And now she's my family. Of course,
I'm speaking in the flesh, but I'm at home right here with my
brothers and sisters in Christ. So I'm excited to be here with
you this morning. Wish I could be here a lot. But
I know you are with us there in Mexico and your prayers. And
we also pray for you. Give thanks to the Lord for you.
This morning, I want us to open our Bibles to the book of Acts. Brother, I was asked me, what's your title? I told him ditto. Just put the
title ditto. But that's not right. Although
you will hear a lot of the same, and of course that's comforting,
but you'll hear a lot of the same outline. So you'd have thought
we were together last night or this week that we were together,
just writing down each other's notes. Of course, we did talk,
so I'm sure some of this will come out. So, open your Bibles
there with me to Acts chapter 11. And by way of introduction,
my text is going to be in verse 19. But by way of introduction,
I would remind every one of us that the purpose our Lord Jesus
Christ leaves us, his children, in this world after he has revealed
himself to us, calls us to be born of the spirit, new creatures. The purpose he leaves us in this
world is that we are to be witnesses unto him. His church is a witness,
a light, a candlestick, witness unto the Lord Jesus Christ. This
is what he said to the disciples when he was raised, ascended
on high. He said, you shall be witnesses
unto me in Jerusalem, in Judea, all over the world, you're going
to be witnesses of me. So as long as the Lord as us
in this world, we're going to be witnesses. That's the purpose. The only purpose or the, could
I say, the reason for the existence of the church of the Lord Jesus
Christ is because, I shouldn't say existence, the reason for
it remaining here on the earth is that the Lord still has his
sheep. And he has purposed to save his people by the preaching
of the gospel. And he's commanded us to go forth
into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. You shall be witnesses. When
you receive power after the Holy Ghost has come upon you, you
shall be witnesses unto me. And, you know, the Lord has his
people. I'm always just delighted to
discover once again how the Lord is not slack in power. His arms
are not short. And whether He will send a man
to another country or He'll send another man to that country,
He's going to make His gospel cross the path of His people.
He knows where they're at. They're in the world and they're
lost, but they're His sheep that are lost, and He knows exactly
where they are. And when the time of love comes,
He'll send the messenger, and He'll cross the path, and He'll
bring that one to Himself. That's the means by which God
saves his people. Please God through the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. Now, Acts chapter 11. Verse 19 is actually the continuation
of what is said. Maintain your place here in Acts
11. Verse 19 is where we're going to start, but it's actually the
continuation of chapter 8 verses 1 through 4. Acts 8, 1 through 4 and Saul
was consenting unto his death. That is the death of Stephen
and At that time, there was great persecution against the church,
which was at Jerusalem, and they were all scattered abroad throughout
the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. And devout
men carried Stephen to his burial and made great lamentation over
him. As for Saul, he made havoc of
the church, entering to every house and hailing men and women,
committed them to the prison. Therefore, they that were scattered
abroad went everywhere preaching the word. That's the title of
the message this morning. Those that were scattered abroad
went everywhere preaching the gospel of the Lord Jesus. Now, in Acts 11 again, Acts 11
and verse 19, I want to read these six verses,
19 through 24, and then I want us to see seven things, seven
things in these verses. Now they which were scattered
abroad upon the persecution that arose about Stephen traveled
as far as Phoenix. or in Cyprus and Antioch preaching
the word to none, but to the Jews only. You know, when the
Lord said to the disciples, go into all the world and preach
the gospel to every creature, they heard, go into the world
and preach the gospel to every Jew that's everywhere in the
world. And this is what is dealt with just prior to this, when
the Lord showed Peter that not to call unholy, that which he's
called, he's sanctified. You go and preach the gospel
to every creature. And that's what he's dealing
with just before this. When they were scattered abroad, they were
going about preaching the gospel only to the Jews. And it says here in verse 20,
and some of them, some of them were men of Cyprus and of Cyrene,
which when they were come to Antioch spake unto the Grecians
preaching the Lord Jesus. I will be using the literal translation,
but it's there. I was preaching this message
in Spanish and this is what it says in Spanish. They went preaching,
they went preaching the gospel of the Lord Jesus. Right here
it says, preaching the Lord Jesus. If you preach, you're preaching
the gospel. So I'm not adding anything to
it. That word preaching, by the way,
is the word evangelize, evangelio. So they went preaching the Lord
Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was
with them and a great number believed and turned unto the
Lord. Then tidings of these things
came to the ears of the church, which was at Jerusalem. And they
sent forth Barnabas, that he should go as far as Antioch.
