1 Corinthians 15. We're gonna just read the first eight verses. Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also you have received, and wherein ye stand, by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless you have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you, first of all, that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he was seen of Cephas, then of the 12. After that, he was seen of above 500 brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain under this present, but some are fallen asleep. After that, he was seen of James, then of all the apostles, and last of all, he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time. I declare unto you the gospel. That's how Paul begins, and that's gonna be my title for this message. Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel.

Now, for the unbeliever, I have a question. Why do you not believe on the Lord Jesus Christ? Anyone that does not believe on him, my question is why not? Why have you not professed Christ publicly, followed him in believer's baptism, and owned him to be your only salvation. Why not?

Some of the things that I hear from people, and one of the most common things I hear is people will say, how do you know? How do you know that he really did die and was buried and rose again? You know, in our court system, and we got this from God, God said, let every word be established in the mouth of two or three witnesses. And the Lord provided witnesses. When you have witnesses, two or three, that agree in their eyewitness testimony, what they saw, what they heard, then the case is settled. It's so. It's been proven by witnesses. Well, we have here over 500 witnesses that saw Christ after he arose. Remember, he said, reach here, put your finger in the wounds. He ate with them. He spent time with them. But the real problem is not having these witnesses. The real problem is not having faith.

Faith is the evidence. Faith is the substance of things not seen. When God gives faith, faith believes God and doesn't need any more evidence. When you believe God, you have his whole word here. You don't need any more evidence. You know, you know. It's the concrete evidence when God gives faith.

But I wanna preach to you this passage, and what this passage declares to us is that the Lord Jesus died for the sins of his people, according to the scriptures. And he was buried, and he rose again, according to the scriptures. And he was seen of all these witnesses. And we're not gonna get to it tonight, but if you read the rest of the chapter, the reason I wanted to read it to you in the first scripture reading is because it declares Christ is gonna come again. and he's gonna raise all his people. Now everybody's gonna stand before him and every knee's gonna bow and every tongue's gonna confess. But some are going to confess now by his grace and be represented by him in that day.

Others that meet him, meet God without him, are gonna be found in all their sin and cast out forever. So I pray the Lord give, you that believe, I pray the Lord give you more faith. I pray he strengthen your faith and hope in him. And for you that do not believe, I pray the Lord give you faith to trust Christ. You're not getting out of this world alive. You're gonna die and you're gonna meet God. And I pray he give us faith to trust him now. First, I wanna give you a word about the necessity of the gospel.

This is the means by which it pleased God to save. Not this plus anything else, this is the means. He said in 1 Corinthians 1 21, after that the world in the wisdom of God, after that the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God to save by the foolishness of preaching. This, you know, if God tells you how he's going to save beforehand and then works everything together to bring his child under the gospel and saves through that means that he said he would save, that shows you how sovereign God is. That enhances to us how sovereign he is, that he can tell us beforehand how he's gonna do it and then do it that way.

Don't reason from man up to God. Don't say, but what about if a man's on a deserted island? And that's reasoning from man up to God. If man's on a deserted island, God put him there and got a shipwreck of Paul on that island, just like he shipwrecked Paul on an island one time, and bring him to preach the gospel to that man. Or he'll deliver that man from that place and bring him unto the gospel.

There's a lot of means God uses in his providence to cause you to come to the place where the gospel's preached, but when he makes you hear and believe and trust him, it's gonna be through the preaching of the word. You can read Romans 10 for more on that, but we don't speculate when we preach. We declare the truth of the gospel. He said, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you. And that's how God's preachers preach. We declare to you the gospel. In Isaiah, the Lord said that false preachers mutter and peep.

And what that's a description of is, you know how when you read a horoscope, it can mean anything to anybody that reads it. It's written in a way to where whoever reads it, you think it applies to you, because it's just so ambiguous that it could mean anything to anybody. That's how false preachers preach. If you think you're saved by Christ alone, they'll try to preach it away, so you kind of think that, but then they don't offend the man who thinks he's saved by works.

It's muttering and peeping. When the Lord's preacher preaches, we preach and declare what this book says. When I step into this pulpit, I have studied this word that I'm gonna preach, and I'm gonna support what I say to you from the word, And if I don't understand a verse or I don't understand a phrase, I'm not going to just get up and say something about it off the cuff. What I'm saying is when I say something to you, I've studied it, I've prayed over it, and I know that what I'm telling you is so, according to this book. And when men having a problem with something or they run right up and want to have a question and talk about something, I tell them, go home. and spend as much time in study and prayer as it took to prepare the message and see if God doesn't answer your question.

