I feel like that I had as much
liberty preaching on that television program this
morning, dealing with Christ our King, as much liberty as
I have think I've ever enjoyed preaching. I just feel like that
that message is the message that this generation needs desperately
to hear. It's a 28-minute message from
Psalm 2 on Christ our only King. Now, I feel like it needs to
be distributed. I feel like people need to hear
it. And if you want to secure copies of it, piling work on
you, Brother Ronnie, but you love it, don't you? You see Ronnie
for that tape. He has the tape, the audio tape,
Christ is King, and it just wouldn't hurt to lay that on somebody's
desk or in somebody's lap or put it in somebody's hand and
say, this is what I believe. I'm not being contentious or
troublesome, I'm just telling you this is what God's word teaches.
And this is good news. Boy, I'm glad he's in charge. I know who's in charge and that
gives me great comfort and peace. I know who's on the throne. Our
God is in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever he pleased. Whatsoever the Lord pleased,
that did he. In heaven, earth, and the seas,
all deep places. And even the king's, this is
scripture, even the king's heart is in the hands of the Lord.
He'll turn it, whether so ever he will. These kings and leaders
and presidents make decisions, but I'll tell you who made it
before they did. That's what that says, the king's heart.
Not his army, his heart is in the hands of the Lord who turns
it whithersoever he will. There's nothing left to chance
and fate that concerns his people. Nothing left to fate or chance
or luck that concerns his church. Because all things, we know this,
work together for good to them who love God, who are called
according to his purpose. He's king. Absolute, eternal,
always has been, is now, always will be. There's no chapter in
the Bible which sets forth the importance of faith, believe
in God, like this chapter I just read. Look at verse 6. It says, Even as Abraham believed
God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. There
is perhaps no man mentioned in scripture, no man, quite as often
as Abraham. There's no man mentioned in scripture
quite like Abraham, called the friend of God. What a title. Abraham, God says, is my friend. And I speak to Abraham as a man
would speak to his friend. And his chief testimony, his
chief characteristic, you know what it was? He believed God. That's right. He believed God.
That was the chief testimony concerning Enoch. He had this
testimony. He pleased God. How did he please
God? He walked with God by faith. He had this testimony, he believed
God. Look at verse 7. Know ye therefore,
that they which everybody here this morning that is of faith,
that believes God, every one is a child of Abraham. They are
children of Abraham. I know the Muslims and Islams
claim to be the sons of Abraham, but they are not. And even Israel
over there in what they call the Holy Land claims to be the
children of Abraham, but they are not. It says here in verse
7, they which are faith, they are the children of Abraham,
whether they are Jew or Gentile or male or female or bond or
free or whatever nationality, they are the children of Abraham.
Let me show you that in the book of Romans, chapter 4, those people
who believe God. Romans chapter 4. And God may,
in days to come, have something else he'll do to and with Israel. I don't know. Romans 11 has a
lot to say about that. But right now, in unbelief, there
are children of wrath, even as others. We were at one time children
of wrath, even as others. They're not children of egg ban.
Romans 4, verse 16, listen. Therefore, this business is of
faith. that it might be by grace free. To the end, the goal, that the
promise might be sure to all the seed, not to that only which
is of the law, not to that only which is the natural seed of
Abraham, which is Ishlam. Abraham had two sons. He had
Isaac, the promised seed, and he had the wild man, Bob Preachdown,
not long ago. Ishmael, Isaac and Ishmael. And
that's the folks fighting over there now, Isaac and Ishmael
and their descendants, you know. But he had a lot of other sons,
too, and they're all fighting. They're all natural sons of Abraham,
a whole bunch of them. Abraham didn't just have, he
had those two representatives, but he had many sons, and they're
all battling. But they're not the spiritual children of Abraham. They're not children of the promise.
It says here in Romans 4, 16, It is a faith that it might be
by grace to the end that the promise might be sure to all
the seed of Abraham, not to that only which is of the law, Islam,
Israel, but to that which also is of the faith of Abraham, who
is the father of all of us who believe, the father of all who
believe. Now, that's perfectly clear.
