I want you to open your Bibles
with me, first of all, to the book of Galatians, chapter 4. I'm going to come back to my
text, which Cecil read a moment ago, in just a few moments. I'm
speaking tonight on the subject, He Must Reign. He must reign,
and there's another word in the topic, in the text, until. He
must reign until. But I know a little bit about
what Paul was feeling when he wrote the book of Galatians.
I don't know but what we ought to read the book of Galatians
every day. I think it's one of the most
dangerous, it deals with one of the most dangerous things
that we encounter in the church, in the ministry, in our own Christian
experiences. It deals with trying to mix grace
with works, the grace of God with law. And Paul said in Galatians
4 verse 9, but now after you have known God, or rather are
known of God, for we know him because he knew us, we love him
because he loved us, how turn ye again? or back to the weak
and beggarly elements, back to the law, back to works. Whereunto
you desire again to be in bondage, Christ has set you free, given
you liberty. You want to be back in bondage
to the law, is that what you want? You observe days and months
and times and years, I'm afraid of you. I'm afraid of you, lest
I have bestowed upon you labor in vain." Now once again, some
of us are being accused and coming under attack for preaching what
they say is one message. They say we don't have but one
message. It's an age-old attack, it's
an age-old satanic attack. He's never still and he's never
quiet. But I plead guilty to this. I
have but one message. Sincerely have but one message.
And I urge all the preachers over whom I have any influence
to stay with that one message. Can we justify such actions? I believe we can. The text which
Cecil read a moment ago in 1 Corinthians 15, is this not what Paul said
in 1 Corinthians 15, 1 through 3? or one through four. He said, Moreover, brethren,
I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which
also you have received, and wherein you stand, and by which also
you are saved, if you keep in memory what I preached unto you,
unless you believed in vain. What did you preach, Paul? Well,
I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received.
This is what God gave me. How that Christ died for our
sins according to the Scriptures, and that he was buried and rose
again the third day according to the Scriptures. That's what
I preach to you. That's what God gave me to preach. That's
what God sent me to preach. That's what God called me to
preach. When our Lord sent his disciples out to preach to the
whole world, he said, you go into all the world and you preach
the gospel. And again Paul said, woe is unto
me if I preach not the gospel. On another occasion he said,
we preach Christ and Him crucified. God sent me not to baptize but
to preach the gospel. And then on another occasion
he said this, I'm determined, I am determined not to know anything
among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And I want you
to listen to what our Master said in John 5. In the fifth
chapter of John, verses 22 and 23, listen to this, John 5, 22
and 23. The Master said in John 5, 22
and 23, For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all
judgment to the Son, that all men should honor the Son, honor
the Son, even as they honor the Father. He that honoreth not
the Son, honoreth not the Father which sent him." This is our
calling, this is our commission to preach the gospel, the gospel
of God's grace. And then it's been said that
we preach nothing but grace, grace, grace. Again, we plead
guilty. We're told that we ought to preach
some rules and enforce some laws. Well, let me say this to you,
and I've been in the ministry for a long, long time. I've been
the pastor of a church for a long, long time, and I've preached,
I suppose, in more churches than any grace preacher in America
today, more different churches. I'm associated with and have
knowledge of, I suppose, as many or more churches than anyone
else. I know where this type of ministry leads. I know when
we leave the preaching of the grace of God and the gospel of
Christ and get into this thing of rules and regulations and
enforcing laws and telling people what to do and how to live and
so forth, I know where this leads. Now it leads to this. Now listen
to me, I'm going to be practically honest with you and frank with
you, and these are illustrations of things that are going on in
churches that I know about. To get people to attend church.
To be faithful on Sunday morning and Sunday night, you enforce
a Sabbath day. That's what this is all about.
You enforce a Sabbath day. You go back to the old what they
call Christian Sabbath that starts, used to start on Friday night
at sundown and go to Saturday night on sundown. That's the
old Sabbath. But now it begins Saturday evening and goes to
Sunday evening. And the ladies are not allowed
to cook, you're not allowed to prepare meals. The rule is that
husband and wife can't make love on Sunday. That's against the
rule. And then one church up north, they enforce this quite
rigidly, some people came to church on Sunday and then went
out to the park to eat their lunch to keep them driving all
the way back home, which was 50 miles away. And some of the
children were sitting in swings down in the park and they sent
the elders down there to see if they were swinging under their
own power or somebody was pushing them. That gives you elders something
to do. You can go around the park every
Sunday and see if anybody's swinging on their own power or being pushed.
This is Sabbath day, Christian Sabbath. And then to get people
to give, you enforce tithing. And you publish the gifts at
the end of the year. Everybody must tithe, and everybody
is forced to tithe. And if you don't tithe, you're
out of fellowship and you couldn't be excluded. And then to get
people to dress properly, you establish a dress code. My brother
Gruber was supported by a church in Texas, and he went out there
to preach, and he showed on the slides a picture of his son.
His son had a beard. So the church stopped his support.
