I suppose we can begin by turning
in your Bibles to Mark chapter 16. I've got three texts that
I want you to look at this morning, but we'll start there. The title
of the message this morning is Believing and Believing Not. Believing and Believing Not. God divides this whole world
in which we live into two categories, those who believe and those who
believe not. Regardless of where you live,
how you were raised, what religion that you were raised in, how
you conduct your life, your life is summed up in these two things,
believing Believing not. And by these two divisions, the
saved are distinguished from the lost. He never one time tells men of
their goodness in relationship to their salvation. But what he does say is those
who believe shall be saved. Ain't that what he said? They shall be saved. Of the unbelievers,
he says, they shall be damned. There ought not to be any doubt
in anybody's mind. There's no gray areas here. There's
no room for suspicion here. There's no room for any doubt
in anybody's mind. Those who believe the gospel
that God commands to be preached to all nations. Those who believe
it shall be saved. Those who believe it not shall
be damned. There are no gray areas there. There's no room for compromise
there. There's no room for negotiation. They're saved or damned. I want us to look this morning
at these three passages of scripture concerning the gospel we are
to preach and teach to all nations and see if the Lord will be pleased
to straighten us out on some of the deceptions of this religious
world in which we live. This world, for all practical
purposes, believes that if you do the best you can, the best
you can, that God will accept your works and He'll accept your
person and He'll allow you to enter into His heaven and his
fellowship. If you just do the best you can.
I think most men will admit they're not perfect, won't they? That's
usually the first thing they tell me. Now, I'm not perfect. Then you can't be saved. Because the soul that sinneth
shall surely die. You see what I'm saying? There's
no gray area here. Religion makes the gray area. Religion makes
room for those who who were good mothers and good fathers and
good cousins and good friends and good neighbors, so called.
And they were compared to other men. But my friend, this thing
of judgment and heaven and hell and salvation has nothing to
do with how you compared with one another. It has to do with
God. And this is where the fault is.
This is where the deception is. And Satan always wants to compare
things down here. He don't want you to look up
there. He don't want you to know God. There was a great commission
given to the disciples of Christ to which the Lord Himself attaches
a warning. In Mark's Gospel, it reads like
this. This is Mark chapter 16, verse
15. Go ye into all the world and
preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned." Now in Matthew's account, if
you want to turn over there, Matthew chapter 28, in Matthew's
account it reads like this. Go ye therefore and teach all
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the
Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever
I have commanded you." Now, to preach, that's what Mark said
we're to go do in his In his account of the Great Commission,
he said, we are to go into all the world and preach the gospel. What does it mean to preach the
gospel? What do you do when you preach?
We're very fond of that old expression sometimes. A husband began to
raise his voice a little bit, and the wife said, now don't
preach to me. Don't preach to me. Or you might tell her the
same thing. Don't preach to me. What to preach
is to declare something. It's to dogmatically, uncompromisingly
declare something. To set forth something as certain
and sure. No ifs and maybes. I just want
to give you my opinion. Now just keep it to yourself.
I'm not interested in your opinion. I want to know what God says.
