And I want to pick right up where
Jim left off here in chapter 2. Now this church is an unusual
church. It's not a social center. It's
not just a religious organization. This is a preaching center. This
church and its pastor and deacons and elders and every member of
this church is dedicated to the preaching here on television,
through tapes, missionaries around the world, a printed page, to
preaching the gospel. We are blessed to have in this
congregation several men who are able, gifted, talented preachers
of the gospel. They travel about in other places.
They preach here and they preach in other places for pastors who
are away and to fill pulpits of churches where they have no
pastors. And your pastor preaches in a
lot of places. Last year I preached in 32 churches. That's a lot of churches, and
this year I'll preach in that many, perhaps more. Churches in Mexico and America,
and this year in England and Africa. And we're preaching to
literally thousands of people by way of television and tapes.
But Paul says here in 1 Thessalonians 2, we do not preach the gospel
in vain. We do not preach the gospel in
vain. He says in verse 1, For yourselves,
brethren, know that our entrance in unto you, it was not in vain. Charlie, you went over this morning
and preached in Floyd, Virginia. You perhaps didn't see any outward
results except the comments of the people. But you didn't go
in vain. I preached this morning here
on television at 9.30, and then from this pulpit, it was not
in vain. We do not, if we preach the gospel,
THE gospel, in the power of God's Spirit, we do not preach the
gospel in vain or without effect, any more than the Father established
His covenant in vain. Do you think God established
the covenant in vain? Did the Lord Jesus Christ die
in vain? He said, other sheep I have which
are not of this foal, them I must bring. And they shall hear my
voice, and they shall be one foal. The Holy Spirit does not
call men in vain. The Word of God preached in the
power of the Holy Spirit will accomplish that whereunto God
has sent it, either to the salvation or condemnation of every hero. But it does not go forth in vain. Put your hand there in 1 Thessalonians
and turn back to Isaiah 55 and listen to our God speaking here.
He said in Isaiah 55, 10, As the rain cometh down from heaven,
and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, Isaiah
55, 10, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth in
bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
so shall my word. I'm not talking about the words
of the preacher, the babbler. I'm talking about the Word of
God. So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth,
it shall not return unto me void, it shall accomplish that which
I please, and it shall prosper in the things whereto I sent
it. And that's what Paul is saying to this church at Thessalonica
in verse 1 of chapter 2. He said it was not in vain. My
visit among you was not in vain. I go different places and preach,
prepare during the day and pray over the message, ask God to
give me a word to speak. Get up in the pulpit and preach
and people come, different ones visit from other places, different
pastors come in and listen. Close the Bible, say amen, have
a prayer and leave and you wonder, well, what am I doing here? Why
did I come? Let us be encouraged by this
verse right here. It's not in vain. It's not in
vain. And then secondly, verse 2, he
said, we preached the gospel boldly. Boldly. Now listen to
it. But even after that we had suffered
before and were shamefully entreated. You know it, Philippi. We were
shamefully entreated. We were persecuted, talked about,
lied about. The gospel, my friend, is offensive. It's offensive to the natural
man. The natural man does not love
the gospel. He doesn't love the God of the
Bible. It's offensive to him. You cannot make it acceptable
to a natural man. He hates it. He despises that
gospel that gives God all the glory. But Paul said, even though
we were shamefully entreated, as you know at Philippi, we were
bold in our God. We were bold in our God to speak
unto you the gospel of God with much contention. I'll tell you
why I'm so bold about preaching the gospel. Because of that very
fact, it's the gospel of God. If it were my gospel, I'd be
hesitant and apologetic. If it were my gospel or your
gospel or the Baptist gospel or the gospel of men, I'd be
timid and hesitant and apologetic. But it's God's gospel. And I'll
tell you, I believe it. Barney used to say, I'm not playing
tiddlywinks or mumbleypeg. You remember mumbleypeg? I'm
preaching the gospel. I believe. If I didn't believe
it, I'd close this book and sit down and shut up and never open
my mouth again. I'm not afraid to submit my belief
in God's absolute, infinite, immutable sovereignty to this
book. And I frown like I'm mad. I'm mad at the religious world. That's what I'm angry about.