That's the way. Now, it's only by the grace of God and by the power of God that a sinner receives the gospel and stands firm upon this one foundation. It's only by the power and grace of God. He said, I've declared unto you the gospel which I preach, which also you have received Now there's a difference in receiving. The scripture speaks of receiving. There's a difference in receiving and accepting. You hear religion talk about accepting.

You have to accept the Lord. The false gospel gives the sinner power over God and power over what Christ did at Calvary. by saying, he's done all he can do, now it's up to you to accept him. And that exalts your will, that exalts you being the final say on whether Christ accomplished anything for you or not. That's free will, that's the message of free will, that's will worship because it exalts a man's will and he's really worshiping his will.

But when the scripture talks about receiving Receiving, and let me say this about that accepting. That man that accepts wants the glory for accepting. The only thing a sinner's gonna get glory for is rejecting. If you reject Christ, you get all the glory for that. But if you receive Christ, God gets all the glory. And here's receiving the gospel is by the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the word. Making the gospel word be effectual in you by his power and his grace.

That's what makes you receive Listen to this if you want to look at it first Thessalonians 2 in verse 13 Listen to this right here first Thessalonians 2 verse 13 It says for this cause also thank we God without ceasing. There's nobody else to thank He's the one that did it. We thank God because when you received the word of God, which you heard of us, you received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe. That's how you receive. He worked effectually in you. Look with me at Psalm 110.

It certainly involves the will, but we don't have a will to believe in by nature. We're given a new will by the power of the Lord Jesus Christ. Look here, in the new birth, when he gives you life and faith and a new will to believe on him. This is God the Father speaking to the Son. He says in verse three, thy people, thy people shall be willing In the day of thy power, that's the power of the Lord Jesus. In the beauties of holiness, Christ our holiness enters in and a new holy man is created that was not there.

And he says, from the womb of the morning, it's the new birth. It truly is the believer's birthday. From the womb of the morning, the new birth. by the Spirit of God. Thou hast the dew of thy youth. Eternal life means you're eternally alive. You'll never grow old. You'll never die. The dew of thy youth. You're as eternally alive and as youthful today as you was the day you were born again.

But that's all by the power of God. Now here's the illustration I gave you last week. That glass did not accept the water. That glass don't have a will. It's as dead as a sinner is by nature. I poured the water in that glass and that glass received the water.

That's what scripture means by receiving. God pours grace into us, life into us, faith into us, and the result is you willingly receive the word of God, Christ Jesus. And by that same grace and power, we stand. We stand on this one foundation, Christ Jesus. Look, he said, this is the gospel I declare to you wherein you received and wherein you stand.

Romans 5.1 says, being justified, by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Those who are made to receive Christ and stand by grace, they stand by the grace and power of God and we're gonna prove that he saved us because we're gonna continue trusting him all the way to the end because he's gonna keep us all the way to the end.

Listen, he said in verse two, by which also you are saved if you keep in memory what I preached unto you unless you have believed in vain. Those who Christ calls are saved. He said, by which also you are saved. We are saved. Yes, we are being saved, we're being kept, and we'll be finally saved when we're in glory. But we are saved because Christ finished the work. And he says, if you keep in memory what I preached unto you, now by the grace and power that made us receive Christ and make us stand in Christ, we're gonna keep in memory. It's gonna be by his grace and his power because he's gonna keep you remembering, that's what the preaching of the gospel is.

Go with me to 2 Peter 1. The preaching of the gospel is not me trying to find some new thing to tell you. And it's not you coming in here to have your ears tickled by hearing something new that you've never heard. The preaching of the gospel is putting you in remembrance of what the Lord has already revealed to you. That's what the preaching of the gospel is. Chapter one, verse 12, Peter said, he had declared from the beginning, he declared how we're saved by grace and by the mercy of God, by Christ, by the Spirit, by the Father, and he says here in verse 12, wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though you know them, and be established in the present truth. You already are established if you're saved by him.

