Well, if you will turn with me
to John chapter 1, I will endeavor one more time while our minds
are fresh in thinking about the coming of Christ Jesus into this
world to tell you the story of Jesus. It is told throughout
the word of God and given in brief summaries in many, many
passages. Here is one of those passages
which gives in brief summary the story of the incarnation,
life, and birth, resurrection, glory of Jesus Christ our Savior. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning
with God. All things were made by him,
and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was
life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth
in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. There was
a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same came for a
witness to bear witness of the light, that all men through him
might believe. He was not that light, but was
sent to bear witness of that light. That was the true light,
which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was
in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew
him not. He came unto his own, and his
own received him not. But as many as received him,
to them gave he power, authority to become the sons of God. even
to them that believe on his name, which were born, not of blood,
nor of the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God. And the word was made flesh. He who is God eternal was made
flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld his glory, the
glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and truth. You may wonder, well, Don, why
tell this story? Why are you so insistent in continually
telling the story of Jesus Christ and his love? I tell the story
because this is the only reason I have for being here. I have no other purpose in being
in this world. I'm a preacher. And being a preacher,
everything else is subservient to that. Not just a preacher,
a preacher of the gospel of God's free grace. I won't every time
I preach, I'm determined every time I preach to tell this story
again. This is my message, I have no
other. Wherever I go, to whomsoever
I may preach, this is my message. It is my responsibility and my
delight. And I never tire of telling of
Jesus Christ and his love. Paul wrote to the Philippians
and he said, for me to write the same thing to you indeed
is not grievous, but for you it's safe. And for me to preach
the same thing to you is not grievous, is not irksome or burdensome,
but it's safe for you. I never tire of preaching Christ,
and I hope you never tire of hearing of him. Indeed, I know
this. You who believe, you who know
and love the Son of God, never tire of seeing his face. You never tire of hearing him
preached. The hymn writer put it this way,
I love to tell the story for those who know it best, seem
hungering and thirsting to hear it like the rest. You never get
tired of hearing about somebody you love. You never get tired
of seeing pictures of them, even when they're standing right beside
you. We had Faith and Doug Albany Grace over for a couple of days,
Friday and yesterday, we looked at pictures. Look at pictures
of that grandbaby and them with him standing right in the room,
looking with us. Oh, what silliness. No, we love them. Just show me
all pictures you can show me. Be all right. Doesn't matter
how old they are. Love to see them. We never tire
of looking at the pictures of those we love, and we never tire
of hearing somebody talk about them. Those who know and love
Christ never get tired of hearing about him. They never get tired
of seeing the pictures of Him given in Scripture. Never get
tired of hearing somebody talk about Him. Our sons and daughters,
you who are yet without Christ, you who sat here this morning
on the brink of eternity under the wrath of God, you need to
hear this story. It may be that God will be pleased
to bless it to your hearts and cause you to walk today in the
knowledge of him who is God incarnate. I know this, if ever God has
mercy on your soul, if ever God gives you light and salvation,
it will be because somebody told you this story. Faith comes by
hearing and hearing by the word of God. It is by the preaching
of the gospel that God gives light and life and faith to sinners,
causing them to live before him. And some of you are in your sunset
years. Some of us are getting a little
older. We're fixing to leave this world. And we need comfort. Nothing
comforts like the story of Christ crucified. We need strength,
and nothing strengthens like the message of Jesus Christ and
his redeeming love, mercy, and grace. We need assurance, and
nothing gives assurance like the knowledge of him. Our cold
hearts need reviving. Oh, my soul, how our cold hearts
need reviving. And nothing grants revival to
these cold hearts, James, like the fresh knowledge of him who
loved us and gave himself for us. I've been preaching the gospel
now for 33 years. And I'm going to tell you something.
