Are you a believer or an unbeliever? Are you saved or are you lost? Do you worship Christ or antichrist? Do you carry in your soul the
mark of God, the seal of the spirit, or do you wear the number
of the beast? Do you worship God or are you
one of those multitudes deluded Paul describes as will worship
idolaters? Do you believe the gospel or
do you believe another gospel which is not another? Is the
Lord Jesus Christ your refuge or have you made lies your refuge? I can't answer those questions
for you. I have neither the desire nor the ability to do that for
anyone. But if you'll listen to this
message, I believe the message God's given me for this hour,
you'll see the answer right here in this book. If you've made
a covenant with death, by making lies your refuge, if God the
Holy Ghost will speak By me, his word to your heart, he will
destroy your refuge of lies and bring you to build upon Christ
the only true foundation. I want to address this question.
What is the gospel? What is the gospel? I've addressed the question before
in many ways, But I always try this time of the year, the Sunday
preceding our conference, to bring a message that's both profitable
to your souls and relative to the conference. What is the gospel? I will answer the question only
by the word of God. And I intend to do so with simplicity
and clarity. such simplicity and clarity that
you will have no difficulty understanding exactly what I say to you. It's a question that needs to
be answered with clarity and with confidence. And yet it's
a question about which there is utter confusion in the religious
world. I fear maybe some of you do not
know the answer. What is the gospel? I don't much
expect religious people to know the answer for a very good reason. There are very few preachers
in this world who know what the answer is. Now please understand
me. I'm not asking what do you think
the gospel is or what is the Baptist, Protestant, Calvinistic
or Methodist or Papist gospel. It's utterly irrelevant what
you think or what I think. It is utterly irrelevant. Doesn't
matter. Just doesn't matter. It is utterly
irrelevant. What Baptist creeds, Protestant
creeds, Calvinist creeds, Arminian creeds, Buddhist creeds, or Papist
creeds say. Totally irrelevant. The only
thing that matters is what does this book say. If you care for
your soul, you will make that the only criteria. How does the
word of God define the gospel? What does God say in His Word? How does God the Holy Ghost,
by words of divine inspiration about which there could be no
mistake, how does God the Holy Ghost define the Gospel? Now
there are many, many places, in the New Testament specifically,
where the Gospel is distinctly defined. We read one in Romans
the first chapter. There the Apostle Paul speaks
of it. It's a gospel of God. That is,
God's the origin of it. God's the one who reveals it.
It is concerning his son. It was spoken of by the prophets
and fulfilled by his son. The gospel is defined in Romans
chapter 3. In Romans 3, Paul says it is
all about the revelation of the righteousness of God. Galatians
chapter 1 the Apostle identifies the gospel distinctly as being
the gospel concerning God's Son who came here to redeem his people
by the shedding of his blood and he says that any gospel other
than this is a false gospel. In 2 Timothy chapter 1, the apostle
again speaks of the gospel and defines it as being the gospel
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.
So the gospel, as it is defined in those places, is an eternal
message. And it has to do with eternal
things. It is the revelation of God's
eternal purpose and God's eternal work. And apart from that eternal
purpose and eternal work, there is no gospel to declare. The
gospel is clearly revealed in the Old Testament scriptures.
so that all of the Old Testament Scriptures are the unveiling
of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And there's no understanding
of the Old Testament Scriptures apart from the gospel of Christ. The gospel is all about the Son
of God. It is all about the Lord Jesus
Christ, not you. not your experience, not your
feelings, not me, not my experience, not my feelings. It is all about
the son of God, who he is, what he came here to do, what he accomplished
while he was here, where he is now, and how he saves sinners.
Now, let's look at another definition of the gospel. First Corinthians
chapter 15. Let's read the first four verses
of this chapter. Read them carefully with me.
Don't miss a syllable. Every word is important. Moreover, brethren, I declare
unto you the gospel. First Corinthians 15. I declare
unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have
received and wherein ye stand, by which also ye are saved, if
ye keep in memory what I preached unto you. That is, if you hold
fast what I preached unto you, lest you have believed in vain.