But when he had come, when he came, and had seen the grace
of God was glad and exhorted them all that with purpose of
heart they should cleave unto the Lord. I want us to look at
seven things in these verses. First, I want us to see the content
of the gospel. I want us to see the authority
of the gospel, the witness or the testimony of the gospel,
the power of the gospel, the results of the gospel, the evidences
of the gospel, and the confirmation of the gospel. There's those
seven things. And I want us to go one by one. The first I want
us to look at is the content of the gospel. And I'm in verse
19, excuse me, verse 20, when it says, they came preaching,
the gospel, announcing the gospel of the Lord Jesus. Preaching
or announcing the gospel of the Lord Jesus. I'm speaking about
the content of the gospel. Now we know the gospel is the
person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Person and work of the
Lord Jesus Christ. But notice it does not say they
came preaching Jesus. Notice it does not say they came
preaching Jesus. There is no gospel apart from
the truth that Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God, the Word made
flesh, is Lord. There is no gospel apart from
the fact that He is the Lord. Now, we know that He is the Lord. by creation. He is God, equal
with God, the Father, God, the Son and God, the Holy Spirit.
These three are one. But we're talking about that
man. That man. That's bone of our
bone and flesh of our flesh, a man. That he is the Lord. There is no gospel, there is
no good news, but that this man who satisfied God, who went to
the cross and paid the sin debt of his people and satisfied God,
God is pleased with his sacrifice and God raised him from the dead
and declared him to be Lord. He earned that. That man. And you know, the Lord Jesus
Christ said this in chapter 17 of John. He said, as thou hast
given him power. As God, he has the power. But
God the Father, God gave that man, the Lord Jesus Christ, power
to give life to everyone that the Lord God gave him. So we're
not talking about a weak Jesus that wants to save and cannot
save. We're not talking about this
false. It's another Jesus. It's another
gospel. And there's no hope. This is
the good news of the gospel is the Lord ship of the Lord Jesus
Christ. He is the Lord. Acts 2, verse 34, it says, for
David is not ascended into the heavens, but he saith himself,
the Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou at my right hand until I
make thy foes thy footstool. Who are the foes of this man? Who are the foes of this man,
the Lord Jesus Christ? They are the foes of his bride. They are the foes of His church,
and all His enemies are put under His feet. Satan, death, sin,
hell, all, the last one will be death, but all of us put under
the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now that's good news. If you,
by reason of God's sovereign grace, have interest in the Lord
Jesus Christ and what He has done and who He is, it's good
news that He's Lord. It's good news that He is Lord.
Therefore, let all the house of Israel know, I'm reading in
Acts chapter two, verse 36. Let all the house of Israel know
assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus who man took
and it appeared he was weak. Oh, but he didn't raise a finger
to defend himself. No, they came and they said,
he said, who do you seek? And they said, Jesus. He said,
I am. They all fell back. They let
him get back up. Dustin himself said, who are
you looking for? Jesus, I'm he. And he willingly
went. It looked like it was weakness.
But in that moment, as he hung on the cross, in that time when Satan and all the forces of evil
bruised his heel, he crushed the head of Satan. Crushed the
head of Satan. That same Jesus, that assured
that God has made that same Jesus whom you have crucified, both
Lord and Christ. Oh, that's good news. The content
of the gospel then is the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus. We hear, thou shalt call his
name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. Well,
who are we going to... You know, this is what God said
to the angel, by the angel to... There are other people who call
their sons Joshua, Jehovah saved. But this is the name that God
gave to the Lord Jesus Christ. You'll call his name Jesus because
he, that one, is going to save his people from their sins. Anybody
else name their name Jesus? That doesn't mean anything. They shouldn't name their name
Jesus. And Mexico's full of Jesus. But there's only one who God
said, you name his name, Jesus, Jehovah saved, because he, by
his obedience, by his righteousness, by his blood, he's going to save
his people from their sins. There's no gospel apart from
the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, his work. He is Jesus. He is the eternal son of God
made flesh. He's the Christ of God. That
is the anointed one of God, the one God chose. He's the first
chosen, and we, his people, are chosen in him. But as Christ,
he is the one who reveals God to sinners, to his people. We have no knowledge of who God
is. In the fall, we lost all knowledge
of who God is. But God sent his son, and this
reveals himself to us. reveals the invisible God in
the face of Jesus Christ. By looking at the Lord Jesus
Christ, you're seeing the glory of God, the glory of God in the
face of Jesus Christ. He is the prophet of God, reveals
who God is, all his attributes in Christ Jesus. Prophet, priest
and king. He is the Christ of God. And
as Lord, as I've said already, He's always been Lord, but He
was, He who came into this world to do the will of God the Father,
after having obeyed and done the will of God the Father and
satisfied God, it said, God also has highly exalted Him and given
Him a name which is above every name. that at the name of Jesus
every knee shall bow, every tongue confess that He is the Lord. To the praise of God the Father.
