And today's lesson, I hope I
don't intend to keep you too long, but we're talking about
the instrumentality of God's Word. The instrumentality of
God's Word as an instrument to reveal Christ to the hearts of
His people. The Word of God. Without the
Word of God, without God's will and God's Word, people don't
know Christ, do they? But I thought about this country,
the United States, how Columbus had discovered America, and how
this country was set up on religious bases. It came forth standing
on the word of God. And no doubt, in my mind, we
had some people back then that knew Christ, don't you? I believe
we did. So it was based, all of our standards
and everything is based upon the word of God. And when the
presidents came in, and George Washington even, and when the
times that they made our monetary, our money and stuff, that it
had, in God we trust on it. And it had these first people's
presidents and so things. It has their pictures on there
and it says, in God we trust. And that's what it's based upon
in all of our moral lives and the things that we learn from
birth, even from our parents. And it keeps going on and on.
We learn based upon the Word of God, don't we? Thou shalt
not kill, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not lie. And all these
things are based upon the principles of God. And I thought about man,
but man by nature is not led towards this. It's by the grace
of God that we have a president of the United States. It's about
the grace of God that we do have an organization whereby that's
based on true and right principles. You know what I'm talking about?
But if God leaves you or me to ourselves, we'll go against even
those principles that he based his country upon, that God based
it upon. We go against them. And we see,
under the law, people that's grown up in this country, they
say, well, I'm not supposed to do this. Not only does it teach
them in their heart, naturally speaking, but they say, by the
law, I'm not supposed to do this. If I go out here and I slay people,
and I kill people, the law is going to grab me, and they're
going to condemn me for that, and they're going to put me in
prison. and might even get the death penalty or whatever. If
I do these things, the law is going to punish me for it. They
say that, don't they? They know that. And even when
God allows people to go so far as to withdraw, it's restraining
grace from them to a certain point that allows them to go
into this thing. Even at that, they hide to do
these things. And they do it secretly and so
on, don't they? To try to avoid the law to keep
from being punished for it. So they know that by principle
that they're not supposed to do that, even when they're turned
over to this part, don't they? Even when God allows it, they
know that. And I thought about these other countries, like the
Al-Qaeda and all those foreign countries, how they based their
principles upon The Word of God. Their God. You see what I'm saying?
God has blessed this nation above every other nation. He's blessed
this nation abundantly. And we've left a lot of those
principles, ain't we? But anyway, those Al-Qaeda and
all those people, they base theirs upon their principles. They don't
have no true and right principles by God's Word and by God's giving
it to them. No. You know, even some of those
nations that these people are trying to come in and take over,
they're trying to fight against it. But even those nations are
not based upon the true and right principles that we have. And
they tried to avoid this. And I thought about the slaying
of this woman. That woman was trying to teach
right principles. I'm not saying that a woman should
do this, but she was trying to do that. And those people seen
that. And they don't want that, do
they? So they killed that woman, didn't they? For trying to teach
those principles to them that they could get under another
organization and under government. That's what she was trying to
bring in. And they would not have that. Well, that's only
nature for them to do that. See that? That's their nature.
They're enemies to God. You see that? And we're enemies
to God by nature. And except for those principles,
we'd be just like them. There's no difference between
our nature and their nature. You see what I'm saying? They
just had different principles of life. They had their God. They even come over here and
that's why they hijacked those planes and killed all those people.
They were killing God's enemies. They're God's enemies. And they're
going to receive a great reward for getting rid of these devils,
they're saying, you know, these enemies of God. God's going to
reward them and they even gave their own life to get to kill
those so that God would reward them for what they were doing.
No doubt they believed that, didn't they? They believed it
to the point that they gave their own lives. You see that? That's the way the child of God
should be In truth and right, shouldn't he? By the grace of
God, we want to do that. But these people believe the
lie to a point that they gave their own lives to kill a bunch
of people. Why? Because that's their nature. That's their nature. And that's
the nature of everybody. It's not under the principles
of God's grace and God's law. That's the nature of everybody.