If you let it go, obviously you never believed it. For I delivered
unto you first of all, which I also received how that Christ
died for our sins according to the scriptures and that he was
buried and that he rose again the third day according to the
scriptures now here God the Holy Ghost tells us there is but one
gospel He tells us that all truly God-ordained, God-called, God-sent
preachers preach the gospel. He tells us that all true believers,
all who are born of God, all who are taught of God, have received
the gospel, believe the gospel, and stand in the gospel. This
gospel is the means by which we are saved. I trust that God
the Spirit will give me your attention and give me grace and
power to tell you seven things concerning the gospel of God's
grace revealed in this book. Number one, perhaps this is as
important as anything else I've got to say. It should be clearly
understood the gospel is an exclusive message. Paul did not say to
the Corinthians, I declare unto you a gospel. He said, I declare
unto you the gospel. He uses the definite article
to identify the gospel as one solitary exclusive message. In fact, if you read the New
Testament carefully, you will find that the only time the word
gospel is used without a definite article or a personal pronoun
identifying it, the only time it's used, just gospel. It's when it refers to another
gospel. a false gospel. When the scripture
speaks of the gospel, it's talking about one specific thing, one
specific message. This is what the Word of God
teaches. There's only one gospel. I know the world says there are
many gospels. There's the Baptist gospel, and
the Protestant gospel, and the Catholic gospel, and the liberal
gospel, and the conservative gospel. Well, that's idiocy,
but that's what the world thinks. And preachers say there's only
one gospel, but there are many ways to interpret the gospel.
That's nothing but compromise. The Word of God declares there
is one gospel. Everything else is a fake. Everything
else is false. This one gospel is the saving
revelation of God. Everything else is a damning
delusion. You will either believe this
one message and be saved by it, or you will believe a false message
and perish by it. Christ is the way. Every other
way is the way to destruction. Christ is the truth. Everything
contrary to him and his gospel is a lie. Christ is life. All other ways are death. Christ
is the door of life. All other doors are doors to
hell. Are you saying, preacher, that
you're the only folks saved? Nope, I'm saying the only folks
who are saved, the folks who believe the gospel. Are you saying
Savvy's lost or Bruce is lost or Mama's lost or Daddy's lost?
Nope, I'm telling you, everybody He refuses to believe the Gospel
and believes another is damned. Everybody who believes the Gospel
is saved. If indeed there's only one way,
one Savior and one Gospel, you would be wise to get in that
way, to find that Savior and learn that Gospel. Preaching
the Gospel is not preaching the new birth. It is not preaching
the new birth. Yes, you must be born again.
We declare that to all men. But the focus of the gospel is
not the experience of grace. The focus of the gospel is the
mighty saving operations of grace performed at Calvary, not those
simply by which you experience things. The preaching of the
love of God is not preaching the gospel. Folks, God is love. Everybody talks about love. They
talk about love. When you hear the religious world talk about
love, I'll tell you what it means. Nothing. Nothing. It's just a sentiment. Just slop. Nothing else. The preaching of
the gospel is not the preaching of God's love. The preaching
of the gospel is the preaching of God's righteousness. Love
is the cause of the gospel, but that's not the gospel. You'll
find the gospel not in John chapter 3 verse 16. There's the revelation
of the cause. The gospel is John chapter 3
verse 14. As Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up.
The preaching of Christ's second coming is not preaching the gospel. I was raised in Piedmont area,
North Carolina, in Western Salem. Piedmont Bible College is the
center of fundamentalist religion there. I attended the school,
my wife did as well. And all around that area of North
Carolina, all around that area of North Carolina, folks talk
about prophecy all the time. They have prophecy conferences,
prophecy seminars, prophecy lectures, and sell lots of prophecy books.
And it's a worldwide band. Everybody's wrapped up in prophecy.