That's the content of the gospel. His person and work. It's the
satisfaction. And you could just keep on and
on and on and on. You're never going to exhaust
the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I want us
to look at this little word, the word of authority. Remember
I said I was using the literal translation, because in Spanish
it's more literal. And as I was preparing the message,
I prepared the message in Spanish, and it says that little word
right there, of. And I thought, hey, that's the
word of. And I looked at it in English
in the King James, and it says, where's the of? Where's the of? Well, it's there. It's there. The gospel, you see, when you
preach the gospel, the gospel, the authority to preach the gospel
is the gospel of God. That's what I'm talking about.
The gospel. Preaching the authority of the
gospel is preaching what God says. The authority by which
we preach this message is, thus saith the Lord. Thus saith the
Holy Scriptures. In other words, when we come
preaching to you the good news that we're excited about, we're
not come preaching to you what we think. We've not followed
fables as we read there in the book of Peter. We're not following
fables. We're not following philosophies, thoughts of man. In fact, when
we hear thoughts of men, When we hear the thoughts of
men, we bring them to the Word of God and it rebukes those thoughts. It shows the vice in those thoughts
and we reject them. We reject them. No matter how
much man thinks, how high he thinks of God, if it's not what
God says, it's an idol. Do away with it. There's evil
in it. There's thought there's thought
men think, oh, this looks so good. It feels good and it looks
so good. If it's not the way God says
we are to come and worship him, it's idolatry. We'll worship.
Put it away. Our testimony, our testimony
is on the authority of the word of God. Apostle Paul says in
Romans chapter one and verse one, Paul, a servant of Jesus
Christ called to be an apostle separated unto the gospel of
God. Now it's the gospel of him because
it originates with him, but it's about him. It's about the Lord
Jesus Christ. The apostle Paul said to Timothy,
Timothy, you preach the word, preach the word. That's where
your authority comes from. As long as we're talking about
opinions, everybody has one. And I always like to think mine's
worth more than anybody else's. Aren't you the same way? I wouldn't
give anything for your opinion if you didn't think it was the
best one. If you gave me an opinion and said, well, I don't think
it's a good one, but I'm going to give it to you. Well, don't even bother. Well, we don't follow fables.
We follow the Word of God. 1 John 1 verse 5 says, This then... 1 John 1 verse 5. This then is the message. And
this text right here fits real well with my third
point about the witness of the testimony. This then is the message which
we have heard of Him. That's our authority. He said
it. The message we've heard of the
Lord Jesus Christ, which we have heard of Him and declared to
you. We don't have any right to twist
it, turn it, flip it upside down, give it the way He said it. We've
heard of Him and that's what we declare to you that God is
light. Well, there's a message right
there. We're darkness. He's light. God is light. And
in him, there is no darkness at all. And him is no darkness
at all. We declare unto you this message.
And we want you to believe. That's my third point. You know,
I'm going to give this one other text because I've got it down
in my notes. It says in Isaiah 8, 20, to the law and the testimony,
if they don't speak according to this word, if a man stands
up and doesn't speak according to what God says, it's because
he doesn't know what God says. If a man doesn't preach, the
sovereign election of God, the total depravity of man, the limited
atonement, the irresistible grace. And I don't mean like that. You
know I'm not meaning those terms. But if a man says, well, I believe
that those doctrines of grace, they say, but it doesn't come
out because the scriptures You have to purposely not say it
because it says it all through the scriptures. You have to purposely
skirt around and invent ways to not say it because it's so
clear. Just read it. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is blessed with all spiritual
and heavenly places, according as chosen us in Christ before
the foundation. You have to stumble over yourself
to not say it. But people say, I believe it,
but I don't preach it. Well, that's not so. That's not
so. They don't believe it. If you
don't hear him say it, they don't believe it. According to this
word, this is the message we heard of him and we declare to
you. Now, the witness of the testimony,
I'm looking back at that word, preaching, announcing the gospel. We just heard a wonderful definition
of witness. the witness of the gospel or
the testimony of the gospel. And I want us to consider this. They came testifying the gospel
of the Lord Jesus. Consider for a moment these believers. What was their situation? They
were running for their lives. They had just been kicked out
of their houses, their homes, and they were running for their
lives. And when they went to these new places, they were not
speaking about the bad news. You see what I'm saying? You
see where I'm going? They were not speaking, oh, woe is me.
