Now, Paul said in verse 16, 1
Corinthians 9, four words. He said, I preach the gospel. You see that? For though I preach
the gospel. I tell you, I believe three things
concern me more than anything, any other things in this world.
deeply concerned about three things. Number one, I want, talking
about myself, I want to know the gospel. I'm not satisfied
with religion, religious cliches, religious heritage, history,
and all these things. I want to know the gospel I must
know the gospel. Oh, Paul said, I count everything
but rubbish that I may know Christ and Him and the power of His
resurrection. The second thing is this. I want
to preach the gospel. I tell you, just standing up
in front of a crowd of people and leading religious exercises
is not it. That's not where it is. I want,
every time I get in the pulpit, to preach the gospel. I desperately want that above
all things. If I cannot preach the gospel,
I don't want to preach. And the third thing is, I want
the people who hear me to know the gospel. We're not seeking
followers for ourselves, disciples to follow us, to hear our name
spoken among men. I desperately and sincerely,
God is my witness, I want you to know the gospel. That's the
reason I've selected this passage and this subject tonight. What
is it to preach the gospel? When is the gospel the gospel? Now, Paul says here, emphatically,
I preach the gospel. In fact, he was so strong on
this, turn to Galatians 1. This is how strong he was. This
is how strong the apostle was, how dogmatic he was. Along some lines, I hate to use
the word compromise, but he would compromise. He had Timothy circumcised. In fact, over here in 1 Corinthians
9, if you'll hold that Galatians 1 a minute and look at verse
20, in verse 19, though I be free from all men, but I've made
myself the servant unto all that I may gain the more. He said
unto the Jew, I became as a Jew. In other words, Timothy's father
was a Greek. And he wanted Timothy to go with him to preach to the
Jews. And he knew the Jews wouldn't hear a man who was uncircumcised,
so he had him circumcised. So he became, as a Jew, to the
Jews. And look, read on. And to them
that are under the law, as under the law, that I may gain them
that are under the law. You know what he did one time?
He came to the synagogue, and some friends of his said, Paul,
they're telling around here that you're out here telling folks
they don't have to keep the law of God. that all of us believe
on Christ and they don't have to keep the ordinance of Moses
and so forth, and it sounds like that you are fighting the law
of God. And now to dispel those rumors,
there are certain men who have a vow, and we want you to get
with them and shave your head, you remember? And shave your
head with these other three men, all four, and Paul did it. He had his head shaved under
that vow. I forget too much about it. I
read it some time ago. He submitted. You know what we'd
do. Well, not me, you know. I'm going to exercise my liberty
at the expense of anybody's conscience. But he said, if it'll help. Now,
that meant nothing. Shaving his head before God meant
nothing. Christ was his refuge, his hope,
his righteousness. But to keep those fellows from
shutting the door on him, he had his head shaved. And then
he said, listen, and he said, to them that are without the
law, as without law. Now, being not without law to
God, in other words, but under the law of Christ, what he's
saying here is the Gentiles didn't have the law of circumcision,
so when Titus came along, who was uncircumcised, and these
Jews said, he has to be circumcised because this is necessary for
salvation, Paul said, never, never. Never. And he put his
foot down, he wouldn't let them circumcise him. Never was, Titus
never was, because that was the issue. So he became as a Gentile. And then here he says, and to
the weak became I as weak. Read Romans 7. He said, you have
a struggle inside? He said, the things I would do,
I don't do them either. The things I would not do, that's
what I do, oh wretched man that I am. He says, who is weak and
I'm not weak? And so that's what I'm saying,
Paul knew where. Paul knew where to give. Paul
knew where to, it's not a nice word, but compliment for open
doors. But here's one place he wouldn't.
Look at Galatians 1a. He says, though we or an angel
from heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that which
we have preached, let him be accursed of God. Now that's pretty
dogmatic. I'll say it again, he said, verse
9. As I said before, I'll say it
again. I want everybody to hear it. If any man preach any other
gospel unto you than that which I preach, let him be accursed.
So you see what this means when he says, I preach the gospel.