I'm not trying to tell you something new. I'm just trying to put you in remembrance of what he's already made you know. Yea, I think it meet as long as I'm in this tabernacle to stir you up by putting you in remembrance, knowing that shortly I must put off this, my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ has showed me. Moreover, I will endeavor that you may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance. For we've not followed cunningly devised fables when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.

So be sure to get this, when it says there, if you continue, that if there's not a condition on you and me, the Lord's people are going to persevere in the faith because we are preserved by the Lord Jesus Christ. And by continuing to the end, we're proving that our profession was not in vain. The Lord really saved us, and he's kept us. Those that leave the gospel, that leave Christ, that leave the brethren, what they prove by that is their profession was a vain profession. It was of them, not of the Lord. But you're kept. and preserved by the Lord.

Listen, 1 Peter 1.5 says, we're kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time.

See, salvation's ready, it's prepared, it's done by the Lord. The Lord said the Father prepared the kingdom for his people before the foundation of the world. How did he do that? By choosing his son to do the saving. And so his son has saved his people. Now we're called and we're gonna be kept by his power through faith unto salvation. Faith is just looking to him to do it, and it's by his faithfulness that he will.

I put this emphasis on how we begin because this is the foundation. And whatever the foundation that a man begins with, that's gonna determine where he goes in the future. If you start out with a bad foundation, it's just gonna get worse as you go. But if you start out and it's by the power of Christ, by the grace of Christ, and it is Christ only, that is all your salvation, you're on a solid foundation. And you'll stay on that foundation.

Now let me give you an illustration. In New York City right now, in Manhattan, there's a big building they built, a big new build, a big skyscraper. And they sold out all the offices in this building before they ever built it. But it's empty, and there's a bunch of lawsuits. Because when they were building it, they were told that the foundation, the bedrock, where they had to dig down to to build the foundation, the bedrock was further down on that spot of land Because unlike the rest of Manhattan, that spot of land was ocean before, and it was swamp before. And they filled it in with waste, and they built it up. And so the bedrock was 20 feet further down than the rest of Manhattan. But they ignored it to save money, and they built this skyscraper on a foundation.

Well, it looked good starting out. But as they got taller and taller and taller with the building, with the first bad storm, they realize the building's leaning, and it's like the leaning tower of Pisa in Manhattan, and it's leaning, and now there's lawsuits, because they can't, anybody can't, nobody can go in the building, because it's on a bad foundation. So the foundation is vital.

How you start, if you start by your will, it's gonna have to be by your will all the way through, and it's gonna be sink and sand, but if it's by the power and grace of God, Christ the one foundation, then you're on a solid rock, and he'll keep his people to the end. Now let's look at the next thing.

What is the gospel? What is it? Well, it's a person. It's the message of Christ. He is the gospel, and it's all of salvation by his hand. He said in verse three, I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received. Now let's stop right there. I deliver it unto you, first of all, that which I also receive. There's that word again.

You only want a preacher who was saved by the power and grace of Christ, because that preacher knows the power and grace of the Lord Jesus, and he knows Christ is gonna save through the message that exalts him, so he's gonna give him all the glory and he's gonna pray to him to do the saving, and he's gonna wait on him to do the saving, because he's experienced that power and grace, and he knows that's how he's saved. A man that hadn't experienced it, I'm convinced the reason folks don't preach Christ, well, one, they don't really know the gospel, because it hadn't been revealed to them. But the reason they don't trust Christ is they don't believe Christ is arisen and working in the midst of his church, that he's present and working, just like if he was standing here. but he is. That's how real Christ is present and working in his church.

And you want a man, he said, I deliver to you first of all that which I also receive. Go to 2 Corinthians 3. I showed you this from 2 Corinthians 4 on Sunday, but I want to just show you this one more time. 2 Corinthians 3. The whole chapter here in chapter 3, Paul's declaring how The glory of the old covenant law, it was given to condemn us, kill us, and he said it had glory.

But then he's saying, but the glory of the new covenant is greater. And he says, now here's how you're gonna be brought there. Verse 18, we all with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord. Christ person, Christ power, Christ grace, Christ work, the glory of the Lord. We're changed into the same image from glory to glory. That's from the glory of the old covenant law. That's what he was talking about. That's the context. That law killed all our righteousness, all our so-called righteousness. It did what it was supposed to do.

