Acts chapter 14, turn there,
Acts chapter 14. And I'm taking the title with
a message from what is found in verse three. God gave testimony
to his word, his word of grace. Long time, therefore, a bold
day, speaking boldly in the Lord, in the Lord. which gave testimony
unto the word of his grace. The word of the Lord is the word
of his grace to his people. And the Lord granted these men
special abilities to be done by their hand. And we know it
was God working through them. Paul and Barnabas had faithfully
and boldly preached the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ to those
people in Antioch. And some were given faith to
believe, as it says in chapter 13 verse 48, when the Gentiles
heard this they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord
and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed the
gospel. Some were given faith to believe,
others were hardened in their rebellion against God And they
raised persecution against Paul and Barnabas. Notice in verse
50 of Acts 13, but the Jews stirred up devout and honorable women
and chief men of the city and they raised persecution against
Paul and Barnabas and expelled them. They threw them out of
the city and they shook off the dust of defeat against them and
they came into Iconium And the disciples were filled with joy,
joy in the midst of persecution, joy in the Holy Spirit. And verse
one, it came to pass, it came to pass. Paul and Barnabas shook the dust
of their shoes for witness against them, left Antioch and they traveled
south to Iconium. And there they went right back
to their main business of preaching the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And I love this statement in
scripture that we often read, and it came to pass. It came
to pass by God's eternal purpose, by God's eternal decree, by the
sovereign will and purpose of God, nothing to do with chance,
nothing to do with luck, nothing to do with fate, but only by
the sovereign will of God, they were preserved and guided and
led and inspired to continue preaching the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ. THEY WERE SENT TO PREACH THE
GOSPEL TO A HOSTILE WORLD OF REBELS. YOU REMEMBER THE LORD
SAID, THEY'VE HATED ME, AND GUESS WHAT? THEY'LL HATE YOU TOO. BUT
NEVERTHELESS, GOING TO ALL THE WORLD AND PREACH THE GOSPEL TO
EVERY CREATURE. THEY ENDURED MUCH HARDSHIP, SORROW,
AND PERSECUTION FOR THE FURTHERANCE OF THE GOSPEL OF THE LORD JESUS
CHRIST. YOU HOLD YOUR PLACE THERE AND
FIND 2nd Timothy, 2nd Timothy chapter 2, and why did they do
such things? I mean why did they hazard their
lives for the gospel and put their life on the line for the
gospel? Notice in 2nd Timothy chapter
2 verse 9 he said, Wherefore I suffer trouble as an evildoer,
even under bonds but the word of god's not bound therefore
i endure all thing for the elect's sake that they may also obtain
the salvation which is in the lord jesus christ i look right
across the page second timothy chapter 3 verse 10 he said thou
has fully known my doctrine manner of life, purpose, faith, long-suffering,
love, and patience, persecutions, afflictions, which came unto
me in Antioch, that's where he was before he's run out of town,
into Iconium, that's where he is today, we're going to study,
and then in Lystra. What persecutions I endured,
But out of them all the Lord delivered me. Yea, all that will
live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. Now we don't
know anything about the kind of persecution and suffering
that Paul and the early church did. But if you take a public
bold stand for the gospel, those who hate God and hate the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ, they'll attack you because they can't
get at the throne of God. So this is what we see going
on here. It came to pass. We know all things come to pass
by the eternal purpose and will of God. And yet they did not
diminish their effort or their labor or their zeal. They were
zealous for the truth. They kept right on preaching
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And notice where they