What God says, I can state emphatically, dogmatically, uncompromisingly. I can set it forth. I don't care
if it's 1,000 to 1. I can say if there's 40 priests,
400 priests of Baal there, I can still tell you the word of God. And I can tell it to you uncompromisingly. I can tell it to you dogmatically. Folks tell me all the time, well,
you're not leaving any room in here for argument. There is no
argument. That's right, there's no argument
here lest we be found to contend with God. Preaching. It's to dogmatically,
uncompromisingly declare a thing to be certain and sure. But over
in Matthew he said we are to go unto all the nations of the
world teaching them. Teaching them. To teach is to
instruct. It's to give explanation and
to give the whys and wherefores of a thing. Now, this is how
the church is to take his gospel into the world. We're to teach,
but we are to teach dogmatically. I'll never forget in the pastor
school, we had a young man in there and he began to draw some
doubts. against what Henry was teaching
that morning in the Saturday class. And I'll never forget
what Henry told me. He said, keep your opinions to
yourself. He said, this is not a sharing
session. He said, what I teach in here,
he said, I teach dogmatically. Now, if you don't believe what
I teach, you need to go somewhere else. You need to go somewhere
else. Because there's no room for compromise
here. We teach. We do teach. But I'm
not going to sit here. And some fellow asked me one
time, I can't remember who it was now, but anyway, they were
thinking about coming over here and go to church with us. And
they said, well, do we get to offer an opinion or ask questions? Do we get to ask questions? I
said, yeah, after the message is over, you can come to me and
ask me anything you want. Not while I'm preaching. We're to teach things, but we're
to teach things we know, things that are certain, things that
set forth in God's book. We're not going to stand up here
and start speculating about prophecy and things we don't know anything
about. We're talking about men's souls.
We're talking about the reputation of God, the honor and glory of
God is at stake here. We're not going to stand up here
and have a sharing session over there. If I don't know who God
is, I ain't got no business up here, for sure. And then this gospel that he
talks about, this gospel we know to be a person, the Lord Jesus
Christ. Go into all the world and preach
the gospel. The gospel has nothing to do
with buses. It has nothing whatsoever to
do with choirs and music and all these other things that we
like to attach that name gospel to and call it a gospel ministry. The gospel ministry has to do
with the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And as we
go into the world with his gospel, we're to set before men dogmatically
his person and work and teach in the process the very name
declared in him of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost.
These nations and these peoples that we go to and declare these
things and preach to and teach them, we're to baptize them in
the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost. Now,
the only way you can do that is to preach the Father, the
Son, and the Holy Ghost through the person of Christ. So, you
see, Matthew's not in disagreement at all with Mark. In the Lord's high priestly prayer
in John chapter 17, it says, he lifted up his eyes to heaven
and prayed. And he said, Father, The hour
has come, the hour to which he came into this world, the hour
to which he was appointed from all eternity, the hour of his
death, the crowning work of the Christ, his substitutionary work,
the hour of his death, the hour in which he would be declared
of God as the propitiation for our sins. The hour has come. Glorify thy son that thy son
also may glorify thee. Whatever it is that's going to
be accomplished in His death is going to glorify Him, but
at the same time, it's going to reveal to you the glory of
God, the glory of His Father. He's going to be glorified in
such a manner as reflects back to the God who sent Him. He's
going to demonstrate in His suffering and death the glorious character
of God. Verse 2. As Thou hast given Him
power over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as
many as Thou hast given Him. And this is eternal life, that
they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom
Thou hast sent." How are they going to know it? They're going
to know it because of this hour in which the Father glorified
His Son and His Son glorified Him. You see what I'm saying? This is eternal life. Eternal
life is to understand the person and work of Christ in the light
of the true character of God. 1 John 5, verse 20. He said, and we know that the
Son of God is come and hath given us an understanding that we may
know Him that is true. Him that is true. And we are
in Him that is true, even in His Son, Jesus Christ. This is
the true God in eternal life. That's what it means to believe
the gospel, to hear it, and to see it, and to understand it,
and to rejoice in it. It's the message of this book.
This is the whole reason it was written, and why it's preserved,
and why its writers were inspired to write it. But there's a problem. There's a problem. Mankind is
under the curse of God. He has no ears to hear. Our Lord
told His disciples, He said, blessed are your ears for they
hear. It's not given unto them to understand
the mysteries of God, it was given unto you. Therefore, blessed
are your ears, blessed are your eyes. This world is under the
curse of God. His nature, His mind, His affections,
His heart is falling into praise. The Apostle Paul wrote to the
saints at Rome and said, we know that the law is spiritual, but
I am carnal, sold unto sin. Natural man has no spiritual
ability. He's dead spiritually. One fella
hadn't been back ever since I said that. I had to spell it for him,
D-E-A-D, dead. All men are spiritually dead.
