If you would open your Bibles
with me to the book of 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians chapter 1. I have here our church cleaning
schedule. And I kind of felt like it's
time to redo that. So I have here typed out people
who are different months that they have volunteered for. And
I think we've got some folks that probably need to retire
and maybe need to switch months or whatever. So, Lord willing,
this is a stretch. If I remember this after I'm
done preaching, I'll set it out on the table there and you can,
I'll just, you all take care of that. You'll do, I know you'll
do real well with that. It's good to come into a building
that's clean and organized. Also, let me pass this along
to you. Cosetta's son, Jimmy, is, you know, he'd been diagnosed
with cancer. He is being treated. in Little
Rock, Arkansas, the same place where Cecil was treated. So let's remember that family
in prayer. All right, 1 Corinthians 1. Begin
our reading in verse 10. Now I beseech you, brethren,
by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the
same thing, that there be no divisions among you, but that
ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same
judgment For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren,
by them which are of the household of Chloe, that there are contentions
among you. Now this I say, that every one
of you saith, I am of Paul, and I of Apollos, and I of Cephas,
and I of Christ. Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified
for you? Or were you baptized in the name
of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you but Crispus and Gaius.
lest any should say that I have baptized in my own name. And
I baptized also the household of Stephanus. Besides, I know
not whether I baptized any other. For Christ sent me not to baptize. Now you know full well that we
are to baptize those who confess Christ, but what Paul's saying
there is God didn't send me to get results. This is why God
sent me, but to preach the gospel. Not with wisdom of words, lest
the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. For the
preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness,
but unto us which are saved is the power of God. For it is written,
I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I 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, by its wisdom, knew not God.
It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe. For the Jews require a sign and
the Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified.
Under the Jews, a stumbling block, and under the Greeks, foolishness.
But under them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, rise the
power of God and the wisdom of God. We'll end our reading there.
All right, let's stand together as Sean leads us in singing our
call to worship. Complete in the end. No work of mine may take, dear
Lord, the place of Thine. Thy blood has pardoned but for
me, and I am now complete in Thee. Complete in thee, no more
shall sin. Thy grace has conquered rain
within. Thy voice will bid the tempter
flee, and I and complete in Thee. Complete in Thee each need supplied,
and no good thing to me denied. Since Thou my portion, Lord,
shalt be, I ask no more complete. in thee. Dear Savior, when before
thy bar all tribes and tongues assembled are among the chosen,
may I be at thy right hand complete in thee. Okay, if you would, please turn
on your red hymnal to song number 282, Hiding in Thee. Go safe to the rock that is higher
than I. My soul in its conflicts and
sorrows would fly. So sinful, so weary, Thine, Thine
would I be. Thou blast rock of ages, I'm
hiding in Thee. Hiding in Thee, Hiding in Thee,
Thou blessed Rock of Ages, I'm hiding in Thee. In the calm of the noontide,
in sorrow's lone hour, In times when temptation casts o'er me
its bow, In the tempest of life, on its wide-heaving sea, Thou
blessed rock of ages, I'm hiding in Thee. Hiding in Thee. Hiding in Thee. Thou blessed rock of ages, I'm
hiding in Thee. How often the conflict, when
pressed by the foe, I have fled to my refuge and breathed out
my woe. How often when trials like sea
billows roll, Have I hidden in thee, O thou rock of my soul? Hiding in thee, I'm hiding in
Thee, Thou blessed Rock of Ages, I'm hiding in Thee. Scripture reading this morning,
turn with me to second Timothy chapter one. Our pastors asked that we read
the first 12 verses of second Timothy chapter one. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ
by the will of God, according to the promise of life which
is in Christ Jesus, to Timothy, my dearly beloved son, grace,
mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. I thank God, whom I serve for
my forefathers with pure conscience, that without ceasing I have remembrance
of thee in my prayers day and night. greatly desiring to see
thee, being mindful of thy tears, that I may be filled with joy.
When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee,
which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois and thy mother Eunice, I
am persuaded that in thee also. Wherefore, I put thee in remembrance
that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee, by the
putting on of my hands. For God hath not given us the
spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. Be not thou therefore ashamed
of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me, his prisoner, but
be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the
power of God, who has saved us and called us with an holy calling,
not according to our works, but according to his own purpose
and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world
began. but is now made manifest by the appearing of our Savior,
Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death and hath brought life and
immortality to light through the gospel, wherein, too, I am
appointed a preacher and an apostle and a teacher of the Gentiles,
for the which cause I also suffer these things. Nevertheless, I
am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am persuaded
that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him
against that day. Amen. We'll end our reading there.
