1 Thessalonians chapter 2. I just
want to read one verse, verse 4. It's a parallel passage to
what I want to speak to you on this morning from Galatians chapter
1. 1 Thessalonians chapter 2 and verse 4. Paul said we were allowed
of God to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak
not as pleasing men, but God, which trieth our hearts." God
allowed us to be put in trust with the gospel, not as pleasing
men. We speak not to pleased men,
but God, who tests and judges our hearts. Now in Galatians
chapter 1, I want to begin in verse 10. Do I now persuade men or God? Do I now seek to please men?
For if I yet please men, I should not be the servant of Christ.
But I assure you, brethren, I certify you, that the gospel which was
preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of
man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus
Christ. We have heard of my conversation,
my manner of living, in time past in the Jews' religion, now
that beyond measure I persecuted the Church of God and wasted
it, and profited in the Jews' religion above many of my equals
in my own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the tradition
of my fathers, but when it pleased God, who separated me from my
mother's womb and called me by His grace to reveal His Son in
me, that I might preach Him among the heathen, immediately I conferred
not with flesh and blood." Now, I want to begin our lesson this
morning, very adverse to him, but I do want to reiterate just
for a minute what you and I looked at last Sunday evening. There
in verses 6 through verse 9, and I want to remind you of this
because this is so important. Paul said, I marvel that you
are so soon removed from him that called you unto the grace
of Christ and to another gospel, which is not another, but there
be some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ. Now I want to stress this again
this morning by the way of introduction. The first thing that you and
I saw here last Sunday night was how easy it is to pervert
the gospel of Christ, how easy it is to change the gospel of
Christ. Add something to it, it may be
ever so small, or take something from it, it may seem so fragile,
so minute. But it's very, very easy to change
the gospel of Jesus Christ into another gospel. I think it's
so important that you and I meditate upon this, understand it, believe
it, and maintain it in our own hearts and in the churches. It's
so important. Jude said it like this, earnestly
contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. Read, pray, meditate upon this
gospel. Don't add to it. Don't take away
from it. It's so easily done. Our problem
today, this generation thinks that everybody knows the gospel.
Everybody has heard the gospel. The brothers and sisters, this
generation has not heard the pure gospel of the grace of Christ. It's easily, it's easily changed
into a gospel that's not the gospel. All of us have heard
the example used. And I remember when I was growing
up in Tennessee, Miranda was talking about rats, hearing rats
outside. We had rats in our house. The
cats were afraid of the rats in our house. And we used to
put out rat bait, decon rat bait. And 2% of that was poison. 98% of it, you could eat it,
and it wouldn't hurt you. But you take that 2% poison and
mix it with that, and you eat it then, and it will kill you.
And that's what I'm saying about the gospel. Paul said they have
perverted the gospel. That means they've changed it
into something it's not. Secondly, how quickly we can
lose the gospel. You say, well, it's going to
take years, maybe a decade, but if we're not careful, we can
lose it. But Paul said, I marvel that you're so soon removed.
You're so soon removed. The gospel is the most difficult
thing in this world to maintain even among the churches. Where's
all the seven churches of Asia? They're gone. Where's the churches
that used to preach the gospel? It's gone. It's gone. You and
I have seen it, haven't we? How soon? How soon? Meditate
upon it, read it, study it, learn it, and don't ever forget it. Because we can lose it just that
quick. Thirdly, if we lose the gospel, if we allowed it to be
twisted and changed, what else do we lose? We don't just lose
the doctrine of the gospel, but what else do we lose? You say,
Bruce, how important is it that we maintain this gospel? Well, here's how important it
is, brothers and sisters. If we lose the gospel, we lose God.
If we leave the gospel, we leave the gracious presence of God.
I marvel that you're so soon removed from Him that called
you into the grace of God. Now, you and I have been told
in this day that there are people who are being saved who have
never heard of the grace of Christ. They're there in those situations
in foreign countries. God has never sent a preacher
to them. But we've been told that they believe in a God, and
they're doing the best they can, and even though they've never
heard the gospel of Jesus Christ, yet they're all right. They're
saved. Brothers and sisters, that's
not so. That's just not so. There is no salvation apart from
hearing and believing the gospel of the grace of Christ. If men
are all right, If men are looked upon and accepted of God who
has never heard the gospel, and yet they're saved without the
gospel, for God's sake, don't take the gospel to them. If a
man can be saved without the gospel, don't take it to him.