He can't perform the most simple, basic spiritual act. What in the world am I talking
about? What is the most basic spiritual
act that a man could perform? What's that mean? What are some
of these spiritual acts, these basic spiritual acts? How about
seeking God? Huh? That's as basic as it gets,
isn't it? You know what Paul said? There's
none that seeketh after God. Huh? What about perception? There's
none that understandeth. What about walking in the way?
He said they're all gone out of the way. He said the way of
peace they have not known. There's a way, Solomon said,
that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof is death
and destruction. Destruction and misery, Paul
said, are in their way. They don't know the way. They
don't walk in the way. What about fearing God? I fear
God. No fear of God before their eyes.
That's what God said. Man's cursed of God. Cursed is
everyone who continueth not in all things written in the book
of the law to do. He's cursed of God. And David
said we come forth from the womb speaking lies. And then in John chapter 3 verse
19 he said this is the condemnation that light has come into the
world and men love darkness rather than light. You don't believe
man's cursed? Why didn't he love the Lord Jesus
Christ? There was nothing in this man
not to love. Between you and I, we can find
things to dislike, can't we? I just don't like him. He just,
he says this and looks this way or says this this way. We can
all find, but there wasn't any reason in him, Russell. He was
God good. Good master, he said, why callest
thou me good? There's none good but God. He
was God good. He told those unbelieving Pharisees
that rested their hope in their own self-righteousness. He said,
which one of you convinces me of sin? Huh? Oh, you think they wouldn't have
wrote a book on a sin if he'd have done it? They'd have blew
that thing up and made it the unforgivable sin. If he'd have
done anything, if he'd have said anything or acted any certain
way, they'd have published it in a paper and passed it out
in all the world. They couldn't find one single
fault in him. Satan himself tempted him for
40 days and couldn't find any fault in him because there was
no fault in him. Light has come into the world
and men love darkness rather than light. In John chapter 12
verse 37, but though he had done so many miracles, now I tell you, You'd think if
a man could take a few fishes in his hand, Winston. We had,
what, about 80 people here back during the conference, and that
was a lot for us. I wouldn't have wanted to get
them in the back room with a few fishes and loaves, would you? He sat before 5,000 men, not
counting the women and children, and had that little basket. And
he said, he blessed it. Now he said, pass it out. They
gathered up 12 basketfuls of remains after they'd eaten all
they could eat. Now you'd think after you'd seen
that, you could believe. What about Lazarus? He called
Lazarus before he'd been dead for three days and they'd been
out there mourning him. They all knew he was dead. Lord,
even his own sister. Lord, by now he's stinking. Don't
roll back the stone. Lazarus came out of that town.
He commanded the very clothes that wrapped him to come unbound
and loose him and let him go. And Lazarus walked and talked
and ate them all. And you can go on and on and
on with the miracles of turning water into wine and all these
things that he did, the paralyzed man down at the pool of Bethesda.
They'd seen all of them. These Jews sent out the committee
of the Sanhedrin and followed him like a bunch of dogs nipping
at his heel, trying to find some reason that they could declare
him and trick him up and say, this is not the Christ. And they
couldn't find anything. Meantime, the God of glory was
performing miracles through his son to establish that this was
the Christ of God. And it said over here in John,
though he done so many miracles before them, yet they believed
not on him. That's what it said. Well, if man is dead spiritually
and he has no spiritual potential, if he has no mind to perceive
and no heart to rejoice and no will to seek him, why bother
to preach? Don't you find it a lost cause
to stand up and try to teach somebody who can't hear anything
you're saying? Why bother? Why say anything
to them, Russell? I want to be as clear as I can
be on this. Natural man has no appetite,
no understanding, no potential to ever acquire one. He don't want it. He's not seeking
it, and he never will. If left to himself, he'll live
out his days in the darkness of this cursed world in his nature,
and he'll go out to meet God in judgment. Paul said to the
Corinthian church, the natural man receiveth not the things
of the Spirit of God. He won't receive the Word of
God, the means of preaching, or the message of Christ. And
the reason he will not receive these things is that they appear
to him as foolishness. Well, y'all think that preacher
over there is the only one in Arkansas that knows anything.
