Preaching Accompanied by Power #1

Now I have, whether you believe it or not,
a brief message this morning. And I've made it brief on purpose
because I think sometimes we try to give more than we're able
to digest. And sometimes the thought is
lost in the many words Somebody asked a preacher one
time, who was a wise preacher, if he could come and speak for
a certain organization. And he said, well, he said, when
do you want me to speak? They said, well, does it matter
a great deal? He said, yes. He said, it does. He said, if
you want me to preach two hours, I'm ready now. If you want me
to preach for an hour, it'll take me a few days. If you want
me to speak for 30 minutes, it'll take me a week or so to prepare,
bring the thoughts together. And I've brought together four
important facts that I want you to think upon today. I want you
to think upon them now, and I want you to think upon them today,
and I want you to think upon them from now on. And I think
these are worthy. to be jotted down. If you have
a pencil and paper or even want to write them on one of the blank
pages in your Bibles, I would feel that this would be profitable,
that these statements are important enough for your consideration
both now and in days to come. I think they're four of the most
important facts that I can present to you in a message. What a tragedy
it would be with all of our theology and all of our religious zeal
to miss the heart of the gospel, to miss the heart of the message,
to go about playing church, to go about with all the religious
tradition, custom, and miss Christ. I don't want to miss Christ. I don't want to miss salvation.
I fear and tremble lest in that day I stand with the many who
hear him say, I never knew you. And I'm not speaking that to
you. I'm using myself as an example, not meaning it. I mean it. I don't want to miss Christ.
Paul said, I fear, I tremble lest when preaching to others
I become a castaway. Wouldn't that be terrible? They
made me keeper of the vineyard, but my own vineyard I didn't
keep. You think about that. They made
me a church elder, Cecil, Charlie O'Donnell, yeah, and I was busy
watching after other people's spiritual welfare and perished
myself. They made me church secretary.
Or they made me the pastor. They made me a deacon. Or they
made me a Sunday school teacher. Or they gave me a position. Or
I was a member of the church, and I was a companion of those
who knew the Lord. And perished. Remember Lot's
wife. That's a three-word sermon that
our Lord left with his disciples. Remember Lot's wife. What about
it? She was married to a godly man. She was intimately associated
with a man who knew God. She didn't know God. She went
everywhere he went. She associated with the people
he associated with. She read the things he read.
She went to the synagogue he attended. She bore his children
and perished. Remember Lot's wife. And I say
it's a fearful thing. It's a fearful thing to handle
the things of God. be familiar with them, and really
not experience them. And it's not only possible, it's
happened many, many, many times. Demas, Paul said, was my bosom
companion. Demas walked with me, Paul said. But he left me loving the world. Judas, have not I chosen you
twelve? Christ said, I chose you twelve,
and one of you is a demon. Now these four things are so
vital, and I would that you would think about them with me and
never let them get far from you. Your personal relationship with
Christ is of vital importance to you. The first statement is
this, there can be no saving benefit through Jesus Christ without union with Christ. I'm not talking about a working
knowledge of him. I'm talking about union with
Christ. There can be no saving benefit through Jesus Christ
without union with Christ. I'm not talking about a profession
of faith. I'm talking about union with
Christ. I'm talking about the salvation of the whole man. I'm
not talking about a religious profession. I'm talking about
a living, personal, intimate relationship with the Son of
God. Few people know anything about
this. This is what our Lord was talking about in Matthew 7 when
he said, "...broad is the way that leads to destruction, and
many there be that travel that road, narrow is the way, straight
is the gate that leads to life, and few there be that find it."
Do you wonder what Paul meant when he prayed to this early
church or for this early church? He said, I travail, I travail,
you know what that word comes from? Travail. Birth pains. When a woman goes into labor,
she has borne this child for nine months, she goes into labor,
she travails to bring forth that child. Everything that she thinks
and does during those minutes or hours is in travail to bring
forth that child. And this is what Paul is saying,
I travail. Oh, I'm busy about other responsibilities
and other necessary duties, but the travail of my soul The travail
of my heart is that Christ be formed in you. I'm not travailing
that you come down an aisle and make a profession or that you
join the church or you get your doctrine straightened out or
you become a Calvinist or an Augustinian or even a Paulinian. I travail, he said, I travail
like a woman bearing a child until Christ be formed in you.