I look back here at our text, chapter 3 of Galatians, verse
8. And the scripture, the word of God in the Old Testament,
foreseeing, prophesying, foreordaining that God would justify the heathen,
that's us, Gentiles. We're not natural seed of Abraham,
we're Gentiles. And the scripture is foreseeing
and foreordaining that God would not only save David and Abraham
and Moses and Aaron and Isaiah and those Jews, but he's going
to reveal the gospel to the Gentiles, the heathen, and they'll be justified
through faith. Justified not by faith. We're
justified by Christ, by his death and blood. But we're justified
by Christ through faith. That's right. He preached before
the gospel to Abraham. You mean Abraham heard the gospel?
Why certainly. Moses wrote of me. Christ said,
Abraham saw my day. He saw it and rejoiced. He was
glad. He saw my day. He said, Son, God will provide
himself a lamb. That's going to be a lamb down
on a cross. That's God's Son. That's what
Abraham said. Even the old Jews had the gospel
preached to them. Paul said that in Hebrews. They
had the gospel preached to them. The Passover lamb was the gospel. The serpent lifted up was the
gospel. The smitten rock was the gospel.
This rock is Christ. That Passover was Christ. But
it didn't profit them. Why? They didn't believe. It wasn't mixed with faith. That
was the whole thing. Abraham's sole characteristic
that pleased God was he pleased God. That's right. And the sole judgment upon any
man is he doesn't believe God. That's right. He that believeth
and is baptized shall be saved, he that believeth not shall be
damned. That's the dividing point. And he said to Abraham, And thee
shall all the nations be blessed. He said that when Abraham was
75 years old, living in a land of idolaters with his daddy and
his brother. And God called Abraham out, turn
to Genesis 12, and here is the beginning of the whole thing,
back there, all those years in the past, way back to Abraham,
Genesis 12. God called Abraham out of idolatry,
and the Lord said to him in Genesis 12, verse 1, Now the Lord said
to Abram, Abram was his name, God changed it to Abraham. Get
thee out of thy country, from your kindred, idol-worshippers,
from your Father's house, to the land I'll show you, and I'll
make of thee a great nation. And I'll bless thee, and I'll
make thy name great, and I shall be a blessing." I think that
great nation is Israel at that time. But I'm going to bless
them that bless you, I'm going to curse them that curse you,
and here's the promise, here's the gospel he revealed to Abraham
concerning the Gentiles. And in thee shall all families
of the earth be blessed. You know there's going to be
somebody in heaven out of every family? All families. Out of all tribes? There's a
lot of tribes. All kindreds? All nations are
going to be somebody in heaven. That's right. In Christ. That's
right. They'll be there. Oh, these shall
be all the nations. So then, verse 9, look at verse
9. Verse 9. So then, they which
be of faith, they're blessed with Abraham. What was Abraham
blessed with? Righteousness. Perfect, absolute
immaculate, infinite holiness, acceptance with God so that God
said, He's my friend. He's my friend. I'll show you
that in Romans 4. Romans 4. Romans chapter 4. Romans chapter 4 begins this
way, talking about Abraham. So what I'm saying here now,
they that be of faith, they that believe God, right here this
morning, Jew, Gentile, bond, free male or female, who be of
faith, who believe God, are blessed with Abraham. Everything he's
blessed with, they're blessed with. Everything he is, they
are. Everything he has, they have. Now, Romans 4, verse 1,
What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to
the flesh, hath found? If Abraham were justified by
works, he hath whereof to glory, but not before God. But what
says the scripture? Here it is. Abraham believed
God. It was counted to him, imputed
is the word, reckoned is the word unto him for righteousness. Now, look at the last four verses
of chapter 4 of Romans. Stay in Romans chapter 4. He
believed God. Look at verse 19. And being not
weak in faith, He considered not his own body now dead, when
he was about a hundred years old, nor yet the deadness of
Sabaoth's womb. He stikered not at the promise
of God through unbelief. He was strong in faith, believing
God, giving God the glory. And he was fully persuaded, now
remember this verse, that what God said, what God promised,
that's that promise we've been talking about, in Christ, before
the world began. What God promised, he was able
to perform. It was imputed to him for righteousness,
holiness, acceptance of God. Now then, it wasn't written for
his sake alone that this holiness and righteousness was imputed,
reckoned, given to him by faith. For us also, to whom it shall
be imputed, charged, reckoned if we believe on him that raised
up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered for our offenses
and raised for our justification. Can you believe God? If you can believe God, you have
a perfect holiness and righteousness in the sight of God, by faith. That's what Abraham had, that's
what he found, that's what he had. And back to my text in Galatians
3, so then, David, be of faith. They are blessed with faithful
Abraham. Now look at verse 11. But no
man is justified. You know what justified means?