You can't wear a beard. See, we've got to have dress
codes here, and if we have dress codes for the ladies, you've
got to have dress codes for the men. And you've got to have hair codes,
and you've got to have anti-beard codes, and all of these things
must be enforced. When you start these rules and
regulations, you can't stop where you want to stop, you have to
stop where he wants to stop. And then you can't stop where
he wants to stop, you have to stop where he wants to stop. And you
keep on until you establish rules and regulations that are determined
by a person's own whims and fancies. Now this is what Paul is saying.
Do you want back under that? Is that what you want? And then
the most separated church in America, I visited it two or
three times and preached in it. It was out in Texas. And this
is the way the church was advertised, the most separated church in
America. They had some rules. The pastor and the deacon set
up rules. Now here's what you want to watch.
The man who's enforcing the rules may be the chief offender, you
never know. And they set up these rules and there was no TV allowed. No Sunday paper, no swimming,
you see every time you meet you add another rule. No slacks for
the ladies, no birth control, no smoking, no alcoholic beverages,
no movies, no pool shooting. And finally this all tore up
and the church disintegrated because one of the key men that
made the rules was stealing money out of the treasure and keeping
his girlfriend in Dallas. I'm telling you the truth, this
is what happened. The church disintegrated. There's another church in Michigan
I know about, acquainted with. The pastor makes regular rounds
once a month to every home in the church to see how everybody's
behaving and whether or not you're reading your Bibles and you're
having your devotions and whether or not your children are under
proper care. They've lost ten families since they started this
thing. The pastor gets around and the
elders. and checks up on everybody. And then this leads to discipline
committees. If you're going to have rules,
you've got to enforce them. You've got to enforce them. And
then you've got to have a Gestapo that looks in on the people to
see if they're breaking the rules. There's one school, it's called
a Christian school, where if you tell on somebody, you're
given extra credit. In other words, if you see somebody
breaking a rule and you tell on them, they reward you. for
telling on them. There was a school in South Carolina
where a group of young people coming back from a revival meeting
one night and The fellow that led the meeting was in the front
seat, and somebody sitting up there, and this boy and girl
went along to sing, were in the back, and this boy kissed this
girl, and the fellow in the front got back and told on them, got
some extra credit, and they got kicked out of school, the two
of them. Well, your discipline committee gets together. If a
person sins or if a person falls, the discipline committee gets
together and tries them, makes an example of them, and excludes
them from the church. Now over in Rocky Mount, North
Carolina, where I preached in a church one time, they had all
these rules, and one of the deacon's daughters was going to appear
in a high school play. She was a 16-year-old girl, and
she was scheduled to be in a high school play. And somebody found
out that she was to wear a bathing suit on the stage in this play,
something, a robe and a bathing suit and so forth. So at Wednesday
night business meeting in the church, instead of the gospel,
this was the subject. And so they had a trial and the
girl was told to withdraw from the play or she would be excluded
from the church. And if her parents backed her,
they'd be excluded too. But it ended up she was excluded,
and the parents were excluded, and Aunt and Uncle quit, and
somebody else, and they didn't have but 25 or 30 members to
start with. And this is where this thing
leads now. And then to get people to witness and work, you establish
a system of rewards. And then to get people to stay
out of worldly places of amusement, you warn them that Jesus may
come while they're there. Now that's the reason Paul said
over here in Galatians, what I read a moment ago in Galatians
chapter 4, this sort of thing appeals to the Galatians. Paul
came in and preached to them the grace of God, the mercy of
God in Christ Jesus. And these antichrists, these
false teachers, came in and began to set up rules and regulations.
Yes, we believe in Christ, we believe in his blood, we say
that he's saved. There are certain things that
a man has to do, certain things he can't do, and it depends on
the geographical location, depends upon the whims and fancies of
the people or the leaders. These are the things you're supposed
to do. And Paul said, why do you turn again to these things?
The Lord God Almighty put Israel under a Levitical law and under
a moral law for 2,000 years and didn't produce anything but unbelief.
Unbelief. Didn't produce anything but a
rebellious people. Didn't produce anything but a
bunch of rebels. And this Paul said, have I bestowed
labor on you in vain? Have I preached in vain? Have
I preached Christ to you in vain? Let me ask you to turn back to
1 Corinthians 15. Here in 1 Corinthians 15 verse
10, this is our theme and this is our testimony. And this is
our foundation. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15,
10, but by the grace of God, I am what I am. By his free and
sovereign grace. My friends, if you don't mind
using your Bible a few minutes, I want to show you something
here as I just run down some points that I jotted down. First
of all, it was a covenant of grace that gave me to Christ.
It's pure grace. No works involved in any shape,
form, or fashion. Back before the world began,
before the foundation of this world, Almighty God, in a covenant
of grace, gave me to his Son. Turn, if you will, to 2 Timothy
1.9. Let's just run through the Scripture and look at these things. 2 Timothy 1.9. It was a covenant
of grace that gave me to Christ. Works had nothing to do with
it. There's no cooperation on my part or the part of any man.
