What pleases God? What pleases God? That's my subject
tonight. You'll find my text in Isaiah
chapter 46 if you want to turn there while I'm talking to you. But before we look at Isaiah
46, I want to read a couple of other passages to you. There
are certain things about God certain characteristics, certain
attributes, essential traits of God's character that all who
profess to be Christians recognize. All who profess to be Christians
believe these things, or at least they profess to believe these
things. God is spirit, eternal, immutable, independent, unalterable,
essential spirit. God is holy, wise, and good. God is omnipotent, omniscient,
omnipresent. God is just, He's true, He's
faithful. God is love. Oh, what a declaration. God is love. Because God is love,
He is merciful, He's gracious, He's kind, He's long-suffering,
He's forgiving, He's forbearing. These characteristics of God
are essential attributes of His being as God. Now, please understand
this. When we talk about divine attributes,
when the Scriptures speak of those things which are God's
attributes, they are not just things that you can expect from
God. They are characteristics that
are absolutely essential to His being. Without any of them, He
would not be God. If God were not omniscient, he
would not be God. If God were not omnipresent,
he would not be God. If he were not holy, he would
not be God. If he were not just and true,
he would not be God. They are absolutely essential
characteristics of his being. I have certain characteristics.
Some of them I hope to lose one of these days. They are not essential
to my being, Don Fortner. Same is true of you. We all have
certain traits, things that people can expect from us. Some good,
some not so good. But our characteristics are just
part of our character. They're not essential to us in
our being. With regard to God, that which
is an attribute of God, that which is a character of God,
is essential to His being God. All these things we've spoken
of, all who profess to be Christians believe. Baptists and Methodists,
Protestants and Papists, Episcopalians and Campbellites, Russellites,
even Mormons believe these things about God. You believe them and
I do. But there's something else. Another
characteristic of God. Another trait of the divine being. essential to his character as
God. Indeed, it is this trait of God's
being, this attribute of his person, that God himself most
often uses to identify himself as God in distinction from all
the imaginary gods that men have made through history. This one
attribute God uses more often than any other to distinguish
himself as God. And yet, most religious people,
most of the people you know and I know, most of the folks in
your family and in mine, most of your neighbors and mine, when
they hear this attribute of God declared, they become enraged. I'm talking about it's like waving
a red flag in front of a raging bull. and one minute be singing
oh how I love Jesus and just beaming smiles on their faces
and they're just so delighted and then the preacher stands
up and declares this one thing about God, just this one thing,
this one thing by which God himself most often distinguishes himself
from all the imaginary gods of men and they see red. I mean they're mad enough to
kill if they can get by with it. Religious people? Oh yeah. All over the world. It doesn't
change anywhere. I've seen it when I was preaching
through an interpreter in Mexico. I've seen it in England. I've
seen it in Scotland. I've seen it in Ireland. I've
seen it in Australia. I've seen it in almost every
state in this union. Wherever I've been in the Highlands,
I've seen it. This one thing the preacher declares and folks
are ready to hang him from the nearest tree. What is that? It
is God's sovereignty. His sovereignty. Why would people
get upset with the declaration that God is sovereign? Now almost
everybody says God's sovereign. What they mean by that is that
he's somewhere out in heaven and he sort of has an idea of what's
going on and he can do anything he wants to as long as nobody
interferes with him. But when we speak of God's sovereignty,
as God's sovereignty is declared in Scripture, that's not the
idea at all. We don't even have a clue what
a sovereign is. A sovereign is what folks used
to call a king. It's been so long since this
world's seen a sovereign king, nobody has a clue what one is.
A sovereign does what he wants to. and he answers to no one. He gives reply to no one. He is subject to no one. He absolutely
has his way. Only God is sovereign. Only God. Only God. This one attribute distinguishes
our God from all the imaginary gods of men. And since this is
the attribute, which God himself most often uses to distinguish
himself. I think it's just reasonable
when folks say, how would you describe God? To begin right
here, don't you? Begin here. This is where God
begins to describe himself. He who truly is God is totally
sovereign. The God of the Bible, the one
true and living God, the God we worship, and trust, and love,
and serve. That one who alone can really
be trusted, that one who alone really is worshipped, is an absolute
sovereign. That is to say, he's always in
control of all things, absolutely, and always does exactly what
he wants to do. Always. There's never anything
that happens that God didn't want to happen. Nothing. Now, how do you explain this,
Brother Don? I explain it this way. He's God. That's all I've
got to say about it. He's God. Well, you mean God's
chargeable with evil? Oh, no. No, no, no. We dare not
charge God with folly. We dare not charge God with evil.