But God is rich in his natural mercy and grace towards this
nation, ain't he? And He's rich in His grace toward
His people, His saving grace, in bringing so many in this country
to know the true and living God and to bow and to rest in the
Lord Jesus Christ, ain't He? He's rich in that. He gives us
so much grace, so much grace. He's been so gracious to us in
showing us who we are and who Christ is and allowing us and
enabling us to believe on and to rest and to trust and to look. You see, He's so gracious to
us. But man by nature will do anything
if God would withdraw His restraining grace. I'm not talking about
the saving grace, just His restraining grace. He'll do anything. So, of God's own will, James
1.18 says, of His own will, He begets us with the Word of Truth,
didn't He? Why? Why ain't I like those people? I'm like that by nature, but
why am I not stooped in a false religion and even given my life
for that religion to get to kill people that I call devils? It's
only by the grace of God. You see what I'm saying? It's
only by God's grace that we live in America. It's only by God's
grace that we have our laws and our bylaws and have the people,
their laws over our states and over our counties and over the
United States and over all of our country. It's only by God's
common grace and it's by God's saving grace that we've even
come to acknowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. He'd give us a
country to live in. He'd give us a place to live.
He'd give us a place where the gospel is preached. He's brought
us to the gospel. He'd give us a heart to receive
it. He'd place that gospel in it. He causes us to rejoice in
it. Causes us to look to Christ and to rest in Christ, don't
He? Oh, we should be the most thankful
people on this earth. Of God's own will, He began us
with the Word of Truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits
of His creatures, His creation, His creatures. We believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ. We should be a kind of firstfruits
to all who will listen, to all who will hear, to all that we
come before by the grace of God. We should tell them. We should
tell them, shouldn't we? We're nothings and nobodies and
we're deserving of the eternal wrath of God. Exactly. It's what
we deserve. But God was rich in mercy toward
us for reasons not only to Himself. He's rich in mercy. In this gospel age, God has ordained
salvation to His people, to His elect. To undeserving creatures,
yes, but they're His people for reasons not only to Himself,
but His elect. The Gospel. Paul said, I'm not
ashamed of the Gospel. Why wasn't Paul ashamed of the
Gospel? Because God gave him grace and brought him to a knowledge
of that Gospel concerning his son as his substitute. Didn't
he? He gave him grace. I'm not ashamed
of the Gospel. The Gospel is the power of God
unto salvation to everyone that believes. And this is the gospel
age of God's people that He's brought the gospel to us here
at Dangos. You see that? He's revealed Christ
to us, ourselves to us in His light and calls us to rejoice
in Christ. Not only to serve and honor,
but to do it joyfully and gladly and to exalt Him, not because
we have to, but because we glory in Him, we rejoice in Him. the gospel age of God's elect. Oh, and He sent forth His gospel
to the hearts of His people in His own time and revealed Christ
to them. He preached Christ to them. He's
preached Christ to them, this undeserving creature. Oh, the preaching of the cross
is to them that perish foolishness, ain't it? You know, people that
purge, they look at the preaching of the cross. They say, that's
silly. How can one man die for another man? In the religious
world, in a sense, it does the same thing. They say, well, he
died for me, but I've got to do this. Before God will receive
me, I'm going to have to be a good person. I'm going to have to
do what is right. Everything I can to serve God. And then
if I do that, God will receive me. There's no Christ there. You see what I'm saying? There
is no Christ. They don't know Christ. So it's
to them that perish. You see that? Foolishness. As
long as they stay in that frame of mind, in that attitude, they
will perish. It's to them foolishness, but
unto them which are saved. It's God's very own power. That
He's worked in His people and placed in their hearts to see
themselves in His light and to see Christ as their all, right? That's God's grace, God's power,
God's Spirit. We see Jesus, who was made a
little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, who
took our place. See, that our representative.
who suffered our just condemnation, raised for our glorification,
ascended back to the Father and is set down at the right hand
of God. And we have access to God through our Lord Jesus Christ
and through Him alone, don't we? And there's nothing of and
in us but sin and wrong and corruption, except for the grace of God with
being of the Al Qaeda. You see what I'm saying? It's
only by the grace of God that I am what I am. Oh, Paul said, I am not ashamed
of the Gospel, the Gospel, the Word of God, the true Word of
God placed in the hearts of these people. It is the power of God. God in His own power working
grace to undeserving creatures in revealing Christ to them and
causing them to bow to and to rest in Christ alone for their
salvation. It is the power of God unto salvation
to everyone that believeth, Jew and Gentile. Everyone that believes. The gospel of Christ is the power
of God. That's good news. That's what gospel is. The good
news concerning God's Son as a substitute for God's people.