Let's pray together. Our holy heavenly father, we
pray that you send your spirit and bless this time that we worship
together. Bless your holy name, that your name be declared from
this place, from this pulpit as it ought. that we as a people
worship you in Christ and for his sake as we ought. We thank you for drawing us here
together today and we pray that your name be declared here in
power as it ought and that we worship as a people, that your
word go forth and accomplish your will, that it not return
unto you void but rather that Edify the saints here and call
centers to repentance. Draw us to Christ. Don't leave
us to ourselves. Call our children according to
your will. Use this word to call your people
that are here in this community according to your will. We pray that you'd be with our
pastor. Just as we pray for ourselves that you'd leave us not alone
as we listen, we pray that you'd be with our pastor, leave him
not alone. Give him your words, be with him and strengthen him.
Give him the message and give us a heart to give you the glory.
Father, we pray that you give us faith to believe. Don't leave
us to our own wisdom, our own foolishness. Keep us always,
both here and through the week, keep us focused on Christ, Christ
alone. We thank you for salvation that's
found in him. Remember that we're dust, that
we struggle, and the trials that you brought our way for our friends,
our family that are here in this congregation, that you bless
and comfort, heal according to your will. We pray these things
thankfully in Christ's name for his sake. A pilgrim was I in a wandering,
In the cold night of sin I did roam, When Jesus the kind Shepherd
found me, And now I am on my way home. Surely goodness and
mercy shall follow me all the days, all the days of my life. Surely goodness and mercy shall
follow me all the days, all the days of my life. He restoreth my soul when I'm
weary. He giveth me strength day by
day. He leads me beside the still
waters. He guards me each step of the
way. Surely goodness and mercy shall
follow me. all the days, all the days of
my life. Surely goodness and mercy shall
follow me all the days, all the days of my life. When I walk through the dark,
lonesome valley, my Savior will walk with me there, and safely
His great hand will lead me to the mansions He's gone to prepare. Surely goodness and mercy shall
follow me all the days, all the days of my life. Surely goodness and mercy shall
follow me all the days, all the days of my life. It's a blessing. Thank you. Let's open our Bibles now again,
if you would, to the book of 2 Timothy. 2 Timothy chapter 1. I've entitled
the message this morning, A Gospel Summary. We looked at verse 7
last week. Let's look at that again. For
God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of
love and of a sound mind. God has given us the gospel,
the gospel of the spirit of power, of love and of a sound mind.
And that's a glorious gift from God that he'd give us that gospel,
that he'd give us that spirit in believing his gospel and following
him. And since that is true, verse
eight, Paul says, be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony
of our Lord, nor of me as prisoner. But be thou partaker of the afflictions
of the gospel according to the power of God. Now the word testimony
Paul uses, be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our
Lord. That's the gospel. It's the testimony of our Lord,
of how it is that God saves sinners in, by, and through our Lord
Jesus Christ. And Paul tells Timothy, and he's
telling us too, don't be ashamed. of the gospel of Christ that
God has given us. Don't be ashamed of that message
that puts the flesh in the dust. Don't be ashamed of that message
that just reveals the flesh for what it is, such a vile, sinful,
wretched, dead flesh. And don't be ashamed of saying
that you believe the gospel. The world hates it, but don't
you be ashamed to say that you believe it. Don't let the world's
hatred of Christ stop you from confessing Christ. You know,
if the fallen flesh of this world hates something, that's pretty
good indication believers ought to love it. Don't you reckon?
Look at Mark chapter eight. This is something that our Lord
dealt with while being shamed of him, of his testimony. The
gospel is a testimony of who Christ is, how he saved God's
people. And our Lord dealt with this
matter of being ashamed. of that. And the only reason
we'd be ashamed of it is because the world hates it. We don't
want to be mocked and ridiculed and in these different things.
And in Timothy's case, tortured and killed, and it's just horrible
time in history to live. But verse 34, Mark chapter eight,
and when he called the people unto him with his disciples also,
he said unto them, whosoever will come after me, Follow me,
let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For
whosoever shall save his life shall lose it. For whosoever
shall lose his life for my sake in the gospels, the same shall
save it. For what shall I profit a man
if he should gain the whole world and lose his own soul? For what
shall a man give in exchange for his own soul? Whosoever therefore
shall be ashamed of me. and be ashamed of my words. In
this adulterous and sinful generation of him also shall the Son of
Man be ashamed when he cometh in the glory of his Father with
the holy angels." So don't be ashamed to be identified with
the Savior. Those who are ashamed to be identified
with the Savior, they don't believe Him. They don't love Him. Those
people do not know God and the Lord says He'll be ashamed of
them. But don't be ashamed of identifying with the Savior.