But to suggest that evil comes to pass without God's decree
and God's will is to suggest that it is beyond his will and
beyond his decree. That it takes him by surprise.
That he couldn't control it. There's something over which
God has no control. It's called evil. Oh no. He says
in Isaiah 45 7, I make peace and I create evil. You want to see a good picture
of God's sovereignty. At your leisure, read the 14th
chapter of Isaiah, where Satan, Lucifer, pops his suspenders
and expands his chest, and he says, I'm going to take over
being God. I'm going to take over. I will
ascend to the throne of the Most High. And God just trembles. He just shakes in his boots.
Oh, what am I going to do? God's response to Satan's blustering
is, this is the purpose that is purposed in all the earth. Now, children of God, there's
no reason to get terribly excited with fear about anything or anyone. We worship God who really is
God. He really is God. Now your mama's
God and your daddy's God, your brother's God and your sister's
God, your neighbor's God, your father's God, the God of this
generation, the God of this age in which we live, the pathetic,
weak, frustrated, helpless, pitiful God of the 21st century church
in the United States of America is to be pitied, not worshiped. But we worship him who is God. God indeed. Listen to this. Psalm
115 verse 3, verse 1, the psalmist 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? I recall 30, no, forgive me,
42 years ago, I was sitting beside my friend, Brother Charles Sawyer,
at South Park Baptist Church in Winston-Salem, North Carolina,
back about where Brother Claus is now. Charles was a retired
Navy man. He loved the gospel. He's with
the Lord now. And he had brought with him a
man from India, a Hindu. He'd been witnessing to him.
And behind the pulpit, you've seen these pictures. You'll remember
it. The church building had a picture of John the Baptist supposedly
baptizing this long-haired effeminate fella they call Jesus. And do
you know what that fella said to Charles? He walked in, we
sat down, had been sitting there just a few minutes, and he'd
been staring at that picture. He says, is that your God? That's a pretty good reason not
to have the picture there. And Charles tried to explain,
oh no, no, no, that shouldn't even be there. That's a pity
that's there. The fellow wasn't paying any
attention. Because you see, everybody, most everybody has something
they can pull out and say, there's our God, look at him. Isn't he
pretty? Isn't he big? Isn't he handsome?
Look at him, what a splendorous God he is. Where's your God? Our God is in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever he hath
pleased. September 1969, I believe it
was, I know it was 1969, I believe it was September, Brother Henry
Mahan and his wife Doris, their son Robbie, volunteered to serve
the nation of Vietnam. He landed in Vietnam and on his
way to the base, the truck he was in was blown up and he was
killed. One of the sorry, well-worshiping preachers in Ashland called Brother
Mahan the next morning when the news broke. He said to him, where's your
God now? And our dear friend, he said,
my God is right where he was the day my son was born. He's
on his throne. And he hung up the phone. Our
God is in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever he hath
pleased. Psalm 135. Praise ye the Lord. Praise ye the name of the Lord.
Praise him, all ye servants of the Lord. Ye that stand in the
house of the Lord, in the courts of the house of our God, praise
ye the Lord, for the Lord is good. Sing praise unto his name,
for it is pleasant. Why should we praise him? For
the Lord hath chosen Jacob unto himself. Why praise him? Because he chose us. Why praise
Him? He's chosen Israel for His peculiar
treasure. Why praise Him? For I know that
the Lord is great, and that our God, the Lord, our Lord, is above
all gods. Whatsoever the Lord pleased,
that did He, in heaven, in earth, in the seas, and in all deep
places. In heaven, in earth, and in hell,
God does as he pleases. Now I'm here to tell you that
if the God you worship doesn't, he ain't God. I don't care what
you call him, he's nothing but a polished idol carved from the
dark forest of your own depraved imagination, and he is no more
resemblant to the God of glory than a gnat to an angel. He's
not God. He's worthless, and worthless
to you, and you treat him as such. Now turn to Isaiah 46,
if you will. Isaiah 46, verse 3. Hearken unto me. O house of Jacob,
and all the remnant of the house of Israel, which are borne by
me from the belly, which are carried from the womb, and even
to your old age I am here. You that I have carried from
the belly, you that I have carried from your mother's womb, and
carry even now to whorehairs, and will carry you, I have made
you And I will bear, even I will carry, and will deliver you.