I never have to look for something to preach. I don't ever spend my time on
Friday night and Saturday biting my nails wondering what am I
going to preach tomorrow. I just wonder where I'm going to preach it from. I don't ever
have to be concerned about what I'm going to preach. This is
my message. I don't ever look for something
new. I've preached in almost every English speaking country
in the world. And I've preached in a few that
don't speak our language. I've preached the length and
breadth of this country. I've preached to a lot of people
in a lot of places, in prisons and parlors, in hospitals and
hotels and houses and horse barns. I've preached in cow pastures,
tents, school houses, churches, large and small. I've preached
in parking lots, street corners, and storefronts to rich folks
and poor folks, educated folks and illiterate folks. I preached
to some of the upper crust and some of the crusty, but the message
is still the same. It's Jesus Christ and Him crucified,
nothing else. My concern when I sit down to
prepare a message is to know nothing among you save Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. I'll tell you what I do when
I prepare to preach. I'll tell you how I prepare. I seek a message
from God, and I sit down and start to write out my message,
and with everything I say, I may not always give it to you, but
I've got a ton of scripture references to which I'm referring all the
time I'm preaching, so that you see that everything being said
is right from this book, directly from the book. And I go over
what I've written down. And if somehow I missed it, if
somehow I missed making it clear, I go back and put it in. I put
in the message. The message of your absolute
ruin by the fall of Adam. The absolute necessity and efficacy
of redemption by the blood of Christ. And the glorious regenerating
work of God the Holy Spirit. Because these are the things
you've got to have. These are the things that are
the essence of true Christianity. My concern is to know nothing
among you say Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And I can't tell
you how many times I prepared a message and just threw it away
when I got done. Just threw it away. My wife didn't
even know I prepared it. Just threw it away. How come?
Because there wasn't enough Christ in it. And I'm not going to preach
it unless I preach Him. Now go into it. Such preaching is a mockery of
men's souls. Such preaching is of no use to
your soul. But what about all the complicated
moral, social, political, philosophical, theological controversies of
the day that trouble the minds of so many and leave it to trouble
those who are troubled by trivia? I'm not even concerned. I'm honestly
not even concerned. They just don't bother me. Such
trivia is insignificant to me. As for me and my house, the house
in which I am the father and the house of which I am pastor,
we will serve the Lord. In this place, in this place,
I make a few solemn promises to you. I make these promises
to you, so long as I have anything to do with this assembly, so
long as this man stands in this place as your pastor, we're not
going to engage in the silly nonsense that's gone on in the
whole religious world for the last month around us. You're
not going to come here and find somebody playing little, having
little Christmas plays so kids can dress up like angels and
learn how to be idolaters in custom. We're not going to have
little skits and programs so adults can get up and act like
silly little children on school play. I'm not going to entertain
your souls on the way to hell. It's not going to happen. Not
here. Not here. We're not going to play games
with men's souls. What are you going to do? We'll
worship God. And we'll worship God in spirit
and in truth. This place will be the place
where the word of God is set forth in clarity. We will rejoice
in Jesus Christ alone. We'll have no confidence in the
flesh. Well, how do you propose building the church of God? I
don't. That's not my responsibility, Mark. That's not my business. That's not my business. Well,
if you don't build, who will? God will. Our Lord said, I'll
build my church. I'll build it. Well, if he does
it, then you don't have to worry about programs and tricks and
gimmicks and skits and plays and bribery and compromise. That's
it. You got it. The Lord said, I'll
build my church. And how does he build it? By
the word. by the preaching of the gospel, by gold, silver,
and precious stones, and everything you build by the wood, hay, and
stubble of your creeds, confessions, and customs, you'll see burned.
Everything. Everything. I make this solemn
pledge to you. As often as we come together
in this place, no matter where we open the book, no matter at
what the season is, no matter what the reason is, Whether we
come for worship services, whether you come here to observe a wedding
and celebrate the union of a young couple in marriage, or whether
you come here to listen while we say goodbye to someone who's
left this world, believer or unbeliever, I make this promise
to you, you will hear the story of Jesus Christ and him crucified.
You'll hear that story. And if you don't hear it, don't
come listen. That's fair enough, isn't it?
Don't do it. Don't do it. The message of this
book, not a message, not the central message, not the dominant
message. The message of this book is Jesus
Christ and him crucified. You read Acts chapter 13 when
you go home. Sit down this afternoon and you read Acts chapter 13.
When Paul stood at Antioch, he summarized the whole of Old Testament
history. In Acts chapter 7, Stephen did
the same thing. Summarized the whole history
of the Bible. All the events in Israel's history. All the captivities, all the
judges, all the bondage, all the kings, all the deliverances.
And he said the whole message is Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
The whole message. It's all the book. This book
is all about Christ. So let me tell you the story.
I'll give it to you in six necessary points. Whenever you, if you
sit down to write a story, Sandy Gladfelter is a writer, she's
written several things. You sit down to write a story,
you've got to have these things. You've got to have them. You've
got to have a plot. If you don't know where you're going, you
can't tell a good story. You've got to have a plot. When you've
got the plot, you've got to have an introduction. You may not
call it that, but you've got to have some way to introduce the
story. When you have an introduction, then you get to the body of the
message. And after that, you come to a climax. Everything's
working up to a point. Everything coming to a point.
