I invite you this morning to
turn with me to Romans chapter 1. I have a question to ask, and then
I hope to answer that question from the Word of God. Now, when
you find your place in Romans 1, just put a marker there. I
have some things I need to say by way of introduction. First of all, I want, there's actually three things
that I believe need to be established to really consider this question
which is, what is the gospel? That's going to be my question,
and I'm going to try to answer it this morning from the Word
of God. But there's three things that need to be answered and
need to be established in our minds and hearts. First of all,
I want us to understand that the commission which the Lord
has given to His church It's main business. It's reason for
being established in the earth. His church. This great commission
that our Lord gave to His church is the preaching of the gospel. That's its business. That's what
it's here for. Turn with me to Luke chapter
24. The church certainly has an impact
on men and women as a kind of general restraint. That's a kind
of a byproduct of the church, yet it's not the business of
the church to reform society or even to involve ourself in
its affairs. Rather, we're told to live our
lives as living examples of the mercy and grace of God and testify
the gospel to everybody who will listen. Our commission is to preach the
gospel. Now watch this here in Luke 24,
verse 44. Our Lord has risen from the dead,
had appeared to His disciples, and His disciples, He didn't
make Himself known to them at the first, and they began to
tell Him all their problems, And he went back to the books
of Moses, back to the book of Genesis, and as they walked along
that road of Emmaus, he began to preach to them all those things
concerning himself. He went all the way through the
Old Testament Scriptures. Now watch this here, Luke 24,
verse 44. And he said unto them, These
are the words which I spake unto you while I was yet with you,
that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law
of Moses and in the Prophets and in the Psalms concerning
me. Then opened he their understanding
that they might understand the Scriptures. And he said unto
them, thus it is written, And thus it behooved Christ to suffer
and to rise from the dead the third day. But he doesn't stop
there. Now watch this. And that repentance
and remission of sin should be preached in his name among all
nations beginning at Jerusalem. And ye are witnesses of these
things. The Great Commission is not only
stated here in Luke chapter 24, but also in Matthew 28 and Mark
chapter 16. So let this fact be established
that the commission given to the church, the business of the
church, the reason for its being here, we have a holy charge given
to us by the Lord Himself, and it's to preach the gospel. Preach the gospel. Not only here,
every nation. Every nation. Secondly, let this
fact of Holy Scripture be established also. The gospel we are commissioned
to preach is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that
believes. And that goes for the Jew, and
that goes for the Gentile. Romans 1, verse 16. Now hear what I'm saying. Had
God made no distinction, we wouldn't make any. If God had made no distinction,
we would make none of our own. If God had not spoken on the
matter, we'd leave men to themselves to devise whatever means, whatever
they say. But God was not silent on the
matter. God revealed His will in these
things. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians
1.21, for after that in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew
not God, it pleased God through the foolishness of preaching
to save them that believe. You can argue all you want to,
and you can run back and take refuge in your old emotional
experiences, but I'm reading to you as clearly as words can
be stated the will of God concerning the gospel of His Son. And be careful, I would warn
you this, be careful that you're not found justifying your experience. That's what one man told me.
He said, well, what you're preaching so, he said, how do you justify
my profession. And I said, it's your profession
you justify. I'm not here to justify your
profession. I'm here to proclaim the Word
of God. So be careful. Be careful that
you're not found justifying your experience and at the same time
denying the plain declaration of Scripture. Paul wrote this
also to the church at Corinth. He said this just a little bit
before verse 21. He said, for the preaching of
the cross to them that perish is foolishness. It's unreasonable. It's unnecessary. And it's unaccepted. It's utter and absolute nonsense
to perishing sinners. But unto us which are saved,
Paul said, it is the power of God. So let this be established. This gospel to which his church
is commissioned to preach is the power of God unto salvation. Now you can't find that statement
attached to anything else. Go in the scripture and look.
I've looked. It's not there. I've inquired. I've asked by
some of the greatest commentators of our day. I've asked. It's
not there. He attaches this to the gospel
of Jesus Christ. Thirdly, let this divine truth
be established in the minds and hearts of ever-believing saints.