It means to be without guilt, not guilty. Then it means to
be without sin, to be justified. Then it means to be righteous,
and that's what Abraham was. He was justified, he was righteous.
and holy before God, just as if I had never seen. It's not
justification. To be justified is not just to
be forgiven. You can forgive a guilty man.
He's still guilty. It's not to be pardoned only.
You can pardon a man, but he's still guilty. He's still got
a record. But when a man is justified before the law, the law apologizes
to him and says, You're not guilty. We have no business with you. Now that's what Abraham, and
that's what you have by faith, justified. But he says here in
verse 11, verse 11, no man, no human being is justified by the
law and the sight of God. Now he can justify himself by
his law, by his moral obedience to the law, by his deeds and
duties and all these moral deeds and so forth, outwardly. He can
justify himself before men. They think, oh, he's such a good
man. They can't see his heart. All
they see is his deeds. And he can justify himself before
men. And he can justify himself to his own satisfaction. He can
say like the Pharisee, I thank God I'm not like you fellas.
I'm not like you fellas. I'm not like that publican. I'm
a good man. He convinced himself he was a
good man. And folks around him believed he was. I couldn't see
his heart. He was justified by what he did,
that's what he said. But no man is justified by what
he does. He says, I give alms, I pray, I fast, I don't commit
adultery, I'm not unjust, I'm justified. No, you're not. In
your eyes you are, before men you are, but before God you're
a stinker, you're a sinner, you're guilty. That's right. So no man is justified by the
law. Now, stay with me in the sight of God. It's evident that
just shall live by faith. There's none other name under
heaven given among men whereby we must be saved except the name
of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what Peter said. Other
foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, Christ the
Lord. All right, pastor, I've got a question. Let's get this
straight now, once and for all. Are you sighted that there will
be no person, no person in the kingdom of God except those who are washed in
the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, who are redeemed by his sacrifice
on Calvary, who by the elective grace of God and by the quickening
work of the Holy Spirit, and by the call of the gospel, and
by faith, through faith, believe him. There'll be nobody in heaven
but those who are in Christ. That's exactly what the Bible
says. That's what the Word of God says. No man is justified
by the law in the sight of God. And that's where the kingdom
of God is, in the sight of God. That's what the kingdom of God
is. It's the kingdom of his dear son. That's what it's called.
The kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven is the kingdom of his
dear son. Their soul being the same thing. And that's what scripture
says. And I know that that's unpopular
now, but that's what the Bible says. And I know even some high,
powerful preachers and evangelists and pastors and all are making
room in God's kingdom for people who don't know Christ, who don't
love Christ, who don't believe Christ, who are trying to gain access
to that kingdom by what they do and who they are and their
religious works. But the scripture, listen to
these scriptures. Our Lord gathered his apostles
about him after he rose from the grave and he said, now you
go into all the world. and preach the gospel. What is
the gospel? The apostle said, the gospel
I preached unto you is that Christ died for our sins according to
the scripture. He was buried and rose again according to the
scripture. You preach that gospel, and he that believes it and is
baptized will be saved. He that doesn't believe it will
be damned. That's what Christ said. Now,
can I say anything else but what Christ said and be a minister
of Christ and be true to the word and be honest to you? Can
I stand up here and say he didn't mean that? He told them, he said,
you preach the gospel. And you know what the gospel
is, Christ. And he that believeth is saved.
