I Corinthians chapter 9, I don't know of any servant of
Christ among the prophets or the apostles
in the New Testament that was clear in his understanding of
the gospel of the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. I don't know
of an apostle or a prophet or anyone in the Bible or the New
Testament that believed the gospel any more than the apostle Paul
believed it. And I don't know of anyone who
rejoiced in it more than he did. And I don't know of anyone who
was completely sold out, as we say. to the preaching of the
gospel. He labored more abundantly than
they all. And I don't know of anybody who
preached it with purer motives than this man, this great apostle. When the Lord met Saul of Tarsus
on the Damascus road and saved him, revealed himself to him,
from that day to the day of his death, This man sought nothing
above preaching the gospel of the grace of Jesus Christ, and
to keep his motives pure in doing so. Everywhere he went, these
false teachers and false apostles and false prophets followed him,
trying to undermine his authority as an apostle, and that's what
this chapter is about. He's not really an apostle. Those
apostles up at Jerusalem, they may well be apostles, but this
apostle who is the apostle of the Gentile, he's not an apostle
of Christ. And they sought to undermine
him. And he begins here in verse 1 and verse 2, and he calls them
to witness in their own conscience whether he's an apostle or not.
He says in verse 1, Am I not an apostle? Am I not free? Have I not seen Christ our Lord? Are not you my work in the Lord? If I be not an apostle unto others,
yea, doubtless I am to you. For the seal of my apostleship
are you in the Lord. He says, what state were you
in when you first heard the gospel? Were you not dead in trespasses
and sins when you first heard me take my text and preach from
it? Did God not call you to Christ
and to repentance and faith under my ministry? Were you not made
new creatures by my preaching? Did I not beget you through the
preaching of the gospel? If others say I'm no apostle,
you can't deny it. You can't deny it. And I tell
you, every God-called preacher can appeal to the consciences
of their congregation. Am I a preacher? Do I preach
the gospel? Don't ask me. Ask those who hear
me. Isn't that what the Master's
plea was? Has God Did something for you
through my preaching? That's what Paul said. And he
goes on in verse 3 and he says, my answer, my defense to them
that examine me is this, they accuse me, they interrogate me
whether or not I'm an apostle. Then he goes on here in beginning
in verse 4 all the way down through verse 14 and proves that he has
a right, just like all the other apostles and all the other preachers,
to be supported financially as a preacher and an apostle, to
be married to a wife just like Peter and the other apostles
are, but he's refused all of that. And the reason he refused
that is for the gospel's sake. Look what he says. Have we not
power to eat and to drink? And his meaning there is what
he says in verse 6, Are I only and part of us? Have we not power
to refrain from working? He said, Should you feed me?
Don't I have a right to be fed of you? Don't I have a right
to drink at your expense, live off of you? The other apostles
do that. They did, didn't they? Remember
in Acts chapter 6, Peter said, we don't have time to go out
and to do work on a public job. We don't have time even to wait
on tables. We've given ourselves to the
ministry, to preaching of God's Word, and you fellas support
us. And that's what they did, wasn't it? They supported. Paul
said, don't men, Barnabas, have a right to do that? And he says
there in verse 5, don't we have the right to lead about a sister,
a wife, as well as other apostles and as the brethren of the Lord
and Cephas? He said, don't me and Barnabas
have a right to marry and live the domestic life and all the
comforts of that, having a family and keeping a yard and keeping
the house? Don't we have a right to do that?
He said, Peter has that right and I do too. And he goes back
in verse 7 to tell where he gets this right, if he wanted to exercise
it. Who go up to warfare any time
at his own expense? You fellows that have been in
the army and went off to war, did you have to buy your own
uniform? Did you have to buy your own rifles and ammunition? Well, you didn't, did you? You
were in the service of your country and they provided you with that.
And Paul said it's the same way in service to Christ. We're in
His kingdom. And we don't go off and support
ourselves. We don't buy our own food. We
don't pay our own rent or house payment or car payment. Who does
that? People we preach to. We have
that right. Who plants a vineyard and eats
not of the fruit thereof, but who feeds a flock, eats not of
the milk thereof. See how these things as a man
are saith the law the same also. For it is written in the law
of Moses, You shall not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth
out the corn. Does God take fear of oxen? Or
saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes no doubt
this is written, that he that ploweth should plow in hope.
and that he that thresheth in hope should be partakers of his
hope. If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great
thing that we should reap your carnal things? If others be not
partakers of this power over you, are not we rather? Nevertheless,"
look at this, nevertheless, we have not used this right, this
power, but we suffer all things, we endure all things, we work
a public job. We've denied ourselves of the
domestic life. Why? Lest we should hinder the
gospel of Christ. And it goes on, verse 13. Do you not know that they which
minister about holy things live of the things of the temple?
