If you look across the page in
Acts 28 and verses 16 through 31, the Holy Ghost tells us about
Paul's imprisonment at Rome and of God's wondrous providence
which enabled him to preach to some who would under no other
circumstance have ever heard it. I don't know if you knew
this, but when Paul wrote this letter to the Romans, he was
under house arrest at the time in Rome. They didn't lock him
in the inner chamber, but they took one of the guards and went
into his home, and he was under house arrest. And for two years,
it says over there in Acts 28, he preached the gospel to all
who come. with all confidence. It's becoming more and more evident
to me as I study the Word of God about the wisdom and power
of God and his careful arrangement of his providence concerning
the preaching of the gospel. And when I sit down to prepare
a message, I know that if we have the opportunity to meet
here, that it's in God's providence. That it's on purpose. It's not
an accident. This is not some unusual circumstance. This is God's providence. And I feel the same when I'm
called elsewhere for it. In Romans 10, Paul sets forth
two very necessary things concerning the calling out of his elect.
He said, fourth verse, the preaching of the gospel. He said, how shall
you call on him in whom you have not believed? And how shall you
believe on him of whom you not heard? And how shall you hear
without a preacher? It's not me asking that question
to you, that's the Holy Ghost asking to whom it may concern. We can call on the God of our
imagination. We can call on the God of this
world. We can call on the God that we've
read about and so on, but you can't call on the living God
and believe on him until you hear about him. Preaching is ordained of God.
It pleased God through the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe. And if I'm reading that verse
correct over in 1 Corinthians 1, I think it's verse 21, if
I'm reading that correctly, that's telling us that God created this
whole circumstance, this whole of humanity to this end. And then secondly, he tells us
that this is necessary, his divine providence. He tells us also
in Romans chapter 10, how shall they preach? Except they be sent. How they gonna preach? If God
doesn't send them. They have to be taught of God. In order for somebody to hear,
they have to be accompanied by his Holy Spirit. It's not just
men's words. We think it is. A lot of times
we like to get people and set them down and we want to argue
them right into faith. You can't argue a man into faith.
Faith is the gift of God, not the result of your arguments. Paul was taken captive and in
time sent to Rome and put under house arrest and from this house
he preached for two whole years, it says in Acts 28. Preaching
the kingdom of God and teaching those things which concern the
Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence, no man forbidding him. Isn't
that something? To a world who despises the gospel,
just like I think about, when I think about this, I think about
Moses. Pharaoh's gonna stomp him out.
He's gonna wipe him out. He's gonna go straight to the
cause. He's gonna go straight to the
deliverer and eliminate the deliverer, and that'll eliminate all the
problems. Now, God'll send that deliverer down a river, and his
daughter'll pluck him out of the water, and she'll carry him
in there before Pharaoh, and Pharaoh'll pay for raising him. That's exactly right, and here's
Paul. Nobody, not the Jews nor the Romans. Eventually, the Romans
killed Paul. But until that day, he was immortal. And he lived right there among
them, and in the power of his providence, he preached the gospel,
and no man forbid him to preach. And that's something how God
works his providence. I'm telling you, this whole thing
is of God. And the more you study the word
of God, the more you see it. And the more you see it, the
more you rejoice in it and trust in it. It becomes a foundation
to you. It becomes some assurance to
you. How God is able. He's able. In Romans 1.1, Paul gives a brief
but comprehensive account of his office. and stewardship given
to him of God. Listen to this, Romans 1.1, read
it together with me. Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ,
he wasn't a servant of any denomination, he wasn't a servant to the Jews,
he was a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. His allegiance
was to Christ, his Lord. And if a man is a servant of
Christ, nothing men do or don't do will dictate what he does. Is that right? I'm told that the Queen's guards
at Buckingham Palace, they wear that big tall hat. I know they
have a name, but I was unable to find out what it is. But I'm
told that the Queen's guards at Buckingham Palace cannot be
distracted from their duties. They serve the queen. You can make faces, I've seen
little kids make faces and different people tried to get them to move
or change expression or anything. Those guards cannot be distracted. That's the servant of the Lord
Jesus Christ. He cannot be distracted by men's
reactions. He's not distracted. He said, I'm a servant of Jesus
Christ and I'm called to be an apostle. Now I don't know exactly how
the routine is for electing the Pope, but I know it goes through
the Catholic Church somehow and different things are done and
some kind of a secret vote is taken and eventually there arises
the Pope who believes himself to be an apostle. of Christ. An apostle is the highest office
in the church and of which there was only 12 as far as I know. And they were, these 12 were
all taught personally by the Lord Jesus Christ. And Paul was
the only one of the 12 who was caught up to the third heaven,
whatever that is. He was caught up to the third
heaven and there Christ taught him personally. But they were
all taught of Christ. And they received their commission
from Him. And then thirdly, Paul tells
us that he was separated under the gospel of God. And this is
my subject. This is my title to the message
this morning. The gospel of God. His office as a servant, an apostle,
and a preacher was all to this end the gospel of God. My generation, as was Paul's,
are ignorant of God's gospel. They have a gospel, but it's
another gospel. Paul said, there came one preaching
another gospel to you. Another gospel. And the gospel
to them is the church's gospel. They get elders from the church
and over time they write these things down and they make covenants
and they make articles of faith and they write them down in a
book and all of these, it's the church's gospel. Whatever the
church determines to be written down is what they write down.