And Paul wouldn't be shaken by the legalist who came along and
said that personal works and righteousness were necessary.
He said if salvation is by works, Christ died in vain. The legalist
couldn't shake him. And there were plenty of them.
The woods were full of them. Shake a bush and they fell out
everywhere. The legalist, the works crowd, he wouldn't be shaken.
Nor would he be shaken by the libertine. who said, well, if
our sins recommend the grace of God, if our sins are the black
background against which the diamond of God's grace shines
the brightest, let sin that grace may abound. He said, God forbid.
What's the matter with you? How shall we that are dead to
sin live any longer therein? He wouldn't be shaken by the
ritualists. Let me show you something else over here in Galatians 2.
Here was one of Paul's greatest conflicts. I'm sure this was
one of his most traumatic experiences. I'm sure this is one he wouldn't
want to relive. But he wouldn't be shaken by
the ritualist who would return to circumcision, Sabbath days,
and ceremonies. In Galatians chapter 2, verse
11, when Peter, the Apostle Peter, came to Antioch, I had to withstand
him to the face. Now, that was hard. I had to
withstand him to the face, because he was to be blamed. Over what?
Well, it's a serious matter. Before that certain came from
Jerusalem, from James, who was supposed to be the pastor up
there, Peter ate with the Gentiles. He fellowshiped with the Gentiles.
But when these fellows came from Jerusalem, he withdrew himself
and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision.
These fellows came down from Jerusalem, these prominent Jews.
And Peter was sitting over here having dinner with the Gentiles
in the church, uncircumcised men who didn't keep Sabbath days
and rituals and circumcision, and he saw these fellas come
from Jerusalem, and you know the Jews weren't supposed to
have anything to do with the Gentiles, so Peter slipped around and went
over here to the Jews' table. He didn't want to be seen with
those Gentiles. In fact, he did that, and a bunch of other Jews
did the same thing. And verse 13, and other Jews
dissembled with him. Even Barnabas got shook up. Even
Barnabas got disturbed. Oh, Paul said, but when I saw
they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel. See,
the issue was the gospel. That's where the issue was. It
wasn't over some insignificant premillennial matter. It was
the gospel. It wasn't over whether you'd have elders or not have
elders. It was the gospel. He said, they walked not according
to the truth. I said to Peter before everybody, now, you being
a Jew, live after the manner of the Gentiles, and you are
not following the Levitical law. The Levitical law has been superseded,
it's been fulfilled, it's been accomplished, it's been cast
aside. Why do you compel these Gentiles to be Jews? Huh? Why do you do that? First, we
who are Jews by nature are not sinners of the agenda, knowing
that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by
the faith of Christ. Why do you want to go back to that? You
see that? So Paul, he stood, he would not
be moved. He said, I preach the gospel.
Now here's the question that comes forth. This gospel that
Paul preached, do we preach this gospel? Well, preacher, how would
you, if you sat down, and I borrowed this from an old man who's dead,
who passed it down to a friend who's not dead. who passed it
on to me. But here I believe are four indisputable,
undeniable, unchangeable facts. If we preach the gospel, these
four things are true. I'll give them to you briefly.
Number one, turn to Romans 1. The gospel, now there's just
one. Paul says it's not another gospel, that some would pervert
that gospel. But we preach the gospel. First
of all, Romans 1, verse 1, Paul said, I'm a servant, a bond slave
of Jesus Christ. I'm called to be an apostle.
I'm separated. Bill, whose gospel is it? God's
gospel. It's God's gospel. So if I preach
the gospel, the first thing is this. God will be given by me
in that message, Charlie, his rightful place. His right, what
is his place? Who is God? Well, you know, when
Moses was up there on the mountain and got the message from God,
go deliver my people out of Egypt, he went to Pharaoh. He went to
Pharaoh, and he said, thus saith the Lord, you let my people go. You know what Pharaoh said? He
asked a good question, one that needs to be considered right
here tonight. He said, who is the Lord? You say, the Lord said,
let my people go. Who is the Lord? That I should
obey his voice. I know not the Lord. That's what
he said. I know not your Lord. Who is
this Lord? Well, I ask you. They asked David
that question, turn to Psalm 115. David was asked, I ask you
the question, I ask myself the question. I'm just saying that
this gospel, it's God's gospel. It's God's gospel. It didn't
originate with man. It originated with God. It's
His gospel. He's the author of it. The purposer,
the planner. He decreed it. It's His gospel.
