The Preaching of Jesus Christ

Now before I read my text and preach this message, I want
to share a story with you. When we go to a Bible conference,
especially a good one, you always hear at least one message worth
repeating, and one song worth singing again, and one story
worth telling. And I like this totally. I'll
bust if I don't tell it. This preacher, and I suppose
me and other callings and vocations experience the same thing, but
he was very depressed, very, very depressed. And he was lying
in bed one night and couldn't go to sleep. And he was talking
aloud to his wife, and really not to anyone in particular,
and he said, yes, I just ought to quit. Most of the people I baptized
don't come to church anymore. And he followed that along and
he said, most of the people I've married are divorced now. And he said, most of the preachers
I've ordained to the ministry are no longer in the ministry.
I guess I ought to quit. And his dear sweet wife spoke
up and said, well, honey, I'll tell you this, everybody you
buried is still dead. All right, let's turn to Romans
chapter 16. Now, I hope I can sound this
note tonight like I'd like to sound it. Romans 16, let's read verse 25. 26 and 27 Romans 16 25 Now to him that is of power to
establish you According to my gospel and the
preaching of Jesus Christ According to the revelation of the mystery
which was kept secret since the world began my gospel and the
preaching of Jesus Christ according to revelation. The preaching
of Jesus Christ according to revelation, a revelation of a
mystery. But now is made manifest and
by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment
of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the
obedience of faith. To God only wise be glory through
Jesus Christ forever. Amen." Now I want to sound a note that
I believe that we have learned here. I hope that we have. I believe that I've learned this.
If I haven't learned it as I ought to learn it, I hope that I can. If you haven't learned it as
you ought to have learned it, I hope you can or will also. This is of greatest importance. And something that has not been
learned in many places where I preach and visit, it hasn't
been learned there. And there are many men in the
pulpit that haven't learned this, haven't learned this lesson.
They must learn it. Brother Bill Clark has asked
me, when we were over in England, he asked me to write an article
on this subject. He and I discussed this several
times, because we both feel it is so vital and so important.
And we discussed it quite often, and he asked me to write an article,
and I'm struggling with it. I pray for wisdom to put on paper. It's so hard to put on paper
what you've learned, what you've experienced. It's just very difficult
to put it down in an article. But before I left, he reminded
me again, he said, now don't forget my article, and don't
take six weeks to write it, but get it over here for me to publish.
And that's three things that are stated in verse 25 of Romans
16. Paul says, my gospel, my gospel. Now stay with me. Why did he
call it my gospel? Well, first of all, he was saved
by that gospel, redeemed by that gospel. He said, it pleased God who separated
me from my mother's womb to call me by his grace and reveal his
Son in me. He was saved by that gospel,
my gospel. He was not only saved by that
gospel, but he had it committed to his trust. He felt a grave
and serious responsibility for this gospel that God had committed
to his trust, and this gospel to which he was
committed. And then also, he was obsessed
with this gospel. This gospel was his life. I couldn't
help but think of that while Mike was singing that song, Jesus
is all the world to me, my life, my joy, my all. And that's the
way Paul felt. He called it my gospel. And he
wasn't hesitant about defining it either. He defined it. He said, I'm called to be an
apostle and I'm separated unto the gospel of God, God's gospel. He called it, in another place,
the gospel of God's glory. And he said it's the ancient
gospel. It's the gospel according to Moses and Abraham and Isaiah
and Jacob. And he said it's the gospel concerning
his son. It's God's gospel, and it's the
gospel concerning his son. who was made of the seed of David,
according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with what?
Power. Power, according to the resurrection
of the dead. That's my gospel. And he not
only was not ashamed of it, and was obsessed with it, and was
ready to define it, but he was, he wouldn't tolerate any other
gospel. He was very careful to call the
man his brother who didn't preach this gospel. He said, I'm surprised
when he wrote to that Galatian church, he said, I'm really surprised
that you've departed from him who called you into the gospel
of God to another gospel. He said, it's not another, it's
a perversion. It's not another gospel, it's
a perversion of the gospel. And he said, if I or an angel
from heaven preach any other gospel to you, let him be accursed.