Listen to me. To whom will you liken me, and
make me equal? And compare me that we may be
like. They lavish gold out of the bag,
and weigh silver in the balance, and hire a goldsmith, and maketh
it a god. They fall down, yea, they worship. Can you hear God laughing? Can
you hear him laughing? Elijah spoke to the prophets
and said, I mock your God, I'm laughing at him. Hear me, I'm
laughing at the God of this age. God Almighty holds him in contempt,
and those who speak for God hold him in contempt. Look at this.
They fall down, they worship, and then they bear him upon the
shoulder. They fall down and worship Him, and then they pick
Him up and set Him on their shoulder and carry Him where they want
Him. They bear Him on their shoulder. They carry Him. They set Him
in His place. Man, if that doesn't describe
this generation. Now God, you sit right here. I'll let you
know when I need you. I'll let you know when you can
interfere. You can sit right here, and I'll
use you when I need you, but until then, don't you bother
me. They set Him in His place, and He's standing. From his place
he shall not remove. Yea, one shall carry and cry
unto him, yet he cannot answer. I've seen real living human beings. I'm talking about the kind sitting
right in front of me. I've seen them bow down to a statue of
Mary and cry real tears and pray to a statue. These aren't folks
in a funny farm. These are real living people. Sort of like praying to the God
of this generation, of whom men speak and they say, the Lord
is mighty, now let him. The Lord wants to, but. They cry to a God, as the prophet
said, who cannot save. that cry unto him, yet he cannot
answer, yet can he not answer, nor save him out of his trouble. Remember this, God speaking now,
remember this, and show yourselves men. Act like folks who've got
some sense. Bring it again to mind, oh ye
transgressors. Remember the former things of
old, for I am God. Now listen to what it says, and
there is none else I am God, and there is none like me, declaring
the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things
that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I
will do all my pleasure. Well, Lord, show us how you did
that. Show us how you perform this. Show us something remarkable
that will demonstrate your sovereignty, okay? Elijah, you get up here
to the brook, where I'm gonna tell you, and you prophesy that
it shall not rain, and it's not gonna rain for three months.
I mean, there's not gonna be a cloud in the sky. And all the
while you're there, every day, every day, I'm going to send
a carnivorous bird to feed you out of his beak. Like he'd feed
his own babies. I'll call a raven to come and
bring you some meat every day. A raven? Gonna bring some meat
to a man? Let's see a man train a raven
to do that. Every day. And there he is. There he is. For three years God fed him. Every day. Every day. He's calling
a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executed my counsel
from a far country, Cyrus, 250 years before he's born. God said, I'm going to raise
up a man by the name of Cyrus, who's going to come after you've
been in Babylon for 70 years. And he's going to come in by
this gate, and he's going to bring you out by that gate. And
he said it 250 years before it happened. and he raised up Cyrus and delivered
Israel out of Babylon. A man, the man that executed
my counsel from a far country, yea, I have spoken it, I will
also bring it to pass. I have purposed it, I will also
do it. What's the Lord saying? He's
saying you can trust me. You can trust me, absolutely,
all the time. with everything. What I've purposed,
I will perform. What I have promised, I will
do. And nobody's going to stop me.
Verse 12, hearken unto me, ye stout-hearted that are far from
righteousness. Bring near my righteousness.
It shall not be far off, and my salvation shall not tarry.
I will place salvation in Zion for Israel my glory. I promised
I would save, and save I will all my people. The Lord our God
is absolutely, universally sovereign. When I say that, I'm simply declaring
He's God. That's all. He's God. I wouldn't say that about you
for anything in the world. I like you, but you're not much. He's
God. That means He does what He will.
when he will, with whom he will, all the time. And none can stay
his hand or say unto him, what doest thou? Nebuchadnezzar, king
of Babylon, declared that. He said, I rebelled against the
Lord God. Daniel said, this is what the
Lord God has said. And Nebuchadnezzar said, who's
the Lord that I shall obey him? Just like Pharaoh before him.