They that wait of the altar are partakers with the altar. The
Levites, they lived upon gifts from the people. They took meat
from the altar of sacrifices. Even so hath the Lord ordained
that they who preach the gospel should live of the gospel." Then why didn't he do that? He said, you have the right,
I have the right. Why didn't he do that? Why didn't
he take money from this church? Why didn't he lead about a wife?
Why didn't he live the domestic life? the life of a family. Look in verse 15. But I have
used none of these things, neither have I written these things,
that it should be done unto me. For it were better for me to
die, than that any man should make my glory void. Paul said, I preach the gospel
for one reason. For one reason. Not to get your
support. not for some temporal advantage
on my part, but I preach it for one reason, and this is what
I glory in, he said. I preach it for the glory of
Jesus Christ Himself. I preach it for the good of lost
souls. Boy, I tell you, this applies
to all of us, doesn't it? Not just to the preachers, but
this applies to all of us. Happy is that believer. who can
say everything He does. He does it from a motive of God's
glory and for the good of those He does it for. And it has nothing
to do with temporal advantages. It has nothing to do to promote
Himself in any way. Paul said, I glory in that. Boy,
I do too, don't you? When you can set these Altair
motives aside, fleshly motives, vain motives, and do it all for
his glory. Oh, what a rejoicing that is
in a man's cup. Paul said, I'd rather die. I'd
rather die than for somebody to tell me, you're preaching
for gain. That's why he wouldn't take any
money from him. They went around and said, he's just preaching
for gain. I'm telling you, he's preaching for temporal advantage.
And Paul said, don't you offer me a dime because I won't take
it. I've got a right to it, but I
won't take it. I'll die first. Why don't you get married and
live a life like the apostles do? There's one reason I don't. The gospel. Look what he went
ahead to say in verse 19. For though I be free from all
men, Yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the
more." I'm free. I'm not in bondage to no man.
But I've become a slave to every man. In verse 20, he gives the
different types of people that he's a slave to. To the Jews,
I've become as a Jew. Why? That I might gain the Jews. To them that are under the law,
as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the
law. To them that are without law, the Gentiles, open and profane,
as without law, as long as it don't lead to sin, being not
without law to God, but under law to Christ. that I might gain
them that are without law. To the weak became I as weak,
that I might gain the weak. I have made all things to all
men, that I might by all means save some." And verse 23 says,
"...and this I do for the gospel's sake." Man, you talk about self-denial. You talk about setting his temporal
advantages aside. What pleased his flesh? He set
all of that aside and he said, everything I do now, I do for
the gospel's sake. Man, how we'd serve one another
better. How we'd serve the Lord better
if we had this man's motive. Everything. You know there's
nothing as important as the gospel. That's what he said. That's what
he said. Paul, you mean You mean you'll
compromise? I'll compromise on everything
as long as it's not sin. I'll compromise on everything
but the Gospel. And I'll compromise because nothing
is as important to me and as glorious to me as the Gospel
of Jesus Christ my Lord. If you have an opportunity to
move to Communist China, You got to know some of the neighbors
and the people there, and you had an opportunity to begin to
talk to them. What would you talk about? Would you talk about
the evils of communism? You guys got an awful, awful
government over here. You're a bunch of communists.
Would you talk about that? You wouldn't, would you? Why? There's something more important. There's something more important
than whether I'm an American or Russian. There's something
more important whether you're a Canadian or an African. There's
more important where we're free market people or socialists. There's something more important
that we want to live under a democracy as we are or a dictatorship. And what is it? Boy, we could get in a big discussion
around here, couldn't we, about whether we're union or anti-union.
We've got some of us that are union, some of us are almost
anti-union. Why don't we get on things like
that? There's something more important. What is it? The gospel. And this we do for the gospel's
sake. Man! What is it to preach the gospel?
Look what he says back up here in verse 16. For though I preach
the gospel, I have nothing to glory of, for necessity is laid
upon me. Yea, woe is unto me if I preach
not the gospel. I preach the gospel. He said
that twice. I preach the gospel. I preach
the gospel. Here's my question this morning.
