This is the book of 1 Corinthians. It is the first of two epistles
to the church at Corinth, a mighty, great city, a city
of education, philosophy. And Paul says in the first chapter,
verse 22, The Jews, the religious people,
require a sign, an outward show, evidence. The Greeks are seeking
after wisdom, something that appeals to the mind, satisfying
the mind. But we preach Christ crucified. To those religious Jews, a stumbling
block. to the Greeks' sheer nonsense, to the religious a stumbling
block, and to the intellectuals' foolishness, what we're preaching. Now, I don't know a great deal
about it, but it seems to me that in this
city of Corinth, this mighty and this great city where Paul
was ministering And Paul was himself a learned man, an educated
man, but Paul had forgotten those
things and forsaken those things, intellectualism and debate and
religious logic and argument. He counted these things but dumb,
rubbish, that he might win Christ. He was a preacher of the gospel
of Christ. He said, I don't come to you
with enticing words of man's wisdom, but I preach the gospel
of Christ. But it seems to me that Paul
was faced on one hand with the religionists. There was a lot
of religion, a lot of religion with a show of piety and form
and legalism and all this sort of thing, ceremonies, rituals. And on the other hand, seems
to be the folks with worldly wisdom, materialism and intellectualism,
that sort of thing, seems to be two factions here. Religious world and the world
of materialism and intellectualism and worldly wisdom, making things,
inventing things, progress, modern progress. And Paul said that
these religious folks with whom he had to deal, these
religious folks that he faced in preaching, were always seeking
a sign, show me, show me something, some outward revelation of an
earthly kingdom of God, show me something, let's see you do
something. Let's see something unusual, something supernatural,
something out of the ordinary. Show us a sign, a sign. Show us a sign. But these whirlings,
these intellectuals, on the other hand, were interested in logic. That's not reasonable, they said. That's foolishness. They were
seeking logic and reason. They wanted a religion, but they
wanted a religion that could be explained. Now, these religious Jews wanted
to sign something from the heavens, something unusual, something
supernatural, a show, some outward revelation. But the intellectuals,
these folks wanted something that they could understand, something
that could be explained to the satisfaction of the human mind.
But Paul said, we don't run around giving people signs and we don't
run around giving people human logic, we preach Christ crucified. This is our message, the gospel,
the gospel of Christ crucified. Christ, the creating Christ,
the incarnate Christ, the crucified Christ, the buried risen Christ. who is to those who are enlightened
by God, both religious and educated, both religious and intellectual.
This Christ, to those who are enlightened by God, both religious
and materialistic, he's the power of God, he's the wisdom of God,
he's the power and he's the wisdom. The religious Jews said, show
us some power, show us some supernatural power. But he said, to those
who are called, Christ is the power of God. Show us some logic,
some reason, said the intellectuals. Well, to those who are called,
Christ is reason, and he is the wisdom of God. He's the revelation
of God's kingdom, and he's the wisdom of God. Now, I don't claim
to be an authority on the signs of the times. I don't claim to be in authority
on the signs of the times. I'm not a historian from the
biblical standpoint to where I can tell you what this is a
sign that during this dispensation or that dispensation, I don't
know anything about that, nor do I claim to be. the unusual
spokesman for God to this generation like Elijah was to his and John
the Baptist was to his. I don't claim that at all. But
I do claim some understanding of this book and the message
of this book. I claim some understanding of
the author of this book and I claim some understanding of the redemption
that is in Christ Jesus And I can see what's happening around me.
