Good evening to everyone. It
is my honor and privilege to be with you. So many friends
that I've known for so long. And it's a family, isn't it?
We're the same household, fellow citizens with the saints of the
household of God. We're born of the Father. We
have one Father. We've been adopted into the family
of God. What a privilege, what a privilege
God has given us to assemble this evening. Take his word,
read his word. and how to bring a gospel message. Take your Bible and let's turn
to Ephesians chapter 2. Ephesians chapter 2 and I'll
make a reference here to Ephesians chapter 3 and some other places
here in the book of Ephesians. But let me make this When Brother
Gabe asked me to come and bring a message to you, my thoughts
went back over the years that we have been
coming here. No place I'd rather be than to
be here with you this evening and to worship our great God
and Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is truly our great God and
Savior. There's no other. You read Isaiah
45, Isaiah 46, and he says over and over, seven times, I am God,
beside me there is no other, there is no other. Don't look
anywhere else. He's the only just God and Savior. He's the only one that can save
such a sinner as I am and as we are. It takes the almighty
power of God to raise a dead man and give him life in Christ
Jesus. And that's what salvation is.
It's just not reformation. It's a new creature. It's being
raised from the dead. You have the quickened who were
dead. It says that here in Ephesians chapter two, verse one. You have
the quickened who were dead in trespasses and in sin. So let me get on with my business
here. 19 years ago this month, 19 years
ago this month, September 10th, 19 years ago this month, we came
to Kingsport the first time to preach the gospel. Someone said to me who lived
in this area when they heard that we're gonna come here and
preach the gospel and seeking the Lord's will in establishing
gospel ministry. Someone here in the area said
to me personally, he said, we don't need any more churches
in Kingsport. And I agreed with him. I said,
we don't need any more churches in Kingsport. I noticed coming
out Rock Springs Road, four churches. This is the only gospel church
in the city of Kingsport that I know of, so we don't need any
more churches. We have plenty of churches in
this town and every town, but what we need is a congregation
that's settled and grounded in the word of truth that's determined
to preach Christ and Him crucified as all of our salvation, as all
of our salvation. The Lord was pleased to do that,
to raise up this gospel ministry. I'm so thankful, so thankful. We started meeting in a school
room on Sunday afternoon, about three o'clock. I would preach
there in Zebulon and Pike County, and I'd jump in my truck and
drive up here. And we'd stop and get a bite
to eat. We'd meet each Sunday afternoon
at three o'clock. I would drive up and preach the
gospel the best I could. And then the Lord was pleased.
We stayed there for, I don't know, a year or so. The Lord
was pleased to give us a storefront over on East Sullivan Avenue,
East Sullivan Street. And we continued there for about
three years, something like that. And we met there, started meeting
there at 6 p.m. And I thought, well, that's a
blessing. I've got three more hours. Don't
have to be here at three o'clock, I can be here at six o'clock.
And so we came and we preached and preached and preached. And
then we purchased a building there on Yadkin Street and met
there for several years. We drove up each week and preached
the gospels of people who would come and desire to hear the message
of salvation, uncompromising message of God's sovereign saving
grace. Unwavering, not compromising
to get along. Now we have this beautiful building
here. What a treasure. What a treasure. Rock Springs
Road. Rock Springs Road. I always thought
the city of Kings-Port was a fit place to have a gospel church.
Originally, it was named King's Boat Yard after a man by the
name of William King. Later, it was shortened to King's
Port. King's Port. But this is the
King City. The king of kings, this is his
city, with a port. A port is where you unload goods,
right? And in king's port, the good news of the gospel had been
delivered and unloaded for the last 19 years. I'm so happy. I could weep with joy. Now we're
located on Rock Springs Road. You ever think about that? I used to work on a cattle ranch
near Rock Springs, Wyoming. And when they moved here to Rock
Springs, and we found this building, and I came and looked at it,
and oh, man. So happy. Rock Springs Road,
another fit place to have a gospel church, where the gospel of God
flows out from the Rock of Ages, the Lord Jesus Christ. Rock Springs
Road. The rock of ages, the Lord Jesus
Christ, and out of him springs a water of life in Christ Jesus. A well of water springing up
into everlasting life. We prayed as I would come for
six years. I drove up each Sunday evening. And we prayed that the Lord would
send the gospel preacher to fill the pulpit, to feed the sheep,
And our prayer was answered. And he sent our dear brother.
