He Called You By Our Gospel

2 Thessalonians. I'm going to read two verses
of Scripture and come back to them a little
later in the message. My subject tonight is entitled,
He Called You by Our Gospel. He called you. He called you
by our gospel. In 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 13,
Paul says, but, he's just talked about those
who receive not the love of the truth, for which cause God sent
them strong delusions, that they might believe a lie and be damned
for believing the lie. But, he said, verse 13, we are
bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved
of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you
to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the
truth, and belief of the truth, whereunto he called you by our
gospel to the obtaining, to the laying hold, to the sharing of
and in the glory, the eternal glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. I like nothing better when I
preach than to set forth in the introduction of the message some
things that are certain, as certain as the throne of God. The Scripture
says, the foundation of God standeth steady, then sure. The Lord knoweth
them that are his. God, the foundation, is sure
and steady. God knows then that he is. Now,
these are four things. You tell me if I err. You tell me if I err. Now, the
first one is this. If you want to write them down,
you may do so with the scriptural references. Number one, according
to this book, according to the Word of God, And as I've said often, I'm not
a novice when it comes to the Word of God. I know my business. I've been in it a long time,
and I'm dedicated to it. And according to the scriptures,
salvation, eternal life, is the gift of God. Is it not the gift
of God? That's what it says. Romans 6.23
says, the wages of sin, you don't need to turn to it, you know
these by memory. The wages of sin is death. But
the what? The gift of God. The gift of
God. Now gift is not earned, merited,
or bought. It's a gift. It's a free gift. And the gift of God is eternal
life. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Not through your works. not through
your deeds, not through your righteousness. Eternal life is
the gift of God and is through our Lord Jesus Christ. Is that
not true? That's what the Word of God says.
In John 10, 27, our Lord said this, My sheep, My sheep, hear
My voice, and I give unto them eternal life. I give unto them
eternal life. Eternal life is my gift to those
sheep, and they shall never perish. My Father which gave them to
me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out
of my Father's hand. I am my Father for one. I give
them eternal life. I don't loan it to them. They're not in danger of losing
it. I don't sell it to them. I give it to I give it to him. All right? 1 John 5, 10 says
this, this is the record. Now John, the apostle in this
first epistle, has just condemned people for not believing the
record. He said we've made God a liar because we didn't believe
the record that he gave concerning his son. We didn't believe the
record. We're under condemnation, John,
because we didn't believe the record. And this is the record. This is what we don't believe.
This is why we're condemned. We don't believe the record,
and this is the record. That God had given us eternal
life. That God gave it to us. He wasn't
obligated to us. And he's not now, and he never
has been, and never will be. He has chosen to give us eternal
life, and that life's in his Son. It's not in the water. It's
not in the church. It's in Christ. It's not in Sinai. It's not in the feast days and
Sabbath days and rules and regulations of religion. That life is in
Christ, and he that hath the Son of God hath that life, and
he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. I don't know how
words can be plainer. This is the record. God had given
us eternal life. And our Lord Jesus Christ, reducing
the Pharisees for their pride and self-righteousness, he said
a man can receive nothing except it be given him from above. Is that true? And Paul writing
to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 4-7 said this, who made you to
differ? Who made you to differ? What
do you have that you didn't receive? Where'd you receive it? From
above. How'd you receive it? As a gift. Now, if you received
it, why do you boast and brag as if you didn't receive it?
Thanks be unto God. Thanks be unto God. for his unspeakable
gift. Gift. I tell you this, I know
it as sure as there's a God in heaven, and as sure as his throne
is secure, salvation is a gift. Repentance is a gift. If you
have repented, it's the goodness of God that led you to repentance. Faith is a gift. The flower of
faith does not bloom. in natural soil. It's planted
by the Father. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves. Is that not what it says? All
I'm asking is what does the Word of God say? It's immaterial to
me what men think. I know what men think. They think
God is altogether such a one as themselves. He said that in
Psalm 50. There's a way that seemeth right
unto men, but the end is destruction. Their thoughts are not God's
thoughts. Isaiah 55 says their ways are not God's ways. And
to be saved, a man has got to turn from his thoughts and from
his ways unto God's thoughts. Faith's the gift of God. I'm
as certain of that as I am sure of God's throne. Salvation's
the gift of God. Secondly, according to this book,
we have nothing else to go on. What else is there? Faith cometh
by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. God says if they
speak not according to my word, it's because there's no dawning
in them, no light, not even a glimmer of it. The second thing is this. According to the scriptures,
this eternal life, which is the gift of God, was purposed by
God, decreed by God, in Christ. before this world ever began. That's what the Word says. I
know that's not what people believe, but that's what God says. Turn
with me now, I want you to read this, to 2 Timothy chapter 1. What are you saying, preacher?