Well, what are you telling me about God's word? And Daniel
says, hang on, he'll teach you. And Nebuchadnezzar grew hair
like a wild beast, and claws like a wild bird, and grazed
in the fields like a wild beast. And they thought Nebuchadnezzar
had lost his mind, and he had. God took his mind from him. And
then when his understanding returned unto him, he said, now I see. God is God. And if ever God gives
you understanding, spiritual understanding, First thing you
will be made to see is God sits on His throne and His throne
rules everywhere. Rules everything, rules everyone. God always has His way. Specifically,
I'm talking now about salvation. It's true of all things, but
God speaks of His sovereignty here and He says, I will set
my salvation in Zion for Israel, my glory. I will set Christ in
my holy hill of Zion for my chosen people in whom I staked my glory,
in whom my glory is revealed. But today we hear folks talk
about God's love. And they tell us God loves everybody. And he has done everything he
can to save everybody. But oh, what a shame it will
be when at last there are multitudes in hell for whom God's done everything
He can, but they're lost anyway. What does that tell you about
God's love? It ain't worth spit. Such love is meaningless, useless. Christ died for everyone. His
blood was shed for everyone. He died to make redemption possible
for everyone, but multitudes for whom He died perish anyway.
What's that mean about his blood? His blood's meaningless. The
Spirit of God calls and condenses and woos and urges and nudges
and tugs at the hearts of men to get them to accept Jesus. He does all he can. But salvation,
after all, has got to be something that you decide. In other words,
the Spirit of God, the Son of God, and God the Father, the
triune God, are really meaningless. Really insignificant. Really
nothing. And there's no salvation of any
kind. The God of the Bible says this concerning Himself. All
things are of God. 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 verse
18. Brother Don, how far do we carry
that? We don't want to be extreme. Oh, would to God you dare be
extreme when it comes to believing Him. You go just as far up as you can into heaven. In your
minds comprehension go just as deep into the depths of hell
as imagination will carry you, just as far to the east and as
far to the west as your mind will carry you. And whatever
there is in the scope of the north and the south and the east
and the west, all things are of God, no exception. All things
in creation, the Lord hath made all things, all things. Why did He do that? The Lord
hath made all things for Himself. Yea, even the wicked for the
day of judgment. Proverbs 16, 4. You mean God
made every man, even the wicked, for Himself to get glory to Himself? And every man, even the wicked,
shall give glory to God? Every man. The Lord made all
things for Himself. things are of God for of him
and through him and to him are all things to whom be glory forever
and particularly distinctly in the saving operations of his
grace all things are of God our God is indeed God now let's go
to our text for just a second Isaiah 46 verse 5 remember the
context Here in Isaiah 46, the Lord God is challenging men to
bring before him anything that man has ever imagined that might
be held up as a God. Anything. Bring before him any
representation, any figure, any image, any thought that men might
consider God. And let's see if he measures
up. He says in verse 5, to whom will you liken me? The God of
this age, you can compare Him to Pepsi-Cola, or you can compare
Him to a winter jacket, or you can compare Him to a Ford, or
a Chevrolet, or a Chrysler, or a Toyota. The God of this age,
just read the church signs, they compare Him to everything. Compare
Him to everything under the sun. You can compare Him to an old
man, you can compare Him to a young woman. You can compare Him to
anything. The God of this age, God says to whom will you liken
me? What are you going to make that
looks like me? That acts like me? that has my
character, that has my ability, and make me equal, and compare
me that we may be like. Verse 9, remember the former
things of old. And when you start to talk about
God, remember all that has come to pass. For I am God, and there
is none else. I am God, and there's none like
me. Well, what do you mean, Lord? God declares the end from the
beginning, and then He does what He said He would do in the end. And from ancient times, the things
that are not yet done. Saying, my counsel shall stand. I will do all my pleasure. The Apostle Paul, writing in
Ephesians 1 11, gives this interpretation of that. He worketh all things
after the counsel of His own will. He does all according to
the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of
His grace. Well, what is it that God, that
pleases God? What really pleases Him? What does God really find pleasure
in? We recognize, as the prophet
has said, the secret things belong to the Lord. And I wouldn't pry
into secret things at all. But when people would have you
to say, we shouldn't think about predestination, and we shouldn't
think about God's sovereignty, we shouldn't think about those
things because secret things belong to the Lord. The things
that are revealed belong to us and our children. And I want
to know everything I can about what God has revealed, don't
you? I want to know what has God said is His pleasure. What does He say? Let's begin
in 1 Samuel, 1 Samuel 12. I'll show you five texts of Scripture,
five things that God has revealed in this book He is pleased to
perform. Five things which are His pleasure. And He said, I will do all my
pleasure. 1 Samuel 12, verse 22. Samuel is speaking to Israel and he's speaking to them at
a time that you just wouldn't expect this. They just rejected
God for being their king. They chose Saul to be their king.