I'm angry at compromising lying preachers. That's why I'm not
angry at you. You say you're frowning and raising your voice
and sound like you're angry. I'm angry at compromising preachers
who talk like this. Well, I believe that, but I just
can't preach it. It'd tear my church up. I just
can't preach it because I got a family to support. I just can't
preach it because it defend the people. I can't preach it. One
preacher told Barnard, if I lost two tithers, we'd go in the red.
You say, surely not. Surely so. I'm not afraid to
submit my belief in God's elective grace to this book. I'm not afraid
to submit my belief in Almighty God's invincible, irresistible
call by His Spirit to this book. I'm not afraid to submit my belief
in perseverance and particular redemption to this book. We're
bold, he said. Even though they shamefully treated
us and even though they persecuted us and hated us, we were bold,
bold in God. Bold in God to speak unto you
the gospel of God with much contention and argument. Oh, they'll give
you a hard time. I'll tell you this. I'll tell
you this, you can have a Catholic and a
Pentecostal and a Seventh-day Adventist and a Church of Christ
and an assembly of God and a Christian scientist and anybody else working
together and you let one grace believer walk in, they'll have
one gang up on him. I guarantee you that. They'll
get together on him. And you know why that is? There's
just two religions, grace and works. Now that's so. You try that sometimes. See if
it's not so. You can have people sitting around
arguing religion. You just mention God's sovereignty,
elective grace, and the effectual work of Christ, and every blessed
one of them will gang up on you. It'd be like Herod and Pilate,
Pontius Pilate, the Gentiles and the Jews all ganged up on
Christ. They hated one another. The Jews hated the Gentiles.
The Gentiles hated the Jews. Herod hated Pontius Pilate. Pontius
Pilate hated Herod. But when Christ stood in the
midst of them, they ever won descended on Him. And after they
nailed Him to a cross, then they split up again. But Paul said,
it'll be contention. It'll be contention. Our Lord
said, I didn't come to bring peace, but a sword. I came to
set a man at barrens with his own family. Like a man told a friend of mine,
the Lord saved him, revealed grace to his heart, and his mother
and daddy never did care anything much about religion. They never
did go to church, well, once in a while. But when he came in talking grace,
one of them said, well, I don't know much about religion, but
I know you're wrong. I know that can't be so. I know that the natural man hates
the grace of God. I mean the grace of God. Or watch
verse 3, and we preach the gospel. We preach the gospel not to deceive. We're not seeking to shape opinion. No, no, no, I beg your pardon. Our exhortation was not of deceit. We're not trying to shape opinion.
We're not trying to deceive men. We're not trying to use trickery,
not uncleanness, nor engow. Every preacher, every teacher,
every religious leader ought to constantly re-examine his
motives. And I'll tell you what, if I
know anything at all about my own experience and heart and
feelings, my primary goal, I believe, I trust it so, is the glory of
God Almighty. I don't care whether I preach
to Thousands or hundreds or two people. But let it be for the
glory of God. Let it be for the good of the
hearer. Paul said, My heart's desire and prayer to God is that
Israel might be saved. What have I accomplished when
I make a Baptist out of you? What have I accomplished if I
make you a Calvinist? Not a thing. But I'll tell you
this, if you're brought by the Spirit of God, to the feet of
Christ, and you know Him and love Him and believe Him. Something's
been accomplished then. For your good and His glory.
Our message, Paul said, we preach not ourselves. Brother Man, why
don't you ever have contests here and see who can have the
biggest Sunday school class? I'm not in the religious race
to get numbers. Why don't we have packed a few
nights and all this sort of... If you've got to be motivated
by things like that, then let's close the doors and go into something
else and make a little money. Brethren, we're here to preach
to hearts that are interested, to men and women and boys and
girls who care about God and the Bible and Christ and salvation
and eternity. We're here to preach to those
who by the providence of God, the purpose of God, have been
given an interest in spiritual matters. We're not here to entertain
or build a following or pack the pews or anything else. I
wish God would pack our hearts with love for Christ. I believe
if men loved Christ, they'd fill pews. Our exhortation is not of deceit.
Deceit. I watch these fellows on television.