I've never saw any reason to write anything down because it's
already written. The gospel was to them the church's
gospel, the people's gospel, what the people want to hear.
I've told you this before that Billy Graham in an interview
was asked by this lady interviewer, she said, Mr. Graham said, you
used to be a Calvinist. And he said, yes, I was. Kind
of had his head down. He was ashamed to even admit
it. I was. But she said, you don't preach
the doctrines of Calvinism anymore, do you? He said, no ma'am, I
don't. And she said, how come? He said,
I saw that it was ruining my ministry. He said that on public television.
Ruining my ministry. You see what I'm saying? The
gospel to them out there is the people's gospel, what the people
approve of. Bell told me one time, he said,
you keep on preaching this, you're not gonna get preached anywhere.
I said, that'd be all right, too. That'd be all right. The gospel out there is the people's
gospel. It's the gospel of the age. Oh, we're not gonna preach those
ancient things. They got no application to our
generation. We're gonna preach the gospel
of the age. Really. The gospel out there is a Baptist
gospel, a Methodist gospel. A young man who thought he discovered
through some DNA that he was my nephew, my long lost nephew. And we began to talk and I discovered
that he was a Methodist preacher up around Hot Springs where he
lived. And we didn't talk a whole lot
about religion. He seemed to sense that that
wasn't a good subject. But he did tell me this. He said,
I'm a fence straddler. What's that? That's a compromiser.
That's what that is. I'm willing to compromise to
fill the pews. I'm willing to compromise to
build a ministry. There's a Baptist gospel, there's
a Methodist gospel, there's a Presbyterian gospel, or one of all the many
denominations of our day, but here Paul clearly defines it
as the gospel of God. It's his gospel. He is the author, he is the subject,
he is the power, he is the glory. It's his gospel. Now if time will permit, I've
got six things here in Romans chapter one, verses one through
17, that tells us how to differentiate the gospel of God from all the
other perversions of it. First of all, God's gospel is
definitive. Try asking somebody what they
believe the gospel is. You've never seen so much sidestepping
and generality in all your life. Ask them to define what it is
they believe. They can't do it. They just can't
do it. They'll hear them all around,
and they'll throw all these generalities at you and stuff, but specifically,
they can't get down to it and say, this is what I believe.
They just can't do it. The gospel of God is definitive. The gospel was not left to certain
sects or committees to define and teach. Peter said, we have also a more
sure word of prophecy wherein you do well that you take heeders
unto a light that shineth in a dark place until the day dawn
and the day star arise in your hearts. Now listen to this. Knowing
this first is the first thing you need to know. That no prophecy
of the scripture is of any private interpretation. It's not left
to you to define. God already defined it. He tells
us clearly what the gospel is in the Holy Scriptures. No prophecy
of the scriptures, any private interpretation, for the prophecy
came not in old time by the will of man. It's not something man
came up with, not something man authored. It's the gospel of
God. They spake as they were moved
by the Holy Ghost. The Holy Scriptures are not left
to men to define, interpret, or theorize about. God's already
accomplished that work and preserved it in a book, and we call it
the Bible. And the gospel of God is definitive. Listen to this, Romans 1, verses
2 through 4. He tells us that God's gospel
is the gospel promised afore by his prophets in the Holy Scriptures. Well, my soul, this generation
practically neglects the Old Testament. It might as well not
be there. I think sometimes it's just there
so when they open the Bible, it'll have balance in their hand. They never read from it. They
never teach from it. When they want to nail down a
point, they don't go to Isaiah. They don't go to Daniel. They'll
run over here in the New Testament somewhere. They practically neglect
the whole of the Old Testament. And my friend, you can't understand
and know that Jesus is the Christ apart from the Old Testament.