Think who He is. Think what He's done. He gave
Himself to be sacrificed to save His people from their sin. Don't
ever be ashamed of the Savior and His ignominious, horrible,
cursed death on the tree for His elect. Now be ashamed of
what made Him die. Let's be ashamed of our own sin. Let's never have any pride in
that. Be ashamed of what caused Him to die But don't be ashamed
of him who saved us from our sin. I'll tell you where this
matter of being ashamed started. It started in the garden. You
know, when Adam and Eve were first in the garden, they were
naked, weren't they? Before the fall, they were naked
and they were not ashamed. But the moment Adam sinned, Adam
and Eve became ashamed. They became ashamed of their
nakedness, and worse yet, they became what they really were
ashamed of, even more than that, was their shame of standing before
God as they are. That's why they made themselves
aprons of fig leaves, trying to cover their nakedness. And
I reckon they covered those parts of their body, you know, but
didn't take away their shame, did it? Didn't take away their
humiliation. They were wearing those aprons
when the Lord came walking in the garden in the cool of the
day, and where was Adam? He's hiding in the bushes. The
fig leaves didn't work, did they? Didn't cover his shame. And we
have Adam's nature. We're ashamed. We're born with
a nature that tells us we ought to be ashamed of standing before
God naked without any righteousness. Just it's in a person to know,
I need a covering. I need a covering for my sin.
I need a covering for my shame. Men know that God's put that
knowledge in them. And that's why men have made
up so many different religions, trying to find a different way
to cover their nakedness. But no man-made religion will
cover our shame, will cover our sin any better than Adam's fig
leaves covered his nakedness and took away his shame. Now
we should be ashamed to stand before God in our so-called righteousness
and our attempts at being obedient to God's law. We should be ashamed
of standing before God as we are. We ought to be ashamed of
what we are. We ought to be ashamed of who we are, of our sin nature.
We ought to be ashamed of that. But let's not be ashamed of him
who clothed us in his righteousness. God forbid. And you know, truly
knowing Christ will stop us from being ashamed of him. Back in
our text in verse 12, Paul says, for the witch cause also I suffer
these things. I suffer persecution from the
world and hatred of the world. Nevertheless, he said, I'm not
ashamed. For, here's why I'm not ashamed. For I know him. I know whom I have believed.
and I'm persuaded He is able to keep that which I have committed
unto Him against that day. See, knowing Christ, knowing
who He is, that'll make us believe. Knowing Him is life eternal,
isn't it? That's what the Lord said. Knowing Him will make us
not be ashamed of Him. It won't make us ashamed of salvation
by grace without our works. I believe this will be a help
to you. Paul tells us not to be ashamed of the Lord. Kind
of shocking he had to tell us that. Don't be ashamed of the
testimony, the gospel. Here's something even of greater
amazement. The Lord is not ashamed to call
us who believe his brethren. Scripture says it twice. Hebrews
2.11 and Hebrews 11.6. He's not ashamed to call us his
brethren. God help me. I should never be
ashamed of him or his gospel, should I? And don't be ashamed
of identifying with God's people. You know, that's what Paul tells
Timothy about himself. Don't be ashamed of me because
I'm here, a prisoner in Rome. Don't be, don't be ashamed of
identifying with me. I, you know, I haven't done anything
wrong. I'm here, I'm God's prisoner. I'm not Rome's prisoner. I'm
God's prisoner. And that's good for us to remember. Don't be
ashamed of God's people. Don't be ashamed of identifying
with God's people, especially when the world hates them. especially
when they're suffering persecution from the world. We need to remember
this. That's when our brethren need
us the most. They need us to stand by their side, help them
and pray for them. That's what we need them the
most. And those people that came to Paul, we'll see this later.
I don't know how many weeks it'll take us to get there, but about
the house of Onesiphorus. Oh, Paul was being persecuted.
He was in prison. He was, oh, just the things that
he suffered. The Apostle Paul is a hardened
warrior, wasn't he? I mean, he went to Rome knowing
what awaited him there, the trials and afflictions that await. He's
a hardened warrior. But don't you ever think it didn't
just help his heart when Onesiphorus came to help him. Onesiphorus
wasn't afraid. He sought him out to be with
Paul there in prison. Oh, it helped him. We need to
remember that when our brethren are suffering. And we're warned
Not to be ashamed of Christ, not to be ashamed of the gospel,
not to be ashamed of our brethren who believe him. Because affliction
is going to come from the world for believing Christ. Affliction,
hatred is going to come if you trust Christ and you insist on
not trusting any of your works to contribute to your salvation.
