Well, once again, we welcome
you and pray that our Lord will not only bless us as we worship
Him together this day, but that we'll leave this building going
our separate ways, refreshed, revived with thoughts of God's
grace and His mercy fresh in our minds that will carry us
through this week. Pastor Donnie Bell, we've had
the honor of having him preach from this pulpit. He wrote an
article entitled, Why Do We Attend Church? He said, multitudes attend
church services all over the world. Many go because it's a
habit. Others go believing it will save
them. Many go because it makes them feel better about themselves,
like the Pharisee who thanked God he wasn't as other men. But
why do we? You and I attend. What are our
reasons for being here today? And Pastor Donny Bell gave four
reasons which I thought were very well put. He said we are here to hear the
gospel. The gospel of the free grace
of God in Christ, not just to hear preaching that has no substance
to it. We come to worship God, to worship
our Lord Jesus Christ. Unbelievers cannot worship. They
don't know Christ nor God. They can come and listen, but
cannot worship. Thirdly, we attend because we
have a need. We need Christ. We need to hear
of Him. We have a hunger and a thirst
and only the gospel of Christ can satisfy us. Fourthly, Pastor
Donnie Bell said, we also attend to support and be an encouragement
to other believers, and we need the support and encouragement
of our brethren. He closed that article by saying,
may God make us one who would not discourage or hinder anyone
who comes to hear the gospel. End of quote. And with those
thoughts and minds, I draw your attention to the 15th chapter
of Romans. We're going through the book
of Romans in a verse by verse study, and we have covered down
to verse 17 of this 15th chapter. Now, the Apostle Paul, who wrote
this epistle and most of the epistles in the New Testament,
was sent from God as his messenger to the Gentiles. Paul, like all
of God's ordained ministers, had one message. The Gospel of
Christ. We're amongst people like the
Apostle Paul was sent to in his day. People who are steeped in
false superstitious beliefs. People who have never heard the
truth about Jesus Christ. Now, Paul went to the Gentile
nations where Christ had never been preached, where if they
heard about the God of Israel, they had not heard about Jesus
Christ, many of them. They were ungodly barbarians
who were willing to die for their religious beliefs, their false
religious beliefs, I might add, and were not afraid, even willing,
to take the life of anyone who would dare speak out against
their false deities. But it was God's appointed time
of His love for His elect people from those Gentile nations, and
He sent Paul as His ambassador on different missionary journeys
to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now when you think about it,
and like I've already mentioned, things haven't changed that much
in this generation. God still sends his creatures
to places that he has appointed for them to go. He still has
his chosen blood-bought people who have not been called out
of darkness, who still need to hear the gospel of his grace.
He still has his appointed time when they will be delivered from
the power of darkness. And the gospel of Jesus Christ
is still the instrument that God uses to enlighten the minds
of his chosen people who were purchased by the blood of Jesus
Christ. And only God can do that. Jesus Christ is Lord of all.
And we read in 1 John chapter 5 and verse 20, and we know that
the Son of God has come, has given us an understanding that
we may know Him. So it takes the power of God
and the person of the Holy Spirit to take the gospel and enlighten
the minds of the people that we have the honor of preaching
to. Now, like I said, we've covered down through verse 17 of this
15th chapter of Romans. Paul had just written in that
17th verse that what he gloried in were those things which pertain
to God. Then he says in verse 18, For I will not dare to speak
of any of those things which Christ hath not wrought by me,
to make the Gentiles obedient by word and deed. Paul knew He
knew that the other apostles and early New Testament preachers
were blessed of God in their ministry and God had made their
preaching successful for his glory. But he would not speak
of their success for fear that people might think that he was
trying to draw attention to himself. Paul would only speak of the
success that Christ had given him through his own ministry.