I'm saying this, that if you want to God's sheep, you were
a sheep before the world began. If you're an object of God's
love, you're an object of an everlasting, infinite, unchangeable
that that love was set upon you before the foundation of the
world. If you'll sing the praises of Christ in eternal glory, it's
because Almighty God purposed and planned and decreed to save
you before the world began. That's what this book says. That's
not what is being taught, but that's what the Word of God says.
2 Timothy 1.8, Paul is sitting down there in prison in Rome,
and he writes to young Timothy, the whom he called his son in
the faith. And he says in verse 8 of 2 Timothy
1, Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord.
Don't be ashamed of the gospel. Ashamed of Jesus? Can it be?
A mortal man ashamed of thee? Don't be ashamed of the testimony
of the gospel of our Lord, and don't be ashamed of me, his prisoner.
Don't be ashamed to be identified with men who identified with
Christ. But be thou a partaker. Be willing yourself to partake
of the afflictions, sufferings of the gospel, the offense of
the gospel. The gospel's offensive to the
natural man. Always has been, is now, always will be, according
to the power of God. Watch it now. Who hath saved
us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our
works, but according to his own purpose and grace. which was
given us in Jesus Christ before the war began, but is now made
manifest, revealed by the appearing of our Savior, our Redeemer,
our Messiah, Jesus Christ, who through the body of his flesh
and through his suffering hath abolished death, and he hath
brought life and immortality to life through the gospel. Our
Lord said, at the judgment he shall say unto them on his right
hand, Enter ye, blessed, into the kingdom prepared for you
before the world began. All right, turn with me now to
our text in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 again. What I'm saying is this,
God purposed it, God will bring it to pass. God has spoken, he'll
do it. He said, known unto God are all
his works from the beginning. God's unchanging. He's the same
yesterday, today, and forever. God never learns anything, nor
is he taken by surprise. Everything that comes to pass
in time was foreknown and foreordained and decreed of God before the
world began. That's what the Word says. We
spoke of the death of Christ, the Apostle Peter condemning
those who crucified Christ He said, you did what God determined
before to be done. Herod and Pontius Pilate, the
Gentiles and the people of Israel, we gather together against the
Lord's Christ to do what God determined before to be done.
If you'll read the Old Testament Scriptures, you'll read hundreds
and hundreds of years before Christ died on that cross. Talked
about him plucking out his beard. Talked about Judas selling him
for 30 pieces of silver. Talked about him piercing his
hands and his feet. Talked about him gambling for
his robe. Talked about Judas returning the money to the temple
and then purchasing the potter's field. It talked about his cry
from Calvary, I thirst, and my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
And his burial in a rich man's tomb, and his crucifixion between
two thieves, and his resurrection. And they did all those things
because they wanted to. And the scripture says, when
they had fulfilled everything that was written of him, they
took him down off that tree. They fulfilled everything that
was written of him. Who wrote it? Who decreed it?
Who purposed it? My heavenly Father. And here
it says in 2nd Thessalonians 2.13, for this cause 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 13, But
we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved
of the Lord, because God hath planned from the beginning. In
the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, knowing
unto God all his works from the beginning. They said, Who are
you? Christ said, Even the same I
told you from the beginning. And he chose us to salvation,
not to service, to salvation. from the beginning. His covenant
is an everlasting covenant. That's what Hebrews 13.20 says,
God who brought from the dead that great shepherd of the sheep,
through the blood of the flock, the everlasting covenant. That's
the only covenant that's everlasting. His book of life is the book
of the Lamb, slain from the foundation of the world. Turn to Revelation
13, verse 8. Listen to this. His book is the
book of life, and the book of the Lamb slain before the foundation
of the world. Before there was a sinner, there
was a Savior. Before there was a sinner, there
was a sacrifice. Before there was a need for an
atonement as far as actual sin was concerned, there was a Lamb
slain. Revelation 13.8, And all that
dwell upon the earth shall worship him whose names are not written
in the book of the Lamb, slain from the foundation of the world."