I can see what's happening. And I can hear what people are
saying. I can hear what they're saying. And I can watch the religious
teachers and preachers. I hear what they're saying. And
I hear people's off-the-cuff remarks. And I know what the
average person in this generation believes. I know what their foundation
and hope is. And I think it's much akin to
this time right here and to another time. I want you to turn to 2
Chronicles. I think there's another picture
over here in 2 Chronicles 34. I want you to turn over there
with me. 2 Chronicles 34. This is an interesting
chapter here, 2 Chronicles 34. There was a young man who became
king of Israel. When he was 8 years old, you
know how that happens, the father dies and the son becomes king,
he wasn't 8 years old. But Josiah, chapter 34, 2 Chronicles,
became king. Now just hold the scripture there
for a moment, let me tell you the background so I won't have
to read all of it. But he was 8 years old when he
became king. And he reigned in Jerusalem for
31 years. That made it, he died when he
was 39. He was 8 years old when he became king, and he died when
he was 39. But when he was 16 years old,
it says over here in verse 3, in the 8th year of his reign,
when he was 16, while he was yet young, he began to seek after
the God of David, his father. Things weren't right in his day,
and he knew it, and he began to seek after the God of his
father David. And he began in a good way. He
began to purge, in the 12th year of his reign, he began to purge
Judah and Jerusalem from the high places and the groves and
the carved images and the molten images. He began to destroy their
idols. He didn't know what was right,
but he knew what was wrong. He didn't have the message. He
didn't have a prophet from God to him. But he knew something
was wrong with all this idolatry and false worship. He could see
the signs about him. He knew what he was hearing. He knew what people were saying.
He knew what they were doing. And so he literally began to
tear down their idols and tear down their high places and their
groves and their special places and just destroyed them. And
the temple of the Lord had been so neglected, it was just run
down, overgrown, dirty and filthy, and so he instructed them, he
gave them some money and told them to clean up the temple.
Now, what he intended to do, but he knew something was wrong,
he began to clean up the temple. He paid some workmen and some
carpenters and some stonemasons and these fellows to get the
temple cleaned up and straightened out. And when they were cleaning
the temple, look here at verse 14, and when they brought out
the money that was brought into the house of the Lord, Hilkiah
the priest found the He found the book of the law of the Lord
given by Moses. He found the book of Genesis,
Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, thus the writings of Moses. He
found the Bible in the temple. Nobody had access to it. Nobody was reading it. Here was
a boy, 20, 16, and 4, 20 years old, king, and knowing something
was wrong in his day. And he had them clean out the
temple, and they found a book. They found the scripture. And
Hilkiah answered and said to Shapon the scribe," you remember
I told you about the scribes recently. They were the translators
and transcribers and interpreters of the Scripture. And Hilkiah
answered and said to Shapon the scribe, I found the book of the
law in the house of the Lord. And Hilkiah delivered the book
to Shapon. And Shapon carried the book to
the king and brought the king word back again saying, all that
was committed to thy service, they do it. And they have gathered
together the money that was found in the house of the Lord. They
delivered it to the hand of the overseer, to the hand of the
workman. And then Shapin, the scribe, told the king, saying,
He'll cow the priest that's given me a book. And Shapin read it
in the presence of the king. And it came to pass, when the
king had heard the words of the scriptures, he tore his clothes. came to pass, when the king heard
the word, he tore his clothes. And the king commanded Hilkiah,
and Ahacham the son of Shaphan, and Abednon the son of Micah,
and Shaphan the scribe, and Esau a servant of the king, saying,
Go inquire of the Lord for me, and for them that are left in
Israel and Judah concerning the words of the book that you found."
For great is the wrath of the Lord that is poured out upon
us. Our fathers have not kept the word of the Lord to do after
that which is written in this book." We've departed from this
book. Now, I gave an illustration the
other night down at Madisonville. I may have given it here, I don't
remember. But suppose over in Africa or somewhere, There's
a native right out of the jungle, out of the heart of the jungle,
a pagan, heathen native, naked, set upon a lawn cloth with a
spear and all this sort of thing, the drums, he's walking along
the beach. And he sees something shiny in
the sand, and he reaches down and picks it up, and it's a watch. He's never seen a watch before.
