I do not know of anything that is more clearly stated in
the Word of God than the way of salvation and
eternal life. The way of acceptance before
the living God is revealed in this Bible in the plainest terms. Now you go back to Genesis 3,
when man had fallen and the Lord God dealt with Adam and with
Eve and with the serpent. He dealt with Adam. He said,
by the sweat of your brow, you're going to eat bread. He dealt with a woman. He said,
you're going to bear children, but I'm going to increase your
travail and sorrow in childbirth. And he turned to the serpent,
and he said, I'm going to put enmity between thee and the woman,
between thy seed and her seed, and thou shalt bruise his heel,
his lower part, his humanity, the heel, the lowest form and
part of the body. He's going to destroy your head,
your kingdom, your power, and your control, and you who have
the power of death." Now, who is that? You say, well, I don't
have the faintest idea. Well, my friend, with all understanding
and compassion, you better find out. I don't understand you. Here
you are 55, 60 years old on your way to meet a holy God and you
don't know what he was saying? when he was announcing the only
light a dark world will ever receive, the only redeemer a
dark world will ever receive? The seed of woman. There's only
one who's seed of woman. There's no seed of women in here.
We're all the seed of men. When God said in Isaiah 7.14
by the prophet Isaiah, He said, Behold, God himself will give
you a sign. A virgin shall be with child. How can a virgin be with child? Only one way, that's for God
to make her with child. That's what Mary asked the angel. The angel said, you'll have a
son. She said, how can that be? I
don't know a man. And he said, that holy thing,
unheard of before or since, that holy thing. which shall be born
of thee shall be called the Son of God. For the Holy Ghost shall
come upon you, and the power of God will overshadow you, and
thou shalt call his name Immanuel, God with us. The seed of woman
is the Son of God." Huh? That's pretty clear. That's pretty
clear, the seed of woman. And since Adam's fall to the
time Jesus Christ came, born in Bethlehem of the Virgin Mary,
the world looked for and expected and waited for that seed of woman. And Isaiah dealt with it again.
He said, unto us a child is born, a son is given, not born, given. Jesus Christ came into the world.
He was somewhere else before he came. And in the same breath he calls
him a child, he calls him the everlasting father. In the same
breath he talks about his garments being rolled in blood, he calls
him the prince of peace. In the same breath he calls him
the son, he calls him the eternal father, the everlasting God. That's who that is. And then Moses, when When God
talked to Moses, he said, from the people, I'm going to raise
up a prophet like unto you, and him you shall hear. He'll speak
the words of my mouth. And those who hear him will be
blessed, and those who will not hear him will be everlastingly
cursed. And then when Christ came down
here to the earth, God said, this is my son. Hear him. Hear
him. God, who at sundry times in indiverse
manners spake to our fathers by the prophets, hath in these
last days spoken to us by his Son. Hear him. Are you hearing
him? And we hear all the other voices.
Christ said, I come in my Father's name, you won't hear me. Let
another come in his own name, him you hear. And then God instituted the priesthood,
and all these fellows went about their sacrifices and ceremonies
and so forth for years and years, centuries, millenniums. And God
said, I'm going to raise up another priest. He won't be a priest
after the order of Abram, because all the sons of Abram had a limited
priesthood. They lived and died. They passed
that priesthood from one to the other. They brought animal blood,
they ministered and earthed the tabernacle, and their sacrifices
could never put away sin. But I'm going to raise up a priest,
not from the tribe of Levi, but from the tribe of Judah, because
he's going to be a king priest. He's not only going to have a
last will and testament, but he's going to be on the throne
to execute it. See the difference? He's going
to be a king priest. And he's not going to be a priest
after the order of Alan, but after the order of Melchizedek.