And Samuel's crying because he feels like they've rejected him.
God said, they didn't reject you, they rejected me. And then
he gives his prophet this word for his people. Verse 22, the
Lord will not forsake his people for his great namesake, because
it hath pleased the Lord to make you his people. Why are you one of his? Because
it pleased God to make you his. I love what Brother Bill Eldridge
said twice, Friday night, Saturday night, both when I was down there.
He said, I just can't get over the fact that the Lord chose
me and He loved me. And He loved me on purpose. He
loved me on purpose. He pleased the Lord to make you
His people. Therefore, Samuel says, moreover,
as for me, God forbid that I should sin against the Lord and cease
Him to pray for you. But I will teach you the good
and right way. Only fear the Lord and serve
Him in truth with all your heart. For consider how great things
He hath done for you. If you and I belong to God, we
belong to Him because it pleases Him. We're bound to give thanks
always to God for you because God hath from the beginning chosen
you to salvation. He made us His own by special
election and sovereign adoption. Before the world was, He adopted
us as His own. We're His because of His choice. He made you His people, giving
you life in His Son, union with His Son, forming Christ in you
in the new birth by the effectual call of His Spirit. He made you
His people by His almighty work of grace in which He conquered
you and made you willing in the day of His power to be His own. To be His own. There was a day when I had no interest in being
His. There was a day when with every
fiber of my being I hated him and blasphemed his name. And
suddenly, in an unexplainable mystery of grace, by the conquering
power of his outstretched arm, this heart wanted to be his more
than anything in this world. thy people shall be willing in
the day of thy power. That's what God's done for us. It pleased the Lord to make you
his people. Turn to Colossians chapter 1, verse 18. Here's the second thing. Christ is the head of the body
of the church. He's the beginning, the firstborn
from the dead, that in all things He might have the preeminence.
For it pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell. The triune God is pleased to
put all the fullness of the Godhead in Him. and all the fullness
of grace in Him, and all the fullness of glory in Him, so
that all fullness resides in Christ. But this fullness resides
in Him for us. It is the fullness of God, the
fullness of grace, the fullness of glory in Christ as our mediator. It is fullness that the triune
God has put in him that he might be the head of the body of the
church. It's put in him for our benefit. What does that mean?
All the fullness of God's salvation is in Christ. For of him are
ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom. and righteousness,
and sanctification, and redemption, that according as it is written,
he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. And all this fullness
carries over into heaven's glory as well. Christ is the fullness
of heaven itself. So that when we stand before
God in glory, in that place where it is written, I have not seen
nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man
the things which the Lord has prepared for us." Christ is portrayed
before us as sitting on the throne that John saw, encircled with
a rainbow, out of whose hand or in whose hand is that book
that is being fulfilled continually. And in heaven, we see him as
the Lamb. and we see Him as the light,
and we see Him as the tree of life, whose leaves are for the
healing of nations, and we see Him as a fountain of water, and
we see Him as the light of the city, and we see Him as the temple
and the tabernacle of God. Well, it sounds to me like everything
in heaven is connected with, and flows to, and flows from,
and points to Christ. That's it. Christ is all fullness. Here's the third thing, Isaiah
53. In Ezekiel 18, the Lord God says,
He has no pleasure in the death of the wicked. He makes the same
statement again in Ezekiel 33. As I live, I have no pleasure
in the death of him that dieth. Now frequently, Many women object
to the teaching of scripture with regard to God's sovereignty,
saying God has no pleasure in the death of the wicked. As if
we are declaring that he does. He never can. He never can. God cannot find satisfaction
in the death of the sinner. The reason hell's eternal is
because men who are but finite creatures can never satisfy infinite
justice. Should all the world be cast
into hell, God can't be pleased. He can't be satisfied. But here
in Isaiah 53, verse 10, we read, It pleased the Lord to bruise
him. The word pleased has nothing
to do with laughter It has nothing to do with an
emotion. It has to do with a purpose and
the satisfaction of God Almighty. When God laid our sins on His
Son and made Him to be sin who knew no sin, that we might be
made the righteousness of God in Him. when he made his son
to be a curse for us, hanging him upon the cursed tree. When
he heard his son cry, it is finished. The God of glory says, that's
enough. That satisfies me. That satisfies
justice. That's enough. And the sinner, called by grace
in whom Christ is revealed, looks to Christ by faith, and he is
pleased that God bruised his son. That's enough. Conscience can demand no more.