He doesn't even know what it is. But he shakes it, and it
begins to tick. And, well, the hands begin to
move. And he looks at the band. It's an expensive gold band. It has a watch dial. It has a
number in there, a date, a month. He holds it up to his ear. Well,
he can look at that watch and know something. He can know,
number one, that somebody made it. Somebody made it. Nothing
like this is anywhere else. Somebody made that watch. And secondly, he can know that
a genius made that watch. He couldn't make anything like
that. He can't even make a good spear, a rock hoe or a hammer. Some genius made that watch,
some very smart man. And then he'd know this, that
somebody a lot smarter than he made that watch. But that's about
all he can know about that person. He can't know whether the man
or woman made that watch. No way. He can imagine, but he
can't know. He can't know how old the person
was that made that watch. He can't know whether it's a
nice person or a cruel person made that watch. He can't know whether that person
that made that watch would kill him if he saw him or if he'd
love him. No, he can't now. He can guess,
but he can't know. And that's my generation. They've concocted them some ideas
about God by talking about the things he's made. And you walk
out here, David said the heavens declare the glory of God, I know
that. You can look at the sun, the moon, the stars, the things
that are made, and you can say there's a God. And he's a genius. Somebody made this outfit, somebody
made this universe. And he's a genius. He's a lot
smarter than I am. But how old is he? Is he male
or female? Is he a god of wrath or love?
Will he slay you when he sees you or will he receive you in
his arms? You don't know. You can't know. And you can look
at the stars until you die and you'll never know. And you can
look at the things that are made until you die and you'll never
know about God. There's not but one place you're
going to find out about God, and that's to go to His Word.
The man that made this watch can meet that native and tell
him personally about himself. Or that native, if he could read,
he could buy that man's book and he'd tell him about himself,
but he can't know by looking at the things the man made. And
you can't know about God. And we've got our imaginations
just racing. We've got them working time and
ahead, trying to figure out God. But we're going to the wrong
source. We've got to discover the book. This is God's book. He's the author. And we've got
to discover the person of Christ, for Christ said, He that hath
seen me hath seen my Father. A pastor friend and I were talking
a few nights ago, and we were discussing this very thing, and
he made the statement, he said, today's religion, today's religion is as far away from the message
of this book as they were in the days of Paul in Carlin, as
far away. And he said to me, he said, What
do we face today? We're trying to preach. We're trying to take this message.
Our people are out in the shops and factories trying to tell
people what they believe. What do we face today? Well,
I wrote some things down. Now, you may think I'm a fanatic.
You may think I'm a radical. You may think I'm angry. But I'm going to tell you some
things about my generation, this outfit to which I'm preaching,
1985. In the first place, and this is
what we face and this is what hinders and hampers and makes
difficult this thing of preaching. We're preaching to an affluent
society. It's affluent. It's rich and
wealthy. I think it's described in Revelation
3 where it says, we are rich and increased with goods and
have need of nothing. We have good health, we have
food, we have clothing, we have homes and cars, we have health
care, we live longer, we have Social Security, we have retirement. This generation really doesn't
need God. We have need of nothing. Actually, we are prone to judge
our spiritual state by our fleshly comforts. That's what gave birth
to this statement, cleanliness is next to godliness. We think
it is, because we are clean people. Now, sick people need God, and
poor people need God. And the down and out need God,
and the dying need God, but the average American does not need
God. I ask you this. If that's not true, why is it
that we pray more when we're in trouble? Why is it that we
pray more when we're sick? Why is it that we pray more when
we've got what we call a difficult situation to face? I'll tell
you why we need God then. But in ordinary circumstances,
when things are going our way, we just don't need God. It's
an affluent society. That's the folks to whom we're
preaching. And I think we're judging our
spiritual state by our fleshly comforts. He said, you say you're
rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing, and
you know not that you're poor, wretched, miserable and blind. That our condition, as I'm going
to preach tonight, is a condition of poverty in God's sight, poverty,
spiritual poverty. He said, I came to preach the
gospel to the poor, but we're not poor. And then we have today, not only
an affluent society, but we have a popular religion, we have a
God who's all love, and he's angry with nobody. Is that not
true? Our churches are what they call
the friendly churches, the church where everybody is somebody,
the church in the heart of town for the hearts of town. We have
an accommodating religion. Everyone is right and no one
is wrong. We have resolved our differences
and we can gather together on the points where we agree and
agree To forget the parts where we disagree. You worship your
God, I worship mine, we'll all meet in heaven. Is that not the
trend of this day? The Baptists and the Catholics
can get together, they're ministers. The Methodists here in town and
the Catholics exchange pulpits. They're supposed to be poles
apart. But they can get together. It's
an accommodating religion. It's a popular religion. Don't
talk about anybody's religion. We have a professional ministry.