You can preach prophecy till there's no more prophecy to preach,
and you not preach the gospel. It is not the preaching of Christ's
second coming that is the preaching of the gospel, but rather the
preaching of his first, the preaching of revivalism. is not preaching
the gospel. Lots of folks make a lot of money
calling themselves revivalist. They're gonna have a revivalist
in. I've known some. Some Calvinistic, some Armenian,
it doesn't matter. But when you start preaching
revivalism, you're preaching emotions, that's all. You're
stirring up a crowd. We need a shout. We need that
same good feeling. Oh, we need a stirring. It's
all emotion. It's all emotion. Revivalism
focuses on man and his experience. Gospel preaching focuses on God
and his grace in Christ. Preaching holy living is not
preaching the gospel. It is not preaching the gospel.
Most preaching of that kind is nothing but the preaching of
works and self-righteousness. It's focusing on you. Now, the
grace of God experienced as it's revealed in the gospel brings
obedience of life, but you can easily produce obedience of life
with no grace in the heart. Preaching holy living is not
preaching the gospel. The gospel of Christ is an exclusive
message. It is a message about Jesus Christ
and His accomplishments. That's all. That's all. It is
all about Him. If you believe the gospel, if
you trust God's Son, you have life everlasting. But if you
do not believe the gospel, you believe a false gospel. And those
who preach a false gospel preach a perversion gospel. Those who
do not walk in the way of light walk in darkness. They may be
sweet, sincere, morally good people, but those who do not
know the gospel are lost. Two or three years ago I was
preaching down in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina for Brother Linwood
Campbell and the congregation in North Wilkesboro. And there
was a fellow there visiting, and he said, after hearing me
make statements like this, he said, well, where were we before
we learned the gospel? I said, do what? He said, where
were we before we learned the gospel? I said, you were lost
before you learned the gospel. Oh, but I had, you were lost
before you learned the gospel. But I experienced, you were lost
before you learned the gospel. But I recited the Bible, you
were lost until God taught you the gospel. I'm sick to death
of hearing folks say, well, God saved me and then I learned the
gospel. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. You're
saved when you learn the gospel, not before. Number two. The gospel
is an exclusive message about a past historic event. The gospel preached by the apostles
always refers to something in the past, a finished work, an
accomplished deed, a completed task. Now this is extremely important. The pastness of the gospel is
an essential aspect of the gospel. The preaching of the gospel is
the declaration of something done 2,000 years ago. The declaration of it, we do
presently, but the accomplishment was done 2,000 years ago. It's
presently received, presently experienced, but it was done
2,000 years ago. In preaching the gospel, we didn't
declare certain specific undeniable facts. Look at 1 Corinthians
15. We preach how that Christ died for our sins according to
the scriptures. Not just that he died, but H-O-W,
how that he died for our sins as it is revealed in the scriptures. Any other preaching of the death
of Christ is not preaching the death of Christ. Pastor, how
did he die? I've told you many times, I don't
mind at all repeating it to you now. I will repeat it to you
again, probably Friday night when we open the conference,
but hear me and hear me well. There is no understanding of
how Christ died except by these four words identifying the revelation
of God in Scripture. Number one, sovereignty. How did Christ die? He died as
the sovereign savior of his people. No man took his life from him,
but rather he says, I lay it down of myself. He said, the
son of man must be delivered into the hands of wicked men.
Why is that? He said, I must lay down my life. How could he say that? Because
he came as Jehovah's servant and he must do so in fulfillment
of his father's decree. It pleased the Lord to bruise
him. He hath put him to grief. Yes,
God used the betrayer's kiss. Yes, God used the hands of wicked
men who crucified the Lord of Glory exactly as they wanted
to because of their inveterate hatred of Him, but He was delivered
into their hands by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God. The death of Christ is the hinge
of history. The death of Christ is the very
reason for the creation of this world. Christ died as a sovereign
Savior by the hands of His sovereign God and our sovereign God. Second,
there's no understanding of how Christ died except this substitution. Christ died in the room instead
of a specific people. The good shepherd giveth his
life for sheep and goats. If you can find me a Bible that
reads that way, I'll suggest you throw it away. No, the scriptures
don't read like that. The good shepherd giveth his
life for the sheep. I lay down my life for the sheep. The Son of God loved me and gave
himself for me. For the transgression of his
people was he stricken. Jesus Christ died as a substitute
for God's elect. He died only for God's elect. That's very important. Why must
you stress that, pastor? Because to say that he died for
somebody else, even for those who perish in hell, is to say
that he did not accomplish anything when he died. To say that he died for folks
who perish in hell is to say that his death is meaningless.