went in verse one. THEY WENT, BOTH OF THEM TOGETHER,
RIGHT INTO THE HORNET'S NEST. DO YOU SEE THAT? INTO THE SYNAGOGUE OF THE JEWS. NOW THE JEWS, WHAT DID THEY DO
TO THE LORD JESUS CHRIST? THEY HATED HIM AND SAID AWAY
WITH HIM, CRUCIFY HIM, WE DON'T HAVE ANY KING BUT CAESAR. HE
CAME UNTO HIS OWN, HIS OWN RECEIVED HIM NOT, AND YET THE LORD IN
MERCY AND GRACE SENT THESE MEN RIGHT INTO THE ENEMY'S DEN TO
PREACH THE GOSPEL. WHY SO? BECAUSE GOD HAD A PEOPLE
THERE, AN ELECT THERE THAT MUST HEAR THE GOSPEL. THEY WENT RIGHT
BACK AS THEY DID IN ANTIOCH, YOU REMEMBER? TURN OVER TO CHAPTER
13. Verse 14, but when they departed
from Perga, they came to Antioch in Pisidia and went into the
synagogue on the Sabbath day and sat down, and then they were
given an open door to preach the gospel. So they're right
at it again. They're right at it again, preaching the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I love this statement here
in verse one, and so spake They so spake so highly of the Lord,
magnified the Lord Jesus Christ, preaching salvation only in him. They so spake, what did they
speak about? Remember what Peter said, neither
is there salvation in any other. There's no other name in heaven
given among men whereby we must be saved. What did Paul preach? Back to chapter 13, look at verse
38. Acts 13, 38, be it known unto
you therefore, men and brethren, THAT THROUGH THIS MAN IS PREACHED
UNTO YOU THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS, AND BY HIM ALL THAT BELIEVE ARE
JUSTIFIED FROM ALL THINGS WHICH HE COULD NOT BE JUSTIFIED BY
THE LAW OF MOSES. THEY POINTED SINNERS TO THE LORD
JESUS CHRIST. REMEMBER WHAT WE READ A MOMENT
AGO, I'M DETERMINED TO KNOW NOTHING AMONG YOU BUT JESUS CHRIST AND
HIM CRUCIFIED. SO THEY SPAKE THE GOSPEL. And they spake the word of the
Lord, and the Lord blessed his word and a great multitude. Now Peter preached one sermon
and converted the Lord, regenerated 3,000 souls. How many does this
great multitude include? I don't know, but it must have
been a lot of them. A lot of them, a great multitude,
both Jews and also Greeks, they believed. The Lord had a people
there, His elect among the Jews and the Gentiles, a people out
of every tribe, kindred, nation, and tongue under heaven. And
what did they do? They believed the gospel. Now,
it's no great miracle to be religious. All men by nature adopt the religion
of their environment. If you grew up where I grew up,
you would have grown up just the way I did, believing the
lies, never hearing the truth. You adopt the religion of your
environment, and most of the time it's false religion. BUT
HERE THE LORD CAUSED THESE PEOPLE TO REALLY TRULY WITH FAITH THAT'S
A GIFT OF GOD TO LAY HOLD OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. THEY BELIEVED. REMEMBER WE READ JUST A MOMENT
AGO, AS MANY AS WERE ORDAINED TO ETERNAL LIFE BELIEVED. IT'S
NO MIRACLE TO BE RELIGIOUS. YOU READ OVER IN THIS CHAPTER.
WHERE THIS CRIPPLE WAS HEALED AND THEY STARTED TO WORSHIP BARNABAS
AND PAUL, SAYING, THE GODS HAVE COME DOWN ON US IN THE LIKENESS
OF MEN. SO THESE PEOPLE WERE RELIGIOUS.
IT'S NO MIRACLE FOR SOMEONE TO GET RELIGION. You often hear
that saying on the job, you know, that fella, he got religion last
week. It's no big deal to get religion,
but it's a whole nother thing to believe the gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now some of you know what I'm
talking about, most of you do, to believe the gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ, because faith is a gift of God. FAITH IS A
GIFT OF GOD. WITHOUT FAITH IT IS IMPOSSIBLE
TO PLEASE GOD. SAVING FAITH ALWAYS LOOKS TO
NOT A FEELING, NOT AN EXPERIENCE. SAVING FAITH ALWAYS LOOKS TO
THE RISEN, EXALTED LORD JESUS CHRIST, VICTORIOUS LORD JESUS
CHRIST. LOOKING UNTO HIM, THE AUTHOR
AND FINISHER OF OUR FAITH. GOD CALLED OUT HIS ELECT HERE
THIS DAY THROUGH THE PREACHING OF THE GOSPEL. IT PLEASED GOD
BY PREACHING THROUGH THE PREACHING OF THE GOSPEL TO CALL OUT HIS
PEOPLE. FAITH COMES BY HEARING, HEARING BY THE WORD OF THE LORD.
