Open your Bibles with me now
to the book of 1 Timothy. I'm going to read my text again,
1 Timothy chapter 1. The title of this message is
The Gospel, The Gospel Worthy of Acceptation. And the text is verse 15 of 1
Timothy 1, this is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation,
or acceptation by all men, that Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners, of whom I am chief. Now the thing that bothers
me as much as anything in this day is that I'm afraid we're
guilty of talking about the gospel. We have a lot to say about the
gospel. You know that. We have a lot
of things that are called by gospel names. We have gospel
quartets. We have gospel meetings. We have
gospel caravans. We have gospel tent meetings.
Gospel tent meetings. We talk about the gospel so much,
we use that word gospel, and this is what troubles me. I wonder
if we're not having a lot to say about the gospel and not
actually preaching the gospel. Is that possible? When our Lord
sent his disciples out, he told them to go into all the world,
and he didn't say go preach about the gospel or announce there
is a gospel. or even be identified with the
gospel, but he said, go and preach the gospel. You go into all nations
and preach the gospel, or proclaim the good news, proclaim the gospel. Now, I hear, I'll be honest with
you, I hear preachers preach quite often. And sometimes, I
know they talk about the gospel, but sometimes I'll be quite frank
with when they get to the end of their message, many times
they really haven't preached the gospel, Cecil, just haven't
preached the gospel. And what I'm saying is this.
Say an unlearned, a person unlearned in grace. Now, most of you here
tonight are learned in grace to some extent. Suppose a man
untaught in the scriptures. Now, most of you here tonight
know something about the scriptures. The new birth, you know something
of what I'm talking about if I mention justification. And
Brother Clark, I believe, last Sunday defined that real well,
just as if I had never sinned and accounted righteous before
God, in these different names. But suppose a man comes in off
the street and is here for the first time. and sits down in
one of these pews and he's untaught in grace and unlearned in the
scriptures and uninformed, actually, about Bible language. And when I get through preaching,
or you get through preaching, there are several preachers here
tonight, and you get through preaching, do we really or did
we really have a word for that man? Can he get up from his seat,
where he's sitting there, rise and start at that door, having
Not that there is a gospel, not that we ought to preach it, not
that we're doing our best to preach it, but when he goes out,
can he say in his heart, well, I never heard that before. That's
good news, you know that? What I heard is good news. Will
he know what happened in the garden from hearing us, what
influence the fall had on him, what effect the fall had on him,
what the fall has done to him, what sin means and the consequences of
sin, and how God is angry with the wicked, and how God will
justify the believer, and how a man believes, in whom a man
believes, what Christ did, how the sin that is paid, how sin
is put away. Will he get up from his seat
and go out knowing that gospel? Or will he just hear us use the
term gospel, gospel, gospel, gospel? I wonder if we're guilty
of this. I've heard messages recently
and a lot of people quoting this. We preach Christ. We preach Christ. Charles Spurgeon put out several
volumes of sermons, and on the jacket of every book that Passmore
and Alabaster printed for Spurgeon is a little shield with Moses
lifting up the serpent in the wilderness, and around that shield
is written, We preach Christ. Crucify. Do we? Do we just say
we do, or do we really preach Christ? What is it to preach
Christ crucified? When a man preaches Christ crucified,
does he just stand and say Christ is all things and all things
are in Christ? And the man says, well, fine,
but what are these things that are in Christ? How did they get
in Christ? What did Christ do to merit this exaltation? What did Christ do for me? Who
is Christ in the beginning? Or what did Christ do and why
did he do it? Where is he now? And all of these questions, do
we answer those questions? Or do we tell them what to believe
about Christ? Or we just preach Christ, Christ,
Christ? Now, this is the thing that bothers me. What does our
message have for today's individuals? I was in a Bible conference recently,
and I sat near the back of the congregation during one service,
and I looked around at different people. I knew most everybody
there, and I knew their background. And I sat there and watched them,
and as the preacher preached and looked, and these thoughts
went through my mind. What's he getting? What's that
man saying that's meeting the need of that person, that person,
that person, that person? Are we meeting need? Are we playing
church? Are we filling in preaching time?
Are we telling people what we know? Are we appealing to the
intellect? Are we appealing to the self-righteousness of individuals? So this is my determination tonight.
I'm going to preach Christ. I'm going to once again make
every effort that I have to preach the gospel and clearly set it
forth for everybody here. You're going to hear the gospel
tonight, God willing. I'm going to preach the gospel,
and we'll preach it for those who know it and for those who
don't know it. But nobody's going to leave here tonight without
hearing the gospel. Now, let's go back here to verse
12 of 1 Timothy 1. And Paul, when he comes down
to this gospel, he starts out this way. He talks about his
ordination to the ministry. to the gospel ministry. He says
in verse 12, I thank Christ Jesus, our Lord, who hath enabled me,
for he counted me faithful, he put me into the ministry. Now
suppose a man does come in here tonight and sit down and he looks
up here and he sees a man standing with a Bible open and some notes
here and preaching and he has every right to ask this question,
who put you up there? Doesn't he? What are you doing
up there? What are you doing up there?"