As somebody tells a good story, just have you sitting on the
edge of your seat, waiting until you get to the climax. And then you bring the
conclusion, wrap it all up, and then you give a message. Got
to have all those things. All right, here's the plot. It
begins back in eternity, before the world began, with this word
from God. God Almighty said, I will be
gracious. Exodus 33 19 I will be gracious
what a word he didn't have to be I Will be gracious to whom
I will be gracious You see God in free and sovereign grace Determined
before the world was that he would be gracious to some men
not to all men He is not gracious to all Not to all men, he does
not love all. Not to all men, he didn't send
his son to save all. He said, I will be gracious.
To who? I will be gracious. He declares
both his grace and his sovereignty in the distribution of his grace
to be his glory. That's the context in Exodus
33. Moses said, Lord, show me your glory. God said, all right,
stand back here, let me show you. I'll be gracious to whom
I will be gracious. That's God's glory. He's gracious
and He's sovereign. Ron, He's sovereign and He's
gracious. That's His glory. Nobody like
Him. Nobody like Him. But God's determination
to be gracious presents God Himself with a dilemma. Got a problem. Got a problem. Because this same
God said the soul that sinneth it shall die. In the very same
context he says I will by no means clear the guilty. He said
I will pardon your sin. I will not pardon your sin. That's
what he said. I will by no means clear the guilty. That's what
God said. He said the soul that sinneth it shall die. Well how
on this earth can God both be gracious and be absolutely just? How can you both forgive sin
and not forgive sin? How can you both pardon sin and
not pardon sin? And he found a ransom. This is
what he said. Listen to this. Job chapter 33. Deliver him from going down to
the pit. I have found a ransom. Now I
understand, I hope you do. God is infinite, incomprehensible. We cannot imagine God's election,
God's sovereign predestination, God's planning all things as
absolute, imminent, present acts of God because we're punitive
men. So we have to think in sequential
order. God doesn't do things in sequential
order according to our logic. Our logic is just the logic of
fallen, depraved, puny men. He simply condescends and speaks
of himself and his works in the language of a man to accommodate
our puny brains. So don't try to sit there and
say, first God did this, then God did that, then God did that.
God just did. He just did. He said, I will! And it was. That's exactly right,
as if it were already done. In fact, before the world began,
before he ever started anything, as far as God's will and purpose
and grace is concerned, it was already done from eternity, written
down in a book, sealed with seven seals, and that's what it says
in Revelation chapter 5. The book tells us that when God loved
us, He called us, He justified us, and He glorified us in Jesus
Christ. That's what the book says, Romans
chapter 8, verses 29 and 30. It's already done, already done. The book says that when God blessed
us in eternity with everlasting grace, He blessed us with all
spiritual blessings in Jesus Christ, Ephesians 1. The book
says He saved us before the world began. That's what the book says. Now, we didn't experience it.
We didn't know anything about it. But it was done in the mind
and purpose of God. That was his plot. Because God
found a way to be just and still justify your soul. Well, what
is that way? It's Jesus Christ, his darling
son. The Lord God said, I'll send
my son. And my son will assume human
flesh. all the world this past week,
this past month. had been made to know. Something
happened. Something happened. I stayed up late one night last
week, a week before, I forgot what it was now. I watched that
silly historic thing about in search of the real Jesus. Oh,
what nonsense men will go to in order to dispute the Scriptures.
What utter, utter ridiculous foolishness smart men will go
to in order to avoid the plain statements of Holy Scripture.
Let me tell you who he is. This one who is the real Jesus
is God Almighty who came in human flesh. And I don't care how much
maneuvering you do, I don't care how many books you read, I don't
care how many archeological digs you go on, I don't care how old
your shovel is, you're still going to be confronted with that
fact now and in judgment day. Jesus Christ is God incarnate. God incarnate. He is an absolute
imposter, a mocker, a deceiver, and you have no hope at all.
And this book's not true. And there's no such thing as
God. No alternative, Bill. That's just it. Either he is
or ain't. There's no in between ground.
