If you will turn back with me
now to Acts chapter 13. The subject of these verses and the subject of all of the
verses throughout the scriptures is the person of Jesus Christ. And that's what I titled the
message this morning, Preaching a Person. What do we preach? We preach a person. When the ones who went out to
the tomb came back, they had a gospel message. He's not dead. He's risen. He's risen. And this is the good
news of the gospel, everything rides on him. Everything rides
on him. Now if this man saw corruption,
if this man is still hidden in a tomb somewhere in Israel, then
we ain't got any hope. We have a living hope, one who
raised, God raised him from the dead. He appeared, he walked
around on this earth after his resurrection for nearly a month.
Was seen of hundreds and hundreds of people. And then he ascended into glory
and sat down at the right hand of God. I often emphasize the preaching
of the gospel and I do so for several reasons. Paul was here
preaching. He was there preaching. He wasn't
there to visit. He didn't just happen there because
he was running away from some enemies. He came there to preach. When he got up, he had something
to say. He didn't say, well, I wasn't expecting to preach
today, so, no, he had something to say. And I often emphasize the preaching
of the gospel, and I do so for several reasons. First of all,
because preaching in our day has been relegated to the scrap
heap. If you want to build a big denomination,
you don't do it by preaching. And you certainly don't do it
by preaching Christ crucified. Why? because men are more interested
in numbers than they are in the souls of men. Nothing else can
do your soul any good except the preaching of the gospel.
This is God's chosen means, his ordained means. He's not gonna
do anything for you apart from the preaching of the gospel. In verse 45 of Acts 13 it says,
when the Jews saw the multitudes They were filled with envy. That's
where their interest was in the multitudes. Get a lot of people
and a lot of support and a large income and a big church and be
well known in the community. Have a big name. Have a big name. A lot of influence. And then secondly, because the
preaching of the gospel doesn't appeal to men. has no appeal
whatsoever to men. You're not going to win the favor
of natural man telling him that all his righteousnesses are his
filthy rags. Tell him that his prayers and
his offering and his thoughts toward God and his worship and
his singing is filthy rags. That old rag that leper covered
his mouth with, full of pus and oh, I can't even imagine. That's
our righteousness. That's our righteousness. You're not going to win the favor
of a natural man telling him that, and you're not going to
fill up the pews preaching unconditional election. God chose a people. Who's he going to save? All them
he chose. Well, what about this? There
ain't no what about. He chose a people. That's his
purpose of grace in this world. He's gonna save a people out
of this world for the glory of his name. It's his eternal purpose
of grace. He's gonna do it. He's gonna
do it. But you ain't gonna fill up if
you's preaching unconditional election. Christ died for his
elect. Not gonna build a great Denomination,
preaching particular redemption. Christ died for his people. He
didn't die for the world. He didn't die for Esau. He died
for Jacob. Is that too hard? That's what
the scripture says. Moses said, show me your glory.
He said, here's my glory, Moses. I have mercy on whom I will have
mercy, and whom I will I'll harden. I'm going to build a great denomination
preaching particular redemption that Christ died for his elect
and that he rose from the dead to justify them, fully justify
them. That salvation is in the hands
of a sovereign God, not in our hands, not in our decisions.
And gospel preaching, it has nothing in it to appeal
to natural man. To him it is utter foolishness. Just foolishness. So why preach
a gospel that you know is gonna be offensive to man? Because
it's the only message that can do him any good. That's why. Do you not think it appeared
as foolishness when Noah stood up and said, now it's gonna rain? He's a madman. It's never rained.
It never rained. We're scientists. And we know that God, he sends
the moisture up from under the earth to water everything. We
don't know what he's talking about rain. It's gonna rain.
But it did. But it was foolishness to them
that heard it. It's not only gonna rain, it's
gonna flood the earth, and God's gonna kill everybody that don't
believe on his son. And they laughed at him. He was
a preacher of righteousness, not theirs, but God's righteousness
in Christ. And he preached to them, but
it was utter foolishness. And so is the gospel to our generation. It's utter, absolute foolishness. After, listen to this, 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. It pleased God to do it this
way. In 1 Corinthians 3, Paul was
addressing a people who were just babes in Christ at best. And they were still talking about
whose ministry they were saved under and all this kind of stuff.