And that's what Paul is defining here. Before he sets forth his
gospel, he tells them what business he has preaching this gospel.
He says, Christ put me in the ministry, supernaturally ordained
me, appointed me, and gave me his message and put me in the
ministry. Now, brethren, we don't take When it talked about the
Old Testament priesthood, it says no man takes this office
upon himself. I think we have a wrong conception
of the gospel ministry in this day. I think many people somehow
mistakenly believe that a fellow just decides he wants to enter
the ministry and does it. And it can be done that way.
Or a man has certain gifts and talents. and abilities, and so
we urge him to enter the ministry. And it can be done that way.
I believe a man will regret it, but he can do it that way. But
God's ministers, God's preachers, God's pastors, just like the
priest of old, are selected by his grace, anointed by his power,
and sent by his Spirit. And it's supernaturally done.
I tell you, I really would, if I were a young man here tonight
and contemplating the ministry, an older man contemplating the
ministry, I would look for some, I really would, and I don't believe
in putting out fleeces and waiting for them to be dude or not dude,
but I'll tell you this, I would expect some unusual, some supernatural,
some God-given door. that would convince me and others
that I had been anointed and sent to fulfill this particular
task. I know a lot of men who get in
the ministry, and they make an effort to preach and pastor,
and things just continually go from bad to worse. And there's
no interest in their message. There's no interest in the word
they preach. There's really no growth on their
part and on the part of those who hear them. And they blame
me on a hatred for the gospel. There was one Sunday I preached
here, and there was a couple here from Chicago Heights, Illinois. And they were strong grace people. And they came and heard the message,
and Sunday morning, you know, this place was pretty well filled.
And at the door, they introduced themselves, told me who they
were. And I said, well, we're glad to have you. They won their
way to Florida, and they made special effort to stop here and
hear me preach. They'd heard about this church
and this pastor. And so when they got back home
a month or two later, this lady wrote to me, Jay. And she said,
well, she said, dear Mr. Mahan, I enjoyed your sermon,
and you preached the truth. But I just wondered if you always
preach it that way. And she said, the reason I wonder
is because my dad was a Baptist preacher for 30 years, and he
never could get anybody to hear him preach. So evidently, you
don't preach it like my dad did. Now, you hold on a minute. Now,
just hold it right there. Mr. Whitfield preached to 20,000
people one time. Mr. Spurgeon preached every Sunday.
He preached the gospel. He preached every Sunday to 6,000
people. On Sunday morning, you had to
get a ticket to come hear him. Now, God will give his true minister
a hearing, and I say that as frankly and plainly as I can
say it. And I would say this to any person
contemplating the ministry, if you go into the ministry, let
God put you there. Don't volunteer for it. Don't
seek it out. Let God put you there. And that's
what Paul said. He said, God put me in the ministry.
God put me in the ministry. That's the most important thing
in that verse right there. He said, I thank God, I thank
Christ the Lord, who hath enabled me, counting me faithfully, put
me in the ministry. He put me there. I know that
we want to preach. I want to preach. Any man who
saved a woman. I suspect some of you ladies
would sure like to tell the good news somewhere. You can tell
it at home, but everybody's a preacher, really. But God ordains men to
carry his message. He appoints them, he calls them,
and he sends them, and he opens doors for them, and he enables
them, he gives them gifts, Jack, and they will get a hearing.
They will get a hearing. And I would say to a man who
struggles along and never gets a hearing and never has seemingly
the blessings of God on what he calls a public ministry, that
I tell you, I would join myself to a man who gives evidence of
being God's minister and I'd help him. I'd help him and promote
that ministry. All right, look at verse 13.
Then he calls attention to his former days, though he was religious. He said, I was a blasphemer.
Now you think about that. Some of us hesitate to do that. Paul was, now let me show you
something here. The Apostle Paul here had met
Christ and had been saved by the grace of God. Now prior to
this time that he learned the gospel of God's glory, the gospel
of God's grace, the gospel of God's mercy in Christ, prior
to that time, when he learned the salvations of the Lord, He
was just as religious or more so than you ever were. That's
right. He said, I was a Hebrew of Hebrews,
a Pharisee. Concerning the law, I was blameless
and all of these things when he was talking about his religious
background. But he didn't hesitate to say
here, I was a blasphemer. I was religious, but I was a
blasphemer. I was injurious. You know what
that word injurious means? Now listen to it. insulting to
Christ. Insulting. Now, this troubles
me, and I'll be totally honest with you and frank with you.
I hear people who say they've come to see that salvation's
of the Lord, that salvation, redemption's in Christ and Christ
alone. They've learned that, that man's
depraved Wretchedly so, fallen completely, dead in trespasses
and sin, God has a people whom he in covenant mercies gave to
Christ. And Christ died for them and effectually redeemed them.
They believe now in substitution, sin-offering, satisfaction, the
salvation of the Lord. They've come to trust him and
believe on him and rest in him. They've got a peace that passeth
understanding. But they talk as if when they
were back there in religion, in Arminianism, in freewillism,
that they were still saved. that they will save them, that
they come to a more intelligent understanding of the gospel now.