I'd venture a guess. I don't know. I've never sat
down and dissected it and numbered it and all of that. But I'd be
willing to say that one third of the New Testament is a quotation
from the Old Testament. And it is written. It was written. Therefore, it was written. Over
and over and over and over you find that all the way through
the New Testament. Prophecy came not in old time
by the will of men, but holy men of God spake as they were
moved by the Holy Ghost. How could Moses, he was born
how many years after creation and Moses goes all the way back
to creation, he tells you how this world was created, he tells
you where Adam came from, he knew all about Eve, he knew all
about Enoch, he knew all about Seth, he wrote all the way down
through, gave us the history of Abraham. Abraham and Moses didn't live
at the same time. How did he know those things?
He spake as he was moved by the Holy Ghost. They're not left to men to define
and interpret and theorize over. God has already accomplished
that. He said this gospel is the gospel
promised afore by his prophets in the Holy Scripture. And you
show me a preacher who will not receive an Old Testament passage
of scripture. A man told me one time, I quoted
something to him, he said, oh, he said, that's the old Bible.
Well, my friend, we just have one Bible. We just have one Bible. And it's
all old, even the New Testament's old, isn't it, 2,000 years? You show me a preacher who will
not receive an Old Testament passage of scripture as inclusive
in the gospel, and I'll show you a false prophet. Apart from the Old Testament
scriptures, you can't prove that Jesus is the Christ. When I came
and preached to you, he said, I preached to you that which
I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to
the scriptures. The New Testament was not yet
written when he wrote that. He's talking about the Old Testament
scriptures. He died for our sins according
to the scriptures, and he was buried and rose again according
to the scriptures. What scriptures? The Old Testament
scriptures. The Old Testament is as much
a part of our foundation of faith as the New. And then in Romans
1-3, he said that this gospel, it's a definitive gospel, and
here he's defining it. It's concerning His Son, Jesus
Christ, our Lord. That's what the gospel, the gospel's
not concerning men reforming their lives. The gospel is about
Jesus Christ. In fact, he calls the person
of Jesus Christ and his coming the Reformation. Did you know
that? Read Hebrews chapter nine. See
if that's not what it says. These things were done before
the time of Reformation. What Reformation? The coming
of Christ. The doing and the dying of the
Lord Jesus Christ. The Old Testament tells us that
the scepter shall not pass from Judah. Now watch this. He said that our Lord was made
of the seed of David according to the flesh. It's concerning
Jesus Christ, our Lord, which was made of the seed of David
according to the flesh. The Old Testament tells us that
the scepter shall not pass from Judah till Shiloh comes. And
Jesus of Nazareth was prophesied long before his coming as the
root of Jesse and the seed of David. So when he was born, he was born
the seed of David, according to the pledge. In Micah 5-2, it's set before
us. That is, the verse in Micah 5.2
is set before us in John 7.42 as teaching that Christ came
of the seed of David out of the town of Bethlehem where David
was. Is that right? The Gospel is definitive. It tells us about all which preceded
his coming, and it tells us that it was all concerning Isn't that
what our Lord did as he walked with those two along the road
to Emmaus? They were confused and distraught,
and this one that they thought was the Christ, he turned out
he died on a cross, died a horrible death, and now all their hope
was lost. And it says the Lord went back
to the book of Genesis. And he started back there in
the books of Moses. And he went all the way through the Old Testament
and he showed them the things concerning himself. It says,
then opened he their understanding that they might understand the
scripture. The gospel is about Christ. It's about Christ. Jesus Christ, our Lord is the
promised redeemer. He's the substitute, he's the
savior, he's the king of Israel. And this gospel tells us who
he is. He's God come into the flesh.
He was made of the seed of David. He's the God-man mediator. The
gospel tells us why he came. He came to save his people from
their sins. And it tells us what he did.