And Paul said this, he said, who then is Paul? Who is Apollos? But ministers by whom you believed
even as God has given to every man. Every man. God has a minister for every
man. A minister. That's why he calls them angels
in the book of Revelation. Exactly why, because angels are
ministering spirits sent forth to minister to those who shall
be heirs of salvation. So are ministers. Or ministers,
they're sent to minister to those who shall be heirs of salvation.
And our Lord, who knew all things, preached the gospel. If it were optional, or could be a useless exercise,
I guarantee you our Lord wouldn't have preached. It was necessary,
and that's why he preached. And my friend, the preaching
of the gospel is the power of God unto salvation to everyone
that believeth. All right, preacher. So what
is it to preach the gospel? Is it preaching the gospel to
tell folks that God done all he can do and now it's all up
to you? Is that the gospel? That's what's being preached
out there. I've heard it. I've heard it word for word. God done
all he can do. Now it's all up to you. Really? God who created the world, God
who's eternal, who's perfect in knowledge, he's done all he
can do, and now it's up to you? Come on. That's no gospel. Is it preaching
the gospel to tell folks that Christ died on the cross to make
salvation possible? God would risk the death of His
Son, the humiliation of His Son, deity becoming a man, dwelling
here for thirty-three and a half years in utter misery and humiliation. Unseated His Son from the throne
and sent Him down here and didn't even have a place to lay His
head. and they're gonna mock him and
spit on him and slap his face and laugh at him while he died
on the cross, and you think God's gonna risk that to your decision? To make salvation possible, that's
what that is. That's what that is. Is it preaching the gospel to
tell folks they have a free will? And all they have to do is to
make Jesus their personal savior. He's just waiting up there like
some valet, and he's gonna park your car for you. And you just
go up there and say, well, yeah, I'm gonna make him my, you gonna
make him? You ain't gonna make him anything.
He's Lord. He's Lord. And he's Lord whether
you say he's Lord or not. He's Lord whether you believe
it or not. And he's Lord of the dead and the living. Is it preaching the gospel to
tell folks if they'll quit sinning, turn over a new leaf, keep the laws best they can,
and work out a righteousness, and you'll win the favor of God.
Is that preaching the gospel? Paul said if you preach that,
Christ died in vain. That's what he told the Galatians.
You that desire to be under the law, do you hear the law? Do you know what that means? No, sir, these things constitute
Satan's gospel, not God's. This is what Peter refers to
when those, they sneak in, and you don't even know they're in,
and they come in kinda unawares, and they sit in there for a little
while, but they bring with them damnable heresies. Gospel preaching, I want you
to hear me. I know this sounds, well, he
just keeps harping on the same thing. Well, you just write that
on my tombstone. I harp my whole life on Christ.
That'd be all right. They picture angels with harps.
I'll be up there harping the same thing. They're nothing else other than
him, nothing. Gospel preaching is to preach
the person and work of Jesus Christ. Look here at my text. Here's a man who came to Antioch. He'd been called of God. He'd
been called to be an apostle. A rare number, an apostle. Highest office you can obtain
in the church. And he's sent here to these people
to preach, and he might only get to preach to them one time. There's nothing to say, there's
nothing to say that the message I'm preaching to you won't be
my last. This might be the last gospel message you ever hear.
God may just fold the doors. This may be it. And he wasn't playing games. And he said, be it known unto
you therefore, he went through the entire Old Testament. from
the forming of Israel all the way down to date. And he said,
be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through
this man, this Jesus, this seed of David, this one prophesied,
whose appearance was prophesied of God, this one who came, he
said, I'm preaching through him, through this man, the forgiveness
of sins. And by him, all that believe
are justified. That is, God has looked at you and cleared you of all charges. Cleared you of all charges. By
him, all that believe are justified from all things from which you
could not be justified by the law of Moses. So let me start here. Those whom were gathered to hear
the Apostle Paul were in a bad shape, but they didn't know it
yet. They didn't know it yet. I gathered
for years and didn't know what kind of condition I was in. I was as good as the next person
in my eyes. Might still say that. I didn't know I was doomed, did
you? First time you entered into a
church, did you know you were doomed? No, you didn't know that. But that's what it says. By one man's offense, sin entered
into the world. By this one man, his offense.
Sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed
upon all men. Was it all in sin? By the offense of one, judgment
came upon all men to condemnation. You coming here today, some of
you sitting here this morning do not yet know that you're under
the condemnation of God. If you knew it, you'd be shaking
in your boots. Oh, I hope he'll reveal it to
you. I hope he'll show you what you are by nature. They didn't
know it yet. Mankind's doomed. And Adam all
die. Men and women have a false sense
of righteousness and goodness because they compare themselves
to one another. But God's judgment is according
to righteousness by that man, he said, Jesus Christ. How you measure up to him? Huh? All his sin and come short of
what? The glory of God. But here's the brightness of
the Father's glory, Jesus Christ. Israel, Paul said, now watch
this, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, were going about to establish
their own righteousness, and would not therefore submit themselves
to the righteousness of God. They were ignorant of the righteousness
of God. They were ignorant of His inherent
righteousness, a perfect righteousness, flawless righteousness. He's
righteous, God is. And they were ignorant of that.
They were ignorant of that standard of righteousness, and they were
ignorant of the righteousness provided in the Lord Jesus Christ. They were totally ignorant of
that. Here's a righteousness that's already wrought out. It's already, it's done. It's a perfect righteousness.
It's the wedding garment that you put on. It's a perfect righteousness. The gospel is the power of God
unto salvation to everyone that believeth, for therein is the
righteousness of God revealed. Where is it revealed in Christ? He didn't just come here and
do some things and ascend back into glory. He came here as a
representative man. Who'd he represent? All those
chosen of God. And he obeyed God in perfection. We don't even know what that
is. Absolute total perfection. What do I mean by that? What
is a perfect righteousness? Well, to do anything before God,
you have to love him with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.
And I don't care if you do the deed perfectly. If it doesn't
have this as its motive, it's sin. It's sin. Everything he
did, he did because he loved the Lord, he is God, with all
his heart, soul, mind, and strength. And he did it perfectly. You
can't have a... I was watching Western the other night. And
one of these ruffian sons of a cowboy looked over at this
other man's wife and kind of made eyes at her. And his daddy
thumped him on the noggin. And he said, Daddy, it ain't
sin to look and to think. Oh, but yes it is. The thought
of foolishness is sin. Did you know that's why Satan
got kicked out of glory? Because he said something in
his heart. He didn't do it. He didn't even speak it out loud.
He just thought it in his heart. He's gone forever. Did you know that's why God destroyed
the world with water? Because every imagination of
the thoughts of men's hearts were only evil continually. I'm telling you, we're in a bad
shape and don't know it. I went on for years thinking,
oh, I'm pretty good. I mean, I ain't the best, but
I'm pretty good. And compared to him, I'm real
good, you know? No. No, we're the chief of sinners. We have a false sense of righteousness. And we're ignorant of it. We
wouldn't be going about to establish righteousness by ourself if we
knew that there was one, a perfect one, an eternal one. And I can say the same thing
about goodness. You remember Rich Young Ruler come to our
Lord and he said, good master, and he just stopped him in his
tracks. And he said, whoa, why callest thou me good? There's
none good but God. Are you calling me God? No. This good brother, he's such
a good man. Why you calling him good? Well,
he pays his bills. That ain't, that's nothing. There's none good but God. And
you can say the same thing about goodness or holiness or justice. or any kind of merit with God. Men and women compare themselves
with others and they get a false sense of goodness. And another
contributing factor to this is worldly standards. I started learning worldly standards
in kindergarten. They tell you what's right and
what's wrong. Now don't do that, that's wrong.
Don't do this. And you get these worldly standards
of goodness. So if I do this, I'm good. Now
I'm not trying to say that it's evil to teach a child to do good.
I'm not saying that. What I'm saying is we have earthly
standards and they deceive us about what's really good and
what's really evil. Don't ever relate these things
to your standing before god and then what about god's restraining
mercy he restrains us keeps us from being as evil as we could
be you'd be just like charlie manson
or one of these other idiots be just like them i am what i
am paul said by the grace of god what what paul was He did everything
he did in the name of God. He was out here and he was going
down persecuting the church in the name of God, thinking that
he was righteous in doing it. Thinking he was doing God a favor
if he would go down there and persecute these people that he
thought were fraud. Then he learned who the real
fraud was, was him. It's God's restraining grace.