The preaching of the gospel is the means whereby the Holy Spirit
quickens dead sinners and makes them meet to be partakers with
other enlightened saints. Listen to what Paul says to the
church at Corinth. He said, we're not sufficient
of ourselves to think anything of ourselves. Well, that preacher
just thinks he's able to do anything. No, he don't either. No, he don't. I think exactly the way Paul
thought. I'm not sufficient of myself
to think anything of myself. But my sufficiency is of God,
who also hath made us able ministers of the New Testament, not of
the letter, but of the spirit." A minister of God is not somebody
who went to school and got a degree and can put it on the wall in
his office, and if you question something he has to say, you
say, come here, here's my degree, where's yours? That's the foolishness of this
world. Ministers are made ministers by the call of God. And God makes
them sufficient. He makes them able ministers
of the New Testament have. How does he make them able? Are
they smart? Are they intelligent? Do they
have all the right questions and answers? Is that what makes
a man a minister? He's gifted. He can recall. He has a memory. He can recall
things. He can say things. He can make
all the arguments. No, sir. What makes him a minister
is the spirit of the living God. Paul said, our sufficiency is
of God. If God's not in it, nothing's
going to happen. I don't care how smart you are.
I don't care how well you can learn the language and what a
grasp of it that you have. Nothing's going to happen apart
from the Spirit of God in the hearts of chosen sinners. Turn with me to 1 Thessalonians
chapter 2. Let me be clear on what I'm saying.
I'm saying that we have no revelation, we have no light, we have no
instruction to give any consideration to any other means than the preaching
of the gospel in the conversion of sinners. In 1 Thessalonians chapter 1
verse 4, Paul tells this beloved church
that he knows their election of God because his gospel came
not in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Ghost and
in much assurance. Let me tell you something, there's
not going to be any assurance unless the Holy Ghost gives it
to you. I don't care what you know. And then look across the page
at chapter 2 of 1 Thessalonians, chapter 2 and 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, which
effectually worketh also in you that believe. Now, let me say something about
that verse. Paul was an apostle. He was a
writer of Scripture, and God blessed him as an apostle to
write nearly half of the New Testament Scriptures. But that's
not what he's talking about in this verse. In this verse, he's
talking about the gospel that he preached. And he's talking
about God making believers to know that his gospel is the message
of God. It's the testimony of God. Believers,
when they hear the gospel and the Holy Spirit opens their minds
and hearts, that's it. That's it. Until he does, you hop from flower
to flower to flower. There's a reason why some of
you folks have been gathering together and listening to the
gospel and listening to gospel preachers for better than 40
years. And the reason is you have an
unction from the Holy One and you know the difference. You
know the difference. John said, we are of God. How
does that old sinner know that? He that is of God Heareth us. Now what do you say? And brethren,
there ain't any other way to know. No other way to know. This is the word, Peter said,
which by the gospel is preached unto you. So the business of
the church is to preach the gospel of God's sovereign grace in Christ. The gospel we're commissioned
to preach is the power of God unto salvation, and it's the
means ordained of God by which the Holy Ghost calls out God's
elect and reveals his son in them. Now, having shown you these
things, at least in statement in the scriptures, I want to
ask this question and answer it to the best of my ability.
What is the gospel? This is what we're commissioned
to preach. This is where the power of God manifested in the
hearts of chosen sinners. And through this message is where
the Holy Spirit comes and does his work of regeneration and
conversion in the hearts and minds of chosen sinners. But what is the gospel? What
is the gospel? This world is filled with ideas
and concepts concerning the gospel ministry. One minister dedicated
his whole life believing the gospel ministry was to inspire
men to be positive thinkers. Something good is going to happen
to you today. I can still remember seeing him
out in that Crystal Cathedral out in California. Whole denomination,
tens of thousands of people, all believing that the gospel
is to get men to make a decision. All trying to get men to make
a decision for Jesus. And I see signs out in front
of buildings from time to time that says this, we preach the
full gospel. The full gospel. And yet others
believe the church is nothing more than a welfare office. It's
put here to feed the hungry, house the homeless, clothe the
naked, and treat the sick. But what is the gospel? What
is the gospel? Turn with me to Romans chapter
1. Let me give you three or four things here in the Scriptures
and try to answer this question. What is the gospel? People say,
well, what do you all do up there different from everybody else?
Well, we preach the gospel. Well, they preach the gospel.
They do. What is the gospel? You know,
that's what that fellow asked me. I tried to get him to come
to church. I thought I was saved. I thought I had the faith of
God. I was told that I did. I came
to the front. I knelt at an altar. I did what
they call praying through. I did that. All the people in
the church hovered around me and prayed over me and so on.