I think that's very important as we consider the plagiarism
of some preachers and those who like to draw attention to themselves
and want the praise of men. To God be the glory. Great things
he hath done. God will not share his glory
with another. There's nothing wrong with preachers. testifying of what God has done
under their ministry for the glory of Jesus Christ. But it
is wrong when men try to take that glory unto themselves. In
verse 19, Paul says, "...through mighty signs and wonders, by
the power of the Spirit of God, so that from Jerusalem and round
about unto Elikrim..." Yeah, that's fine. "...have I
fully preached the gospel of Christ." I can pronounce that,
I just don't know how. But anyway, Paul started out in Jerusalem
and the Lord plunged him right out into the other Gentile nations
to preach his glorious gospel, and the early New Testament had
not yet been written. Paul had the Old Testament, but
most of the Gentiles could care less about the Old Testament
scriptures that were given to the Jews. But the Lord accompanied
Paul's preaching with miracles and signs and wonders, things
that would make it obvious to those who were witnessing Paul
and those who were in his company that God was with them. And when
the Lord was pleased to provide a great sign or a wonder or a
miracle, and Paul had an audience, He preached Christ. He preached
Jesus Christ and His Gospel. And God made His ministry effectual
for His glory. Pastor Henry Mahan stated, he
said, this is the supreme test of our ministry to preach Christ
and Him crucified. The supreme test of our labor
and our efforts for the glory of God and the good of our heirs.
Have we fully preached the Gospel of Christ? And so, this is vital.
This is important. We're not here to play church.
We're not here to have a committee on what color paint we'll use
the next time we paint the inside of this building. We're not here
to have different discussions on things about the carpet or
the other things. We're here to hear the gospel
of Jesus Christ. And that's what God uses not
only to call His elect out of darkness, that's what He uses
to build up His chosen people that He has enlightened in the
faith. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.
In verse 20, Paul wrote these words inspired by the Holy Spirit.
Yea, so have I strived to preach the gospel, not where Christ
was named, lest I should build upon another man's foundation. This does not mean that Paul
was running rampant. No, he was on a mission from
God. He was sent right where God would
have him to go. Paul was sent by God to lay a
sure foundation. That foundation is Jesus Christ.
A foundation that those Gentiles had never heard about. The solid
rock. Christ our rock. The hope of
our salvation. And Paul laid that foundation.
He was a master foundation layer. And in verse 21, he says, But
as it is written, To whom he was not spoken of they shall
see, and they that have not heard shall understand." Paul was reporting
from Isaiah 52.15, and I find this very interesting. Paul knew
that he was an instrument. that God had chosen to fulfill
that portion of Scripture from Isaiah 52. But what an encouragement
that must have been to him as he read that Scripture in Isaiah
where it says, they shall see. It didn't say they might see. says they shall see they shall
understand so Paul had this awareness of God's power that would accompany
his preaching as he was pleased to do so to enlighten the minds
of his people to cause them to hear and to understand to see
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And folks, listen,
we read this in 2 Corinthians where the same God who commanded
the light to shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. It takes God to turn on the light. It takes
God to command the light to shine that we might understand. And
this is the Gospel that we preach. We love this Gospel. Now I want
to take you over. We're going to leave this. I
want to take you over to 1 Corinthians 2. The saints of God during the
apostolic age were richly blessed to hear the gospel from all of
those apostles. And I just have to believe every
time they heard the apostle Paul preach, there was a special blessing
that they received. Can you imagine yourself? sitting
under the preaching of that great warrior that God launched out
into the ministry, that great spiritual warrior. Well, folks,
Every time we read Paul's epistles, we're sitting under his ministry.