Brother, and I love his name. I asked your daddy what your
whole name was. Gabriel David. David was a man
after God's own heart. Gabriel was the messenger sent
to Mary and Joseph to announce, call his name Jesus. He shall
save his people from their sins. He shall be great, shall be called
the son of the highest. The Lord God shall give unto
him the throne of David. He shall reign over the house
of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end.
That was the messenger to Joseph and Mary that day. Our dear brother,
Gabriel, has sent a message. He's been given a message from
God. God sent him to preach the gospel of good news, the Lord
Jesus Christ. I'm so thankful. I'm so thankful. I know you are too. This is the
first time I've been here in this finished building, but every
Sunday evening I sit in my easy chair at home and I Watch on
sermon audio. I'm thankful for that ministry.
Brother Gabe faithfully preaches the gospel here every service.
He faithfully sets forth the person and work of the Lord Jesus
Christ. A messenger sent from heaven.
His name is Gabriel. Brother Henry would often tell
us The greatest blessing any city can have is a God-called,
God-sent gospel preacher. It's not a big factory. It's
not the economic development. What is needful in any city and
the biggest blessing given to any city is a gospel preacher
sent of God, a man after God's own heart. What a blessing, what
a blessing. Now I've stood behind this pulpit
many times. This pulpit right here. A pulpit of wood. I've stood
behind this pulpit many times. It's been a traveling pulpit
from Sullivan Street to Yadkin Street, now here on Rock Springs
Road. But this is the first time for
me to stand behind this pulpit here in this building. I found out something about this
pulpit that I didn't know. You might not know it either.
Maybe you do. That's okay. But I found out
something about this pulpit. Brother Tony Moody told me something,
a story about this pulpit. Dwight and Irene, they know what
the story is. They were shopping in a yard
sale 20 years ago, maybe longer. And they saw this. Pulpit. And they come to agreement. Now, this is years before we
started coming up here. And they bought this pulpit for
$10. $10. What an investment. It paid big
dividends. You might have Google or Nvidia
or some other kind of stock, but I tell you, $10. Right here. Good investment. Thank you, brother. Tony asked his dad, Dad, why'd
you buy that for? He said, we might need it someday.
Well, it's come in handy, hasn't it? I started thinking about this
pulpit. $10. $10 pulpit. started thinking about the messages
that have been preached from this pulpit. What a good investment
that has brought rich, rich dividends of grace, mercy unto the Lord's
people. From this pulpit is sounded out
the word of the Lord. I got curious about that word
pulpit. I looked it up on the computer program I use, and the
word actually pulpit is in the Bible one time. It's used 45
times in its original in the Hebrew, but one time it's translated,
most of the time it's tower. But one time it's translated
pulpit, and it's in Nehemiah 8 verse 4, and that's a story
about when After the captivity, they came back. You read about
it in Nehemiah and Ezra, Ezra and Nehemiah. But in Nehemiah
8, verse 4, Ezra the priest stood upon a pulpit of wood and brought
a message from the word of the Lord from morning till evening,
and he stood on it. Now, I'm not going to stand on
this pulpit, but From this pulpit is sounded out faithfully, service
after service, the word of the Lord. That's our charge. He said,
I charge thee before God. Paul sitting on death row. I
charge thee before God and the Lord Jesus Christ. Preach the
word. Preach Christ. We don't have any other message.