Who in the world is Melchizedek? My dear beloved friends, it would
do well for your eternal soul if you found out who Melchizedek
is. Five times in the Word of God, the Saviors called a priest
forever after the order of Melchizedek. And not half a dozen preachers
in this state will mention Melchizedek in the next year. Melchizedek has no beginning
or end, no mother or father, no heritage, no pedigree. He's the priest of the Most High
God, the King of Salem. That's Melchizedek. That's our
Christ. Not only a prophet, but a king
and a priest. And over in 1 Corinthians, it
says Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. And for the past 65, 64 weeks,
I've been preparing lessons from the Old Testament entitled, Old
Testament Pictures of Christ. And I started with that fall,
with the seed of woman, and it came on down to the other prophecies
and promises of God regarding Christ in the Old Testament.
He died for our sins according to the scriptures. He was buried
and rose again according to the Scriptures. I don't call this
church a New Testament church. This is an Old and New Testament
church. And the man who's not familiar with the Old Testament
doesn't understand the New Testament. Because the Old Testament is
the New Testament concealed in promise, pattern, picture, and
prophecy. And every time that the word
Scripture is mentioned in the New Testament, it's talking about
the Old Testament. And I'm preparing those lessons,
and if you won't come and study them on Sunday morning with the
rest of us, you ought to get a package of them and read them. Our Lord Jesus Christ said, Moses
is not going to judge you, my word is going to judge you. And
I appeal to you, I appeal to you, study the scriptures. Find out who this is of whom
God is speaking, in promise. And then we have Christ in picture.
Salvation, the way of life, the way of salvation, the way of
life, is spoken of in the clearest terms in this book. Not only
in promise, in prophecy, but in picture. See that father in,
now here's Ishmael in Egypt, locked in, locked in in bondage
and slavery. Totally impossible for them to
get out. They had no weapons. They were
making bricks even without straw. They'd been in bondage 400 years. 400 years in bondage. They had no leadership. They
had no weapons. They had nothing. No way out,
humanly speaking. No way out. And you see God's prophet coming
down there, Moses. And he tells them that God will
pass through Egypt that night at midnight. God will pass through
and kill the firstborn in every home. God's judgment and wrath
is falling upon Egypt. And if you don't want it to fall
on your house, you don't want death and judgment to fall on
your house because it's going to fall on every house where
there's no blood. Then you take a lamb, and you
see that father go out there and look among all the lambs.
He has some instructions. He's to find one of the first
year in full strength. He's to find one a male. He's
to find one without spot or blemish. And he carefully selects that
lamb. Well, who is that? That's Christ.
Christ, the Son of God, Christ in the full strength of youth,
33 years old, Christ without sin, spot or stain. And he takes
that limb and God says, put it up four days. So He puts it over
here, separate from the rest of them. He was separate and
apart from sinners, though with our nature. Christ had our nature. Christ bore the likeness of sinful
flesh. He had the form of a servant,
but He was separate from sinners. And you watch him for four days.
And he watches him. And at the end of four days,
there's no cause found in him of disease. He's still perfect. Kill him. And they killed him. And roasted his body with fire.
Put it on the fire and roasted it. And took his blood and put
it on the door. Now then, what does that say
to you? Come on. Well, it says I got to be baptized
to be saved. Well, it says I got to keep the
law to be saved. Well, it doesn't say that to
me. in order to keep the wrath of God from falling on me and
to keep death from falling on me. I'm going to have to go to
church and tithe and keep Sunday and not watch television and
I got to work hard. I'm doing the best I can. One
dear lady wrote to me this week and said, I'm living my life
to the best of my knowledge. Boy, I wish I could say that.
And she said, I asked God if He could find anything in me
for Him to take it out. No, sir, I see Christ. I see
God taking Him and on that cross roasting Him under the hail and
fire of His wrath, roasting Him, burning His body. He said, I
thirst as His tongue swelled and His lips cracked open and
He hung there on that terrible cross. And I see His blood run
out. I see His blood flow from His
side, from His wounds. And that blood is by faith put
on the door of my heart. And when God passes over in His
overflowing scourge of wrath, I tell you this, I'm hiding in
the blood of the Lamb. I've eaten the body of Christ.