Jesus Christ is God come to save. And the only way God can save
is if God himself assumes human flesh and lives in this world
in perfect righteousness as a man and then goes on to decalibrate
and is made to be sin as a substitute for sinners and bears in his
body our sins and the wrath of God for our sins to the full
satisfaction of justice and now God looks on his son and says
you're free He looks on his son and declares us to be the righteousness
of God in him, for whom he was made to be sin. That's the plots. The introduction to the story
is found in all the Old Testament scriptures. I won't try to go through all
the scriptures, but God determined before the world was who would
be saved, his elect. He determined before the world
was how they would be saved by the obedience of Christ unto
death. He determined before the world was what the security of
their salvation would be, and that is the resurrection glory
of Christ sitting on the throne of universal monarchy. And there
are no changes to be made. No changes to be made. Somebody
said, well, the way you preach man is not saved, not elect,
he can't be saved. Well, that's so. I don't see
what the problem is with that. Well, the way you put it, if
a man wasn't predestinated to eternal life, he can't be saved.
That's so. That's absolutely so. You can't be saved unless
God chooses to save you. You can't be saved unless God
calls you to Christ. Because you're dead in sins.
You're dead in trespasses and sins. Salvation's got to begin
with somebody's will and it's not yours. It begins with God's. Now, the introduction to the
whole story is found in the Old Testament Scriptures. This is
how Paul describes the gospel. The preaching of the gospel is
not the declaration that Jesus Christ died for sinners. That
is not gospel preaching. That is not gospel preaching.
No, sir. Well, what is preaching? That
Christ died for our sins. What does the book say? According
to the scriptures. And well until a man preaches
the death of Christ according to scripture, he's not preaching
the gospel. How did he die for our sins?
According to all the law of the Old Testament. According to all
the prophets. According to all the types. According
to all the pictures. According to all the ceremonies.
According to all the deliverances. What does that mean? The Lord
Jesus Christ died for our sins as a sacrifice lifted up to God
Almighty as the Old Testament sacrifices were upon the mercy
seat in the throne room of God Himself where the blood of Christ
makes effectual atonement for the sins of a chosen people.
You find me one place in the Old Testament, find me one place,
just one place, where there was ever a high priest to offer sacrifice
for anybody except the chosen people. Find me one place. Find
me one place where God Almighty received a sacrifice and yet
punished the sinner. Find me one place. Can you find
it? Oh no, preacher. We have to preach
the gospel then is to declare that Jesus Christ died for his
people according to the purpose of God and accomplished their
redemption. That's what the whole Old Testament
is all about. That's what the whole thing is
all about. So the Old Testament declares this. Redeemer is coming
a Redeemer is coming You remember how Abraham answered Isaac Isaac
looked up at him on Mount Moriah. He said father. We've got the
wood We got the fire for a burnt offering said where's the lamb?
Abraham had taught his boy well Isaac knew you can't worship
God without blood sacrifice. He knew you can't come to God
without atonement. Where's the lamb? Abraham said, my son, God
will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering. And he did. And he did. The Old Testament
says the Redeemer's coming. The full gospel says he came.
He did what the scripture said he'd do. Acts through the book
of Revelation says he's coming again. That's what the whole
book's all about. All right, now that's the introduction to
the story. Here's the body. Turn to Galatians chapter 4.
I want you to see this one. Galatians 4. Verse 4. When did Christ come? When the fullness of time was
come. You see it? When did he come? Right on time.
He always does. He always does. Right on time.
God sent forth his son, made of a woman. When did he come? In the fullness of time. Who
sent him? God the Father sent forth his son. Had he come? Made of a woman. Virgin born
son. made under the law, a man made
subject to the law not for himself but for us. Why did he come? What was his purpose? To redeem
them that were under the law. Christ came to redeem somebody,
to redeem sinners condemned before God. Well what's the result?
That we might receive the adoption of sons. This is what he did. The Lord Jesus Christ came here
to redeem somebody, and Ron he did. Somebody as a result of
his coming into this world, as a result of his death as the
sinner's substitute, shall receive the adoption of sons and be made
to cry, Abba Father. Oh baby, he will breathe into
you words of life and calls you to look to God this day as your
father through Jesus Christ the Lord. Now look at the climax
of it. Turn to John chapter 12. He came here for a purpose. He
came here moving to an end, moving to a climax, moving to a crescendo. When he stood on Mount Transfiguration,
Moses and Elijah stood with him and they talked to him according
to Luke 9.31 about the death, the deceased he should accomplish.
What strange words. The deceased he should accomplish
at Jerusalem. Who on earth ever accomplished
deceased? Whoever accomplished dying, God the Son, that's all. What did he do? He came here
to accomplish something in his death. John chapter 12, verse
31. The Lord Jesus says, now is the
judgment of this world. The word can be translated three
ways. Now is the crisis of this world. This, this is the turning
point of history. This is the climax. This, this
is the thing on which everything hinges. Whenever somebody's in
hospital and they're going through a critical, critical time, the
doctor will call the family in and he'll say, now this is the
crucial hour. This is the point of crisis.