ONE OLD PREACHER OF THE PAST SAID THIS, PREACHING, THAT IS
PREACHING OF THE GOSPEL, IS A CHARIOT THAT CARRIES CHRIST, THE LORD
JESUS CHRIST, UP AND DOWN IN THIS WORLD. HE RIDES ON THE CHARIOT
BY BEING LIFTED UP. YOU REMEMBER HE SAID, IF I BE
LIFTED UP, I draw my people to me. We lift him up in the preaching
of the gospel and God calls out his people. Let us never neglect
the necessity of preaching the word of the Lord. When Paul on
death row, he sits in prison on death row in Rome for preaching
the gospel. And when he writes back to Timothy,
what does he say? Let's get together and just share
with one another. LET'S JUST SHARE HOW WE FEEL
ABOUT THINGS AND OUR EMOTIONS AND FEELINGS. THAT'S NOT WHAT
WE'RE TO DO WHEN WE COME TOGETHER. HE SAID PREACH THE WORD. THEY
CHARGE YOU BEFORE GOD AND THE LORD JESUS CHRIST TO PREACH THE
WORD. PREACH THE WORD. PREACH CHRIST.
BE INTO AND IN SEASON, OUT OF SEASON, REPROVE, REBUKE WITH
ALL LONG-SUFFERING AND DOCTRINE. Preach Christ, lift him up, and
God will bless that. He still uses that as the means
to call out his people. And a great multitude believed.
That's part of that great multitude we read of in the Revelation.
Out of every kindred, tribe, nation, and tongue, 10,000 times
10,000 to 1,000. And what did they sing? Worthy
is the Lamb that was slain to receive all honor, glory, blessing,
both now and forever. So they preached the gospel,
and the Lord blessed it by saving faith, and a multitude, a great
multitude, believed the gospel. Look at verse two, but. Uh-oh,
but. The unbelieving Jews, those who
are going about in their self-righteousness to establish a righteousness
before God, the unbelieving Jews rejected the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ. The unbelieving Jews, what did
they do? They stirred up. They stirred
up the Gentiles. And they made their minds, their
minds, their thoughts, their thinking, evil affected against
the brethren. That just sounds wicked, doesn't
it? They used their religion, their
false religion of Judaism, to have an evil effect upon these
Gentiles to raise up persecution against Barnabas and Paul. The religion of lost men These
lost men used the same tactics as they did in chapter 13. They could not refute the message
of Paul and Barnabas using the Word of God, so they spoke evil
of the messengers and of the message. You remember what they
said in chapter 13, verse 45? But when the Jews saw the multitudes
who believed the gospel, they were filled with envy, and spake
against those things which Paul spoke contradicting and blaspheming
God." Don't be surprised when you preach the gospel of God's
sovereign saving grace that the religious lost people get all
upset. They did the same thing to the
Lord Jesus Christ. You remember what they said of
him? He's a winebibber. He's a gluttonous man. He's the
prince of demons." And then they went so far as to say, he's a
friend of sinners. Thank God he is. Our Lord said,
they've hated me and they will hate you. Their minds were evil
affected because they were evil, get this now, they were evil
affected because their minds were evil infected. They stirred up the sinful, wicked
nature that every one of us have right now, the carnal-minded
enmity against God. So they found an ally within
those people in their fallen nature, and they tried to raise
up that old, wicked nature against the gospel. And most of the time,
it doesn't need much encouragement, does it? I think that's what
we see going on in this country. They're trying to evil affect
the minds of those people that are, I guess they say they're
protesting peacefully, but a lot of times it doesn't seem to be
so peaceful. But some rabble-rousers in that
crowd, they try to evil affect the minds of those who would
demonstrate peacefully. Look at verse 3. So what are
we to do? There's opposition against the
gospel. Verse 3, long time therefore
abode they speaking boldly in the Lord." They didn't quit.