His blood is worthless. His sufferings availed nothing. Christ died as a substitute for
his people. Third, there is no understanding
of the death of Christ, how he died according to scriptures,
except you understand satisfaction. satisfaction. God's justice demands
satisfaction. The soul that sinneth, it shall
die. That says, my dear granddaughter,
you got to suffer for your sins. There's no getting around it.
God says, I will by no means clear the guilty. Either you will suffer the wrath
of God in hell or somebody must suffer the wrath of God to the
full satisfaction of God's infinite justice in your room instead. Christ did for all his people. so that he satisfied God's justice. He is the propitiation for our
sins. You do a lot of babysitting,
and you get those babies, and they start squalling, and you
give them a pacifier. Stick it in their mouth, and
that satisfies them for a little bit. That's the Word. God's justice is pacified. permanently and forever by the
blood of Jesus Christ for his people. That's the fourth word
by which we understand what happened at Calvary, success. Sovereignty,
substitution, satisfaction, success. Every soul for whom Christ died
at Calvary shall be with him in glory. The cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ shall never be discovered in miscarriage. He shall see
of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. I have known
a good many people in my life, women who carry their babies
sometimes to full term, and when they do, They bring forth a child
whose lifeless body laid in their arms and the child never looks
his mother in the eye, never nurses at her breast, never cries. And the mother goes through her
travail, the agony of birth and is never satisfied. That'll never happen with the
Christ of God. He shall see of the travail of
his soul and shall be satisfied. Every sinner for whom Christ
died has his sins put away for justice is satisfied. Number
three, the gospel is an exclusive message about a singular person. a person who accomplished a perfect,
complete, finished work for his people. To preach the gospel
is to preach the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God. To declare that
he, by his perfect, complete, finished obedience to God as
a man, brought in everlasting righteousness, made an end of
sin, obtained eternal redemption for God's elect, Now that's what
the scriptures say. He died for our sins according
to the scriptures. Call his name Jesus, for he shall
save his people from their sins. He already has a people. He hadn't
yet come into the world. They were his people from eternity.
That sovereign eternal election. It pleased the Lord to bruise
him. He hath put into grief. When thou shalt make his soul
an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong
his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his
hand. Now here's the result. He shall
see of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied by his
knowledge. Shall my righteous servant justify
many? For he shall bear their iniquities. That is limited atonement. That
is particular redemption. Atonement and redemption of a
specific people. Not all people, a specific people. God's elect, His sheep. And it
is an effectual accomplished redemption. Now what is it that
the Scriptures say He would do? Turn back to Daniel chapter 9
and look at it one more time. Daniel chapter 9 and verse 24.
I want you to see it. Christ died for our sins according
to the Scriptures. What do the Scriptures say he
will accomplish in his death? Daniel 9 verse 24. Seventy weeks are determined
upon thy people and upon thy holy city. Number one, to finish
the transgression. Number two, to make an end of
sins. Number three, and to make reconciliation
for iniquity. Number four, to bring in everlasting
righteousness. Number five, to seal up the vision
and the prophecy. Number six, to anoint the most
holy. This is what Messiah will do.