If he makes it through tonight, he'll be all right. This is a
crucial hour. The death of Jesus Christ at
Calvary. is the crucial hour of the world's
history. Now is the crisis of this world. Here is the hinge upon which
all world history turns. Now is the condemnation, the
judgment of the world. When God judged sin in His Son
and declared His justice in the punishing of sin, God Almighty
condemns all men by condemning His Son. He condemns sin. But now also is the justification
of the world. Not all the world, obviously,
but the justification of God's elect throughout all the world.
There is therefore now, what does the book say? No condemnation
to them that are in Christ Jesus. How come? Because Paul, we were
condemned in him 2,000 years ago. God judged our sins in his
son 2,000 years ago. He will never judge our sins
in us. Now is the prince of this world cast out. Jesus Christ
has Satan in his hands. All but so. Don't ever imagine
that somehow, don't ever imagine that somehow Satan is a rival
to the Son of God. Jesus Christ holds him in his
hands. He bound him with a chain. He
can't wiggle without Christ's permission. He can't breathe
without his permission. He can't do anything without
his permission. He will only deceive where Christ lets him
deceive. He will only mock where Christ
lets him mock. He will only move where Christ
lets him move. He can't do anything without
Christ. And I, listen, if I be lifted up from the earth, will
draw all men unto me. When we were out here building
this building, Brother Pottser would take care to try to clean
up the nails, and he had a big magnet on the end of a stick.
And he'd walk around, just wave that magnet around, just wave
that magnet around. What doing? Picking up metal.
Just pick it up metal. Wherever the magnet would pass
over, metal would just jump out of the ground. It'd just jump
out and grab hold of that magnet. Or the magnet would grab hold
of it. Whichever way you want to look at it. And I'm telling you,
it is the preaching of Jesus Christ crucified that is God's
magnet to lay hold on the hearts of needy sinners and cause needy
sinners to lay hold on Him. I'll draw all men. Every kind from everywhere. His
elect scattered among all the nations of the world. His elect
scattered in every rank and society. I'll draw all men unto me. Now
here's the conclusion. It's good news. The gospel is
God's story. It's good news. I'm looking at
Steve Martin. God didn't send me here to give
you good advice. Preachers who give you good advice
just mock your soul. They just mock your soul. He
didn't send me here to give you good counsel. Preachers who just
give you good counsel mock your soul. God sent me here to tell
you good news. Are you interested in good news?
Here it is. It is finished. It's finished. It's finished. That means there's nothing for
you to put your hand on. Nothing for you to do. Nothing! Matter of fact, God says if you
pick up your tool on my altar, you polluted it and I'll kill
you. You put your hand on my sacrifice, I'll kill you. I'll
send you to hell. And I'm telling you, as long
as you imagine that somewhere your hand stood as God's ark,
you don't know him and you're on your way to hell. That's right. The gospel is good news. It's
finished. As God himself would have it,
Christ has accomplished redemption. Now here's the message. A story
is useless if it doesn't have a message. That's the reason
I hate the messages and the stories that come out of Hollywood. I
don't like what they're trying to tell me, and believe me, they're
trying to tell you something. If somebody writes a story, he's
trying to tell you something. He's not just reporting something,
he's trying to tell you something. He's got a message for you. Now
here's the message of the story of Jesus and his love. Turn to
John chapter 3, verse 35. loves the Son, and hath given
all things into his hands. Buddy-duddy, God Almighty wouldn't
even split your direction apart from his Son. That's right. Who does he love? He loves his
Son. And the only reason he loves you is because you're in his
Son. That's the only reason. Father loves his Son. And the
only reason you're in His Son is because He put you there.
The Father, this is my beloved Son in whom I'm well pleased.
And loving the Son, He's given all things into His hand. Jesus
Christ is God's Joseph. He put everything in Him. You
want something from God? Go to Joseph. He's sitting with the
reins of total monarchy in His hands. If you want anything from
God, you're going to get it from His Son. Read on. He that believeth
on the Son hath. I'm not stuttering, I said it
deliberately. Hath. If you believe, you've already
got it. Everlasting life. You couldn't believe unless he'd
given you life. He hath everlasting life. But what about those who don't
believe? He that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God hanging
over his head. Oh, God help you now to believe. Amen. All right, Ron, you come listen
to him, please.