Prophets are out of style. You don't expect to go to a church
and hear anybody like Elijah or John the Baptist or even the
Apostle Paul. They're out of style today. They're
not welcome today. Today's preachers are hirelings.
They're hired. They're hired to fulfill a job,
to do a job. They're hired to be courteous. They're hired to conduct a beautiful
service. They're supposed to conduct an
impressive, beautiful service so that everyone can come in
and get to feeling better and go out and face another week. They're hired to visit the sick,
bury the young, bury the dead, comfort the depressed, counsel
the troubled, speak to the PTA, give devotionals, give the benediction
and the introduction, and keep the peace. That's a pastor's
job. He's not supposed to disturb
anybody. He's supposed to keep the status quo. Don't rebuke,
reprove, don't preach doctrine. Don't preach doctrine. Turn to
2 Timothy 4. 2 Timothy 4. Listen to this in
2 Timothy 4. It says the Apostle Paul is talking
to young Timothy, and he says, "...I charge thee therefore before
God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and
the dead at his appearing in his kingdom." Preach the word.
Preach the word, Timothy. Be instant in season, out of
season. There's no season for preaching
the Word. It's any season, every season.
Rebuke, reprove, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.
The time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine.
They're not going to have it. Hold that right there. Our generation
is ignorant of the Word of God. Do you know that? That's sad. I'm not saying anything cruel.
I'm not being cruel. I'm being honest. But when we
grab a microphone and sing these sentimental, emotional songs
and talk about one step more and a mountain to climb and all
I ask of you, dear Jesus, is help me one step, all beautiful
stuff, you know. But there's no depth. And the
preachers talk about getting your financial needs met and
healing your bodies and comforting the bereaved and all this sort
of thing. But my generation doesn't know
anything about the character of God. God's good and lovely
and sweet, sweet little Jesus, you know, that's what they call
him, sweet Jesus, sweet Jesus. I tell you, when he came into
the temple with that whip and drove out the money changers,
what am I talking about sweet Jesus? It's who is that? He was angry. But my generation
doesn't know anything about The holiness and the righteousness
and the justice of an angry God. Preachers don't talk about the
anger of God, the wrath of God. You haven't heard a sermon except
probably here on the wrath of God in your life, I'll bet you.
The wrath of God. Thou thoughtest I was altogether
such a one as thyself. That's what God said. That's
what you think. You think I'm like you are. My
generation doesn't know anything about the character of God, the
holiness of God, the omnipresence, omniscience, omnipotence. Those
are words you never hear. The holiness of God, the God
who must punish the guilty. He has no choice. The only way
that God can love us is in Christ. The only way God can justify
us is in Christ. The only way God can accept us
is in Christ. God didn't send his only begotten
Son as a way to redeem us. He was the way, the way. The character of God determined
the Savior. The attributes and holiness of
God determine how we must be saved. Christ died that God may
be just and justified. There is no other way. My generation knows nothing of
the character of sin. These things may not bother you,
but I got a letter from a TV listener this week, and this is what it said. The
whole letter is taken up with it. I've got a friend who claims
to be a Christian. But she smokes and she drinks. Now I know and you know that
a person cannot be a Christian who smokes and drinks. Well, it'd be better if you didn't
smoke. The physicians will tell you
that. It'd be far better if you didn't drink as a testimony,
as an example to your young people, unless you can drink in moderation
and temperance like you're supposed to. It depends on what you drink. But my friends, that ain't got
nothing to do with being a Christian. You understand what I'm saying? It's not what goes into the mouth
that defiles a man, it's what comes out of his heart. We can't
get that across to this generation. Mr. Dr. Gill, one of the greatest
writers ever to write a commentary, smoked a pipe his whole life.