He said, I'll say it again. I've said it once, and I'll repeat
it. I hear people talk about my Armenian brethren. I've never
used that term, because it'd stop right here if I tried to. Paul wouldn't tolerate another
gospel. Now, Paul was a compassionate
man. He was a man who would meet you
halfway on a lot of issues, a lot of issues, but not on this, not
on the gospel. No toleration for compromising
the gospel of God's glory. He just wouldn't do it. He wouldn't
tolerate compromise. He said, I'll say it again, if
any man preach any other gospel than the one I preach, let him
be damned. Let him be a terrorist. And here
in this scripture, He puts these three things together. Now watch
it, my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ according to
the revelation of the mystery. In other words, he's saying this,
he's saying that the gospel and the true preaching of Jesus Christ
is according to the divine purpose of Almighty God in redeeming
a people. Now it's possible It's possible
to preach about Christ and not preach Christ, did you know that?
Not the true Christ. You can preach about Jesus Christ
and not preach the true Christ of the Bible. And I'll tell you
this, it's possible to preach doctrine, even true doctrine. It's possible to preach Calvinism
and not preach Christ, did you know that? Oh yes it is. It's possible to preach even
true doctrine and not preach Christ. But I tell you this,
you can't preach the true Christ according to the mystery of revelation
and not preach the doctrine. See what I'm saying there? You
can preach the doctrine and not preach Christ. But you can't
preach the true Christ and not preach the true doctrine of Christ.
I'll give an example. I suppose I got up here tonight.
And I told you I was going to bring a message on justification,
justification. And I might tell you what justification
is not. I might even tell you how you're
not justified. I might tell you what justification
is. I might tell you what the word
means. But I'll tell you this, if I'll preach Christ the justifier,
Christ the justifier, if I preach Christ the justifier in his person,
in his work, in his character, in his glorious redemption, then
I'll preach the doctrine of justification, what it is and what it's not,
if I preach Christ the justifier. Spurgeon used to say, you can
take a crooked stick and lay it down and spend all day pointing
out the crooks in it, and people still won't know what a straight
stick looks like. But if you take a straight stick
and lay it down beside the crooked stick and just reveal the straight
stick, people with any sense at all will see what's wrong
with the crooked stick. And this is what I'm saying about
preaching Christ. If we preach Christ, the doctrine
will flow. The Christ of the Bible and his
crown rites and his character and his glory will be revealed
when we preach his true character. That's right. You take the subject
of righteousness. A man may be taught what righteousness
is. He might be taught what righteousness
requires. He might be taught what righteousness
can do, and be led to seek righteousness in himself and in what he does,
and still never know the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. You see,
I look through the Scripture today, and I never find the disciples
preaching the of justification. I hear them preaching Christ
to justify. I've looked through the scriptures,
Cecil, and I can't find them preaching the doctrine of righteousness.
But I find them preaching Christ who is our righteousness. Watch
how Paul handles that in Romans 10. Turn over there a minute.
In Romans 10. And here he is in Romans 10 preaching
Christ. Now what? Brethren, Romans 10.1,
my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is they might
be saved. I bear them record, they have
a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge, for they are ignorant
of God's righteousness, and they are going about to establish
their own righteousness, and have not submitted themselves
unto the righteousness of God. Christ is the end of the lawful
righteousness to everyone that believes. Christ is our righteousness. Go on. Moses described the righteousness
which is of the law, that the man that doeth these things shall
live by them. But the righteousness which is
of faith speaketh on this wise." Don't say in your heart, who's
going to ascend into heaven, that is to bring Christ down
from above, he's already come. Or who shall descend into the
deep, that is to bring Christ up from the dead, he is raised.
But what does it say, what does the gospel say? The word is near
you, even in your mouth, in your heart, that is the word of faith
which we preach, that if thou shalt confess with our mouth,
Jesus to be Lord. And believe in thine heart, God
raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the
heart man believeth unto righteousness." Believeth on whom? Believeth
on Christ. Which Christ? Also resurrection. I hear a lot
of sermons about the dead being raised and taken to heaven and
all that we're going to enjoy in heaven and the resurrection
and all these things. and too much preaching on the
fact and the place and too little preaching on him who is our resurrection. I've given this to you several
times, but I can't get away from what our Lord said to Martha
when she came to him, all brokenhearted and sad over the death of her
brother, and Christ said, well, your brother shall rise again.