He obtained eternal redemption for us. That's what he did. He didn't try to get it. He didn't
make an effort at it. He didn't make a down payment
and left us to pay the rest. He obtained it. He has it in
his possession, our redemption. He accomplished it. There's no
hope in this redemption of reformation. The hope is in an accomplished
redemption, one that's already been purchased. He said He's given us of His
Spirit. That's the earnest. Until what? Huh? Let me read that for you
over here in the book of Ephesians. It's in Ephesians chapter 1. Which is the earnest of our inheritance
until the redemption of the purchased possession. You mean he bought us? That's
exactly what I mean. He paid our debt in full. He's already bought us, and he's
given us of his Holy Spirit the earnest, the earnest of that. He obtained eternal redemption
for us. And the gospel is plainly defined
in Romans, Ephesians, Galatians, Colossians, and all through the
New and Old Testaments. There's no need for speculation,
guessing, or strange experiences. God only needs to open to us
the Scriptures. And that's what he does through
gospel preachers. Secondly, God's gospel is objective. What's that mean? Objective means
something real based on legal documents as opposed to speculation
and superstition. The gospel's real. It's real. Somebody said, well,
that's your interpretation. No, no it ain't. No, it belongs
to God and it's real. It's real. It's author and object is real. Jesus of Nazareth was born in
Bethlehem, Judah of the descendants of David, and Romans 1-4 declared
to be the son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness.
How did he do that? By the resurrection from the
dead. It's by power both in the message
he preached and in the hearts of them whom he gave The gift
of faith to believe it. Listen to this. He gave them
power to become the sons of God. When you say, is that talking
about his authority or his permission? Yes. Yes, he's talking about
both of them. And he says, then by the power,
by the spirit of holiness, he was tempted in all points, like
as we are yet without sin. Those Jews were just coming down
on him, calling him a son of Satan and all of these things,
and he looked at them and he said, which one of you convinces
me of sin? You name the sin that I've done. They couldn't do it. Huh? And yet when they were in his
company and they were going to stone that young woman, taken
in the act of adultery, he said, whichever one of you is without
sin, cast the first stone. They all left. Huh? There was a spirit of holiness
in him. He had the spirit without measure. And as a man, he lived 33 and
a half years without sin. under the most gross and strong
temptations possible. None of us been out in the desert
tempted by Satan for 40 days. None of us ever resisted sin
under blood. My soul, he was declared to be
the son of God by the spirit of holiness. And the scripture said that God
himself showed him to be approved by him by miracles and wonders
and signs which God did by him in our midst. The gospel's real
as opposed to all other so-called gospels. Somebody asked me, why
do I believe in election? I turn in the word of God to
the book of Ephesians and I said, read this. according as he hath chosen us
in him before the foundation of the world. You don't need
an interpreter for that. That defines itself, don't it?
Even so, at this present time, there is a remnant according
to the election of grace. Anybody need an interpreter for
that? You know exactly what that means. his death was witnessed by hundreds
and even by dead saints which rose from the dead and gave testimony
concerning him. And some believe this church
at Rome was founded by the testimony of those dead saints that rose
from the grave. His resurrection, he was He was seen, it says in 1 Corinthians
15, it said, and he was seen of over 500 brethren at one time. Now this is not a couple guys
that got together in a conspiracy. This is 500 people at one time. And he was here after his resurrection
for nearly a month to prove that he rose from the
dead. This gospel has been miraculously
preserved for over 6,000 years and the gates of hell, our Lord
said, shall not prevail against it. It's transformed the lives
of countless men and women, some whose baptism marked them out
for martyrdom. I don't know why people who say
they believe don't want to be baptized. I don't get that at
all. These men were baptized knowing
that if they went down to that stream and was buried in that
water, they were going to die for it. You reckon they believed? They went into the water. Huh? That's what he calls there in
the book. He said, baptized unto death. Baptized unto martyrdom. It was
sure as anything. You went down there, you were
done. It is the testimony of God, and
he that believeth not God hath made him a liar. You might argue about what I
have to say, but you can't argue with God. You can't argue with
him. Our gospel is objective. It deals
with tried and proved documents, the word of God, the word of
faithful witnesses, historic record. My generation believes
the gospel to be some evolutionary superstition passed down from
generation to generation that has a place somewhere in this
world as far as moral reform and restraining men from sin,
but not to regenerate, not to convert, not to convict,
not to convince. No, we've appointed men for that.