They all told me I was saved. I thought I was saved. We were
having what Armenians call a revival, revival meeting. We hired an
evangelist, and he come down to preach for us, and we were
going out knocking on doors trying to get folks to come down and
listen to him. And I went up to my brother-in-law's house,
and he said, my brother's here visiting, but he won't come.
And I said, well, I'll come up and ask him. And I come up, and
I said, why don't you come down and go to church with him? He
said, what for? I said, well, we've got an evangelist
down here. I'd like for you to come and
hear him. He said, why? What's he got to say? And I couldn't
think of anything else to say. I said, well, he's going to preach
the gospel to us. He said, you wouldn't know the
gospel if you met it in the middle of the road. And I said, what are you talking
about? He said, well, if you know the gospel, what is the
gospel? And boy, I was dead in the water. For the first time in my life,
I realized I didn't know what the gospel was. Heard it all
my life. All my life. And never knew what
it was. Well, let me give you three or
four things. Here's the first thing. Paul begins his letter
to the church at Rome by telling them that he was separated. Now
listen to this. Unto the gospel of God. It's not my gospel, it's his. It belongs to him. It's about
him. It's concerning him. It's a declaration
by him. It's his testimony. His testimony
to men. It's God's gospel. Paul says
in verse 1, he was a servant of Jesus Christ called to be
an apostle separated under the gospel of God. It's God's gospel
as it springs from him. We don't begin to try to preach
the gospel based on my experience. I want to go back and find out
where did this gospel come from? It comes from God. Well, then
what does God have to say in the gospel? It's not about my
interpretations. It's not about my learning and
my wisdom. It's about what God has to say. And that's the first thing when
you begin to preach to men. It's the first thing they do.
They come to you and say, well, that's your take on the matter.
That's your interpretation. Oh, no, it ain't. No, it's not. It's God's gospel. It springs
from Him. And nowhere in the Holy Scriptures
is a man given permission or sanction to devise means or think
up ways to save sinners. But we are told this. If they
speak not according to this Word, it's because there's no light
in them. There's no light in them. The Gospel is not ours
to interpret. It's not ours to devise. It's
not ours to change or alter in any way. were separated unto
the gospel of God. It's of God. It's not left to
the interpretations of men. It reveals God. I'll tell you, I heard preaching
for 16 years. In none of that preaching was
there any kind of revelation of God. It was all about me,
and all about my works, and all about what I needed to do, and
so on, so on, so on. The gospel reveals God. Listen
to this. Our Lord said, no man knoweth
the Father save the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal
him. This gospel is of God. It reveals
God. And then thirdly, it's made known
by God. It's made known by God. Now,
I can stand up here and declare truth to you. I can stand up
here and read the Scriptures to you. But apart from God Himself
making the intervention and working in your hearts and minds, you're
not going to know any more when you leave than when you came
in. It's revealed by God. It's beyond any man's ability
to know God in his present falling condition. God must himself enable
him to hear and to see and understand. And yet when it comes, it comes
in such a way to where it almost seems natural. Does it not? He never tells us to reason,
and yet he does say this, come let us reason together. And that's it. When God comes,
you can raise Him. If He don't come, you can't.
And even if you did, it wouldn't amount to anything. It's beyond
man's ability to know God in his present condition. God himself
must enable him to hear and see and understand. There was his
apostles hanging on every word, and the Jews over here despising
every word. And he looked at those disciples
who were trying to comfort the offended Jews, and he told them,
he said, blessed are your ears, for they hear. And then fourthly, it's the gospel
of God because it calls chosen sinners to God. It doesn't call
us to the front. It doesn't call us up here to
shake hands with a preacher. It calls you to God. It calls chosen sinners to God.