I know a little bit about television broadcasting, been on 11, 12
years nearly, 11 and a half, and I know the cost of it. I
know what Bibles cost, what books cost, what tapes cost, what mailing,
and we know what those things cost. These fellas are liars.
They're deceivers. I hear them holding up a Bible
that they bought for $8.95, and they tell the people it cost
$19.95 wholesale. They're lying, and I know they
are. And what it costs to send the
tapes and prepare them and all these things, you can mass produce
these things for about 80 cents apiece. Deceit. It's deceit. It's evil. It's uncleanness. That's what
he's talking about. It's uncleanness. And then he goes on, he says,
verse 4, watch this, this gospel we preach is a sacred trust.
Oh, what a sacred trust. He said, but as we were allowed
of God to be put in trust with the gospel, in trust, even so
we speak, not as pleasing men, but God which tries our hearts.
He says we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel. What an awesome responsibility
to be placed on the shoulders of any man to whom God has committed
this gospel. What an awesome responsibility.
Both the preacher and the hearer have a fearful, awesome duty. If God has put that gospel in
my hands, let me, as purely as he placed it there, purely preach
it. Woe is unto me, Paul said, woe
is unto me, if I preach not the gospel. Now we, you know, we talk about
pleasing men in verse 5, neither at any time use we flattering
words, as you know, nor cloak of covetousness. God's my witness,
Paul. He says that all, God's my witness. The apostle Paul wasn't a swearing
man, but often he said, God is my witness. God is my witness. Neither, verse 6, nor of men
sought we glory, neither of you, nor yet of others, not even of
our dear beloved brethren. We're not seeking glory of men. I'm delighted when men are pleased.
You men who pray And you just know that God's given you a message,
and God's given you the liberty to deliver it, and someone comes
up and says, I needed that. That particular message at this
particular time met my particular need, and I give thanks to God.
And it was so pleasing to my heart. Well, that's good. I like
it when men are blessed, and I rejoice in it, but that's not
our chief desire. And we don't use the ministry
as a means to indulge our ambition. You know, there are other ambitions than
just material gain. There's ambition for applause,
there's ambition to express yourself, there's ambition for a lot of
things, popularity. something of that sort, but that's
not it at all. Not at all. We're not seeking
to please men but God. We're not using flattering words,
nor a cloak of covetousness, nor of men sought we glory, not
even of our brethren, nor of those outwardly on the outside. When we might have been burdensome
as the apostles of Christ, Paul said, you know, I could have
been burdensome. The Lord compared, and there's
some people that have a little problem with supporting the ministry.
Well, I'd have a big problem with supporting most of the ministry.
A big problem. I'd rather support a bank robber
than most of them. But you know, the Lord God said
this. Now, I read this to you this
morning. There were twelve tribes of Israel. One of them was called
the tribe of Levi. The tribe of Levi did not have
an inheritance. The tribe of Levi did not have
any property. The tribe of Levi ministered
about the tabernacle. Isn't that correct? They lived
by the temple. They lived by the tabernacle.
Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse. You see, there
was a storehouse there where they kept the wheat and the barley. This is not a storehouse. There
was a storehouse there where they kept, they bought the 10%
of everything, the first fruits, the sheep, the cattle, everything
they raised, everything, and the tribe of Levi lived off that. The temple worship and the tabernacle
worship and the sacrifices and the tribe of Levi lived off that
pie. tenth of the income from the
other eleven tribes. That was the storehouse where
they lived. And he tells us this in the New Testament. He said,
in the same way that the Old Testament priests, or those who
ministered about the things of God, lived by the temple, the
tabernacle, they who preached the gospel are to live by the
gospel. But he says, they who preach the gospel. They who,
it's not the fellows that don't preach the gospel. You're not
supposed to pour it down. It's those who preach the gospel
are to live by the gospel. But if a man really preaches
the gospel, he'll be the right kind of preacher and the right
kind of pastor and the right kind of student and the right
kind of servant. And you can faithfully support
him and encourage him. And Paul said, I could have been
burdensome as an apostle, but I wouldn't make these demands
on you. In some places, he worked with his hands building tents
and other things to keep people from saying he was in it for
the money. And then in verse 7 and 8, he
uses two words about this thing of preaching that we need to
work on. And I've said often to the men
I know, I said, you know, I don't know why it is, A lot of times
our fellas don't do it because we've worked along this line and this is the way they feel.