He's the only one I can find. I've been looking and listening.
If they know the truth, they'd be preaching it. They're not
preaching it. The reason he won't receive these
things is that they appear to him to be foolishness. And he
says, neither can he know them for they are spiritually discerned.
So why bother to preach? If everything I say is ignored,
written off as foolishness, cashed back in my teeth. I don't know
how many times I've had it cashed back. That's your opinion. Huh? That's your opinion. That's your
interpretation. I get so tired of hearing that
when I'm on that subject of Christ being made. Well, that's your
interpretation. How hard is it to understand
what M-A-D-E means, huh? That's man's pride. That's all
that is. So why bother to preach? Well,
Matthew 28, verse 18. Jesus came and spake unto them. Now listen. All power. Just let your mind wrap around
that for a minute. All power is given unto me in
heaven and earth. Go ye therefore. Now you can go teach. He told the old prophet, what
do you see? He said, I see bones. And there are very many and they're
very dry. Can these bones live? Go ye therefore, all powers given
unto me. The curse under which mankind
lives is the curse of sin. God's not the sweet old granddaddy
that religion makes him out to be and Satan ministers try to
paint him to be. He's not that sweet old granddaddy.
God is holy. God is just. And God is righteous. And God is angry with the wicked. He's angry. He's not smiling,
Russell. Smile. God loves you. He ain't smiling.
And the proof of the condemnation is that you are. God's not smiling. God's angry. This world's on its way to hell. There's no gray area here. Either
believeth not. They don't believe. Ask one of them sometime what
the gospel is and see what he tells you. They don't believe. God doesn't require from you
the best you can do. He requires from you a righteous
obedience equal to His own righteousness. Paul told those worldly philosophers
on Mars Hill that God commandeth all men everywhere to repent. All men, everywhere, repent. Turn from yourself. Turn from
this world. Turn from what you are. All men,
everywhere. Why? Because He has appointed
a day in which He'll judge this world in righteousness by that
man. Boy, that sheds a whole new light
on your works, don't it? Huh? Which one of your works
you want God to hang up in front of Christ's righteousness compared
to? Huh? That's what this judgment's
all about. You're not going to enter into glory without a righteousness
equal to His. Now, if you're hoping in your
good works, your good works ain't going to come up to that, I'm
telling you right now. That's why he commandeth all
men everywhere to repent. They don't want to repent. I
don't want to repent of the gifts I give. I'm proud of what I gave.
I don't want to repent of the prayers I pray. I'm proud of
what I pray. Huh? God has to bring you down. He has to show you what you are.
All our righteousnesses are as filthy rag. We are all together
as an unclean thing. Christ is the standard of righteousness
that God sets before men in the gospel and by which all men will
be judged. God has set forth his son as
the propitiation for sin through faith in his blood to declare
his righteousness for the remission of sins, and he did it that he
might be just in his justification of those who believe. What are
you saying, preacher? I'm saying that Jesus Christ
appeared on this earth as a man, lived his life, suffered and
died on the cross for a people given him of the Father. He lived
for them. For them. In your place. And he is, she shall be called
the Lord our righteousness. Ain't that what it says? We wear
his name. Wear his righteousness. Oh my soul, I don't want to be
found having my own righteousness. That's what Paul said. God, he
said, I don't want to be found having my own righteousness. But in the righteousness of Christ.