So if I preach the gospel, I'm going to put God in His rightful
place in my message. I'm not going to be mealy-mouthed
about it and whine around here and say, God wants to if you
let it. God would like to bless you if you let it. Feel sorry
for God and do Him a favor. No. God Who is God? This God we praise. Psalm 115. He said in verse 2,
Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is now your God? Where
is your God? We know where our God is. Our
gods are where we let them be. We do what we let them do. They're
where we put them. We know right where they are.
I know where, the Buddhist knows where his God is. He's sitting
over in Kamakura, Japan, you know, smiling over there. They knocked him down three times.
They keep putting him back up. Earthquake got him, a tidal wave
got him, and American bombers got him, but they keep putting
him up. The Mohammeds know where their God is. He's in the grave.
Where's your God? Who is this Lord? They said,
David, where's your God? Verse 3, David said, Our God
is in the heavens. Our God is in the heavens. The
heaven of heavens will not contain him. The earth is his footstool.
And listen, and our God has done whatsoever he had pleased. That doesn't sound like somebody
up there wanting to do something and not able, does it? Turn to
Psalm 135. David said the same thing. Psalm
135. He says here, verse 5, I know
that the Lord is great, that our capital L-O-R-D, Lord, is
above all little letter G-O-D-S. And here's what he's like. Whatsoever
the Lord pleased, that did he in heaven, in earth, in the seas,
and even under the earth, in all deep places. What God pleases. I'm simply saying this, that
the God I preach, and the God of the gospel, is eternal, before
the mountains, before the heavens, before all things. He's holy,
holy, holy, holy. He's sovereign, absolutely sovereign. infinitely, indisputably sovereign. He does what he will, when he
will, with whom he will, in heaven, earth, and hell. Now that's the
God of the Bible. It pleased the Lord. Well, he
said our God had done what he pleased. I preach a sermon in
which I use this outline. It pleased the Lord. Moses said
it pleased the Lord to make you his people. And then it says
again in the scripture, it pleased God that in Christ should all
fullness dwell. Why is all fullness in Christ?
Because it pleased God to put it there. And then it says in
Isaiah, it pleased God to bruise him. The death of Christ was
no accident. Men did what they wanted to do.
They did what their wicked hearts devised and planned, but they
did what God determined before to be done. It pleased God to
reveal his son to you. God who separated me from my
mother's womb was pleased to reveal his son to me. And it
pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe. You see, our God, this is what I'm saying, I want it
understood loud and clear. Yes, I preach a sovereign God
who is absolutely, unquestionably sovereign in creation. Everything
that's made is made like he wanted to make it. who is sovereign
in providence. All things work together for
good to them that love God, who are called according to His purpose.
I don't care whether it's so-called good or bad, whether it's a happy
experience or a trial. If you're in Him and this trial's
in your life, it'll work for your eternal good. And God brought
it to pass. Yes, I believe God's in the snow
and the rain. I don't believe one snowflake
could fall to the earth without the heavenly Father. I don't
believe one robin will nest or stand on a limb or fall to the
earth without, it doesn't say without God knowing it, it says
without Him doing it. That's what Scripture says. The
hairs of your head are numbered. You know what Scripture says?
Not one hair falls out of this head, and some are doing it lately,
without your Father. That's right. I believe God controls
the senders on the railroad tracks. Say, you are faithless. No, sir.
No, sir. I'm a believer. And I believe
in an almighty, all-wise, eternal, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent,
sovereign God. And you've got a God any less
than that, you've got an idol. Because that's the God of the
Bible. That's just so. That's just so. God is love. God is merciful. He's eternal. He's sovereign.
He's holy. He's merciful. He delights to
show mercy. Moses says, show me your glory.