I'm suffering all this persecution, though one might understand that. But you speak of that what you're
most excited about. This weekend, it seems like everything
that was talked about was that wedding. It was a good thing. We're excited about it. It was
good news. It was good news. But a believer
speaks about the good news of who Christ Jesus is, what He
has done for me. We heard it this way, it's the
subjective. how it affects me. The fact that he's sovereign
and chose a people, that's, that's objective. That's true. But it's
a different thing when he's chosen me, he's chosen me. Um, It's the good news. And then
we're not talking about, oh, what was mean? Someone said,
after I heard the good news, I haven't heard bad news. And
that's true. And that's true. If you think for a moment that
we are in God's kingdom, we ought to
be thankful. Start from right there, that
God has put us in his kingdom. Let us have the grace to serve
Him with thanksgiving. Thanksgiving. They were fleeing
for their life, yet the message they were speaking was good news.
They were speaking with joy and excitement in what they were
saying. In other words, whoever wants
to hear a person talk about good news with a sad face. You don't
believe them, do you? I got some good news. You wouldn't believe how good
these news are. I'm so happy. You don't believe me. But when
a person is excited about that message, it reflects. I'm not
telling you that Jesus Christ is the Savior. I'm telling you
He saved me from my sins. This is a fateful saying and
worthy of all acceptation. Jesus Christ came into the world
to save sinners. That's true. But the apostle
Paul said of whom I'm chief. I'm the chief of sinners and
he came to save me. He came to save me. He's not
only the Savior of sinners. But I am the center he came to
say. You know. It's speaking about. What you know. It's being a witness. It's being a witness. What do
you know? Don't tell me what you heard, although we hear the
gospel. Everyone must hear the gospel.
That's the means whereby God operates miraculously and gives
life to his people. But it must go from hearing the
word to the Lord doing that work and giving life. Now, I'm taking
too much time, so I won't have to hurry. I want to give you the example
of that man and the demoniac, the demoniac of the Gadara. And
the Lord came to that land of Gadara and he healed that man
and healed him in such a way that he was now in his right
mind and he was now clothed and he was now sitting at the feet
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the other people, they were
scared. They didn't know what that means, and they sure did
make a wrong petition. They said, you leave, and he
left. But that man, he said, I want to follow you. He wanted
to get in the boat with the Lord Jesus Christ and follow him.
And the Lord said to him, and I'm reading in Luke chapter 8,
now the man out of whom the devils were departed besought him that
he might be with him. But Jesus sent him away saying,
return unto thy own house, and show how great things God hath
done unto thee." What is it to you? Jesus Christ is the Savior of
sinners. Is that anything to you? I mean,
if we're going to just talk about lectures, you could just read
it. But that's not a witness. A witness
is someone who's telling you what they know, what they've
seen and what they've heard. Okay. Uh, and when we, you know, the apostles,
John, I didn't read this, but I want to just tell you this
in first John one, three, that's which we have seen and heard
declare we unto you that ye also may have fellowship with us.
In other words, When we witness, we don't witness with the view
that, well, I know you're not going to believe this. That's not right. The reason
I'm telling you is I want you to believe this. The fellowship
that the Lord has brought me into is the fellowship with God
the Father, and His fellowship is with the Son. And I want you
to be in this fellowship too. Ho, everyone that thirsteth,
come. Everybody come. Come. All right. It's good news. All the gospel is good news.
And, you know, all the doctrine of Christ is
good news. Sovereign election. That's good
news. If it weren't for God choosing the people, there would be no
self. I wouldn't choose him. And you
weren't choosing Him, you weren't seeking Him, and I wasn't either.
But God chose a people. That's good news. That's not
bad news. How about total depravity? That's bad news? Well, God came
to save sinners, so it's not bad news. If there's some bit
of good that man, as religion says, has, then therefore salvation
is dependent on some of that good that he has. Well, that's
not good news because nobody's going to be saved. I don't know
if that's coming out clear or not, but no one would be saved.