Don't preach it to him. But here's what the apostle tells
us. God is rich unto all that call
upon Him, whether He's a Jew or Gentile. But how can they
call upon Him whom they've never heard of? And how shall they
believe in Him until they've heard of Him? And how are they
going to hear of Him without a preacher? And how are they
going to preach except they be saved? As it is written, how
beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of those who preach
the gospel of peace and bring good tidings of good things. Ain't it so important that we
maintain the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ? Where the gospel
is believed, where it's loved, where it's known, God's gracious
presence is there. Where it's not believed, where
it's not known, there's only ignorance and darkness and judgment
to come and the wrath of God. Now that's so. And fourthly,
I want to remind you of this. The loss of the gospel is the
greatest trouble a soul can ever know. If we lose the gospel,
You think our souls are trouble now. Ain't this world full of
trouble? It's this trouble everywhere you look. There's trouble. All
of us have trouble. But there's no trouble that we'll
face, lack we'll face, if we lose the gospel. That's what
Paul said here. Which is not another, but there
be some that trouble you. They trouble your souls. They're
changing the gospel. They're taking the gospel away
from you. Brothers and sisters, for my part, if anybody comes
in this place and they try to change the gospel of the grace
of God, then you'll run them off. That may sound harsh, but we
will run them off. And if we can't run them off,
we'll leave ourselves. I cannot live without the gospel
of the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. I cannot live without
it. And God helping us, we will not live without it. Now, let's
come here to our text this morning, verse 10. Do I now persuade men
or God? Do I now seek to please men?
For if I yet please men, I should cease to be the servant of Christ,
is what he said. This word persuade, it's one
of those words that carries different meanings with it. One primary
meaning, but it branches out as you look at it. It means really
to teach. Do I now teach the things of
God? Amen. But it also means to convince
by teaching. I am persuaded that He's able to keep that which
I've committed to Him. It means to convince. I've been
convinced God has taught me, God has taught me that He's able
to keep that which I've committed to Him. And thirdly, it means
this, to pacify or to win over, conciliate by teaching. When those Pharisees told the
Roman soldiers that guarded the tomb, They said, you say that
the disciples came and gave you money. If this gets back to the
governor's ears, we'll persuade him and secure you. That means
we'll pacify him concerning you. So it means to teach, it means
to convince by teaching or to pacify or conciliate by teaching. And what it means here in our
text is just this. Do I teach the things of men,
or do I teach the things of God? And look there in verse 11 and
verse 12, and he answers that question, doesn't he? I assure
you, brother, that the gospel which was preached of me is not
after men. What did Paul preach? He didn't
preach the things of man, but he preached the things of God. In verse 10, Paul says this,
he proves, look at this, it's strange how he does this. He
proves he's teaching the things of God. And how does he prove
he's teaching the things of God? Because he said the content of
his message does not please man. It doesn't please the world.
And in the text that I read to you, first of all, 1 Thessalonians
2 verse 4, he said, We were allowed of God to be put in trust with
the gospel, even so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God
which trieth our hearts. Now isn't that, isn't this an
awful indictment against this world? Paul said, this is the
very way that we know that we're preaching the truth. Because
it does not please men. This is the way we know that
we are servants of Christ truly, because we do not please men
in what we are saying. Ain't that something? What we
say pleases God, but it displeases men. If I yet pleased men, there
was a time when Paul pleased men. How did he please men? When he preached free will. He
used to preach the power of a man's will. He said a man could do
right. A man could be holy if he just
would. He had the power to do it. He
preached man's wisdom. He said men could know God by
just searching Him out. You have the natural ability
to know God if you'll just search Him out. That's what he preached. It doesn't take a miracle of
grace for you to know God. You can discover Him yourself.
You can learn of Him, about Him yourself. He preached the righteousness
of man. He said, you've got the willpower. If you'll just do it, and you've
got the goodness within inside of you, if you'll just develop
it, You can obtain a righteousness with God that He'll accept you,
and you'll be saved. He preached men, and when men
heard Him preach, they were so well pleased with that, because
He preached men. But Paul says here, what I'm
teaching you now doesn't please men. Now he says, I'm the servant
of Christ. I preach something different
now, and what is it? Well, he tells us in verse 11,
I preach the gospel. It's the gospel of the grace
of Christ. And Paul said, when I preach man's ability and man's
merit, I please men. But now when I preach the grace
of Christ, they hate me. Ain't that amazing? Ain't that
a sad indictment against this world? To be displeased with God's law
is one thing, brothers and sisters, but to be displeased with the
gospel? That's worse, ain't it? For a man not to love God with
all of his heart, as the law commands him, and not to love
his neighbor as himself, as God commands him, that's bad enough.
