Paul had intended, he had planned,
and he had notified the church at Corinth of his plans to visit
that church. He had told them he was coming,
and they were looking for him. But Paul felt compelled to change
his decision and not go to Corinth, so he didn't go. Consequently,
the church at Corinth and some of the leaders were offended.
They were offended toward Paul, and there was a certain coolness
in their spirit and in their attitude toward the Apostle.
And some of them had this to say, well, you can't depend upon
the Apostle Paul. You can't rely upon his word.
He promised to come. He said he would come, but he's
not coming. And Paul replies to these charges
and to these thoughts, and he said, I've not used likeness
or fickleness in my decision to visit with you. When I determined
to visit with you and come through Macedonia and visit with you
again, I meant to come. But when I made the decision
to counsel the visit, I meant to make the decision to counsel
the visit. It was yes, I'm coming, and it's
no, I'm not coming. I had to say yes, but I had to
say no. And when I say yes, Paul said,
I mean yes. And when I say no, I mean no.
I fully intended to come, but I have no power over the circumstances
and therefore I had to change my mind. I could not come. And this led him to declare the
following words, beginning with verse 18. of 2 Corinthians 1. He says in verse 18, as God is
true, our preaching towards you was not yes and no. Now my decision
to come was yes. My decision not to come meant
no. I said I was coming, yes I'm
coming. And then I had to say no, I'm
not coming because he said I have no control over what takes place. I have no control over tomorrow. I may make plans, and I make
purpose to do certain things, and God intervenes, the Spirit
of God intervenes, and I cannot fulfill my word. And sometimes
my plans are yes, and sometimes my plans are no. And you and
I have no control over tomorrow. We may make definite plans to
do certain things, and we may tell people we're going to do
those things, but then we're not able to fulfill our promise.
We're not able to fulfill our word, so we have to say no. Pull
that scripture there and turn to the book of James, and this
is what Paul is saying. I said, yes, James chapter 4,
I'm coming. Then I had to say, no, I'm not
coming. That doesn't mean that you cannot rely upon my word.
It's just that I have no control over circumstances, no control
over providence, and no control over tomorrow. And neither do
you, and neither do I. In James chapter 4, James is
writing here in verse 13, he said, now you go too now, you
that say today or tomorrow we'll go into a city and continue there
a year and buy and sell and get gain. You know not what shall
be on the morrow. What is your life? Well, it's
even a vapor. It appears for a little time
and then vanisheth away. You ought to say the Lord will. The Lord will. We shall live
and do this or do that. What we plan and purpose and
intend to do is subject to the will of God, always subject to
the will of God. But the gospel we preach is not
yes and no. It is not yes today and no tomorrow. It is always yes. That's what
he says in verse 18. Our preaching, that word there
is preaching, our preaching toward you was not yes and no, always
the same. I don't know, the songwriter
said, about tomorrow. I just or should live from day
to day. I don't worry from its sunshine.
The clouds may turn to gray. I don't worry or the future.
I know what Jesus said, and his promise goes before me, for he
knows what is ahead. Many things about tomorrow I
don't understand, but I know who holds tomorrow. And I know
he holds my hand. I don't know about tomorrow,
it may bring me poverty, but the one who feeds the sparrow
is the one who stands by me. And the pad that be my portion
may be through the flame or flood, but he promised to go with me,
and I'm covered with his blood. Uncertain? Yes, I am. Changeable? Yes, I am. That's what Paul said.
Yes and no? Unfortunately, it's so. But he
said, my preaching, my gospel is unchangeable. My gospel is
not uncertain. It is certain. It is sure. You cannot have confidence in
me, he said. You cannot have confidence in
my plans. You cannot have confidence in
my promises. But you can have confidence in
my gospel. in my preaching because it never
changed. And this is where your confidence ought to be. Look
at the last verse in chapter 1. Now you take a good look at
the last verse in chapter 1, verse 24 here, 2 Corinthians. Not for that we have dominion
over your faith, we're helpers of your joy. We're helpers of
your knowledge. We're helpers of your comfort.
But you stand by faith. Your confidence must not be in
the flesh, yours, mine, the apostles, or anyone else's, because we're
subject to change. We're subject to the providence
of God. But you can have total confidence in the gospel that
I preach. Paul says, my gospel is not yes
and no. My plans are, unfortunately,
I am, but not my gospel. It is just yes, yes, always yes. Don't be guilty of judging the
gospel by the vessel. That's a dangerous thing to do.