I've taken it and devoured it by faith. And I know there's
a place for responsibility and confession and giving and generosity
and grace, but I'm telling you this, if a man has Christ, he
has those things. The manna, the manna fell from
heaven, that's the bread from heaven, that's Christ. The people are dying of thirst,
and here's the rock, and the Corinthians says that rock was
Christ. That rock is Christ! And it says, Christ our Passover
sacrifice for us. I don't know how clear God can
make a thing. But I believe we all sprinkle
our babies in the blood. In the blood. But those people dying of thirst,
God says, the Lord said to Moses, said, take your rod, smite the
rock. And he went on and smote the
rock, and water came out. And you know, people dying of
thirst, they just gathered around there, they had every conceivable
container to get some water. Imagine how much water, gosh,
imagine what kind of water, God-given water, boy, that's, no fluoride.
I'm telling you, that's water. You ain't never drunk water like
that. That's clear, cool, heavenly water out of the rocks. Cleansing,
purifying, thirst-quenching water. But here's some dude over here
who's digging in a cow track, trying to get him some of the
water of the world, you know, going to wash his sins away.
You say, he's a fool. There are a whole lot of them
then. Because Christ is that rock,
and I know a whole lot of folks. I know some right here ain't
been to the rock. They're trying something else.
And that rock is Christ. I don't know how plain or God
can make it. What about the serpent lifted up on the pole? What about
the tabernacle? I'm going to ride this tabernacle
till somebody sees the Shekinah glory. You know where it is,
don't you? On the mercy seat. The Shekinah
glory of God, the indescribable glory of God is over the mercy
seat, between the cherubim. And you know who that mercy seat
is? It's Christ Jesus. God has set him forth to be a
mercy seat. All I need, all I want, all God
requires, all God demands, all the Lord expects is found right
there in that mercy seat. And I'll tell you, if I can be
there, if I can be there, This way of salvation is set
forth in his promises, in his prophecies, in the pictures,
and then in person. One day yonder, I don't know
when it was. Somebody else says, we want to
know when Christmas was. I don't know. Should we celebrate
Christmas? I don't think so. I don't know
when Christ was born. I'm just glad he was. But he
didn't tell us to celebrate his birth. He said, show forth my
death till I come. Put you up a tree if you want
to, but give your kids gifts, but don't bring Christ into it. I mean, just leave him out of
it. Just do like you do Thanksgiving and birthdays and all that. But
when was he born? I don't know, but God hung a
star over Bethlehem. God hung a star, a star like
it had never been seen before. over that birthplace, and the
angels came down here and said, unto you is born this day in
the city of David a Savior, who is none other than Christ the
Lord. Christ the Lord. And everything he did, God honored
it. The angels announced his birth,
the angels announced his resurrection, the angels announced his second
coming. And then God gave him miracles. He said, if you believe
me not for my words, believe me for the sake of the miracles.
No man can make the blind to see. And then God spoke from
heaven, said, this is my son in whom I'm well pleased. Hear
ye him. Then the way of salvation is
declared by the preaching of the gospel. Turn with me to Mark
chapter 16. Listen over here to the Lord
Jesus Christ in Mark chapter 16. Mark 16 verse 15. And He said unto them, Now you
go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
Now I could stop right there And I'm going to resist the temptation,
but the gospel, the gospel, there's just one. Go preach the gospel. He didn't say go preach a gospel.
He said preach the gospel. There's one gospel. It's the
gospel of God. It's the gospel of His grace.
It's the gospel concerning His Son. Is that not right? It's
the ancient gospel. And preach it to every creature.
Now, he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. And
he that believeth not shall be damned. Now secondly, the way of salvation, eternal
life, acceptance with God is clearly stated in this book,
if a person really wants to know it. But secondly, there's no
truth against which more error has been spoken. than the way
of salvation, substitution, and satisfaction in the person and
work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And you know something? Now,
fashion your seatbelts. But even those who are friends
of Christ sometimes have to be reminded and rebuked for straying
away from the clear presentation of Christ alone. Did you know
that? I'll show you. Peter did. Turn to Galatians.