She said, I know he'll rise in the resurrection. He said, Martha,
I'm the resurrection. The resurrection is not a doctrine,
the resurrection is a person. I'm the resurrection, I'm the
life. He that liveth and believeth on me, it doesn't matter whether
he's living on this earth or whether he's buried in a grave,
he lives because he has Christ. And justification is not a doctrine,
it's a person. Righteousness is not a doctrine,
it's a person. Resurrection is not a doctrine,
it's a person. Eternal glory is a person. Let
me show you something here. Dan Parks brought this out in
a message he preached several years ago here. The disciples
preached Christ. They preached Christ. My gospel
and the preaching of Christ, according to the mystery, a revelation
of a mystery of God's purpose, is all one in the same. You can't
preach one without the other. And the apostles preached Christ.
Now listen, let me just run through some scripture. Acts 5.42. Don't you look it up. Daily in
the temple and in every house they ceased not to teach and
to preach Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ. Acts 8.5. Then Philip went down to the
city of Samaria and preached Jesus Christ. Acts 8.35, then
Philip opened his mouth and begun at the same scripture and preached
unto him Jesus Christ. Acts 10.34, then Peter opened
his mouth and preached peace by Jesus Christ. He's Lord of
all. Acts 11.20, and some of them
were of Cyprus and Cyrene, which when they came to Antioch spoke
unto the Greeks, preaching the Lord Jesus Christ. See, they
didn't preach the doctrine. They didn't come preaching the
sovereignty of God, they preached the God who is sovereign. They
didn't come preaching total depravity and justification as a doctrine,
they preached Christ and these things were brought out in the
preaching of Christ. I read on, Acts 28, listen. And Paul dwelt
two whole years preaching the kingdom of God and teaching those
things which concern Jesus Christ. Romans 15-19, Paul said, I have
fully preached the gospel of Jesus Christ. Romans 16-25, now
to him that is of the power to establish you according to my
gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ. First Corinthians 1-23,
we preach Christ and him crucified. First Corinthians 2-2, I am determined
to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified.
Second Corinthians 2-12, I came to Troas to preach the gospel
of Jesus Christ. All right? Now the third thing,
my gospel, my gospel. You can't preach to someone else
what hasn't already gripped your heart. Just give it up, just
throw in the towel, let somebody else preach. If Christ is not
real and personal and vital and living in your own heart, you
can't tell someone else about it. You just cannot do it. He says it's my gospel. It's
my gospel. And it's my gospel in the preaching
of Jesus Christ. And everything, everything concerning
the character of God and the purpose of God and the glory
of God is revealed when we preach Christ. Now watch this. According
to the mystery, according to the mystery, the mystery, the
revelation of the I hear statements like this. Now listen to me,
don't get upset. But it's something that I hear constantly and it
bothers me. Well, I was saved before I ever
heard of grace. Now come on, how were you saved?
By works? I was saved before I ever heard of grace. You know,
that statement was made just a few days ago. I was saved before
I ever heard of grace. Here's another one I hear quite
frequently. Oh, I was saved back yonder years ago, and then I
learned the doctrines of grace. Now, how can this be? How can
this be? The doctrines of grace are the
doctrines of Christ. Is that not true? The doctrines
of grace are the doctrines of Christ. How will you save without
hearing the doctrine of Christ? Turn to 2 John. Let me read something
here. 2 John. Now listen to this. 2 John, the doctrine of Christ. 2 John, verse 9. Now listen to
it. Whosoever transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of
Christ. What is the doctrine of Christ?
Well, the doctrine of Christ is his eternal deity. Is it not? His eternal suretorship in the
covenant and purpose of grace, his incarnation, well, his picture
in the text, his incarnation, his federal headship as our representative,
his righteousness through obedience, his sin offering through death,
his atonement, his effectual atonement, his resurrection,
his exaltation, his enthronement, His exaltation above all exaltations,
is that not the doctrine of Christ? Well, he that abideth not in
the doctrine of Christ hath not God. Now, he may be a moralist,
a separationist, a legalist, or a religionist, but if he's
not abiding in the doctrine of Christ, he doesn't have God.
We don't. He that abideth in the doctrine
of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. As Paul said, this
is the work of the Trinity. Through Christ, by Christ, through
the Spirit, we come to the Father. That's what we just read. Now,
verse 10, If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine,
what doctrine? Well, the doctrine of Christ.
His eternal glory, if I were the glory which I had with thee
before the world was. The Son, as the Father quickeneth
whom he will, the Son quickeneth whom he will. I have all power
over all flesh, that I should give eternal life to as many
as thou hast given me. All that my Father giveth me
shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise
cast out." This is the doctrine of Christ. Not a poor, weak,
defeated, frustrated Reformer, but the living, enthroned, interceding,
almighty, glorified Redeemer. That's the doctrine of Christ.