This is what it is to say that Jesus is the Christ. He is that
man who by his obedience unto death finished the transgression. He made an end of sins. He finished it. finished it up,
he brought it to an end, a complete stop so that the sins of his
people he put away. In him is no sin. He bare our
sin in his own body on the tree and when he did he bared them
away to bring in everlasting righteousness. He who has made
sin for us has made us the righteousness of God in Him, so that we, being
redeemed by His blood, stand before God in Him, righteous,
and to seal up the vision. What's that? Start in Genesis
chapter 1. Right there, the first line,
In the beginning God. and go all the way over to Malachi
chapter 4. Get to the very last line. What's
it all about? The doing and dying and accomplishments
of this man, Jesus Christ. He finished up the vision. The
Old Testament is not a book of Weird, strange, mysterious prophecies
about Russia and China and North Korea and Israel and the Arab
states and the African nations. Oh, no, no, no. The Old Testament is not a prophecy
about star wars and oil and earthquakes. No, what's it about? A person. the doing and dying of the Son
of God in the room instead of His people. That's what it's
about. And to anoint the Most Holy. To come to sinners, like
Jerry Sadler and Mark Hanson, by the power of His grace, pouring
out His Spirit on you, putting His nature in you, anointing
you most holy. So what does it say? He hath
perfected further them that are sanctified, so that God's people,
sinners they are by nature, corrupt and vile we are by nature, that's
what we are by birth, but in Christ made most holy. This is free, complete, finished
justification and sanctification. to which we are called by the
effectual calling of God the Holy Spirit poured out on us
as the promise of Abraham through Christ who died for us upon the
cursed tree. Number four, the gospel of Christ is the exclusive
message of Holy Scripture. Every man chosen, called, gifted,
and sent of God is sent to preach the Gospel, always to preach the Gospel,
only to preach the Gospel. I have on occasion preached to Immortal souls, just once. Sometimes here on a Tuesday night,
sometimes on a Sunday morning, sometimes on a Sunday night,
sometimes in one of my meetings somewhere else in the world.
Just once. And the next day they walk out
and step into eternity to meet God. could not bear the thought if
I'd failed to preach the Gospel to them. Oh, but he talked to us about
living the Christian life. He talked to us about end times. He talked to us about Bible history. I could not bear the thought. I couldn't bear the thought of
meeting you in the day of judgment and having to acknowledge I didn't
bother to tell him the truth of redemption, grace, and salvation
in Christ the Lord. I couldn't bear the thought. Couldn't do it. But we believe
in preaching the whole Bible. This is the word. which by the gospel is preached
unto you. I've been struggling, trying
to find the message of the gospel for several months now in Isaiah
14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19. Those chapters have been a little
bit difficult for me. And I've put off dealing with
them. Never preached from chapters 15, 16, 17 before. put it off
because I didn't see how God there spoke the Word of the Gospel. I've learned now. I've got a
message for you. Hope you'll hear it. But to just
go through the verses and give a religious talk about them is
to abuse the Scripture. It is not preaching. It is to
abuse the souls of men. It is not preaching. We preach
when we preach the Gospel. Everything else is just religious
entertainment. Let me tell you about a day I
have in my mind that would be the most terrible day in history. Every church pew in the United
States of America and around the world, every church pew of
every denomination, It's filled to capacity. There's not an empty
pew anywhere. All pornography is out of business,
gone forever. No more cussing and swearing.
No more prostitutions and pimps. No more fornication and adultery.
No more theft to robbery. No more murder. None. No more drunkenness. No more
being high on drugs and dope. No more abuse. No more war. No more immorality, no fornication,
no adultery, no sodomites. Everything's just exactly, oh,
wouldn't it be wonderful to live like, and every Sunday morning,
every church pew packed to capacity. And there's no preaching of the
gospel of Jesus Christ and him crucified. I cannot think of
a more complete satanic influence than that. and it's almost the
reality in churches. I'll give you a challenge. I'll
give you a challenge. With the exception of listening
to Brother Todd and Ivor this morning on television over in
Lexington. With that exception, with that
one exception, you go home today and set your radio or your recorder,
whatever device you had to record on television, and listen to
every religious program that you can find and tune in on your
device in Central Kentucky. Every one of them. Statewide,
nationwide, worldwide. Tune them every one in! Let's
see. I've got a $50 bill right here.