Now the flesh is going to hate that. The world's going to hate
that because this flesh loves our own works. Your flesh will
afflict you the rest of your life when you plead Christ. Your
old man is going to constantly be trying to bring you back into
captivity to the law. And what's captivity to the law?
Your works. That old man is going to constantly
be trying to get you back under the rule of the law. And the
world will mock you. The flesh just doesn't understand. They can't understand. They'll
say, oh, I mean, it's good. You're religious. It's good.
You go to church on Sunday. You don't believe that election and
predestination stuff, do you? You can't believe that. And you
know, when, when asked that question, you know, we ought to answer
by God's grace. Yes, I do. By God's grace and
only by God's grace. And don't ever back off of it.
Don't ever back off of it. Not one, not one step of retreat. Paul said in Romans 1 verse 16,
I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. It's the power of
God unto salvation. It's the power of God unto salvation.
To everyone that believes, to the Jew first and also to the
Greek. Let's never back off an inch, a centimeter, a motion
away from the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is the power
of God to save us. The power of God to save us and
to keep us. Now there's no reason for us, for a sinner to ever
be ashamed of God's gospel, the gospel of Christ that declares
to us how it is that God saves sinners. And I want to preach
this message very simply and very plainly, tell you what you've
already heard many times before. Five point summary of the gospel
of Christ. The first is this, verse nine,
God saved us. Paul says, verse nine, who hath
saved us. Now God has, hath, Paul said,
has already saved his people from their sin. God did that.
That means God did it all by himself without any help, without
any input from the creatures of the dust that he chose to
save. And I'm telling you, it's a mighty good thing that God
hath saved his people and done all of the work by himself. because
God's elect are born into this world a sinful people. They have
a nature that makes it so that they cannot contribute to their
salvation. All they can do is sin, so they
can't contribute. God has saved his people by himself
so fully and so completely that salvation is already done, already
accomplished. Paul here speaks in the past
tense. God hath saved his people. You know why he's speaking in
the past tense? Because the great transaction is done. The debt
is paid. Salvation is of the Lord. From beginning to end, it's all
of the Lord. The Father chose a people to
save before time began, and he did absolutely everything that
was necessary to save those people from their sins. That mean he
had to do it all because we couldn't contribute anything. He had.
It was accomplished before we ever came on the scene. So when
we talk about salvation, we say the Lord has saved me. We should
never say this. If this is in our vocabulary,
I hope we can get this out of our vocabulary. I got saved. I got saved. You know, that leaves,
I got saved. Where's the Lord in that sentence?
Where's the Lord? When we say I got saved, we left
the Lord out of the equation altogether. Saying I got saved,
it's like, I don't know where this saying came from between
me and Janet, but saying I got saved, it's like saying I got
dead. We watch our shows, one of our characters died, you know,
he got dead. That's what we say. I got dead.
or I got a promotion. It's like it's something that
I did, you know. Salvation's not that. Salvation is a blessing
that Almighty God has already accomplished for his people all
by himself. Salvation is by the will of God,
and it's by the doing of God. He saved us. That's the message
of the gospel. Part number two, God called us. Paul says in verse nine, who
hath saved us and called us with a holy calling. I want us to
notice the order here, because this is not accidental. This
is on purpose. This is describing the salvation of God's people.
First, God saved his people. Then he called them. That's the
order. He saved us and then he called
us. See, the father purposed the
salvation of his people before he ever created anything. When
only God existed, He purposed the salvation of His people.
In the fullness of time, He sent His Son to accomplish His purpose,
to accomplish the salvation of those people that the Father
chose to save, not by their obedience to the law, but by Christ's obedience
to the law for them, as their representative. He sent His Son
to die as a substitute for His people. He sent His Son to die
for sin, for the sin of His people. And by his blood, put that sin
away. That's how God has saved his
people from their sin. And that salvation is received,
received through God-given faith in Christ. We don't earn it.
