Let's turn together tonight to
first Corinthians chapter 15. First Corinthians chapter 15. I will start at verse one and
I'll be working my way down to my text at verse 10. First Corinthians
15 verse one. Moreover, brethren, I declare
unto you the gospel. I emphasize the definite article,
there's just one, the gospel, which I preached unto you, which
also ye have received and wherein ye stand. Paul identifies the
gospel as the gospel because there are many false gospels
in this world. And he's going to give us one
of his very clear definitions of that, which is the gospel. As I said to you, Sunday morning
or Sunday night one, when you find definitions of things given
in scripture, you have a definition given. It doesn't mean this is
the full, absolute, complete definition, but it does mean
that anything contrary to that which is here described is that
which is Paul is speaking of as being contrary to the gospel. He speaks of the gospel then
as one gospel. I received a note this morning
from a preacher asking me to give some clarification on why
the words are used, the gospel of the kingdom, the gospel of
Christ, the gospel of God, the gospel of the grace of God. And
if you have one of those Bibles that's been messed with, That
is one of the Bibles that's full of men's notes. You'll find men
go into great lengths to try to explain that there's one gospel
of the kingdom of heaven, another of the kingdom of God, one gospel
for the Jews, another for the Gentiles, one gospel for the
Old Testament, another for the new. There is but one gospel. The gospel of Jesus Christ, the
gospel of the kingdom, the gospel of the grace of God, the gospel
of peace, the gospel that Peter preached to the Jews, the gospel
that Paul preached to the Gentiles, the gospel that Abraham believed,
and the gospel you believe if you believe the gospel is but
one gospel. It is the very gospel that God
revealed to Adam and Eve before he drove them out of the garden,
the gospel of Jesus Christ and him crucified. The gospel is
that which I have preached unto you, Paul says. I determined
to know nothing else among you. Let other men chase whatever
wild trails of wild rabbits they want to. We preach the gospel. Got nothing else to preach. The
word of God is that which is by the gospel is preached unto
you, Peter said. This gospel is that which every
saved sinner has received, that which you have received. You
have embraced this gospel. You who believe have received
the gospel. There is no faith in Christ apart
from the preaching of the gospel. and no faith in Christ that does
not include receiving, embracing the gospel, the good news that
he is here about to describe. This gospel, then, that we have
preached and you have received is that wherein you stand. Stand in the grace of God. Stand
in Christ Jesus. Stand firm, unshaken, and unmoved. Verse 2, by which also ye are
saved. Now look at the word if. If you
keep in memory that which I preached unto you. You're saved by the
gospel if you hold it fast. If you stand firm. If you persevere. If you continue in the grace
of God. Unless ye have believed in vain. Those who are saved by the gospel
continue in the gospel. Do you remember how John describes
those who runaways and then turn back? He said they went out from
us because they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they
would have remained with us until this day. Those who believe the
gospel aren't turned aside from it. Now, many folks embrace the
gospel theoretically. Many folks embrace the gospel
emotionally. Many folks make a profession
of faith and agree, give mental assent to the truths of the gospel.
But it's just a passing thing with them. And after a while,
the care of the world, the deceitfulness of riches, the sun of opposition
arises and they depart from the gospel. Believers continue in
the gospel. We hold fast that which we heard
from the beginning. Verse three, for I delivered
unto you first of all, first in order, first in prominence,
first of all, that which I also received, first in order and
first in prominence, how that Christ died for our sins according
to the scriptures. The gospel is a person. It is a person, not facts, not
theories, not a creed, not theology books, a person. The gospel is
Jesus Christ, our Redeemer, Jesus Christ, God's son, Jesus Christ,
the mediator, Christ crucified, our surety of whom we've been
singing this evening. The gospel's a person. It's a
person. The preaching of the gospel is
telling people about a person, identifying a person. Now, all
over this town, all over this county, all over this state,
all over this country, all through the world, men everywhere have
a notion about who Jesus Christ is. Because they hear false things,
they identify him falsely, and the Christ they pretend to worship
is a false Christ, anti-Christ. They hear about a God, a Christ,
a spirit. who wants to do what he fails
to do, who tries to do what he doesn't succeed in doing, who
wields what he never has. Such a Christ, such a God, such
a Spirit is not the God of this book. And to preach such things
concerning the person of God and His dear Son is to preach
a false gospel. Is there anything complicated
about that? Does that somehow seem strange? If you want to
identify a person, you can't point your finger at Skip Gladfelter
and say, that's Don Fortner. And say, that's Don Fortner.
