Amen. Our only hope. I have two messages this morning,
one very brief, that I've been thinking about all week. After
reading a little article by author W. Pink, I'm going to throw it
out at you. Especially you young folks here,
I want you to think about it. Us old folk, we might be so old,
God's not going to give us any more faith. We don't believe
God very much, and maybe He's not going to give us an increase. Some of these days, hopefully,
God will raise up a young fellow someplace that reads verses like
this and is ready to believe something. And if He does, and
when He does, God will bless his heart. He'll start preaching
and folks may start listening. I sure hope so. Ephesians chapter
3 and verse 20, Now unto Him that is able, unto Him that is
able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think,
or I might add, more than we can even imagine, He's able to
do that for us. And they do it according to His
power that works in us. Man, isn't that something to
think about and desire and long for? You know, when it says here,
He is able, writing to the saints at Ephesus, He is able, it also
means that He's willing. He's willing. He didn't write
this to mock us. He didn't say, well, I'm able
to do this, but I'm not willing. He's able and He's willing. God
help us to lay hold of scriptures like this in our hearts and believe
them. I want you to turn with me to
2 Corinthians. We talk about the epistles of
Paul and the epistle of Peter and James and John and others. I want to talk to you this morning
about an epistle of Jesus Christ. an epistle of Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians chapter 3. There are some passages that
call out to be spoken of, broadcast and proclaimed over and over.
And this is one of those passages. It's so important. It gives all
the glory to God. Before we even start here, based
upon what I said before, all we need here in this church,
all any church needs, is the presence of the Lord. That's
all. His manifest presence, manifest
His glory, manifest His power, manifest His grace, and may God
cause it. while I'm still alive. I'd like
to witness that. I'd like to experience that.
I'd like to hear somebody preach and about 3,000 people pricked
in their hearts. I sure would. 2 Corinthians 3, verse 1. Paul writing to the church at
Corinth. This is his second letter. He said, Do we begin again to
commend ourselves? Or need we, as some others, epistles
of commendation to you, or letters of commendation from you? You, you at Corinth, you are
our epistle. You're written in our hearts,
known in red of all men. For as much as you are manifestly
declared, and here's the phrase, to be the epistle of Christ,
the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink,
but with the Spirit of the living God, not in tables of stone,
but in fleshly tables of the heart. And we trust, and such
trust have we through Christ to you. Not that we are sufficient
of ourselves, even to think anything of ourselves. But our sufficiency
is all of God. Remember what Christ said one
time to his apostles, without me, you can't do a thing. Someone has written and rightly
so, that without Christ, we are nothing, we have nothing, we
can do nothing. Without Christ, he's everything.
He's everything. I want to talk to you a few minutes
this morning about this epistle of Christ. Christ sits on his
throne and he's doing some writing. When men preach the gospel, Christ
is doing some writing, writing in men's hearts. I've been talking
to close friends over the ages and they say, have you ever heard
so and so, has he ever been to your church? I said, no. They
said, I'd recommend him. If you need to leave sometime
and need a supply, I'd recommend you hear that young man. And
that's happened a few times here. And that's what we're talking
about here. Recommending preachers. Paul
said, do I need to be recommended to you? Do I need letters of
recommendation from you? That's absurd. You people at
Corinth, you are my epistle. You're my recommendation, read
and known and spoken of of all men. So these people, Paul knowing
how these people were receiving men that had letters of recommendation
from other churches, other apostles, and sometimes the signatures
were forged. A man would come by and he'd
have a letter, a recommendation, you know, and it's signed Paul. Paul didn't write it. Paul had
nothing to do with it. Paul knowing how these people
gladly received such fellows. Gladly received them who had
been recommended by some important man, supposedly. He said, verse 1, must we commend
ourselves to you? Must I, who wrote the gospel
to you, commend myself to you? That's absurd. Me to you? I brought the gospel to you.