Preacher, when was the book written? Same time the Lamb was slain.
He is elect, a chosen from the beginning. Turn to Ephesians
1, Ephesians chapter 1. I know it makes good preaching
to stand up when somebody professes faith and say God dipped his
pen in the blood of Christ and recorded your name in the book
of life. But I don't think God is surprised by anything that
happens down here. I know that makes good preaching.
It says a new name living down in blue. You believe that? It's something God didn't know.
It's something God didn't know. Ephesians 1, 3, blessed be the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with
all spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ, according as
he chose us in Christ, when? Before the foundation of the
world. because we were holy, no sir, that we should be holy
and without blame before him, in love having predestinated
us to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according
to your free will, no sir, according to the good pleasure of his own
will. We're taught to pray, thy will
be done. Thy will be done. Thy will be done in heaven, on
earth as it is in heaven. shall be done, because he works
all things after the counsel of his own will. Listen to this,
in John 17, you read this sometimes regarding Christ praying in John
17 as the Redeemer and the High Priest. Now Tom, when you read
it next time, read it this way. He's praying in the flesh, on
the earth, in his duties, responsibilities, as the High And he says, now
glorify me with the glory. I have finished the work you
gave me to do. Now glorify me with the glory you gave me, in
which I have redeemed before the world was. He had glory with
the Father as the Redeemer before the world was. That's his greatest
glory, his glory of redemption. And he says, I will that those
that thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may
behold my glory, which thou gavest me, for thou lovest me before
the foundation of the world. Christ was brought forth the
firstborn and the firstbegotten of the dead. Also his kingdom
is everlasting. All right, here's the third thing.
I know these things are true, and I may buck the whole world
on it, I may buck the whole ecclesiastical picture and structure, but it
doesn't bother me one bit in this world. I'm too old to care
what they think. Salvation's a gift, a free gift
with no strings attached. Salvation is ordained and purposed
and decreed of Almighty God before the foundation of the There's plenty of room in heaven,
but there'll be no vacancies. You can write that down. There'll
be no vacancies. The third thing is this. According
to the scripture, the salvation of God's elect is indeed both
certain and sure. It's certain and sure. Now, I
hear people arguing all the time about once in grace, always in
grace, once saved, always saved. I hear him arguing about eternal
security and all these things, whether or not a saved man can
be lost, etc., etc. That's all wasted effort. When
you discover one day, one day, one day, that the security of
God's people is always connected with God's purpose. John, the security of God's people
is always connected, inseparably connected with God's purpose
in His Word. Now let me show you that. First
of all, turn to Romans 8, 28. Now watch this. When you talk
about security, when you talk about being saved and kept, when
you talk about our certainty of dwelling in glory, well, you
can't base it on your faithfulness because you're not faithful.
You certainly can't base it on your love for Christ because
that's pretty slim stuff. You don't know what the future
holds. But I'll tell you what you can base it on. You can base
it on the unchanging love of God to Christ Jesus and his promise
to keep his word. And you can base it on that.
Listen to Romans 8, 28. to them who are called according
to his purpose, part, whom he did foreknow. He also did predestinate
to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be
the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom he predestinated
he called, whom he called he justified, whom he justified
he glorified. Them he glorified are those whom
he foreknew. And there is verification. Nowhere
in here does it say, whoever remains faithful, whoever doesn't
stumble, whoever doesn't deny Christ, whoever doesn'tâ€¦ It says
them that he knew, and he predestinated, he called, he justified, and
he'll glorify. It's his purpose upon which our
security is based. Totally. Can you show me that
again? Yes, sir. John 6. John 6. Always. Always. When you talk
about the security of God's people, it is inseparably connected with
his purpose and his grace in Christ Jesus, always. In John
6, 37, listen, All that the Father giveth me shall come to me. And
him that cometh to me I'll in no wise cast out. For I came
down from heaven, not to do my will as a man, not to do my will
as a representative, but to do His will, but the will of Him
that sent me. And this is the Father's will.