We know that he was inspired by the Holy Spirit to write these
things, but these things also came from his heart, the new
heart that God had given him. Paul didn't care how religious
a person might be. He didn't care how prominent
they might be, wealthy or otherwise. He said, I determine not to know
anything among you, save Jesus Christ and him crucified. And
he knew what religion would do. He was steeped in religion when
the Lord knocked him down to the ground on his road to Damascus
and revealed himself to him. Paul knew that salvation was
of the Lord. He wasn't seeking Christ, and
he wrote that in Romans. There's none that seeketh after
God. No, not one. It is true that when God seeks
us and sends the Spirit of His Son into our heart, that we begin
to seek a way that we can be just with God. And that's God's
Spirit moving us to seek the Lord Jesus Christ. In our unregenerate
state, we will not. We encourage people, seek the
Lord while he may yet be found. But like the Apostle Paul, we
know, we know man is totally depraved in his unregenerate
state. He's dead in trespasses and sins. Our Lord Jesus said, you will
not come to me that you might have life. No man can come to
Christ except the Father would send him. Draw that person and
if that person is taught by God the Father, and this is very
important, we must be taught by him. That person will come
to Christ. Our Lord said that in John chapter
6. I encourage you to read from 37 right on down through verse
44 and verse 45. We read that truth clearly. Now, Paul knew. He knew that
man was totally depraved, that it took the power of God to call
him out of darkness. And in his writings, we read
this over and over. But here in 1 Corinthians 2,
if you're there, starting at verse 12, We read this, and this is true
of every one of us. Now we have received, I should
say it's true of every one of us who have been quickened, who
have experienced the new birth. Now we have received not the
spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God, that
we might know the things that are freely given to us of God."
Now folks, people today who are claiming to be God's preachers
are putting the cart before the horse, so to speak. They're trying
to emphasize that you must do something in order to enable
God to do something. They portray God as a weak deity,
unable to move about anyone until that lost sinner gives God the
permission to do so, and that's just a lie right out of the pit.
We have to receive the Spirit of God first. God must send the
Spirit of the Son into our hearts before we'll even have a desire
to know the Gospel. Read on, it says in verse 13,
which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom
teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth, comparing spiritual
things with spiritual. So we go into the Word of God.
We compare Scripture with Scripture. We point these things out. We
emphasize the importance of knowing that it is God who is our Teacher.
God's preachers have the honor, the blessed honor and privilege
of declaring the truth. But if the truth is made known
to anyone, that's directly from God who sits on His throne in
Heaven right to the hearts of His people. Look at the next
verse. But the natural man, That's the
man who doesn't have the Spirit of Christ. That's the unregenerate
man. That's the man who's still in
darkness, loving that darkness. The natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto
him, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually
discerned. So the man in his lost condition, the man who is
in darkness, loving that darkness, the gospel has no interest in
that person. He's not interested whatsoever. When people start showing a little
interest, that gets me excited. We just had the privilege of
talking with Deborah Fernandez. That's your last name, isn't
it? Last Sunday after church, and she wants to get baptized.
And when her and one of the brothers and I met together, she gave
a good, clear testimony of her faith in Christ. That excites
me. And I was telling Debbie as we
were talking, she was sharing some things about some past religious
experiences and some health problems that she had been going through
and still going through. And I said, you know, as meaningful
as those things are, and they are to me too, I want to make
you aware of the fact that I don't want to turn a deaf ear to those
things. That's not what interests me
as much as what do you think of Jesus Christ? And when people
start talking about what they think of Jesus Christ, giving
evidence of the Spirit of God moving in their heart, revealing
the Gospel to them, then I get a little excited. Let's hear
in the first chapter. 1 Corinthians verses 17 and 18. Paul said, For Christ sent me
not to baptize. He makes a distinction between
baptism and the gospel. He said, Christ sent me not to
baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest
the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. That's what's
wrong with this religious generation. They're hearing words that have
no meaning to salvation. Most of our pulpits today are
filled with men who are talking about what the sinner must do
for God and not talking about what God has done for the sinner.