I came there determining not to preach anything but Christ
and Him crucified. Have you forgotten? You demand
letters. You require letters of recommendation
from us to you. That's so crazy, so absurd. Must I bring a letter to you
with some man's signature to commend myself to you? I don't need a letter to you,
to come to you. I don't need a letter from you
to go to others. He said, you are my letter. In verse 1, you are my letter. written in my heart. I have a letter of recommendation, and it's you. You. You want to know what kind of
ministry I have? Look at the fruits of it. Look at Corinth. Christ said, By their fruits
ye shall know them. These false prophets. Paul said,
look at the fruits of my ministry. They're at Corinth. They're at
Ephesus. You are written in my heart to
always love, to always pray for, and to speak of to others. You
are in our hearts, written in our hearts. Wherever we go, wherever
we are, You're written in our hearts, not with the pen of man,
but by the hand of God. The hand of God. Also, in verse
2, you are a letter known and read of all men. You study the
history of Korea, and it was a large city. And it was a wicked
city, full of violence and perversion of every kind. Let me show you
something. Look at the second chapter of
1 Corinthians. I mean, 6th chapter. Look at
his first letter, the 6th chapter. Paul went to this wicked, wicked,
wicked city full of darkness and superstition and wickedness
and vileness and perversion. And in verse 9, chapter 6, 1
Corinthians, Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit
the kingdom of God? Be not deceived, neither fornicators,
nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of
themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards,
nor revilers, nor extortioners shall ever inherit the kingdom
of God. And such were some of you. You were of that number. Some of you were wicked, and
vile, and perverse like that. But you are not anymore. You're
not anymore. You're washed. You're sanctified. You're justified in the name
of the Lord Jesus Christ by the Spirit of our God. That's what
they were. Now, if you look at 1 Corinthians
chapter 1 and verse 4, Paul said, I thank my God always on your
behalf for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ. God gave you grace. God gave
you grace, I thank God. That in everything ye are enriched
by Him in all utterance and all knowledge, even as the testimony
of Christ was confirmed in you, so that you come behind in no
guilt, waiting for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
what they are now. Faith is spoken of. serving God. They were ridiculed. They were abused. They were criticized. These people are now meeting
together to worship. They have no visible temple.
They just meet under a tree or by the lake in a man's house.
They have no visible temple. How can they worship, say, the
heathen? They have no visible altar. They had no visible sacrifices. How can they worship God? They
worshipped God in spirit and in truth. The only way He can
be worshipped. They had a testimony. They were
a letter. They were written, known and read of all men who
saw them or heard about them. They were an epistle of the Lord
Jesus Christ. What an amazing change God had
made in these men. Now they meet together in Christ's
name and worship the true God in spirit and in truth and wait
for Christ's return, waiting for Christ's return, waiting
for the end of their faith, the complete salvation of their souls,
waiting, waiting, hoping and waiting. Then in verse 3, manifestly,
That means openly declared to be the epistle of Christ. To be an epistle of Christ. Christ left behind no marble
monuments for men to worship, make idols out of. Men still argue today about the
place where his tomb was, and the little place where he was
born, and these places where he walked. They have places over
there where they say, this is a track of the Lord Jesus Christ. All these things. He left behind
nothing like that. He left no book. He left no letter,
he left no photograph behind for men to look at and to make
idols out of. Nothing by his own hand, but he left behind an everlasting
monument, a memorial, as a message for all the world to read and
learn His church, which is the pillar and ground of the truth.
His epistle, His church, His people, is written in their hearts,
an epistle of Christ. And all together they stand as
an epistle of Christ. Read them, look at them, watch
them, learn from them. They are pillar and ground of
the truth. What truth? Great is the mystery
of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh,
justified in the spirit, Priests in the world believed among the
Gentiles. I've left some of it out. Went
back to glory. That's what we preach. The testimony
of God's Son. Testimony of God concerning His
Son. That's the pillar and ground
of the truth. The church is a pillar and ground of that truth. The church is the light of the
world. The church is the salt of the earth. The Church and
every believer is an epistle of Christ, an epistle of Christ,
written by Him, written by Him, pillar and ground of the truth, the truth of His being, the truth
of His glorious work accomplished. the truth of His sovereign free
grace. In fact, all of it together is
a testimony of His grace. To the praise of the glory of
His grace is at the end of the Father's work in our redemption. To the praise of the glory of
His grace is at the end of the Son's work in accomplishing our
redemption. to the praise of the glory of
His grace is at the end of the Holy Spirit's work in bringing
us to Christ and sealing us in Him. Ephesians chapter 1. Manifestly an epistle of Christ. Christ has written this letter,
left this message. And as His people, we are that
message. This church here, gathered here
this morning, we are that message. We have a message for those who
look and those who hear. Let them read this letter. Let
them learn. Let them come to the light, the
truth. We are an epistle of Christ. But Paul said it was ministered
by us. Ministered by us. I like this. God used the Apostle Paul as
a pen in his hand to do his writing. Used the other apostles. Used
his preachers. He takes them up in his hand
as a pen and writes in men's hearts. Maybe some man has heard
the same thing over and over and over and one day he really
hears it. What makes a difference? God.