This is the unchanging, immutable will of God, which sent me, that
of all which He hath given me, I lose nothing. This is His will. You see that? I'm not going to
lose anything. All that he gave me will come
to me, and all that come to me I'll give him life, and I came
to do his will, and his will is that all that he has given
me I'll lose not a one of them, but raise them up at the last
day. Turn right over to John 10. Let me show you what I read
a moment ago. Christ is the good shepherd. He's called the good
shepherd, the chief shepherd, and the great shepherd. Will
the shepherd lose one of his sheep? I tell you, if one sheep
of Christ could fall away, my soul would fall a hundred times
a day. Yours would too. He keeps the sheep. The sheep
don't keep themselves. The shepherd doesn't save the
sheep and then run off and leave them. He keeps the sheep. The
Lord is my shepherd, I shall not walk. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness. He makes me to lie down in green
pasture. He prepares the table before
me. See, he, he, he. He's the shepherd. John 10, verse
27. My sheep hear my voice. I know them. They follow me.
I give them eternal life, and they'll never perish. Neither
shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father which gave
them me is greater than all, and no man can pluck them out
of his father's hand." What is the security of the sheep based
on? The Father gave them to the Son. They're His. And they're in the hands of the
Father. Nobody's going to take them away. Philippians 1. Listen
to this. Philippians 1.6. I know you've
read this so many times, but have you ever read it? Philippians
1.6, Paul writing to these people and thanking God for every member
of Solomon, praying for them. And then he says in verse 6,
listen to this, Philippians 1.6, being confident of this very
thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you. Now, who
began the work? He did. What kind of work is
it? A good work. A good work. He will perform it. What's that
word perform mean? He will perfect it. He will finish
it. He'll finish it. He'll finish
it until the day of Jesus Christ. That's Paul speaking now. And
he says, I'm confident. I'm confident. If God began it,
God will finish it. Nobody, Ecclesiastes said, that
which is done of God, nothing can be added to it or taken away
from it. You'll finish it. John wrote
this. He said some folks left us. And
he said, you know what is evident by their leaving? Why, he said
they never were of us. That's right. He said no doubt.
He said they went out from us. And they went out from us because
they were not of us. If they had been of us, they'd
still be with us. That's the Apostle John speaking
under divine inspiration. One other scripture, Malachi
3.6. There are two others on this. You know where Malachi
is? Last book in the Old Testament. Malachi 3.6. Listen to this. I'm saying the security of God's
people, the security of His sheep is always inseparably connected
with His purpose. Malachi 3.6. Listen. I'm the
Lord. I'm the Lord. And I change not. I change not. What's the rest
of it? Semicolon. Therefore, because
I don't change, you sons of Jacob are not consumed. Who are the
sons of Jacob? The believers are always referred
to as the sons of Jacob. The sons of Jacob. the sons of
him who had the birthright, the son of the one God chose, the
son of the one of whom God says, I love Jacob. Now, sons of Esau, sons of Jacob. And I'll tell you this, we're
a whole lot like him, too. We're a whole lot like him. Unsettled
as rainwater. All right, here's the fourth
thing. Now, hang on, here's the fourth thing. And you can't dispute
these things. I challenge any honest man. I
don't have time to fool with dishonest people. I don't have
time to fool with people who are defending their theology
and defending their position and defending what they think.
Any man who is separated to the glory of God and the gospel of
Jesus Christ and the truth of this word cannot deny these things. Salvation is a gift of God. Now,
most of them have it in their creeds, back there in the dust-covered
shelves, and won't preach it because people don't like it.
Salvation is a gift of God, and it's a gift that's eternally
given, and it's a gift that'll never be taken back. What does
Romans 11 and 29 say? Anybody know? The gifts and calling
of God are without change. You know what it says? The gifts
and calling of God. What is salvation? The gift of
God. The gift of God is eternal life.
And His gifts never change. Never change. And here's the
fourth thing. According to the scripture, the
God of salvation, who purposed our redemption, he purposed to
save a people, he will populate heaven. He will populate heaven
with people who are willing, people who are made willing in
the day of his power. They'll all be there as willingly
as Noah went into the ark. God didn't pick Noah up and throw
him in the ark, nor did he drag him kicking and screaming into
the ark. He opened the ark door and said, come in, and Noah walked
in willingly. And the people who stayed out,
stayed out willingly. Our people shall be willing,
according to the word of God, in the scripture I read to you,
those whom he purposed to save, those whom he chose in Christ,
those for whom he sent his Son into this world to be their surety.