These two words describe them. But some men out here, they're
so pleasant and they get in the pulpit, they're like Dr. Jekyll
and Mr. Hyde. Have you ever noticed that? They
get in the pulpit, they become angry, angry men. They become overbearing men. They say things like one man
preached in a place I know one time, the pastor after the service,
he was just so angry and berserk and beside himself, the pastor
after the service came up and said, why did you say that? He said, did I say that? He said,
you sure did. You sure did. Well, the man didn't
even know he said it. He was so beside himself. Now
listen, the gospel. We preach it boldly, courageously,
and in an uncompromising fashion, not seeking to please men. But
he says here, verse 7, but we were gentle among you. Gentle. I hear people say all
the time, boy, you stepped on my toes. You know, I don't want
to step on your toes. I'm not interested in stepping
on your toes. I would like to get in your heart
a little bit. I wish nobody else, don't say that to me ever again.
Would you do that? Promise. Let's have a covenant
right here. Don't ever say that again. I don't know where that originated.
Just don't say it again though. That's the silliest stuff I ever
heard in my life. What do you mean you stepped
on my toes? But I'll tell you preachers,
they got a bad reputation for ripping hide off people from
the pulpit. One fellow said, Sunday morning I ripped the hide
off, Sunday night I pour the salt in. And people call that preaching,
when a fellow foams at the mouth, gets lathered up, and stonks
around, and damns everybody, and condemns everybody, and tears
up everybody. But Paul said, I was gentle,
gentle, hot gentle, Paul, watch it, as a mama nurses her baby. When I fed you, when I fed you
the Word, I did it as gently as a mama takes in her arms her
little baby and opens its mouth and feeds it. That's how gentle
I was. That's good now, isn't it? That's
good. I tell you, it's the milk of
the Word that we're giving to people who are needy people,
hungry people. Let's do it gently. I feel like
I'll quit screaming at them. I listen to preachers and watch
them, and they start out good, and I enjoy the first five or
ten minutes. Then they get in that, they get carried away,
and they get screaming at me. You know what I'm talking about?
And they get up there and just keep screaming, screaming at
me. I want to say, when I turn them all the way down, don't
scream at me. I need help. I don't need you to batter me
down and beat me down. Just teach me. Just take me in
your arms like a little hungry baby, squalling, and give me
some dinner. I need it. Now the next word
he said, verse 8, and being affectionately, affectionately, gentle as a mama
feeding a baby, nursing a child, and affectionately desirous of
you, Not only willing to preach the gospel to you, but willing
to die for you. Listen, willing to give my life.
So being affectionate to the desires of you, we were willing
to have imparted unto you, not the gospel only, but also our
own souls. I'd be willing to die for you,
he said. Die for you. I wonder how many preachers have
that kind of affection for their congregation. Many preachers I've met through
my lifetime, when they had a little fuss in the church and they left
the church, they did all they could do to tear it up. Feeling
like if they left and the church went down, then somebody would
say, well, they sure miss him, don't they? I wonder if we're so... Paul
said this about this church, he said, I'm so afraid So being
affectionate to the desires of you and your well-being and your
union with Christ and your knowledge of God, that I was willing to
impart unto you not only the gospel, not only the gospel of
God, but I was willing to lay down my own life because you
were so dear to me. I'd die. I'd step aside. I'd move away. I'd do whatever,
whatever, because you're so dear to me. And then he said in verse
9, I want you to watch this, and I want to give you 5 or 6
things here and wind it up. You remember, brethren, our labor
and travail, laboring night and day, night and day, night and
day, because we would not be chargeable unto any of you, we
preached unto you, we preached unto you. Now here's what I want
to give you in closing. We preached unto you the gospel
of God. Now when I saw that, we preached
unto you the gospel of God. I thought, what is this gospel
that we preach? Is it identified in other scriptures
in like fashion so that we can have something to hang it on?