God did the writing that day. God wrote in his heart. Revelation
chapter 1 and verse 16. He holds in his hands the stars, the seven stars, which
are the messengers of the churches, he holds them in his hand. And
sometimes he's pleased to do some writing. But whether he
writes a message of grace in a man's heart or not, his words
shall never return unto him void. Never. And the preacher is never
unsuccessful. because he glorifies God in preaching
the gospel. His message unto God is the savor
of life unto life, death unto death, to the glory of God. To
the glory of God. By the power of the Spirit, Christ
did some writing in the hearts of these Corinthians. And you
know an old pen, and I say all the glory goes to God. You take
an old pen, And I have all forms, shapes, colors, sizes, and kinds
at home. Over the years I've received
pins in the mail and they want me to Buy some and advertise
and hand everybody in the church out one, you know. Advertise
the church, you know, to give them out to people. And I have a whole can full of those
things. All forms and shapes. But you
know, they're not worth a thing. They're useless. They can't write. They can't talk. They can't even
move by themselves. But when God takes a pen in His
hand, He does the writing. He gets the glory. Ministered by the apostles, but written by
Christ. Pens are absolutely useless unless
they're taken up and used. And only God can give the increase. Paul said, I can plan a polishing
water over and over and over. Only God can give the increase. I can preach my heart out, but
only God can give the increase. You can pray night and day, but
only God can give the increase. Acts chapter 2, while the Apostle
Peter was preaching, God did some writing in about 3,000 souls'
hearts. He wrote in about 3,000 hearts.
And they cried out, men and brethren, what are we going to do? What
can we do? We're guilty of the blood of
the Son of God. And it was written in their hearts.
It wasn't something they could dismiss, turn away from, forget,
ignore. It was written in their hearts.
What are we going to do? I remember an old Ethiopian one
time who was really interested in the gospel, learning about
God. Came all the way from Ethiopia
up to Jerusalem to learn about God. And on the way home, he
still hadn't learned about God, still didn't know God. And God
sent a preacher who joined him in his chariot and began telling
him about Isaiah 53. They hadn't gone very far, I
don't think. That man said, what keeps me from being baptized?
And Philip said, if you believe with all your heart. He said,
I sure do. I believe that Jesus of Nazareth is the Son of God.
They stopped and both of them walked down into the water and
he baptized them. And Philip went his way in Ethiopia
and went back to Ethiopia. God did some writing in his heart.
Do you remember out by the still waters one day? Some ladies met
to read the scriptures and talk about the scriptures. Worship
God the best they knew. Paul came by. Paul and Silas,
I believe it was. He began talking to them about
the Word of God. You know what the Bible says?
It says, God opened Lydia's heart and she attended unto the things
spoken by the Apostle Paul. God did some writing in her heart. God did. Writing in her heart. And then there's instances like
Nathan and David. God had something to tell David.
He sent Nathan. Told him a little parable, and
Nathan and old David said, Oh, such a man. He ought to be killed.
I'll kill him. Nathan pointed his finger at
him and said, You're the one. And he was broken before God.
Because God spoke. God's power. Then the Apostle Peter, Christ
had told him beforehand, said, before the cock crows, before
the rooster crows, you'll deny me three times. And he denied
Christ three times. Then he heard the rooster crow.