He's six feet tall, weighs 310, 15 pounds, whatever it is now. And he's 60 years old. And he doesn't have much hair
on top of his head. And you look at Skip and say, well, that don't look like him. Somebody must be mistaken. I
believe Don Fortner is that fellow on the other side of the room.
That's who you're talking about. No, no, that's Don Fortner right
there. You're nuts. You've identified the wrong fellow.
And this religious age identifies an imaginary deity as God, an
imaginary Jesus as our Savior. The gospel is about Jesus Christ
crucified. Now, look at this little word,
how. Underline it, circle it, put it in bold letters, put a
star beside it. That's the key to the text. H-O-W. I delivered unto you, first of
all, the gospel. How that Christ died for our
sins according to the scriptures. How was it that Christ died for
our sins? Now, I'm not talking about the
way you learned it from grandma. I'm not talking about the way
you learned it in Bible college. I'm talking about the way it's taught
right here in this book from Genesis 1 to the end of Malachi
in chapter 4. That's the scriptures he's talking
about. How is it that Christ died according to the scriptures?
Let's see. Christ died according to the
Old Testament scriptures as a sin atoning sacrifice. You've heard
preachers, I'm sure, suggest that when Aaron The high priest
went into the holy of holies on the day of atonement. He had
a bell and a pomegranate around the skirt of his coat so that
he got in there. If he died while he's in there
making atonement, they quit hearing the bells ring. There's no possibility. He's going to die in there offering
the blood of God's lamb. That's not going to happen. Besides
that, he wasn't wearing that robe when he went in there. There
wasn't any need for the sound of the bells and pomegranates
moving around. That's what he wore before he went in there.
That's what he put on when he came out of there. The bells
of glad tidings. But while he's in there making
atonement, there's no possibility of him dying in the holy place.
But what about his sons? And they'd be able to buy you.
They offered something else. They offered strange fire and
God killed him because they offered a different sacrifice. To preach
the gospel is to preach that Jesus Christ is a sin atoning
sacrifice. And by sin atoning, that means
that the sins made his were atoned for by his sacrifice. Not tried
to atone for him, not made it possible to atone for him, atoned.
to preach the gospel, is to declare that Christ died as a sin atoning
sacrifice by divine appointment. The whole of the Old Testament
identified a specific day, an hour, a method, a place at which
the Son of God must be crucified. And when our Lord came to that
hour, that place, that time, he said, now my hour is come.
If you read the Old Testament, beginning back in Genesis, you've
got this constant narrowing picture so that when Christ came in due
time, Christ died for the ungodly. He died exactly as God ordained
it by the hands of wicked men who did exactly what God ordained
must be done to him. Why? He died for the satisfaction
of divine justice, that God might be just and justify believing
sinners. So that God now is able. to be completely just, never
compromise his holiness. You just sang about his strict
justice, never compromise it so that God has fully punished
sin. And yet he justifies the believer
because his sins were fully paid for in the sacrifice of Jesus
Christ. Well, but brother Don, he paid
for everybody's sins. If he did, everybody saved. There's no alternative. There's
no alternative. If Christ died for everybody,
if he paid for everybody's sins, either everybody's saved or he's
useless as a savior. There's those two options. That's
all you got. That's all you mean. You mean to say that that Christ
died for folks who actually go to hell is to declare that he's
a useless savior? That's exactly right. He didn't
make any difference. His blood didn't make any difference.