And he said, verse 10, If they come any unto you, and bring
not this doctor, and don't receive him into your house, and don't
bid him God's pleas. Now, let me ask you to turn to
a verse of scripture. I just want to be perfectly honest.
Galatians, chapter 3. And here's what we've got. I
hear this constantly. I hear this constantly. And I'm
trying to say to people, it's not when, it's whom. it's home. Salvation is not a whim, salvation
is not an experience, salvation is not a decision. Salvation
is a resurrection, it's a new creature, it's a miracle, it's
the beginning of a son, it's the regeneration of a sinner,
it's the miracle of life of a brother, and it's in Christ. People say,
well, I've been saved, I've been saved, I've been saved under
that what I consider now false gospel. And then I learned the doctrines
of grace. Now read Galatians 3 verse 1, O foolish Galatians,
who hath bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before
whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified
among you? This only would I learn of you.
Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law or the hearing
of faith? How will you say? How did you
receive the new birth, new life? By the works of the law or by
the hearing of faith? Gift of God. Now, are you so
foolish, having begun in the Spirit, you're made perfect and
matured by the flesh? Is that what you're saying? In
other words, what he's jumping on these Galatians about is the
reverse. The reverse. He's saying this.
You people started out in grace. I'm amazed that you're so soon
removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ
to work." Another gospel. Now you say that you begun in
grace. You were saved by grace, but
you're made perfect by the law. You're sanctified by the law.
You're matured by the law. You learn more of God by learning
more of the law. Is that what you're saying? Well,
now what my generation is saying is the opposite. They're saying
they were saved by the flesh. And they later on learned grace.
See what I'm saying now? My generation is saying this.
They're saying that we were converted under an Armenian preaching,
under free will preaching, under preaching of another gospel,
and we were saved all that time, and then we had the deeper truths
of grace brought to us, and we believed them, but we were saved
by faith. That's just as impossible as being saved by grace and sanctified
by law. Because that's saying I'm saved
by the flesh and I'm sanctified by the Spirit. It's just this. I read the experience of the
Apostle Paul, talked about his background. He said, I was a
Hebrew of Hebrews, I was a Pharisee, I was a teacher
of the law. Concerning the law, I was blameless.
He had said I had a moral code. I had a strict lifestyle. I was in the synagogue, circumcised
Jew, in all of these things. And then one day I met Christ.
I met the Christ of the gospel. The mystery was revealed to me
of the gospel. Now that's my experience. I don't
know about the rest of it. I don't know about you people
who will be hearing this tape. But I was brought up in the Bible
Belt of the South, as many of you were, and I was brought up
in a Baptist church. And parallel to the Apostle Paul's
early experience, I followed the traditions of my father,
my father's, and I learned in the Sunday school and all these
other things. But I never heard of the character
of God, the glory of Christ. Righteousness of Christ, the
redemption of Christ, the glory, the character of Christ. And
back in 1950, Brother Barnard came here and held a meeting.
And I was sitting on the front row that Tuesday morning. And
he's standing up preaching. About as many folks there as
here tonight on a Tuesday morning. And he looked down at me and
he said, quote Romans 8 28. I got to my feet and I said all
things work together for good to them that love God. I sat
down. He said what's the rest of it?
I guess I had a blank look on my face. He said what's the rest
of it? Do you know the rest of it? This
is fun to all those people. I said I think so and I got up
and I said all things work together for good to them who love God
to them who are called according to his purpose. How I knew it,
I don't know, because I didn't know it. How I said it, I don't
know, because I didn't know it. I didn't know the meaning of
it. But it was there. And he looked at me and he said,
Purpose! Everything God does, he does
on purpose! No accidents with the God of
the Bible. You ever get hold of that? He'll
open that Bible up to you. If you ever find out who God
is. How can a man be saved if he doesn't know God? He can be religious, he can claim
to be saved, he can be moral, he can be a soul winner, he can
be a preacher, he can be a song leader. But he can't know, he
can't know God if he doesn't know God. And boy, I went, I
went, I, Doc hadn't moved up here then, and I went over to
the pastor's study. I got out the book of Romans,
and I really read it, Tom, for the first time. I'd read it before. But I got to reading it, and
I found out, I found out God, you didn't have to feel sorry
for God. I found out that God's on the
throne. I found out there wasn't any mistakes or accidents with
God, that he had a purpose. an eternal purpose. I found out
Jesus Christ wasn't some poor little frustrated, defeated fellow
that we ought to do something for and pity him and accept him
before it's everlastingly too late. I found out that he accepted
me. I didn't accept him. He chose
me. I didn't choose him. He sought
me. I didn't seek him. He loved me.