They didn't compromise. They kept right on lifting up
Christ, Christ, Christ. I'm determined to know nothing
among you but Jesus Christ and crucified. He said in another
place, we preach not ourselves, but the Lord Jesus Christ. A
long time abode they speaking boldly. How do you speak boldly
in the name of the Lord? It's not that we raise our voice. It's speaking the truth. Speaking
the truth. You remember what we read over
here? Don't turn, let me just read it to you. And my speech
and my preaching was not worth with enticing words of man's
wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and of power that
your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the
power of God. How do you speak boldly? And
what is preaching the gospel boldly all about? Telling the
truth. about God, about man, about sin,
about salvation, and how God saves sinners. Long time they
spake boldly in the Lord, look at verse three, which gave testimony,
which gave testimony to the word of his grace, and a great multitude
believed the gospel. Now what is the word of his grace?
You know what I'm gonna say, don't you? It's the gospel. The word of His grace is the
gospel. But God granted these men in that day special miracles
and gifts and signs, granted The Lord vindicated their message
that they were sent from God, that it was a true message, that
God sent them to tell the Word and preach the Word of His grace,
and God granted, God gave them power to do these miracles done
by the hand of God. You remember in Hebrews chapter
2, God also bearing them witness both with signs and wonders,
with diverse miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost according to
His will. They vindicated their message
by these miracles that God gave to them. Now in this day, I don't
need any signs or miracles and wonders done by my hand. I couldn't
do them if I wanted to. And we don't need that because
we have the completed word of God. So what we do, we go preach
the gospel, preach the word, and God will bless the word of
the Lord. Now look at verse four. But the multitude of the city
was divided. and part held with the Jews, part held with the religious
Jews who were going about establishing a self-righteousness, and part
held with the apostles. So here's the believers with
Paul, with Barnabas, the apostles, as it says there, and here's
the Jews. And there was a division NOW
WHAT WAS ALL THIS DIVISION ABOUT? LET'S SEE IF WE CAN FIND OUT.
TURN TO JOHN CHAPTER 7. JOHN CHAPTER 7. WHAT WAS THIS
DIVISION ALL ABOUT? IT'S NOT THE WAY THAT PAUL SPOKE
OR IT'S NOT THE WAY BARNABAS LOOKED. WHAT WAS THIS DIVISION
ALL ABOUT? JOHN CHAPTER 7 VERSE 40. MANY OF THE PEOPLE THEREFORE,
WHEN THEY HEARD THIS SAYING, SAID OF A TRUTH, Well, this is
the prophet, speaking of the Lord Jesus. Others said, this
is the Christ. But some said, shall Christ come
out of Galilee? Has not the scripture said that
Christ cometh of the seed of David out of the town of Bethlehem
where David was? Verse 43, John 7. So there was
a division among the people because of him. because of him. Now turn to another scripture
here in John, find John 9, 16. Therefore said some of the Pharisees,
this man is not of God because he keepeth not the Sabbath day.
Others said, how can a man that is a sinner do such miracles?