It said in 2 Timothy 1.9, He 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. It was grace and grace alone
that gave me to Christ. The Heavenly Father from all
eternity, back in the council halls of eternity, when this
world didn't exist, when the stars and the moon and the sun
were not in place, God Almighty purposed to have a people, to
populate heaven with a people like his son. And he said to
the son, I give to you a people. And the son said, I'll be surety
for those people. And the Holy Spirit said, and
I will in time call those people. And they shall all be gathered
together in one, in Christ, God the Father, purposed by his grace
and grace alone to redeem us. And then turn to Romans 11, it
was grace that chose us. In Romans chapter 11, verse 5
and 6, Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. It was grace
that chose, free unmerited grace chose us. Romans 11, look at
verse 5. Even so then at this present
time, Also, there's a remnant according to the election of
grace. And if by grace, then is it no more works. Otherwise,
grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then it's
no more grace. Otherwise, work is no more work.
An election of people, a remnant according to the election of
grace. And then it was grace that justified, and it turned
back to Romans 3. In the third chapter of Romans,
Paul said this in verse 24, being justified freely. Justified means
to be declared not guilty. It is to be absolutely free from
all sin. It is to have all iniquity pardoned
and forgiven. Being justified freely how? By
his grace. By his grace. Through the redemption
that is in Christ Jesus. One other verse on that, turn
to Ephesians 1. Ephesians chapter 1, verse 6
and 7. Listen to this. Verse 6 and 7,
he talked about electing us in Christ, and verse 5, predestinating
us unto the adoption of children. Verse 6, said, all of it, to
the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us
accepted in the beloved in Christ, in whom we have redemption through
his blood, the forgiveness of sin. How? Through cooperation? No, according to the riches of
His grace. It was a covenant of grace that
purposed to save me. It was grace that elected me. It was grace that justified me.
Now, Galatians 1, it was grace that called me. It was grace
that called me and revealed Christ to me. It was God's grace that
found me in the cesspool, found me on the dunghill, found me
in my heathen darkness. found me in my rebellion and
unbelief and brought me to Christ, Galatians 1.15, but when it pleased
God, who separated me from my mother's womb and called me,"
how? By His grace. It pleased Him to reveal His
Son in me. It was by His grace that He called
me. And then it's His grace that
sustains me. He said, My grace is sufficient.
And it's His grace, it's by His grace that my sins are forgiven.
He said it's out there on our bulletin board, where sin did
abound, grace did much more abound. It's His grace that teaches me.
Turn to I Corinthians 1. I Corinthians 1, verse 4 and
5. I Corinthians 1, verse 4. I thank my God always on your
behalf. for the grace of God which is
given you by Jesus Christ, that in everything you are enriched
by him, in all utterance and in all knowledge. It is also
by his grace that I'm allowed to come into his presence. Turn
to Hebrews chapter 4. It's by his grace. It's not because
of who I am even now. It's not because of what I've
done even now. It's not because of what I give
even now. It's by His grace alone that
we are permitted into God's presence. Hebrews 4 verse 14, listen, 14
through 16, Hebrews 4, seeing then that we have a great high
priest that's passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God,
let us hold fast our profession. For we have not a high priest
which cannot be touched with the feeding of our infirmities,
but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
Let us therefore come boldly, swear unto a throne of grace,
that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of
need. And then turn to the book of
Titus. It's by his grace that we have hope, that we have hope
of eternal life. It's totally by his grace. As
I stand before you tonight, I have no hope of eternal life because
I'm a professing believer, or because I'm a preacher, or because
I'm a church member, or because I do these things. My hope, my
entire hope of eternal life is in the grace of God through Jesus
Christ. Titus, if you will, chapter 3.
Listen to this, verse 4 and 5, or verse 5. Titus, chapter 3,
verse 5. Not by works of righteousness
which we've done, But according to his mercy he saved us by the
washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost, which
he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that
being justified by his grace we should be made heirs according
to the hope of eternal life. This is a faithful saying, and
these things I will that you affirm constantly, that they
which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works,
These things are good and profitable unto men, but avoid foolish questions
and genealogies and contentions and striving about the law, for
they are unprofitable and vain. And a man that's a heretic after
the first and second admonition, reject. It's by his grace that
we have hope of eternal life. And then it's by his grace that
we're kept and we'll be glorified. One other scripture, Ephesians
chapter 2. Ephesians chapter 2. beginning with verse 4. It's the covenant of grace that
gave us to Christ. It's the free and sovereign grace
of God that chose us. It is the grace of God in Christ
that justifies us. It's the grace of God that calls
us. It's the grace of God that sustains us. It's the grace of
God that forgives us. It's the grace of God that teaches
us. It's the grace of God that enables me to come into His presence.