You can have all these other things and not have Christ. Or
he said, Christ in you, that's the hope of glory, Christ in
you. He is divine, we're the branches. We get our nourishment from him,
we get our life from him, our source of everything spiritual
is from him. He's divine, we're the branches.
It's an intimate, personal, vital union with Christ. That's how
I live. And separated from Christ, whether
my doctrine be correct, I be orthodox, all of these things,
if I'm not one with Him, there is no life. I'm a withered branch,
fit for the burning. Not fit for anything but burning.
The head and the body. Christ said, I'm the head, you're
the body. We have every right, you and I have every right to
ask this question. If Jesus Christ and I are one,
why am I not more like Christ? Why am I not more like Christ
if we are one? Now if a branch is in an apple
tree, it's going to bear apples out here on this branch. If it's
getting the sap and the nourishment and the life from that apple
trunk, it's going to bear some apples. It's going to have apple
leaves, it's going to have apple bark, it's going to have apple
fruit. And I have every reason, now you listen to me, I have
every reason to ask myself this question. If Jesus Christ and
I are one, I am in a living, vital, vine branch relationship
with him, why am I not more like him? They took note of them. Talking
about the disciples, people took note of them, that they had been
with Jesus. Where is my everyday grace? I've
got Sunday grace, I've got Sunday love, I've got Sunday compassion. Where is my everyday love and
grace and compassion? Am I just one with Christ on
Sunday? Am I just one with Christ down
at the church? Am I just one with Christ when
I'm around other believers whom I like, who agree with me? Or am I one with Christ every
day? There is no saving benefit to be derived from Jesus Christ
without a vital, living, personal, intimate union with the Son of
God. That's the reason we must become
disciples of Christ. Not disciples of Calvin, of Christ. Not disciples of a minister,
not disciples of a denomination, not disciples of a theology,
not disciples even of the law, not disciples even of the Bible,
but disciples of Christ. What does the Scripture say?
Seek the Lord. Seek the Lord. Seek a living
relationship with Christ. Don't seek the right church.
Seek the Lord. He'll lead you to the right church.
Don't seek the right doctrine. You make a mistake, believe me,
I'm telling you the truth. Don't seek the right doctrine.
Don't say, well, I want to find out what this means. Do you know
what this means? It means what it means. If you want to know what it means,
come to know Him who wrote it. He'll reveal it. Where is that
everyday grace? Turn to 2 Corinthians 5 verse
17. Are these just words here, or
do they have a meaning? Are these just words here, or
is this really supposed to be an experience? I wonder. Is this
supposed to be an experience? Therefore, verse 17 of 2 Corinthians
5, if any man, if any man, not an apostle, not a a prophet,
not an evangelist, a pastor, if any man be in Christ, he's
a new creature. He is a new creature. Am I a
new creature? In my attitude, in my behavior,
in my conversation, in my conduct, do I talk like a new creature?
Do I love like a new creature? Do I have compassion and affection
like a new creature? Do I have motives of a new creature?
Am I a new creature? If any man be in Christ, he is
a new creature. If he's not a new creature, it's
evident he's not in Christ. He may be in good standing in
the community and in the church, but he's not a new creature.