What is the gospel? What does it mean to preach the
gospel? What was it that won this man's
heart? What was it that made the preaching
of the gospel to him the one thing that he gloried in, the
one thing that he did? What was it? What is it to preach
the gospel? Let me tell you in a nutshell,
it's this. To preach the gospel is to preach
the truth. That's it, isn't it? What is
it to preach the gospel? It's to preach the truth. Different times that statement
is made in Paul's epistles. The truth of the gospel. What is the gospel? We hear people
say all the time, don't we, they'll make a statement and they'll
say, now that's the gospel truth. What is it to preach the gospel
but to preach the truth? God will have all men to be saved
and come to the knowledge of the truth. That's what it is
to preach the gospel, is to preach the truth. First of all, it's to tell the
truth about God. Now, you think of this great
apostle. You think of this great apostle
and his goal, his aim, his desires, his motive was to preach the
gospel. You say, well, Paul, what do
you preach? What is it that's so enjoyable
to you? What is it that brings such glory
to you? Why do you deny everything? I'm
preaching the truth to tell me people the truth. The truth about
what? The truth about God. I want people
to know the truth of who God is. Well, everybody knows who
God is. Then why just shut up? Why not
just shut up? No, brothers and sisters. The
truth about God. The truth of who God is is calculated
to humble us, to remove all excuses that we have before Him, to bring
about a holy reverence of God in our hearts, and to bring this
stillness before Him. Be still and know that I am God. What is it about God that will
do this? What is it about the knowledge
of God that will cause us to reverence Him, that will cause
us to lay aside excuses, that will humble us before Him? Let
me give you three things, and you can find many, but let me
give you three things about God. First of all, Paul mentions it,
and let me quote it to you, in Romans chapter 1 and verse 20. For the invisible things of him
from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood
by the things that are made." Now listen, here's the first
thing about God. His eternal power and deity. His eternal power. What is the first thing about
God that will humble us? that has a tendency to grab our
attention and steal us and quieten us before Him. God is not like
us. God is eternal. From everlasting
to everlasting, He is God. We talk about our little children. We tell our little children about
God. And one of the first things they
ask is, where did God come from? Where did God come from? And
we tell them He came from no place. He's always been. And what does this do to them?
Well, you can see it in their faces. It humbles them. It quietens them. It stills them.
They can't grasp this about God. He's always been. But I was born! The world was made! But God... When the Lord appeared to Moses
down in the burning bush and said, you go down and tell Pharaoh
to let my people go, and Moses said, who do you want me to say
sent me? What's your name? And remember
what the Lord told him? I am that I am. I am today what I was yesterday,
and I'll be tomorrow what I am today. I am the eternal I Am,
the self-existent God, eternal power. I tell you, that may not
sound like much, but you can't get a hold of that. I tell you
what it does, it just tumbles you. Does anyone have a cough
drop to give poor little Elijah? He's going to cough till his
little throat. is all wrapped up. Maybe he gave him a piece of
candy or something. I've had that and I can't help it and
he can't either. Bless his heart. But listen to some Scripture. Listen to what the Lord told
Abraham in Genesis 21. Abraham planted a grove in Bathsheba
and called there on the name of the Lord the everlasting God. That's the knowledge that he
had. And he called on the everlasting God. Listen to what Deuteronomy
33, 27 says. The eternal God is your refuge,
and underneath are His everlasting arms. Everlasting arms. Listen to Psalm chapter 9 in
verse 2. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou
hast created the earth of the world, from everlasting to everlasting,
thou art God. That's the first thing. He is eternal power. And you know something? He has
never changed. If you go back before eternity,
there He is, the triune, eternal God, with as much power as He
has now. and all that He's made and all
that He's doing, He will never diminish from what He is. He is eternally the eternal power. That's amazing, ain't it? That's
amazing. There's nobody like Him. There's
nobody like God. The second thing, quickly, about
Him is this, and it's simply this, that God is holy. God is eternal. He's eternally
God. He's almighty. And God is holy. Until we come to the knowledge
of the truth of God being holy, I'll tell you what a man will
do. He'll live in his sins and he'll make excuses for doing
so. Even before God, he'll make excuses for doing so. We'll love
our sins and serve our sins and rest easy as we do it. And if somebody says anything
about it, we'll be offended. Until we come to the truth, until
we hear the truth that God is holy. I can't teach you that. I can teach it to you, but I
can't take that to your heart. I can't take that to my own heart.