We're not looking for a message. Donny, we found it. Christ. Christ in him crucified, his
person, his work. So Ezra stood upon that pulpit
from morning till noon and read from the word of the Lord and
the people answered, amen, amen. Lifting up their hands, they
bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with their faces to
the ground. What a blessing, what a blessing. from this pulpit has been preached
the unsearchable riches of Christ. Look there in chapter three,
Ephesians chapter three. The unsearchable riches of Christ. Look at Ephesians chapter three,
verse seven. Wherefore, I was made a minister
According gift to the gift of the grace of God given unto me
by the effectual working of his power Unto me whom less than the least
of all the Saints is this grace given that I should preach among
the Gentile heathen ungodly preach among the Gentiles what the unsearchable
riches of Christ from this pulpit had been sounded out the unsearchable
riches of the Lord Jesus Christ. Look down at verse 11, chapter
three, Ephesians chapter three, verse 11. According to the eternal
purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord. Look down
to verse 16. They would grant you according
to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with might by
his spirit in the inner man. The unsearchable riches of Christ
freely how freely they flow God who spared not his own son, but
delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him also freely? I love that word freely, don't
you? Really give us all things. He's blessed us with all spiritual
blessing in the heavenlies in the Lord Jesus Christ Look over
here in Ephesians chapter 1 Verse 4 according as he had chosen us
in him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy without blame before him in love, having predestinated
us under the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according
to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of
his grace, when he hath made us accepted in the beloved, in
whom we have redemption through his blood. The forgiveness of
sins according to the riches of His grace. Oh, the riches
of His grace. Sovereign grace. Eternal grace. Fetching grace. I like that one,
don't you? He fetched me out of the miry
clay. Look at Ephesians chapter 2,
verse 4. But God, who is rich in mercy,
for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were
dead in sin, sin that quickened us together with Christ. By grace
are you saved and raised us up together and made us sit together
in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come
he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness
toward us through Christ. Oh, God is rich in mercy, rich
in mercy, rich to his people. Will you turn with me to the
book of Philippians? Look over here at chapter four,
Philippians chapter four, verse 19. But my God, this is
one of my favorite verses. I have a lot of them. but my
God shall supply all your need. Not needs, I just have one need,
Christ. In him dwells all the fullness
of God's head bodily and in him we are complete. I've got him,
I've got everything. Everything God has for any sinner
is found in Christ. But my God shall supply all your
need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Riches, oh, the unsearchable
riches of the Lord Jesus Christ. You remember that verse over
there in 2 Corinthians 8, 9? He said, for you know the grace
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And believers know something
of his grace. You know the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, that
though he was rich, yet for your sakes, he became poor, that you
through his poverty made sin for us who knew no sin, that
we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. God made Him to
be sin for us. You know the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes
He became poor, that you through His poverty might be made rich. My dear pastor preached a sermon
one time and he entitled it, I'm the world's richest man.
From this pulpit has been sounded out the unsearchable riches of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, he's rich beyond description. He's rich in sovereignty. He's
rich in holiness. He's rich in love for his great
love wherewith he loved us. So one lovely, when we were yet
without strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. God committed his love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners, the Lord Jesus Christ
died for us. From this pulpit, $10, $10 pulpit has been sounded out the
unsearchable riches of the Lord Jesus Christ. Something else, from this pulpit
has been preached unto you the unspeakable gift of God. the
unspeakable gift of God. Paul writes about that in 2 Corinthians
9 verse 15. Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable
gift. God so loved the world that he
gave his only begotten son. Hereby perceive we the love of
God. He laid down his life for us. That's unspeakable. I can't find
words, there's not words in our vocabulary, not in mine, that
we could fetch and bring and try to describe the greatness