Now you hold on here a minute. If people are saved under that
Tommy Wright, let's all go join them. They got more people hearing
them than we have. If people are saved under that
flesh religion, let's do what they're doing. That is the very
argument they use. We don't preach election and
predestination, particular addiction, those things, because they're
not necessary to salvation. That's the very argument they'll
hit you with. We don't preach those things. We're soul winners. We're soul winners. You're soul
winners just like the old Pharisees were. You make people twofold
or more the child of hell than you are. That's what you are.
You're a soul butcher is what you are. You're getting sinners
to do something for God and salvation is not something a sinner does
for God. Salvation is something God does for a sinner. And when
Paul described his background, when he was a freewheller, when
he was a legalist, when he was a fundamental orthodox so-called
religionist, he said, I was a blasphemer. You see the difference? I was
a blasphemer. Before I met the sovereign Christ,
I was insulting to him. I didn't know the Christ. I'll
tell you what old Matthew said, turn to Matthew 10. Listen to Matthew. In his own
book here, in Matthew 10, verse 3, he's identifying the apostles. He's identifying the disciples.
In Matthew 10, he said, and Philip, and Bartholomew, Thomas, and
Matthew, the publican. I like that. Matthew. That's himself. He said, you
know what I was? I was a publican. And that's
about as far down as you can get in the eyes of a Jew. Isn't
that right, Jerry? When our Lord talked about the
two men that went to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and one
a publican, he picked the top religionist and the lowest form
of human flesh in the eyes of a Jew, a publican. And when Matthew
identified himself, he didn't say Matthew the sincere person,
Matthew the person walking in the light he had. He said Matthew
the publican. And when the Apostle Paul says,
God put me in the ministry, he said he put a fellow in the ministry
that before was a blasphemer and was insulting to Jesus Christ. Insulting to Jesus Christ. But
I obtained mercy. I didn't earn it. I didn't merit
it. I didn't work for it. I obtained it freely by his grace. I'll tell you this. My blasphemy
and my insulting attitude towards Christ, I did it ignorantly.
I didn't know who he was. I didn't know who he was. I did
it ignorantly and I did it in unbelief. And verse 14 says this,
and the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ was exceeding abundant. It was manifested toward me in
an abundant fashion, exceedingly abundantly. It flowed beyond
measure to me. Are you a recipient of the abundant
grace of God? We got a church paper that came
across our desk yesterday. Brother Mew said one time, he
said, I'm surprised that the church of the Lord Jesus Christ
has survived. I really, he said, I'm surprised.
And the thing that surprises me most is it has survived under
such bad preaching. Bad preaching. I know that the
church can't be destroyed from without. The gates of hell cannot
prevail against it. It has the protecting hand of
our Lord upon it, but I'll tell you the thing that causes me
to rejoice most and give him thanks, is he has preserved his
Church in spite of the corruption and rottenness within, calling
itself preaching." We got a paper from a preacher. He was on two
conference schedules with me last year. I'm real put out.
You can tell that, I guess. Real put out. But I was preaching
not too awful long ago at a certain church, and this fellow came
to the service. And he went home and wrote about
it in his paper. He went home and wrote about
it. Now, he didn't call the name of the preacher. He didn't call
the name Brother Richardson. I were both there, to be honest
with you. Richardson was undoing the preaching. But he didn't
call the name of the church or the pastor or the preacher, but
I knew from the article. And he said he and his wife got
to the service, and they were confronted outside by people
smoking. They got smoke in their eyes,
you know. When they started their journey toward the church, they
passed the Presbyterian church Sunday evening where somebody's
raking leaves, you know. That was the Sabbath day. The
Sabbath day is Saturday, incidentally. You won't argue about keeping
the Sabbath, it's Saturday. But they offended him because
they were raking leaves on Sunday. And then he came on down to where
I was preaching and outside somebody blew smoke in his face, you know.
And that offended him. And then somebody out there spoke
to him, and he got a faint odor of alcohol on their breath. And
then he came in, and the preacher who was preaching preached on,
will a man rob God? And he talked about, will a man
rob God of his glory? Will a man rob God of his sovereignty? Will a man rob God of his mercy
and so forth? Good message, great message.
But he said the preacher never did say, will a man rob God of
tithes and offerings, you know. That was his little, that was
his hobby horse, he tithed him. Don't smoke, don't drink, don't
burn leaves on Sunday, and be sure you tithe. And he got, now
I thought about that a whole lot. Now he came up on the outside
of the church and he was mad because a fellow was there who
was smoking. And he was mad because a fellow
was there who had been, he said, drinking. But I thought to myself,
what is a church for anyhow? What's it for anyhow? Now, this,
I wish there was a whole lot of drinking folks here tonight,
don't you? Man, I tell you, I'd almost, I'd say my right arm,
I'd give my left arm to preach to this place full of drinkers,
wouldn't you? I don't, I just wish that some
of the girls over there in the red light district would wander
in here now, let me tell them about Christ. I'd just thrill
me to death. What is a church? Now come on,
we sit around and talk about these things like this, and this
is what aggravates me. We're not preaching to sinners,
we're preaching to a bunch of self-satisfied, self-righteous,
holier-than-thou folks running around looking down their noses
at people that don't do what they think they ought not do.