But we're converted from the glory of that old law to the glory of the new covenant, which is Christ, the glory of the Lord. And he says, and it's by the Spirit of the Lord. It's not by, it's by the power of the Lord, the Spirit of the Lord. Therefore, seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, there's that word again, the same power and grace of the Lord that made me receive mercy from him, that made me receive the word and believe him, that same spirit and power and grace is why we faint not. But we have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, not handling the word of God deceitfully, not trying to take the offense out and water it down to please everybody, but because we've experienced Christ's power and grace, We preach Christ. He says there, but by manifestation of Christ the truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.

I'm preaching to your heart. I'm preaching to your conscience. Because the Lord's people worship in spirit. And that's what we're preaching to. We're preaching to the new man. And he says, and if our gospel be hid, it's hid to them that are lost. That's the end of the story. Make all excuses a man wants.

A man don't believe because he's lost, because the power of Christ makes you receive. And so Paul said, as I receive, that's how I don't faint, by his power and grace. And so I'm declaring to you what I received, what he made me believe and trust, that's what I'm declaring to you. He said, I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.

That Paul was an apostle because the Lord did that for him in person. But everybody saved that way. The gospel's the power of God of salvation to everyone that believe because therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith. So it's his power.

So he says now, back in 1 Corinthians 15.3, I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ. Now let's stop right there. There's where it all is right there. That's what we're preaching. How that Christ. That's my message. Salvation doesn't begin with I or you or me or us. Salvation begins with Christ.

How that God the Father chose his Son, the Son of God, who is God himself, to be the Christ, to be his servant, to save. He chose him. Isaiah 42, 1, God says, behold, my servant, whom I uphold, mine elect, and whom my soul delighted. That's Christ. How that before time, God the Father chose his people in Christ. He chose Christ to be the, he chose his son to be the Christ. Then he chose his people in Christ by free grace, by sovereign grace, not based on anything in his people. That's Ephesians 1,

3. Blessed be the God and Father who blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places. How? According as he had chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame. but for him in love. And when he put his people in Christ by divine election from eternity in Christ, we've been holy and without blame in him. He's gonna call you and make you holy and make you see he made you without blame, but we've been holy and without blame in Christ long before we knew him. That's why when Adam sinned in a garden, God didn't destroy the whole thing.

It's because he had a people in Christ separated, made holy, set apart in Christ, loved in Christ, and he's gonna come forth and save them. That's our message, how that Christ came down, the Son of God came down and took flesh like unto his brethren to do for us what we couldn't do. Look at verse three, 1 Corinthians 15, three, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. Now, who did Christ die for?

I just declared it. He declared, he died for those the Father chose and gave to him. Listen to Matthew 121. Matthew 121 says this. Why is his name Jesus? You hear it on everybody's lips so flippantly. You'd do well to put Lord before his name. I bet you wouldn't walk into the King of England and speak to him about first name basis. Listen to this, Matthew 121. She shall bring forth the Son, and thou shalt call His name Jesus, Savior, for He shall, not might, He shall do what? Save, that's why His name's Jesus, that's what it means, Savior.

Who did He save? His people, His people. He knew He was coming to save. What did He save us from? From their sins. What did you contribute to salvation? You sinned, I sinned, that's it. He came to save His people from their sin. You see, the gospel is the message of a particular person, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who accomplished a particular work, salvation, justification, redemption, of a particular people, His people, the sheep, given Him of the Father.

The message we preach, and I don't fault anybody for saying this, we all say things, But the message I preach is not a Christ-centered message. To say it's Christ-centered means there's something else. No, my message is Christ is all. That's what Paul said in Colossians. Christ is all, that's my message. Christ didn't die for some abstract idea. He didn't die for some ambiguous people. He died for the sins of his sheep. He died for his people.

He sent John the Baptist, look here in Luke 1, 77. He sent John the Baptist to do this right here, and this is why he sends all his preachers. Now listen to what this said. Luke 1, we saw this not long ago, but look at what this said. Here's why he sent John the Baptist. Here's why he sends us preaching. Verse 77, to give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins through the tender mercy of our God, whereby the day spring from on high has visited us. That's our gospel. He doesn't come telling you how to be saved. He comes telling you he has saved. He has already done it.

And he's remitted the sins of his people. and it's by the mercy of our God, because the day spring, the son of righteousness has come down and saved his people from our sin. We declare this because, and I know what people say, but let me say this, the words all and the word world in the Bible, that means all God's elect scattered all over the world out of every kindred, tongue, tribe, and people on this world, in this world. And he redeemed all his elect scattered throughout all the world. And he's saving his people.