Galatians. Chapter 2. Now listen to this.
Here are two illustrious apostles, Paul and Peter. Paul and Peter. And Peter was down there with
the Gentiles, and he was eating with the Gentiles, enjoying himself. You see, God has broken down
the middle wall of petition between Jew and Gentile. He's abolished
it. In Christ there's neither Jew nor Gentile, male nor female,
bond nor free. And Peter knew that in Christ. Christ is our salvation, Christ
is our sanctification, Christ is our acceptance, all in Christ.
And he's sitting over here enjoying these Gentiles, knowing that
he's saved just like they are. And then some fellows came down
from Jerusalem, some of the Judaizers, and Peter got uncomfortable when
they came in, and so he left this table with the Gentiles
and went over here and sat with the Jews. who separated themselves
from the Gentiles because they had the law, and they had the
prophets, and they had the circumcision, and so forth. And Paul walked
in, and he saw what happened. He saw Peter, who knew salvation
by grace, salvation in Christ. There's nothing to circumcision,
or law, or Sabbath-keeping, or tithing, or any of these things.
And Peter knew it. He knew it. But he got uncomfortable. And
he went over there. And even Barnabas followed him.
He caused some trouble. Paul came in and verse, look
at this. Verse 14, Galatians 2, When I
saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the
gospel. What's the truth of the gospel?
It's Christ, Tom, 1000%. It's Christ our sanctification,
John Christ our redemption, Christ our righteousness, Christ our
wisdom. Christ our Sabbath, Christ our hope, Christ everything.
And Peter was just, he just swapped tables. But Paul said he walked not uprightly
according to the truth of the gospel. And I burned him, he
said, listen. And I said to Peter before the
whole crowd, You mean he embarrassed him? He said to him before the
whole congregation, if you, being a Jew, live after
the manner of the Gentiles and not as the Jews, in other words,
you live before God in Christ, you're redeemed before God, not
because you're a Jew, because Christ died, not because you're
circumcised, because your heart's been circumcised, not because
you keep the Sabbath, but because Christ is your Sabbath. You live
before God without the law. and not as do the Jews. Why do
you compel the Gentiles to live like the Jews? We who are Jews
by nature are not sinners of the Gentiles, knowing that a
man is not justified by the works of the law, is not, is not, is
not, but by the faith of Christ Jesus. Even we have believed
in Jesus Christ that we might be justified by the faith of
Christ, and not by the works of the law, for by the works
of the law shall no flesh be justified. Do you see that? Turn
to Galatians, another verse over, Galatians 2, 21. He rounded up
with this, I do not frustrate the grace of God. I do not confuse
it, distort it, or compromise it in any way. If righteousness
come by the law, Christ died in vain. And then look at this,
Galatians 3, verse 1, O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched
you? Who hath deceived you? Who hath
muddled up your minds? I'm telling you, I'm telling
you the way of salvation, the way of redemption, the way of
acceptance with God is in and by and through the Lord Jesus
Christ and only that. And even those who love Him and
even those who believe Him have to be reminded of that and rebuke
from going aside, from sounding a clear note. Now defend and
preach whatever you wish, but not at the expense of Christ. I believe in growth in grace.