Mr. Spurgeon, one of the greatest
preachers to ever preach. I suppose it wasn't a man God
used in the last 500 years like Charles Spurgeon. Orphanage,
pastor's college, pastor of a church. Sermons have been printed in
every language nearly. He smoked cigars all his life.
Martin Luther, one of the greatest men who ever lived. Literally
lived and died for the glory of God, justification by faith.
Drank beer and ale all his life. Now, what are you going to do
about that? What are you going to do about it? Are you going
to deal honestly with it or act like a fool? The poor woman, I'm going to
write to her tomorrow, first thing. And I tell you what I'm
going to say, I'm going to say, neither you nor your friend have
the slightest idea what salvation is. She doesn't know and you
don't either. That's sad. They'll not endure sound doctrine.
But I'll tell you, you can go around talking about meeting
your financial need and healing your body, you know, and don't
drink and don't smoke and don't dance and don't play cards and
don't do this and go to church and tithe and walk down the aisle
and rededicate and win souls and let's build something for
Jesus, all that hogwash is all that is. We're going to have
to learn something about sin. Sin is a nature. Sin is what's
in you right now that keeps you from loving God with all your
heart. Sin is in me and you right now to keep us from loving our
neighbor like we love ourselves. Sin is what makes us doubt the
Word of God and doubt the promises of God. Sin is what makes us
fear. Have you got any fears? That's sin. Perfect love casts
without fear. Have you got any doubts, fears? Envies, got any envy at all?
Does envy lurk within you at all? Jealousy, got any jealousy?
Have any hate for any people, enemy or friend, black or white
or yellow or red? Got any bigotry or prejudice
at all? Do you have any at all? That's
sin. That's sin. Any lust at all? That's sin. What I do, the things I do outwardly,
are motivated by my inward person. And even when I can restrain
that outward nature and outward deeds, that inward man is still
there. And that's seeing. My generation
doesn't know what seeing is. They don't know what seeing is. My generation, they've got a
mixture of works and grace in this day, you know. They talk
about grace and the blood of Jesus, and then they interject
that human deeds and works. That's what the Galatian era
was, a mixture of works and grace, works and grace, works and grace.
My generation is substituted as a decision for the new birth.
Preachers don't know what the new birth is. All these fellows
talking about you must be born again, they don't have the faintest
notion of what it is to be born again. Being born again is not
something you do for God, it's something God does for you. It's
not something you do at all, it's something God does, the
Spirit of God who blows where he lists it and where he lists
it and brings the Word of God and regenerates and quickens
and awakens and gives new life to a dead sinner. Same thing
that happened in the womb of Mary when Christ was conceived
within her. No outward human help, God did
it. Life in a dead woman. And that's what happens when
God regenerates or gives life and new birth to a human being,
spiritual birth. We substitute emotionalism for
worship. I don't mind, you know, all this,
raising the hands and swaying back and forth and all this sort
of thing, you know, but something is not normal for me. That's
not my nature. And I don't know what it's put
on for most folks. And I know we're impressed. We
see these folks, you know, with their eyes closed and swaying
back and forth. And I had a friend who was doing
that in the service one day, and a lady turned and said, is
he retarded? But emotionalism is not worship.