I didn't love him. I found out salvation, like Paul
read, is the gift of God. But I was already saved. No, I wasn't either. I was religious. I was a religious one, you know,
and say, yeah, but how can you be a preacher and not be saved?
Now, you know better than that. You can be an apostle and not
be saved. You can be an apostle and not be saved, because one
was. I'd like to know, how does one
preach the God of the Bible and not preach him as he is? absolutely,
immutably sovereign. Now, how do you do it? It can't
be done. Can it? No, it can't be done. I'd like
to know, how does one preach the fall of man and yet leave
him alive, capable of making a decision, capable of deciding
his eternal destiny? It can't be done. That's not
the fall of man. How can one preach a covenant
and not make God the elector. He's the one that made the covenant.
How does one preach an atonement which does not atone? You can't
do it, can you? If you preach an atonement that
does not effectually sufficiently atone, it's not this atonement,
it's another atonement. Turn to 2 Corinthians 11. Let
me show you something there. 2 Corinthians 11. 2 Corinthians 11. Now, what I'm
saying is this. that the gospel and the preaching
of Jesus Christ and Chuck, the revelation of the mystery of
godliness in God's eternal purpose is one and the same. And if you're
not preaching the covenant, you're not preaching the gospel. You
see what I'm saying? And if you're preaching the gospel
of Christ, you're preaching Christ and you're preaching the purpose
of God. It's inseparable. Listen to 2 Corinthians 11, verse
3. I fear lest by any means, as
the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, your mind would
be corrupted from the simplicity that's in Christ, the singleness
that's in Christ. For if he that cometh preacheth
another Jesus, what would be another Jesus? A weak, frustrated,
powerless, ineffective Jesus would be another Jesus. wouldn't
he? Whom we have not preached, or if you receive another spirit,
that's the spirit that stands and knocks on every heart's door
and doesn't have either the power or the purpose to enter therein,
that's another spirit. Isn't that not right? Which you
have not received or another gospel. What is another gospel? I decided for Jesus. God did all he can do and left
the rest to me. That's another gospel. God wanted
to save me and I wouldn't let him, and finally one day I let
him in. That's another gospel. Is that not true? Well, Paul
said, if they come doing that, you might well bear with me.
You might well bear with me. How does one preach calling and
not preach a sexual calling? Turn to 2 Timothy 2. Now, here's
another scripture that has to do with this. And I boldly declare,
my gospel is the gospel of a sovereign God. My gospel is the gospel
of Christ, who has the crown rights, the absolute crown rights. God has given everything into
his hands. And the foundation of that Christ
standeth sure, he knoweth them that are his. He said, I know
my sheep, and am known of mine. And other sheep I have, which
are not of this fold, him also I must bring. I am the good shepherd,
I lay down my life for the sheep. And my sheep will hear my voice,
and they'll follow me, and I'll give them eternal life, and no
man can pluck them out of my hand. My Father gave them to
me, and no man's greater than my Father, and they can't pluck
them out of my Father's hand." And they said, well, if you're
the Christ, tell us. He said, I told you, and you didn't believe
me, because you're not of my sheep. My sheep will hear my
voice. That's the Christ I'm preaching. And here in 2 Timothy
1, 8, listen to Paul speaking to young Timothy, the preacher. Timothy, be not thou therefore
ashamed of the testimony, the gospel of our Lord. Don't be
ashamed of it. Don't be ashamed of me, his prisoner.
But you be a partaker of the afflictions of the gospel, the
offense of the cross, according to the power of God, 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 Christ Jesus before this world began, but is now
made manifest by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who
hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality
to light, where? Through the gospel, this gospel
we are preaching. Whereunto I am appointed a preacher,
and an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles. Now what part
of that is this preacher, teacher, and apostle going to leave out?
that I just read. Well, he's supposed to preach.