We declare this because scriptures declare it. We declare it because Christ did not fail. He accomplished what he came to do. And to do that, he had to do it for a people. He justified his people. He redeemed his people. By bearing our sin and bearing our curse and satisfying the holy justice of God, he did that. And I want him to have all the glory for the salvation of his people, and I'm more concerned for him to get all the glory than I am for some God-hating, will-worshipping rebel to get offended that I don't glorify him and his will. That's why we preach that Christ died for a particular people. and he laid down his life and died for our sins, substitution, and put away our sins forever. And we know he did it, we know he justified his people, we know that he redeemed his people, and here's how, because that same one who was buried rose again, declaring he accomplished it, he satisfied God.

Look here in verse four. 1 Corinthians 15, four, and that he was buried and that he rose again the third day according to the scripture. The same Lord Jesus who willingly went to that cross and died for the sins of his people was buried. Joseph of Arimathea was the rich man. He had a tomb nobody had ever laid in it. And him and Nicodemus came and begged the Lord's body and they prepared it and they buried it in that tomb and put a stone on the mouth of that tomb. And that fulfilled the scriptures. When they had fulfilled all that was written of him, They took him down from the tree and laid him in a sepulcher, all according to the scripture.

Nowhere anywhere in this book does scripture hint that Christ made salvation possible. Nowhere. It doesn't hint that he justified his people if you'll just now do something to make it effectual. It does not hint that he made an attempt to redeem. It does not have a hint in this book that in some sense he died for everybody. No, because there is no sense in which Christ failed. He accomplished justifying his people.

Listen to Romans 4.25. He was delivered for our offenses and was raised again for our justification. To declare to us he accomplished the work.

Look at Hebrews chapter one. Hebrews 1, it's talking about how Christ has come now and he's the express image of God. Everything before was a type and a shadow. And the whole book of Hebrews is saying that the whole Levitical law was a shadow and type of Christ. But now he's come and he's the express image. Listen to Hebrews 1 and look at verse 3. He's the brightness of God's glory the express image of his person, he upholds all things by the word of his power. Now listen to this. When he had by himself purged our sins, he sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high. He purged somebody's sins. He put the people he died for, he completely put all their sins away and they'll never be brought up again.

Look at Hebrews 9 and look at verse 12. The blood of bulls and goats pictured him. That high priest that could only go in that holy place once a year by himself pictured Christ. But listen to what it says now in Hebrews 9, 12. Neither by the blood of goats and crows. Well, let's read verse 11. Christ being come a high priest of good things to come, by a greater, more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this old covenant building, neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, he entered in once into the holy place. That holiest of holies in earth pictured God's presence, God's holy presence. He entered the holy place, having obtained, past tense, eternal redemption for us.

See, he entered, he arose from the dead because he accomplished the redemption of his people. The burial of Christ proves that he really died. He really died. The resurrection of Christ proved he really justified and redeemed his people and satisfied God's holy justice. That means, here's what had to happen, everybody got saved. We sin, the law said that the soul of sin has to die. For God to be just, Everybody he saves has got to die the eternal death of hell, the second death. And Christ came and bore that for his people and satisfied justice. And now that he's risen, it declares to us he justified us. So God's just, and God has justified us in Christ, and he is salvation.

Now when he comes, what's he doing now? He's all power in heaven and earth as he is, the God-man. and he's sending this gospel, he's ruling all providence here below, and he's sending this gospel, and he's quickening his people by his spirit, and he's calling you, convincing you, and keeping you, ruling everything on our behalf, and one day he's coming again, and he's gonna bring us to glory.

Now go to John 16, I want you to see this. When he calls you, here's what he convinces you of. Everything I just declared is what he's gonna convince his people of. This is what, and the Spirit's not trying, the Spirit succeeds in this. Look here, John 16, verse eight. There are no maybes here, this is all yes.

Verse eight, when he's come, when the Spirit's come, John 16, eight, when he is come, he will reprove the world, that's his people wherever they are in the world, he will reprove, that word means to convict and convince. and he does this successfully. He reproves the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment, of sin because they believe not on me. Long as you're not trusting Christ, I don't care how good your works are, I don't care how good you take care of the little old poor old women that can't take care of themselves, you walk them across the street, you do everything for people, you're the best person according to this world, I don't care, it's nothing but sin because you don't trust Christ. of righteousness, because I go to my father and you see me no more.