It's by His grace that I have hope of eternal life, and then
it's by His grace that I'll be glorified, Ephesians 2.4. In the first two or three verses,
he talks about what we were and where God found us and what we
had done and what kind of people we were by nature. But God, who
is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us, even
when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ,
by grace your Savior. And he hath raised us up together,
that is, with Christ, and made us sit together with Christ in
heavenly places in Christ. that in the ages to come he might
show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward
us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves, it's the gift of God, it's not
of works, lest any man should boast. It was grace that taught
my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved. How precious
did that grace appear the hour I first believed. And how precious
does that grace appear today, after many hours. And I'll tell
you this, when I lie down to die and the doctor stands over
my bed and shakes his head, and I look up and the family begins
to weep, and the old clock on the mantel begins to tick louder
and louder, and I realize that I'm standing on the very brink
of eternity, ready to face God in judgment. I'll tell you how
precious that grace will be in those eyes. You talk about what
I've done and how I've served and what I've given and what
I've given up for Jesus, those filthy rags won't amount to a
hill of beans. And I'll tell you, when you try
to clutch ahold of Him and pull Him up around you and hope to
rush into His presence in that day and say, Lord, here I am,
He's going to say, depart from me. I never knew you. I never
knew you. Turn back to Galatians 4. Grace
is precious to a sinner. Grace is precious to a sinner,
to a needy creature. Grace means nothing to a Pharisee. Grace means nothing to a person
who's never been lost, who's never been a sinner, but grace
is precious to a sinner. And I tell you, it grows more
precious with every passing day. And this is what Paul is saying
in Galatians 4 and 19. Listen. of whom I prevail in birth again
until Christ be formed in you." That's the burden of my soul,
Paul said. That's what I prevail. Not that
the law be established in you or upon you, but that Christ
be formed in you. That Christ be formed. His Spirit,
His mind, His grace, His love, His power be formed in you. I desire, verse 20, listen, to
be present with you now And to change my voice, I stand in doubt
of you. I'm perplexed, he said. That's
what he's saying. I'm troubled. I'm perplexed. I'm perplexed. Tell me. Tell me this. You that
desire to be under the law, whether it be a Levitical law or the
law of the circumcision or the law of Sabbath or feast days
or holy days or rules or regulations, you that desire to be under the
law, tell me. Tell me. And it's God's law you've
got to be under, not man's law. Do you hear the law? Do you hear
what it requires? Turn back to Galatians 3, and
I'll show you what it requires. In Galatians 3, verse 10, this
is what it requires. In Galatians 3, verse 10, As
many as are of the works of the law are under the curse, for
it is written, Cursed, judged, cast out, condemned, damned is
every one that continueth not in all things which are written
in the book of the law, not to approve of them. But to do them. To do them. Now that's what he
said. You that would be under the law.
Do you hear it? Do you hear God's law? You don't
want anything to do. The law was a schoolmaster to
bring you to Christ. And to put you at the feet of
Christ. And to plant Christ in your heart. And now what do you
want to do with the law? You want to turn away from it
and turn to Christ. And rest. Right there. Right
there. Now, but our message is not just
grace. We don't just preach grace, but
we preach, listen to this, we preach the free grace of God
in Christ. That's what we preach. The free
grace of God in Christ. Apart from Christ, there's no
grace, there's no mercy, there's no love, there's no life. Turn
it to two verses here. Turn to John 1. Now, we're not
preaching a grace that leads to lasciviousness. We're not
preaching a grace that leads to evil. We're not preaching
a grace that leads to disgrace. We're preaching grace in Christ,
in a person, in the holy, immaculate, immutable, eternal, infinite
Son of God. We're preaching grace in Christ.
Now that's what we're preaching. John 1, listen to this, verse
14. And the Word was made flesh and
dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory. The glory as of the
only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Christ
is full of grace and truth. Verse 17. For the law came by
Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. He's the fountain
of grace. He's the source of grace. Christ
himself is the fountain and source of grace. Turn to Romans 5. The
fifth chapter of Romans. I want you to read this before
I make a couple more comments. Romans chapter 5. Verse 19, I'm
saying that we're not just preaching grace, we're preaching the free
grace of God in Christ. God chose us in Christ, loved
us in Christ, accepted us in Christ, and redeemed us in Christ.
And positionally, that's where we are, in Him. And He dwells
within us. In Romans 5, beginning with verse
19, For by one man's disobedience, demany were made sinners. So
by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous by Christ's
obedience. Moreover, the law entered that
the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace
did much more abound, that as sin hath reigned unto death,
even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life
by Jesus Christ our Lord." He's the fountain of grace. He's the
source of grace. He's the life of grace. Now,
amid, listen to me, amid all the controversies of religion
and their multitude, the controversies of religion, they're all around
us. We've got all kind of denominations and all kind of sects and all
kind of organizations, religions everywhere. There's more religion
today than there's ever been. Amid all the confusion of voices,
and there are many voices, you can hear voices everywhere, just
sometimes riding on Sunday night, take care radio down, just start
up here around 1400 and go down to 600. It's preacher after preacher
after preacher after preacher after preacher. Every one of
them are right. Every one of them are dogmatic. Every one
of them are saying something different. All this confusion
of voices amid all the conflicts of life, I'm saying this. Now
listen to me. There is a two-fold question,
a two-fold question that faces everybody. A two-fold question
that faces everybody who would know God, the living God. And our Lord said, this is eternal
life that they might know thee, the only true living God. Paul
said, I know whom I have believed. There's a two-fold question that
faces every man who would walk with the living God. Walk with
God. Not walk just with a God or in
a religion, but walk with God. There's a two-fold question that
faces every man who would speak for God. Speak for God. Now, listen, I want you to pause
right there and turn to Job 42. Now, this thing of speaking for
God, this thing of teaching and preaching, and this thing of
saying what you think where God's coming. Now, talk about politics
all you want to. And even talk about the government.