And I did find, number one, he said it's the gospel of God.
It's God's gospel. It's no new gospel. It's no new
thing. It's the ancient gospel. Paul said, I'm separated to the
gospel of God which he promised afore by his prophets in the
Holy Scripture. The gospel of God didn't begin
in Bethlehem. The gospel of God did not begin
in the Garden of Eden. The gospel of God was in the
counsels of God before the foundation of the world. Because in that
eternal counsel of God, Before the morning stars sang together,
he had selected his Redeemer and elected his people and determined
the way that that Redeemer would save them, the Lamb slain. This
is God's gospel. It originated with God. It was
purposed by God. It's God's gospel. That's the
gospel we preach unto you, the gospel of God. We don't preach
any new message. It's the same message. Secondly, now watch this, turn
to Romans 1. This gospel we preach, it's the
gospel of God. Secondly, he says in Romans 1,
verse 3, it's the gospel concerning his Son. Would you listen for
a moment? It's the gospel concerning his
Son. Now, the gospel hasn't got anything
to do with what you do or I do or anybody else does. The gospel
has only to do with who Christ is, what he did, why he did it,
and where he is now. That's what the gospel is all
about. The gospel is not an invitation, it's an announcement. The gospel
is not a plan, it's a proclamation of a work done. Man's gospel
is the gospel of due. God's gospel is the gospel of
done. That's what he says here in verse
3 of Romans 1 concerning his son. Paul said in verse 1, I'm
separated to the gospel of God. Verse 3, concerning his son. Look at verse 9. God is my witness,
whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son." That's
what this gospel is all about. It's not an offer, it's an announcement.
It's not an offer, it's a gift. And when a man preaches the gospel,
his whole message will be of the person and work of Christ.
He may be talking of the eternal deity of Christ. He may be talking
of the suretorship of Christ. He may be talking of the typical
promises and prophecies of Christ. He may be talking of the actual
incarnation and life of Christ. He may be talking of the death
of Christ, burial, his resurrection, his ascension, his intercession.
But the gospel hasn't got anything to do with meeting mother in
heaven. He didn't got anything to do with a profession of faith.
It hadn't got anything to do with baptism. Paul said, God
didn't send me to baptize, He sent me to preach the gospel.
You see what I'm saying? It has to do with Christ, Christ,
Christ, Christ, Christ. Who He is and what He did, I'm
telling you. And a man who doesn't know that
doesn't know the gospel. It's the righteousness of God
fulfilled in Christ. It's the justice of God honored
in Christ. It's the scriptures fulfilled
in Christ. It's God's redemptive work accomplished
by Christ. It's reconciliation and peace
made by Christ. But the gospel is the gospel
of his Son. Thirdly, it's the gospel of peace. Let me take you back to what
Cecil read in the study tonight, Isaiah 12. Isaiah 12, I thought
about my message while he was reading this scripture here,
Isaiah chapter 12, verse 1. Now, the average person doesn't
believe this, but it's so nonetheless. In Isaiah 12, verse 1, listen,
And in that day thou shalt say, O Lord, I praise thee, though
thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou
comfortest me. There's not anybody here that
can't say the same thing. You were a child of wrath, even
as others. And his wrath is turned away.
Now this world doesn't want to hear about the wrath of God,
or the anger of God, or the hate of God. It doesn't want to. You say, well that's not in the
Bible. Oh, I beg your pardon. He that believeth not on the
Son, the wrath of God abideth on him. Is that in the Scripture?
God hateth the workers of iniquity. Is that in the Scripture? Jacob
have I loved, Esau have I hated. Is that in the Scripture? God
is angry with the wicked every day. Is that in the Scripture?
What about Sodom and Gomorrah? What slew that nation and those
towns? The love of God? No, sir, the
wrath of God. The wrath of God. I'm telling you, God was angry. Well, what changed it? All right,
Colossians 1, that's the gospel we're preaching. It's a proclamation. It's an announcement. It's a
declaration. It's good news. It's good news. God was angry, but now watch
this. Verse 19, Colossians 1, It pleased the Father that in
him should all foolish dwell. and having made peace through
the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto
himself." That's where it happened. Christ made peace through the
blood of his cross. Turned away the wrath of God,
the anger of God. God was in Christ reconciling. If God was in love with you,
why did you have to be reconciled? God's angry with the wicked.