Let's see what can he preach. He can't preach, he has saved
us because we make the decision. He can't preach, call us with
a holy calling because he calls everybody. And he can't preach
according to his purpose and grace, especially which was given
us in Christ Jesus before the world began. I just don't know
what he preaches. It's up to you. It's up to you. up to you. Now, I want to emphasize
again, over and over, I'm trying to say this over and over again. Salvation is not when, it's whom. It's whom. Look down here at
verse 12. For the which cause I also suffer these things. Nevertheless,
I'm not ashamed. I know whom I have believed.
I know whom I have believed. I know him. Do you know him?
Really know him? I'm not talking about any experience.
I'm not talking about a feeling. I'm talking about do you know
him? Well, how do you know him by his words? What does his words
say about him? He's God. Immutable, infinitely, almighty,
sovereign, omnipotent God. Before this world began, before
man fell, he determined to have a people. I know whom I have
believed. I know that he did not fail,
that he designed and purposed and decreed to have a people,
a holy people, a chosen people, a royal priesthood. And that
he chose his son as their surety and substitute and mediator and
prophet, priest, and king, and gave his son a people out of
every tribe, kindred, nation, tongue unto heaven. He gave them
to Christ in an everlasting covenant. He made him the surety of a covenant. He made his blood the blood of
that covenant. He turned them over to Christ,
the mediatorial kingdom. He put it all into the hands
of Christ. And then he made this world, and he made man, and he
suffered him to fall. And he passed by the angels that
fell, and chose not all men, but the seed of Abraham. Believe
it. And all the way through the Old
Testament, this God of purpose and power revealed this covenant,
this salvation, this redemption, this substitute, this prophet,
this priest, this king, in picture after picture, pattern after
pattern, promise after promise, type after type, and finally
one day, he hung a spire up there in heaven over a manger in Bethlehem. Bethlehem, because it's the city
of David. The seat of David, because David
is his king. who's the root of Jesse, who's
the tribe of Judah. He wasn't of the tribe of Levi,
he was the tribe of Judah that he might be the king priest,
the king priest, you follow me? The sovereign priest, the one
who dies and writes his last will and testament and rises
and sits on the throne and brings it to pass. The king priest. And that he lived on this earth
a perfect life. and revealed himself to whom
he would, he called whom he would, Matthew you follow me, Zacchaeus
come down, you also are a son of Abraham. And he went to that
cross and died and was buried and rose again and ascended to
heaven and sat down, he is not walking the floor of heaven,
he is not wringing his hands, he is not troubled, frustrated,
defeated or confused. He sat down in victory on the
right hand of the Father expecting till every enemy become his footstool
and every son come home. That's who I know. And you mean
to tell me I saved before I met him? No, sir. No, sir. That's just not so. We have saved he that seeth the
Son. and believeth on him, hath everlasting
life. He that seeth whom? The Son of
God. The Son of God. Not an imposter,
not a counterfeit, not an imitator, not a stand-in, not a censure.
Seeth the Son! That's the reason I preach what
I preach wherever I preach. Somebody said, one of the greatest
insults that I've ever had, ever had, ever hoped to have, is one
fellow said, do you preach the same thing in meetings you preach
at home? I thought I shot him out 29. There ain't but one thing
to preach if you know him. That's right, is there Hal? That's
Christ. That's Christ. A man who preaches
something different away from home doesn't know Christ. A man
that stands up, he stands in here studying and says he believes
grace and comes out here and doesn't preach it, doesn't know
Christ. That's exactly right. And this is the thing I'm struggling
with. The scripture says make your calling and election sure. Not make the time sure, make
the calling sure. See what I'm saying? Examine yourself whether you're
in the faith. Don't you know yourself whether
Christ is in you? Don't try to determine when he
came in or where he came in, just find out if he is in. That's
the key. It's not when, it's not where. And I don't know why people want
to keep defending these false professions. Would you tell me
why? I just don't know, and it just seems like if you sit down
and have a conversation with a preacher. I had a preacher
tell me one time, I said, when were you saved? He said, I was
about 9 years old, 10 years old, 11 years old. I said, when did
you learn the gospel? He said, just about 3 years ago.
I said, now how were you saved without knowing the gospel? Why,
he said, that's a good question. I'd say it's a critical question,
wouldn't you? A critical question. I know whom
I have believed. And this is what we're trying
to preach, and what Bob preached last Sunday morning, John Sunday
night, Gary last Wednesday night, I'm trying to preach tonight,
I'll preach again Sunday. Who he is, you're not going to
be saved by knowing who he is. Don't tell me about an experience
you had back there 100 years ago, or the old country church,
or the old revival, or the old preacher, or the old choir, or
the old anything else. Because something's old doesn't
mean it's right. In fact, actually, the new covenant is ever new.