Look at the next verse, verse 18. For the preaching of the
cross is to them that perish foolishness. Foolishness. But unto us which are saved,
it is the power of God. So this gospel preaching is needful,
it's necessary. God uses that. His power makes
the gospel effectual. And when that gospel is made
effectual, sinners will repent. They will turn to Christ. They
will come to Him. Now let me take you over to 2
Thessalonians 2, if you will turn there with me, please. I
just want to bring some thoughts from Paul's writings that confirm
that he preached the gospel of Christ. And he knew man was totally depraved, unable
in and of himself to come to Christ. But he also knew, Paul
also knew, that God had an elect people. And I know this generation
is not only kind of standoffish when it comes to that word. Many
religious people absolutely hate the doctrine of God's unconditional
electing grace. We just went through the 9th
chapter of Romans a few months ago, and we covered that 11th
verse where the Apostle Paul writing about Jacob and Esau
said this, for the children be not yet born. neither having
done any good or evil, that the purpose of God, according to
election, might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth."
Before Jacob and Esau were even born, God had set his love upon
Jacob, and he hated Esau. And Paul says, before they were
born, Those two men were distinguished one from another because of God's
electing grace, before they had done any good or evil. When we
got to the 11th chapter of Romans, we covered, I think it's the
5th verse, where the Apostle Paul says, even at this present
time also, there is an elect according to God's grace, the
election of grace. Even at this present time also,
there is a remnant according to the election of grace. That's
true today. I brought you here to 2 Thessalonians
to show you something that is very interesting to me. Paul,
in writing, has mentioned a people who have no love for the truth
that they might be saved. And in verse 11, speaking of those people, he
says, for this cause God shall send them strong delusion that
they should believe a lie. There are men telling lies on
God all over the world. And people love to hear those
lies. They don't want to hear the truth. And God's the one who sends them
a strong delusion. They don't have any love for
the truth. God sends them strong delusion that they should believe
a lie. But look at the next verse, that they all might be damned
who believed not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
And in verse 13, Paul says, But we are bound to give thanks always
to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath
from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the spirit and belief of the truth, whereunto He called you
by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus
Christ. God has a people. that from the beginning He chose
unto salvation. Now the election does not save
us. We have to have our Redeemer. We have to have the finished
work of Christ as our only hope. And He had to go to the cross.
But before this world was ever created, God chose a people in
Christ. We read that in Ephesians chapter
1. And those people will be called out by the power of God under
the preaching of His glorious gospel. This is a truth that
people have never heard. And when they hear it, they think
they're hearing a lie because they're so accustomed to lies.
When the truth is preached, they say, that can't be so. Well,
we're talking about the ministry of the Apostle Paul. And if he
wrote these words, he definitely preached these truths. He loved
to preach the doctrine of election. He loved to tell the people,
our Lord Jesus said, you have not chosen me, but I have chosen
you. He loved that truth. We were
chosen by God the Father. A love gift from God the Father
to His Son and the eternal covenant of grace before a star ever twinkled
in the sky. Now, go over to Ephesians chapter
1, if you will. I just mentioned a verse from
that First chapter. But if Paul wrote
about the redemption of Christ for a particular people, we know
he preached that truth. In his epistle to the Hebrews,
Paul said this, that Jesus Christ by Himself purged our sins. And as we have been going through
the book of Romans, we have looked at Scriptures that says we were
made righteous in God's sight by the obedience of Jesus Christ. I was sharing with my wife this
morning, years ago I had an associate who loved to hunt. And he had
some good hunting dogs. I don't know if they're allowed
to use hunting dogs today, but back then he used them for hunting
mountain lions. And he lost one of his dogs,
a very expensive hunting dog. didn't come back. And his daughter,
as she was trying to console her daddy, said, doggone daddy. And he said, yes, the dog is gone.