He's not in Christ. If he's not a new creature, he
may be in the pulpit, but he's not in Christ, if he's not a
new creature. You see, to come to know Christ
is to be like him. Now, there are stages of growth,
that's true. There are degrees of grace and
degrees of faith. But the longer we're with Christ,
the more we become like him. Second statement. There can be
no union with Christ. Now, get the first one is this. There can be no saving benefit
from Christ without union with Christ. And what I want you to
do is seek the Lord. I want you to pray for a revelation
of himself to you. God was pleased, Paul said, to
reveal his Son in me. Not the doctrine of his Son,
not the facts about his Son, but his Son in me, in me, Christ
in you. The second statement, there can
be no union with Christ except by faith, except by faith. Now, faith not in me. I said,
well, I don't have any faith in that preacher. Good, you've
taken the first step. Now, if you can get your faith
out of yourself, you'll take the second step. I don't have
any confidence in those people down at the church. Good, you've
taken the first step. They're no good, are they? They're
not. When you find out you're no good,
you'll take the second step. When you lose all confidence
in yourself, put no confidence in the flesh. Whose flesh? Your
flesh. My flesh. Anybody else's flesh. Faith not in me, not in yourself,
not in the doctrine. Faith in Him. He that believeth
on the Son hath everlasting life. By His Spirit Christ takes hold
of us. Listen to me now. By his Spirit,
he takes hold of us. By faith, we take hold of him.
And there can be no living... Our Lord will have no unwilling
bride. Our Lord will have no unwilling
children. Our Lord will have no unwilling
disciples. By his Spirit, he takes hold
of us. By faith, we take hold of him.
He first loved me, that's true, but I love him. I love him because
he first loved me, but I love him. It is true he called me,
but it's also true whosoever shall call upon the name of the
Lord shall be saved. Christ is in the believer by
his Spirit. Turn to 1 John 4. Listen to this,
1 John chapter 4. Let's read verse 13. Christ is
in the believer by the Spirit. 1 John 4, verse 13, "...hereby
know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath
given us his Spirit." That's how he dwells in us, his presence,
by his Spirit. The Holy Spirit comes and takes
up his abode. If any man have not the Spirit
of Christ, he's none of his. We're baptized into Christ by
one Spirit. Christ dwells in the believer
by his Spirit. But now listen. The believer
dwells in Christ by faith. Now you turn to John 1, verse
12. The believer dwells in Christ by faith. And without faith there's
no dwelling in Christ. He that cometh to God must believe. He must believe. God will not
save any man without faith. John 1, 12. As many as received
him. As many as embraced him, Barnard
used to say, as many as submit to him. To them gave he the right,
the privilege, to become sons of God. Yes, Christ lays hold
of us by his Spirit, but we lay hold of Christ by faith. Christ
indwells us by his Spirit, but we dwell in Christ by faith. And you and I must lay down all
of our strivings and all of our plans and lay hold of Christ. Let me show you a scripture in
Romans. This will be a blessing the men talked about this Thursday
night in the Bible study, Romans chapter 4. Listen to this, talking
about Abraham. Now then, Abraham was saved by
faith, wasn't he? Abraham was imputed, had imputed
unto him righteousness by faith. He believed God. He believed
God. He looked to the cross. He waited
for the cross. He expected the cross. He saw
my day, Christ said, and was glad. He saw it how? Not with these eyes, saw it by
faith. I haven't seen it with these
eyes either. Abraham looked to the cross, I looked back to the
cross. Abraham looked for the cross, I looked back to the cross.
And the same belief he had in Christ's substitutionary work
and atonement, I have also. And the same way that Abraham
was redeemed, I am redeemed. Look at Romans 4, verse 20. It
says, "...he staggered not at the promises of God through unbelief,
but he was strong in faith, giving glory to God, being fully persuaded
that what God had promised..." What did he promise? A Messiah?
A substitute? A Lamb? A sacrifice? A Savior? He believed what God had promised,
God was able to perform. I believe the same way. I believe
what God has promised, God is able to perform. I believe what
God has purposed, God is able to perform. I believe what God
has provided, God is able to perform. Now read on. And therefore,
because he believed God, it was imputed, it was charged, it was
reckoned to him for righteousness, acceptance, holiness, righteousness,
right with God. That's what this means, right
with God. Abraham was right with God through faith. He was not
right with God because of what he did, but because of his faith. Read on. Now, it was written,
it was not written, it was not written for his sake alone that
was imputed to him, but for us also. That's you and me. To whom
it, what's it? Righteousness, shall be imputed
if we believe on him that raised up Christ our Lord from the dead.