And salvation is not old, it's ever new. Christ is ever new. Don't tell me about an old experience
that stayed old. Tell me about a new life, a new
creature. Behold, I make all things new.
Is that too hard? I don't think that's too hard.
I'm saying just like my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ
according to the revelation of the mystery of God is one and
the same. And we haven't preached the gospel
unless we preach him in his full character. I'm not saying that
a man has to be a theologian to be saved, but I'm saying this,
he's going to have to know something about who Christ is and what
he did and why he did it and where he is now. How can you
worship an unknown God? It can't be done. Let me just
read one other thing, Revelation 10, or Revelation 5, I beg your
pardon, but you've got time for this. Let me just read one other
thing. One other thing, Revelation 5. Revelation 5, verse 1, now
listen to this. And I saw in the right hand of
him that sat on the throne a book, a book, written within and on
the back side sealed with seven seals. And what do you suppose
that book is? It's talking about the Father,
isn't it? Pestilence. Pestilence. What is this book? I'll tell you what this book
is. It's the book of the decrees
and purposes of Almighty God. It's the book of redemption.
It's the book of life. It's the book of the very glory
of God in redeeming sinners. It's the book of His glory. He
said, my glory is my goodness. It's the book of all that God
has for sinners. And verse 2 said, I saw a strong
angel proclaiming with a loud voice, all right, who's worthy
to open this book and to open the seals, loose the seals thereof?
Who's worthy? Who's worthy to take the purposes,
decrees, and design of Almighty God and fulfill it and open it
and make it come to pass? Who is? And no man in heaven? in earth, or under the earth,
was able to open the book, neither to look thereon, not even look
at it. Oh, the awesome holiness of God,
the impossibility to get that which is impossible with men.
And I went much, because there was no man, because no man was
found worthy to open, to read the book, or to look upon it.
And one elder said, weep not, behold the Lion, the Lion of
the tribe of Judah. Ain't sweet little Jesus, Lord.
That's the Lion, the King of the tribe of Judah. The real
baby. He hath what? He hath prevailed. He prevailed over hell. He prevailed
over sin. He prevailed over death. He prevailed
over the grave. He hath prevailed. To open that
book, and to loose the seven seals out, and behold thy beheld,
and lo, in the very midst of the throne, in the center of
the throne, rising out of the throne of God, in the midst of
all the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having
seven eyes, that's the all-seeing eye of God, and the seven spirits,
that's the all-powerful God sent forth into all the earth. And
he took the book out of the hands of him that sat on the throne.
He's worthy. He literally, Richard, took the
book. I'll open it. I'll fulfill it. I'll bring it to pass. And when
he had taken that book, and the four beasts and four elders and
twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of
them hearts engoldened, bowels full of odors, full of the prayers
of the saints, and they sung a new song. And oh, it's almost
ungodly to mention it, but Jesus, we made our decision and accepted
you and let you be our Savior. And we raised our hands and we
joined the church and we served you and preached to you under
God. How could anybody say anything
in a situation like this? And they said, Thou art worthy. to take the book and open the
seal of Pharaoh, for thou hast slain and thou hast redeemed
us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, tongue, people,
and nation, and you have made us unto our God, kings and priests,
and we shall reign on the earth." Have you seen him? He that seeth
the sun and believeth on it hath everlasting life. And I boldly
declare, this is one gospel. It cannot be divided. cannot
be divided. Our great God and Father, how we long to tell men the truth, as offensive as it may be to
the natural flesh, as destroying it may prove to the traditions
of religion, as uprooting false foundation, tearing away
every hope, every stone, but it establishes Christ the chief
cornerstone, the foundation, the rock, tried stone, proven
stone. Lord granted every person in
this building, and those who hear this message by tape, may
find in Christ all they need. Lord, let us be willing to forget
the things which are behind and to press forward toward the
mark of the prize of the high calling of Christ Jesus, toward
that blessed prize, life, glory, perfect conformity to him who
loved us and gave himself for us. Lord, help us to preach thy
gospel, the gospel of your glory, the gospel of your grace, and
Lord, anoint it with the power of your Spirit. Reveal it to
the hearts. Reveal it to the hearts of men
and women. For Christ's sake we pray, amen.

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