You see what I'm saying? This man's supposed to be a preacher.
He's supposed to have a compassionate heart for sinners. He's supposed
to want to preach the gospel. When Paul identifies himself,
he said, I was a blasphemer. I was an insulting to Jesus Christ. But thank God, he said in verse
14, the grace of God was exceeding abundance with faith and love
in Christ to this old ungodly sinner. I just don't know. I want the
church hadn't really left its first love and its gospel and
its very cause for existing. That's like going down here at
the hospital and running out everybody that's sick. Say, what
in the world are you doing here? This is a hospital. I know. Let
me say, if you're here tonight and you've been tipping the bottle
a little this afternoon, you come on anyhow, OK? I'm glad
to have you. I'm just, if whatever you've
been doing, whatever you are, wherever you came from, however
low down you are, come on and sit right down here, because
I got good news for sinners. They're so hard to find. Somebody
said a sinner is a sacred thing, the Holy Ghost hath made him
so. I wish that's all I had to preach to was sinners. Turn to
Matthew chapter Let me show you what our Lord said about that.
You see this? I'll tell you this picture, and
I think Jay's going to deal with that. He's about halfway tempted
to write and deal with that. But here, our Lord, these Pharisees,
they smell smoke on somebody's breath. They smell something
that turned their noses up. In Matthew 9, verse 10, and when
the Pharisee, verse 10, and it came to pass as Jesus sat at
meat in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners came and
sat down with him. Now you think about that. They
came. They came and sat down with him. And his disciples,
and when the Pharisees saw it, these religious fellows, they
said to the disciples, they said, why does your master eat with
folks like that? Isn't that what that preacher
just said in that ark? He was offended. He's a Pharisee. You see, Bob, that's exactly
what he is. He's a Pharisee. He'd never admit
it, Jim, but he is one. And our Lord heard them, and
he said, They that be whole, they that be well, don't need
a doctor, but people that are sick. Now you go learn what that
means. I will have mercy, not sacrifice. I'm not come to call the righteous,
I'm come to call sinners to repentance. or for the privilege of preaching
to sinners." That's what Paul said he was, and the grace of
God was abundant in his direction. And then in verse 15, he said,
this is my message for sinners. This is a faithful saying. Now,
how do we preach the gospel? Well, we preach it, first of
all, as a certainty. Paul says, this is a faithful
saying. What does he mean by that? It
is a certain saying. It is a sure saying. You can
bank on it. You can trust in it. You can
believe it. It's a faithful saying. What
I'm about to tell you, Paul said, is as sure as the throne of God.
Turn to 1 John. Let me show you something here.
In 1 John chapter 5, this is as sure as the throne of God.
What I'm about to tell you, he said, this good news, this gospel.
In verse chapter 5, 1 John chapter 5, verse 11. This is the record. This is the
record. Write it down. Write it down. That God hath given to us eternal
life, forgiveness, mercy, pardon, life everlasting. And this life
is in his Son. Write it down. That's the record.
And he that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the
Son of God hath not life. So how do we preach the gospel?
We preach it, first of all, as a certain, sure, faithful saying. Brethren, God's preachers preach
as those who have authority. People say, well, don't be dogmatic.
You better be dogmatic. There can't be any wavering here.
It's either so or it's not so. That man either died in the garden
or he didn't. God Almighty either elected a
people or he didn't. The Holy Spirit either calls
us or he doesn't. Christ either redeemed us or
he didn't. There's no wavering here, this is a sure and certain
say. The apostles talked this way,
there's none of the name under heaven given among men whereby
we must be saved. Other foundation can no man lay
than that which is laid. We're not redeemed with corruptible
things such as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of
Christ as a lamb without spot or blemish. That's dogmatism. We know. All right, we preach
it as a certainty. Now read on. How else do we preach
it? We preach it as an everyday message.
This is a faithful saying, saying. A saying, it's not just for the
temple alone. It's not just for special days.
It's not just for the religious crowd only. It's a saying, and
it's worthy of acceptation by whom? By John and Madge and Cecil. See that? Everybody, all acceptation. It's worthy of acceptation by
all men. We preach it as having a common
application. Jew and Gentile, old and young,
born and freed, male and female, learned and ignorant, all have
seen and come short of God's glory. Whosoever will, let him
take the water of life. Look at that phrase again. This
is a certain saying. It's a saying. The word is nigh
thee, even in thy mouth, that if thou shalt confess with thy
mouth Jesus to be Lord, and believe in thine heart that God raised
him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. This gospel is a common
message. It's worthy. It has common application. It's worthy of acceptance by
all men. The key word here is worthy. It is worthy. But here's another
word, acceptation. My brethren, listen to him. Turn
to 2 Timothy, chapter 1. Now this is important here. Paul
says, this gospel I preach, it is a certain, sure, faithful
record. And it's a saying. It's common
everyday talk. It's not just for the temple
or special days. It's not just for the religious.