If you don't believe, you don't have righteousness. If you don't
believe, you don't have Christ. What are you saying, preacher?
I'm saying this, reach hither thy hand. You're saying what? I'm saying reach hither thy hand.
One day our Lord was walking down the street, and there was
a man there with a withered hand, crippled. It had been withered
since birth. You can just imagine. It was
just partly as big as the other one. It was wrinkled. It had
never been used. The fingers had never been used.
The fingernails were withered, and the hand. And he asked for
healing. And you know what the Lord said?
Stretch out your hand. Reach out your hand. Say, Lord,
if I could do that, I wouldn't need you. Yeah, you do need me
to. With the command goes enabling
grace. You say, Preacher, I just cannot
believe. Have you tried to believe? I
cannot lay hold on Christ. Have you tried to lay hold on
Christ? I cannot reach hither my hand." Have you tried to reach
hither your hand? With the command goes enabling
grace. If the desire is there, if the
need is there, when our Lord commands you to believe, you'll
believe. Reach hither thy hand. And the
scripture says he stretched it out and it was made whole. Right
thing. Believe. Embrace Christ. Believe what, preacher? Three
things. are essential. This is under point two. First
of all, believe what God says about you. Now, this is difficult. It takes grace to face what God
says about you and about me. Now, we have a high opinion of
ourselves. There's not a person here this
morning that doesn't entertain a high opinion of himself by
nature. And that's got to be broken. That's got to be broken. I'm
saying this, and I'm saying it with affection. If God doesn't
break you, God will damn you. That's so. A horse that cannot
be broken will never carry the king. He will not ride a wild
ass's coat that goes his own way. Our Lord will put a saddle
on you, and he'll put a bridle on you, and he'll put a bit in
your mouth. And his will will turn you to the right or to the
left. And he will not ride you in victory and glory unless he
can break you. Now you proud, this proud heart,
God's gonna break you or he'll damn you. You know, I read that scripture
where that woman came to Christ. It's one of my favorite scriptures.
I wish I could live it. I wish I could experience it.
She came to Christ and she said, Lord, have mercy on me. And our
Lord didn't answer. And she cried out the more. She said, Lord, have mercy on
me. And he turned to her and he said, I'm sent to the lost
sheep of the house of Israel. I'm the Jewish Messiah. She was
a Gentile. She said, Lord, have mercy on
me. She didn't quit. He said, it's not right to give
the children's bread to dogs. Now watch this. He says, that's
true, Lord. Now the Jews called the Gentiles
dogs. Dogs, you think about, think
what a, you little pet dog in your house, he's king there,
but that's not what our Lord meant. It's not fit to give the
children's bread to dogs. And she said, that's true. That's
true. But the dogs eat the crumbs.
And that's what they get, don't they? The dogs get what's left. He gets the crumbs. Have you
ever been brought down in your own estimation? I got a real
living revelation of what a dog is worth Friday night. We'd been to the Kentucky basketball
game Friday night, about 14 of us, and we were coming back.
It was 1.15 in the morning, coming down I-64. We hit a patch of
smoke or fog or something, and cars started piling up. And there
were 10 cars. There was a car pulled off the
road, another car hit it, and another car hit it. And there
was some men with coon hunting. They had their dogs in there.
van and they hit that one and then a big tractor trailer hit
them in the back and injured those dogs and then out in the
middle of the street there there were there were five four or
five other cars piled up and we were and i came along the
man stopped us and we went up and and i got this preacher's
family out of his car and got them away from the gasoline that
was everywhere and we were getting people and they were calling
ambulance taking care of a man it was her But that one of those
dogs, one of those coon dogs, lying in the road, child, big
old black and white dog, he's hurt. And there were three or
four state policemen there, and somebody pointed to the dog,
and two men walked up and picked the dog, and we were taking care
of the people. Everybody was concerned. You
all right, you all right, is everybody all right? I was concerned.