But our peace is Christ. I'm preaching a gospel of peace.
The angel said, we bring you good tidings of great joy, peace
on earth, goodwill for men, unto you is born a Savior. All right,
fourthly, quickly, it's the gospel of your salvation. Turn to Ephesians
1, verse 13. Listen to this. It's the gospel
of your salvation, Ephesians 1.13. He talked about this, in
whom you trusted after you heard the word of truth, the gospel
of your salvation. This gospel of God, this gospel
of his Son, this gospel of peace is the gospel of your salvation.
It's not a plan or a program of how you can accomplish salvation
by performing certain deeds. It's the good news that your
salvation has already been accomplished. Is that clear what I'm saying?
It's done! The songwriter says, it's done! The great transaction's done!
I am my Lord's and he is mine. I don't add anything to what
Christ did. He's Alpha and Omega. He's the
author and finisher of our faith. He's the high priest of our profession.
It's the gospel of your salvation. And then fifthly, turn to 1 Timothy
1. It's the gospel of the glory
of God. This was one of Ralph Barney's
favorite scriptures. One of Ralph's favorite scriptures.
It's the gospel of the glory of God. I'll tell you how to
test the gospels that you hear. If it's God's gospel you're here
listening to, God is getting all the glory. Now if it's man's
gospel, man's getting the glory. And he says here in 1 Timothy
1 11, according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God which
was committed to my trust. And the better translation of
that is this, according to the gospel of the glory of God. According to the gospel of the
glory of God. There'll be no glory for the
sinner. except as we share in his glory. And then in the sixth
place, turn to Acts 20, verse 24. This gospel that we preach,
and I'll give you this briefly, Acts 20, verse 24, is the gospel
of the grace of God. I make no apologies. I preach
the gospel of sovereign grace. God said, I'll be gracious to
whom I will be gracious. I preach the gospel of free grace,
which is justified freely by His grace. I preach the gospel
of eternal grace. Listen here at Acts 20, verse
24. Listen to this. None of these things move me,
neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might
finish my course with joy in the ministry which I have received
of the Lord, to testify the gospel of the grace of God. I'll tell you, let me read you
this over here. It's eternal grace, too. You know when this
grace was given to us? Well, listen to it. 2 Timothy
1, verse 9 and 10. And this is a scripture that
Brother Donnie Bell said God just sent like a lightning flash
out of heaven to him one day and just opened his eyes to so
many, so many gracious mercies of God. In 2 Timothy 1, listen
if you will to verse 9. God had 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." That's what he gave him. All right,
in the seventh place, I've got two more. It's the gospel of
hope. Turn to Colossians 1. Now, I
heard a discussion a few weeks ago about hope, hope. Somebody said, well, the Bible
says we're saved by hope, hope. And we are, it does say that,
saved by hope, hope. And here it calls the gospel,
the hope of the gospel. Listen here in Colossians 1,
5. for the hope which is laid up
for you in heaven, whereof you heard before in the word of the
truth of the gospel." We're saved by hope, and there's the hope
of the gospel, and Christ is our hope. But this hope, now
listen to me, and this will help you if you listen carefully,
this hope is more than a wish. It's like some of you may be
traveling tonight, and you're sitting here saying, I hope it
quits raining. I hope it doesn't rain tomorrow.
I'd plan to put a roof on the house. Well, you see, that's
just a wish. That's a perchance. You see what
that is? But this hope, this hope which
we have in Christ, this hope of eternal life, this salvation
by hope, it is an expectation based on the promise of God.
That's why it's a hope that is based on the promise of God,
on the purchase of Christ, and on the power of His Word. So
you see what I'm saying? This hope is really, I hope to
be like Christ. Well, it's not just a wish or
a desire, but it's an expectation. Well, how can you have such a
hope? God promised it. Christ purchased
it, and the Holy Spirit applied it. And in his words, so I can
have a good hope. That's what it's called. It's
called a good hope through grace. It's called a living hope. A
real, live hope. It's called a blessed hope. It's
called a hope of righteousness. It's called a hope of his calling.