I'll give you that $50 for the one you find. You ain't gonna
find it. You're not gonna find it. Try
me. I defy you to do so. The world is under the delusion
of Satan. And they entertain themselves
with religion. They got screens so they don't use hymn books
now and they sing and they kinda jazz it up a little bit and rock
and roll and clap their hands and sing and dance and smile
and have fun and a good time and they entertain themselves
and entertain one another and hold hands and say amen brother
while they go to hell. What a horrid thing. What a horrid
thing. There are posted on the internet,
I suppose, literally thousands of sermons that I've preached
here and around the world. If you can find one preached
by this man's voice that is not a clear declaration of who God
is, who Christ is, what he did at Calvary, and how God saves
sinners, I will make a public apology, orally and written,
and circulate it wherever I can for that message. God forbid
it should ever happen. God forbid it should ever happen. I made you a promise before you
called me as your pastor, I said Sunday morning, Sunday night,
midweek service, whenever I preach, if you come, bring your children
to hear the gospel, you come to hear the gospel, bring your
neighbors and friends to hear the gospel, I promise you, as
often as I open my mouth in the name of God, you will hear the
gospel of God's free grace and nothing else. Nothing else. Well, we want something else.
Go somewhere else. As long as I'm alive, you're
not getting it here. Not going to happen. Number five,
the gospel, this exclusive message of redemption and grace in Christ
is the power of God unto salvation. It is the dynamite by which God
explodes the lives of men and exploding in their hearts gives
them life and faith in Jesus Christ by the revelation of Christ
in you, the hope of glory. It's the power of God. God does
not save sinners by a false gospel. He doesn't. Now, I started to
say, I'm sorry, I'm not sorry. I'm determined. I don't have
any association with preachers of any kind who do not preach
the gospel of God's free grace. I just don't. I'm not mean to
them. If I meet them on the street, I'm nice. Sometimes I feel like
hitting them, but I don't. I'm nice. I'll meet them cordially
and greet them and do so with those who listen to them. I'm
not suggesting taking up arms against them, except the battering
ram of the gospel. But Paul said, Galatians chapter
one, let every Arminian, free will, works monger be damned
who preaches another gospel. Let him be damned. Remember,
those are Paul's words. Galatians chapter one, verses
six through nine. Those are Paul's words. Those
are God's words. Those are my words. God does
not save sinners by visions and dreams and looking at the stars
and hearing good gospel music. No. God does not save sinners
apart from the preaching of the gospel. Those who have a form
of godliness while denying the power thereof are religious men
and women who deny the gospel of God's free and sovereign grace
in Christ. Paul wrote to the Corinthians
and he said, I have begotten you through the gospel. I have
begotten you through the gospel of his own will, saved he us
by the word of his power. The word of God is quick and
powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the dividing
asunder of soul and spirit, of the joints and marrow, and is
a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Faith cometh
by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. I know some folks
say, well, we believe in God's sovereignty. We believe God can
save sinners with the use of means, without the use of means,
or in spite of the means used. That sounds real pretty, but
it just ain't so. It just ain't so. How do you know it's not
so? Because it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching
to save them that believe. How does God save sinners? by
the hearing of the Word. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing
by the Word of God. Oh, if you care for your soul,
see that you hear the Word. If you care for the souls of
others, do everything you can to see that they hear the Word.
Those whom God intends to save, He will save by the preaching
of the Gospel. Well, but what if there's not
a preacher around? That's not a problem. That's not, there's an Ethiopian
eunuch down yonder traveling down from Jerusalem back down
to his African home. And he's one of God's elect,
redeemed by Christ. Time's come for God to save him,
but there's nobody around! And there's Philip. How'd he get there? I don't know,
but there he is. I don't know how I got most places I've been,
but there I am. What for? To preach the gospel. He's reading
from Isaiah 53, and he's reading out loud. That's a good way to
read scripture. You understand it a little bit better. Just
pause and read out loud, and you'll remember it better that
he's reading the scripture. And Philip said, buddy, do you
understand what you're reading? He said, how can I except some
man show me? Philip said, that's the reason I'm here. Scoot over,
I'll tell you what he's talking about. and he preached to him Jesus Christ
and him crucified. There's a crusty old Philippian
jailer. They had no hope for him. That old man's 65, 70 years
old. He'd been a rebel all his life.