Guilt is taken away because Christ was bruised in my stead. Galatians
chapter 1. Here's the fourth thing. What
is it that pleases God? The Apostle Paul speaks here
in Galatians chapter 1 and verse 15. And he says, when it pleased
God who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by
His grace to reveal His Son in me. Salvation doesn't come by decision,
not yours anyway. Salvation doesn't come by saying
a prayer. Salvation doesn't come by walking
an aisle. Salvation doesn't come by joining
a church. Salvation doesn't come by reforming
your life. Salvation doesn't come by getting
baptized. We're about to eat the bread
and drink the wine of the Lord's Supper. No grace comes that way.
No, no. Now how does salvation come to
a sinner? It comes to the sinner when God is pleased to reveal
Christ in you. Now I've said this so many times,
I think I shouldn't say it again, but I know it bears repetition. If God reveals His Son in you,
you won't need me to tell you about it. And I can't tell you
otherwise. If God reveals His Son in you,
if you see Him whom the Father was pleased to make sin, and
you hear His voice, if you look to Him as God reveals His Son
in you, you know it. I don't try to talk people into
a profession of faith. I don't try to talk folks into
doing something. I do exactly the opposite, exactly
the opposite. Oh, don't you care? I talked
to a young man the day before yesterday, a long time. He called
when I first got in the office and been listening to the messages.
And I spoke to him plainly and had a long, long pause and I
could tell he was expecting something else. And I said, Joe, It's not
that I don't care. I care enough not to deceive
you. I'm not about to. Rock Barnard used to say, the
only man who'll try to convince a lost man he's saved is another
lost man. I'm not going to try to convince
anybody they're saved. Folks come and they say, well, I've
got some real problems with insurance. I say, we might ought to have
some. What else am I going to say? Maybe you got no reason
to have any assurance. And I can't give it to you. And
if I can give it, I can take it away. If God gives it, He
won't take it away. It pleased the Lord to reveal
His Son in me. And look, one more thing. 1 Corinthians
chapter 1. This is what pleases God. God's
pleased to make Oscar Bailey his own. God's pleased to put
all fullness in his son. God was pleased to bruise his
son in our stead. God is pleased to reveal his
son in us by his grace. And fifthly, 1 Corinthians 121,
it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching
to save them that believe. Imagine that. Imagine that. It pleased God to do this by preaching, by the preaching
of the gospel. We exist in this world for no
other reason but to preach the gospel. And well, that's just
right. The only reason this congregation
is assembled here, the only reason God has planted this light in
this place, the only reason He's planted this light on this hill
is for the preaching of the gospel in this generation. The only
reason I live is for the preaching of the gospel, no other purpose.
And frankly, that's the only reason you do too. He's left
us here to be his witnesses. And oh, what a privilege. What
an astounding honor that God would give us the treasure of
the gospel of his grace in these earthen vessels that we might
preach Christ in this generation. Oh, what a privilege. So I urge you I urge you, children
of God, devote yourselves, devote yourselves to making Christ known
while you live. Do what you can for the furtherance
of the gospel. If I could, I'd get the ear of
every preacher I know, and I say it to them, my friends, I meet
all over the world, I say it as often as I can, addict yourself
to the preaching of the gospel. Make it your bread and butter,
the air you breathe. Study and pray and preach. We're useful for nothing else.
I say it to every congregation. Devote yourselves to making Christ
known. And I urge you who are yet without
Christ, believe on the Son of God. This one whom we preach
to you, you can confidently trust. You can confidently trust Him.
He's God indeed. He does all His pleasure. And
you know what He declares His pleasure to be? He delighteth in mercy. He so delights in mercy that
this is what He says, Him that cometh to me. Him that cometh
to me. That's you. and me, him that
cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. And you can trust him. Amen.