It's for all men. It's worthy of acceptation by
all men. It's worthy because it originated
with God. It's worthy because it glorifies
God. It's the gospel of His glory.
It's worthy because it magnifies His grace. It's worthy because
it meets every man's need. It's worthy because it's sufficient
to save all who will come. It's worthy of what? Admiration. Yes, sir. Yes, sir, but that's
not the word. Agreement? Yes, sir, it is. That's not the word. Consent? Yes, sir, but that's not the
word. Acceptation. Acceptation. It's worthy to be
accepted. That's right. To be believed. Look at 2 Timothy 1, verse 12.
And Paul defines faith here. He says, For the which cause
I suffer these things, nevertheless I am not ashamed, I know whom
I have believed. I am persuaded he is able to
keep that which I have what? Committed to him. Have you? I
know we don't care for the term accepting Jesus, but there is
a sense in which the gospel message is accepted. Isn't that what
it says there? It's worthy of acceptation. Now you receive Christ. You believe
on Christ. You trust Christ. But if I stand
up here tonight and read the scripture and tell you the way
of life and preach to you the gospel, you accept these words. You accept them or reject them.
You accept them or refuse them. You accept them or deny them.
You accept them or despise them. And that's what he's saying here.
This is a faithful saying and it's worthy of acceptation by
all who hear it. I accept it. Now let's go back
to the text. What gospel do we preach? Well,
first of all, this gospel is the gospel of a person. This
record, this certain saying is worthy of all acceptation. What
is it? It is that Christ Jesus, now
brethren, I dwelt on this this morning, I won't do it again
tonight. But the gospel is not a plan. The gospel is not a set
of doctrinal facts. The gospel concerns a person. It's not a proposition. Some
preachers stand up and say, now there's a heaven and there's
a hell. And you don't want to go to hell, you want to go to
heaven. And the way to heaven is to believe.
So now if you'll believe and come forward and accept Jesus,
you'll go to heaven. And they say they preached the
gospel. They didn't preach the gospel. The gospel is concerning
a person. It's not concerning what you
do with him. It's concerning what he did for you. Let me show
you that. Turn to Romans chapter 1. The
gospel is a person. Jesus, Romans chapter 1, it concerns
Christ Jesus. Now, look at this. What does
the word Christ mean? It means anointed. It is really
the Messiah. You remember in the New Testament,
the woman at the well said to Christ, we know that the Messiah
cometh. And then when she went down to
Samaria, down to the village, she said, I come see a man that
told me everything I've ever done. Is not this the what? The
Christ. Is not this the Christ? And those
Pharisees said to Him time and time again, if you be the Christ,
tell us plainly. The Christ, you see, when we
say Jesus Christ, it's Jesus the Christ. You see, Jesus is
His name of humiliation. Jesus is His human name. Jesus
is the name, Old Testament word, Joshua, which means Savior, God
my Savior. They said, call His name Jesus,
He shall save. But Christ is His title. Christ
is the Messiah. Our Lord Jesus Christ said to
the Pharisees one day, what think ye of the Christ? Whose son is
the Christ? Do you remember? And they said,
well, he's the son of David. And the Lord Jesus said, well,
why did David call him Lord? He said, the Lord said unto my
Lord, sit thou on my right hand. So when we talk about Christ,
We're talking about that office which you're saying that he is
the Christ. He is the Messiah. He is that
prophet of whom Moses wrote. He's that seed of woman of whom
Moses wrote. He's that brazen serpent lifted
up. He's that mercy seat, tabernacle, sin offering, sacrifice, lamb. He's the high priest. He's the
holy of holies. He's everything. He is the Christ! And that's what this says here.
This is the saying, he says, that Christ has come. And that Christ, who is he? He's
Jesus. He's Christ Jesus. He's King
Jesus. He's Messiah Jesus. Same word,
Christ. He's Prophet Jesus. He's Priest
Jesus, you see. He's Royal King Jesus. Christ Jesus. The office and
the man. God-man. Look at Romans 1. Paul says, I'm a servant. I'm
a bond slave of Jesus Christ. I've been called to be an apostle.
I'm separated to the gospel. And this gospel is no new gospel.
It didn't start at Bethlehem. It was promised before by his
prophets in the Holy Scriptures. Don't ever let anybody hear you
talk about the Old Bible. I heard that not long ago. Thankfully,
it wasn't here that I heard it. But somebody said, that's in
the Old Bible. Well, let me tell you something.
We just have one Bible. It's made up of Old Covenant
and New Covenant, Old Testament and New Testament. But the same,
you see, the Old Testament is Christ in picture. New Testament,
Christ in person. And everybody who was saved over
here saved the same way you're saved. They're saved by looking
to the coming Lord, and you're saved by looking to the Lord
who has come. Abraham, Christ said, saw my day. He saw my day
and rejoiced. Job said, I know my Redeemer
liveth. David said, the Lord is my shepherd.