Now she didn't even know what she was saying. It was just a
phrase, doggone daddy. That's the way it is with people
who read the scriptures and hear them Quoted they hear these scriptures,
and it's just a phrase they they don't give any thought to them
folks listen the Word of God should Go right down into our
innermost being It should be a part of us should be a living
word and the Word of God tells us that Jesus Christ was delivered
for our offenses, but was raised again for our justification and
Also, the Word of God says that we were reconciled to God by
the death of His Son. In addition, we read that we're
justified by His blood. While we were yet sinners, Christ
died for us. He that spared not His own Son,
but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him freely
give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. That's
in the 8th chapter of Romans. God has justified His people
through the perfect redeeming work of Jesus Christ our Savior.
He didn't try to make us savable. Jesus Christ saved His people.
The angel told Joseph, thou shall call His name Jesus for He shall
save His people. He has saved us. He didn't try
to redeem us. He redeemed us. He didn't do
something that would make us acceptable in God's sight. He
made us acceptable in God's sight through His perfect redeeming
work. When He offered Himself, when
Jesus Christ made that one offering, He sanctified His people. Brother
John and I were talking about that this morning. People like
to talk about progressive sanctification. Folks, listen. If you talk about
growing in grace and in the knowledge of Christ, yes, we do. But we
can't get any more sanctified than what we already are. Jesus
Christ is our sanctification. In Hebrews chapter 10, we read
that He came to do His Father's will, by which will we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ. And right on
down in the 14th verse of that same chapter, it says that He
has perfected forever them that are sanctified. So I draw your
attention this morning to the redeeming work of Jesus Christ,
and I ask you this question. Or do you think you're going
to be allowed to enter into glory because you made a decision for
Jesus? Exercise your so-called free will. Paul quoted God's
words when he spoke to Moses in the 9th chapter of Romans
saying, God told Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have
mercy. I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
And the very next verse says, So then, So then, refers back
to God having mercy on whom He will have mercy, and having compassion
on whom He will have compassion. So then, it is not of Him that
willeth, nor of Him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.
And the majority of professing Christians today are being lied
to, telling them that God has given every person a free will,
and all they have to do is exercise that free will, and God is obligated
to save them. What kind of a God do they worship?
We're born again, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh,
nor of the will of man, but God. Of His own will begat He us with
the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of His
creatures. Now I brought you to Ephesians chapter 1 for a
reason. Let me start reading at verse
3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings and heavenly places
in Christ. according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before
him. Now that's where the sentence
should end. The next phrase is picked up with these two words,
in love having predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will.
Oh, there's that word, predestination. God predestinated us. Our sister Maxine was warned
not to come to this church because we believe in predestination.
If you don't believe in predestination, you don't believe the Word of
God. He predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus
Christ to Himself, not according to anybody's will, but according
to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of
His grace. All of this was done for the glory of God's grace,
wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved. Now catch this.
Verse 7, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness
of sins, according to the riches of His grace. And if you read
over the last verse of this fourth chapter of Ephesians, you'll
read that God has forgiven us for Christ's sake. He has forgiven
us because Jesus Christ appeased His anger. Because Jesus Christ
went to the cross and took our hell. He endured the wrath of
God as our substitute. And if you believe anything about
God, you have to believe that He is just. He cannot demand
payment twice. If Christ endured the wrath of
God for His people, all of His people are free from the wrath
to come. They just don't know it yet.
Many of them. Some of them are still in darkness.
It's like the prisoners, or not the prisoners, but the Japanese
soldiers after World War II was over. They were hiding in the
jungles for years and years and years after the war was over.
Nobody got the good news to them. When they finally got the good
news that the war was over, they said, whoa, I can go home. Folks,
the war is over. God's not angry with His elect.