I had some Cecil and Sandy and Corky and Kenna were there in
that wreck, and we were concerned. But they picked the dog up and
threw him over the railing. And a policeman pulled his gun
and shot him. And I stood there and I thought,
that's all a dog's worth. Dispose of him. Get him out of
the way. We're busy taking care of the
people. Our Lord said that to her. We're taking care of the
people. Got time for dogs. You shoot
dogs, you get them out of their misery. And he went over there
and took his gun out and shot the dog through the head. And
they turned and walked off. Now, where are you in regard
to the mercies of God? Which side of that railing are
you on? Worthy or unworthy? Deserving or undeserving? Now
wait a minute. This woman said that's true.
I don't deserve anything. I deserve to be put out of my
misery. I deserve to be cast over the rail. But even the dogs
eat the crumbs. And he turned and he said, Woman,
great is thy faith. I haven't found faith like that,
no, not in Israel. Be it unto thee as you desire. That's faith. Secondly, it's
to believe what God says about me, it's to believe what God
says about Christ. He is the prophet, priest, and
king. He is the only substitute. He
is the only sacrifice. He is my life. He is my hope. He is my refuge. He is my atonement. He is everything. It's Christ. He's just that redeems the unjust. He's the sinless that redeems
the sinful. Thirdly, now watch this. It's
to believe what God says about me, it's to believe what God
says about Christ, and it's to believe it with an open heart
and an open hand that reaches for that grace and that mercy
as a needy sinner. I want it. I'm what I am. Christ is what He is. I reach
with an open heart. Do with me what you will. Only
Lord reveal Christ to me. Can you do that? All right, thirdly,
there can be no benefit from Christ without union, vital union. Secondly, there can be no union
with Christ without faith. Thirdly, there can be no faith
without the Word. There can be no faith without
the Word. Now listen, turn to Romans chapter
10. I want to read something to you. There can be no faith
without the Word of God. Paul said, I have preached unto
you the gospel. which you have believed, when
you stand, by which you are saved, if you keep in memory what I
preached to you." Oh, the importance of God's Word. Faith cometh by
hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. Look at Romans 10, verse
13, "...whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall
be saved." How then shall they call on him in whom they have
not believed? How shall they believe in him of whom they have
not heard? How shall they hear without a preacher? Turn to 1
Corinthians 1 verse 21. Now God's not going to speak
to you by dreams, nor by visions. God speaks through His Word.
In 1 Corinthians 1 verse 21, For after that, in the wisdom
of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the
foolishness of preaching. Preaching what? Preaching the
Word. Paul said, Timothy, preach the
Word. to save them that believe. Now,
my friends, the Word of God talks about sovereign grace. Now, listen
to me here. This is important. The Word of
God talks about sovereign grace. It talks about God's purpose. It talks about these doctrines
of theology. And they're precious. They're
foundation stones. You know, you can't have a body
without a skeleton to hang it on. You can't have a building
without some strong point, some structure, structural steel,
up in the corners and in the middle and this corner, and got
to have something to hang it on. The same thing is true of
faith. Faith has got to have the Word,
it's got to have the truth, the doctrines. I know that man fell,
but now I've got to not only know that man fell, but to know
that I fell. I've got to know that man, the
scripture declares that man is depraved and he's ungodly. But
this has got to be more than a doctrine to him, it's got to
be an experience. I've got to know that I am depraved. David didn't say, man is depraved,
man is a sinner, man needs salvation. David said, my sins are ever
before me. You see the difference? I've
got to know the doctrine. that God Almighty must be just
in order to be justified, that God is righteous, and that God
is holy, and that God will punish sin. But this thing has got to
come to me by experience. God's angry with my sin. My sin
must be punished. I must give an account of myself.