And there was a division among them over Lord Jesus Christ turn
to another reference here in John 10 verse 19 go back up one
verse John 10 18 you got it no man takes my life from me said
I lay it down to myself I have power to lay it down I I have
power to take it again. This commandment have I received
of my father. And there was a division therefore
again among the Jews for this saying. And many of them said,
he has the devil and he is a madman. Why would you pay any attention
to a madman? And there was a division because
of him. Now, no different today, the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ divides. Did you know that? Who
does it divide? It divides between the lost and
the saved. It divides between the sheep
and the goats. It divides between the tares
and the wheat. It divides between the elect
and the reprobate. To some, the gospel preaching
is just mere nonsense and foolishness, but to them which are the called
of God, Christ is the power of God and Christ is the wisdom
of God. Who makes you to differ from
another? God makes us to differ, my friend. God has chosen us
to believe the gospel and left others in their own wicked thoughts
and hearts. He will have mercy on whom he
will, and on whom he will, he will harden. Back to the text,
Acts 14, verse 5, and when there was an assault made, an assault,
an attack, a vicious attack, both of the Gentiles, I'm sure
the Gentiles who did not believe, also the Jews with the rulers,
the rulers of the synagogue, to use them despitefully to stone
them. So, you get the picture of what
was going on here? They wanted them dead. They had
murder in their hearts. We're going to kill these men
because they disturb our refuge of lives, and we don't like it,
and we're going to put an end to it. We're going to stone them.
What happened? They were aware of it, and they
fled to Lystra, Derby, the cities of Lyconia. They went south into
the region round about. and they just quit preaching
and went home. I said, this is just too tough.
We can't take it no more. What did they do? And there they
preached the gospel. What boldness, what faith. They
fled the city. Our Lord said in Matthew 10,
you shall be hated of all men for my name's sake. But he that
endureth to the end, the same shall be saved. But when they
persecute you in this city, flee to another. For I say unto you,
you shall not have gone over the cities of Israel till the
Son of Man be come." If you look further on in this chapter, chapter
14 is the book of Acts, look at verse 22. THIS IS AFTER PAUL WAS STONED
AND RAISED FROM THE DEAD AND HE WENT RIGHT BACK INTO THE SAME
CITY TO THE SAME PEOPLE WHO JUST ROCKED HIM TO DEATH, CONFIRMING
THE SOULS OF THE DISCIPLES, EXHORTING THEM TO CONTINUE IN THE FAITH
THAT WE MUST, THROUGH MUCH TRIBULATION, WE MUST, THROUGH MUCH TRIBULATION,
ENTER INTO THE KINGDOM OF GOD. ALL THOSE WHO WILL LIVE GODLY
IN CHRIST shall suffer persecution, as we read earlier. Now, you
remember from our study in 1 Corinthians 9, verse 16, where Paul says,
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 of the Lord Jesus Christ. So there they preach
the gospel, and we know there's just one gospel, right? It's
the gospel of God concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul says,
woe unto me if I preach not the gospel. Now, I want to end the
message by giving you four statements, and I've got about 10 minutes. What is it? I want to ask this
question and answer it. What is it then? WHAT IS IT,
THEN, TO PREACH THE GOSPEL OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST? WHAT IS
IT TO PREACH THE GOSPEL? WELL, THERE'S A TRACK OUT FRONT
ON THE TABLE THERE, AND I WOULD ENCOURAGE YOU TO PICK ONE UP.
IT'S A TRACK WRITTEN FROM A SERMON BY MY PASTOR, HENRY MAYHAN, AND
IT WAS PREACHED IN 1974, AND THAT IS A TRANSCRIPTION OF THAT
SERMON OUT THERE ON THE TABLE. AND HE ASKED THIS QUESTION, WHAT
IS IT TO PREACH THE GOSPEL? AND HE ANSWERED IT WITH THESE
FOUR STATEMENTS. Number one, what is it to preach the gospel?