Isaiah said, by his stripes I'm healed. Don't say the old Bible. You see, before Christ came into
Bethlehem's manger, Christ abode with the Father. He was with
God and was God. Was God. All things were made
by Him. He was our surety before He ever became. before he was
ever manifested on this earth. He was our Savior and sin offering
and sacrifice and the Lamb slain before the world was made. You
see, unto us a son is given, a child is born. A baby called
Jesus was born from Mary's womb, but the one who inhabited that
body is the Ancient of Days, who just came down to this earth
and went into that womb and was born in that body, a body thou
hast prepared me. Now, when I was born in 1946
or 1936 or 1926, when I was born, that's when
I started. That's when I started. Body and
soul, I think. But when our Lord was born on
this earth, that wasn't when he started. And you're a fool
if you think it is. Before Abraham was, I am, he
said. I am. I am. So you've got to
understand that. And I pity the poor Pentecostals,
and holiness, and people, and all of those that are so down
on the Old Testament. That's an old Bible. Just like
that, God's different from the God today. It's the same God. Christ is the same yesterday,
today, and forever. He's not changed His purpose,
or His plan, or His character, or His attributes, or His glory,
or His way of saving sinners. He has not changed. He said,
I'm the Lord, I change not. Somebody said one day, the God
of the Old Testament is a monster. Then you better get ready to
face a monster then. Call him what you want to, but
he's God. He's God. And when Christ came, he came
to fulfill that every promise and prophecy. Now look at verse
1 and verse 3 together. The last line in verse 1, Paul
said, "...am separated to the gospel of God," verse 3 says,
"...concerning his Son." That's what it's all about. The gospel
is not concerning something you do, it's concerning a person,
a person, Jesus Christ. He's Christ anointed, he's Jesus
Savior, he's Christ Jesus the God-man. And I'll tell you this,
the gospel is concerning, it's an announcement, it's a proclamation,
it's a glad tidings, it's the good news that when Adam fell,
God already had a Savior for Adam and every believer, if Adam
was saved. I don't know. Maybe he was, maybe
he wasn't. Who knows? What difference does it make? I hope he was.
God had a Savior, a surety. And that Savior stood in the
council halls of eternity. He stood in the covenant of mercy.
And every time that a Jewish boy or girl or man or woman brought
a sacrifice of blood to the tabernacle or the temple or wherever it
was, that Jewish able started this thing, the first sacrifice
was able on down. They were saying, we're waiting
for the Lamb of God who will shed his blood. We're waiting
for our Savior to come, our surety. And he imputed to us a righteousness
by his obedience to the law. So Christ Jesus, that's who we're
talking about. You know who we're talking about
now? The God-man. God was made flesh and dwelt among us. The
Word became flesh and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the
only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. What
did he do? He came into the world. In other
words, this gospel is not only of a person, but it's of his
divine visitation. He came into this world. His
coming was according to the Scriptures. I've already told you that. His
coming was in the flesh by a human birth. Now let me tell you something. It behooved him to be made like
his brethren. In order to become the captain
of our salvation, in order to fulfill the law, to honor the
law for us, he had to become a man. You see, what God required
was required of a man. What God demanded was demanded
of a man. What God Almighty commanded was
commanded of a man. So when Jesus Christ came into
the world, He didn't come to change the law. He didn't come
to alter the law. He didn't come to repeal the
law. He came to fulfill the law. In the fullness of time, God
sent His Son made of a woman, made under the law. In order
to redeem them, they were under the law. Christ didn't come to
change it. He came to fulfill it. He didn't
come to soften justice. He didn't come to defy justice.
He came to satisfy justice. He didn't come to aid our efforts
to save ourselves or to make us savable. He came into the
world to save. That's why He came to this earth.
He didn't come here as an example. He didn't come here as a pattern.
He didn't come here as a healer. He didn't come here as a preacher.
He came here as a representative, a substitute. And what I'm saying, I'm saying
as clearly as I can say, that you and I are under God's law,
God's perfect, immaculate, infinite, holy law. And that law, what
it says, it says to every son of Adam, guilty. It shuts every
mouth. You're under the law. Whether
you like it or not, you're born under it, you live under it,
you'll be judged by it. At the judgment every man shall
give an account of himself to God, of his deeds he'll be judged
according to his works by God's holy spotless law. That's so,
we're under the law. So therefore because we break
the law and we're sinners, we're guilty and we can't keep the
law neither in word, thought or deed, how are we going to
be saved? Well there's just one way and
that's somebody keep it for us. And we're under God's justice,
the soul that sinnetheth shall surely die. Somebody's got to
die. We've got to die. Somebody's got to die for us.
Well now, mama can't die for us, daddy can't die for us, an
angel can't die for us. Who can die for us? There's only
one. And that's Christ. And the only reason that he can
obey the law for us, and he can suffer for us, is because he
had no sins of his own for which to suffer. This is God's wisdom. You see, God got to be just and
justifier. God has to be righteous as well
as merciful. He's got to be holy as well as
love and grace. So Jesus Christ came down here.