Don't judge the gospel by the vessel in which it's served.
Don't judge the gospel by the weakness of the vessel. The gospel's
not weak, it's strong. Don't judge the gospel by the
inconsistency of the vessel. I've known so many people to
do that and be so disappointed. to put their confidence in a
man, or in a church, or in an organization, or in a program,
or in anything other than Christ. We are changeable. We're changeable. Don't put your confidence in
the flesh. Don't judge the gospel by the
vessel, either its weakness, or its inconsistency, or its
folly. Because man at his best state
is altogether vanity, and the vessel is changeable. But the
gospel is immutable. Turn to 1 Corinthians. Hold our
text. I'm going to keep coming back
to the text, but let's go to 1 Corinthians 2. This is what
Paul is saying here. In 1 Corinthians 2, he says,
verse 1, Brethren, and I, brethren, when I came to you, I didn't
come with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto
you the testimony of God. I determined not to know anything
among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified." Our message
was plain and clear, it was Christ. And I was with you in weakness,
I was with you in fear, I was with you in much trembling. And
my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words or persuasible
words of man's wisdom, but my preaching was in the demonstration
and power of God's Spirit. Why? That your faith should not
stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. Our preaching
is immutable. It's unchanging. That is, if
we preach the gospel. Our gospel is unchanging. Let's
put it that way. The gospel, the preaching, the
word we preach to you is unchangeable, immutable. It's not yes and no.
It's not dependent upon the vessel. It is yes. Look at the next sentence
now. Why? Because the Son of God And
that's who we preach. We preach Christ. For the Son
of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, by
Silas and Timothy, was not yes and no, but in Him, yes. He is, was, and always will be
the eternal Son of God. Yes, He's the eternal Son of
God. There's not a no in reference
to Christ. He is always who He is and what
He is and where He is. Yes, He's the Son of God. He
is always equal, in every way, equal to the task of redemption.
Can He save to the uttermost? Yes. Can He keep to the uttermost? Yes. Can He perfect and perform all
that He promised? Yes. Can He raise these bowed
bodies and make them like His own? Yes. Everything in Christ
is yes. He is our prophet to reveal the
Father? Yes. Always was, always will
be. He is the priest to redeem us?
Yes. He is the king to rule over us?
Yes. He is the same yesterday, today,
and forever? Yes. That's the reason our preaching... Paul... Not me, Paul said. Me. I'm subject to change. I'm subject to inconsistencies.
I'm subject, he said, to folly. I'm subject to changing my mind.
But my preaching? which is Christ is yes, never
yes and no. Turn, if you will, to Romans
8. This is what Paul is saying here in Romans 8, in verse 29,
for whom he did foreknow, he did predestinate. It's sure and
certain and unchangeable and immutable. He did predestinate
to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be
the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, Whom He did predestinate,
then He called. Whom He called, then He also
justified. And whom He justified, He glorified. Christ is unchangeable in His
position. Christ is unchangeable in His
purpose. Christ is unchangeable in His
power. Christ is unchangeable in His
person. Christ is unchangeable in His
promises. Every one of his servants are
changeable men, but Christ is unchangeable. And our preaching,
our word to you, is unchangeable. It is not yes and no. It is yes. Now, this is why it's so vital
for us to preach Christ to our heroes, because He is unchanging. There are so many things that
we have to learn, and we have to learn them as God teaches
us to us, we have to learn them by experience, and we begin our
ministry at this church where I was preaching in Detroit last
week. I preached to a group of people last week from three or
four different churches, and all of these people used to fellowship
together in the same church. There was a strong Baptist church
in Warren, And I don't know where this tape will go, but I'm going
to go ahead and give this illustration anyway, because it's something
we need to learn. We need to remember. And this is why we
must preach Christ. We're changeable. You see, a
man starts out in his ministry, and like Brother Barnard said,
don't write a book on prophecy when you just start out in your
ministry, because you'll have to bring another one out to explain
that one, and then bring another one out to get rid of that one,
and then when you get a little older, you wish you hadn't written
any of them. And on the subject of the church, and church government,
and church discipline, and this, that, and the other, we're subject
to growth. But if you preach the gospel,
and you build a confidence and faith and foundation of the people
on Christ, He never changes. There's no change in his purpose,
in his eternal election and predestination and effectual grace. There's no change in that. And
there's no change in man's natural state. He's born a sinner. He's
condemned a sinner. He needs a Savior. There's no
change in the sacrificial substitutionary death of Christ. There's no change
in the love of Christ, the grace of Christ, the mercy of Christ,
the position of Christ, the power of Christ, the person of Christ.