We don't merit it. We don't, we, and we can't even
make ourselves believe on Christ. We can't make ourselves trust
in Christ. We can't, we can't come up with
this faith in Christ in and of ourselves. We can't do it. Because
we're still dead in sin. The flesh can't produce anything
spiritual. So you know what God does? He purposed the salvation
of his people. He purchased it. And then the
Holy Spirit comes and he gives a gift. The gift of faith. Because people find themselves
believing. They believe Christ. Because
God gave them the gift of faith to believe him. And He gives
that gift of faith by calling, calling His people to Christ
and making them see Christ, making them come to Him and making them
rest in Him. And that's the work of God. You
know, we can hear a lot of good preaching and never come to Christ. We can hear somebody preach Christ
in such clear, biblical truth. We hear that. and never come
to Christ. But when God, the Holy Spirit
calls, when the Spirit speaks through the Word, through the
written Word, through the preached Word, when the Spirit speaks,
and the Spirit's the one that calls us to Christ, we'll come
running. I tell you, I try to tell you
in every single message I ever preach, you come to Christ. You
already know I'm gonna say that. Practically, every time you come,
you're already thinking, well, Frank's gonna tell me to come to Christ
again. You know when you'll come? God, the Holy Spirit calls. Nobody's
going to keep you away. Nobody's going to have to beg
you to come down here, down front and walk an aisle and make a
public profession or anything. Nobody's going to have to be
begging you to do that. If the Spirit calls you, nothing's going
to stop you from getting to Christ. Nothing will. He called us. Look at Romans chapter 8. That's
salvation. God saved His people and then
He calls them. Romans chapter 8. Verse 28, and we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are the
called according to his purpose. Now, if God's going to call somebody,
why did God call those people? Why did he call them? What Paul
tells us here in the next verse is because God already saved
him. Verse 29, for, here's why he called his people, for whom
he did for know, He also did predestinate to be conformed
to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn, the
king among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate,
then he also called. And whom he called, then he also
justified. And whom he justified, then he also glorified. I hope
you notice here that Paul again is talking in the past tense.
This thing's already done. Even glorification, he speaks
of it in the past tense, something that's already done. This thing's
already been accomplished. See, first God saved his people
and then he called them. All right, God has a people.
He purposed their salvation. Christ came and accomplished
a salvation for those people. Can anybody that God chose, that
Christ redeemed, can any of those people ever be lost? Can they? Could they perish? Can they perish
in their unbelief? No. No, it's impossible. Why? Why is it impossible that those
people ever perish? Here's the reason. Salvation's
of the Lord. Because God saved them. Because
God called them. Because God justified them. God made those sinners to be
without sin. God justified them. And it's
God who makes intercession for them. and it's God who will bring
us home to be with him. Verse 31, that's what Paul says
here. What should we then say to these things? Well, if God
be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own
son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with
him also freely give us all things? How can he not give us what Christ
earned and purchased by his death? Who should lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justifieth. Who
is he that condemneth? Christ that died, yea rather
that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who
also makes intercession for us. See, salvation is of the Lord,
and God's gonna call his people to himself. And back in our text,
Paul calls this a holy calling. I reckon why he calls this a
holy calling. I thought of a couple reasons.
Number one is this, it's a holy calling, because it's the call
of God the Holy Spirit. Everything he does is holy. It's the Holy
Spirit who calls us to Christ. Secondly, this is a call to come
to Christ and be made holy in him. It's not a call to start,
you know, keeping the law and be holy your own self. It's a
call of Christ holiness, not yours. That's what is a call
to trust Christ and be made holy in him. It's a holy calling to
be made holy. And thirdly, it's a holy calling
because we're called on to live a holy life. Believers are called
on to live a holy life in this world. And that what our Lord
said, be ye holy as I'm holy. Well, now how can I do that?
Yes, God saved me. Yes, God's called me with a holy
calling. Yes, he's caused me to be born
again with a nature that's holy and cannot sin. He ain't done
anything about this flesh yet. And when the Lord does something
with this flesh, you know what he's gonna do with it? He gonna kill it. You're
not going to make it any better. He's going to kill it, put it
in the ground so it goes back to the dust from whence it was
made. God hasn't done anything with this flesh yet. Yes, I've
got a holy nature, but I've got a sinful one too. So everything
I do is sinful. How can I live a holy life? How
can you live a holy life? How can you get up tomorrow morning,
go back out there to the salt mine tomorrow and work amongst
all this filth that is our society and live a holy life? Let me
tell you, live by trusting Christ. Live resting in him. Live honestly. Do live honestly. If I gotta tell you that, we're
in trouble, aren't we? Live honestly. Live honestly. Live rightly in this world. Men,
be a husband to your wife. Be a father to your children.
Workers, I mean, just work as hard as you absolutely can. Who
cares if they're not paying you what you're worth? Just work
hard. Work as unto the Lord. Live honestly. Live rightly in this world. Be
a good neighbor. Be a kind person. Don't make
it difficult for people to get along with you. Live honestly
and rightly in this world. But don't trust that as your
holiness. Live. trusting Christ as your holiness. That's the only way to be holy.