I can read the Bible, you can preach that to me, but I tell
you this, when God brings us to the truth of His holiness,
we'll never be the same. It'll still us before Him. It'll
change our whole attitude about self, about God, about salvation,
about sin, when He shows us that He's holy. Listen to Habakkuk
chapter 2 and verse 20. The Lord is in His holy temple. Let all the earth keep silence
before Him. He's holy. He's holy. The knowledge of God. Paul said,
I preach the gospel. Paul, what is it to preach the
gospel? It's to preach the truth of who God is. That He's the
eternal God. All power is derived from Him. Nothing has come into being,
nothing moves, nothing continues, but at His power. There's no
power but of God. He's holy. He's holy. He can't look upon one sin, can
He? And He can see sin in us when we can't see it in ourselves.
He's of too pure eyes to behold iniquity. He cannot look upon
sin. He's pure. He's pure. The third
thing about God is this, and this is important, one of the
biggest deceptions of our day is this, that God is not free. God is free. You know, we have this concept
preached to us today that God is like some vending machine. And you just stop, and you've
got your four quarters, and you put something in the vending
machine, and you push a button, and all these wheels start turning,
and you get something out. But you have to put something
in before you get something out. Isn't that what people tell us
about God today? You'll get out of Him what you
put into Him. He just simply exists and lives
to respond to you. He even has these knee-jerk reactions. But it's all according to what
you do. Don't we hear that? God is on
the sidelines. Brother Larry said this morning,
even in creation, He started this thing with a little sail.
Then He stood back and watched it all evolve. And He's watching
man as he goes about his business. And He's hoping that somebody
will do something for him Somebody will put something into him so
he can respond. But he really can't do anything
until we first do something. He can't even save us. He dare
not violate our free wills. He's waiting on us to do something
so he can respond. Now, isn't that what we hear
about God? If you'll make the first step Charles Spurgeon said he believed
that man could take many steps. He said what he was concerned
about was that first one. He said, I'll believe that man
can take many steps if you'll show me where he takes the first
one. That's it, isn't it? That's it. What am I saying?
I'm saying this. God is a God of mercy. He's the Father of mercies. He's
a God of all grace. He's full of compassion. God is love. He is all of this. But He's free in that mercy. He's free to bestow grace upon
whom He wills. This is a knowledge of God that's
not being preached in our day. But brothers and sisters, it's
difficult to preach the gospel without preaching the truth that
God is free. Because He says, I'll have mercy
upon whom I will have mercy. I'll be gracious to whom I will
be gracious. I'll have compassion upon whom
I will. Hath not the potter power over
the clay? There's that word power again.
Everywhere you read in the Scriptures, that eternal power, that unchanging
power. God is free. We got ourselves
into this mess by our rebellious will. And the only way we're going
to get out of it is for God to be willing to save us. Now, that's it, isn't it? That's
it. And if you're here this morning
and He's called you, He's saved you, you know, you know that
you didn't take the first move. You didn't take the first step.
In sovereign grace and sovereign mercy, He came to you according
to His will. And He began a work in your heart. I'll tell you this truth produces
in the heart a sense of need of God. I need God. Here He is and He's
eternal. Look at Him. He's eternally different
than I am. Look how whole He is. And look
how free He is. I have no ties on Him. I don't
have Him over a barrel. I don't have any claims on Him.
I've sent everything away, but I need Him. I need His mercy. I need His grace. That's what
the preaching of God, the truth of who He is, produces in the
heart. What was all of this, people,
when the Lord was passing by? What was all these people doing,
crying out, Be merciful to me? What was that? publican in the
temple, crying out, beating up on his chest, God, be merciful
to me. They had something in the knowledge
of God, and I tell you what, He did humble them. He did silence
them. He did remove every excuse that
they had. Oh, God, be merciful to me. Lord, be merciful to me. God is going to give Himself
a great name, and the way He does is by putting our mouth
in the dust and realizing our need of Him. Secondly, what is it to preach
the gospel? It's to preach the truth concerning
man, is it not? How do you preach the gospel
without preaching the truth of who God is? How do you preach
the gospel without preaching the truth of who man is? You cannot, can you? You know
one of the most fearful things about us? You know one of the
most fearful things about our condition? It's not even that
there's none of us that's good. That's bad enough. There is none
good. No, not one. That's bad enough. It's not that
we have no righteousness. That's bad enough. There's none
righteous. It's not just that we've gone
astray. All of us, like Lord Sheehan,
have gone astray. We've turned everyone to his
own way. All of these things are bad in and of themselves.
But you know the most fearful thing about us by nature? Boy,
this is it. This is it. We hate God. Now Bruce, you wait a minute.