It's to tell the truth about God. To tell the truth about
God. The God of Scripture is not who
we think He is. All our thoughts left to ourselves
about God are all wrong. Left to ourselves now. GOD IS
NOT WHO WE THINK HE IS. HE'S NOT WEAK AND IMPOTENT. REMEMBER, IN PSALM 50, HE SAID,
YOU THOUGHT I WAS ALTOGETHER SUCH A ONE AS YOURSELF. GOD IS
NOT WHO WE THINK THAT HE IS, LEFT TO OURSELVES. OUR OWN THOUGHTS
ARE ALWAYS WRONG ABOUT GOD. GOD'S WHO HE IS AS HE'S REVEALED
IN THE WORD. GOD IS GOD OVER ALL THINGS. GOD BLESSED FOREVER. THE GOD
OF SCRIPTURE IS ALMIGHTY Eternal, holy, sovereign in all things,
in everything. All things are of God. All things
in creation, He created all things by the word of His power. All
things in providence, the things that come to pass in time were
decreed from all eternity. God is sovereign in creation,
providence, and in salvation. It's not of him that willeth,
nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. And
he is sovereign in reprobation. I mean, the scriptures teach
that he will have mercy on whom he will, and whom he will, he
will harden. He hardens them. God is not passive
in our salvation. He's not passive in the salvation
of sinners, nor is he passive IN THE CONDEMNATION OF SINNERS. HE IS MOST ACTIVE. HE SAVES AND
HE DAMNS ACCORDING TO HIS OWN WILL. THAT'S THE GOD OF SCRIPTURE. SO WHAT IS IT TO PREACH THE GOSPEL?
IT'S TO TELL THE TRUTH ABOUT GOD. TWO SCRIPTURES I'LL GIVE
YOU. where it says, all the inhabitants
of the earth are reputed as nothing, and God doeth according to his
will in the army of heaven among the inhabitants of this earth,
and none can stay his hand or say unto him, Lord God Almighty,
what doest thou? Psalm 135 declares whatsoever
the Lord please, that's what he did in heaven, earth, sea,
and all deep places. He doesn't ask us. NOR DO WE
GIVE HIM PERMISSION TO ACT. GOD IS NOT GOVERNED BY ANY. HE'S
THE ALMIGHTY, ETERNAL, REIGNING KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.
SAVING FAITH RECEIVES HIM AS HE'S REVEALED IN THE WORD. AND
WHEN WE PREACH THE GOSPEL, WE DECLARE GOD IS ALMIGHTY. GOD
IS ON THE THRONE. WE'RE IN THE DUST. SECONDLY,
WHAT IS IT TO PREACH THE GOSPEL OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST? IT'S
TO TELL THE TRUTH ABOUT US. WE ARE FALLEN, SINFUL, WICKED,
DEPRAVED CREATURES. MAN UNRESTRAINED IS A MONSTER. JUST FLIP ON THE NEWS. MAN UNRESTRAINED
IS A MONSTER. YOU SAY, WELL, THAT'S WHAT THOSE
FOLKS DO. THAT'S WHAT THE PHARISEES SAID. GOD, I THANK YOU I'M NOT
LIKE THOSE FOLKS. THAT'S YOU. THAT'S ME. UNRESTRAINED. MAN UNRESTRAINED
IS A MONSTER. IS A MONSTER. OUR PROBLEM IS
WE THINK TOO HIGHLY OF OURSELVES AND TOO LOW OF GOD. BY NATURE THERE'S NO FEAR OF
GOD BEFORE OUR EYES. DO YOU REMEMBER WHAT THE LORD
SAYS OF HUMANITY ALL THE WAY BACK IN GENESIS CHAPTER 6? HE
SAW THAT EVERY IMAGINATION OF OUR HEARTS ARE ONLY EVIL CONTINUALLY. That hasn't changed. And Adam
all died, and Adam all sinned. There's none righteous, no, not
one. Well, my mother was a good person. If anybody's in heaven,
it was my mother. If my mother's in heaven, it's
because God saved her by his grace. Not because she was a
good woman. God didn't save and doesn't save
any person because they're good. Salvation is not for good people. Salvation, when we were yet without
strength, Christ died for the ungodly. to tell the truth about
what we are. What are we? S-I-N. S-I-N. Most people think sinners
are sinners because they do certain things. That man stole this,
or he broke that, or he broke that law, or he did this. He's
a sinner because of what he is, not what he does. That's what
we are. S-I-N. Now, some of you may have heard
this. I was watching Fox News the other
night, and they had a commentator on there. I like most of what
he says. His name was Mike. I think it's
Mike. Is it Huckabee, his last name?
But he said this about everything that's going on in our day. He said, people don't have a
skin problem. It's not a thing of black, white,
yellow, brown, or anything else. We don't have a skin problem.