So what is the gospel? The gospel is of God. It's of God. Secondly, the gospel
is the reason for and the message of the Word of God. If there were no gospel, Winston,
there would be no point in this book. There would be no point
in it. What would be the point? Somebody
said, yeah, but you've got the moral law in there. It teaches
us how to live. Show me one man who lives according
to the moral law of God. He don't do it. If he says he
does, he's a liar. A fellow told me one time, he said,
I believe man's a free moral agent. And I said, I don't believe
man's free or moral either one. Not according to the Scripture. The Gospel is the reason for
and the message of the Word of God. To Him give all the prophets
witness. The other foundation says, can
no man lay than that which is laid, Jesus Christ. Here's the
foundation. We're built on the foundation
of the apostles and the prophets. You mean those old prophets were
laying a foundation? Absolutely they were laying a
foundation, and we're built on it. But other foundation can
no man lay than that which is laid. So what was laid? Jesus
Christ the Lord. Listen to this here in Romans
1. I'm kind of using this as a text. He tells us in verse
2, which He had promised afore, by his prophets in the Holy Scriptures. That's that gospel, promised
afore by the prophets. I remember this story. There
was a young preacher, and he came in to take over the church,
and the old pastor was retiring. He'd reached the age where he
just didn't feel like he could pastor the church anymore. He
still wanted to come, still was concerned over the people, but
he couldn't fulfill his duties as a pastor, and so another pastor
was appointed. And this young man got up, he
was fresh out of seminary, and he got up, preached his first
sermon, and the old man was sitting down on the front pew. And the
young man got up, probably had been working on this message
all the way through seminary, got this one message, you know,
in his mind. And he gets up there, and he
knows it by heart. And he gets up there, and he
goes through the message, and he gets done. And then he goes
down, and he sits down by the old preacher, you know, and they
sing the last hymn, and the audience is dismissed. And he couldn't
hardly wait to see what the old man was going to say to him,
but he didn't say anything. And so he just asked him. It
got the best of him. He asked him, he said, well,
what did you think about my message? He said, not much. And boy, he
was shattered. He said, did I, were my points
not accurate? Oh, he said, your points was
right on the button. Well, he says, was my illustrations
wrong? Did I have bad illustrations?
Oh, he said, your illustrations were great. I understood exactly
what it was you were saying. Well, he said, what was the problem?
He said, there wasn't any Christ in it. Oh, but pastor, he said,
Christ wasn't in my text. He said, son, Christ is in every
text. It's in every text. The gospel
is the message of this book. You'll never understand anything
I write in this book apart from the gospel of Jesus Christ. Thirdly,
what is the gospel? The gospel, according to verse
3 here in Romans chapter 1, is concerning God's beloved Son. That's what it's about. It's
not about me. It's not about you. It's about
Him. It's about Him. It's about the beloved Son concerning
His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of
David according to the flesh. Why must God become a man? Why must God take to Himself
human flesh? Why must God take on Him the
nature of the seed of Abraham? Why did this have to be? To save
sinners. To save sinners. It's concerning
His Son, Jesus Christ, which was made of the seed of David
according to the flesh. I want you to hear this next
statement. There's nothing in the gospel of God that's not
concerning His Son. Now, I've been accused a lot of not
preaching the whole counsel of God. If you preach Jesus Christ,
you preach the whole counsel of God. You go back over in Acts
and read what Paul said before he said unto them, I have not
shunned to declare unto you the whole counsel of God. And you'll
find out that he was talking about his preaching of Christ. Oh, but you say, now wait a minute,
preacher. He said, election is of the Father. Huh? We're chosen in Christ. Election is of the Father, but
the Father chose us in Christ. Yes, but predestinations of the
Father. You better go back and read it
again. You better go back and read it
again. He hath predestinated us to be conformed to the image
of His Son. He tells us that over in Romans
chapter 8. And He tells us over in Ephesians
He hath predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus
Christ to Himself according to the good pleasure of His will.
There's nothing, not our election, not predestination, not even
the eternal purpose of God in redemption that's not concerning
His Son. Paul went so far as to say in
Colossians chapter 1, it said, He said, it pleased the Father
that in Him should all fullness dwell. Creation is attributed to Him. Salvation is attributed to Him.