He said, my glory is my goodness. God's good. Men are not good,
but God's good. All men are liars, but God's
true. God's true. And he'll be merciful to whom
he will be merciful, and he'll be gracious to whom he will be
gracious. I tell you this, and I'll be perfectly honest with
you, let's just put the cards on the table. There's not but
one place a man will worship. I mean worship. And that's at
the throne of a sovereign God. Now, any other kind of God, he'll
argue with him, he'll debate with him, he'll bargain with
him, he'll sit down across the table and say, well, now God,
if you bless me, then I'll give you this, and if you'll get me
out of this war, I'll serve you, and if you'll let my daughter
live, then I'll come to church, and I'll give you 10% if you'll
give me 90 with a little extra along the way. But at a sovereign
throne of a God who does as he pleases, when he pleases, with
whom he pleases, for his own glory, a man will fall down and
worship, and say, Lord, whatever you do, you're God. Though you
slay me, I'll trust you. That's pretty good Bible language.
The Lord gave and the Lord taken away. Praise the Lord. That's
where we better come. Now, you can have this other,
this little God, this 10-cent store God, you know, that's been
invented by modern religionists, who's up there in heaven crying
his eyes out because folks won't let him run his world, which
he made. But that's not the God of the
Bible. No, sir. And secondly, if you will, turn
over with me to the Book of Romans again. Book of Romans again. This gospel is the gospel of
God. And then secondly, it's the gospel
of His grace. It's the gospel of grace. I didn't
put my reference down, but I can probably find it. It says here,
this is what Paul said. He said, if it's by grace, it's
no more works. If it's of works, it's no more
grace. This is what I'm saying. I'm saying that we preach the
gospel, we put God where he belongs, and give him his rightful place.
Secondly, David would put man where he belongs, in the gutter,
in the dust. Now you can't preach the gospel
unless you preach man as a lost, fallen, depraved, helpless sinner. Romans 5, that's where I want
you to go, 5th chapter of Romans. Now this is where it all started,
in Romans 5. Wherefore, as by one man sin
entered into the world, and death by sin, so death, we're talking
about spiritual death, as well as physical death, passed upon
all men for all sin. Now that's the condition we're
in, and no man's going to know God in grace or mercy until he
knows he's a sinner. The gospel is addressed to sinners.
It's not for righteous men, it's for sinners. Listen to these
invitations. Come, let us reason together.
Though your sins be as scarlet, I'll make them white as snow.
Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, I'll give
you rest. Christ said, I came not to call the righteous but
sinners to repentance. On the last day, the great day
of the feast, our Lord cried and said, if any man thirst,
let him come to me. The gospel's addressed to sinners.
The gospel is prepared for sinners. Christ came into the world to
save sinners. Thirdly, right quickly, Romans
3, 1 again. Let's go back to Romans 1. First,
it's the gospel of God. We give God his rightful place.
Secondly, it's the gospel of grace. So we put man in his rightful
place, in the dust, as a recipient, as a recipient of God's grace.
Thirdly, it's the gospel concerning his son, so we put Christ in
his rightful place. Romans 1, look at it again. Paul,
a servant, verse 1, of Jesus Christ, called him an apostle,
separated to the gospel. Now verse 2 is in parenthesis.
It's the gospel which he promised before by his prophets in the
Holy Scripture. In other words, Abraham's gospel,
Moses' gospel, Abel's gospel, Noah. It's the ancient gospel,
no new gospel. I run into this all the time.
A lot of people think that since Christ came to the world and
died, we're now saved by grace. Prior to his coming, they were
saved by law or by works. That's not so. You see, that's
the very thing the Pharisee was contending, that they were saved
by keeping Moses' law. And Christ said, if you'd believe
Moses, you'd believe me. Moses wrote of me. Abraham saw
my day and was glad. Abraham was saved by faith in
Christ, in the coming Christ. And that's what he's saying here.