For a man to despise that, but to despise mercy? To despise
the free grace of God in Christ? God comes to this world through
His gospel. He sends His preachers, and here's
what He said. Here's forgiveness for all your
sins. Here's righteousness that will
clothe the shame of your nakedness. Here's life eternal. Here's my
Holy Spirit. to teach you and comfort you,
to seal you to the dead redemption. And what does man say? Does he
bow his heart and receive this graciously and thankful for it? Why no? Paul said it displeases
him. It displeases him. And then we say the same thing
as Paul did. We have proof that you and I
are the servants of Christ. What proof do we have? The same
proof the Apostle Paul had. When we just please men, then
we can believe we are the servants of Christ. When all men speak
well of us, and they understand what we are saying, and they
are pleased with it, though they are dead in their sins, then
we will cease to be the servants of Christ. I remember when I
worked at a place years ago, Just a few years after the Lord
had saved me, I began to preach the gospel
to them. I just went around in the factory where I worked, and
I just preached the gospel to everybody. And it just stirred
all kinds of trouble up. All kinds of trouble. It amazed
me. I preached it to the Nazarenes. They got aggravated at me. I
preached it to the Baptists. They got aggravated at me. To
the Methodists. Everybody got aggravated and
there was just an uproar, a general uproar throughout that place
where I was working. And I got laid off. Got laid off for a
number of months. And went back to the place, to
the same men, and I was amazed at the peace and unity that they
had in that place. And when I started talking again,
here come trouble again. And at first I was confused about
this. At first I thought something
must be wrong until I seen that though the gospel is good news,
and though it meets all the needs that man has, I mean forgiveness
of sins, the greatest need, the eternal need that men have, yet
men will not have it. And they will not have it, brothers
and sisters, for this reason. The gospel is not of men, but
it's of God. That's the whole problem with
man. Do I preach the fames of men? No. If I did, men would have
it. They would receive it. But because
I preach the gospel of God, God is its author, therefore men
will not have it. If men could bring it down and
they could somehow become the author of it, if they could tweak
it and twist it and take a little from it and add a little to it
and make it their own, then they would receive it. The Lord Jesus
said, I am come in my Father's name and you receive me not. If I came, if another comes in
His own name, you'll receive Him. But you will not receive
Me. Why? Because I'm of God. And here's
the problem that men have with the gospel of the grace of Christ.
They will not receive it. They're not pleased to hear it.
And the whole problem is this. Man is such an enemy against
God. When he finds out it's from God,
he says, I'll have nothing to do with it. Ain't that an indictment
against this lost world? The nature of the gospel is proof
that it's of God and not of man. Now, why do I say that? The nature
of the gospel is proof that it's not of God, but it's not of man,
but of God. What do I mean with that? I mean
the gospel is of a spiritual nature. It's not of this world. It's of God. God is a spirit. It doesn't pertain to what we
know naturally, what we can learn naturally, or what you and I
can do naturally in the physical realm. This is what Paul talks
about here in verses 12 and verse 16. Look at verse 12 again. Here's
the first point I want to talk to you about. The gospel is of
a spiritual nature. What do you mean by that? Well,
look at verse 12. Paul said, I neither receive this gospel
of man, Neither was I taught it of man, but by the revelation
of Jesus Christ." Paul never sat under anybody to learn the
gospel. He received it by direct revelation. Peter never taught
him, John never taught him, or James, or no other man. Now here's
the difference between us and Paul. I'm teaching you this morning. Brother Glenn just taught us
in the Sunday school class. And as I open this text and preach
to you, you can hear what I'm saying with these ears. But here it is. If what I'm saying
gets past your ears and down into your heart, it's going to
take God to do that. That's what we call revelation. Revelation. You and I sat here this morning.
And we're mere men and women. And we can hear with our natural
ears, but if it ever gets into our hearts in a saving way, the
Holy Spirit must teach us. He must reveal this to us. The Apostle Paul prayed this
prayer for the Ephesian church. He said, I pray for you that
God would give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the
knowledge of Him. the eyes of your understanding
being enlightened that you may know. That's the difference between
the gospel and everything else. You can teach me in everything
else, but you can't teach me in saving life the gospel. It
has to be revealed to the heart. The Lord Jesus said this, it's
written in the prophets, and they shall all be taught of God. They shall all be taught of God. That's the nature of the gospel.