His death didn't make any difference. He died as a substitute and a
scapegoat. It took two goats to represent
him. One must die as a substitute. The other has got to carry the
sins away. And Christ Jesus, our substitute,
is our scapegoat, on whose head our sins have been laid, and
he carries them away, away into the place of forgetfulness. So that God says, their sins
and iniquities will I remember no more. Now Mark, how is it
that God forgets something? He can't forget anything that
is. He can't forget anything that
is. But the David Pledger, you'll
see it in a bullet in a couple of weeks. I've got it hitting
one of the bulletins. He made a statement a while back. He
said, God. Won't remember what we can't
forget. Their sins and iniquities. Will I remember no more? How
come? Because Christ put them away. put them away, so that
God does not behold iniquity in Jacob. Our Lord Jesus died
as an effectual, sin-atoning sacrifice, giving those for whom
he died not just access to, but acceptance with the Holy Lord
God, even before the world began, for he is the Lamb slain from
the foundation of the world. Look at verse 4, and was buried
And that he rose again the third day, according to the scriptures. Once he died for our sins, our
Lord Jesus was buried. Like Psalm 16 said, he must be
buried. Like Isaiah 53 said, he must be buried. made his grave
with the rich and with the transgressors. Like Jonah, the type of him said
he must be buried. What are we going to do to remove,
to remove the curse of God? These terrified mariners said
to Jonah, Jonah said, throw me overboard and the waves will
be still. And Christ Jesus is that one who's buried beneath
the sea of God's wrath. And the wrath of God is now no
more furious against us. And he says, fury is not in me. Then he rose again the third
day, according to the scriptures. Over and over and over again
in the Old Testament scriptures, the Lord God declares that on
the third day, He'll arise and your son shall rise with him
and we were quicken together with Christ Three days after
he was buried in the earth. He's raised again for our Justification
that is to declare our justification accomplished because now he's
raised from the dead he was This is the gospel, how that Christ
died for our sins, for the sins of his elect, for the sins of
every sinner who believes on him, according to the scriptures,
that he was buried, buried as one cursed of God in the earth,
a sinner, a transgressor who put to death by the sword of
God's justice, raised again, because justice is satisfying,
raised again the third day, according to the scriptures, Now, then
in verses 5 through 9, Paul tells us that the resurrection of our
Lord Jesus, the resurrection of this one who died in our room
instead, is one of the most indisputable facts of history. One of the
most indisputable facts of history. Look at this. And that he was
seen of Cephas, of Peter, then of the twelve, After that, after
that, he was seen of above 500 brethren at once. Now you try to again say that.
You try to get, I'm not talking about they thought they saw him.
500 men at one time saw the risen Christ after he came out of his
grave. 500 witnesses, 500 eyewitnesses. You could take that to any court
of law any court of law, anywhere in the world, and make it stand
as a witness except in the court of human opinion set against
the revelation of God. Anywhere else? Read on. Then
he said, but some are falling asleep. I'm sorry, the greater
part remain under this present. Some are falling asleep. After
that, he was seen of James, then of all the apostles again, And
then Paul says, last of all, last of all, he was seen of me
also as one born out of due time, as as one who was born out of
time. He saw the risen Christ on his
road to Damascus, who made himself known to him by special revelation.
Now, he says, for I am less than the least of the apostles. I'm
less than the least. I'm the least of the apostles
that I'm not meet to be called an apostle. I'm not, I'm not
fit to be called a messenger of God because I persecuted the
church of God. Now look at verse 10. Here's
my text and my subject. I had worked on something else,
planning to preach it until Shelby showed me a letter she got this
morning. It was all right, the lady wanted to share it with
me. And immediately, this is where God turned my heart for
many reasons. But by the grace of God, I am
what I am. I'm not fit to be God's messenger,
Paul says, not fit to be an apostle. I don't measure up to any of
them, not one of them. I persecuted the church, yet
here I am. Here I am, a messenger sent from
God to you. Not fit to be called such, but
here I am. Not fit to be called an apostle
of Christ. And when you call me an apostle
of Christ, I recognize that if you were stacking them up, I belong on the bottom. That's
where I belong. Because if I'd have had my way,
I'd have killed them all. I would have eradicated the earth
in the name of Jesus Christ. But by the grace of God, I am
what I am. Learn that. Learn that. and you learn just
about everything you need to know. Until you learn that, you haven't
learned anything right spiritually. By the grace of God, I am what
I am. The Apostle Paul, Indeed, all
God's servants and all God's people agree. Paul knew nothing
of human merit and worth and excellence. Nothing. Merit and
mercy cannot coexist. There is no place for merit,
not yours. Christ's merit, yes, not yours. No place for merit in the house
of God. No place at all. As believers,
all saved sinners gladly ascribe the whole of salvation to the
work of the triune God. And we, the more we know about
it, the more we experience it, The more delightfully we sing,
and the more astonished we sing, amazing grace, how sweet the
sound that saved a wretch like me. Now, I'll make these three statements. Number one, by the grace of God,
I am what I am. That's the whole of my doctrine. I understand sometime back, somebody
came in, asked somebody for a copy of our confession of faith or
our creed. Next time somebody asks you, point to 1 Corinthians
15, 10. There it is. By the grace of God, I am what
I am. That's all. That's all. Got nothing
more to say. If you're saved, if I'm saved,
our salvation is not in any way recognized to be anything that
we have done, anything that depended on our ability, our will, our
knowledge, our work, nothing. We're saved by God's free grace
and grace leaves you out. Grace has no room for you. No place for your pride. No place
where something depends on you. No place where something somehow
sort of hinges on you. You make the final decision.