He's a hardened soldier, retired from the military, just keepin'
jail now, sittin' around guardin' prisoners. No hope for him. He's
been an infidel, a babbling idolater all his life, a drunk, a whoremonger.
Ain't nothin' to him! But he's redeemed by the blood
of Christ. chosen by God from eternity,
and the time has come for him to be saved. Paul and Silas are
arrested on trumped-up charges, thrown in jail, and God sent
an earthquake. And the jail was open, and the
old soldier, rather than being put to death, about to fall on
his soul, because he knew he was going to be executed. And
Paul said, wait, buddy! I got good news for you. Every
prisoner's still in here. And he came in, and Paul preached
the gospel to him. God saved him by his grace. Man,
that's a lot of trouble to save a sinner. Not to God. Not to
God. Faith comes by hearing. And hearing
by the Word of God. There's a man on a ship. A faithful, faithful
servant of God. Paul, the apostle. He's been
arrested. He's going to Rome. And they
set sail. And they set sail with other
ships. Other ships got along fine. But this ship, it's tossed in
a storm. Oh, one storm after the other,
the sails are ripped apart, the mast are broken, the ship rams
into the ground and it's broken to pieces. And they came to shore,
some swimming, some on broken pieces of the ship. And the barbarian
heathen are gathered around, watched them. And they start
to build a fire and Paul is helping them build the fire. He's a good
preacher. He grabbed some wood and started
dropping it on the fire and as he did, A snake bit him right there. And the idolatrous, heathen Indians
on that island just south of Italy called Malta, they said,
he's an evil man, he gonna die. They knew what that snake might
be. If they had got to cut their hand off right now, they knew
what it meant. He gonna die. Paul shook it off
and got some more wood. They said, he must be a god and
bowed down to him. Why'd all that happen? Because
there was a barbarian, ignorant, heathen chieftain on that island,
chosen of God from eternity, redeemed by the blood of Christ
at Calvary, for whom the time of love had come, when he must
hear and believe. Isn't it amazing how God arranges
the intricate circumstances of your life right down to an adder's
bite? For one reason, the saving of
his elect. And that man must be saved right
now. And Paul said, no, I'm not a
God, but I'll tell you who he is. And God was pleased to save
his own. What is the gospel? The gospel
is the message every preacher called of God is sent to preach. Nothing else. ruined by the fall,
redemption by the blood, regeneration by the Holy Spirit. Anything
else is just beaten in time. One more statement. What is the gospel? It's your
only hope and my only hope before God. The gospel of free grace. accomplished redemption according
to God's everlasting purpose. I have good hope of life everlasting
because I trust God who's God. God who absolutely rules the
world for the saving of his elect. I trust Christ who has fulfilled
all righteousness, who has put away sin, who has obtained eternal
redemption, who has redeemed the people to himself, who saves sinners only by the
power, by the omnipotent, irresistible power of his Spirit. who save sinners, looking to them for nothing. Looking to them for nothing.
Now, you believe Him, do you find yourself trusting the Son
of God? Having heard the Gospel just,
you came in here this morning, I got to listen to that preacher
again. And you, that won't hurt anything. But now you find yourself by
an irresistible force working in you what you never dreamed
would happen. Looking to Christ, believing
on the Son of God. It's because God from the beginning
chose you to salvation through sanctification of his spirit unto the belief of the truth.
And God has wrought in you what I can't work in you and you can't
work in yourself. It's called faith in Jesus Christ
the Lord. Oh, God, do that. to that for all who this day
have heard your gospel. For Christ's sake, amen.