This is a holy calling to be made holy in Christ. Thirdly,
this is a summary of the gospel. First, God saved his people and
then he called them. Here's the third thing. God saves
by grace and not by words. You cannot preach the testimony
of our Lord without preaching grace. That's what Paul says,
verse nine, who hath saved us, and hath called us with the holy
calling, not according to our works, not according to our own
works, but through his own purpose and grace. Now, since God saved
us, Paul said, who hath saved us? He saved us. Then our works
can't contribute to our salvation in any way. That ought to be
obvious to us. Our works don't contribute to salvation ever,
ever. before regeneration or after,
before or after. You know, this congregation,
by God's grace, is very, very faithful, faithful, faithful
to attend the services. And I believe it's because you
love Christ. I believe it's because you need
to hear his gospel. I believe that of this congregation.
How many services do you reckon you've been in over the course
of your life? How many do you reckon? If you come to 10,000 more, it
won't make you one bit, one iota more righteous than the first
day you ever believed Christ. Not one. Our works don't enter
into this thing of salvation. Now, we ought to be faithful.
We ought to be. But not, we can't trust in that. Don't fall into
this trap of thinking that God saved you. Now you're better
than everybody else. No, you're not better than everybody
else. You're not going to grow into something that's going to
make you better than everybody else. And you're going to show
everybody else how full of the spirit you are, you know, by
what you do and what you don't do. If we believe that there's
no difference between preaching that junk and believing that
junk, then there is the old Jews preaching circumcision. Something
done in the flesh. No difference whatsoever. God
keep us from that. Salvation is not of works. It's
not of works. It's not of works. It's not of
works. It's not of works. How many times does scripture
have to say that till we get it through our thick head? Salvation
is not of works. And believers have to be constantly
reminded of that. Look at Ephesians chapter two.
We have to be constantly reminded salvation is by grace. Ephesians chapter two. For by grace, by grace, by grace,
by grace are ye saved through faith. And that's not of yourselves. It's the gift of God. It's not
of works. It's by grace, not of works,
lest any man should boast. If there's going to be any boasting
going on in this thing, if there's going to be any glory in this
thing, it's all going to belong to the Lord in it. Every bit
of it is. Look at Romans chapter 9. Verse 11, for the children being not yet
born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose
of God, according to election might stand not of works, but
it's of him that calleth. Salvation depends upon him who
calls. Can that be more plain than that?
It's not of works, but it's of him that calls. It's impossible
for salvation to be by our works, because all of our works are
sinful. What we think, what we would calculate is our very best
work, most selfless, most holy, most helpful thing we could have
ever have done is full of enough sin, that act in and of itself
to damn us to hell. It's not of works, but it's of
him that call it. Salvation is by grace, pure,
unadulterated, undeserved grace of God. Salvation is by electing,
predestinating, redeeming, regenerating, calling, keeping, glorifying
grace. That's the kind of grace that
saves sinners. May God help us to preach it. May God help us to believe it.
All right, here's the fourth thing. God's salvation of his
people is eternal. The end of verse nine says, according
to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ
Jesus before the world began. Now, salvation was purposed before
creation, before the world began, before God created anything.
And salvation was also given to God's elect in eternity, before
creation. If God has saved you, that salvation
was given to you before you ever existed. It was given to you
before Adam ever existed. It was given to you before God
created this world. It's eternal. Salvation is eternal. It doesn't
have a beginning and it doesn't have an ending. I know you see
that. You see that from scripture.
If you're saved, there's a sense in which you've always been saved. If God loves you, God's always
loved you. That has to be true because God
can't change, can He? No, God can't change. God's eternal.
And so is His salvation. Everything He does is eternal.
Now, when the Father purposed the salvation of His people,
that was God's purpose at that time. And you can't even say
a time because it's eternal, but for a way that we can understand
that when God purposed, the Father purposed the salvation of His
people, Salvation was done. It was accomplished. You know
why it was accomplished? Because God's will is always
done. God's will of a thing is just
as sure as something that's happened a long time ago in history. God
purposed salvation. At that time, salvation was accomplished.
But now that salvation did have to be carried out in time, didn't
it? There had to be a sacrifice made. There has to be righteousness
established. But now notice the order again.
First, God saved his people. Then God called his people. And
then God applied the salvation of his people to their heart.