Even talk about the president. That's your prerogative. Talk
about anything you want. But now, you're going to speak
for God. You're going to speak for God. Now, boy, we're taking
on ourselves a heavy responsibility. We're going to say, this is what
God said. We're going to say to men and women, this is for
what you're to do, this is how you're to live, this is what
you're to believe, this is what you're to rescue, this is what
you're to base your hope. Here's a man with one eternity-bound
soul, one immortal soul, and you're taking it upon yourself
or I'm taking it upon myself to tell him how to preserve it,
how to keep it. Now, he'll damn you eternally
if you're wrong. He'll curse you eternally if you're wrong,
and God Almighty will deal with you eternally if you're wrong.
This is serious. Look at Job 42, verse 7. Now
listen. And it was so that after the
Lord had spoken these words to Job, he turned to Eliphaz the
Temanite, this one of Job's three friends, and he says, My wrath
is kindled against you and against your two friends, for you have
not spoken of me, the thing that's right. You lied on me, God said. You didn't tell the truth. You
spoke about me, and you didn't tell the things like my servant
Job did. Therefore, I take you now, seven
bullocks and seven rams, and you go to my servant Job, and
you offer up for yourselves a burnt offering, and my servant Job
will pray for you. For him will I accept. I'll accept
his face and his person. lest I deal with you after your
folly, in that you've not spoken of me the right thing." God said,
you didn't do the right thing. It's not that you didn't walk
the right path. It's not that you're not holy
enough. God said, you didn't speak right about me. You didn't
deal with my gospel like you're supposed to. And this puts a
weight upon us, and Joe did, he said. My servant Joe spoke
the right thing about me. But you didn't do it. You spoke
the wrong thing. So I'm saying this. There's a
twofold question that faces every man who would know God, every
man who would walk with God, every man who would speak for
God. And here's the twofold question. It's very simple. How is a man
justified? How is a man justified? I'm talking
about how is he justified? How is he made righteous? How is he cleansed? How is he
sanctified? How is he made whole? How is
that man taken from his state of death and depravity and corruption
and made right with God, positionally, legally, in every way made right
with God? How is man, born of woman, justified
with God? How is he justified? Now that's
got to be answered. How is he made righteous? And
my answer is this, and I say the scriptural answer is this,
and I believe I speak for God, by grace, by grace, by grace,
for by grace are you saved. Justified freely by grace. Okay,
see that? Now that's by grace. We've established
that. That's scriptural. We're justified
by grace. We're redeemed by grace. We're
made righteous by God's grace. By grace alone. It's undeserved,
unmerited favor by grace alone. Originating with God, continuing
with God, and being completed by God's grace alone. It's a
free gift. Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. Moses three times said, Lord,
if I found grace in your sight, Show me your way, go with me
where I go, and show me your glory, if I've found grace. And
it might be a good idea for some of you, if you want to take your
concordance and conduct a good study, take a study on that,
if I've found grace in your sight. Found grace. A lot of folks ask
that. And brethren, this is to me, the great desire of my heart,
I want to find grace in God's sight. I want to find grace. I want to be a partaker of, a
recipient of His grace, His grace. And I don't have one thing to
recommend me to God, not one thing in this world. Contrary
to the fact, I have much to recommend me against, God against me. But it's got to be His grace.
But I thank God that this is so. He says over here in 1 Corinthians
chapter 1, He said, Not many mighty, not many noble, not many
wise are called, but God hath chosen, verse 27, the foolish
things of the world, I can come in there. And God hath chosen
the weak things of the world, I can come in there. And God
hath chosen the base things of the world, I can come in there.
And God hath chosen the things which are not, I can come in
there. And Christ died for the ungodly,
I can slip in there. Or even while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us, I can slip in there. Grace! All right, here's
the second question. Where is this grace found? Where
is this grace found? That is a place where that grace
is found. There's a fountain of grace,
there's a source of grace, there's a place, one only place where
that grace is found. Some people look for it in the
law, some people look for it in church membership, some people
look for it in different places, baptism, the ordinances, keeping
days and rules and regulations, but there's a place where that
grace is found. And I'm saying, I'm going to show you this in
our text, 1 Corinthians 15, I'm saying it's found in Christ.
Christ is the only source of God's grace. Now we're going
to begin with verse 21. I'm going to show you some things that
will give you confidence and assurance if you're resting in
Christ. If you're trusting in Christ,
if you're believing in Christ, if you're laying hold upon Christ,
it will give you so much confidence. 1 Corinthians 15, let's start
with verse 21. Now watch this. For since by man came death. Now let's just pause on each
one of these statements. By man came death. It originated with
man. It came by man. By one man, by
Adam. By a man came death. All forms
of death. By Adam came death, the death
of sin, guilt and evil. All the sin in me right now came
from Adam. God's not the author of sin.
By man came death. By man came the death of sin,
guilt and evil. By man came the death of the
body. My body's getting old and feeble and bent and weary and
wrinkled and I'll be dead in 10, 15 or 20 years. That's because
of Adam. By man came the death of the
soul and separation from God. That came by man. It started
with a representative man. That was Adam. In the flesh dwelleth
no good thing, in the flesh no man can please God, man at his
best state is altogether vanity, even our righteousnesses are
filthy rags, and that condition came by man. All right, look
at the next line. By man, by the man, by another
man also came also the resurrection of the dead. In other words,
the restoration of life. justification from sin, holiness,
resurrection of the body, eternal glory, life restored to the soul.
