Now we're turning in our Bibles
to 1 Timothy again, chapter 1. I'd like for you to follow along
with the scriptures, if you will. 1 Timothy, chapter 1, verse 11. Now the King James Version is
the one that I shall continue to use in the pulpit for several
reasons, because it is a good translation. Secondly, because
we were raised reading it, and we have committed to memory much
of it, or several verses of the King James Version. And thirdly,
because that is the particular translation that most of our
people carry, the King James Translation. But it was translated
in the year 1611 or something like that, in the 17th century
anyway. And the phraseology of the old
English language is different. Some of the words are different
from words we use today. And some other translations can
help you. Now in verse 11, it says, according
to the glorious gospel of the blessed God. The Amplified Translation,
and I suppose the English Revised Version and several others, will
read it this way, according to the gospel of the glory of God. Our gospel that we preach is
the gospel of the glory of God. because it was born in the glorious
halls of eternal wisdom. That's where it was conceived,
and that's where it was born. It was born in the glorious halls
of God, in his eternal purpose, in his eternal wisdom. It's the
gospel of the glory of God in its origination. It originated
in the glory of God. And it's the gospel of God's
glory because it brought Christ from the glory which he had with
the Father before the world was. He said, Now, Father, glorify
thou me with the glory which I had with thee before the world
was. And it brought him from that
eternal glory down to this world of sin and this world of shame. Somebody said he laid aside his
glory, and in a sense he did. because he took upon himself
the likeness of sinful flesh and lived in this world of shame
and sin. So he came from the halls of
glory. It's the gospel of the glory
of God in that it brought Christ from that eternal glory which
he had with the Father to the world of sin. It's the gospel
of the glory of God because it will take an unworthy sinner
from the depths of corruption and guilt to heaven's glory. We expect to live in glory. We expect to be glorified. We expect to share and enjoy
God's glory. So this gospel which lifts us
from the dunghill to the throne is the gospel of glory. not our
glory, but God's glory. And then it's the gospel of God's
glory, because all who are saved by this gospel of substitution,
this gospel of the blood-shedding of Christ, this gospel of the
vicarious suffering, all who are saved by this gospel will
give God all the glory. So it's the gospel of the glory
of God. The glorious gospel of the blessed
God is the gospel of the glory of God. Born in God's glory,
the gospel of God's glory in its origination, and in its execution,
and in its application, and in its eternal consummation. Now look at verse 12. I thank
God. I thank Christ Jesus our Lord
for putting me into this ministry. Do you do that? Do you thank
God that he put you in the ministry? You say, I'm not in the ministry.
Yes, you are. This 13th Street Baptist Church
is not my ministry. It's our ministry. Our ministry. This missionary program that
God has given us, this radio ministry, is not my ministry. It's your ministry. Without you,
I wouldn't have it. This missionary ministry, this
is not my ministry, it's not the ministry of Brother Gruber,
Brother Howard, Brother Pledger, Brother Clark, Brother Stratta,
Brother Ellis, and these other ministers. You're a ministry,
for without you they wouldn't be there. They couldn't continue
there. They would have no pulpit, they
would have no program, they would have no church buildings without
your gifts and without your prayers. So we are in the ministry. In
fact, last month this church carried over one-third of the
salaries of every one of these missionaries, all six of them.
Over one-third of their ministry was supported by this church.
You fed their families. You bought their gas to take
them to preach the gospel. You bought their tires and repaired
their trucks and furnished their tracks and bought them testaments.
It's our ministry. And I thank God he put us in
this ministry, aren't you? I thank God he is with us in
the ministry of the gospel of his glory. Somebody came to me
this morning with a real blessing. I had a little power to preach
the gospel this morning, and a man came to me, and these were
his words. That's the Savior that I need,
the Christ that I preached, the Christ of the covenant, the Christ
of the flesh, the Christ of the cross, the Christ of the throne.
That's the Savior, and I thank you for preaching that Savior
to me. because that's the only way I could be saved. I'm glad
God put us in this ministry. I'm so glad that God didn't leave
us to the ministry of sinners save thyself. I'd hate to be
preaching that tonight. To poor, old, helpless, hell-deserving, weak sinners. Without strength,
without hope, without God. Sinner? God's done all He can
do. Now it's up to you. I'm glad I'm not in that ministry.