Do you know what a surety is? Well, that's what the Lord Jesus
is called, the surety of the everlasting covenant. Those for
whom he's the surety and the representative. Do you know what
a representative is? Do you know what a federal head
is? Do you know of identification? You don't hear that preached.
Billy Graham never heard it. The reason he's never preached
it is because he's never heard it. There's identification. As in Adam we die, in Christ
we're made alive. As we're born in the image of
the earthly, we're born in the image of the heavenly. The first
Adam is of the earthy, the second Adam is of the Lord from heaven.
By one man's disobedience, we were made sinners. By the obedience
of another, we were made righteous. There's headship, federal headship. There's representation. There's
mediatorial representation before God for a people. In verse 25,
he looked at his eyes to heaven. He said, I thank you, Father.
I thank you, Lord of heaven and earth. Lord, God, King of heaven
and earth. You've hid these things from
the wise and prudent, and you've revealed them to the babes. Even
so, Father, it seemed good in your sight, and I thank you.
I thank you. My Lord, thank God for his sovereign
mercy. And Paul thanks God here, and
election is not only a doctrine of thanksgiving, it's a doctrine
of love. The election of a people is an
evidence of the love of God. He loved us. We didn't love him,
he loved us. Here in his love, not that we
loved God, he loved us. And what's the proof of it? He
sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. That's the proof
of it. And the election is a doctrine
not only of thanksgiving and of love, but it's a doctrine
of eternal mercies. God has from the beginning And
it's a doctrine of salvation, chosen you to salvation, redemption,
forgiveness, righteousness, eternal glory, redemption, pardon from
all your sins. Now watch this. It's a doctrine
of means through sanctification of the Spirit. What's that? Setting
apart. God taking something ordinary,
something common, and by His Spirit, by His power, by his
power in his Spirit, sanctifying and setting that object apart,
setting that individual apart, saying, this is mine, this is
mine. The Holy Spirit comes where that
sinner is. We're born of the Spirit. The
new birth's not something you do, it's something God does.
Your natural birth wasn't something you did, something somebody else
did. And the new birth's not something you do. We're born
of the Spirit of God. We're born of the seed of the
Word of God. We're born not by the will of man or the will of
the flesh, we're born by the will of God. You know what the
Bible says? John 1, 12-14. We're born of the will of God.
God willed the birth of his children. He willed the supernatural regeneration
and awakening and life-giving power of His Spirit through sanctification
of the Spirit and what? Belief of the truth. Everybody
who's saved is going to believe the truth. It doesn't say they're
going to believe some truths. Don't tell me I'm all wrong.
No, I don't reckon anybody's all wrong. Even the devil believes there's
a God. That's one point in his faith. James said, you believe
in one God? The devil believes in one God.
Well, he's right on that score, isn't he? But salvation is not
believing truth. Salvation is knowing the truth.
You shall know the truth. And the truth will set you free.
Well, who's the truth? Christ said, I'm the truth. I'm
the truth. I'm the way. I'm the truth. underlying. In Christ dwelleth all the wisdom
of God. He is the truth. And a man who
does not know Christ does not and cannot know the truth. If you don't know Christ, you
don't know the truth. You may know some truths. You may be
able to set somebody on the ear. You may be able to argue. Any
fool can ask a dumb question. But you don't know the truth
until you know Christ. He's the truth. Belief of the
truth. Belief of the truth. It was to
this end. Look at verse 14. And it was
to this end. Where unto? He called you by
my gospel, our gospel, so that you may obtain and share in the
glory of Jesus Christ. I tell you this, if God set his
love on you, if you're an object of his grace, he'll call you. He'll call you. he'll call you.
If he foreknew you, he'll call you. If he predestinated you
to be conformed to the image of Christ, he'll call you. If
he justified you, he'll call you. If he intends to glorify
you, he'll call you. And he'll call you by the gospel.
You may be a young lad like Timothy. You boys and girls here, Luke
and Kerry and Sarah, Josh Christian, oh Lord, I see you.