See that? God's Son. So I'm not ashamed
of that, are you? This is the only means whereby
we can know God. This is the only means whereby
we can be accepted of God, can be counted righteous by God,
to be received by God, to be acknowledged by God, to be visited
by God. This is the only means. The salvation
of God in Christ to the hearts of His people. That's the only
way. I Corinthians 121 says, For after that in the wisdom
of God the world by wisdom knew not God, The world, by natural wisdom,
they try to do what they can, don't they, and be what they
can be. But the world, by true wisdom, don't know God. Even
the presidents of the United States, by true wisdom, if he
don't know God in his heart, he don't know God by the grace
of God. If you don't know Him, does he?
No. They don't know God even. But
by the grace of God, Paul said, I am what I am. only by the grace
of God. But God yet uses those people
in Him offices that don't know Him to work out His own good
and perfect will in bringing His sons unto glory in His own
time. Don't He? He does. And God's in control. And God
has His way in this world. Nothing can defeat God. Nothing can defeat God's purpose.
But God even allows the evil for His own glory. Can you understand
that? I can't understand that, but
I know that. And God's glorified. Even in the evil hearts of men,
He's glorified. Gee! The world by wisdom knew not
God, but it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching. Not
by foolish preaching. This is the only preaching whereby
God is pleased to save men. The preaching of the cross unto
them that purge its foolishness, see that? But unto them which
are saved, or unto them that know God, it is the power of
God unto salvation. It is God's power. That is what
the preaching of the cross is. So if God is going to save anybody,
it will be through His ministry. It will be through the truth
as it is revealed in Holy Scripture. Want it? And through the ordained
means that He gives to bring it to come forth, right to pass.
That's right, through His ordained means. Isaiah 54, verse 13 says,
All thy children shall be taught of the Lord. That's not talking about religion.
That's talking about salvation. All of God's people shall be
taught of God Himself. And those people that claim to
be self-righteous and religious and good people that don't know
God, they're not taught of God. Do you see what I'm saying? If
they ever come to their self, they'll fall on their faces.
And they'll see the Lord, won't they? They will. They'll see
the Lord and they'll bow to Him. And they'll exult and extol and
rejoice and proclaim Him. And they'll confess who they
are. You see what I'm saying? A good man is not going to confess
who he is. He don't know who he is. He's
a good man. You see that? But those are nothings and nobody
who are cruel and corrupt inside out, through and through. They
confess the Lord Jesus Christ as their all. You see what I'm
saying? He's their all. Yeah, they shall all be taught
of me. See? And everyone that has heard
and have learned of the Father cometh unto me, Christ said.
Every man therefore that hath heard and have learned of the
Father cometh unto me. My sheep hear my voice. When God speaks,
it is effectual. You see what I am saying? You
will despair of yourself, yes, when God speaks. And you'll believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ when God speaks. And you'll rest right
there. My sheep hear my voice. And I
know them. They follow me. They know me.
I give unto them eternal life. They shall never perish. If left
to themselves, they would, yes. But they were not left to themselves. They had nothing to commend Him
but everything to condemn Him. But God was rich in mercy even
to His sheep. If they get what they deserve,
it is the wrath of God. But if God by His grace calls
them, they are His sheep. And He will reveal Christ to
them. They will see themselves and see Christ as their Lord. God will see to it that every
elect sinner in this world will hear the Gospel. What if he is
dead? He cannot hear. He is talking
about the heart. God will enable him to read lips
or to read His Word. He will enable him through the
preached Word to believe on Him. He will. God's hand is not shortened. God is doing everything He pleases.
He does according to His will. in the armies of the heavens
and among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay
His hand. God will speak to all those that
He purposed to have in Christ before the foundation of the
world, no matter who they are. What about those people that
is off in mind? In God's time, He'll speak to
those people. They'll see Christ. They'll believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ. I don't know how. He's God though, ain't He? And
He does as He pleases. And He does. You see that? Every
elect of God, everyone, no matter who they are, every elect sinner
will hear the Word of God concerning his son as their substitute. If he has to turn the world upside
down, that's what he does. You see that? He'll turn the
world upside down because of his Word. God will speak to the
hearts of His sheep. And the reason right now that
the Lord hasn't come back, God ain't finished speaking. He's
still speaking to the hearts of His sheep in His time. When that time comes, He'll come
back. So God by His power and by the
blessing of His Spirit that He places within and through His
Word speaks to the hearts of His people. Do you see that?