We've appointed men for that. I've sat down and watched Billy
Graham and his crusades before and had men appointed all up
and down through there. Before you knew what happened,
you were at the front of the church. Thirdly, the gospel of God is
effectual. It's objective, it's real. This
is not some speculation. This is not some ancient concept. This thing is real. And then
thirdly, the Gospel of God is a fiction. Turn with me to 1
Thessalonians chapter 2. Let me show you something over
there. Many are the so-called preachers
who preach their message and then spend equal time. I've been
in the meetings, I know how it goes. They preach a brief message
and then give equal time to the so-called altar call. They give equal time at the end
of their message trying to make it effectual by craftiness and
subtle tricks. 1 Thessalonians 2 verse 13. For this cause also, thank we
God without ceasing, because when you receive 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. Now listen, which
effectually worketh also in you that believe. How's it work? Effectually. That means it don't return unto
him void. That's what that means. The gospel of God being objective
or real works effectually in all those that believe. And Paul
tells us in Romans 1 16 that his gospel is the power of God
unto salvation to everyone that believes. When his gospel falls
on the blessed ears of God's elect, it comes not in word only,
but in power and in the Holy Ghost. That is the powerful demonstration
of the Spirit as Christ is revealed in us. And it renders the believer
submissive. He told them, he said, you go
over here and tell this man that I have need of this and he'll
give it to you. And they went over there and
got a wild ass's colt and brought it to him. And the Lord mounted
that thing. Now if you've never been around
unbroken horses or donkeys or anything like that, climb up
on one. It won't take you long to get off. We had an old mule
at home, he'd never been broken, boy. Them guys would get to drinkin',
they'd get up on that thing and try to ride him, and I don't
see how they survived. But our Lord can sit on the wild
ash's coat, and he's just as submissive as he can be. He tells us in 1 Thessalonians
1 that when the gospel came to them in power and the Holy Ghost,
that they become followers of Paul. They hated Paul before
that time. They become followers of him
and of the Lord. And everybody around there tell
them, don't listen to that man. Don't go out there where he preaches.
Don't you go down there. They preach that old dark predestination
stuff. Don't go down there. Don't go
down there. They preach election. They preach contrary to every
established religion on this earth. Don't go down there. But they did go down there, and
they heard. And the word of God was effectual
in them, and they become followers of that man. Read it in 1 Thessalonians. He tells the miracle of it in
that he was despised and yet they believed. Gave their lives for the furtherance
of the gospel, became examples of all that believe, turned to
God from their idols. And such power attends the gospel
as it is preached in the Holy Ghost that believers are born
again. I can't even begin to tell you
what that is. That's the power of God that
works within a man, makes him a new creation. He's born of
God, except you be born of the Spirit. You're not going to see
the kingdom of God. You're not going to perceive
these things. John said, To as many as received
him, to them gave he power to become the sons of men, even
to believe on his name, which were born, not of blood, nor of the will
of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And many are the professors of
a gospel that comes in word only. And then, like the dog, they
return to their own vomit, and like the sow to its wallowing
in the mire. Beloved, the gospel is effectual.
It arrests the sinner. It convinces him of sin. It convinces
him of what he is, that he is the epitome of sin. Not that
sin's out here, and occasionally he partook of it, but he himself
is the epitome of sin. He's the old man and he sees
it and he knows it. God convinces him of it. He convinces
him that he can't do good. There's none that do a good no
not one. There's none righteous. And he
quits looking to his prayers and looking to his works and
looking to his flesh and looking to all these things to find hope
and he looks to Christ because he doesn't have anything to save
himself. It arrests the sinner and convinces
him of sin, and then it convinces him of righteousness. Not his,
but the righteousness of Christ. And then it convinces him of
judgment. Not that there's going to be
one, but judgment satisfied. He's a new creation. Old things
are passed away, and behold, all things have become new. And
there's now warfare where there was once none. There's a reaching
forth where once was a satisfaction. There's a turning where once
they walked in one direction. God be thanked. I read this to
you a while ago out of Romans chapter 6 and verse 17. God be thanked. You were the
servants of sin, but you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine
which was delivered you, being then made free from sin, you
become the servants. of righteousness. And then fourthly,
the gospel is elective. Let me read you some scriptures.
You'll know where they are when I read them to you. Listen to
what our Lord said to his disciples concerning the rejection of the
Pharisees, these long-established religious men. Everybody believed
these men were of God. wore those uniforms, those broad
phylacteries, walked down the street, men stood aside, walked
in the church, got the chief seats. Everybody thought they
was of God. And then our Lord said to His
disciples concerning the rejection of the Pharisees and their submissiveness
to Christ, He said in Matthew 15, 12, knowest thou that the Pharisees,
they said to him, don't you know the Pharisees were offended in
you, offended with what you say? And he answered and said, every
plant which my heavenly father had not planted shall be rooted
up. Leave them alone, they'd be blind
leaders of the blind. When our Lord had finished preaching
in the mighty cities of Chorazin and Bethsaida and Capernaum,
and nothing much took place, He bowed His head and said, I
thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because Thou
hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and revealed
them unto babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed
good in Thy sight. And then in Matthew 13, the Pharisees
got offended because He spoke to them in parables. When his
disciples told him about it, he said, it's given unto you
to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them
it's not given. I'm telling you, this gospel
is elective. It's elective. It don't do the
same thing on every man that hears it. That's right. To one, it's a saver of life
unto life, and to another, it's a saver of death unto death.