Paul said about Timothy, from a young child thou hast known
the Scriptures, able to make you wise unto salvation. Where'd
he learn it? From his mother and his grandmother.
Eunice and Lois, you know who they are? They taught Timothy
the way of God. That's right, God called that
boy. He called him by the gospel, which he learned at his mother's
knee. You may be a religious teacher
like Saul, but God'll meet you, boy. You may be on your road
of hate, and on your road of anger, and on your road of rebellion,
on your way to persecute some more believers, but God'll cross
your path if you're one of His. And He'll put you in the dust
just like He did that old boy, too. He'll bring you down. Nobody else can, but He can,
and He must, and He will. And He will. Except you be converted
and become as a little child, you're not going to enter God's
kingdom anyway. He's hid these things from the smart alecks
and revealed them to babes. That's what he said. Thank you,
Father. You may be in your eleventh hour
like the thief on the cross. You may be a businesswoman traveling
like Lydia. You may be a harlot like Mary
Magdalene. You may be married as many times
as a Samaritan woman. You may be a government agent
like Zacchaeus. You may be blind like Barnabas.
You may be as important as the eunuch. But if you are one of
God's own, you're going to hear his gospel from somebody. Or you're going to read it, but
you're going to hear it. Whosoever shall call on the name
of the Lord out of misery for mercy, whosoever shall call on
the name of the Lord shall be saved. But how shall they call
on Him in whom they haven't believed? And how shall they believe in
Him? Him! Not another Jesus! God's Jesus! The sovereign Christ! The successful
Christ! With Christ who's the substitute,
how shall they call on him in whom they've not believed? And
how shall they believe in him of whom they've not heard? And
how shall they hear unless some preacher's got the courage and
boldness to point to Christ and say, look, the Lamb of God. Look
to me. Don't run down here to the front.
There's nothing down here for you. It's as void down here as
it is back there. Repeat a little prayer after
me. Look to Christ. Look to Christ. Our Lord said
to his disciples, you go into all the world and you preach
the gospel to every creature. But he that believes that gospel,
that gospel, not another gospel. I'm not talking about a watered-down
gospel. I'm not talking about just any gospel. I'm talking
about that gospel, listen, which deals with the character of God. That gospel that deals with the
character of God. I heard one of those most well-known,
well-recognized, so-called prophets of 1988 preaching on television
to a football stadium crowd of 60,000 people the other night,
and his auspicious and deep mysteries with which he was dealing was
how to make better grades in school. And your girlfriends and boyfriends He sounded like one of those
broken wrist preachers to me. And I thought, is this one of
God's prophets? I tell you, the gospel you're going to have to
hear is a gospel that deals with great themes like the character
of God, the very character of God, and the character of sinners,
and the fall in the garden. and the consequences and corruption
and results of that fall, and the awesome, awful distance between
a holy God and a sinful man, and who's going to get those
two together? How can God be just and justify
the ungodly? Let's hear the preachers deal
with that. Answer it if you can. Well, I'll get up here and wash
off in the water and tell everybody I'm a Christian, and that'll
take you out of the dumb hill into the presence of a holy God.
Well, I raise my hand for prayer, or I'll come down to the front,
I'll shake the preacher's hand, or I'll go to the inquiry room,
and I'll talk it over with the counselor. And that's going to
fix you up, and that's going to take care of your sins and
your evil, and that's going to satisfy the holy law of God,
and that's going to satisfy the justice of God, and that's going
to take an unrighteous man born of woman into the presence of
a holy God, in whose presence Paul stood and came back and
said, I can't even tell you what it's like! Oh, we need more than that. How
can he be clean this morn of Mormon? Who shall ascend into
the holy hill of God? Who shall stand in his presence?
If a man's sinned, who's going to stand for him? Where's the
ransom? Somebody said, deliver him from
going down to the pit, I found a ransom. Where's the ransom?