And everything else is attributed to Him. Yes, but you say there's
the work of the Holy Spirit. I know, but it says when He has
come, He won't speak of Himself. He's going to take the things
of mine and show them unto you. There's nothing. I'm telling
you the truth. There's nothing in this gospel. Men twist it,
turn it. Satan's been using men and deceiving
men and working through these things for thousands of years,
and he knows every which way to turn things. But I'm telling
you this, there's nothing in there that's not concerning the
Lord Jesus Christ. I'd even go so far as to say
that the gospel is the person of Jesus Christ. It's not a what,
it's a who. The gospel. God's eternal purpose
of grace, he tells us over in 2 Timothy 1, verse 9, he's talking
about that eternal purpose of grace that was given us in Christ
before the world began. He said it's manifest. by the
appearing of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death
and brought life and immortality to life through the gospel. He is the gospel. He is the gospel. And the good news of the gospel
is of his person and his work and his glory. Fallen sinners have hope in God
because God appointed for them another head and representative. The Scripture says, in Adam all
die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. Fallen sinners
have hope because the Son of God took not on Him the nature
of angels, but the seed of Abraham, His covenant seed. All the promises
of God were confirmed in Him. He's the covenant seed. We're told that the Word was
made flesh and dwelt among us. And we saw His glory. Fallen
sinners have hope in God because God in the person of Jesus Christ
lived for them a perfect life. A life of perfect obedience.
And He bore their sins in His own body on the tree. Fallen
sinners have hope in God who delivered Him for their offenses
and raised Him again on the third day for their justification. Fallen sinners have hope in God
because Jesus Christ is God. Paul said, God our Savior. And to hear Him is to hear God.
To know Him is to know God. To see Him is to see God. And
to worship Him is to worship God. Confused disciples, that's what
most of us are, confused disciples. They said, we don't know where
you're going and how can we know the way? And he said, I am the
way. I am the truth. I am the life. Fallen sinners have hope in God
as God our Savior sits at the right hand of the Father ordering
all things, arranging all things for the salvation of His elect. The Scripture said we're begotten
again unto a living hope. I love that old sermon, there's
a man in glory. And that man is the God-man.
He's seated at the right hand of God. received our inheritance. He's our guarantor. It's in his
hands. We're begotten again unto a living
hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance
incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away reserved
in heaven for you who by him do believe in God that raised
him from the dead. We're kept by the power of God
through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed at the last
time. And then fourthly, what is the
gospel? It's the commandment of God to men to believe on his
son or suffer the consequences. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. He that believeth not, this is
the consequences, shall be damned. I don't ever want to be guilty.
Now, I know I've lulled some of you to sleep, so wake up and
listen to what I'm about to say. I don't ever want to be guilty
of preaching this gospel to men and leaving them to believe that
it's all right for them to believe it or not. It's not all right. It's not all right. Well, I'll
just deal with it at another time. Maybe you will, maybe you
won't. Romans chapter 118 says, I want
you to listen, this is why I included it in my reading. He said, this
gospel is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth,
to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For therein is the
righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith as it's written,
the just shall live by faith. For, next verse, 18, for the
wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness
and unrighteousness of men who do what? Hold the truth in unrighteousness. There's consequences to the hearing
of the gospel. There's consequences. We're nowhere commanded, as far
as I can tell, to hold the truth, but we are commanded to believe
it. We're not to hold it. We're not to hide it. I'm not giving, except by a few examples,
any hope for any man who does not believe this gospel when
it's preached to him. I'm not saying... I heard the
gospel a long time before the Lord saved me, but there's no
promises of that anywhere in the Scriptures. I'm going to
find them. You may find a few examples.
You have one standing before you this morning. But that's
not to encourage you not to believe this gospel when I declare it
to you. I am told in the Scriptures that
he that believeth not shall not see life. He that believeth not
the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. Now, let me ask you something. I preached the gospel to you
this morning. I've declared what this gospel is. I've declared
who it's about. I've declared whose gospel it
is. I've declared all those things.
I preached the gospel to you this morning. I've told you about
our substitute. I've told you about God, our
righteous savior. I've told you these things. Now,
let's suppose you woke up in the morning. And you went into
the bathroom getting ready for coming to church. And you go
in there and you're all sleepy-eyed and you get your wash rag out
and everything and then you look up into that vanity mirror and
you're covered with the ugliest red rash you've ever seen in
your life. And your mouth falls open and
you look in that mirror and you just, you don't know what to
do. You're shocked out of your mind. And you fumble around through
the vanity drawer, and you find that thermometer and put it in
your mouth, and you're running a fever. And you put that down, and you
put a cold compress on your head, and you look up, and now the
rash is even worse than it was. How much looking? How much reading, how much thinking
would you have to do before you sought some medical attention?