It's elective. This gospel is sent to be preached
to his children, to his sons. Because you're sons, God sent
forth the spirit of his son into your heart, crying, Abba, Father. Listen to this. The Pharisees
said to Christ, they got disgusted with him. They'd seen all these
things. They saw Lazarus called out of a tomb, a dead man, sealed
in there. Lord, by now he stanketh. They saw him called out of that
tomb. And yet, they looked at him and said, if thou be the
Christ, tell us plainly. Now listen to what he tells them.
I told you. But you believe not, because
you're not of my people. This gospel is elective. If you're
here this morning and you're hearing this gospel, God has
singled you out from among fallen humanity and given you the greatest
privilege that could possibly be bestowed upon you in your
lifetime. He brought you to hear his gospel. And nobody's gonna be saved until
they do. All you're gonna do is Make a
religious profession and find something that suits you and
stay there until you wake up in judgment. And then fifthly, the gospel
of God is redemptive. It is the power of God unto salvation,
for therein is the righteousness of God revealed. The gospel is
not a message begging bankrupt sinners to reform their lives
or come down an aisle. And no sinner, I hope you can
hear me, no sinner by his own power and will can bring about
a moral reform in his life. He can't do it. The poison of asthma is under
your lips, he said. There's no fear of God in you. None good, none righteous, none
that understandeth, none that seeketh after God. How you gonna
reform yourself? He can disguise his rebellion.
He can put on the religious mask. But the gospel of God declares
an accomplished redemption in Christ. By his own blood, he
entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal
redemption for us. Justified freely by his grace
through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus. Gospel's not
a message begging captives to sin, to exercise their so-called
free will. The gospel is the gospel of substitution,
redemption, and imputed righteousness. It all comes from looking to
Christ. And then quickly, let me give
you this. The gospel of God is documentary. It's documentary. It's based
upon the word of God. He said if they speak not according
to this word, it's because there's no light in them. If they won't take you to the
word of God and show you where it's plainly declared, it's because
there's no light in them. If all they want to talk about
is their experiences back on the hillside or out on the river
or out on the lake or in the closet of their house, don't
care where it is, If they speak not according to this book, it's
because there's no light in them. And they can put on a fine show. And they can dance and make it.
I was up there in Van Buren, Arkansas preaching at a meeting
up there and we sat down at the fellowship around this big table
and eight or ten people gathered around and this old man started
crying and telling his, giving his testimony and talking about
this experience he had and the vision that he had and how the
Lord spoke to him audibly and all this kind of stuff. And everybody
around that table began to weep. You think Satan doesn't have
power to affect men? Sure he does. Sure he does. But of all the lives that we
tell, I think sometimes maybe tears might be the biggest. Might
be the biggest. We're built upon the foundation
of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the
chief cornerstone. Within the confines of this book
are men who witnessed these things. Men caught up to the third heaven. Men who were given extraordinary
experiences. Men to whom God spoke in dreams
and visions. All whom he confirmed by his
word to be true and real. Does God use witnesses? Sure
he does. But if you can't find them in
this book, you better just set them aside. Huh? I saw the Lord. Well, I can't find your name
in here. I can't find that account where
you seen the Lord. So I better believe what these
men saw. God confirmed them. He confirmed
them. When a man comes to you talking
about his dreams and visions and trying to convince you of
his divine gifts, send him packing. Tell him, hit the road. We have the word of God and it's
complete and sufficient for doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction
in righteousness. So let's just stay right there.
Let's just camp out right here. And this word makes all that
he calls to the ministry throughly furnished unto all good works. He got everything he needs if
he has this book. everything you need. You know
what the Holy Spirit's gonna bless? He'll take the things of mine,
Christ said, and show them unto you. And show them unto you. And so much more, the greatness
of the miracle when he can take an old worm and through him speak
to you concerning these things. What a miracle of grace.