If salvation was a contribution between God and man, no one would
be saved. Total depravity is a good thing.
It says in Romans chapter 11, he concluded all under sin or
all under disobedience, talking about his people. And of course,
all human race concluded under sin, but he concluded all under
sin that he might have mercy upon all. That's a good thing.
The fall is a good thing because it's, it's representation in
Christ. We all could fall and we did
fall, but in excuse me, I said that backwards and Adam, we could
fall and we did fall, but in Christ, his people cannot fall. That's a good thing. Total depravity
is a good thing. Particular redemption. God knows
what He's going to do. He's not in heaven trying to
write people's name down, not knowing who's going to believe
and who's not going to believe. That's works. That's all works. God's
sovereign, irresistible, invincible grace that actually encompasses
salvation. It's not a leave it up to you. You know, the Lord didn't leave
His kingdom, the salvation of His people, He didn't leave it
in the will of Adam before he fell. He didn't even leave it
in the will of Adam before he fell. He's not going to leave
it in the will of man, fallen man. The Scripture says in Hebrews,
by the witch will we are sanctified by the offering of the body of
Christ once for all. It's by that will, that eternal
covenant of grace, Christ Jesus. Well, the next thing I want to
show there in Acts chapter 11, is the power of the gospel. And, uh, talked about the, uh, the content of the gospel, the
authority of the gospel, the witness of the gospel, and now the power of the gospel.
It says there in verse 21 and the hand of the Lord was
with him. The gospel is the power of God
into salvation, but it's not the eloquence. I can't say it. It's not the eloquence of men
speak in the gospel. It's not the ability of a man
to present the gospel in a logical order. It's the power of God. Men are born by the power of
God, by the will of God. The Holy Spirit takes the word
of God and blesses his word. And it's a miracle. It's a miracle
of God's grace. The preacher can't get any glory.
The sinner can't get any glory. Only God. Of God. Born of God. It's the power of
God. The hand of the Lord was with
them. All the efforts of man are futile. All the efforts of
man are futile if God, the Holy Spirit, does not bless his word. And this is why we pray that
the Lord would bless his word. Bless his word to our hearts.
If we're going to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord,
we're going to pray that the Lord bless his word to our heart,
bless his word, bless the pastor and preaching. Give him a message
for me. That's, that's a, that's the
best thing that a man coming to hear the gospel can do is
pray that God would give the man a message. How many people
are here? How many people have this need? They have a need. Everyone has
a need. And only the Lord, only the Spirit
of God can fulfill that need of everyone. It's not like the pastor has
a list here and he's like, okay, there's that need right there. He preaches the Word and it's
the Spirit of God that applies and makes it a blessing. and
gives His people peace, joy, comfort in the Word. It is the work of the Holy Spirit.
Our Lord said this, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man
be born of water and of spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom
of God. The Apostle Paul, speaking about
the work of the Holy Spirit, he says, We are bound to give
thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord,
because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through
sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth. The
Holy Spirit has to make that word effectual. It's of God. Wherein he called you by our
gospel. There's that subjective again.
It's the gospel of God. Paul calls it my gospel. And
I say, well, it's my gospel too, Paul. And it's your gospel. It's the gospel of your salvation
and the gospel in which you rejoice and you have hope. Well, that
is the power of the gospel, the Holy spirit and the results of
the gospel. We look here in verse 21, the
hand of the Lord was with them and the preaching of the gospel.