That's the nature of the gospel. You cannot learn it savingly
from a man. You can hear it, but to know
it savingly, it must be revealed to your heart by the Holy Spirit.
Now you can take a common man, you can take a common man, most
of us are common people, and you can tell that person, You're
really ignorant spiritually. You can just go right up to him
and talk to him and tell him. You're blind spiritually. You
can't see or know the things of God. He has to teach you. And usually the common man, he'll
acknowledge that because he's experienced something. He said,
well, that's so. I've experienced having to be
taught things. I don't learn very well, so I
know what it is to be taught. You're right. You're right. If
God don't teach me, I can't know. But you take a man that thinks
he knows something. You take a man that thinks he's
smart, and that nobody's going to teach him anything he can
learn on his own. You take that man and tell him
you're spiritually ignorant. You can't know the things of
God except PT. That man will be offended. His
wisdom will be offended. The very nature of the gospel,
listen now, the very nature of the gospel requires us to humble
ourselves and become as little children. And we say with David, Lord,
teach me. Lord, show me. Lord, open my
eyes that I may see. That's where the gospel brings
us to. Men don't like that. We don't
like that, do we? And here is where the gospel
is different from everything else. Not only does it not commend
our natural abilities, it doesn't come to us and say, I'm so proud
that you're a smart person. I'm so proud that you're able
to learn and to know and comprehend and to do. It doesn't come and
commend our natural abilities, but it utterly rejects them. And it says, I will destroy the
wisdom of the wise and bring to nothing the understanding
of the prudent. You can't know. That's what it
says. You're a fool. Without me you can do nothing.
You can know nothing. You are nothing. That's what
the gospel comes to us and tells us. The Gospel puts all of us
on the same level, rich and poor, educated and illiterate, old
and young, and it says this to us, become as little children. Come and set in as little children,
utterly dependent upon the Lord to open your understanding and
to teach you. Except you be converted and become
as little children, you cannot enter the Kingdom of God. That's the first thing, the nature
of the Gospel. The nature of it is spiritual.
The natural man can't receive it. We have to be taught of the
Holy Spirit. That's the nature of it. But
we have to go one step further, don't we? We can't stop there.
When we talk about the spiritual nature of the Gospel, we can't
stop there. Let me tell you what I'm saying
by way of an example. I've had people to tell me that
they're going to this particular church now, and they've really
been helped by going there. The congregation has helped them,
and they've learned so much, or they've said unto this particular
pastor, and he's helped them so much, and he's taught them
so many truths, and they've learned so many doctrines that they never
knew before. That's all good. That's all good. We bless the
Lord when that happens. But note this, the gospel does
more than just make us know certain truths. It's more than just making us
know certain doctrines or teachings of the Bible. But it makes a
person known to us. It does more than just reveal
the doctrines of the Scriptures. It reveals a person in the Scriptures. Look what he says here in verses
15 and 16. It's a good example of this.
See what he said? When it pleased God who separated
me from my mother's womb and called me by His grace, look
at this, to reveal His Son in me. That's the spiritual nature
of the Gospel. What does Paul mean by this?
God revealed His Son in me. Well, this reveal simply means
to take off the cover. To take off the cover. And here
Paul was, he was ignorant of the Lord Jesus Christ. As the
Son of God, he was filled with unbelief. And this ignorance
and unbelief was like this terrible thick cloud that covered his
heart. It brought darkness upon his
soul, and this covering caused him to do many awful things,
persecute the church of God and waste it. I thought to do many
things contrary to the name of Jesus Christ, and I did it, he
said. It made him do awful things. A covering was upon his heart,
and one day on the Damascus road, he was just living his life,
going about his sinful way. And God was pleased to reach
down and take that covering off of his soul, off of his heart.
That's what that word reveal means. And when God reached down
and took that awful covering of ignorance away, and that awful
covering of unbelief away, what did Paul see? Why, he said, I
saw Jesus Christ of Nazareth is the Son of God. He's the Son
of God. And not only is He the Son of
God, but He's the Lord of glory. And not only is He the Lord of
glory, but He loved me and gave Himself for me. Paul said, Here
I've been. They told me about this. And
he said, I despise that. I despise the name of Jesus of
Nazareth. I was trying to save myself,
earn my own righteousness before God. But he said, now I see that
this Lord of glory is indeed the Son of God, and He gave Himself
for my sins. Ain't that a wonderful revelation?