He's not angry with His people. Jesus Christ has appeased God's
anger. Receive the good news of warfare. That struggle that we had in
our unregenerate state trying to make ourselves acceptable
to God, trying to figure out some way how we could do something
or another that would make God look upon us favorably. Put that
aside. God looks upon all of his chosen
people with favor. who are in Christ, and only those
who are in Christ. We were chosen in Christ before
the world was created. We were in Christ when He came
into this world. We were in Him when He walked
perfectly before God, establishing the righteousness for us. We
were with Him when He went to the cross, when He went to the
grave, when He came out of the grave, and when He ascended to
glory. And our scripture says we've been made to sit in heavenly
places in Christ Jesus. Throw down the weapons of your
warfare. Surrender yourself to God and rejoice in the finished
work of Jesus Christ. Hallelujah. Christ saved me. Christ saved me. Take you over
to one more passage of scripture, over to Philippians 1, well maybe
one more after that. Philippians chapter 1, the Apostle
Paul not only believed in the total depravity of man, not only
believed in unconditional election, not only believed in particular
redemption, but he believed in the sovereign, irresistible,
drawing power of God the Holy Spirit. And he wrote about that
over and over and over again. And you hath he quickened, made
alive, who are dead in trespasses and sins. When we're dead in
trespasses and sins, we're dead. It takes God and His power to
make us alive. And Paul knew that those who
were quickened by the sovereign power of God Almighty would not
only be preserved forever in Christ, or had been already preserved,
but they would persevere until the end. So I thought of several
scriptures, but I thought of this one here in Philippians
chapter 1. Paul introduced himself, and down through verse 2, speaks
of God's grace and peace from him and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
And in verse 3 he says, I thank my God upon every remembrance
of you. Always, in every prayer of mine
for you all, making requests with joy for your fellowship
in the gospel from the first day until now, now catch this. Being confident of this very
thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform
it until the day of Jesus Christ. God must begin the work. I said
earlier, what an honor we have as God's preachers, or God's
teachers, or God's faithful witnesses, Sunday school teachers, all those
who are enlightened by the Spirit of God. What an honor we have
in declaring the truth of the Gospel to those in our own family,
our own neighborhood, those we work with. It's an honor. But unless God begins a work, They'll just turn a deaf ear
to you. God must begin the work. People today think that faith
is a sinner's gift to God. That is not true. For by grace
are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves. It is
a gift of God. Jesus Christ is the Alpha and
the Omega. He is the author and the finisher
of our faith. And if we have true saving faith,
it's a gift from God right down to the heart of the sinner that
he's quickened by His Spirit. God begins the work. And as babes
in Christ, we have a desire to hear more of the gospel of our
Savior. And as we hear more, we grow.
Like I said earlier, we grow in grace and in the knowledge
of Him who loved us and gave Himself for us. And you cannot,
folks, listen to me, you cannot keep A child of God who has been
enlightened by the Holy Spirit from a place where the true gospel
is preached. This isn't the only church that
preaches the true gospel. This is one of them. And it's
by God's grace we've been honored to be entrusted with His gospel.
And we preach this every time we meet, every time we have a
study. We talk about Christ our Savior, who He is, what He has
done, who He did it for, where He is now, what He's doing right
now. And folks, we love this. We love this. We want to hear
about Him. Let me give you another passage of Scripture, and I'll
bring this to a close. Over in 2 Thessalonians 1, if you will
turn there, please. When Paul preached the Gospel
of Jesus Christ, he knew there would be those who would turn
a deaf ear to him. But he gave clear warnings, clear
warnings of those who would walk away from the truth and reject
Christ. And when the Apostle Paul talked
about the second coming of our Lord Jesus and He is coming again. Praise God, we know that's true.