These things never change. And if people's fellowship is
around Christ and in Christ and for the glory of Christ, then
as we grow in other areas and as we change in other areas,
And as we mellow in other areas, and as we deal differently in
other areas, there's no great disturbance, because that wasn't
our center of fellowship anyhow. But this church where I preach,
I preached Friday night at this church, and there were three
or four churches represented. And as I say, back 15 years ago,
10 years ago, these people were all fellowshipping together,
loving the gospel. preaching the gospel, but the
church began to emphasize other things. They began to emphasize
a certain mission board, and a certain type of Baptist theology,
and a certain type of this, that, and the other. They began to
get sidetracked on their attention, and therefore they began to split.
And a church that had 400 people on Sunday morning just kept splitting,
and splitting, and splitting. Not over the gospel, but over
this thing, and that thing, and the other thing. And now they're
all over town. A little group over here, a little
group over yonder, a little group over... I preached to all of
them. I preached to that group about
six weeks ago, and I preached to another group, and then I
could preach to the other group. The gospel! They love the gospel! And here they were together again
after several years, sitting, listening to me preach the gospel.
And all of them, they began to come down. This one says, I love
that gospel. This one, I love that gospel. But we disagree
on this and this and this. Well, forget it and come together
in Christ. This is the key. And this is
why we need, as ministers of the gospel, to stay with Christ.
Paul said, I changed. I said, yes, I'm coming. Now
I'm saying I'm not coming. Well, we can't put any confidence
in Paul. You never could put any confidence in Paul. Paul
doesn't want your confidence. He wants Christ to have it. He
wants your fellowship and your foundation to be Christ. And
remember that we're subject to change. We're subject to growth. I hope we're subject to growth.
We're subject to greater understanding. But the Son of God never changes.
That message never changes. And if we're totally taken up
with Christ, His person and His work, then these changes, whatever
they are, will not affect us. I like that hymn. We don't sing
it very often, but one of the verses goes like this, swift
to its close, ebbs out life's little days. Earth's joys grow
dim and its glories fade away. Change and decay in all around
I see. O thou that changest not, abide
with me." We need to learn this lesson.
And this church that was so great with the full congregation every
Lord's Day. Now there's 80, 60, 50 people
down here. in the center, listening to somebody
preach. Now they don't have a pastor.
Two or three pastors have come and go. It's sad. And the folks that are out yonder,
that left here, no conflict over the gospel. Conflict over something
else. He never changes. The Son of
God. Paul says, I didn't use lightness or fickleness in making
the promise that I was coming. I told you I would. And I meant
fully to come. But circumstances changed my
mind and changed my decision. I said, I'm not coming. So yes
and no was with me, but not the word, not the gospel I preached,
and not the Son of God whom I preached. And in the next line he says
in verse 20, for all the promises of God in him. Now let's camp
right here just a minute. For all the promises of God are
in him. If you can learn this, you can
learn the gospel. Whoever you are here tonight,
if you're here and you're not a believer, you're here and you
don't have any assurance of your interest in Christ, or if you're
here and you are a young believer, a new believer, a new Christian,
if you're here and you've been here a long time, you can learn
God's design in redemption if you'll get a hold of this one
statement, for all The promises of God are in Christ. All the promises. God has nothing
for a sinner that's not in Christ. God has nothing of mercy or grace
or blessing that's not in Christ. It's all in Christ. Everything's
in Christ. Turn to Ephesians chapter 1.
It's not in the law. It's not in the church. It's
not in the minister. It's in Christ. Now you watch
this in Ephesians chapter 1. Let me briefly give you several
things here. In verse 1, in chapter 1, verse
3, listen to this. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in the heavenlies in Christ. That's where they are,
they're in Christ. According, verse 4, as he hath
chosen us in Christ. The promises of God, when they
were made, only Christ existed. Only Christ existed. You didn't
exist. Every promise, all the promises
of God are in Christ. First of all, because Christ
was the only one who existed when they were made. They were
all in Christ. God has blessed us in Christ,
chose us in Christ. Look at verse 5, or verse 6.