Let me say this to you, and you think about it. I never heard
this when I was growing up. I was in church all my life, but I
never heard this. Actually, the work of Christ in obeying the
law as a man. And he did. He was born of a
woman. He lived in a house. He was subject to parents. He
was subject to civil law. He was subject to the ceremonial
law. He was subject to the moral law.
He was subject to all of them. He never broke God's law in thought,
word, or deed. He was perfect. He knew no sin.
Now Jesus Christ did that. He obeyed that law as a man,
as a human being. Not to get you to feel sorry
for him. Not even to win your approval. He did it toward the
Father. That's right. He did it toward
the Father. His obedience was in the eyes
of the Father as a man. When he went to the cross, I
hear preachers preach the cross as if they're trying to get everybody
to feel sorry for Jesus Christ. And when he was carrying that
cross going towards Golgotha's hill, a bunch of women all around
were weeping and lamenting him. Isn't that what it said? And
he said, don't you weep for me. Don't waste your tears. If you've
got any crying to do, cry for yourselves and for your children.
Isn't that what he said? Well, brother, don't cry over
the cure. Cry over the disease. Don't cry over the remedy. Cry
over the ruin. And Christ said, don't weep for
me. Don't preach Christ as a pitiful, sentimental, emotional outburst. What he did, he did on purpose
toward the Father. When the high priest, you've
studied the Old Testament, when the high priest brought that
blood in the Holy of Holies and the incense was burning and the
smoke covering the place and put that blood on the top of
that golden mercy seat that covered the broken law, in whose sight
was he doing that? God's sight. Unto whom was he
doing it? Unto the Lord. There slay the
bullock before the Lord. There slay the lamb before the
Lord. Put the blood on the door before the Lord. Put the blood
on the mercy seat before the Lord. Every commandment there
about the sacrifice says do it before the Lord. Isn't that right?
I'm not deceiving you. I'm not throwing you a curve.
I'll tell you some folks that aren't. But I'm not. When Jesus Christ died, he didn't
die to win anybody's sympathy. He died to win salvation for
all who trust him, and he accomplished it. This is a sure, definite,
certain, faithful saying that Christ Jesus, Christ, God's Christ
Jesus, came into this world, right here into this place. He
walked this earth in human flesh, bone of our bone, flesh of our
flesh. trod on the sands of Galilee's shore, on the streets of Jerusalem
and all these places. And he came to save sinners. And the only way a sinner can
be saved is for the law of God to be honored and the justice
of God to be satisfied in an effectual, perfect way so that
God can look down on that sinner and say, I find no fault. I find
no fault. That's right. It was for sinners
that he lived. It was for sinners that he died.
It was for sinners that he pleads. It's to sinners that we preach. And this sacrifice was unto the
Lord. Now, you may have heard that a whole lot, but I didn't
hear that growing up, Jack. Honestly, the way I heard the
crucifixion, Ronnie, was that Christ, poor little Jesus, sweet
little Jesus, boy, don't you feel sorry for him? Won't you
give him your heart? Well, now, wait just a minute.
I'm glad he died. It's a horrible experience, but
if he hadn't have died, I'd have had to die. If he hadn't have
suffered God's wrath, I'd have had to suffer. If he hadn't have
kept God's law, God Almighty would have required it of me
in the judgment, and I'd have been sent to hell, bound hand
and foot to the cursing and gnashing of teeth throughout eternity.
But my Lord came down here because he loved me, voluntarily loved
me, and because God Almighty gave me to his Son from the foundation
of the world. And he came down here representing
the people as the appointed Savior at the appointed time to die
the appointed death for the appointed people by God's appointment.
And he suffered and died, and he was buried just like I'm going
to be buried. And he came out of that tomb
just like I, by his grace, I'm coming out. And he ascended to
the right hand of the Father where he waits today to receive. He said, I'll come back for you.
I'll come back for you. If I go and prepare a place for
you, I'll come back for you. And where I am there, you may
be also. All right, last of all, he said he did that for me, for
sinners, for sinners of whom I am the chief. I am the chief. Why do we preach the gospel?
I told you how we preach it and what gospel we preach. Well,
why do we preach it? Well, I know we preach it because
it's the Word of God. That's why I preach it. It's
the Word of God. Number two, I preach it for the glory of
God, I believe. But thirdly, the bottom line
of this whole thing is, and I believe what drove Paul, I believe what
drove him, what motivated him as well as the glory of God,
is he preached it because he had experienced it. And he knew
the joy of it and the comfort of it and the rest of it in his
soul. And he wanted to tell others
about it. He called it my gospel. Not that he invented it, but
he'd been saved by it. And I can say this to you. I
think we ought to avoid every appearance of evil. We ought
to live. We want to. We love God's law. We love holiness and righteousness
and truth and integrity and honesty. We want to walk. We want to please
our Lord. But brethren, let me tell you
something. Redemption, salvation, is not in rules and regulations
and a certain way you live, certain things you do. Salvation's in
a person. It's in Christ. Now, throughout
the world, I've traveled over this world. I've been in a lot
of countries. I've met a lot of believers.