He keeps you from being as evil as you could be. You couldn't
live in this world. Brother Mahan said one time he even restrained
him at the cross. If he hadn't, they'd put him
in a pot and boiled him and ate him. And we mistake that for personal
righteousness. And I can tell you right now,
the only thing that kept me from doing certain things is restraining
grace. I wouldn't, the circumstance
never come about. Never come about. Paul said, I have before proved
both Jews and Gentiles that they're all under sin. And you can read
Romans chapter three for yourself after he said that, and it'll
give you a clear picture of what you are. You might not like it,
you might not even believe it but that's who you are non-righteous no not one none
and understand it well i'm gonna read this book over the weekend
monday i won't tell you what to say you won't be able to tell
me what the first verse says let alone the whole book but
you say i don't feel like a vile sinner you recognize I'm trying
to be as gross as I can to make my point. You go out here and
there's a rotten carpet down there beside the road and you
look down and the maggots are just boiling out of it, isn't
it? They're just boiling out of it. Do you ever wonder if one maggot
is telling the other one, well, I don't feel vile. Well, no,
they feel normal. They're maggots. Why do we feel
normal about sin? Because we're maggots. That's
what he calls us, worms. And you look it up, you look
it up if you have a concordance, I challenge you, you look up
that word worm and see what it means. It means wiggling maggot. We don't feel vile, because we
live among maggots, that's why. Oh, my soul. We're so ignorant. So ignorant. Our understanding, he said, is
darkened through the ignorance that's in us. And the gospel
is the very light of God. And if it shines unto you, it'll
reveal what you truly are. In John chapter 3, Our Lord said,
this is condemnation. Light has come into the world,
and men love darkness rather than light. Why? Because that's what they're used
to. That's where they live, in the darkness. Through this man, I'm trying
to make a point here this morning. Through this man is preached
unto you, now listen, the forgiveness of sin. And all that entails
total forgiveness. Total forgiveness. Now these were church people.
They weren't barflies. He's at the synagogue in Antioch. He's at a church. These were folks gathered in
the house to worship. They weren't gathered at a brothel.
They were gathered at a church. These were religious folks. And
if you were to ask anybody in Antioch, they'd all tell you,
oh, those are good folks down there. Those are good folks down
there. And I dare say you'll hear the same thing no matter
what church around here you pick out. Somebody will tell you,
oh, that's a good fellow down there. These are good folk. They pray
in the streets. They pray in the marketplace.
They stand up in the restaurants and give thanks for the food.
They're generous givers, clean dressers, clean talking. Ain't no sinners down there. Well, if these are not sinners,
why is Paul preaching the forgiveness of sins? You might think it's
out of place for me to be saying these things this morning, but
here's what our Lord said, think not that I come to call the righteous,
I'm not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. The
gospel's for sinners. Well, I used to be a sinner,
you still are. I got news for you. Paul didn't
say, oh, wretched man that I used to be. He said, oh, wretched
man that I am. I ain't plumb saved yet. All you gotta do is cross me,
you'll find out. Sin will raise its ugly head
in a heartbeat. Oh, but we're sinners. but with
sinners being saved, being saved. And we need to be reminded of
our sinnerhood because until we become helpless and hopeless
before God, we're not gonna reach out and lay hold of Christ. We
ain't got any need for him. Christ looked at that pharisaical
bunch there in that house that day, and he said, the whole need
not the physician, The sick, they're the ones that need the
physician. So what did this apostle preach?