of His person and the glory of His redeeming work. Unspeakable! That's why we can take one verse
and preach and preach and preach and preach And preach the same
verse over and over and over. Donny's been at this 40 some
years. And he preaches the same thing
over and over and over. And the folks keep coming right
back and they want more. You know why? It's an unspeakable
gift of God. The wages of sin is, we know
what that is, isn't it? Death. Ah, the gift of God, the
gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. What a
gift, what a gift. We read in the book of James
that every good gift and every perfect gift comes from above. No shadow of turning. He's the
same yesterday, today, and forever. What a great Savior. I love when
Paul talks about God our Savior. God our Savior. That's who He
is. That's who He is that gives infinite value and power and
merit to what He did. You see, this is just not some
man from Nazareth. This is God manifest in the flesh. Without controversy, great is
the mystery of God. God was manifest in the flesh. The word 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. We are redeemed, not
with corruptible things, oh no, not with corruptible things,
but with the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, a lamb
that was slain, stood as a lamb slain from the foundation of
the world, without spot and without blemish. Unspeakable, isn't it? Ah, we never weary. I tell you
preachers, they may get weary in body, they may get weary in
mind, but they never get tired about preaching Christ. All the preachers that are here,
I don't know if you did this on purpose or not, but most of
us are past 70 years old, or right at it. We've been at it
a while and the body's wearing down the body's getting old but
my friend we never never get tired about Preaching the Lord
Jesus Christ He's all I love what it says there in the song
of Solomon He's altogether lovely altogether lovely to you who
believe Peter writes this to you who believe Ah, he's precious. He's precious. Precious, precious,
precious. From this pulpit has been preached
the glorious promises of the gospel. Precious promises. Peter
writes about it, whereby are given unto us exceeding great
and precious promises, that by these you might be partakers
of a divine nature. We read in 2 Corinthians 1, all
the promises of God in Christ are yes and amen unto the glory
of God. Yes. Is there redemption in the
Lord Jesus Christ? Yes. Is there salvation in the
Lord Jesus Christ? Yes. Neither is there salvation
in any other. I love what Peter and John said.
Their life was on the line. They didn't back up or compromise.
You want to know in whose name we healed that cripple? Be it
known unto you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And oh,
by the way, neither is there salvation in any other, for there's
no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be
saved. We must be saved. He is our Redeemer. Precious promises. I learned
something last week. Do you know how many promises
God has given in His Word? Would you take a guess how many
promises God has given in His Word? 7,478 promises. Promises. And I love what Joshua said before
the Lord took him home. He said, of all that God has
spoken, not one word has failed. Because it says in Isaiah 42,
verse 4, that Paul, he said, he can't fail. Failure is not
a possibility. Not a possibility. So we have
all these precious promises given in the Lord Jesus Christ. He
is the Lord, our righteousness. And that's what's been sounded
out from this pulpit. Now I've not even got to my text
yet, and I'm not gonna preach what I've got written down here.
But if you look at Ephesians chapter two, verse 19 and 20
is my text. And, Now, therefore, you are no more
strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints
and the household of God, and are built upon the foundation
of the apostles and prophets." We're built upon the foundation,
the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. What is the
foundation of all the apostles? What did they preach? Christ.
What did all the prophets preach? Christ, remember it says in the
book of Acts, to him give all the prophets witness that through
his name, whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission
of sin, complete and total remission of all our sin. When Paul writes in Romans four, talked about the blessed man,
Abraham believed God, it was countered to him, imputed to
him for righteousness. And then he said, David described
the blessedness of a man to whom the Lord imputed righteousness
without work, saying, blessed are those whose iniquities are
forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is that man whom God
will not charge sin. Now that's a blessed man. Imagine
such a thing. Our sin has been charged to the
Lord Jesus Christ, and he made full, complete satisfaction and
atonement for our sin. Therefore, in Christ there is
therefore now no condemnation to those who are in the Lord
Jesus Christ. I want to be found in him. I
want to ski-daddle to the Lord Jesus Christ. and hug up to him
because he's everything in salvation. He's everything in salvation.