It's just not worship. And this dancing and falling
on the floor and and acting a fool. I can't buy that. I just can't
do it. I'm sorry. I just know when John
on the Isle of Patmos saw the Lord, he fell prostrate as a
dead man. I know when Isaiah saw the Lord,
he cried, woe is me, I'm a man of unclean lips, I'm undone,
I dwell among a people of unclean lips. There was an awe and a
reverence and a fear that came over these men. Moses, take off
your shoes, you're on holy ground. Just somehow I cannot picture
the living, almighty, eternal, sovereign God, all-wise, all-powerful,
majestic, regal, royal. being impressed by some worm
carrying on like that. Somehow I just can't bring myself
to think God's impressed with it. Dance in a jig, that sort
of thing. I believe the living God looks
on the heart. I believe that's what the Bible
says. I believe the Bible says that man looks on the outward
countenance and is impressed. But God looks on the heart. We justify ourselves before ourselves
by comparing ourselves with ourselves, and Paul said, you're not wise.
For God looketh on the heart, and that which is highly esteemed
among men is an abomination to God. What do you think is very
religious? That's an abomination to God.
What do you esteem as being very pious? That's an abomination
to God. We have substituted discussion
for preaching. We sit around and discuss, we
share now. We share, we discuss, we have
home Bible studies. I don't go to preaching, we just
sit around and discuss the Bible. Well, I found throughout the
Word that God used preachers, his messengers, his servants.
I know there is a shortage of them right now, but God still
uses them. In 2 Timothy 4, verse 3, it says,
The time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine,
but what will they do? After their lusts they shall
heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears, both people
and teacher, and they'll turn away their ears from the truth
and be turned to fables. Now, here's where we are. We're
right here where Paul was in Corinth. On this hand we've got
the religionists. with all of his show of piety
and form and ceremony, wanting a sign, something supernatural.
I tell you, if you can get some stone over in Europe to shed
tears, people will converge on it. You know, the cat always
got a statue of a little girl, somebody saw a tear in the corner
of the eye. Ten million people went over
there to look at it. If you can take a picture of the clouds. Did you all ever see that picture,
black and white photos making around? Somebody took a picture
of the clouds and there was Jesus, beard and all, you know, just
like Solomon's head of Christ. Or it's something that people,
that religious folks, they're all making pilgrimages to the
Holy Land. They're running over there squatting
in front of that hole. They say he was buried in. They're
all standing there on Calvary's mountain and kneeling. One preacher
took 38,000 letters over and laid them on the mountain on
Calvary and prayed for sinners. They're all going down to the
River Jordan. One woman recently said she went over and got baptized.
Brother man, are you making fun? Now, I'm crying. It's sad. It's sad, sad, sad,
sad. The religious want a sign, a
sign, a sign. They want an empty tomb. They
want to find the cross. They want to find Noah's Ark.
They want a sign. They want all this sort of thing.
No sign will be given. But this right here. And the
whirling, he wants reason. He wants logic. He wants something that his mind
can understand. Talk to me about positive mental
attitude. Talk to me about esteeming ourselves. Talk to me about the dignity
of men. Talk to me about the greatness
of men. Talk to me about these things.
There's a reason for all this. Well, Paul said in verse 23,
we preach Christ. I'm quitting. But I'm going to
give you five things to take with you as you leave. We preach
Christ crucified. Here they are. I'm just going
to give them to you briefly. I'm not going to succumb to this
religious show. I'm not going to succumb to it. And I'm not going to whittle
this gospel message down so that I can appeal. to the intellectual
and to the worldly, and the old materialistic-minded Greeks. I'm going to preach Christ. And
five things about him. I'm going to preach the glory
of his person. God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself.