He lived for us. And he died for us. He suffered
and died on the cross. There's any potential in man. I thought about this as I was
preparing that message on Matthew this morning for Sunday school
class. If there was any potential in man, there'd be no reason
for a virgin-born son of God, wouldn't there? If there's any potential in man,
then all you have to do is point the way. Ain't that what religion
said? Let me give you the plan, and
you work it out. If man in his present state could
be reformed, influenced, educated, or persuaded, there'd be no need
for Christ to take to Himself the form of a servant. There'd
be no reason for it. Brother Henry said one time,
if it were possible, if it were possible for a man to sit one-on-one
and argue the gospel with a man and convince him, then the Lord
would have convinced everybody He ever talked to because He
is wisdom incarnate. But it ain't possible. It ain't
possible. And I tell you this, God did
not subject his beloved son to the humiliation of dwelling in
a human body forever, permanently, and allow men to say and do the
things that they did for no reason. God would not allow that. God is just. The Bible said justice
and judgment are the habitation of His throne. And to maintain
the integrity of His name, God must punish sin. He must do it
or cease to be God. The sinner must be brought before
the bar of God and righteous vindication of the law be proved
and justice served upon the sinner has to be. Has to be. And if you've got a salvation
that don't understand that, if you've got a salvation that's
not inclusive of that, then you've got a false refuge. Judgment is not way off somewhere
in the distant future. I know there's a day out there
where judgment is going to be fixed forever. But man is condemned
already. He's condemned already. Judgment's
already been packed. Romans chapter 5 verse 18 said,
Therefore as by the offense of one judgment came upon all men
to condemnation. Ain't that what that says? They're
condemned. They're sitting on death row.
They're bound up in the jail. They can't go anywhere. They
can't do anything. Can't say anything. Can't be
anything. Takes an intervention of God,
just like old Barabbas was sitting down there in that prison. He
was already judged. The executioner was waiting. All they was waiting for was
this final judgment of Christ. That's the only thing it was
waiting for. What were we waiting on? Same
thing, ain't it? Huh? Everything that went on
down there in that dungeon, there was two thieves down there in
that dungeon. Was they judged already? Oh yeah,
they was already condemned. Brabus, he was already condemned.
Everything waiting on this final judgment of Christ. But you know
what? Christ took his place, didn't
he? What'd they do with that condemned man? Set him free. Set free? What do you mean free?
I've already been judged. I've already been condemned.
Why are you setting me free? Another's been chosen to die
in your stead. It's not way off. We're already
condemned. But that's not the end of it.
He also says in that same verse, even so by the righteousness
of one, the free gift came upon all men under justification of
life. Everybody that was represented
in Adam died. They died. They're judged. They're
condemned. Everybody represented in Christ,
they're going to be beneficiaries of Him. He's their federal head. When the Lord spoke to His disciples
in Matthew 28 concerning His commission to teach all nations
concerning His gospel, He prefaced his comments with these words,
all powers given unto me in heaven and earth, go ye therefore and
teach. Now this power is not talking
about the son's omnipotence as being equal with God, although
he is and never ceased to be. But this is talking about the
power and crown rights of our Redeemer. That's what this is
talking about. The power to forgive. The power
to send forth His Spirit and make known, to regenerate, to
distinguish among men. This power has been given to
Him by virtue of His death and by virtue of His life. You remember
what I read to you there in John 17 a while ago? He said in verse
2, "...as thou hast given Him power over all flesh." What kind
of power? that he might give eternal life
to as many as thou hast given him. That's what this power is
all about. The reason we go forth with the gospel wherever we can
get a hearing is because we know that our Lord brought in the
right for men to hear it. There's no potential in man.