Now you confront men with this. You preach this to men, as the
Apostle Paul did. The carnal mind is at enmity
against God. That means it's hostile towards
God. You preach that to men, and if
the Lord don't take that to their heart and humble them with it,
you see how mad it makes them. Now listen, listen preacher.
I know I'm not what I want to be. And I know I could do better,
and I intend to someday. But don't you tell me I hate
God. I love Him. I don't love Him
like I should love Him, but I do love Him. You know what the Lord
Jesus said? He said, Light is coming to the
world. I am the light of the world,
and I've come, and men love darkness rather than light because their
deeds are evil. Those who hate the light, they
won't come to the light. Boy, I'll tell you what now.
I'll tell you what. We're in bad shape by night,
aren't we? I mean, we may have a right to be hateful and indifferent
and hate somebody else and hate people's way, but to
hate our Creator, To hate God who made us? But that's what
it is to preach the truth of the gospel, is to tell men what
they are. That's why Paul said, we pray
you in Christ's stead, be you reconciled to God. What does that mean? That means
you're at war with Him. And you come and pull all your
weapons up at his feet, right down at his feet, and you cease the warfare. You
cease the hatred of him. Thirdly is this, and quickly,
to preach the gospel is to tell the truth concerning the Lord
Jesus Christ. It's to preach the truth of the
Lord Jesus Christ. I used to go over to Danville,
Kentucky all the time when I drove a truck. And just this side of
Danville, there's a huge church billboard out in the field. And
it says on it, in huge letters, Jesus died for you. Won't you live for Him? What's that calculated to do?
Is that not calculated to win sympathy for Jesus? Can't you
sympathize with Him? It's almost like a pity for Him,
isn't it? Look at His kindness in dying
for you. Can't you do something for Him? Don't you pity Him? It looks upon him in his humanity
and sees no more in Christ than a mere man, than an example,
a martyr who died for the cause, who died that men may follow
him in his religion. A kind man, a loving man, but
just a man. Jesus. I know a family. Mom and Dad,
I knew the children, I knew the great-grandchildren, I knew the
great-grandchildren, I knew the whole family from start to bottom.
All of them were religious. Every one of them is religious.
They start them out when they're little tiny and they're religious.
And when they pray, when they talk, they never, I've never
heard them, 25 or so years, I've never heard of one in this whole
family address Jesus Christ the Lord as anything but Jesus. When they talk about Him, it's
Jesus. When they pray to Him, it's Jesus. Never Lord. Boy, that's a giveaway
right there. You just watch it. That's a dead
giveaway. No man can say that Jesus is
Lord but by the Holy Ghost. We can talk about Jesus and we'll become so familiar
with Him as a man, but when the Holy Ghost reveals Jesus as Lord,
I'll tell you what it'll do. It'll change our whole attitude
towards Him. You talk about submission to Him. You talk about vowing
to Him. You talk about adoring Him. You
talk about loving Him and believing in Him. It will change your whole
attitude towards Him. When the Holy Ghost reveals Him
to our hearts as Lord. I was thinking upon this yesterday
and today. And I kept thinking of this scripture
in Acts chapter 2, verse 36. where Peter was talking about
God raising Christ from the dead. And here's what he said about
it. Let all the house of Israel know
assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus. And that word
made, it means to declare. It doesn't mean to create there.
It means to declare. God has declared that same Jesus
who you crucified to be Lord. and Christ. He's God's servant. He's Christ. But He's the Lord. And everywhere we read about
Him in the Scriptures, He's the Lord. Remember when He came into
this world? Remember when the angels announced
His birth to those shepherds? There's born to you this day
in the city of David a Savior. And who is He? Christ the Lord. When He was a baby, He was the
Lord. You don't make Him Lord, do you?
He was Lord when He came. And the leper came to Him and
says, Lord, if You will, You can make me whole. And on the
cross of Calvary, in His dying hours, that thief addressed Him
as Lord. Lord, remember me when You come
into Your kingdom. And He's seated on the right
hand of the Father. And who is He? He's Lord. He's
Lord. And here's the wonderful thing
about this. Yes, He's a man. He's absolutely
a man. One hundred percent man. A holy man. A good man. A man who could suffer and who
could die. All of that is true and necessary.
but upon the cross of Calvary. He was more than a mere man.