I believe in good works. I believe in giving and generosity. I believe in those things. But
don't you ever let any of those things infringe on the rights,
the crown rights, the redemptive rights of Jesus Christ. And don't
try to motivate people to do those things for any other reason
than out of love for Jesus Christ. That's right. But the problem,
now listen, the problem's not with the scriptures, it's with
people. It's with us. Let me show you that, Matthew
13. The problem's not with the scriptures. That's not where the problem
is. Somebody said the Bible's hard to understand. It is when
you're blind. The Bible's hard to understand. It is when you can't hear. It is when you have no spiritual
wisdom, of course it's hard to understand. Look at Matthew 13,
see if this is not true. Matthew 13, 13, Therefore speak
unto them in parables, because they seeing do not see, they
hearing do not hear. Neither do they understand, and
in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, which saith, By hearing
you shall hear and not understand, seeing you shall see and not
perceive. For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears
are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed, lest at
any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their
ears, and understand with their hearts, and should be converted,
and I should heal them. But, blessed are your eyes, they
see. and your ears, for they hear."
Turn to Psalm 65, verse 4. Just draw a big circle around
this verse. This is where it is, Psalm 65, verse 4. Blessed is that man, blessed is that man whom thou
choosest and causeth to approach unto thee. that He may dwell
in thy courts. Blessed is that man. Blessed
are your eyes, Christ said. Oh, do you see Christ? Do you
hear? Do you understand Christ's power
and wisdom of God? Then you're blessed. God's caused
you to approach unto Him. Turn to 1 Corinthians 2. I want
you to look at something here that may be helpful. I felt impressed
to read this scripture and deal with it for a few minutes. 1
Corinthians 2, and I'll just move right along. This is Paul
speaking to the church at Carlin. And he said, brethren, and I
brethren, when I came to you, when I came
down there to preach, I didn't come to you with excellency of
speech. Impressive speech or wisdom declaring
unto you the testimony of God when I came down there to preach
I didn't try to impress anyone With my gifts with my knowledge
or with my eloquence. Don't you imagine he could have?
Brilliant man, but he said I didn't come to impress anyone because
the wisdom of words and the cleverness of preachers and Intellectualism
only muddies the water and makes the cross of Christ of none effect
What is this testimony of God he talks about? Brother, when
I came to you, I didn't come with excellency of speech or
wisdom declaring unto you the testimony of God. What is this
testimony of God? Well, a testimony of God is a
testimony or witness to the love, mercy, and grace of God in Christ.
Let me show it to you in 2 Timothy. You need to turn and look at
this. This is the testimony of God, 2 Timothy 1. 2 Timothy 1
verse 8. Now listen to it. This is the
testimony of God. 2 Timothy 1 verse 8. Be not thou therefore ashamed
of the testimony of our Lord. The testimony of our Lord. And
then nor of me, his prisoner, but be a partaker. Now here verse
9 is the testimony. 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 the world began, but is now made manifest, revealed,
clearly indicated by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who
himself hath abolished death and hath brought life and immortality
to light through the gospel." That's the testimony of God.
Very clear, isn't it? And Paul said, I didn't mess
that up with a lot of clever words. I didn't come down to
entertain you. Look at verse 2, 1 Corinthians
2, back at verse 2. For I determined, I am determined
not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ in whom I am
crucified. Now will you listen to me a moment? Brother Mahan, is not the education
of our children important? Oh, by all means. By all means. We have teachers, there are six
or seven of them in this congregation, who've dedicated their lives
to teaching our children. Thank God for them. And you parents
cooperate with them and encourage your children. I have a vital
interest in our young people and their attainments. We have
one of our teachers on Wednesday night sits back here with our
children and helps them with their lessons. It's important. Well, Brother Mann, it's not
the, shouldn't we be interested in our government and our leaders?
Oh, yeah. I take two newspapers. I want
to keep abreast of what's going on. We vote. Oh, I'm interested in who's president
of the United States. I'm interested in the congressional
leaders and senators. Well, brother man, isn't civil
rights and individual liberty important? Oh, by all means. By all means. We have a free
nation. Let's defend it. Let's stand
for it. Let's defend the rights of others.
I defend the rights of other people to worship an idol if
they want to. Don't you? Don't you legislate
now any religious days of worship? Not in this country, thank God
that we can worship. They may legislate us out of
business. Don't you believe young people
need recreation and sports? Well, unfortunately, that is
a great weakness of mine. I believe they need sports too.