Verse 5 it is. having predestinated us unto
the adoption of children by Christ. He's the firstborn among many
brethren, and all the brethren are to be like Him. Verse 6,
to the praise of the glory of His grace wherein He hath made
us accepted in Christ. Accepted in the Beloved. Not
in my baptism, not in my profession, not in my righteousness. In Christ. I'm accepted in Christ. I'm blessed
in Christ, I'm chosen in Christ, I'm adopted in Christ, I'm accepted
in Christ, verse 7, in whom we have redemption. I have redemption
in Christ. And then verse 10, that in the
dispensation of the fullness of time, when all this is over,
when the new heaven and the new earth hath appeared and the old
heaven and the old earth hath passed away and melted with a
fervent heat. in the dispensation of the fullness of time, he's
going to gather together in one all things in Christ. In Christ. I feel sorry for and sad about
people who, and I wish they wouldn't do this, Talk about a Baptist
bride, Christ having a bride and that being the Baptist Church.
I feel sorry for and I pity folks that get out on that type of
limb. There are no mercies in the Baptist Church that are in
Christ. There are no blessings or mercies in any organization
as such. They're in Christ. God doesn't
say a word here about me finding anything in an organization or
in a doctrine. But in a person, in the fullness
of time, he's going to gather together, not the Baptists, not
the Catholics, he's going to gather together everybody in
Christ. That's what he said. Both which
are in heaven and which are on earth, even in him, don't miss
it, in him, don't miss it. You get taken up with things
like this and miss Christ, And verse 11, in whom also we
have obtained an inheritance. Where? In Christ. Heirs of God
and joint heirs with Jesus Christ. And our Lord Jesus Christ said,
All that my Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that
cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. For I came down from
heaven not to do my will, but the will of him that sent me.
And this is the will of him that sent me, that all which he hath
given me I lose nothing, but raise it up at the last day."
So brethren, if you can get a hold of that statement, look at it
again, verse 20, for all the promises of God. That is His
bride, His blessings, His benefits, that is His predestination, His
election. And I heard something this week
that blessed me. There was an old professor. A
friend of mine told me he used to go to class and listen to
him. He was up in years, an old white-haired professor, and he
said he'd get up in front of the class and he'd look at everybody and in
a minute he'd say, Predestination! His name was George Redding.
Bruce, you may have heard of him or read about him. He used
to teach at Georgetown. here in Kentucky. Predestination! And all those Armenian Baptists
would get prickly pears under their saddles, you know, and
start fidgeting. He'd say, does George Redding believe it? And then he'd say, it doesn't
matter whether George Redding believes it or not. The question
is, is it in God's Word? And then he'd say, election!
Does George Redding believe it? It doesn't matter whether George
Redding believes it or not. The question is, is it in God's
Word? And I ask you tonight, all the
promises of God are in Him. Do I believe that? It doesn't
matter whether I believe it or not. It's in God's Word. And we better come to that conclusion.
These promises, what are they? Read verse 20 again. These promises
of God are in Christ, and they're yes! He has a people? Yes! He redeemed them? Yes! In Him they have an inheritance? Yes! He'll gather them together
in one? Yes! There's no no associated
with it. There's no maybe, it's yes! These
promises are like the covenant which contains them, everlasting.
These promises are like the author who made them unchangeable. These
promises are like the Savior who bought them. He cannot fail.