I'm glad God has done all he can do. When God does all that
God can do, a sinner is saved. A sinner is saved. I'm glad I'm
not in that ministry that says, Sinner, save thyself. I'm glad
I'm in the ministry of the gospel of the glory of God. The gospel
of power that can change a life and change a heart and change
a home and change a man's whole direction. and change his attitude
and change his thinking, a gospel of power. Not this little old
silly, sentimental, easy believism that leaves a man in the gall
of bitterness, but a gospel of power, the gospel of purpose. the gospel of a person, the gospel
of predestinating graces. Aren't you glad you're in that
ministry? I thank God, he said. I thank God. And God enabled
me. God enabled me. We didn't invent
this gospel. We discover this gospel by our
special training, or our special wisdom, our special goodness,
for he says in verse 13, I was before a blasphemer just like
everybody else, a child of wrath, a persecutor, injurious, ignorant,
sitting in unbelief. But God called me, and God enabled
me, and God put me in the ministry of the gospel of His glory. If
God had left me to myself, I'd be in the same empty, failing, frustrating, disappointing,
hypocritical religion to this day. But God put me in the ministry. God gave me the message of His
grace. Look at verse 14. And grace of
our Lord was exceeding abundance with faith and love which is
in Christ Jesus." Now, here's where a translation will help
you, if you'll keep one alongside the King James. Now, really it
says the same thing here, but listen to this amplified version.
Now, Paul starts out and says, this gospel I preach is the gospel
of God's glory. It's the gospel of power, the
gospel of purpose, the gospel of a person. And God put me in
this ministry. I was in an unbelief and a blasphemer
and profane and injurious, but God enabled me and put me in
this ministry. And the grace of our Lord, listen
to this, and the unmerited favor and blessings of our Lord flowed
out to me superabundantly and beyond measure. accompanied by
faith and love, which are the gift of God. You say faith is
the gift of God? That's what the Bible says. For
by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves.
It's the gift of God. We're enabled not only to suffer
for Him, but to believe on Him. The disciples prayed, O Lord,
increase our faith. The Roman centurion said, Lord,
I believe, help my unbelief. Faith's a gift of God. Repentance
is the gift of God. The goodness of God led us to
repentance. It led us to repentance. The
gift of God. The love of God was shed abroad
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. Men by nature do not love God,
contrary to what you say. The natural mind is enmity against
God, the scripture says. The world hateth me, Christ says. The Scripture says not that we
loved God, but that He loved us and gave His Son for us. And
the Scripture says we love Him because He first loved us. So faith and love accompanied. Faith and love accompanied this
superabundant grace, and this faith and love is realized in
Christ Jesus. It was God's grace that loved
me with an everlasting love. It was God's grace that pumped
the Savior to Adam. When Adam in the Garden of Eden,
do you ever look back at that experience in the Garden and
identify yourself with it? What if God had cut Adam off
in that hour? Like He cut off the fallen angels,
like He cut off Lucifer. What if God had cut Adam off?
He would have cut you off too, because you're a son of Adam.
if he'd cut off him and his family and just divided them to be damned. But I'm glad Adam found grace
in the eyes of the Lord. And I'm glad that God spared
Noah. What if God had said, it pinneth
me that I've created man, I shall destroy man from off the face
of this earth. And I shall not spare Noah either.
Noah was my great, great, great, great grandfather. I came from
Noah. I would have been cut off with it. It was grace that let
the world survive who had nailed God to a tree. Instead of looking
down at that son and crying, Father, forgive them, the Savior
had said, Father, damn them. But it was the grace of God that
allowed a world to survive who had nailed his son to a cross.
It was the grace of God that called me out of my darkness.
It was the grace of God that put faith and repentance and
love in my heart. It is the grace of God that reveals
Christ as my Lord and Savior. It's the grace of God that enables
me to continue in faith, and it'll be the grace of God, and
by His grace, if I enter heaven's glory. The grace that taught
my heart to fear. and grace my fears relieved.
How precious did that grace appear the hour I first believed. The glorious, wonderful gospel
of glory. I thank God He put me in that
ministry. I was before blasphemer and injurious
and ignorant and unbelief. The grace of God was abundant. The grace of God lifted me and
established me. Now verse 15, and Paul comes
to this, he talks about his ministry, and now he comes down to his
message. And my friends, Martin Luther
called this verse, The Little Bible. The Little Bible, because
it contains so many vital parts of the Christian faith. If you
look at the 15th verse of 1 Corinthians 1, and look at it with the microscope
of the Spirit's eye and teaching, you'll come out with the basic
fundamental doctrines of the Christian faith. It's right here.