Once you learn that, if you don't see anything else, you ain't
gonna preach. I guarantee you that. Turn with me to Luke chapter
24. Here's the third account I want
you to look at. Christ is the message of this
book. Paul said, through this man,
through this man is preached unto you, depending on his power,
depending on his person, depending on his glory, depending on his
ascension into glory and his intercession there. Depended
upon that crown on the ascended Lord. Depended on Him. Through this man is preached
unto you the forgiveness of sins. None other name given among men
whereby we must be saved. Now watch this. Luke 24, verse
44. Talking to His disciples. 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 then he said unto them, Thus
it is written, and thus it behooved Christ. Now I want you to listen
close. It behooved Him. to suffer, and to rise from the
dead the third day, and, see that great big and? I wish that
was in capital letters with an explanation mark right after
it. And, and, don't leave this off
or separate this from what he just said. And, that repentance
and remission of sins should be preached in his name among
all nations beginning at Jerusalem. And your witnesses now go. Now go. I've showed you where
I'm the message of the book. I've declared unto you through
the resurrection that I'm the power. I'm the power. I'm going to send to the Father. Now you go down to Jerusalem
and you tarry there till you receive the gift of the Father,
the Holy Ghost. And then you go into every nation
and teach and preach this gospel. And I'll go with you. I'll go
with you. And I got all the power. Huh? That's why I pray. My Lord sits
on the throne. It's not dependent on my little
shaky voice or my little understanding or my little intelligence. It's
not dependent on how well I can write things down on a piece
of paper. This thing dependent on the crown rights of Jesus
who sits on the throne. This thing's already accomplished,
Russell. The way's already been made clear. And his gospel go home. It'll
go home to all his elect. How do I know that? When they
believe. They all gonna believe. Every
last one of them gonna believe. The potential of preaching is
not in those we preach to, but in him that sits enthroned in
heaven. He brought the right to reconcile
dead sinners to Himself. He said this is the ministry
of reconciliation to wit that God was in Christ reconciling
the world unto Himself. Huh? Not imputing their trust.
There's the power. There's the ministry. He brought
the right to reconcile dead sinners to Himself through the Gospel.
And Paul said to the church at Rome, he said, I'm not ashamed
of the Gospel. Now listen. It's the power of
God. You reckon He knew where the
power was? I think He did. I think He did. This is the power
of God unto salvation. God gonna manifest His glorious
ascension into heaven by setting loose the captives. That's what
He's gonna do. To as many as received Him, to
them gave He power. to become the sons of God, even
to them that believe on His name. I'm not up here this morning
to try to condemn your family or mine. They're already condemned.
I'm up here this morning searching for God's elect. That's what
I'm looking for, His elect. Apart from God's intervention
of grace, our race is history. It's gone. It's gone. But God did intervene. God did
send our Savior, and He did redeem us from all our iniquity. He
did bear all our sin in His own body on the tree. And all those
He justified in His resurrection, He'll justify in their hearts
and minds through the gospel by faith. He that quickened us
together with Christ, Paul said, and raised us up together and
made us sit together with Him, did so that in the ages to come
He might show the riches of His grace and His kindness to us
through Jesus Christ the Lord. For by grace are you saved through
faith and that not of yourselves, it's the gift of God. You reckon
the Lord would submit His Son to all that horror and all that
suffering and all those things that we can't even imagine that
He suffered for nothing? And then cheat Him out of the
reward? Huh? That's what religion says. There's no doubt. There ain't
no doubt. There's no gray area here. All
that he died for is going to be brought to Christ and given
the gift of fame. Why? Because he sits on the throne. That's why. Listen to this. John 6, 44. He said, no man can
come unto me except the Father which has sent me draw him. How
does God draw sinners to Christ? draws him through his providence.
How are you going to hear without a preacher? Well, I don't know
that preacher. I don't know anybody in Kentucky.
I don't know anybody in Arkansas. I'll tell you how you're going
to do it, in God's providence. God's providence. He's going
to bring you and confront you with his preacher, and his preacher
is going to tell you the truth. He's going to tell you the truth. It's in Providence. In Christ,
he said, we have obtained an inheritance being predestinated
according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after
the counsel of his own will. That we should be to the praise
of his glory who first trusted in Christ, in whom you also trusted
after you heard. Where was that hearing? Where'd
that come from? That's in that predestinated
counsel that he talked about. Paul told those philosophers
on Mars Hill that God determined the times before appointed and
set the bounds of their habitation that they should seek God. Because
that's the only way you're going to seek Him. God draws men by
His providence and God draws men by provenient grace. What
in the world is that? That's grace before grace. Christ
is grace. The law came through Moses. Grace
and truth came through the Lord Jesus Christ. He's all grace.