He that hath seen me, Christ, that hath seen my Father, for
I am the sole expression of the glory of God. God was manifest
in the flesh. And all things were created by
him and for him, and he is before all things, and by him all things
consist. And let all the holy angels of
God worship him, because the Father hath given him a name
which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee
shall bow in heaven, earth, and hell, and every tongue confess
that he is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. All authority
is given unto him in heaven and earth over all flesh that he
should give eternal life to as many as God has given him. I'm
going to preach the glory of this person, whether the religious
will accept it or whether the Greeks will believe it. To those
that are called both Jews and Greeks, he's the glory of God.
I'm going to preach, secondly, the excellency of his character.
Men may not understand it, but what I'm saying is this. Jesus
Christ is the righteousness of God. He is the righteousness
of God. He's not a token righteousness. He is a full, complete, and total
holiness of God. That's what the Scripture says.
He knew no sin. Neither was guile found in his
mouth. Abraham was a friend of God,
but not without sin. Moses was the meekest man, but
not without sin. David was a man after God's own
heart, but not without sin. John the Baptist was the greatest
man born of woman, but not without sin. Mary was the mother of Jesus,
but not without sin. Paul was the greatest apostle,
but not without sin. But when Jesus Christ stood on
this earth in human flesh, that's right, human flesh, likeness
of sinful flesh, walking on this earth among men, the voice from heaven spoke and
said, this is my beloved Son in whom I'm well pleased. There was no guile found in his
mouth, and he knew no sin. Absolutely perfect by heavenly
holy standards, the righteousness of God. And I'll tell you this,
if he's my Lord and my substitute and my representative and my
king and my head, and I'm a part of his body and he's divine and
I'm a branch, then I, too, am holy and have the righteousness
of God. That's exactly right. And then
thirdly, I'm going to preach the power of his blood, the efficacy
of his blood. The blood of Jesus Christ plus
nothing minus nothing cleanses us from all sin. I'm saying there's
no sin so black, no guilt so great, no life so wicked, no
heart so evil, no mind so corrupt that the blood of Christ cannot
make it as pure and white as the snow. Come, he said, let's
reason together. Though your sins be as scarlet,
I'll make them as white as snow. Though they be red like crimson,
I'll make them like the purest virgin wool." That's the power
of his blood. Oh, I believe it. My sins, oh,
the bliss of that glorious thought. My sins, not in part but the
whole, are nailed to the cross, washed in the blood. I bear them
no more. in God's sight with my soul.
That's the power of his blood. I'm going to preach the efficacy
of his intercession. We have a high priest who has
gone into the heavenlies, our forerunner, who has entered within
the veil and taken his seat. And when he was seated, we were
seated in him, because he ever liveth to make intercession for
us. And Paul said to Timothy, there's
one God And there's one mediator between God and men, and that's
the man, Christ Jesus. And he literally prays for us. He calls our name. He said to
Peter, I've prayed for you. I pray not for the world, I pray
for them which thou hast given me. Thine they were and thou
gavest me, and I pray for them. And Jesus Christ right now is
praying for me and praying for you. And he's praying for everyone
who knows his name and believes his grace. He's praying for you. And the efficacy of his intercession,
he shall not fail. And last of all, I'm going to
preach the promise of his return. He's coming back. Now, I know
there are a lot of people who get all taken up with what's
going to happen when he comes back, but I'm going to leave
that to them. I'm going to preach him who's coming back. I'm not
going to preach the coming of Christ, I'm going to preach the
Christ who is coming. He said, I go to prepare a place
for you, and if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come
again. And the disciples stood on the
Mount of Ascension, and the angels appeared to them, and the angels
said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven?
This same Jesus shall so come, and like manners ye have seen
him go. My friends, don't succumb to the deceitfulness of Satan
and become all taken up with and enamored with and confused
by all the different events and events that people talk about
are going to happen at the return of the Lord. Look for Him. Wait
for His Son from heaven. Set your affection on Him. And
whatever He does when He comes will be all right. It'll be fine. You'll be well taken care of
and well provided for. Because He is our sufficiency.