First of all, there are seven of them. Now listen carefully
to them. If you want to, jot them down in the margin of your
Bible. First of all, there is the inspiration of the Word of
God. He says this is a faithful saying. This is a true and sure saying. My friends, as sure as the existence
of God, this is a verbally inspired statement. That's what Paul is
saying. These are not the writings of men. This is not the message
of men. This is a faithful saying. We don't have this, we don't
have anything. This is the point of satanic
attack. If we can destroy your faith
in the Bible, if we can put a question mark on the Word of God, you
don't have any foundation at all. You don't have any rock
at all. If there's some doubt about this
being the Word of God, maybe there is no Savior. Maybe Jesus
Christ was an imposter. Maybe the people who crucified
him were doing the right thing. Maybe he was a heretic. Maybe
he was apostate. Maybe there is no such thing
as the law of God. Maybe there is no heaven. Maybe
there is no resurrection. Maybe there is no hell. The minute
you put a question mark on this book, you have no foundation,
you have no rock. Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the word of God. This is a faithful Savior. Now
let me turn to 2 Timothy chapter 3. Now this is so vital, as I
say these are the These are the vital parts of the Christian
faith. This is the message. In 2 Timothy
3.16, all Scripture is done by inspiration of God, and is profitable
for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in
righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect. fully furnished
under all good works. It came by the inspiration of
God. Now listen to this. In 2 Peter 1, verse 20 and 21,
verse 21, the prophecy, 2 Peter 1, 21, the prophecy came not
in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as
they were moved by the Holy Ghost. The men who wrote the Bible wrote
what God told them to write. His Holy Spirit inspired them,
instructed them, and taught them, and they wrote the Word of God.
And it was written by 40 men over a period of 1,500 years,
most of whom never knew one another, never saw one another. And yet
their writings brought together, and sixty-six books of the inspired
word of God tell the same gospel message, the story of Christ
and salvation through his blood. So this is a sure saying, this
is a faithful saying, this is a certain saying, this is a verbally
inspired saying. Now what's the next line? And
it's worthy of all acceptation. If you had your Amplified or
other version, you would find this to say this is worthy of
universal acceptance. All is universal. It is worthy
of acceptation by all men, not just Jews, not just Gentiles,
not just white men, but all men. Now men may say, and this is
rather a ridiculous thing, But I've been reading about this
lately, especially since the races have had their conflicts
in the last few years. But there are some black people
who talk about they don't want a white God. Well, now, men may
argue about a white God or a black God or whatever, but now listen,
I want you to turn to John 4, John chapter 4. And Jesus Christ
came into this world. Now, God is a spirit. God is
neither a white man nor a black man. God is a spirit. That's
what Christ said in John chapter 4. Now, turn over here with me.
And here was the same basic argument. He was a Samaritan woman. Now,
the Lord Jesus Christ, who is God, the very God of the very
God, that's what the Word declares, came into this world clothed
in flesh. God sent his Son made of a woman. Now, in order to
come, he has to come through some race. He has to come, when
the Lord Jesus came into this world, he had to either come
down here as an Ethiopian, or as a Greek, or as a Roman, or
as a Jew, or as a nomad, or whatever, the Anglo-Saxon, or the different
Chinese. He had to come as something to
be a man. Now then, he came as a Jew, because
the Jew of Abraham were God's chosen people. There's no question
about that. I'm a Gentile. I'm an Irishman.
I'm not a Jew. But my God was a Jew. Not that
God is a Jew now, but my God came to this earth as a Jew.
And he came as a Jew because salvation is of the Jew. No question
about that. You reject the Jews and you reject
Christ coming as a Jew, you'll just have to go to hell, because
that's the way he came. And you take it like God gave
it. We don't dictate the terms of salvation to God, we believe
what God says. And Christ, back yonder, God
gave the law to Moses, and to the Jewish people. And God gave
the tabernacle to the Jewish people. And God gave the priesthood,
and God gave the tithes, and God gave the shadows, and God
gave the throne. The Jews were God's chosen people. Now there were many Gentiles
who proselyted to Judaism, and who believed there was an Ethiopian
union. He was a black man who believed
on Christ, who proselyted, who came to Jerusalem. But now here
was a Samaritan woman, and she says in verse 20 of John 4, Our
fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you say that in Jerusalem
is the place men ought to worship. Jesus said unto her, Woman, believe
me, The hour is when you shall neither in this mountain nor
at Jerusalem worship the Father. You worship, you know what. We
know what we worship. Salvation is of the Jews. Now, if there's any bigotry here
tonight, or dislike for Jews, I hope that chokes you to death,
because that's what Paul said. He said salvation is of the Jews. And you just have to take that
and swallow it, clear down into your heart. and let love come
out in its place, because the Master said that about them.