The choice is finally yours. Brother Don, don't you believe
sinners have to be willing to come to Christ? Yeah, but you
aren't. Don't you believe sinners must choose Christ? Yeah, but
you won't. Don't you believe sinners must believe on Christ?
Certainly. But you can't. You can't. You see, man is dead
in trespasses and in sins. You don't have the ability to
come to Christ, nor even the ability to want to. But God gives
it to you. I can make you want religion.
I can make you want to stay out of hell. I can make you want
to go to heaven. I can persuade you to join this
church. I can persuade you to get baptized. I can't make you want my Savior. I can't do that. I can't do that.
But He can. He can. Let me tell you what
I am. Now what I am by nature. But
what I am by the grace of God in Christ. By nature, just sin. Just sin. Oh my God, every day. Made me to know the plague of
my heart. By nature, just sin. Let me never forget for a second. Just sin. But by the grace of
God, I'm a believing sinner. Larry Brown, I trust Jesus Christ. And I trust him because God's
given me faith in him. I trust him because God keeps
on giving me faith in him. I trust him because faith is
the gift and the operation of God the Holy Spirit. By the grace of God, I'm a believing
sinner, believing Christ. By the grace of God, I am forgiven
of all my sin. Oh, one of the sweetest words
in human language is forgiveness. And nobody knows how to do it
except God. Nobody else. We forgive, and
we ought to forgive. We ought to forgive as God forgives,
but we can't forgive as God forgives. We forgive, but the offense is
always in the back of your mind, isn't it? I keep praying, God, give me
the ability to forget offenses. I really wish I could. Don't
you? Could forget them. Just forget them. But the offense
is always there. That means forgiveness is not
absolute, complete. God forgives, so thoroughly forgives,
that he never remembers our transgressions against us. He removes them from
us, takes them out of the way, and forgets, forgets. A forgiveness there. By the grace
of God, I am described in this book as a child of God. Behold what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed on us, that we should be called the sons
of God. And beloved, now are we the sons
of God. We we are right now God's sons.
He he called us his sons in eternity. He made us to receive the adoption
of sons in time by his spirit. He's given us causing us to lift
our hearts to heaven. Look at God knowing what we are
and say, my father, our father, by the grace of God, I'm a saint. You know what a saint looks like.
Look right up here. Right up here. This is St. Don. This is St. Don. How dare you say such? That's St. James. That's St. Bob. That's St. Sally. How can
you say that? If you're in Christ, you're holy. That's what the word saint means.
In fact, I'll give you a lesson. As you read through the scriptures,
mark down how God the Spirit of God, the apostles, the prophets,
how they speak of God's people. How do they speak of them? Now,
God's people speak of themselves constantly acknowledging their
sin. But as you read through the New Testament, they're always
referred to by the writers of the New Testament as saints.
Always. Always. How come? Because that's
what they are. Saints. Oh, we're going to be saints
one of these days. No, we are now. We are now. And if you're
not a saint before you die, you won't be one afterwards. I don't
care how many candles they burn, how much money you give to the
Pope. Won't happen. No, we're saints because Christ
made us holy. We're saints because we're born
of God's spirit. Though I know and confess myself
a sinner. God reckons me perfectly righteous. A saint. And he tells me to reckon
myself the same. Listen to this. Likewise, reckon
ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin. God reckons you dead to sin.
Reckon yourself dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through
Jesus Christ our Lord. God reckons us righteous. And
I reckon he's right. No matter what I feel, no matter
what I do, no matter how empty my soul,
no matter how hard my heart, our acceptance with God doesn't
depend on us. Not yesterday, not today, not
tomorrow. righteous because we're in Christ
who is the Lord our righteousness. How is it that we're made righteous?