This gospel that I'm separated to is the ancient gospel promised
afore by his prophets in the Holy Scriptures. Christ is the
Old Testament in picture, in prophecy, in promise. And it's
verse 3, and it's concerning his son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Now, my friends, what think ye
of Christ? I know we've got a lot of issues
facing us today, and these fellows came to Christ, these lawyers
and Pharisees and scribes, and one of them said, we've got a
question for you. They were hoping to track him. Now, you preach the resurrection,
we've got a problem here. Here's a woman who was married
and her husband died, she married again, he died, she married again,
he died, she married again, several times. Now, in the resurrection,
when she comes out of the grave and ascends to heaven, who's
going to be her husband? She's had seven. Well, that's what folks are concerned
about, and they can't straighten out those things, they just take
the whole Bible and throw it away. They don't understand the
Bible. Well, our Lord said this, he said, you err not knowing
the scripture nor the power of God. There are a lot of questions
about heaven I can't answer. I know we're going to be flesh
and bones. I know we're going to eat. I know we're going to
live on a renewed, new earth and in a new heaven. I know we're
going to know each other. I know we're going to remember
the earth because he said, we set our song in heavens unto
him who loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood.
So I got to remember the earth, remember my sins, got to remember
you, our relationship. I got to remember Paul was my
son. I'm not going to be that dumb in heaven. You see what
I'm saying? You say, well, how can you straighten
out all these things? That's God's business. I'll be
a totally different mind, spirit, person there, so infinitely above
what I am now. I see through a glass dimly.
I know in part, prophesy in part, there I shall know as I've been
known. And what Christ said is, you err not knowing the scriptures
nor the power of God. God's power is able to take us
from this confused situation and this materialistic physical
world and take us to glory on a new earth and a new heaven
under a new government and make us to fit in perfectly. Now he'll
have to do it. He'll have to do it. But that
still bothered them. So another bunch came up and
they said, should a Christian or should a religious person
pay taxes? In other words, they's concerned
about the government. And there are a lot of preachers
today who've got their pulpit so sidetracked. They're preaching
about private schools and the government and all these different,
and Vietnam, and they're just so involved. Now listen to me.
As a private citizen, it's your business, I think, to vote. As
a private citizen, it's your business to be involved in your
government, in your country. If we come to war, we've got
to defend our country, and so forth. We write to our congressmen.
But it's not this church's business to picket government doings. Now, let's stay out of it. Let's
don't march on Washington. Washington is not our capital.
Heaven's our capital. See what I'm saying? Don't confuse the church and
the state. Keep them apart. Don't confuse
them. America is not a Christian nation.
It never has been, it never will be. Now, there are some Christians
in America, and God's kingdom is in America, part of it, and
God's people are in America, but this is not God's country,
like the Jews of old. I know a lot of folks try to
halfway believe that, but it's not so. And what we're going
to do is pass our rules and law and infringe on the rights of
other people. In other words, we're going to
make Sunday shutdown day and force men to keep it. Now, you're
out of your bailiwick. If you want to keep Sunday as
a believer, you keep it, but don't you make that man down
at Armco keep it and run around holding up signs and passing
blue laws and all the rest of it. I'm telling you the truth. Our Lord Jesus said, if my kingdom
was of this world, my servants would pick it and fight too.
But my kingdom is not of this world. That's exactly right.
Let's get in the preaching business and get out of the politics,
and out of private schools and all the rest of that. I'm telling
you the truth, and I'm warning you about this. It's dangerous
for us to get involved in this sort of thing. And a lot of questions,
they came up and they said, well, should it, and our Lord said,
you got a coin, and one of them pulled out a coin. He said, who
is that on there? He said, that's Caesar. He said,
well, you render to Caesar the things, that's Caesar's business
right there. That Caesar made that, he entitled a part of it. You render to God the things
of the God. And I see people over there, they got the American
flag over here and what they call the Christian flag over here. There ain't no
Christian flag. Christ is our banner. That's
right. I pledge allegiance to the Christian
flag, to the Savior, for whose kingdom it stands. You better
get out of that stuff. That's idolatry. That's just
the reason there's not one standing there. Christ, that's one of
his seven names, Charlie, Christ, our banner. You see that's splitting
hairs. You wait and find out that's
splitting hairs. And then another one came up to him and they said,
well, which is the greatest law? And here's something I run into
all the time. I believe a fella can go to heaven and go to the
show. I believe a fella can go to heaven and even shoot pool.