He that believeth not be damned. What about this verse here? Listen
to this. Let me just read it to you. I'm going to turn to
it quickly. Christ speaking again. The Father
loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand. He
that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. He that believeth
not the Son of God shall never see life. The wrath of God abideth
on him. We just say what he says. What
about that verse I preached on recently when he said, I'm from
above, you're from the earth, from beneath. I'm from heaven,
you're from the earth. And if you believe not that I
am he, you'll die in your sins. And if you die in your sins,
you can't come where I am. If you believe not that Jesus
is the Christ, the Son of the living God, you're going to die
in your sins. And if you die in unbelief, you
cannot come where I am. You can't come where I am. You're
out. Where you go, that's another
matter, but you can't come where I am. And the disciple said to him,
Lord, we know not where you go. He said, I go back to my father.
I came from God, I go back to God. Heaven. He's talking about
heaven. He's talking about paradise.
They said, we don't know where you're going, how can we know
the way? Now, listen. He said to them, I'm the way,
I'm the truth, I'm life. If you have that, you have all
that a person needs. The way, the God, the truth of
God, the life of God. I'm the way, the truth, and the
life. No man comes to the Father but by me. John wrote, before he closed
his epistle, the first epistle, he said, this is the record. You know, people speak off the
record, it's not worth much. When they speak off the record,
they're hiding something, you know, usually. This is the record,
John said. God hath given us eternal life. This life's in his Son. And he
that hath the Son of God hath life. You have the Son of God,
you have life. You have the Son of God, you
have life. You have the Son of God, you have life, eternal life,
the life of God. He that hath not the Son of God
hath not life. The song of heaven, I want to
read you something here. The song of heaven, I'll just
turn to it quickly and read it to you. The song of heaven, of
universal glory and praise, is unto the Lord Jesus Christ, and
it's one voice, one tongue. Listen to it. And when he had
taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell
down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps and golden
vials full of odors, which are the prayers of the saints. And
they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy. to take the
book, to open the seals thereof, for thou wast slain, and thou
hast redeemed us to God." Now, this is every voice, that multitude
in heaven, every voice, a number no man can number. "...Thou wast
slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood, out of every
kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation. And you, Jesus Christ,
hast made us unto our God, kings and priests, and we reign on
the And I beheld and I heard the voice of angels, the beasts,
the four and twenty elders, and now the angels, round about the
throne, and the beasts and the elders, and the number of them
was ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands and thousands.
They cried with a loud voice, every one of them, worthy is
the Lamb that was slain to receive power, riches, wisdom, strength,
honor, glory, and blessing. And every creature, come on now,
listen, every creature, which is in heaven, every creature,
which is on the new earth, which is in the sea, and all that are
in them, every creature heard our saying with one voice, Blessing
and honor and glory and power be unto him that sitteth upon
the throne, to the Lamb of God for ever and ever. I rest my
case. Are you saying, Brother Mayhem,
there'll be no person in heaven except those who are redeemed
by Jesus Christ? That's exactly what this book
says. Every creature in heaven, earth, or under the earth, in
the seas, the dolphins, will be praising him. All right, I'm closing with this,
my definition, to believe, of faith, my definition of faith.
I take it from Paul's definition in 2 Timothy 1.12. Faith is to believe God. Not
believe there is a God. The devil believes there is a
God and trumples. Scripture says you believe there
is one God, you do well. The devil believes and trumples.
Everybody believes there is one God who doesn't believe on Christ
is in company with the devil. That's what he believes. That's
his doctrine. And that's the doctrine he presents to us as
Earth. No Christ, no Messiah. Faith
is to believe God. It's to believe God when he speaks.
Not just to believe on him, it's to believe him. It's to believe
God when he speaks. He spoke to our fathers by the
prophets, he spoke to us by his Son. He spoke to us in the scriptures,
and he spoke to us by his Son. His Word is his written Word
and his incarnate Word. And it's to believe God, the
written word. And I'm telling you this, and
I'm going to bring you a message on it in a few weeks. There's
some translations now out that do damage to the Word of God.
One of them is the NIV. It's the most popular translation
out today, being switched by many churches. It's not going
to switch here. You're going to stay with the
King James that was translated about 446 of the most able men
God raised up 400 years ago. It's been the accepted word of
God in God's true believers, church, and preachers for 400
years. And some of these Bibles have taken out some key verses.