I've met believers in Germany, and France, and Spain, and England,
and Ireland, and Mexico, and Canada, and Australia, and the
Philippines, and Hawaii, and Japan, and everywhere. And they're
just different lifestyles, Jay. There's some places where you
can go swimming. There's some places where it's
a great scene. That's what they say, you know. There's some places
where you can have a glass of wine. There's some places you
can't. There's some places where you can smoke. There's some places
where you can't. There's some places where people...
Sunday's a rigid day. I was holding a meeting somewhere
one time, took my boys with me. Well, I've just never been one
to put boys in jail. I don't want them to hate God.
I don't want them to hate Sunday. You know, you take a little kid
7 or 8 years old and tell him to sit in the living room with
his legs crossed and stare at the wall for 24 hours, he'll
get to where he hates Sunday. He just wishes there weren't
no Sunday. And I've always let my boys come to church, you know,
and worship the Lord and hear the preaching. Then they can
go out and shoot their basketball or sleigh ride on Sunday afternoon.
But I went to this place where that was a sin. That's a sin. And a sin to have television.
Of course, they had them. They had the antennas in the
attic and the television was shut up in a cupboard, you know.
So when the preacher came, it could be closed. Couldn't find
it. People have a way of getting
around things. And there's some places where
it's television that's a sin, some places where it's not. But let
me tell you something. And I think we're to measure
our conduct by other people's consciences. I wouldn't offend
you deliberately. It may be against your conviction
to eat meat offered to idols. Well, I'm not going to go around
with a piece of meat in my mouth just to aggravate you, you know. That's not the right principle
in this thing. But let me tell you something.
Touch not, taste not, handle not, it's not salvation. It's
not what goes in a man that defiles him. It's what comes out of him. Now, you better learn that. I've
met some religious people that wouldn't touch, taste, handle,
do just all, go down the line. Their tongues, I believe somebody
said it was 12 feet long, fastened in the middle and flapping on
both ends. If that's possible. Just cut and slice. And their attitude's so bad,
bad, bad. We better regulate this thing.
Salvation's a person. And it is relationship with him.
It's what he did. It's where he is. It's why he
did it. It's what he's doing now. He
saved me. He bought me. He's redeemed me.
He's sanctified me. He intercedes for me. He's my
high priest. He represents me. He provides
for me. I am what I am by his grace. He's my mediator. Now the life that I live, I want
to live by the grace of God and by the indwelling Christ. But
brethren, I'm saved by Christ. And that's the gospel I'm preaching.
It's not do's and don'ts and can's and can'ts. It's Christ.
I believe there's a growth in grace. But I'll tell you this,
I'm as sanctified as I'll ever be. Christ is my sanctification. I'm as holy as Christ himself.
Isn't that right? Is that wrong? That's right.
With his spotless garments on, the holiest God's Son. Now, I
expect to grow in grace. I expect to develop and become
more like Christ in my attitude and spirit and someday be just
like him. But before the Father, I'm sanctified holy. That's right. Because Christ
is my sanctification. Now let me tell you something.
If he's not yours, if you're not sanctified holy, you're not
saved, God wouldn't touch you with a ten-foot pole because
he can't touch anything that's not holy. That's right. You can't come into his presence. Jay prayed a while ago. You know
why you could pray? You're sanctified. You're holy.
Otherwise they'd run you out. You couldn't come into God's
presence if you weren't holy. You mean there's a defiled person
in God's presence? You mean sin has defiled heaven? No, sir. Well, how'd Jay get
there? He came in Christ. That's how
he came. In Christ. That's the gospel
as best I know it, Jack. And I think we better declare
it and better preach it, and I'll go the world over to preach
it. They've invited me to come to Australia in 1983. They're
going to rent a civic center in Sydney, Australia, they tell
me. Supposed to be there for several weeks, holding meetings
in churches from Western Australia to Eastern Australia, and then
a Bible conference. And then this eight or nine pastors
have had a meeting and want to get a downtown civic center.
and advertise that thing and let me preach to the people of
Sydney. I tell you what I'm going to preach, I'm going to preach
what I preach tonight, this gospel. It's the same, I don't care where
you go, whether you're in America, Australia, Canada, England, Ireland,
France, Spain, Mexico, wherever, wherever there's sinners, this
is the gospel, it's Christ. Sammy in Dingus or Ashland, it's
Christ. If it's anything else, you ain't
got a chance, I hadn't either. And nobody else has. It's Christ. Our Father, bless this word,
make it effectual to our hearts. I know, and you've revealed it
to many here tonight, we know whom we have believed. It's not
what we believe. It's the person, Christ Jesus.
He is our righteousness. These words I'm speaking right
now, so full of self and sin and so frail and foolish and
And so far short of your glory and the words that ought to be
said, but in Christ they're perfect. In Christ even the stumbling,
stammering words of the weakest, frailest creature are made holy,
if they're in Christ. And we're made holy in Christ.
Loved us and gave himself for us. So use the message tonight. Make the gospel clear to all
who are here. Give the good news and glad tidings
to every heart. For Christ's sake I pray. Amen.