I know that Christ is the only Savior and that his atonement
was effectual, his atonement was particular, his atonement
was for those who believe. But I've got to be concerned
with this. Did he die for me? Do I believe? Have I embraced
him? Is he my Lord? And we read the
doctrines that we ought to love one another. Christ said, if
any man love not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he
love God whom he hath not seen? And I must not preach that as
a doctrine. I must experience that. This thing of forgiveness. He
said, if you forgive not men their trespasses, neither will
your Father forgive you. I've got to experience that. Turn to Galatians 4. The Apostle
Paul was speaking there to the church at Galatia in verse 16. Now listen to me. Now don't be
foolish enough to be warped on one doctrine of religion and
miss the life. I see people do this. I see people
get taken up with with what we call sovereign grace. I see them
get taken up with what we call prophecy. I see them get taken
up with church truth. I see them get taken up with
evangelism, soul winning. I see churches get taken up with
what we call missionary work. They get warped in one area.
And what I'm saying is God saves the whole man. God saves the
whole man. God brings us into a living relationship
with Christ that's able to rejoice in and enter into all of the
ministry of our Lord. And he talked to this church
at Galatia in verse 16 of Galatians 4. He said, Have I become your
enemy because I tell you the truth? Am I your enemy because I'm telling
you the truth? That's what I'm trying to do,
tell you the truth. Don't turn your ear away. Don't
turn your attention away. Don't seek a preacher who preaches
what you want to hear. Seek one who preaches what God
says. There can be no saving benefit without union with Christ. There can be no union with Christ
without faith. There can be no saving faith
without this Word. And if it makes you angry, you
say, I just won't hear that preacher anymore. I'll go hear one with
whom I agree. That's as foolish as the man
who goes to the physician and the physician examines him and
said, you're going to have to get on a rigid diet. You've got
heart trouble and high blood pressure. He goes on and tells
the wife, I don't like what he said. I'm going to get me another
doctor. I'm going to get me a doctor that won't tell me these bad
things, you know. I'm going to get me another doctor
that won't frighten me. I'm going to get me another doctor
that doesn't demand these severe penalties and these severe directions. If I become your
enemy, I'm going to tell you the truth. The fourth thing,
listen. has no saving efficacy or spiritual
understanding unless it's accompanied by the Holy Spirit. Our gospel,
look at the text again, our gospel came to you not in word only,
but it came to you in power in the Holy Ghost. In the Holy Ghost. There are three words that we're
going to have to learn something about. We're going to take this
up tonight. One is revelation. God reveals these things. They're
not learned any other way. The second one is humiliation. God will break the proud heart
or he'll judge it. Pride goeth before destruction
and a haughty spirit before the fall. Whether it's young pride
or old pride, it's got to die. And the third word is submission. Let me read you something here.
Submission. We are commanded in James 4,
6, and 7, Romans 10 and 3, to submit to God. Submit to God. We're commanded in Hebrews 13,
17, to submit to God's ministers. Obey them that have the rule
over you, as those who watch for your souls, as those who
must give an account, that they may give an account with joy
and not with sorrow. We are commanded in Ephesians
5.20, 1 Peter 5.5, to submit to one another. We're commanded
in 1 Peter 2, verse 13, to submit to the ordinances of the church
preacher. No, sir. Yes, but no, to the
ordinances of men, the laws of the country, the laws of the
state. We're to submit. We're to be a submissive people.
There can be no saving faith without preaching and no effectual
preaching without the Holy Spirit breaking us and applying it and
making it come to us in power. That's what I'm reaching for,
for me and for you, is that the Holy Spirit might do in our hearts
what we know in our hands. Our Father, bless this word,
how grateful we are for thy word, how grateful we are for a desire,
a spiritual desire to know Christ and be found in him, not having
our own righteousness, but having his, to know him whom to know
his life. Thou hast given us this desire
for which we praise thee. Lord, make it more than a desire,
make it an experience. Grant unto us and experience
of grace, that we might feel Thy presence, that we might know
that Thou dost dwell in our hearts by faith. In the name of Christ
our Lord we pray and for His sake. Amen.

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