But think of the grace that went before the grace. Huh? My soul, where is the believer
who can't trace that grace all the way back to his childhood?
I should have died a hundred times. I should have been swept
away in lies. I was raised in a Nazarene church,
self-righteous as they could be, denying everything that God
ever wrote in this book. I ought to have been swept away.
I ought to have been put out there with the rest of them that's
locked in unbelief forever. But by the grace of God, that's
exactly where I would be. Who made thee to differ? Tell
them, Paul said. How come you so different from
everybody else? What do you got you didn't receive? God draws men by His providence
and He draws men by prevenient grace. And then thirdly, God
draws men to Christ through the ministry of Christ. You can write this down. Nobody's
ever going to call on the name of the Lord until he hears. That's
what the Holy Ghost said. You believe God, you better believe
that. How shall they hear without a
preacher? Thus it is written, and thus
it behoove Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and that
repentance and remission of sin should be preached in his name
among all nations. I must need, Christ said, go
through Jericho. I'm saying that it behooved Christ,
our ascended Lord, that his gospel be preached as much as it did
for him to suffer and die and be raised from the dead. It is
as essential and necessary for the one as it is for the other.
That's what he states in Luke's gospel. Salvation's not doing
the best you can do and then going out to meet God. It's not
joining a church or making a profession of faith or so-called making
peace with God. I made my peace with God. And
that's exactly what you did, your peace. Salvation is an evangelical
knowledge of God through the person and work of Christ. It's
coming to see who He is. This world's ignorant of who
Christ is. Christ is the one, the one mediator
between God and me and the man, Christ Jesus. Who is this man? He's God's appointed one. He's God come into the flesh.
He's the way, the truth, the life, the resurrection, on and
on and on. He's it. He's wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption. It's all in Christ. And salvation,
true faith, is an evangelical knowledge of God through the
person and work of Christ, coming to see who He is and why He came
and what He did and where He's at. coming to see how holy God
can save our worthless store and still be God. Listen to this out of John, the
sixth chapter of John. This is another thing the Lord
told them. He said, they shall be all taught of God. Well, you just told me you couldn't
teach them. I can't, but he can. He can. I can't even convince
myself. And sometimes God will take something
I've prepared. A lot of times I go home and
fold these sermons up in a wad and throw them in the waste can
and Kathy goes and digs them out and puts them on the internet.
You know the one everybody responds to? The one I threw away. That's
right. I can't convince myself, let
alone convince a sinner who's dead in sins. But they shall
all be taught of God. And I tell you, He can teach.
Boy, God can teach. It don't take a lot. You know,
when God converted me, Brother Mahan had a stroke. You remember
Brother Mahan from years ago. He didn't need notes. He'd take
a little postcard, put a few things on there, and preach two
hours. But his memory was gone. And
he was struggling and having trouble. And he was preaching
on the prodigal son. But I tell you, God taught me. through his
stuttering and stammering, God taught me, God can teach. They
shall all be taught of God. Isn't that what he said? All
taught of God. Every man, therefore, that has
heard and has learned of the Father cometh unto me. And that's what it is to believe.
It's to come to Him. in the understanding and in the
heart to come to Him as the sinners we are and rest in Him. Just rest in Him. That's what
it means. He that believeth not shall be
damned. Our Father, we thank You. We
thank You for this glorious book. Oh, what would we do without
this book? What kind of lies and shams false refuges and things
we'd be drawn into. Oh, even the very lick would be deceived
if it were possible, but it's not possible because you've given
us an unction from the Holy One, and He's taught us. They're all
taught of God. Oh, don't leave us to ourselves.
Teach us. Teach us. Show us the treasures
of your Son in His glorious book. We ask you for Christ's sake,
amen.