He said, we have a sin problem. That's the problem. And that's
it. That's it. It's not the skin problem. We
have a sin problem. There's no fear of God before
their eyes. That which is born of the flesh,
that which is born of the flesh, It's gonna die, sinful, rotting,
corrupting flesh. Just look in the mirror. Someone recently looked at a
photo, a family photo back when I was 35, when I was in my early
30s. Bridget and me and my daughter
and Caleb was six months old and he's 35 now. And someone
remarked, well, who is that in that picture? I said, that's
Bridget's first husband. You know, what happened to you? I mean, just look at me now.
I talked to a preacher out in Missouri last week, and he said, man,
I saw a picture of you recently. What happened to you? Sin. This flesh is flesh and it's
going back to the dust. It's evident every day, isn't
it? The weakness and the frailty of this flesh. That which is
born of the flesh is flesh. Flesh and blood cannot inherit
the kingdom of God because there's no goodness in it. If you think
you're gonna go to heaven based upon the deeds of the flesh, you'll never make it. How good
do you have to be to go to heaven as good as God? How can that
be? Only in Christ, my substitute.
So we tell the truth about God. He's holy. We tell the truth
about man. He's a sinner. And then we tell the truth about
the Lord Jesus Christ. Who is he? He's God, our Savior.
He's God, our Savior. He's God manifest in the flesh.
He came to redeem, pardon, justify, and save his people. SAVE HIS
PEOPLE. CALL HIS NAME WHAT HE IS, JESUS
SAVIOR, FOR HE SHALL SAVE HIS PEOPLE FROM THEIR SIN. HE DIDN'T FAIL TO EXECUTE ALL
THE ETERNAL REDEMPTIVE PURPOSE OF GOD IN THE SALVATION OF HIS
COVENANT PEOPLE. HE KNOWS NOTHING OF FAILURE. HE KNOWS A LOT ABOUT AGONY, BUT
NOT THE AGONY OF DEFEAT. IT'S THE AGONY OF VICTORY. Thanks
be unto God who has given us the victory through our Lord
Jesus Christ. We preach a successful Savior,
a Savior who saves, a Redeemer who redeems his people from all
their sin. There's no one in hell for whom
the Lord Jesus Christ died. Forget that. If he came to represent
his people and put away their sin and executed a righteousness
for them, satisfying law and justice, there is therefore now
no condemnation to those who are in the Lord Jesus Christ. Tell the truth about God, tell
the truth about us, tell the truth about the Lord Jesus Christ,
who he is, God, what did he accomplish? He put away sin by the sacrifice
of himself. And lastly, to tell the truth
about how God saves sinners. How does God save sinners? Well, grace alone. grace alone
for by grace are you saved through faith alone by him all that believe
are justified from all things which he could not be justified
by the law of Moses and then Christ alone that was the theme
of the Reformation the word alone Christ alone faith alone grace
alone God's grace now we're going to preach the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ and we're going to tell the truth Because it's
the truth of God that sets sinners free. He said, you shall know
the truth and the truth shall set you free. And there they
preach the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. God help us to
hear the gospel. God help me to tell you the truth.
And God help all of us to receive the word of the Lord and to believe
the truth. Why is that so important? Let
me just read this to you. I've got this jotted down in
my notes, and I can't quote it to you, but I can read it. And
this is the record that God hath given to us eternal life, and
this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life. He that hath not the Son of God
hath not life. This is 1 John 5. Verse 13 says,
These things have I written unto you that believe on the name
of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life,
and that you may believe on the name of the Son of God. And we
know that the Son of God has come. He's given us an understanding
that we might know Him that is true. We're in Him that is true. Even in His Son, Jesus Christ,
this is the true God, and this is eternal life. I thought of
one more scripture, and I'll let you go. One more scripture,
you remember John 17? He said, this is life eternal,
that they might know thee the only true God, Jesus Christ,
whom thou hast sent. This is eternal life, that they
might know the true and living God, the Lord Jesus Christ.