You know, people love to argue about when is a sinner saved? You know, God's salvation is
so much more complex, and it's so much more beautiful than just
arguing about the moment, you know, when a person is saved,
when the moment is a person is justified. God's gospel is, more
beautiful, and it's more complex than that. At the same time,
it's so simple. It's so simple. I can tell you
when a sinner is saved. God's elect were saved before
the foundation of the world. When God elected them unto salvation,
they are saved. God's elect were saved when that
salvation was given to those people. When the Father put those
people in Christ our surety. In Christ our surety. Just like
Benjamin's big brother, our big brother, he stood before the
Father and said, Father, give him to me. I'll be surety for
them. I'll bring every one of them
to you, set them at your feet only. At that moment, God's elect
were saved. God's elect were saved. When
the Savior shouted from the cross, it is finished. And he gave up
the ghost. At that time, God's people were
justified. The debt was paid. God's elect were saved when God
the Holy Spirit calls us to Christ. He calls us out of our darkness
into the light of Christ. He calls us out of our deadness
into life in Christ. And he gives us life and faith
to believe Christ. At that time, God's people are
saved. And thank God there's coming
a day when God's elect are gonna be saved. And they appear in
glory, they awaken the likeness of Christ the Savior. And at
that time, God's elect are saved. That's so complex, but that's
so simple, the youngest child here can understand it. Only
God could devise such a salvation and apply it to the hearts of
his people. All right, here's the fifth thing. God makes his
salvation known through the preaching of Christ. Now God has saved
his people. He has saved us. The father purposed
that salvation. Christ earned that salvation.
He purchased that salvation with his precious blood. Salvation
is something that's already done. It's already been accomplished
for God's people. But now God's not going to do something so
wonderful. So glorious, he did this for
his glory, that he would display his glory throughout all of eternity
and say, look at these rotten, sinful wretches. I saved them. I brought them to myself. I made
them righteous. I justified them. I brought them
to be with me where I am. God did all that for the glory
of his son. So he could display the glory
of his son to all of creation for all of eternity. And God's
not going to keep his greatest glory. He's not going to keep
that a secret from his people, from the people that he did this
for. He's not going to keep this unseen by those people that he
loves. He's going to let them in on it. He's going to tell
them what he did for them and make them grateful and thankful
for it, make them worship him for it. And the way God lets
his people know what he's done for them is through the preaching
of Christ. Verse 10. But is now all of this
purpose of God in salvation is now made manifest by the appearing
of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and has
brought life and immortality to light through the gospel,
through the preaching of the gospel. God has saved his people. And you know how the elect find
out about it? God sends him a preacher. He sends somebody to tell him
about Christ. And here's how you can tell a
man sent by God coming to preach Christ to you. Here's how you
can tell that. He's preaching God's salvation to God's people. He preaches Christ alone every
single time. God gives him the opportunity
to preach God's gospel. He preaches Christ alone and
he doesn't preach anything you do ever, ever. Salvation is in Christ alone
and he is impressing this upon your heart. Now you trust him.
Now you close with Christ. Now you come to Him. You believe
Him. You rest in Him. You look to Him. This man that
God sends, he preaches salvation by grace. By grace without words. He's constantly preaching grace,
grace, grace, grace, grace, and more grace. Because that's all
he's got to preach. So he has pleased God by the
foolishness of preaching. Preaching to save them to believe.
Now God, He could speak from heaven. He's done that in the
past. He's audibly spoken from heaven. God could audibly speak
from heaven and speak to his people directly, telling them
the gospel, but he's not pleased to do that. God could send angels. He has sent angels in the past
to earth with a message for someone in particular, hasn't he? He could send angels to preach
the gospel to men, but he's not been pleased to do that. In the
purpose of God, God sends men, men just like you. What Tom Harding
says, preaching all it is, is one beggar tell another beggar
where he found bread. That's all it is. God sends men. They're weak men. They're sinful
men. They're men who have been made
righteous in Christ. They've been justified by the
blood of Christ. They're sinful men who are saved
by God's grace and kept by God's grace. And they're sent by God
to preach the gospel of God's grace. They can tell you something
about what they've experienced, the grace of God. And God doing
it that way, having his gospel, having the gospel that the human
mind cannot comprehend. Preached by a sinful man, two
sinful men and women, and making those people believe it and rest
in Christ. That is far more glorious. God
displays His power much more clearly and gloriously that way
than if He sent Gabriel the archangel down here to tell us about Christ. I think I can tell you. I know
I can tell you. One thing Gabriel the archangel
can't tell you. God's gracious to sinners. God's
gracious. You rest in Christ. It's possible
for a sinner to rest in Christ. Gabriel can't tell you that.
I can't. Mary can't. I can't tell you. When God does it that way,
your faith can't stand the power of man, because he ain't nothing.
At best, he's a voice. This way, your faith has to stand
in the power of God. He had his gospel preached from
the lips of a sinful man to the ears of sinful people and made
you believe it. Only God could do that. Only God could give
spiritual life by enabling a man to tell you about Christ our
life. See, the way we find out that the Lord Jesus Christ has
abolished death and he's brought in life for his people is somebody
has got to tell us who Christ is, to bring all this to light.
