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ
the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness
of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger
than men. for you see your calling, brethren.
how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not
many noble are called. But God hath chosen the foolish
things of the world to confound the wise, and God hath chosen
the weak things of the world to confound the things which
are mighty, and base things of the world, and things which are
despised hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not to bring
to naught things that are." that no flesh should glory in
his presence. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus,
who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification
and redemption, that according as it is written, he that glorieth,
Let him glory in the Lord." Paul said, we preach not ourselves,
but Christ Jesus the Lord. In Colossians 1, speaking of
Him, he said, whom we preach, warning every man and teaching
every man in all wisdom that we may present every man perfect
in Christ Jesus. An old preacher made this statement.
He said, a sermon without Christ as its beginning, middle, and
end is a mistake in conception and a crime in execution. There's nothing else worth preaching. There's nothing commanded by
God for men to preach. but the gospel of Christ and
Him crucified. And we try to do so as clearly
and compassionately as we can, knowing that we triumph even
if not much outward results are visible. Why? Because this is the word of the
King. And its success does not depend on me, but on Him. Paul said, now thanks be unto
God who always causes us to triumph in Christ and makes manifest
the Savior of His knowledge by us in every place. For we are
unto God a sweet savor of Christ in them that are saved and in
them that perish. To the one we are the savor of
death unto death. and to the other we are the Savior
of life unto life, and who's sufficient for these things."
In other words, this gospel is good news to God's people, and
it's bad news to everybody else. It's a savor. One woman puts
on a fragrance of cologne, it smells so good to her, her husband
walks by and he smells it and he says, oh, that stinks. That's
the way the gospel is. He says, for we are not as many
who corrupt the Word of God, but as of sincerity, but as of
God, in the sight of God, speak we in Christ. All true gospel preachers, and
there are few in our day, I'm afraid, but they all will be
successful. Because Christ said, it is written
in the prophets, and they shall be all taught of God. Every man
therefore that hath heard and hath learned of the Father cometh
unto me." Week in and week out, as God gives opportunity and
enablement, we preach Christ as God manifest in the flesh. We preach Him as a successful
Savior of His people, that one mediator between God and men. We seek to tell the truth about
who God is, holy, immaculately holy, inflexibly just. We try to tell the truth about
man as a sinner when God says, there is none righteous, no not
one, none that seeketh after God, none that doeth good, no
not one. And most especially about Christ. And without shame preaches gospel
where the Bible says, therein, the righteousness of God is revealed. We preach salvation by grace. We preach salvation, as Jonah
said, of the Lord. We preach salvation in Christ
alone through His righteousness that God imputes to all His people
making them the righteousness of God in Him who bore their
sins in His own body on the tree." And as we do so, as I preach,
I remember Christ's words. He said, My sheep, My sheep. The Pharisees didn't believe.
He said, You believe not. Because you are not of my sheep."
My sheep hear my voice. I know them and they follow me. I don't want to follow Him. But I rejoice when I see one
call to Christ and them following Him. And when the Spirit of Truth
takes the Word of Truth and humbles a sinner, that sinner, I have
no doubt, will be delighted to be saved altogether by the free
and sovereign grace of God in the Lord Jesus Christ. I preach knowing that the gospel
is always received two ways. You go in the book of Acts where
those early apostles and disciples preached the gospel, you read
something like this, and some believed and some believed not. And when you get to Acts chapter
13, and Paul, by the Spirit of God, is led to go down to a place
called Antioch. And it says that they are gathered
together, a great crowd, to hear the Word. And the Jews and some
Gentiles, they heard it. They accused Paul of blasphemy. And then you read these words.
It says that the Gentiles, they heard too. And some of those
Gentiles, Believed. And Luke records these words
in verse 48, And as many as were ordained unto eternal life believed. They didn't believe and therefore
were ordained to eternal life. Their faith was not the cause
of their salvation. It was the consequence of it.
as many as were ordained to eternal life, chosen of the Father in
that everlasting covenant of grace, given to His Son, as He
says in John 17, redeemed by His blood hanging on that cross
outside of Jerusalem, called effectually and mightily by His
Spirit through this word of the King." They believed. And they always will believe,
and they're the only ones who will believe it. And they'll
give glory to God. All the glory to God. Father,
this day we pray that you would take your Word, the Word of the
King of Kings, the Word concerning Him, His person and His work,
And use it, Lord, not only to call out your sheep, but to comfort
them, and to remind them that they have all in Him. And having
all in Him, given as a gift, Lord, such thoughts of your love
and mercy should move us to faithfulness, to obedience, and to praise your
name. We thank You and we pray in Christ's
name, Amen.