Go back to Philippians again, Philippians chapter three. From this pulpit has been sounded
loud and clear that salvation is of the Lord. that salvation's
of the Lord. From this pulpit it had been
sounded loud and clear. Salvation is of the Lord. As
Paul said, I'm unashamed of the gospel of Christ. It's the power
of God and the salvation to everyone that believeth to the Jew and
also to the Gentile. For there it is, the righteousness
of God revealed from Christ to Christ. From Christ all about
Christ. That's what faith is about. Faith
doesn't look in here. Faith looks to the Lord Jesus
Christ. Jesus Christ, now you stay there in Philippians 3. Built upon the foundation of
the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself. Those three words,
Jesus Christ himself, that's the title. Jesus Christ himself. He's everything. What's this
book about? This book's about Jesus Christ
himself. It's all about him. All about him. Remember, our
Lord said to those Jews, he said, you are they which search the
scriptures, but they are they which testify of me. And then
when the Lord met those two men on the road to Emmaus, and he
said, O fool, slow of heart, believe all that the prophets
have spoken, and beginning of Moses, And all the prophets,
he expounded unto them the thing concerning, what's the word? Himself. Jesus Christ himself. You see what he says right there?
Built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus
Christ himself. Now, I'm gonna quit with this
one. I'm gonna give Brother Donnie
all the time. But Philippians chapter three,
I told you to turn there, didn't I? You see, We were taught so
well, we were so blessed to have a faithful gospel preacher. Brother
Henry Mayhem, oh how, we're still seeing the fruit of his ministry.
Still seeing the fruit of his ministry. And you remember what
he used to tell us all the time? He said, salvation's in a person. He that hath the Son hath life.
He that hath not the Son, I don't care what else you have. He that
hath the Son hath life. He that hath not the Son, you
don't have life. You don't have salvation. You
may have a physical being and existence on this earth, but
you don't have salvation if you don't know him whom to know is
eternal life salvation is in a person in a person not in a
place not in a plan not in a pool not in a profession certainly
not in a prayer they have that you know you come forward pray
after me pray after me that's not salvation christ in you is
the hope of glory when god does that work of grace in a sinner's
heart you'll cry for mercy He'll cry for mercy. I had a dear brother,
older man, told me, he said, preacher, I was his pastor for
several years, he said, preacher, I just don't know what to pray.
I said, let me tell you something. Seven words. Pray these seven
words, and keep praying these seven words. Lord, be merciful
to me, the sinner. You want the Lord said of that
man? The publican bragged on himself, that's Luke 18. The
publican bragged on himself and was condemned. The Pharisee,
did I say the Pharisee? The Pharisee bragged on himself
and was condemned. The publican condemned himself
and was justified. That's grace, that's grace, that's
grace. Now I'm gonna quit with this
one, my time is gone. Philippians chapter three. Oh,
verse seven, I would encourage you to read Philippians chapter
three. But what things were gained to
me, those I counted lost for Christ. And this is Saul of Tarsus
talking about everything he was in religion, lost, without God,
without hope, and without Christ. And one time he thought those
things were gained to him. He put them up on the plus side,
gained to me. Now I count them all lost for
Christ. Yea, doubtless, Philippians 3 verse 8, I count all things
but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord, for whom I've suffered the loss of all things. And then
he lost his reputation, didn't he? He was a Pharisee of Pharisees,
so self-righteous, hating the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,
until he met him. And then he said, I count all
things, dung and ruined, that I may win Christ and be found
in him, not having my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that
which is through the faith of Jesus Christ, the righteousness
which is of God by faith. We have in the Lord Jesus Christ,
we have a blessed, justifying righteousness freely imputed
unto us. We have not only that, but we
have all of our sin put away. He put away our sin by the sacrifice
of Jesus Christ himself. Jesus Christ himself is the sum
and substance of the Bible. Therefore, it has to be the sum
and substance of our preaching. When we're done preaching Christ,
as one old preacher said, when we're done preaching Christ,
you better be done with preaching. Be done with it. I mean, sit
down, shut up, go home, go somewhere else. We preach Christ. And if you
don't like that, sorry. That's all you're gonna hear
right here from this pulpit. $10. $10 pulpit. But I tell you what,
you get a million dollar sermon. That's right. I'm done.