And Jesus Christ himself is said to be our hope. And where is
he? One scripture, Hebrews 6. Come
on now, turn to Hebrews 6. Now if you want any help on that
at all, there it is. I stand here a sinner born in
sin, a sinner by practice and word, thought and deed, but I
have, I hope to be like Christ. I have a blessed living hope. And that hope is based on an
expectation, based on the promise of God, on the purchase of Christ.
Now watch this, Hebrews 6, 19. Let's read verse 18. Go back
to verse 17. That's what we've got to do.
All right, you had it. Verse 17, Hebrews 6. Wherein
God, willing more abundantly to show to the heirs of promise
the unchangeableness, immutability, that's unchangeableness, of his
counsel, confirmed by an oath. In other words, his word won't
change. Confirmed by an oath, he won't change. His promise
and his oath. that by these two immutable things,
unchangeable things, the word of God and the oath of God, in
which it was impossible for God to lie, then we might have a
strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon
the hope set before us. I'm not dealing in presumption. I have a certain amount of reverence
and fear in my heart. I'm not yet like Christ, but
I hope to be like Christ. I'm not, I haven't laid down
and died yet. I don't know how I'm going to
die. I don't know what my response is going to be, but I have a
good hope that I'll die in faith. When that resurrection day comes
and the voice of the archangel and the trump of God sounds,
I hope to come out of that grave in the first resurrection, don't
you? But I'm not there yet, Paul. I'm not there, but I hope to
be. But that hope is not because I walked down an aisle or shook
a preacher's hand or changed my way of living or preached
a sermon or gave a dime or a dollar. That hope is Christ. That hope
is based on the unchangeable promise of God and the unchangeable
oath which God made in His Son. That's where my hope is. That's
what Paul says here. We have a strong consolation. But that consolation and that
hope is not on any preacher or any religious institution, organization,
or religious profession. That hope is a strong consolation. Watch this, verse 19, "...which
hope we have as an anchor of our souls." sure and steadfast,
and which entereth into that within the veil," that's where
my hope is, within the veil, whether the forerunner is for
us entered. What is a forerunner? He's a
fellow that goes before and says, somebody else is coming. He represents the folks that's
coming. And he comes in and says, make way. Lift up your heads,
O ye gates, and the King of Glory shall come in. But he ain't coming
in alone. He purchased the people. And he's going in first. And
where did he go? Where the forerunner has entered
in, even Jesus made a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
He'll never die. His priesthood will never end.
He's forever a priest. And where is he? Within the veil.
Where is within the veil? In the Shekinah glory land. in
the very throne room. That's where he... and that's
my hope. That's my hope. That's my hope. And that better be your hope.
He is our hope. That's what that whole thing
is talking about. Which hope we have as an anchor
of our soul. Don't go back to an experience
back yonder. That scares me to death when
a fellow starts talking about, he saw this, I saw that, I heard
this, I heard that. Go yonder within the veil and
say, there's my hope, seated at God's right hand, my forerunner,
the anchor of my soul. My soul is anchored. Not there
within the veil, he's just going to pull me on home someday. Well,
the last thing is this, and I'll show you something that I saw
yesterday, Revelation 14. This gospel is the everlasting
gospel. I want you to watch this, and
I'll just flat quit right here. Let Mike sing a special part.
Revelation 14, 6, listen. And I saw another angel fly in
the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel. to preach
unto them that dwell on the earth, to every nation, kindred, tongue,
and people." You know what the dispensationist says? There are
several gospels, and this is the last gospel that's going
to be. You read this, hadn't you? This angel's coming with
what's called the everlasting gospel. You know what Paul said?
If anyone preaches any other gospel, he must be an angel from
heaven. So that angel got the gospel,
Paul says. Has to be a curse. I saw that
right there. I thought, well, boy, that does
away with all that stuff, doesn't it? Paul said, I don't care if
it's an angel from heaven. If he comes with any other gospel
than the gospel I preached to you, let him be a curse. So when
he comes in that end day, the last message delivered is going
to be one I preached to you tonight.