Most of us, when we saw the rash, would have run for the phone,
911. Huh? Put me in touch with a doctor. Or I'd have been out in the car
on my way to find a doctor or on my way to the emergency room. All right. Consider this. The Bible is likened unto a mirror. Did you know that? The Word of God is likened unto
a mirror. And if you ever find or have
a revelation of your rash, of your condition before God, of
this leprosy of sin, if you ever have a revelation of that, This
is where you're going to get it. You're going to look in the
mirror and you're going to see yourself for the first time.
You're going to see yourself. You want to look in the mirror? Would you look in the mirror
this morning? See your condition before God? Listen to this. This
is the condemnation. You want to know what it is?
Here it is. Light came into the world, and men loved darkness
rather than light because their deeds were evil. The Bible said,
everyone that doeth evil hateth the light. He hates the light. He don't want to hear about the
light. He don't want to be told about the light. He don't want
this light shining on him. He don't want this light. Why? Because his deeds is evil. Neither cometh any man to the
light, lest his deeds should be reproved. That's John 3, verse
20. The Bible is like unto a mirror,
and we stand before it, and it shows us our true image. Will you hear me this morning?
This is all the evidence you're ever going to get concerning
your sin. The Word of God. Now let me ask you something.
How much looking, how much reading, how much talking has to be done
for you to seek some help? Huh? I'm trying to tell you the
effects of the gospel on the hearts of chosen sinners. God
shows them who they are in His book. They're condemned sinners. They have the nature of sin.
And no matter what they appear like in this world, this is what
they are. And I'm going to tell you something,
it's just going to get worse. Evil men and seducers wax worse
and worse. It don't get better and better.
You're not in a vacuum. You're not going to stay the
same. It gets worse and worse. We say, Preacher, I believe what
you're saying. You do? Then why don't you confess Christ?
Why don't you publicly identify yourself with Christ and say,
I believe this gospel? Why don't you come to the light? When the Spirit of Truth has
come, I want you to listen to this. You can find this over
in John chapter 16. When the Spirit of Truth has
come, He will convince of sin. Of sin. Now listen to this. Because
they believe not on me. That man, woman, boy or girl
that believes the gospel of Christ is commanded by his Lord to confess
him in baptism. Baptism is a picture of the believer's
death, burial and resurrection in Christ. It's his confession
of this union in Christ. And it is his public identification
with Christ. and his church. We've got some
military folks in the church. You joined the armed forces.
You didn't wear your civvies very long, did you? They issued
you a uniform. You didn't tell them, I don't
want to wear the uniform. You put it on. You put it on. But when it come right down to
it, you didn't put it on because you was forced to put it on.
You put it on because you want it to be identified with this
country. And this is the way it is in
baptism. We confess Christ in baptism publicly, and we identify
ourselves with him because we want to be identified with him.
And I'll tell you something else. He said, he that's ashamed of
me, I'll be ashamed of him at the judgment. You're ashamed
of me now? Wait till judgment. I'll be ashamed
of you. Oh, I beseech you by the kindness
and mercy of God. Don't put this thing of faith
aside. Don't lay it aside. Don't say,
well, I'm this young. I'll deal with it some other
time. There may not be another time. May not be another time. I tell
you, Brother Don's been preaching on the subject of reprobation
here lately. But let me tell you this about
reprobate. There comes a time when a reprobate
doesn't hear anymore. He don't hear. There was a family
that came to our church. I won't keep you much longer.
Came through the door one morning, had five kids, a man and his
wife. And they came. Came for a good
while, five, six weeks in a row they came. One day he didn't come back.
It's been years now. It's been about seven years.
I haven't seen them since. I haven't seen them since. There's been a lot of folks come
here over the years. They don't come anymore. They
don't come anymore. Well, I'll deal with this thing.
I'll deal with it. I put it off today. I'm not going
to deal with it today, but I'll deal with it. You may not. You may not. He may take what
you have in your heart today away from you and give you absolutely
no interest at all in it. And you'll go on and live your
life as though you've never heard the gospel. Demas, fellow laborer
of Paul, helped him preach, studied the Scriptures with him. Paul
had confidence in him, bragged on him. Demas hath forsaken me. He hath forsaken me. And John said, they went out
from us, but they weren't of us. Had they been of us, they
no doubt would have continued with you. Don't put these things
off. I'm telling you as clearly as I know how to tell you. Don't
put them off. May God, in his grace, be pleased
to make it to where you can't, for Christ's sake. Thank you.