I believe a fella could go to heaven and maybe go swimming.
I believe a fella could go to heaven and cheat on his income
tax. But I don't believe a fella can go to heaven whoever killed
anybody. You know, they get sin. One sin's greater than the other.
So what I'm asking, which is the greatest sin? That's what
he asked. Which is the greatest law? Which means, which is the
greatest sin? Isn't that what he said? So our
Lord answered him, and he said, listen to me. The whole law is
summed up in one word. I shall love God with all your
heart and your neighbor as yourself. On these two hymns is the whole
law. And they were shut up, so they started to leave. He said,
now I've got a question. I've got a question. And when
you get through answering all these unanswerable questions,
I've got one for you. You know what he asked them?
What think ye of Christ? Now let me tell you something,
my friend. You and I both, this preacher and this congregation,
everybody in this town, we better face this issue right here. Who
is Jesus Christ? That's your whole assignment
for the rest of your life. Who is he? Who is this man Jesus
Christ of whom these men wrote here, of whom Moses wrote, to
whom Abraham looked, which Abel typified, which the ark pictured,
which the blazing serpent pictured? Which John the Baptist said,
Behold the Lamb of God. Which the angel said, This same
Jesus is coming back. Huh? Who is he? Well, he's God
Almighty in human flesh. What did he do? He came to this
earth. God came to this earth. God clothed himself in the likeness
of flesh and came to this earth. And met his law in the flesh
and obeyed it and died on a cross and was buried and rose again.
And where is he now? He's at the right hand of the
majesty on high. Now, don't try to conjure up
a picture of the Father sitting in the middle, and the Son on
his right hand, and the Holy Spirit. You've got three gods
there. Now, I can't deal with this as effectively as it ought
to be dealt with, but the Lord our God is one God. One God. God is a spirit. They that worship
him, worship him in spirit and truth. But God's revelation,
just one, that's Christ. And we're going to see Christ.
And when it talks about Christ sitting down on the right hand
of the majesty on high, it's the same thing. It's figurative
language, like streets of gold. You really think we'll be interested
in walking on streets of gold? I know the song, that terrible,
our song books. But I just doubt very much that
that old cold yellow hard stuff's up there in heaven. I just doubt
that very much. I just doubt very much that you're
going to have a mansion next door to Jesus. I wouldn't want
to destroy your favorite song, you know. But I just kind of
doubt that. And when you're talking about
sitting down on the right hand of the majesty, the right hand
is a figurative term for Cecil, authority. Authority. He has the authority. He's the
prime minister. He's the prime minister. That's
exactly what that's saying. He is the prime minister. You
go to him. That God gave him the authority.
But Christ is the only revelation of God you'll ever see. Christ. That's right. That's who he is.
I'm telling you, he's not just a messenger boy that the Father
sent down here. He's God in human flesh. That's what he said to the disciples.
They said, show us the Father and we're satisfied. He said,
you've seen the Father. You know what he said? You've
seen me, you've seen the Father. Don't you believe that? I and
my Father are one. That's when he said that. That's
when the Jews wanted to stone him. That's when they wanted
to throw rocks at him. When he said, you've seen me,
you've seen God. You've seen the Father. I am
in the Father, and the Father's in me, and we're one. That's
what I'm saying. And that's the reason it's blasphemy.
This Jesus superstar is blasphemy. You're talking about God the
Father. He's the everlasting Father, right? He's the Prince
of Peace. Honor Him. Worship Him. Quit
calling Him Jesus. Start calling Him Lord. Now,
I'm saying that as positive as I can sit, and I'm tired of hearing
people say, Jesus said this, and Jesus... When the disciples
wrote that in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, He was on this
earth, and they were identifying the Son of Mary, the Nazarene,
and Bill, that's why they called Him Jesus. Because they had called
Him Lord, they thought He was talking about His deity. He was speaking from His throne.