You don't see it just glancing through. You don't see it until
you start comparing them. They leave it out, I'm going to show
you that. Just to believe his word, as it's been given to us. There are more translations in
the King James, the Geneva Bible, there were several translations
around 1535 from the original. from the received text, the original
text in Hebrew and Greek. Luther translated the Bible in
1500 and something for the German people. And Tyndale, is that
his name? Tyndale translated the Bible
in 1536 or 1537, somewhere in there. burned him at the stake. The
Catholic Church burned him at the stake for translating the
Bible into English. Wycliffe translated it a year
or two or three later. But I'm going to bring you a
message on that to show you that for your good and the good of
your children and the preaching of the gospel, you better stay
with this Bible right here, the King James Bible. It's the best
translation. That's just so. And to believe
God is to believe his word. It's to believe his word. contradict
it and debate it, and say, Well, I don't understand it, so it
can't be so. Well, that was the way they did it in that day.
This is God's Word, and to believe God is to believe it. And his
Son is called his Word. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. You see, words,
why was Christ called the Word? Words are vehicles of communication. You can't communicate without
words. Well, you're signing words. You can write, you're writing
words. You've got to have words. No man knoweth the things that
are in a man, except that man, unless he conveys it to you by
word. And you're not going to know God and the heart of God
and the purpose of God until he conveys it to you by word.
And Christ is called the Word because he's the one who communicates
God to us and reveals God to us. No man knoweth the Father,
but the Son, he to whom the Son revealeth. How does he reveal
him? by words, words, words, words, really, the Word of God. And that was Abraham's whole
foundation of faith, God's promise, God's Word, God's Word, God's
Word written, God's Word incarnate. Secondly, to believe God, to
faith, is to trust Him, is to trust Him. Rely on him and commit
myself to him, lock, stock, and barrel, all I am and have committed
to our Lord. I know whom I have believed.
I'm persuaded he's able to keep that which I've committed to
him. That's trust. Abraham trusted God when he left
home at 75. Abraham trusted God when God
promised him a son. A hundred years old, but against
all hope, he hoped. Abraham trusted God when he gave
the well-watered plains to Lot and headed for the mountains.
Abraham trusted God when he took his son, the miracle son, the
son of promise, and put him on an altar and raised the night
to offer him as a sacrifice. He trusted God. You know what
he said? He accounted that God was able to raise him from the
dead. if God commanded his death. And God said, Abraham, don't
touch the land. I know you love me. And that's
when God says, I make my promise to you and confirm it with an
oath. Remember that? In Genesis 22. That's when he said, I confirm
it. Trust him. Job said, though he
slay me, I'll trust him. David said, Although it be not
so at my house, God made with me a covenant. That's all my
salvation. I trust him. Faith, thirdly,
is to rest. It tells us that in Hebrews 4. I want you to look at this, and
I'll close with this, to rest. It's to believe God, his word
written, his word incarnate. It's to believe it. I believe,
therefore, have I spoken. It's to trust him. And thirdly,
it's the rest. It says in here that it's not
the rest, the typical rest, as God rested after he made the
earth, nor the Sabbath rest given to the Jews, nor Canaan the rest,
or any earthly state. It's a spiritual rest, verse
10, chapter 4. He that's entered into his rest,
he has ceased from his own works as God did from his. God ceased
from his works and rested the Sabbath day. Our Lord Jesus Christ
finished his work of redemption and sat down at the right hand
of God. Now look at verse 11. Let us
labor. The word is not work, it's labor,
it's endeavor. Strive to enter into that rest,
to cease from our doings and duties and deeds and just enter
Christ's rest and trust him. Let's labor to enter into that
rest, the rest of Christ, lest any man fall after the same example
of unbelief. Believe God, trust him, leave
it in his hands and rest. Don't let anybody disturb your
rest, shake you out of your rest in Christ by telling you you
haven't done enough. He hasn't given enough. He hasn't
prayed enough. He's not happy enough. He's not enough. And I'm complete in Him.