Salvation is of the Jews. Jesus Christ is down here in
the body of a Jew. He was born of a Jewish mother,
and he was born of the house and lineage of a Jewish king
by the name of David. Now, whether you're a black man
here tonight, or a white man, or whether you're an Irishman,
or a German, or an Englishman, or whatever you are, when the
Lord Jesus Christ walked on this earth, he was a Jew. And salvation
is of the Jews. She said, I'm not ashamed of
the gospel, it's the power of God and the salvation, to the
Jew first, and also to the Greek. And Christ, when he sent his
disciples, he said, you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem,
in Judea, in Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of Israel.
But now here's the message. Turn to Revelation 7. Revelation
chapter 7. Here's the message, and we can
get this thing of white God, or a black God, or a Jewish God,
or whatever you want to call it, a blond-headed God, or a
black-headed God. God is a spirit. And they would
worship him, worship him in spirit and truth. But when our Lord
came to this earth, he came down here as a Jew, because the Jews
had all the types and shadows and examples, and he fulfilled
the Jewish ceremonial law. Now there's no reason for their
being in what we call Judaism today, because all that's put
aside, all that nails to the cross. In Christ there's neither
Jew nor Greek, there's neither male nor female, there's neither
rich nor poor, there's neither black nor white. In Revelation 7, listen to it,
verse 9, And after this I beheld, and lo, a great number, which
no man could number, of all nations." Oh, kindred. Somebody asked me
a silly question one time and said, Do you ever meet a black
person you thought really knew the gospel? I sure have, lots
of them. I heard a black minister last Sunday a week ago when I
was in North Carolina. I turned the television on and
listened to him pray. I then cried. It was such a wonderful
prayer honoring our Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord's got a people
of all nations and kindred and people. I'm really disappointed,
really, in the attitude of some of the people of this towards
the black man. It's not just confined to Birmingham,
Alabama or Detroit, Michigan. I wish I could give you some
examples that goes on around here. In a restaurant the other
day, there was a black couple came in and got their food. And
they went over and they took their food and sat down beside
a white couple. And the white couple got up and
left their food and walked out. Now let me tell you something,
brethren. A man who has that kind of attitude doesn't know
God. Now just put that down. Doesn't
love God, doesn't know God, and is going to hell. You just cannot
have a basic hatred for anybody in Christ. And we need to declare
those things from our pulpits. If our pulpits would declare
those things and have declared them through the years, probably
there would be a lot less trouble today. But God has a people out
of all nations and all kindreds and all people and all tongues. God has a people. In verse 15,
this is a fateful saying and worthy of all acceptation, universal
acceptation. Watch it. Isn't it that Christ
is Jesus? Now, I want you to get this right
here. Here you have the deity of our Lord and the humanity
of our Lord. The word Christ is His deity,
God. And the word Jesus is His humanity,
Christ Jesus. He's the God-man. God was in
the world. God became flesh. You see that? In Christ Jesus. Now, in one
country I visited, I don't remember whether it was Spain or France,
but over there a boy gets his mother's and his daddy's name.
We got a boy right here, Brent Luther Bush. He's named Luther
for Lee, and Bush for his daddy. You see, he's got his mother's
and daddy's name. That's both sides, you see that? And in one
country, that's where they name their boys. They always give
them the mother's name and the daddy's name. Now here you have
Christ Jesus. The Lord Jesus Christ was on
this earth. He was Christ Jesus. He asked
his disciples, he said, Whom do you say that I am? He said,
Thou art the Christ, the Son of God. And then the angel said
to Mary, Thou shalt call his name Jesus. That's his name of
humiliation, that's his name of flesh, for he shall save his
people from their sins. Christ Jesus, the God-man. See
the little Bible here, and I'll go on. He came into this world. Christ Jesus came into this world. And why did he come into this
world? It says God, in the fullness of time, sent his Son into this
world. Let's turn to Galatians and let
me show you. This is one of the best verses
to see why he came. In Galatians chapter 4, it says
in Galatians 4, when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth
his Son, the God-man, Christ Jesus, made of a woman. He lived
in the womb of a woman. He was born a woman. He was made
under the law. He was born under the law. He
was born subject to the law. He was born as a man. And as
a man is subject to all authority, the authority of the home, the
authority of the state, the government, the authority of God, the moral
law, the judicial law, the ceremonial law, Christ was made of a woman
under that law. Why? to redeem them that were
under the cross. He came down here subject to
it, in obedience to it, that he might fulfill for us a perfect
righteousness. Now let me say something here.