Here's how God did it. It's all in Christ. And it's
through the gospel. It's through the preaching of
Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ, Paul says here, has destroyed
death. You don't have to live under
the fear of death anymore if you trust Christ, because Christ
has destroyed death. The gospel tells us you're not
under the law. You don't have to fear the law,
you don't have to fear the condemnation and the law sentencing you to
death, because Christ has destroyed the cause of death, which is
the law. He took it out of the way. Christ,
by his death, has destroyed Satan, who scripture says has the power
of death. But Christ destroyed him. Christ has destroyed the
sting of death, which is sin. So death is destroyed. Death
has no more power on God's people. And the only way you can find
that out is through this message of Christ. And God appoints a
preacher. He equips him, he qualifies him,
and he sends him. He sends him to a specific place,
to specific people, to preach a specific gospel. The gospel
of Christ. It's very narrow. It's the gospel
of Christ. Verse 11. Whereunto I am appointed
a preacher and an apostle and a teacher of the Gentiles. See,
God equipped Paul. And he sent him specifically
to preach the gospel to the Gentiles. And how many Gentiles do you
reckon heard the gospel from the Apostle Paul? As many as
we're supposed to. As many as we're supposed to.
And that is the story of every believer here. You were born
dead in sin. You had no interest in God. You
had no interest in Christ. You had no interest in the gospel.
But God sent you a preacher. And He dared to insult you. He dared to insult your flesh.
He dared to call you dead. He dared to call you offensive.
He dared to call the best things that you do sin. And then He
told you who Christ is. He pointed you to Christ and
got out of the way. And God gave you ear to hear
and you came. God let you in on what He did for you from all
of eternity through the preaching of Christ. That's so special. That's so special. That's so
gracious. I hope that we never become gospel
hardened. Gospel has been preached here
a long, long time. By God's grace, week after week
after week after week. God help us. to never take it
for granted. But to have some understanding,
this, what we're doing right now, is special. God speaking
to the hearts of his people by preaching of his word. Let's
not take it for granted. And certainly let's not be shamed
of it. But God help us to believe it,
to rejoice in it, because this is the gospel. It's the gospel. It's the only gospel. It's the
gospel. that God is pleased to use to reveal Christ to the hearts
of His people. To encourage their hearts, to
strengthen their hearts, to feed their hearts, to edify them,
to constantly remind them, oh, yeah, look to Christ. Just quit looking where else.
Oh, if we quit looking where else. You know how God reminds
us to quit looking where else? Preach Christ again. By God's
grace, That's what I intend to do Wednesday night. Let's bow
together. Our father. How we thank you
for this gospel. How we thank you that you saved
your people. That you called them to Christ,
that you saved them by your grace. Without any of our works. And
you've revealed it through the preaching of your gospel. You've
given us That gospel here so many years. Oh, how thankful
we are. We know we're undeserving. It's
just just because you're merciful, gracious to your people. Father,
I pray. That you cause this gospel to
continue here many years. If it could be possible. To Christ
returns. That you give a people who hunger
and thirst after righteousness, who hunger and thirst to hear
more of Christ, our Savior, Christ, our righteousness, Christ, our
justification, Christ, our wisdom, Christ, our all. She calls a
people to be here who come seeking a Savior and to be pleased to
reveal yourself to them. Father, how we thank you. I pray you bless your word. Father,
bless it to your glory. Enable your people to see your
glory in Him and cause us to rest in Christ alone. It's in
His precious name we pray and give thanks. Amen. All right, Sean. If you would, please turn to
song number 63. Take the name of Jesus with you
and stand as we sing. Take the name of Jesus with you,
child of sorrow and of woe. It will joy and comfort give
you, Take it, then where'er you go
Precious name, oh how sweet Hope of earth and joy of heaven Precious
name, oh how sweet Hope of earth and joy of heaven Take the name
of Jesus ever as a shield from every snare. If temptations round
you gather, breathe that holy name in prayer. Precious name,
O how sweet! Hope of earth and joy of heaven. Precious name, O how sweet! Hope of earth and joy of heaven. O the precious name of Jesus,
how it thrills our souls with joy. When his loving arms receive
us And his songs our tongues employ Precious name, oh how
sweet Hope of earth and joy of heaven Precious name, oh how
sweet Hope of earth and joy of heaven. At the name of Jesus bowing,
falling prostrate at his feet. King of kings in heaven, we'll
crown him when our journey is complete. Precious name, oh how
sweet. Hope of earth and joy of heaven. Precious name, oh how sweet. Hope of earth and joy of heaven.