Three ways. By divine decree, by divine imputation,
and by the new birth. We're made righteous by the decree
of God. Before the world began, God declared
us just, justified, sanctified, and glorified, accepted in the
beloved. We were accepted in Christ the
Lamb, slain from the foundation of the world. Explain that, Brother
Dodd. I will. Read Ephesians chapter
1. There it is. Read Ephesians chapter
1 and tell me it ain't so. Read Ephesians chapter 1 and
tell me somehow that's just not what it says. Read the 8th chapter
of Romans and tell me that's not what the book says. When
we were predestined to life everlasting, accepted in the beloved, our
covenant surety, God declares us holy and justified and sanctified
and glorified before the world was made. And he never changed
his mind. That's not there's not a possibility
that that somehow is going to be altered. It's done, done from
eternity because God decreed it. Well, but that's the case. I've actually had, I've actually
had, what can I say? Fellas who weren't real bright,
I'm being nice now, actually write papers and say, well, Faulkner's
doctrine says that that means Christ didn't have to die. No,
that means he certainly shall die, because God ordained it. And in the fullness of time,
Christ came here and died in our stead. And we were justified
when he died in our stead. But we were justified in eternity.
Folks say, well, Old Testament saints, they were justified on
credit. God doesn't have a credit card
business. No, we were justified. Abraham believed God and it was
counted to him. God declared him in his own conscience
justified, counted him for righteousness. David believed God. And David
had his sin removed from him. He said, blessed is the man whose
iniquity is forgiven. Whose iniquity is lifted up and
taken away. Blessed is the man whose transgressions
are pardoned. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord imputeth not iniquity. Blessed is that man. And he wrote
that back in Psalm 32. Back in Psalm 32. And we are
made righteous when the Lord Jesus comes in his mighty grace
by the power of his spirit and takes up residence in his people
in the new birth. We're made partakers of the divine
nature. Christ is created in you. There's a new man created in
you, not just not just a new philosophical principle, a new
man made new creatures by the gift of God. Not only is righteousness
imputed to us, that is made to our account, but righteousness
is imparted to all who are born of God. If you get to glory,
you got to have a new nature. Flesh and blood can inherit the
kingdom of God. Then you got to be born again. Got to be born
from heaven. Got to have a holy seed planted
in you. And that holy thing planted in
you is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Brother Larry preached
on that a couple of weeks ago, just outstanding message. Christ
in you, the hope of glory. So that now we are in Christ,
in this blessed experience of grace, and Paul describes it
in 2 Corinthians 7, verse 1. as the perfecting of holiness
in the fear of God. When Christ comes to you, holiness
is perfected in you. Now you have that holiness without
which no man shall see the Lord. That holiness without which no
man shall see the Lord is not something that you muster by
your works or something you perform by your devotion. No, that holiness
is Christ in you. You're a new creature, new creature.
Old things have passed away. All things have become new. So
that now in Christ Jesus, we who are in him are made perfect
in him. Perfect. Heirs of God. Worthy to be partakers
of the inheritance of the saints in light. Blessed of God. Blessed going out. As a matter
of fact, Deuteronomy 28 says this man, this man who's perfectly
obedient, he shall be blessed when he rises up, when he goes
out, while he's in the field, when he comes in, and when he
lies down. Blessed of God. Well, what man is that? What
man is that that earns that favor from God? Who on earth can that
be? Well, that's every one of God's
people. Every one of God's people, they're in Christ. And Christ
has perfectly honored and obeyed God, and we in Him. And we in
Him. Rise up every morning. I got
up this morning, David Burge, blessed of God. I went out, blessed
of God. I'm going back in a little bit,
blessed of God. And when I lay down tonight,
I'll be blessed of God. And if I wake up in the morning,
blessed of God. And if I awaken his likeness
before morning sun comes, blessed of God. How come? How can that
be? I was blessed of God from eternity.
blessed of God in Christ, blessed of God because of a union that
God made between Christ and my soul. This man, born of God's
spirit, made one with Jesus Christ, made a new creature in Christ
Jesus, is a perfect and upright man. In Job chapter one, Job chapter 1 and 2, three times.