I love it. I love sport. Is not marriage and social life
important? You know I believe that. You
know with all my heart I urge people to get married and live
together and stay together and build their families and love
one another. I've preached messages on that.
Social life, get together and encourage one another and exhort
one another. Careers, I encourage you to follow
your career. But a person may have all those
things and miss Christ and it amounts to nothing. Nothing,
nil, zero, naught. Right? But if I preach Christ
and you come to know Christ, then all these other things are
going to fall in place. Now, I'm telling you the truth.
That's the reason Paul said, when I came down there, I was
determined that God commissioned me and ordained me and entrusted
me with the gospel of Christ Jesus, and that's all I'm going
to preach. And if you come to know Him, these other things
will fall in place. That's right. Your recreation
will be ordered by Christ. Your married life will be ordered
by Christ. The education of your children
will be ordered by your relationship with the living God. It'll all
fall right. Let me show you that in Matthew 6. See, this is not
true now, Matthew 6. But what I'm saying is the business
of the preacher and the church and the teachers and the elders
is to preach Christ. It's not the church's business
to educate the children, except in the gospel. Matthew chapter 6, listen to
verse 31. Therefore take no thought, this is our Lord speaking. Let's
go back to verse 30. Wherefore if God so clothe the
grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into
the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye little fowl?
Does that mean a man's not supposed to pay attention to where he
dresses? That's not what that's saying. He's not supposed to
work, buy shoes for his children, clothes. That's not what that's
saying. But he said, take, verse 31, take no anxious thought,
worrying thought, saying, where are we going to eat? Where are
we going to drink? Where are we going to wear? After these things do the
Gentiles seek. Your Father knows you have need
of these things. Now, seek ye first. The Kingdom of God. Where is
the Kingdom of God? In Christ. In Christ. Now you seek Him. And listen. And His righteousness. Where
is His righteousness? In Christ. And Mike, all these
things will be added to you. That's right. I believe that.
Take therefore no thought for the mara. The mara shall take
thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the
evil thereof. Oh, you know a person have all
these things and miss Christ and our Lord said, thy fool,
this night thy soul shall be required of thee. Then who shall
these things be? But if a man knows the Lord Jesus
in saving faith, all these things will be added. So Paul said,
I'm determined to preach Christ. Now look at verse 3. And I was
with you in weakness. Who's sufficient for these things?
I was with you in fear. I didn't fear men, but I feared
Him who hath power to cast you soul and body into hell. And I was with you in trembling. He always magnified his Lord
and humbled himself. He trembled in view of the work
of the ministry. And my speech and my preaching
was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration
of the Spirit and of power. Now here's verse 5, I want you
to look at it, and I'll close. That your faith should not stand
in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God, your faith. I came to you. I didn't dilly-daddle
in intellectualism and entertainment and social life and all these
things. I determined to preach Christ. And I was there in fear and weakness
and trembling. But I preached Christ that your
faith should not stand in Paul or his doctrine, or his logic,
or his arguments, or his reasoning, but in Christ, who is the power
of God. He's the power of God. Where
do you get that? Turn right across the page, 1
Corinthians 1, right across the page. Now listen, 1 Corinthians
1, 23. We preach Christ crucified. 1 Corinthians 1, 23. Under the
Jews, a stumbling block. Under the Greeks, foolishness.
Under us, what you call, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the what?
The power of God, Christ the wisdom of God. Your faith, Mike,
stand. Not in my cleverness or arguments
or Logic, reasoning, or one scripture against another, but in Christ.
He's the power of God and wisdom of God. Let me show you something
good here. Listen. He is the power of God. Christ is. For
he has destroyed Satan, who has the power of death. He's the
power of God. He has spoiled principalities
and powers. Christ did that. He has made
a full end of sin. and redeemed his people. That's
the power of God. And he did it lawfully and legally. And he has brought in a perfect
righteousness before God and the law. That took power. And
he has fulfilled every jot and tittle of every commandment,
every Levitical and moral and ceremonial law. That took some
doings. And he has removed the curse
of the law from the head of his people. All of it. And he has
conquered death. He walked out of the grave. That took some doings. Huh? He did. He's the power of God.