He saw Christ looking at him, and that broke his heart. God
spoke. There's a writing in his heart.
And I'll tell you, these words come alive when God uses them,
when God speaks through them. Try as one may, and men do try, but try as one may when God does
the writing, it cannot be ignored. It cannot
be erased. It cannot be blotted out. It's
there for time and eternity. Forever. Forever. It is impossible to erase it.
It's there to stay. Now that is what God does to each of His
people. And each of His people Every
one of his elect that's come to faith is an epistle of Christ. And all of his churches are an
epistle of Christ individually. What is it that God writes in
a man's heart, the heart of his elect? And he'll write these
things in the heart of every one of his elect without exception. I don't want to be too real,
particular, severe, but before I answer this question, let me
say this. I have met people down through
the ages who talk about when they got a hold of the truth.
They read Arminianism and they got a hold of Calvinism. They
got a hold of sovereign grace. Over and over they talk about
when they got a hold of the truth. That don't amount to anything.
If you got a hold of it, you can lay it down. Get a hold of
something else. And if you got a hold of it,
that's all there is to it. You can keep hold of it forever. It might not change you at all.
But what I'm talking about is when the truth gets a hold of
you. When God comes down through the truth, gets a hold of you,
speaks to your heart, talks to you, God Himself, through this
book, through some old preacher, through some old preacher. I
want to hear men talk about when God got a hold of them. When
God got a hold of them. When God does His writing, writing
the truth in men's hearts, the truth takes hold of a man, and
he can't ever get rid of it. It's there forever. He has an
anointing from the Holy One, and he knows some things. He
knows enough so that he can never be deceived by the free willers
and the worksmonger religionists. Never. That's an anointing from
the Holy One, and it changes him forever. He is a manifest
epistle of Christ and Christ's free grace. Now to the question,
what does God write in the heart of those whom he saves? You know
what this is. You know what I'm going to say
before I say it. Number one, the truth about God. Turn to
the 10th chapter of this epistle a minute, 2 Corinthians. Turn
to the 10th chapter just a minute and I'll show you, looking at
this from another angle. 2 Corinthians 10, verse 3. Though we walk in the flesh,
We do not war after the flesh. This is not a fleshly war, a
fleshly battle we're in. For the weapons of our warfare
are not carnal or fleshly, but they are mighty through God. That's the key, through God.
Mighty through God. Mighty to do what? Pulling down
of strongholds. What are these strongholds which
men hide in and take refuge in by nature? What are they? Well,
there are numerous and many. But listen to these, casting
down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth
itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity
every thought to the obedience of Christ. laying down before
Him, not making judgments from our
own minds, carnal mind, from the Word of God and the words
of Christ. The first thing God writes in
a man's heart is, is that He is sovereign over all people
and all things. He is God. He is God. The greatest absurdity of all
time. Now listen to me. I wrote this
down. I won't take it back. It's true. The greatest absurdity of all
time is that God cannot and does not do as He pleases. It's absurd
to think otherwise. He does do as he pleases. He
is absolutely sovereign, absolutely independent, and absolutely free. He does whatsoever he pleases. He does according to his will
in the armies of heaven among the inhabitants of this earth,
and none can question what he does. Job said, whatever his
soul desires, that's exactly what he does. He's God. He's
God. He's not trying to do this or
trying to do something or the other. He's God. He does what
He pleases. David said, why should the heathen
say, where now is your God? He said, I tell you, our God's
in the heavens. And He does what He pleases. In the heavens, in
the earth, in the sea, all deep places. He does what He pleases.