All of this is by another man. You see, here I stand over here
and I'm represented. Now, this may seem a little bit
harsh to you, but nevertheless it's true. The key word is by. The key word is by. For since
by man came death because of Adam's fall, Adam's transgression
and sin. He represented us. He's our federal
head. We were in him. When he fell,
we fell. By a man came the resurrection.
By a man came life. By a man came restoration. And
that man is Jesus Christ. And life comes to me, and God's
mercy comes to me, and God's forgiveness comes to me only
through that man, through his actions, through his will, through
his righteousness, through his obedience, through his death.
I live because he lives. I'm holy because he's holy. And
justified because he died, it came by him. By him. All right, let's go to the next
verse. The key word here is in. Now watch this, that's by. By
one man. Go back to Romans 5, let me show
you this for a moment. Romans chapter 5. Romans the
5th chapter, verse 12. Now listen to this. This is a
fundamental, but what causes us to lay hold upon these attractions
and lay hold upon these fascinations with genealogies and laws and
rules, what causes us to leave the gospel and go to some kind
of self-glorifying scheme is to forget our fundamentals, to
forget from whence God brought us and how God brought us. And
where God brought us, if that's what we forget, we forget what
we were. He told us, well, remember the pit from which I dug you. Don't ever forget it. Don't ever
forget it. I read a story one time about
a very wealthy man. He was just terribly wealthy,
just real, real rich. He prospered. And he came from
a poor background. His mother and father were sharecroppers.
didn't own any land or anything. They didn't hardly have enough
to eat. And he was, as a boy, was brought up with nothing.
And so in this huge 20-room mansion that he owned with all of his
servants and everything, he kept a room. It was a little room
in that mansion that had wooden floors, just like the floors
of his boyhood home. And on that floor was a rug,
like the rug that his mother made, you know, out of old stockings.
You remember those rugs that ladies used to They go round
and round this way. I'm old enough to remember them,
Cash is, but the rest of them won't admit it. But there's a
round rug, you know, that they wove with their hands. And on
that rug was a rocker. It's an old plain rocker without
a pad or anything. And in that room, a little table
and a coal oil lamp. And every once in a while, he'd
go in there and sit in that rocker. And he'd sit there and rock.
And he said, I'd remember where I came from, where I came from. And I'll tell you this, if you
want something to take the soup of self-righteousness out of
you and take the starch of pride out of you and take this thing
of leaning on work, just remember where God found you. Remember
where God found you. And it was His grace alone. Now
Romans 5, listen to the word by. Verse 12, Wherefore as by
one man sin entered the world, and death by sin. See that? Now turn to Romans 5, 19. Romans 5, verse 17, here, "...for
by one man's offense death reigned." Verse 18, "...for by the offense
judgment came." Verse 19, "...as by one man's disobedience we
were made sinners." Is that sufficient for me to show you that death
and sin and judgment came by the act of a man? Even so, righteousness
in life comes by the obedience of a man. Not you or me, but
Christ. It comes by His Word. That's
about what he did. Now how is it yours? Verse 22.
For as in Adam, here's the key word here, I in, in Adam. Now everybody between these walls
was in Adam. Everybody under the ceilings,
in Adam. Every human being, no matter how black your skin or
how white your skin or how male or female, you're in Adam. You're
in Adam. In him, in his loins, we came
out of him. It's from Adam's seed that every
human being came. We were in Adam. And in Adam,
we die. See that? For in, as in Adam,
all die. Even so, by the same token, even
so, in Christ shall all be made alive. You say, is this teaching
universal redemption, universal salvation? Well, if everybody's
in Christ, it is. if everybody's in Christ. But
everybody's not in Christ. How are men in Christ? By divine
election. That's how a man gets in Christ,
chosen in Christ. By faith? In Christ, by faith. By the Holy Spirit's regenerating
work, we're in Christ. So here's what he's saying in
verse 22, and the key word's in. For as in Adam we died, in
Adam, we were in him, we were identified with him, His rebellion
was our rebellion, his sin was our sin, his fall was our fall.
We were in him, in him, and when God dealt with him, he dealt
with us. Even so, by the grace of God, by the mercy of God,
we're in Christ. He put us in Christ. We're in
Christ. And when Christ was down here
on this earth and obeyed the law, I obeyed it in him. When
He went to the cross and died, I died in Him. When God looked
with favor upon Him, He looked with favor. When God accepted
Him, He accepted me. When God seated Him, He seated
me. I'm in Him. See what I'm saying, Cecil? In,
there's the key word, in Christ. In Christ. In Christ. Alright, verse 23. Now listen
here. But every man in his own order, every man in his own order,
this thing of being glorified, Christ is already glorified.
I am in Him, but not literally, not realistically, not experientially. I'm not glorified yet, but every
man in his own heart. Christ is the firstfruits. Christ
was raised from the dead. He became the firstfruits of
them that slept. He came forth from the grave never to die again.
And even so, afterward, they that are Christ's possessive,
they are His. At His coming, those that are
His are going to be glorified. They're going to live to die
no more. See that? Those that are His. Are you His? And like I said,
where do you get His? The Father gave them to Him.