The hand of the Lord was with them in their persecution. The
hand of the Lord was with them in a great number, believed and
turned to the Lord. When God gives life, when God
gives life to his people, the evidence of that life is there
going to be two things, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and
repentance towards God. Those always go together. They
believed and turned unto the Lord. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
There is no salvation apart from faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now we're saved by the faith of Christ. That is his obedience. He, as a man, believed God. He,
as a man, obeyed God. He, as a man, established righteousness
here in the world. He, as a man, went to the cross
and paid. He made his sin, his soul, an
offering for sin, guiltiness. He paid. It's his faith, his
faithfulness. In Galatians chapter 2 and verse
16, we know that a man is not justified by the deeds of the
law. but by the faith of Christ. Knowing that a man is not justified
by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. Even we have believed in Jesus
Christ. No one is part saved apart from
believing in the Lord Jesus Christ and trusting him. And this is
why we preach the gospel. If you're going to believe in
the Lord Jesus Christ to be saved by the faith of Jesus Christ,
you're going to have to hear the gospel. It's what it says
in Romans 10. How are they going to believe
in him who they not heard? Believe the gospel. We are justified
by the faith of Jesus Christ. That says there. by the faith
of Jesus Christ, even we that have believed in Jesus Christ,
that we might be justified by the faith of Christ and not by
the works of the law, for by the works of the law shall no
flesh be justified. Well, there's evidences, evidences
of the work of the gospel. When the gospel is preached,
it's preached the power of God, We know the person and work of
the Lord Jesus Christ by the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ. With. A testimony, a witness
given witness. And then the power of the gospel,
the Holy Spirit, when God blesses, that word gives life and faith
and repentance are fruits. There's evidences. Notice there
in verse 6. No, that's not verse 6. That's
the 6th point. It's verse 22. Then tidings of these things
came into the ears of the church which were at Jerusalem. Tidings. And they sent forth Barnabas,
that he should go as far as Antioch. And when he came and had seen
the grace of God, The grace of God. When the gospel
is preached and the gospel, God blesses and gives life, the Lord
Jesus Christ's children are gonna wanna be like him. And though
we are sinners and we fall, the righteous fall at seven times,
that's all the time, but there's grace. And that grace can be
seen. Now, let me say this about this. You can only see grace where
grace is preached. All over the world, there are
a bunch of people who are getting together, smiling, acting like
they love one another, saying, smile, God loves you. But cross
them. Cross them and see what kind
of snakes come out. You know what I'm saying? But the grace
of God rules in the heart, rules in the believer. And where the
grace of God is preached, that's where you see the grace of God.
You don't see the grace of God, in other words, where you see
all this pretend, that's what it is, pretend. You see all this
pretend joy, that's what it is, pretend joy. Man is capable of
doing it, likes to do it, thrives at doing it. It's appearances
is what it's called. They love to whitewash the sepulcher,
but inside, full of dead man's bones. No love, no love for Christ,
no love for his people. There's no grace. But the grace
of God teaches us to be kind to one another, forgive one another,
even as God, for Christ's sake, forgave us. teaches us to love
one another with deep love. Not this, well, Anna,
you crossed me, I don't like you, but love, love as Christ
loved us. That's what the grace, and when
he came and he saw, and by the way, it takes the grace of God
to see the grace of God. It takes the grace of God to
see the grace of God. And anytime you get around some
people and they say they look so friendly and stuff, but if
they're not talking the grace of God, get out of the way. One
of these days is going to blow up. Get out of there. All right. The last thing, the
confirmation of the gospel. When he came and he saw the grace
of God, he was glad. He was glad. Aren't you glad
to go to a place where the grace of God is preached and you go
in and you just feel right at home? Where the Spirit of God
gives witness that you believe the same Lord, you have the same
hope, the same message, and you rejoice in the Lord Jesus Christ. We are the circumcision who worship
God in spirit, have no confidence, rejoice in Christ Jesus and have
no confidence in the flesh. He rejoiced, he was glad, and
exhorted them all that with purpose of heart they should cleave unto
the Lord. Now, the confirmation is this.
When a man who believes God and is sent of God goes to another
place where they preach the gospel, he didn't say, well, you know,
men, you didn't hear it from us. What you've got to do is
you've got to hear it from us. What you heard was not altogether
right because you've got to hear it from us. That's what a false
preacher does. That's what a false prophet does
trying to draw men after himself. Trying to draw men after himself.
But a man who preaches the gospel and he comes and he sees the
gospel is believed, the gospel is preached, he comes back and
he just puts another nail. That's it. That's the gospel.
Ask the gospel. That's confirmation that your
hearts may be grounded, settled, comforted, secure. This is the
gospel. This is the grace of God. This
is the only hope for sinners. You stand fast in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Don't be moved. You keep coming. That's what that word means.
It says that you should that they should. What purpose of heart? they should
cleave unto the Lord. In other words, what's the message?
Look unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. You keep
coming. You keep coming to the Lord Jesus.
That's the confirmation of the gospel. You know, the apostle
said there, Jude, speaking about those that they try to divide,
you know, the one, he said, they don't have the Spirit of God.
That's why they're trying to split people up. But God's people,
when they come and they hear the gospel, you rejoice. You
rejoice. Well, that's the seven things
there. We spoke of the authority of the gospel, the
power of the gospel, the witness of the gospel, the person and
work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And now I can't remember. There's
seven of them, but they're in the text. So just read it. There's there. Lord
bless you. Thank you for your love and support
for us.