Who's the ransom? I haven't heard him ever preach
about the ransom. Have you been called? Without
controversy, grave is the mystery of godliness, the mystery of
Christ and his church, the mystery of righteousness, the mystery
of the washing and cleansing of a sinner, the mystery of a
mediatorial reign, the mysteries, have you heard about them or
dealt with them? He called you by our gospel. Turn to Romans 3. I've got to
deal with this right here a moment. Romans chapter 3 and a couple
of other places. I'm not talking about a watered-down
gospel. I get so tired of hearing a watered-down
gospel. They're not dealing with the
themes. When you start dealing with the gospel, you start dealing
with things you've never ever considered before. I've had people
come and visit this congregation here and go away saying, I didn't
have the faintest idea what he's talking about. I'm talking about
the great themes of life. I'm talking about the great character
of God. I'm talking about the great last will and testament
of the Redeemer. I'm talking about covenant mercies.
I'm talking about that of which David spake when he lay on his
dying bed, and he said, this is my hope, this is my salvation,
this is my desire, God made a covenant. Our generation doesn't even know
the meaning of the word. But they're theologians, they're
doctors, D.D.' 's, M.D.' 's, T.H.D.'s. They're educated in man's theology.
Romans 3 said, verse 23, all have sinned and come short of
the glory of God, but being justified. Justified! What does justified
mean? It means not guilty. Not guilty
means acquitted, freely. The work, not by his grace, through
the redemption that's in Christ Jesus, whom God hath set forth,
God hath ordained, God hath revealed in a conspicuous manner, God
hath set forth publicly to be a perpetuation. What on earth's
a perpetuation? It's a mercy seat. Where'd you
ever hear of a mercy seat? It's where the Shekinah glory
dwells. It's between the cherubims and the holy of holies, over
the ark of the covenant, covering the broken law. That's the mercy
seat, that's the propitiation. Christ is our tabernacle, who
tabernacled among us, and God sent him forth, God sent him
down to be a propitiation, a mercy seat, a covering. So, I never
heard of that. To declare his righteousness,
God's righteousness, for the remission of sins of the past.
That's just my past sin, that ain't yours at all. That's the sins of the Old Testament
saints. That lived before Christ died
on that cross. Before he was set forth publicly
and conspicuously. And it says those sins of the
past were through the forbearance of God. Old Moses was already
in heaven when Christ died. Abraham was already in glory
when Christ died, wasn't he? Well, Christ's death took care
of those sins that were passed through the forbearance of God,
watch it, to declare, I say at this time, God's righteousness,
that he might be just and holy. Let me ask you this, that gospel
you believe, does it enable God to be God? Does it enable him
to be totally, wholly, completely just? God's got to punish sin. He's
got to have a perfect righteousness. You've got to obey the law. You
say, I can't. I know that. Any more than the
Ethiopian can change his skin or the leopard his spots. But
I tell you, somebody does it for you. Somebody who's identified
with you. and somebody who's bone of your
bone and flesh of your flesh, and somebody upon whom God can
look and say, that's old Mike, right there. That perfect man
is old Mike. That dying substitute is Mike.
That bared scapegoat, that risen justifier, that seated man in
glory is Mike. Now then, God can be just and
justify you and declare his righteousness. That's substitution, that's satisfaction.
For he'll call you by a gospel. And it'll be that gospel. Now
let me tell you something. Bear with me a minute. I can look over this congregation.
I can look starting up here and out there. And I can see the
divine, mysterious providence of God that brought you to hear
the gospel. Brought me. I was a pastor down
in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Been to school and pastored a
church there for two and a half, three years. Nice church out
in the country, had a nice home, had a good crowd of people, almost
about nearly what we have here some nights we'd have down there.
Putting on a show, didn't know the gospel. The less you know
about God, the more successful you can be in religion in this
day. And I was invited to come up here to Iceland, return to
Iceland as an assistant pastor, and I resigned the church. and
told them I was going to Ashland to be an assistant pastor. And
one of my deacons said, you've lost your mind. Why would you
do that? I said, I don't know. I don't
know. I just got to go to Ashland.
Well, you're a pastor. Why would you want to be an assistant
pastor? You're pastor of a church. You've got it here. Here you
are, pastor of this church. We love you, all this. Why do
you want to be somebody's assistant? I said, I don't. But I got to
go to Ashland. You know why I came to Ashland?