These promises are like the gospel which declares them true and
worthy of all acceptation. And look at the next line. All
the promises of God in Christ are in Christ and they're yes,
every one of them. And they're in Him. Paul repeats
again, amen, so be it, so it is, they're in him. You want
to find God's mercy, you get to Christ. A lot of preachers
want to get you down to the front, but you won't find God's mercy
at the front, you'll find God's mercy in Christ. You want God's
grace and forgiveness and pardon, then you get to Christ. A lot
of preachers want to get you in the pool, and get you on the
church roll, and get you to promise to give and support the work,
Get you to believe what they believe about the second coming,
but you get to Christ. You see if you can't bypass these
fellas and get to Christ. Because all the promises of God
are in Christ, and those in Christ are yes! And they're amen! And they're like the covenant
that contains them. They're everlasting. And look
at the next line. Unto the glory of God. That's
what it's all about. That God may be glorified. You
turn back to Ephesians 1, just a moment, and let me show you
something that needs to be preached and needs to be declared and
needs to be studied. In the first part of Ephesians
chapter 1, God talks about choosing some people, talks about predestinating
some people. And then verse 6, He says, it's
to the praise of the glory of His grace. That's why He did
it. And then he talks about those people being redeemed in verse
7 and talks about them being enlightened and illuminated in
verse 9 and talks about them obtaining an inheritance in verse
12 says that they should be to the praise of His glory. And then he talks about them
hearing the gospel, the Holy Spirit enabling them to hear
and sealing them and giving them a pledge or a token or earnest,
a down payment on their future glory And he closes, verse 14,
unto the praise of his glory. Now these promises and blessings
are in Christ. And they're sure and certain
and unchangeable in Christ. And they're amen in Christ. And
they're unto the glory of God in Christ because all these promises
are of God. Turn with me to 1 Corinthians
chapter 1. Let me read a scripture to you,
and I want you to underline a couple of words. In verse 30 of 1 Corinthians
1. Now, I've preached from this
verse many times, and I think you are familiar with it and
you've read it many times. And we're complete in Christ.
Everything we have is in Christ. We're complete in Him. And this
verse says, but of him are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is
made unto us wisdom. All the wisdom I need is in Christ.
Righteousness, all the righteousness I need I have in Christ. Sanctification
and redemption. And naturally we look at the
blessings, we look at the benefits, don't we? Wisdom, I want it,
need it, must have it. God demands it. Spiritual wisdom. Redemption? Got to have it. Righteousness,
sanctification. But look at these two words here.
But of him are you in Christ. How'd I get in Christ? Now all
this is in Christ. Christ is the source. He's the
source of wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.
He's the source. That's where it all is. He's
the fountain of all mercies and blessings. He's the stream of
living water, He's the living bread, He's all things, but how
do I get in Him? Of God are you in Christ. That's
what it says, Charlie, doesn't it? But of Him are you in Christ. But He's not through. But of
Him are you in Christ, who of God is made unto us these things. God Almighty is a sovereign God. He's sovereign in creation. He
created all things by the word of his power according to his
own purpose and plan. He's sovereign in providence.
And he told Moses, he's sovereign in mercy. He says, I will be
merciful to whom I will be merciful. I will be gracious to whom I
will be gracious. I'm in Christ. God put me in
Christ. By His grace, by His sovereign
pleasure, by His eternal purpose, to the praise of His glory, of
Him are you in Christ. And Christ is of God, made unto
us all these things. And then we go back to our text
in 2 Corinthians 1, and it says, For all the promises of God are
yes, and in Him, Amen, unto the glory of God. We better learn
to give God the glory. And I don't mean just for Calvary. I mean for the purpose that led
to Calvary. And not only give God the glory
for our comfort, but for his purpose that led to comfort.
And not only give God the glory for forgiveness of sin, but for
his purpose that led to the forgiveness of sin. And not only glorify
God and praise God that we do love him, but for his grace that
made us love him. Because it's all of God. Now
look at the next line. I'm going to give you four things
and quit. Now he that establishes us with you in Christ and anoints
us is God. That's who does it. There are
four things here ascribed to God in reference to the believer.
First, he said, he who establishes you in Christ is God. We had
no stability in Adam. He fell. There's no stability
in high office. Judas was there and he fell. There's no stability in the church.
Ananias and Sapphira were influential members of the church. They fail.
There's no stability in the ministry. Demas, companion of Paul, hath
forsaken me, having loved this present world. There's no stability
in the baptismal pool. Simon Magus went that route,
and his heart wasn't right with God. There's no stability in
the law. But there is stability in Christ. And He which established you
in Christ is God. We're in His family. And we're
in His favor and will never be turned out. We're regenerated
and sanctified by His Spirit and will never die. We're in
a state of justification and there's therefore now no condemnation
to them who are in Christ. Christ said in John 10, 27, My
sheep hear My voice, I give them eternal life and they'll never
perish. My Father which gave them me and no man is able to
pluck them out of my hand. My Father which gave them me
is greater than all and no man can pluck them out of his hand.