And he has risen from the grave and because he lives, I live. He has given me life. God has
given us eternal life, this life's in His Son, that's the power
of God. And He has entered into the Holy of Holies, into the
Holy of Holies in flesh, a man, and sat down to stay. Now that's power. That's the reason I preach Christ.
He's the power of God. Now my friends, preachers today
are talking about healings. That's not power like I'm talking
about here. I'm talking about eternal healing. I'm talking
about staying in the forces of evil for good. I'm talking about
stopping death for good. I'm talking about giving men,
sinners, a righteousness for good. I'm talking about taking
people out of a grave. I'm not talking about healing
a hurt over here on the fifth rib. I'm not talking about healing
your sinus. If you stay in a high valley,
your nose is going to run. Now just face it. When you get
old, you're going to wear glasses. Just be satisfied with it. Just
be glad you got glasses. Somebody's got to make a living
making glasses anyway. When you get old, your back's
going to hurt. Just face it. But someday I ain't going to
get old no more. Because He's given me everlasting
youth. Now that's power. That's power. You see what I'm talking about,
John? That's power. And that's what I'm interested
in. You go on, play around with this other junk, but I'm interested
in the power of God, who's Christ. He's the power of God. And not
only that, He's the wisdom of God. Listen, the wisdom of God,
listen. Jesus Christ has acted in such a way in life and death
and resurrection that God can be merciful and yet punish all
my sins. Now that took wisdom. At the
same time, God can deal with me in mercy
and judgment. He did down in Egypt. The death
came to every home in Egypt. No, you said it didn't come to
the Israelites. Oh, yes it did. That lamb died. Yeah, but that's just an animal. Hold it. That's the Son of God. And I died when He died. Huh? Death's already visited
me. God visited me in death, Ronnie,
and mercy at the same time. Same time. I took wisdom. You couldn't have figured that
out. And God, listen to this, He condemned my sin and at the
same time saved my soul. And not only, the law was honored
and justice was satisfied and God was glorified in the same
nature that disobeyed Him. Flesh. Christ did that. He's the wisdom of God. And pardon
is given by grace alone, grace, and yet justice is fully satisfied,
Charlie. That's wisdom. And the law pronounces me righteous. The very law that I broke says
I find no fault in Him. Hey, something's wrong here.
Law, are you getting loose? Oh no, I don't find any fault
in him. He's perfect. With his spotless garments on,
I'm as holy as his son. Now that's foolishness to this
world. And he went on, you read the
rest of it. He said, I'm preaching wisdom. But it's not the wisdom. These little preachers that have
got a seminary degree down here have got to come to you with
a book report, you know, and what somebody's saying, what
the great Karl Barth said, and what Tillich said, what somebody
else said. I don't care what they said.
I care what God said. And God said, Christ is my power
and my wisdom. And I'm awed. I'm absolutely
awed at the power and wisdom of God. I keep finding in Christ
Jesus. And I'm going to keep telling you about it. Every time
I find something about Him, I'm going to tell you about it. And
I've never run out of material. 37 years. 38 now. And I've never run out of material.
It's an inexhaustible mine of treasures and riches in Christ
Jesus. I keep coming back, and I'm fascinated
more and more. The half has never been told.
I feel like the Queen from the South, who saw the wisdom of Solomon
and the riches of Solomon, and she said, I heard about you,
but the half's never been told. And my Lord said, behold, a greater
than Solomon's here. And a preacher has to get up
on Sunday and preach about politics and government. You know why? He's never seen him. He's never
seen him. Poor fellow, he's never seen
him. Because if he ever does, oh my,
his message will change.