God the Holy Spirit is the source and instrument by which God speaks
through His Word to His sheep. And He will do that in His time. He is God. Paul said, I endear all things
for the elect's sake, that they may also obtain the salvation
which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. You see what Paul
said? Paul said, I am not here under
my own power and my own strength for telling you these things.
God has used me, He has used His Word to speak to His elect
people in His time. And He is still using it today
to speak to His elect people in His time. That they may also
obtain the salvation. That they might know in their
hearts by the grace of God who they are in the light of God
and see Christ. They will receive Christ. Do
you see that? They will receive Christ. They
will obtain that salvation. I know they'll obtain eternal
salvation in Christ, but they'll attain it in their heart when
God is pleased to speak to them through His Word, His preached
Word. They'll obtain the salvation
which is in Christ. Do you see that? I'm not ashamed
of the Gospel of Christ. The salvation of God is in the
person of His Son. It's not in men and what men
do. It's in Christ as their substitute, right? They look to Christ. They rest there solely, only,
only in Christ. So, Hebrews 4.12 says, For the
Word of God is quick and powerful. In that regard, it's quick. That
Word of God has life in it. Do you see what I'm saying? That's
God's life. When God works by His Word, That's
God. Can you understand? I can't.
Can you? But that's God. And when God applies that to
a heart He gives, it's there. It's there. What God does is
forever. See what I'm saying? I didn't have anything to do
with that. If it's applied to me, I'm just a recipient of what
God has done for me and in me. It's quick. It's quick. That's
the only place that life is given. It's through that, in that, and
by that. See that? And it's powerful. It's so powerful
that it can't fail. For the Word of God to fail will
be for God to fail who sent it. Do you see what I'm saying? What's got into people that they
preach a God who can't save? That's not God. Do you see what
I'm saying? They don't know God. When God speaks, it's done. God
has the power to do as He wills, with whom He will. He'll speak
to the hearts of people in His time. Well, I've come to a decision. I'm going to straighten my life
out, and I'm going to start living for God. If I live for God, God's
going to be merciful to me. But I can just let it go, and
I can just keep doing what I've been doing, you know, and get
out here and sin and all this stuff, and God might be merciful
to them. But if I really set it in my
mind that I'm going to serve God, I'm going to serve God.
No. No, you're not. Not if that's
in your mind. As long as that's in your mind,
you'll not serve God. You'll serve God when you fall
prostate of yourselves. When I fall prostate, And when
I'm nothing and nobody, and He's all. You see what I'm saying?
We won't be forced to do this. We'll gladly do this. You see? We'll joyfully do this. He's God. And that's what He's talking
about in James 1.18. Of His own will, beget He us with the Word
of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of His creatures.
Romans 10, 17 says, faith come up by hearing and hearing by
the Word of God. Huh? Faith comes by hearing. Does faith come by me hearing?
I can't hear as I am by nature. I can't. It's impossible. But
faith comes when God gives ears to hear with. You see that? He
shows you who you are. He shows you Christ. And then
faith comes, right? Then you have faith in Christ.
You withdraw from yourself everything about you and of you. And you
rest in one place. And where is that? In Christ,
don't you? Nowhere else. That's what he's
talking about. Saved by grace through faith.
The gift of God. He became us, our high priest. He redeemed us. We see that. We see that by God's grace. We're
justified freely by His grace. The grace that God gives us in
justification looks for to be justified in the Lord Jesus Christ. We have peace with God. How?
through faith. How do I have any peace in my
heart? It is because God worked faith in her and gave me a knowledge
of myself and a knowledge of Him in Christ. And I see Christ. I see Jesus who was made a little
lower than the angels for the suffering of death. He took my
place. Now I see Him. I am accepted in Him. I have
nothing to separate me from the love of God which is in Him.
That's the counsel of God. That's the whole counsel of God.