The believer is in the hand of Christ who is in the hand of
God. And any force or power or creature
in this universe to get to me has to get through God and through
Christ. That's right. He established
us. He which establishes us in Christ
is God. Look at the next word, and he
which anointed us is God. I didn't assume this office. What are we? Every believer is
a king and a priest. That's right. In Revelations
it says, and they sang a new song unto him who loved us and
washed us in his blood and made us kings and priests unto God. Now when I looked at this verse,
I thought of two things. I thought first of the anointing
of the priest, Aaron and his sons, the anointing with oil. That's what it's referring to
here. And Moses had Aaron and his sons anointed with oil, designating
them as priests of God. And then David. Samuel went down
to the house of Jesse, and God pointed out David and said, Arise,
anoint him. And Samuel stood and anointed
David king of Israel. His family didn't do it, they
sent him to take care of the sheep. He didn't do it, he was
taking care of the sheep. God did it. God anointed, God
said, Moses anoint Aaron, not the whole shooting match, anoint
Aaron and his son. And anoint not the whole family
of Jesse, anoint David, king. God did it. And he which established
you in Christ is God. And he who anointed you a priest
of God and a king of God is God. That's sovereign grace and that's
sovereign love and that's sovereign mercy and that's sovereign redemption. But that's what the Scripture
teaches. All right, read on. He hath also sealed us. You know,
Satan grumbled and complained. Turn over to the book of Job
a minute. This is interesting here. We're God's property. We're God's property. If that
fellow buys a piece of property, what's he do? He puts a fence
around it. He puts a hedge around it. If
it's a big piece of property, he puts a fence. If it's a little
piece of property, he'll put him a hedge. And that hedge, outside that
hedge, belongs to somebody else, but inside that hedge belongs
to him. He cuts the grass, he takes care of the flowers, and
he sweeps the walk, and he edges the walk, and he paints the house,
and he takes care of everything. It's his place. It's his property.
It's hedged in. And that means keep out. You
can't trespass. Trespass is to get on that other
fellow's property. And he says, you know, Job, God
said Job's a righteous man, and Satan questioned that. And here's
one of the arguments he brought forth in verse 10 of Job 1. He
says, God, hast thou not made a hedge about him, and about
his house, and about all that he hath on every side? Lord,
you put a hedge around him. And that's exactly what God does. When he redeems one of his own,
he puts a hedge around them. That soul that on Jesus hath
leaned for repose, God will not, will not desert to its foes.
That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake, he said, I'll
never, no, never, no, never forsake. The gates of hell shall not prevail
against it. A thousand shall fall at thy
right hand and ten thousand at thy left, but it shall not come
nigh thee. I put a hedge around you. I've sealed you in. You're
my property. God Almighty hath established
us in Christ and anointed us priest and king and sealed us. And sealed us. I tell you, you
can quit arguing over these silly little arguments about once saved,
always saved, once in grace, always in grace. Whether or not
a man gets salvation and loses, if you start reading the Bible
and quit reading all these religious clichés and following these foolish
preachers and start reading God's Word, God has established us
and anointed us and sealed us, sanctified us, set us apart,
made us His own, predestined us to be like His Son. And His
promises in Christ are yes, not yes and no, not maybe, not perhaps,
yes, amen, so be it, no change. I'll do it. Hath the Lord not
spoken, shall He not do it? He'll do it. Old Hale can't stop
it. He said, "...no death, no angels,
no principalities, no things present, no things to come, nor
any other creature can separate us from the love of God which
is in Christ our Lord." Where is it? In Christ our Lord. That's
the reason folks are missing it. They're all in the church.
Or they're in following this preacher, that preacher, or they're
in theology, or they're in a Bible school, or they're in a seminary,
or they're in a... Get in Christ! That's where the mercies are.
That's where the blessings flow full and free, in Christ! Quit
arguing religion and start preaching Christ. Start preaching Christ. Quit
talking about what you believe and go talk about whom you believe.
There's a lot of difference. You can go to hell believing
a doctrine, but you can't go to hell in Christ. That's right. And then last of all, the last
line in verse 22, He has sealed us and given us an earnest, the
earnest of His Spirit. What's an earnest? It's a pledge.