It just wasn't that he'd come to some revelations of truths. He came to a revelation of this
glorious Person, Jesus Christ, he said, is indeed the Son of
God. I know Him. I know Him for myself. Oh, he never got over that. All
the days he never got over that. Sometimes he explained it like
this. He said, God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness,
way back there in Genesis, when the darkness was upon the face
of the deep, God said, shine, and the light shined into that
darkness. Paul said, that's the way God
did me, and that's the way He's done us. Hasn't He lifted the
cover of ignorance and unbelief from your heart? And don't you
see Jesus Christ now as you never saw Him before? Paul said that's
the way it is. It's the revelation of a person.
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. A glorious revelation. And in
another place, he said this in Philippians 3. He said, I've
counted all laws for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus,
my Lord. What does it mean when God lifts
the coven and reveals His Son to our understanding? Oh, there's
nothing compared to it. It excels everything, all kinds
of knowledge. It's an excellent knowledge. of Him, the dear and blessed
Son of God. And listen to this verse over
in Hebrews chapter 8, verse 11. They shall not teach every man,
saying, Know the Lord, for all shall know Me from the least
to the greatest. You say, Bruce, I'm not an apostle.
Well, I'm not either. I'm no theologian and you're
not either. But He said the least would know Him. as well as the
greatest. That's the covenant blessing.
They shall all know Me from the least to the greatest. You may
be the least in the kingdom of God, but if you're in the kingdom
of God, He's lifted this covenant from your heart, and He's made
the Son of God real to you. You know Him. And knowing Him
has brought with it forgiveness of sins, the knowledge of life
eternal, and all things that pertain to it. They all shall
know Me from the least to the greatest, for I will be merciful
to their unrighteousness, and their sins and iniquities will
I remember no more." What does it mean to have Christ revealed
to you? It means all your sin is gone. What does it mean to
have Christ revealed to you as the Son of God? It means you
know you've obtained mercy. I will be merciful. Oh, what
a revelation this is. What a revelation. Bruce, if
the gospel of Christ's grace is so wonderful, why doesn't
it please this world? If it's so wonderful, and it
is, it's a revelation of the things of God to our hearts.
Forgiveness of sins, a righteousness to justify, acceptance with God. God is our everlasting Father.
Oh, the gospel is full of good news. Then why in the world does
it displease this world? Ain't that the mystery of iniquity?
Don't that show us how deceitful sin is? That the devil and sin
can so deceive this world, brothers and sisters, that that very thing
which is meant for their eternal good, they despise it. Despise their own salvation when
it's preached to them. And what does it come back to?
It comes back to this. It's because it's not of men,
but it's of God. The nature of the Gospel proves
to us it's of God, because God has to teach you the Gospel.
God has to reveal the Son to our hearts. And one last thing. One last thing is this. We find
it here in verses 13 and verse 14. First of all, men aren't
pleased with the gospel because it's God's gospel. It's not man's. It has to be revealed. It reveals
a person to us. It strips us of our natural wisdom,
of our own abilities, brings us down at the foot of the cross
as little children to be taught, all of us together. And it's
this, I think, I think this is something here in verse 13 and
verse 14, that displeases man. And this is something we find,
always find, when God brings us to himself by the gospel.
I mean, he brings us to repentance and faith, regenerates us and
gives us life. What does it bring out of us?
And this is the way it always does. It brings a confession
out of us that we were wrong before. Isn't that what Paul
was saying? In verse 13, you've heard of
my conversation in time past in the Jews' religion? Sure,
Paul, we've heard of that. Who hasn't heard of that? Everybody's
heard of that because you told everybody about it. When you
gave anything, you took your bugle and you blowed it so people
would know you gave it. When you prayed, you went out
on the street corner where everybody could see you. Everything you
did, you did to be seen of men. We've all heard of your conversation
in time past in the Jews' religion. Ain't that what he said? I, me,
my. That's what his whole life was
about. My strict lifestyle, he said. I lived holier than anybody. And oh, he could brag and boast
on it. But he comes down here to verse 6.15, he says, but...
He stops his bragging, doesn't he? Everything he said, I had.