That's what Paul's talking about when he said, I declare unto
you the whole counsel of God. The whole counsel of God is who
God is and who Christ is as His substitute, ain't it? Ain't that
the counsel of God? That's what he's talking about. In 1 Corinthians 2, I determine
not to know anything among you. Save that counsel. But He reveals
to me the counsel of God. What is that counsel? Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. See that? I shun not to declare
unto you the counsel of God. And I'm determined not to know
anything among you but the counsel of God. Christ and Him crucified
as my substitute. That's the counsel of God. So
all the Scriptures speak of Christ. I don't care if it's from Genesis
through Revelation, it speaks of Christ. Christ in figure, in shadow,
in prophet, and in person, that speaks of Christ. John 1.45 says, beginning at
Moses. Well, in Luke 24.27 says, beginning
at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all
the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. This is Christ speaking.
He expounded unto them there what He had said all the way
back under the Law of Moses. See that? And all those types
and shadows and figures and sacrifices and all these. This is what He
was saying in that law. There's one God, you see that?
There's one sacrifice. There's one man, Christ Jesus.
Only one. And all those things pointed
to Him. And now He's coming. We look forward to His coming
again, don't we? Yes, He's coming. All the Holy
Scriptures point to Christ. If we don't see Christ, then
we're not seeing the Scripture in the way that God would be
pleased to reveal it to us at that time, right? But if we see
the Scriptures anywhere, anywhere in this Bible, we don't know
very much, but when God is pleased, He'll point us to Christ in them
Scriptures. He'll show us Christ in prophet, in types, in shadows,
in figures, and in person. This was all Christ, wasn't it?
John 1.45 says, Philip found up Nathanael and said unto him,
We have found him. Who did Moses talk about? Who
was Moses talking about, huh? Well, Nathanael said, Philip
said, We found him. who Moses was talking about,
of whom Moses and the law and the prophets did write. Moses
and all the law and all the prophets wrote about Him, the Lord Jesus
Christ. You see that? We found Him. That's
what Philip said. We found Him, whom Moses even
spoke about. This is Him. He's come. This is the Lord Jesus Christ.
The prophets wrote about Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph,
didn't they? Who is this Jesus of Nazareth?
That's the man Christ Jesus, God's Son who became a man. That's who it is to represent,
to die for His people, to put away sin. So all who truly preach the whole
counsel of God, they preach who? Christ, don't they? They preach
Christ. When man preaches Christ and Him crucified, He preaches
the substitutionary work of Christ on you. The substitutionary redemption. He became me. He died in my place
and suffered my wrath. You see that? The wrath that
just endued me and satisfied God on my behalf. He redeemed
me. If I get what I deserve, it's the wrath of God, the eternal
wrath of God. But if my wrath was satisfied
upon Christ, in Christ, God is satisfied. He redeemed me. He
put away my sin. I have an imputed righteousness,
accounted righteousness to me. I don't have any righteousness
of my own. I have the righteousness of God
in Christ which is accounted to me. in the righteousness that
God worked in me by placing Christ in me the hope of glory. That's
the only righteousness I have. I have to get rid of all the
rest of this, don't I? This old flesh will go back to
the dust and He'll give me a body like unto His glorious body.
But I am righteous before God in the person of His Son. That's
right, righteous. I'm received of God. And it's
only by the grace of God, yes, but I am received. That's the
only way salvation comes, by grace. By grace alone to the
undeserving. So this is the whole counsel
of God. God redeemed us in Christ. Christ
died for us. He made us righteous. We have
righteousness applied to our hearts, yes, but we shall be
made like Him in glory. We know that. The man who truly preaches the
counsel of God is the man who preaches Christ crucified. Right? The substitute. Christ crucified
as He is revealed in Holy Scriptures. God's revelation concerning His
Son. Now, there's a lot of people
preaching about Jesuses and Christ, as they say, and mediators. If they don't know God in Christ,
if they don't know Christ by the grace and power of God, they
don't know Christ. You see what I'm saying? In truth,
God will reveal it in truth to the God-given heart. You see
what I'm saying? And the God-given heart will
take no credit for anything. He's nothing and nobody, but
His all is Christ. So what do you think Paul was
talking about when he said, I determined not to know anything among you
save Christ and Him crucified? That's what Paul's talking about.
The Scriptures tell us about Christ. This is the word which
by the gospel is preached unto you. God's word concerning His
Son as your substitute. That's what the gospel declares,
ain't it? By the word of the Lord, the
word of God endureth forever. This is the Word. What Word? What God talking about? His Word
that endures forever. This is the Word which is by
the Gospel is preached unto you. You see what it said? That's
the Word of God. Anything short of that is not
the Word of God. The Gospel concerning you.