He preached the only thing given of God to preach. And the only
thing that can do a sinner any good, he preached a person. And
whatever your concept, whatever it is that you have about your
standing before God, you better take yourself out of it. Just
get yourself, if Christ don't stand for you, you got no hope. You got no hope. If you stand
before God as you are, if you leave this world today, and you
go out to meet God, and all you have is you, shame on you. Shame on you. You see, we're the sinner. We're
the sinner. He's the Savior. It's already been proven what
we are. We don't have legs to stand on. We're under condemnation. And there's nothing you can do
for yourself. Not one thing. The Gospels for the hopeless
and the helpless It has nothing in it for self-righteous men
and women. It has nothing in it for folks
with potential. It has nothing in it for the
wise and prudent. It has nothing in it for anybody
who still has or thinks they have a free will. The Gospels
are sinners. And the only thing that can do
a sinner any good is the Lord Jesus Christ. Be accepted of God, I must have
a perfect, continual, unbroken obedience from the cradle to
the grave. And you see, our sinnerhood starts
at our birth. David said we come forth from
the womb, speaking lies. We go astray as soon as we be
born, speaking lies. And that's something. Why? Because we're born sinners. That's
why. Paul preached a person, a representative
person, a substitutionary person. And he alone came and wrought
out a righteousness perfect before God. And he's the end of the
law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. And the gospel
of Jesus Christ is where this righteousness is
revealed. It's revealed in a person. It's
all in what he did, not in what you do. Listen to this, Romans 3.21,
but now, the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed
by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God,
which is by faith of Jesus Christ, and it's unto all and upon all
that believe. This is a righteousness for helpless
sinners. The laws already shut them up.
They got nothing to say. And then thirdly, Paul preached
a person to those sinners, telling them that through him is preached
unto you the forgiveness of sins. Only one way God can forgive
sin, and that's in his son. That's in his son. I hope you'll hear me, because
I've been here. Your tears ain't gonna move him.
They'll move me. They'll move your mom and dad.
They'll move lots of things. Your tears ain't gonna move God. They're not gonna move God. And
your works ain't gonna satisfy Him. You might be satisfied with
them. I've done everything I can do. Esau repented carefully in tears
and didn't do Him any good. your works won't satisfy him. He told them down in Egypt, which
is one of the first things that Paul told them in his message
here, he told them down in Egypt, he said, now you slay the lamb,
and you take its blood and you smear it up on the doorpost and
down the side lamp. And everybody said, when I see
the blood, I'll pass over you. not when I see your good intentions,
when I see the blood. And Jesus Christ being in covenant
union with us by the will of God came into this world and
as a representative man died for us, wrought out a righteousness
for us, bore our sins in his own body on the tree. He died,
the scripture said, the just for the unjust that he might
bring us to God. and being reconciled through
the blood of his cross and by the body of his flesh through
death, he brings us to God and presents us to his Father, holy,
unblameable, and unreprovable in God's sight. God's satisfied with him. He
said, I saw the travail of his soul, and I was satisfied. I'm gonna tell you something
about your sins. This is not something you can adjust, treat,
cure, or put away. Sin is actually more about what
you are than what you do. You wouldn't do what you do if
you weren't what you are. He pictures sin and leprosy.
It's an incurable inner rot. And it rots from the inside out. And not even an eternity in hell
can put away even one sin, let alone a lifetime of it. He was delivered for our offenses. Who delivered him? God did. God
did. And watch this, 1 John 4, 9,
And this was manifested, the love of God toward us, because
that God sent His only begotten Son into this world that we might
live through Him. That's the love of God. It's
the love of God. It wasn't your love to Him. If
He's confronted you, it's not your love to Him doing that,
it's His love for you. We love him, scripture said,
because he first loved us. And that love's manifested on
that cross. There's only one way a sinful
man can be saved, and that is through substitution. Old Bartimaeus, no, not Bartimaeus,
I'm sorry, Barabbas. He was in that Roman prison.
And the law had already condemned him. He was condemned already. And there he sat. The law held
no leniency for him. The law held no pardon for him. The law offered him no hope whatsoever. He was just sitting there waiting
on the first one to be crucified because he was next. But what he didn't know is that another had been chosen
to die in his stead. And when they come down to get
him, he thought he was going to his death. He'd been set free. And he said, how can this be?
How can this be? Because another one had been
chosen to die in your stead. That's why. That's how it can
be. And that's the only way it can
be. And that's what he tells his elect, every one of them.
Every one of them. Oh, I tell you, if you're a sinner,
the gospel's good news. If you're not, it's foolishness.
It's foolishness. And if you're a sinner, the gospel's
something you want to hear, ain't it? Oh, I don't. God deliver
me. from indifference toward his
gospel. I got to have it. I got to have
it. All right, thank you.