Turn to John, if you will, John chapter 6. They are His, John
6. Let's look at this. John 6, verse
37. This is foundation truth I've
tried to preach. My message hasn't changed since
1950, 32 years. It's the same message I preached
back then, same one I'm preaching now, one I'm going to die believing.
By one man, death came. By the living, behold the man
Christ Jesus life came. In Adam, being identified, in
Adam I died. In Christ shall all that are
in Christ be made alive. But every man in his own order,
Christ first, and then they that are his, that are his, that is
coming. Well, John 6, 35. All that my
Father giveth me shall come to me. And him that cometh out in
no wise cast out. I came down from heaven not to
do my own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this
is the Father's will which he sent me, that of all he hath
given me I lose nothing, but raise it up at the last day.
John 10. Those that are His, now that's what we're talking
about, they are His, they're His people, His sheep, His jewels,
His church, His body, His family, His brethren. They're His! He
owns them! I lay down my life for my sheep.
Look at John 10, verse 24, and the Jews came round about Him,
they said, how long you make us doubt? If you be the Christ,
tell us plainly. He said, I told you. I told you
and you didn't believe me. Verse 26, you believe not because
you're not of my sheep, my sheep, his, they are his. I said unto
you, my sheep, well, hear my voice, and they'll follow me. Now back to our text, 1 Corinthians
15. Verse 23, every man in his own order, Christ the firstfruits,
after they that are his at his coming. Verse 24, then come at
the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the
Father, where did he get the kingdom? When did he get to King? I told you Sunday night. The
Father, now listen to this, God has put all things under Christ.
The Father had committed everything to the Son back before the world
began. The Father took all the worlds
and angels out from under the authority of an absolute God. Now listen to him, I will show
you this in this Scripture. He took the government, he took
the power and authority out from under the rule of an absolute
God and put that world into the hands of a mediator under the
rule and government and authority of Jesus Christ. Now let me see
if you can see that here in this Scripture. Verse 24, Then cometh
the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God the Father,
even the Father, when he shall have put down all rule, all authority,
all power, for he must reign. Christ must reign till Christ
hath put all enemies under his feet, and the last enemy that
shall be destroyed is death. For he hath put all things under
his feet." That is, God the Father put all things under Christ's
feet. But when he says, all things are put under Christ, it's manifest
that God the Father is accepted, he's not included in that, who
did put all things under Christ. And when all things shall be
subdued unto Christ, then the Son, also himself, with his kingdom
shall be subject unto God the Father that put all things unto
him, that God may be all in all." You see that? You see, this is
what Christ is talking about. Turn to John 17, and we need
to look at this. I tell you, you'll quit playing
church if you ever get a hold of this. You'll get some confidence
and assurance. Christ will mean more to you
than He's ever meant. You'll fall at His feet. You'll kiss
the Son. You'll adore Him. You'll crown Him Lord. You'll
submit. You'll surrender. Everything
that's yours is His. He came. He reigned. He must
reign. John 17, 2. Our Lord's praying
here. He said, Thou hast given me power
over all flesh. John 17, 2. He should give eternal
life to as many as thou hast given him. God the Father has
given all authority. In Matthew 28, what did He say
to His disciples? All authority is given unto me
in heaven and earth. Go ye therefore and preach the
gospel. I have all power, all authority. Ephesians 1.22, turn
over there. This is the same thing. I want
you to be studying this. This has been on my mind so continually
the last week or so and God showed me something and I pass it on
to you. In Ephesians 1.22, And he hath put all things under
his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the
church." Turn to Psalm 8. Here's another verse that's teaching
this. Psalm chapter 8. I know I've gone too long, but
I want you to see this. It won't take too much longer,
but Psalm 8. Now, who's this talking about?
Psalm chapter 8, verse 3. Now, who's this talking about?
Listen. Psalm 8, verse 3. When I consider thy heavens,
the work of thy fingers, the moon, the stars, which thou hast
ordained, what is man? that thou art mindful of him,
and the Son of man, that thou visiteth him. For thou hast made
him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory
and honor. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works
of thy hands. Thou hast put all things under
his feet, all sheep and oxen, the beast of the field, the fowl
of the air, the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through
the paths of the sea. O Lord, our Lord, how excellent
is thy name in all the earth." You say that's talking about
us. No, it's not. You say, how do you know? Turn
to Hebrews 2, and I'll show you how I know who it's talking about.
And this is the apostle writing in the book of Hebrews, and he
quotes that very scripture. Now listen to it. In Hebrews
chapter 2, listen to it. Hebrews 2, verse 5. For unto
the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come.
Where are we speaking? But one in a certain place testified,
saying, What is man? that thou art mindful of him,
or the Son of man, that thou visiteth him. Thou made him a
little lower than the angels. Thou crowned him with glory and
honor, and didst set him over the work of thy hands. Thou hast
put all things in subjection under his feet, or in that he
put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put
under him. But now we see not yet all things
put under Christ. It doesn't look that way now,
does it? But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than
the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory
and honor that he, by the grace of God, should taste death for
every man. For it became him for whom are
all things, and by whom are all things, and bringing many sons
to glory to make the captain of their salvation perfect through
suffering." You say, what's the purpose of God taking the whole
world, the world of angels and men and creation, all the world,
all flesh, everything, and putting it on the feet of Christ, number
one? By that arrangement, a sinful world is permitted to exist.