But when he accomplished what God sent him to do and went back
to glory, the disciples always referred to him, how Cecil, as
Lord, didn't they? The Lord Jesus Christ. And I'm
telling you this, it's just a habit we've gotten into. I never called
my daddy by his first name. I had too much respect for him.
And I'm not calling my master by his first name or by his name
of humiliation. He's my Lord. And no man can
call him Lord but by the Holy Ghost. That's right. And it's all what you think of
him. What you think of him. You'll call him Master if you
think of him that way. You'll call him Lord if you think
of him that way. You'll call him Jesus if that's
your thoughts of him. The Nazarene. And I tell you
the reason most people call him that is because that's their
thoughts of him. He's still human down here on this earth and so
forth. And he has limited, he limited himself and so forth,
you know. Where is he now on the right?
Here's the last thing. When we preach the gospel, turn
to Romans 1 16. I believe these four things are
so. It's the gospel of God. If we preach the gospel, God's
given his rightful place. It's the gospel of grace. If
we preach the gospel, man is put where he belongs, in the
dust. It's the gospel concerning his son, Jesus Christ. If we
preach the gospel, Christ will be given his rightful place of
honor, preeminence, a name above every name, that at the name
of Jesus, every knee should bow and every tongue should confess
that he's what? Lord. Lord. Fourthly, and not
a shame, verse 16, Romans 1, of the gospel, it is the power
of God. So this gospel we preach, if
we preach the gospel we give the Holy Spirit his rightful
place. Now if I preach the gospel and
the Holy Spirit is pleased to open your heart, you'll receive
it. But brothers, not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,
saith the Lord. That's right. It's the Holy Spirit. He said in 1 Corinthians 2, eye
hath not seen, ear hath not heard. It hasn't even entered the imagination
or thoughts of man, the things God's prepared for them that
love Him, but He hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit, by
the Holy Spirit. And I'm not preaching the Holy
Ghost, the Holy Spirit. I'm preaching Christ, but I can't
preach Christ without the Holy Spirit. These three are one. And he said, the Holy Spirit
has come. He'll guide you into all truth. He'll not speak of
himself. He shall take the things of mine
and show them to you. He'll glorify me. This is one
of the problems. In this day, everybody wants
to seek the Holy Ghost. Brethren, we want Christ as who
we want. If any man have not the Spirit
of Christ, he's none of His. We have the Spirit of Christ.
It's the Holy Spirit who regenerates. It's the Holy Spirit who convinces
of sin. It's the Holy Spirit who reveals
Christ. It's the Holy Spirit who's our teacher. It's the Holy
Spirit who makes intercession with groanings which cannot be
uttered, prays for us through Christ. It's the Holy Spirit
that seals us. We're sealed by the Holy Spirit.
It's the Holy Spirit who leads us. As many of the led by the Spirit
of God are the sons of God. So we've got to give him his
rightful place, the Holy Spirit. And that's not the place of preeminence,
but that's the place of prominence. He's got to give us an enlightened
heart, illuminated spirit. Study these things. There are
preachers here tonight, young men who are preachers. There
are witnesses, Sunday school teachers. I want to preach the
gospel. I want to be taken up with the
gospel. I want you to know the gospel. Our Father, thank you
for your word. We've stood here tonight and
said so many things and read scripture. Lord, we are but flesh. There's so much about us that's
flesh. preaching part, we know that,
we understand in part, we see through a glass dimly. But Lord,
like the Apostle Peter said, you know all things. You know
that this congregation and this pastor desperately, sincerely
desires above all things that from this pulpit should go forth
the gospel. May it be done by your spirit,
according to your will, for your glory. exalting, magnifying Christ. And Lord, get glory to yourself.
Apply the word tonight to our hearts. Take away from us that
prejudiced spirit, that tradition. Lord, we don't want to be wrapped
up in a false refuge. And shut our ears and close our
ears against the truth and clamor against men who are sincerely
trying to tell us the truth. Give us a willing spirit, a hearing
ear. and our seeing eye. For Christ's
sake we pray. Amen.