That's what our text is saying. He arose because he got the job done. He made his people the righteousness of God, and he's gonna convince his child, he is my righteousness. Look here, and it says, and of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged. You know what the power of the devil is over us before God saves us? Our sin.

And so he convicts you of it, and you start trying to do something to make up for it. And then he makes you think you did really good, and you're patting yourself on your back and glorying in yourself. And then he brings it up again, and you're cast down, and you're fearful you're going to die and go to hell. And so you start trying to do some more works. and he dangles a carrot and he whips you, dangles a carrot, whips you, and it's called bondage. It kept you in bondage through fear of death. And all his weapon was, all his power was, was your sin.

But Christ makes you know, he crushed the devil's head because he took all our sin away and settled judgment before God for us so that the devil has nothing with which to accuse you ever again. And when he makes you to know that, purges your conscience to know your sin is gone. You're righteous in Christ. He makes you know that, that nobody can charge anything to God's elect because it's God that justified it.

That's liberty right there. That's liberty. The reason I give you all these scriptures is all this is according to the script. This is what this book teaches. I'm declaring to you the gospel. Now, we started with this, and I'm gonna end with this. Look at all these witnesses, verses five through eight.

Peter saw him, then the 12, then 500 brethren at once, then James, then all the apostles, and last of all, Paul. Christ arising is not a myth. I'll tell you what a theory is. A theory is that the world was created by a bang and evolution and all these junk that men teach and try to get folks to believe is a fact, which is just a theory made up in a man's mind.

But the truth is, witnessed by many witnesses, Christ Jesus arose because he satisfied God. Now in a court of law, witnesses settle the case. The case is settled for me. God's given me faith and the Spirit's convinced me. He's my righteousness. He settled judgment for me. I have no sin anymore because I trust Christ. He put it all away. Now, to the lost sinner, I declare to you the gospel of Christ.

There is no salvation anywhere else but him. You're not gonna be saved by anything you do. God sent his son, his son satisfied God, and God's not interested in you. He wants his son to have all the glory, and his son's gonna have all the glory. Wouldn't you? If you gave your son for a bunch of wretched, ungodly, hell-deserving sinners who did such an honoring job to magnify your law and perfectly served you and honored you to the highest like nobody ever could, wouldn't you want him to have all the glory? Well, God's gonna see to it his son gets all the glory.

You believe on him today, and you'll be saved. And I'll tell you this, if you do, He's gonna make you know He did it, and you will give Him all the glory. And you'll be happy to, because you want Him to. That's the thing about salvation. He makes you want Him to have all the glory.

And for you that do believe Him, you keep looking to Christ, trusting Christ, putting one foot in front of the other, running this race that He set before you with patience, looking only to Him, because He shall return. and he's gonna either bring you to glory with him and then raise your body or he's gonna come again while you're still alive and he's gonna carry us to glory. But one way or the other, he's not gonna fail to bring us with him and we're gonna be saved because he paid his blood for his people. End of story. Don't trust anybody but him. Keep looking to him, trusting him. Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you that you sent your son.

We thank you that you revealed Christ to us Lord, don't let us look to ourselves. Make us truly repent from anything about us. Our will, our works, our vain knowledge, every imagination, make us believe Christ only. And Lord, by your grace, we pray that you'd make us love as Christ loved us. We were ungodly and didn't deserve it, and he loved us anyway. Make us love one another like that. Make us be merciful and forgive one another. Not because they earned it, but because Christ forgave us when we did not earn it.

And Lord, keep your people. You have given us this promise and we believe you. And for those that are lost that you've chosen and redeemed, Lord, we trust in your time you'll reveal Christ to them. And we pray you do that. And we pray it be some of these sitting right here that are our own. We pray, Lord, that you'd be pleased to save them. And any of our loved ones and neighbors and folks in this community, in this town, this state, and this country, Lord, that are yours all over this world, we pray you save them by your grace. And we know you will. We trust you, believe you, keep us, Lord, for Christ's sake, amen. We're gonna not have a song closing hymn. You dismissed, so thank you, brother. Conscious of the deep pollution, sinners wander in the night. Though they hear