To hear the gospel. I had to come up here that God
would cross my path, cross my path with a man who knew the
gospel. Not many folks know it, did you
know that? He knew the gospel. And he shut me up to Romans 8,
28 through 31, God's purpose in Christ. Bob, I look at you
and I know your story because you're my son-in-law. Bob never
had any interest in God or the gospel. He was living the good
life on the shores of Lake Cumberland on fishing boats and campers
and all this sort of thing, doing what he liked to do best, fishing,
and teaching other folks to fish. And they came to him and told
him they wanted to send him to Cincinnati to attend the Ohio State Fair. The Ohio State Fair is a representative
of Kentucky State. Lakes and Parks, and that's to
represent the Kentucky Lakes and Parks. He said, I don't want
to go. Well, they said, you're going. And you went kicking and
screaming, didn't you? I don't want to go. They said,
you're going. And my daughter was sent over there from here
as a representative of one of these social organizations, and
their booths were close together. And old Bob walked by and saw
her, and he introduced himself. Huh? You reckon God was in there? Next thing I know, he was sitting
here listening to the gospel. He'd never heard it before. If
he hadn't gone to Cincinnati, he'd never heard the gospel.
Isn't that right? Well, how come he didn't go?
God sent him. Do you believe that? I know that. I look out here and I see Gerald.
What's he doing here? He lived two doors down from
this church for five years and wouldn't knock on the door. Isn't
that right? You despise what I preach. And that's not putting
it harshly, is it? Just didn't like it. His old
dad came every service. Well, how'd Gerald get here?
He loved his old dad. And he was gonna come to service
one night to please his daddy. And so Gerald came and brought
his whole family. Because Brother Bill wanted him
to come to church. And you heard the gospel. You
recognize an accident? Who did that? Who brought him
here? God brought him here. Don, you
know how come you're here? You left to work on old cars.
That's exactly right. If Don McGuinness hadn't had
a love for old cars, he'd have never met Gerald. And y'all started
working on cars together, and Gerald said, come over and hear
me preach here. So Don came over, and he didn't just hear Gerald's
preacher, he heard God, didn't you? Isn't that right, Don? My
God moves in mysterious ways. Ed Stephens, you had to build
a building to hear the gospel, didn't you? We came out here,
and I asked Dale Matkins and some of the men, I said, who
are we going to get to build the building? He said, I've got a nephew that's
a contractor, and so I went down and visited Ed Stephens. He didn't
care a thing about the gospel. He's religious like all of us.
But he came out here and built this church and did us, he did
such a good job, he did it so, so helpful and all, and there
he sits right there. Oh my, old Tom came all the way
from Utah to Kentucky. I look out here and I see some
of these guys too, about these fellas here, Joe Turner came
here, Jill brought him here. You see, it's no accident. David
Atkins turned on the television, just turned on the television
and heard the gospel. And many of you right here, Ed
Ballard, you'd quit church, hadn't you? Just quit. He told his preacher,
I ain't coming back anymore. Well, why aren't you coming back?
You've been here ever since you was a boy. I'm not hearing anything.
That's why I'm not coming back. I don't know what I'm not hearing,
but I'm not hearing anything. He's like the Ethiopian eunuch,
he's looking for something but couldn't find it and God sent
it to him. I'm telling you this now, you can believe it or not
believe it, that many of you like Lydia, this goes for all
of us, Paul and the rest of us, Terry and I look around over
this whole congregation, Jane, Richard down there playing church,
but we're walking in what light we have. old lady and walked
down to the riverside because she's walking in what light she
had. And she walked down there and walked smack dab into Paul
the Apostle. And Richard and Sheila rode by
this church and she said, who preaches there? He said, I don't
know, let's go see. That's luck we're having. Now I'll tell you this, it's
either all God or all chance. Now you take your choice. It's
either all God or all chains. And I prefer all God. All God. How'd God work in your life?
Well, I just know this. If he chose you in Christ from
the beginning as an object of his love, he'll call you by my
gospel. That's exactly right. Paul wasn't
ashamed to say that. He called you by my gospel. Because
my gospel is God's gospel. It's God's gospel. It gives all
the glory to God. It's true to the scriptures.
It'll save the chief of sinners. It'll keep him safe. It'll keep
him safe. I thank God for you, brethren,
beloved of the Lord. Because God hath from the beginning
chosen you to salvation. through sanctification of his
spirit and belief of the truth, whereunto he called you by our
gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of Jesus Christ our Lord."
Thank God. Thank God. All right, let's sing
a closing hymn.

He Called You By Our Gospel

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