Three times. Chapter 1, verse 1, verse 8,
chapter 2, verse 3. God says of his servant Job,
he's a perfect and an upright man. Is that what God said about
him? Three times he said it. A perfect
and upright man. Now you read the rest of the
book of Job. Job looks pretty good. He looked pretty good till
you get to chapter 5. And by the time you get to chapter
5, he's a mess. I mean, he's a mess. Before you
get to the end of the book, he cussed the day of his birth. He cussed the day of his birth. He's begging for God to kill
him. He's feeling so sorry for himself. Now, I'm not blaming
Job. Me too. I wouldn't, believe me,
I wouldn't have lasted chapter 5. Job was, Job was, He behaved
like you and me. He behaved like sinful flesh
in the midst of trial. When God just said, now Job,
I want you to see what you are without me. And I don't want
you to forget. And when God got done with me,
he said, oh God, I abhorred myself. but God still said he's perfect
and upright man. Perfect? How can that be? He's
perfect because God said he was before the world was. He's perfect
because Christ was his substitute and Christ his righteousness
and perfect because Christ dwelt in him just like he dwells in
you by his spirit made new in Christ Jesus. With his spotless
garments on I am as holy as God's own son. So dear, so very near
to God, nearer I cannot be for in the person of his son, I am
as near as he. So dear, so very dear to God,
dearer I cannot be. The love God has for his dear
son. Such is his love for me. Now, that's my doctrine. Here's
my second statement. By the grace of God, I am what
I am. That's my constant experience. my constant experience. Knowing what I am by nature,
what I was and where I was when the Lord God stopped me in my
mad rush to hell, I'm constantly made to acknowledge and confess
by the grace of God I am what I am. I had been studying The
Lord willing, I'll soon bring a message to you, I expect, from
Isaiah 57, about the children of God walking in darkness. In my daily struggles, as I feel
the power of lust within and temptations without, and so much darkness within. I'm constrained to confess by
the grace of God I am what I am. When the Lord preserves me in
the midst of temptations to which my flesh is naturally inclined,
prone to wonder, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I
love. That's just fact. Here's my heart. Oh, take and seal it, seal it
for thy courts above. In the midst of such things,
I'm bound to confess by the grace of God, I am what I am. I face little trial here and
there, and God preserves me. And I've seen others. stronger than me, overcome by
such. Why they go, I'm still here. Why they abandon the gospel and
I still adore the God of all grace. Why? By the grace of God, I am what
I am. And that's the only difference. That's the only difference. I
see others whom I highly esteem fall, depart from the faith. And I'm astonished that I'm not
going with them. And I've been privileged to experience
a little reviving in my soul. Oh, those are wonderful times,
aren't they? When the Lord gives a little refreshing in here.
Gives a bright, if ever so fleeting, a bright revelation of his smiling
face. I'm compelled to acknowledge
this too. by the grace of God. When restored from some time
of horrid indifference and coldness, that's God's grace, only God's
grace. I keep trying to remind myself
of our dear brother Peter when he's warming himself by Pilate's
fire and The Lord told him before the rooster crows tomorrow morning
the second time, you're going to deny me three times. He said,
oh, no, not me. Lord, don't you know who I am?
Lord, don't you know how strong I am? Don't you remember? Don't
you remember I took out my sword and I'm willing to take on a
whole Roman garrison by myself for you? And then he hears that
rooster crow. Oh, how his knees must have melted
in his soul. But he couldn't stop himself.
He goes right on headlong in denying the master. Because you
and I are nothing but sin in ourselves. Nothing else. And we can't stand except He
hold us. And we can't be recovered from
any fall except He recover us. When I'm made to rejoice in the
fullness of God's blessings, His mercies, my heart rejoices
to say, by the grace of God, I am what I am. And when I stand
with Christ in glory, This will be my glad confession. By the grace of God, I am what
I am. One third thing, and I'll let
you go home. This is my soul's grateful acknowledgement. Turn
to 1 Corinthians chapter 6. Paul asked, who maketh thee to
differ from another? What hast thou that thou didst
not receive? Now, if thou didst receive it,
why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it? First
Corinthians six, verse nine. Know ye not that the unrighteous
shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived. This is what I mean by the unrighteous.
Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexual
fellows, effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor
thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners
shall inherit the kingdom of God. Have I missed anybody? Anybody? Anybody here who I haven't named
here? Anybody? Anybody? Okay. And such were
some of you. But you're washed. But you're sanctified. You're
redeemed and you're holy. You're justified and you're saints. But you're justified in the name
of the Lord Jesus. and by the Spirit of our God,
recognizing that the only distinction between me and any sinner in hell or out
of hell, the only distinction is the grace of God. I delight to confess to my God
By the grace of God, I am what I am. Oh, my God. You've taught us now to nod our
heads and say amen to the things we've read and heard in your
word. Will you teach us to bow our
hearts and acknowledge By the grace of God, I am what
I am. Amen.