It's a pledge. A young man falls in love with
a girl, she with him. One night they sit down, they're
talking, and he reaches in his pocket and pulls out a ring. And he slips that ring on her
finger. What's that? That's an earnest. That's a pledge,
that's a token. You see, they're not married
yet, but they're engaged to be married. The wedding hasn't taken
place. They haven't become one. They
haven't started their new home, but she's got something on her
finger that tells her it's going to happen. It's going to happen. It's going to happen. A man goes
down, he and his wife, looks at a new house. They say, we'll
take it. The man says, you'll have to
have some earnest money. So he sits down and writes out a check
for $500 and tears it down and hands it to the man. That's my
earnest money. That's my pledge. That's my house. I hadn't moved
in yet, but I got the payment down. You've got part of me in
that house. Part of me is in that house.
And I'm telling you this, I'm not perfect yet, but I'm going
to be because I've got the perfect spirit in here. Not without measure,
like my Lord, but I've got an earnest, I've got the pledge,
I've got the token. I'm going to be like Christ someday,
not like Him now. I want to be. Somebody said,
we're not what we ought to be, that's so, and we're not what
we want to be, that's so, and we're not what we used to be,
that's so, and we're not what we're going to be, that's so.
But we've got a down payment. We've got a pledge. God's Spirit
dwells in us, and God Almighty, all His promises are yes, and
He'll perform what He's promised to perform. And so Paul says
to that church, he says, I meant to come, but I couldn't. And
I didn't. And I changed my mind. But you
can bank on this. My preaching is unchangeable.
Because my Lord is unchangeable. Because all the promises of God
are in the Lord Jesus Christ. They are of God and they are
in Christ. And they're yes. There's no no's. They're yes
and amen, so be it, so it is, to the glory of God. Because
God has established us, and God has anointed us, and God has
sealed us, and God has given us His Spirit. We're going to
be like Him. Actually, the believer in Christ
is as much in heaven as if he were already there. Did you know
that? That's so. because he's seated in Christ
in the heaven. He's as much in heaven as if
he were already there. His glory is as sure as if he
already had it. That's what he says in Romans
8, 29 and 30, whom he foreknew, he glorified. They're all past
ten. My glory is as certain as if I were already glorified,
because nearer, so near to God, nearer I cannot be in the person
of his Son, I'm as near as he is. And now we pray a prayer,
Lord, draw us closer to Thee. I couldn't get any closer than
I am in Christ, see, so I'm going to quit praying that prayer.
Lord, help me to draw nigh to Thee in my thoughts and in my
affections and in my behavior and these things. But there's
no way I'm being closer to God than in Christ because in Christ
I'm in God. I'm in God. I know what we mean.
I'm not rebuking us for praying. We don't do much praying anyhow,
you know, don't discourage what little we do, but we're in Christ. And that's what I'm trying to
say. It's not like God's off up yonder and I'm down here and
draw me closer to you, yes, make me more like Christ, but I'm
in God. And all the forces and demons
and powers and devils and satans and angels and hell or heaven
can't get me out of Christ. Because God put me there. God put me there. Of Him are
you in Christ. It's worth reading, isn't it?
It's worth thinking about because it gives more significance and
meaning. I don't like this preaching and this religion and this church
going and whatever it is that talks about God wanting to do
things and not being able and God meeting you halfway and you
taking the first step and God cooperating and you helping out
over here on the side, you know, and if you do this and if you
do that and if you do the other, God will come running to your
rescue. That doesn't even sound like God to me. That's a God,
but it's not the God of the Bible. People up there say, let's get
together around Jesus. And old Brother Barnes said,
which one? Which one? Yeah, if you want
to talk about the sovereign Christ, I'm for it, getting together.
The sovereign Christ, the one whom we worship, the one whom
we fear, the one whom we love, the one whom we trust, the one
whom we know. The one who does what he does on purpose. The
one who cannot fail. The one who's seated at the right
hand of the Father, waiting on his enemies to become his footstool.
We get together around him, and this little mamby-pamby, frustrated,
defeated son of Mary, they're talking about, I don't have much
use for him, thank you. You go ahead preaching him, but
he couldn't do anything anyway. He wants to and can't. There's
not much he can do. His hands are tied. You've tied
the hands of Jesus. I saw a church bulletin that
said, God has no hands but your hands, and no feet but your feet,
and no eyes but your eyes. If that's so, we're in trouble.