Nobody knows the day, the hour, the month. Nobody knows. But
we know He is coming again. And when Paul got on that subject,
he didn't get up. a bunch of charts out and start
pointing to what must yet be fulfilled to national Israel,
how God's going to allow a temple to be built over there and how
there's going to be a throne in that temple where Christ will
sit on a literal throne for a thousand years. That is not found in any
of the Apostle Paul's writings. Every time he talked about the
coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, he spoke of judgment. But he
also spoke of a crown. He said, In his epistle to Timothy,
1 Timothy, he said, I have fought a good fight. I've kept the faith. And he also talked about a crown
of righteousness that he would receive when his Lord Jesus returned. Not only him, but all who love
his appearing. But he made this statement. concerning
the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. He said when He comes,
He's going to show who is that blessed and only Potentate, King
of kings and Lord of lords. The Greek word for Potentate
is Dunestes. That's where we get our English
word dynamite. When He comes, when the Lord
Jesus comes, He's going to show that He is the only power All
power in heaven and earth has been given to our Lord Jesus
Christ. And those who have been enlightened by Him, we echo what
I read from 1 Corinthians chapter 1. Those who hate the gospel
and hear the gospel and don't believe the gospel, it's foolishness
unto them. But unto us which are saved,
it's the power of God. I have been delivered. from the
power of darkness by the power of Jesus Christ my Lord I have
been translated into His eternal kingdom all because of what He
has done for me when He went to Calvary 2,000 years ago and
all because of what He has done in me through the quickening
power of God the Holy Spirit. And Jesus Christ is the object
of all worship. God will honor those who honor
His Son, but He's coming in flaming fire, taking vengeance on those
who hate His gospel. Listen to this. In 1 Thessalonians,
if you're there, in chapter 1, starting at verse 7, We read,
no, 2 Thessalonians, I'm sorry. 2 Thessalonians 1, starting at
verse 7. And to you who are troubled,
rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven
with His mighty angels. Nothing but a secret rapture
either. He's coming with a loud noise,
the blowing of a trumpet. But He's also coming in flaming
fire. taking vengeance on them that
know not God and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who shall be punished with everlasting destruction
from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power,
when He shall come to be glorified in His saints and to be admired
in all them that believe, because our testimony among you was believed
in that day." And I ask you, do you believe the gospel? God
calls His preachers to preach the Gospel, not to play games.
To preach the Gospel. And we leave the results of our
preaching in the hands of the sovereign God who alone can make
the Word of God effectual. Let me leave you with this, taking
his thoughts from this statement of verse 16 of the second chapter
of the Song of Solomon, which says, My beloved is mine and
I am his. Pastor Henry Mahan wrote this
article that I want to read in your hearing. He said, Pastor
Mahan said, Every soul has a beloved, something or someone in which
to glory, rejoice, and enjoy. With some it is the world, its
vanity, materialism, and honors. With others it is the flesh.
They live to entertain the flesh, to satisfy the flesh, and to
pamper the flesh. With others, it is the family.
Close and distant relatives, family trees, family reunions
make up their past, present, and future. With others, it is
religion and works of righteousness. Their religion is not a person.
It is a cause to which they are devoted in hope of a suitable
reward. And with some, it is self, pure
and simple. What can we do for me? To a believer,
it is Christ. He worships, loves, rejoices,
and glories in the Lord Jesus above all things. Christ is my
beloved, and my beloved is mine. Christ, His fellowship, His love,
and His approval is preferred above persons, passions, pleasure,
or pursuits. Could one so illustrious and
supreme deserve any less? Pastor Mahan ended his article
with these words from Psalm 73, 25, which was read in your hearing
just a few moments ago. Whom have I in heaven but Thee?
And there is none upon earth that I desire beside Thee. So if we understand Solomon's
words, my beloved is mine and I am his, then you'll understand
this. God's messengers and God's enlightened
children have been given a clear understanding of these words
from Psalm 115, verses 1 through 3, which says, Not unto us, O
Lord, Not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy
and for thy truth's sake. Wherefore should the heathen
say, Where is now their God? But our God is in the heavens.
He hath done whatsoever he hath pleased." And the Apostle Paul
said, Would it please God who called me by His grace to reveal
His Son, not to me, to reveal His Son in me, as God revealed
His Son in you. Salvation is in a person. The
truths are very important, but the truths of the Gospel always
point to Jesus Christ. Once again, is He your Savior? Well, if He is, then He's your
Lord. You cannot have Him as your Savior if you do not have
Him as your Lord. And Jesus Christ is Lord of all. Amen.