By that arrangement. If this world of men and angels
had not been taken from the authority, from the authority of the absolute
God and put under a mediator, the moment Adam sinned, that
would have been it. That's right, Mike. It's right
in the joke. The minute Adam sinned, that would have been
it. You see, the angels weren't under that mediatorial kingdom
when they fell, and they were cast into hell. But Adam fell. Why did God permit the world?
Why does God permit this world other than that? With all of
its rottenness, rottenness. Even the moon, the sun not pure
in His sight. The heavens are not clean in
His sight. How much more bondable and filthy a man drinks iniquity
like water. I'll tell you why. This world
is under the mediator. And when he calls in his last
sheep, that'll be it. When he completes his kingdom,
when he completes his church, when he completes his body, when
he completes his family, he's going to take the kingdom to
the Father. He said, you made me surety, here it is. I bring
it home. Not one of them is lost. That's
right. And that's when the whole kit
and kaboodle is going to be dissolved. There'll be a new heaven and
a new earth. That's right, that's what that's teaching in 1 Corinthians
15. By that arrangement, a sinful world is permitted to exist.
By that arrangement, there's a gracious gospel presented.
By that arrangement, you're not in hell today. By that arrangement,
anything this side of destruction is mercy. By that arrangement,
whosoever will, let him take the water of life. There's a
mediator. It's not going to be too much
longer, but there's one now. But that's what it says. Now
let's go back to the text again. Let me show you this. Listen,
if you get a hold of this, Well, you can start preaching to it.
In verse 24, "...then come at the end," the end of the world,
"...when He," Christ, "...shall have delivered up the kingdom,"
where did He get it? The Father gave it. What kingdom?
Everything's His. But, brother, He's calling out
a people for His name. He possesses the whole world
and all flesh that He might give eternal life to, as many as God
the Father gave. And when that kingdom's completed and those
people are redeemed, and all for whom he's been surety, all
for whom he's been redeemer and guarantor, when he delivers them
into the hands of the Father, he'll deliver it up to the kingdom
to the Father. When he shall have put down all rule, all authority
and all contrary rule, all principalities and powers and evil, and the
last enemy, watch verse 25, he must reign. I like that, he must
reign. Let me give you this. Anytime
you use the word must, it must be used, must be used, in a spiritual
sense. Anything other than having to
do with God's purpose and God's glory is a maybe. Anything. Maybe or perhaps. Listen to this.
He must need to go through Samaria. He must. One of his sheep there.
Listen to this. All things must be fulfilled
which are written in Moses, in the psalm, the prophets concerning
me, Christ said. Must be. Matthew 8, 31. Even so must the Son of Man suffer. John 3, 14. Even so must the
Son of Man be lifted up. Acts 4, 12. There's none other
name unto heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.
John 3, 7. You must be born again. John
10, 16. Other sheep I have which are
not of this fold am I must bring. I must bring Him. And look at
this one, He must reign. That's what it's all about. If
thou shalt confess with thy mouth, Jesus, to be Lord. God has exalted
Him, given Him a name which is above every name, that at the
name of Jesus every knee should bow and every tongue confess
that He's Lord. He must reign. And I'll tell you this, if He
doesn't reign, if He doesn't rule, if He's not Lord, you're
one of those enemies He's going to put under His feet. All enemies. He must. Verse 27, look at it,
"...for He hath put all things under His feet." All things. You say, sweet little Jesus,
poor little Jesus, somebody feel sorry for Jesus, do something
for Jesus. Listen, somebody feel sorry for me and do something
for me. Don't you waste your tears on
Christ because He reigns. And when He says all things are
put under Him, it's just one excepted, and that's the Heavenly
Father. He's the only one that's not under Christ. I don't understand
that, but it's so. It's so. And verse 28, and we'll
quit. And when all things shall be
subdued unto Christ, then when the kingdom delivered up to the
Father, when His elect are brought in, then shall the Son also Himself
be subject unto Him that put all things under Him, that God,
Father, Son, Holy Spirit, might be all and in all. That's grace. That's the message. And people
come to kiss the Son, submit to Him. He rules our lives. The Law is not my rule of life,
Christ is my rule of life. The Law is not my Lord, Christ
is my Lord. And you don't have to have these
things set forth for you because He's your Lord, your King. And
the Word of the King is the rule of life. His Word is our command.
Our Father, bless this Word. Give us an insight into the Word. Give us a knowledge of the glory
of Christ. Let's take away these scales
from our eyes and unstop our ears and give understanding to
our darkened hearts and let us see the glory of Christ. Everything's
His. You've given it to Him. Everything's
under His feet. He's Lord and King and Master. We belong to Him. purposed in
Christ to have a people that will forever sing His praises.
Teach me to sing His praises now, to love Him now, to show
forth His praise now, to walk in holiness now for His glory,
to be forgiving and loving and merciful for His glory, to be
a faithful witness for His glory. Bless this church, O Lord, and
keep our eyes on Christ. Keep our hearts on Christ and
keep us in Thy love. For Christ's sake we pray. Amen.