Somebody gave me a tract this past week, Monday or Tuesday,
and that tract had written these words, The only sin that will
send a man to hell is rejecting Jesus. Now, my friends, you want
to be real careful when you pass out tracts that make statements
like that, because that's not so. You see, that makes Christ
the author of damnation. If the only sin that will send
me to hell is to reject Jesus Christ, it would be better if
I never heard of him. Then I couldn't reject him. It
would be better for me if he hadn't come. If the only thing
that will send me to hell is to not believe on him and not
to receive him and to reject him, if that's the only thing
that will send me to hell, it would be better if he hadn't come.
But he didn't come to condemn the world. That's not why he
came. He came that the world through him might be saved. He's
not the condemner, he's the Savior. Look at this next line. Christ
Jesus came into the world to save. Not to damn, but to save. Not to condemn, but to save.
That's why he came. That was his mission, to save.
He came into this world to save. Now brethren, not to help us
save ourselves, and not to make us savable, and not to attempt
to save, but he said he came to save. That's what he set out
to do. He said the Son of Man has come
to seek and to save that which is lost. Christ is not trying
to save anybody. What the Lord tries to do, he
does. The God you worship may be so impotent that he tries
and fails, but the God of the Bible can't fail. The scripture
says, He shall not fail. He shall not fail. He said, All
that my mother giveth me, they shall come to me. My sheep hear
my voice. and I give them eternal life,
and they shall never perish." He said, He came to seek and
to save. And I like this, the people for
whom He came and the people whom He saved are sinners. Not religious
people, not moral people, there are none, not good people, there
aren't any, but sinners. Now turn to Isaiah chapter 1.
I love this scripture here. It ought to put every one of
us to death, because we've all sinned and come short of God's
glory. All we like sheep have gone astray,
we've turned every one to his own way. Every one of us have
broken the law of God and sinned against God. Every one of us
are sinners. I was watching a television program the other night, and
some girl had burned down a building. And they're putting her on trial
for burning down a building, and the lawyer told her that
she was going to criminal court. She said, I'm not a criminal.
Well, he says, you are. When you break the law, you're
a criminal. And my friend, when you break the law, you're a sinner.
You may not like the word, but you are a sinner. And it says
in Isaiah 1 verse 18, Come now and let us reason together, saith
the Lord. Though your sins be as scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow. Though they be red like crimson,
they shall be as wool. God promises to save sinners,
not sinners that remain in their sin, and not sinners that remain
in their rebellion, but sinners who come to Him. who repent of
sin, who cling to Christ, who look to Christ, who will receive
Christ, who believe on Christ. He came to save sinners from
their sins and deliver them from their ungodly attitude. Now look at the last thing, of
whom I am chief. And this last statement, this
last statement reveals the attitude of those whom he saves. Paul
says Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, and Paul
is not a proud, arrogant man. Paul is not a haughty, holier-than-thou
man. Paul says, I'm the chief sinner.
I'm the foremost sinner. I'm the greatest sinner. If God
can save me, he can sure save you. You see, that's the attitude
of the people whom he saved. So this little Bible, Martin
Luther says, the faithful saved, God's verbally inspired word,
worthy of universal acceptation by all nations, tribes, and tongues,
that the God-man, this world, was incarnate in human flesh,
and he came down here to save, not to try to save, but by his
blood, and by his obedience, and by his death, and by his
suffering, to save sinners. who've broken the law of God
and the attitude of all whom he saves is, I'm the chief. I need more mercy than anybody
else. I need more grace than anybody else. Why don't you come
meet us in the closing hymn, if you will. How about that, To God Be the
Glory? That's 449. This, that fits in
with my message, the gospel of the glory of God. To God be the
glory. 449 great things he hath done. So loved he the world that he
was his son. He yielded his life and atonement
for sin. and open the life gate that all
may go in." 449. Let's sing. in his life and atonement for
sin, and open the life gate that all may go in. Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! Let the earth hear Praise the Lord, let the people
rejoice. Hold on to the Father, to Jesus
the Son, and give him the glory, great thing he has done.