All that I did was wrong. And all the time I was doing
it, I was lost. I was lost. It meant nothing. You know, one of the most difficult
things for some people to do is admit, I've been wrong. I've
been utterly wrong. I've been against God. And I tell you, when the Lord
brings us to Himself, and He opens our hearts to understand
Him and know Him, the first thing you're going to see is, everything
back there was wrong. It was wrong. I remember one
day, I was sitting there at the house and Brother Glenn called
me. Years ago. It's been years ago now, Glenn.
And Brother Glenn called me and he said, I'm lost. Remember that? I'm lost, he said. I said, you're
lost. He said, yeah, I'm lost. He said,
I'm going to go tell the church. I'm lost. This is when he was
going over there to another place. And I said, Glenn, why don't
you just confess it to the Lord? Just confess it to the Lord. Tell Him you're lost. See, you
don't have to come to me. You don't have to come to the
church. I don't know if there's any place here that when the
Lord brings you to Himself, you're going to get up and tell the
church, I've been lost, I've been wrong all these years, I've
been so ungodly wrong and deceived. You don't have to come and tell
me. But you'll tell Him. You'll tell Him. Paul was on
the Damascus road and everything he had done in the past was sinful. And boy, when the Lord opened
his heart there on the Damascus road and made himself real to
Paul's heart, he did not ever better that. Did not at all. And that's what men don't want
to turn loose of. They don't want to turn loose
of that. But I was baptized. I joined the church. I've given
half of my goods to feed the poor. All of that is nothing.
I have to let go of every bit of that? If you ever see Christ,
you will willingly let go of Him. You will willingly let go
of Him. There was a woman that came to
the Lord Jesus and she had this issue of blood. And she finally
pressed her way and touched Him and that issue was dried up and
she was healed. And the Lord turned around and
looked and said, Boy, everybody began to look
around. Not me, I didn't. And there that woman stood by
herself. And you know what she did? The Scripture says she came
and bowed down at His feet and told Him all the truth. And she wasn't going to tell
anybody she was bleeding. That's a personal thing with her. She
didn't go around announcing that to everybody. She was ashamed
of that. She was embarrassed of that. And she tried to hide
that. She was bleeding to death. But when she came to the Lord
Jesus, she confessed it to Him. You don't have to confess to
me you've been deceived. You don't have to confess to
me your ungodliness and your sin. But you'll own it to Him.
You'll own it to Him. And that's what Paul said. Look
over here at one last scripture. And he's very plain. Over just
to your right, in Philippians chapter 3, look at that. Look here. In Philippians chapter 3, Paul
was bragging about his former life when he was lost. Verse
5, he said, I was circumcised when I was eight days old. They
circumcised me. I mean, he started his religion
young, didn't he? If you're going to get started in religion, you
better get started young if you're going to try to earn your way
to heaven. He started when he was eight days old. His parents
said, we're going to prepare him for heaven and acceptance
with God. Let's circumcise him. I was of
the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin. I could trace my
lineage all the way back to Abraham's children and grandchildren. Hebrew
of the Hebrews, touching the law, I was of the strictest religion
this world has ever known. I maintained a religious lifestyle. I was a Pharisee. Concerning
zeal, I did everything I could and persecuted the church. Touching
the righteousness which is in the law, I was blameless, though
that word isn't verse 7. But what things were gained to
me, those I counted lost for Christ. You know why all those
things back there mean so much to people? That's their hope. That's their salvation. That's
their God. But when they see Christ, He's
everything. And those things become nothing.
And then Paul says, Yea, doubtless, I count all things lost for the
excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom
I have suffered the loss of all things. And I do count it but
done that I may win Christ and be found in Him." Be found in
Him. There's nothing like the gospel,
brothers and sisters. There's nothing like the gospel.
We first hear it, it may make us aggravated. And it gets in
our hearts and begins to stir there and makes us mad. Then
it begins to break us and makes us sad. Then after a while, we
throw up our hands and say, Lord, I'm lost. Have mercy on me. Save
me for Christ's sake. Do something for me for Christ's
sake. Give me Christ or I'll die. And then what happens? He lifts that veil. He lifts
that cover. And oh, we see the Lord Jesus.
We see ourselves accepted in Him. We see all our sins washed
away in His blood. And then He makes us glad. And
He makes us glad. That's the nature of the gospel,
isn't it? You say, Bruce, I don't get mad
when I hear the gospel. I love it. But you know the nature of it. You've been taught of God, haven't
you? That's why you love it. That's why it pleases you. Let's
pray.