Who was He? He was the Lord of glory. Paul said if they had known who
He was, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. And brothers and sisters, here's
what I'm getting at. You cannot preach the gospel
without preaching the truth of who Jesus Christ is. He's the Lord of glory. And upon
that cross, upon the cross of Calvary, you know what He was
doing there? He was meeting His covenant engagements. He wasn't taking a stab at putting
away sins. He wasn't trying to atone for
somebody's sins. He's the Lord. And when He set
His hand to do something, He did it. The prophet said, He
shall not fail nor be discouraged. Why? Because He is the Lord. How do we preach the gospel without
preaching Christ, the truth of who He is? He put sin away, did He not?
Because He's the Lord. He accomplished redemption because
He's the Lord. He is the Lord Jesus Christ. What must I do to be saved? Believe
on the Lord. Believe on the Lord and you shall
be saved. The fourth truth is this concerning
salvation. To preach the gospel, we must
preach the truth concerning salvation. What is salvation? Is it turning over a new leaf? One man, I heard one man say,
I woke up, what did he tell me? I asked him about his experience
and he said, well, I woke up one Sunday morning and said,
I want to start going to church today. And he said, I've been
going to church ever since. And to him, that was salvation.
To others, salvation is coming up front. To others, it's accepting
Christ as their personal Savior. To others, it's getting baptized
in water. To others, it's joining the church.
What is it to be saved? To preach the gospel is to tell
people the truth of what it is to be saved. First of all is
to tell people the truth of when they're saved. When is a man
saved? When the Lord saves him. What is salvation? It's not turning
over a new leaf. It's not remodeling yourself. It's not morality. What is salvation? It's a new life. It's life from the dead. It's having eternal life given
to you. I give unto you eternal life. It's a new life, isn't it? That's
what it is to be saved. It's not deciding for Jesus.
It's a revelation of Christ to the heart. It's knowing Him. This is life eternal that they
might know Thee, the only true God. Now, John chapter 9, the Lord
came to that man that he'd just given sight to that was born
blind, and he said, Do you believe in the Son of God? He said, Who
is He, Lord? I don't know who He is. If I
knew, I'd believe in Him. See what salvation is? It's coming to know somebody. It's not coming to see a system
of theology and how it all fits together. It's not knowing the
difference between Arminianism and Calvinism. Salvation is coming
to the saving knowledge of a person, the Lord. Do you believe on the
Son of God? Who is He that I might believe
on Him? I that speak unto you, I'm Him."
Lord, I believe. I believe. You can't believe
in a Christ that's not revealed. Remember the Samaritan woman?
She said, we've heard that Messiah comes. We've heard that He's
coming. I that speak unto you, I'm Him. That's it, isn't it? That's it.
On the Damascus road, the Lord saw Latartius down, and there
he lay, face down in the dust. And a voice speaking to him,
Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting my people? Who are you, Lord? I'm Jesus, whom thou persecutest.
That's salvation, brothers and sisters. That's salvation. It's a new life. It's a washing
from our sins. It's a coming to the knowledge
of the Lord Jesus Christ, to know Him. It's union with Him. And I tell you what, I tell you
what, when this happens, you'll be a new creature. You'll be
a new creature in Christ. I don't say you won't have difficulties.
I'll say you'll have plenty of difficulties. The battle has
just begun. But I'll tell you this, you'll
know Him. You'll have a new life. Woe is me, Paul said, if I preach
not the gospel. Necessity is laid upon me. Necessity is laid upon me. He
said, God has called me. The Lord has called me. It's
necessary. I've got no choice. It's not
optional whether I preach or not, he said. Necessity is laid
upon me. Woe is unto me if I preach not
the gospel. It's not enough to preach. I've
got to preach the gospel. Woe is unto me. If after He's
called me and I don't preach, woe be to me. Woe be to me. When I look at lost souls around
me and I don't tell them the truth about God, I don't tell
them the truth about their condition they're in. I don't tell them
the truth about the Savior and who He is and what He's done.
I don't tell them the truth about salvation. What must I do to
be saved? Woe is me. Woe is me. It's not optional, is it? The gospel. The gospel. Difficult to tell this to somebody. You say, Bruce, you've took a
lot of time. I have. But how do you tell this in 15 minutes?
You can't, can you? People get tired of you trying
to define these things, but that's how we come to the knowledge
of these things. Next time you go to a funeral, these fellows
get up there and mock about my dear grandmother up
there cleaning heaven. Isn't that what you said? Just
mark it down. Those guys have no fear of God
in their hearts. They have no reverence of God in their hearts.
And the reason they have it, they haven't had the truth preached
to them. They don't know the gospel. They
don't believe the gospel. Woe isn't to us if we preach
not the gospel. Let's pray.