That's our God. There is none else. There's only
one. He does whatever He pleases as
the Creator, as the Sustainer, and as our Ruler and Savior,
He does what He pleases. To entertain the thought that
God cannot and does not do as He pleases is absurd. It's absurd. And if God has written this in
your heart, it's as if you've been to the potter's house. It's
not something to argue about. You know it. You know it. You know it. You lay down at
night, you know you're in God's hands. And you know if you're
awake in the morning, it's by God's will. And the second thing God writes
in the hearts of all His elect, guilty sinner, guilty sinner,
holy sovereign God, and guilty sinner. And this is not just
acquiescing to a doctrine of sin, man's sinfulness. When God does this writing, we
see ourselves in His light, not in the traditional light of the
church and the creeds and the confessions, but in God's light. You read Isaiah chapter 1 and
verse 6 and say, Oh God, that's me. You read Jeremiah where he said
the heart is deceitful above all things and incurably wicked. Oh man, oh man, that's me. ungodly, without strength by
nature, dead in trespasses and in sins. That's me. In the flesh,
that's me. And my friend, this is reality.
It's not just conjecture. It's not just a doctrine. It's
real. And this creates in our hearts
a desperate need of a Savior, of a substitute, of one to stand
for us, of one to answer unto God for us. And God showed us
that too. Jesus Christ's life and death
for lost, guilty sinners. By the Spirit, by God the Spirit
writing, making the application in their
hearts. We see and understand and believe
and know. And know. I know who God is. As I stand before God, I shall know
who God is. I know who He is right now. And
I know who and what I am. No doubt about that. I live with
that truth day in and day out. And I know who Christ Jesus is.
And I know what He accomplished for His people. That He came into this world
for His people. That He arose every morning for
His people. He obeyed the law every day to
glorify God for His people. And He laid down His life for
His people. Spurgeon said, a selfless man. We are all selfish by nature,
but Christ wasn't. He was selfless. He didn't do
anything for himself. You study the Gospels thoroughly,
and you'll never find that he performed one miracle for his
own personal benefit, pleasure, or need. Every miracle he performed
was for somebody else, those in need. Selfless person. He lived for 33 years and a little
better. He lived perfectly before God.
God was satisfied. He lived for me. And that's good enough. I can't
trust my life, but I sure can trust His. God said it's good,
and I say it's good. And I'm satisfied. Then he died
on that cross. God took all of my sin, all of
my guilt, and laid it on Him, and charged it to Him, and made
His soul to be an offering for sin. Oh. And then God turned His back
on him. and the severity of justice took
over. In all of its unrelieved intensity,
the curse of the law fell on him, and he suffered hell that I deserved. What a Savior! He was made to
be seen with my sin, sins of His people. He bore them, and
they were purged and put away. Purged and put away. Never to
be remembered against us again. And this is a reality too. If
I didn't have this reality, I couldn't stand to live with the other
two things. To know who God is and know what I am and not have
Christ, I couldn't stand it. I could not stand it. Because I know what I deserve.
And it may come at any time if I don't have Christ. And He gives salvation to His
people absolutely free. absolutely free,
therefore being justified freely by His grace through the redemption
that's in Christ Jesus, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation,
satisfaction through His blood. We're justified through faith
in Him, faith in Him, He is the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believeth. Faith is generated through God
writing in the heart. Faith cometh, it's a gift of
God, cometh by hearing God's Word, God writing in the heart.
Faith sees and faith understands. Faith believes. And faith knows. True faith. This is reality. And when my faith gets to wavering
a little bit, I just turn back and read it again. Read it again. Built on the Word of God. Faith
cometh by hearing. Keep hearing. Keep breathing.
Faith cometh. Faith coming. Men are justified
and sanctified, set apart by the truth. They are made to be
in the short word and epistle of Christ. He writes in their
hearts. If you talk to these people,
they talk to you about the glory of God. The glorious free grace
of God. The sinfulness of man. and free salvation. That's what
they all speak about. They all sing, Amazing Grace,
how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was
lost, but now I'm found. I was blind as a bat, but grace
gives me eyes to see. May God bless these words to
every heart. And I would close by asking this
question. Has God done some writing in
your heart? Has God done some writing in
your heart? Do you live with the reality
of who God is? That holy one. Holy, holy, holy. And do you live with the knowledge
of what you are before God? And do you see the Savior? Do
you see the Savior? Paul said, I know whom I have
believed. And I'm persuaded that He's able
to keep that which I've committed unto Him against that day. Committed unto Him. If you've
heard, you understand, and you believe, you will gladly commit
yourself to Him. Because He is all of salvation.
God bless you.