Now, if you'll open your Bibles
to 1 Corinthians 9.16. 1 Corinthians 9.16. The greatest
man of apostolic times was the Apostle Paul. No question about
that. Paul was the greatest man in
everything that he did. And actually, if you go back
to the time when his life was not lived in Christ and through
Christ and for Christ, he was even great in what he did then.
Someone said Paul was great in everything he did, whether it
was good or whether it was bad, because he did nothing halfway. Nothing. If you consider him
as a sinner, he was exceeding sinful. That's what he said,
exceeding sinful. He said, I'm a blasphemer. I
was a blasphemer, an injurious. If you consider him as a persecutor,
he was mad, mad against Christians. He persecuted them even in strange
cities. He wasn't content to persecute
those at home. He had to travel even to Damascus
with letters giving him permission to destroy the people of Christ. If you consider the Apostle Paul
as a convert, his conversion was remarkable. His conversion
was miraculous. He met Christ in a real and personal
way on the road to Damascus, blinded by the light, falling
into the dust, looking up into that light, crying, Lord, what
wilt thou have me to do? If you consider this man as a
preacher of the gospel, He stands out as the Prince of Preachers,
the greatest of them all, crying, I am ready to preach the gospel
to them that are at Rome also. I am determined to know nothing
among you, nothing, save Jesus Christ and him crucified. God forbid, he said, that I should
glory save in the cross of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Whatever Paul did, He did with all his heart. Whatever Paul
did, he did completely. He did nothing halfway. If he
was rebelling, he was rebelling. If he was bowing, he was bowing.
If he was worshiping, he was worshiping. If he was preaching
the gospel, he was preaching the gospel. There was no nonsense
in anything that he did when it came to speaking about God.
And when he wrote my text this morning, For though I preach
the gospel, I have nothing to glory of, for necessity is laid
upon me. Yea, woe is unto me if I preach
not the gospel." He writes it with an unshaking hand. He writes
it with a firmness, with a dedication, with a determination. I preach
the gospel. I preach the gospel. Yea, woe is unto me if I preach
not the gospel. No nonsense. in anything connected
with the praise of God, with the worship of God, with the
glory of God, and with the gospel of God. Now, we need to learn
this. I want you to turn, first of
all, to Psalms 89. Psalms 89, verse 7. In the 89th Psalm, verse 7, the
Scripture says this, God is greatly to be feared in
the assembly of the saints, and to be heard in reverence of all
them that are about him. God is greatly to be feared.
Do you know that in the Old Testament when one spoke of a genuine believer
When one spoke of a man who worshiped God and who walked with God,
do you know how he was described? One that feared the Lord. Do
you know how the rebels of our day are described? Do you know
how men are described, and women, boys and girls, who do not know
God, who are not the children of God? They are said to be those
who have no fear of the Lord. There is no fear of God before
their eyes. That means they don't know him.
God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and
he is to be had in what? In reverence of all them that
are about him. Turn to Ecclesiastes. In Ecclesiastes
chapter 5, verse 1. And what I'm saying is the Apostle
Paul, whatever he did, He did it 100 percent. Whatever he did,
it was no halfway measure. He wrote, whatever we do, whether
we eat or drink or whatever we do, do it for the glory of God.
And particularly when it came to the gospel, when it came to
worship, when it came to preaching Christ, when it came to the praise
of God, there was no nonsense about this man. He says in Ecclesiastes
5 verse 1, Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God,
and be more ready to hear than to give the sacrifice of fools,
for they consider not that they do evil. Be not rash with thy
mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter anything before
God, for God is in the heaven, and thou upon earth. Therefore,
let thy words be few." That condemns the so-called worship of this
day, the socializing, the entertaining. The Lord is in the heavens, thou
upon earth. Let thy words be few. Be not
hasty to utter anything in the presence of the Lord. Keep thy
foot, for God has no pleasure in the sacrifice of fools. Turn
with me to the book of Habakkuk. In the book of Habakkuk, chapter
2, verse 20, listen to this. But the Lord is in his holy temple. Let all the earth keep silence
before him. Let all the earth keep silence
before him. Now the words of our text are
applicable to every minister of the gospel and to every church
where the gospel is to be preached. The words of our text in 1 Corinthians
9, 16, seriously, sincerely, in simplicity, in boldness, in
courage, in power of the Holy Spirit, Paul says, though I preach
the gospel, I have nothing to glory of." What is it to preach
the gospel? What is it to preach the gospel?
Though I preach the gospel, what is it to preach the gospel? Is
everybody preaching the gospel? No. Is everybody who claims to
preach the gospel preaching the gospel? No. What is it to preach
the gospel? Paul said he preached it. He
preached it. I preached the gospel, he said.
I preached the gospel. First of all, to preach the gospel
is to preach the truth about God. We preach the God of eternal
existence. The scripture says, in the beginning,
God. When Moses came to the burning
bush, God said, go down and deliver my people out of Egypt. Moses
said, Whom shall I say has sent me? And God spoke and said, I
am. I am. Not I was. Not I shall
be. I am. The eternal I am. The everlasting
I am. I am that I am. God. In the beginning
God. We preach the God of eternal
existence. We preach the God of creation.
All things were made by Him. And without him was not anything
made that was made. In him we live, we move, we have
our being. God created all things. We preach
the God of sovereign mercy. The scripture says Noah found
grace in the eyes of the Lord. The scripture says, I will have
mercy upon whom I will have mercy. I will be gracious to whom I
will be gracious. We preach the God of sovereign
mercy. The God of mercy, yes, but sovereign
mercy. The God of grace, yes, but sovereign
grace. God will be gracious to whom
he will be gracious. He owes no man anything. If he
bestows his grace, his mercy, it is sovereignly bestowed. He
is an immutable sovereign, an unchanging sovereign. We preach
the God of righteousness. Our Lord said, I will in no wise
clear the guilty. I will in no wise clear the guilty. The soul that sinneth, it shall
die. Sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. God Almighty
is a righteous God. He is a holy God. He takes no
pleasure in wickedness. Therefore Christ Jesus came into
this world that God might be just and justify the ungodly. We preach a God that cannot show
his love at the expense of his holiness. We preach the God who
cannot show mercy at the expense of his truth. And only at Calvary
can mercy and truth meet together and righteousness and peace kiss
one another. The God we preach is the God
of righteousness, and he's the God of unchanging grace. I am
the Lord, he said, I do not change. Therefore you sons of Jacob are
not consumed. Why is there no fear of God before
the eyes of this generation? They've heard preached a false
God. They've heard preached a weak
God. They've heard preached a failing
God. They've heard preached a disappointed
God. They've heard preached of God
whose hands are tied. They've heard preached of God
who says, I have no eyes but your eyes. I have no feet but
your feet. I have no hands but your hands.
That's a lie. That's a lie. The God of the
Bible is totally and completely and thoroughly independent of
his creatures as far as his strength and his wisdom and his power
and his beauty and his glory are concerned. We do not add
to his glory, we receive and share in his glory. The God we
preach is the God of eternal existence. The God we preach
is the God of creation, the God of sovereign mercy, the God of
righteousness, and the God of unchanging grace. The God upon
whom we depend, the God to whom we look, the God without whom
we can't exist and we can't live. All things that we have, we receive
of him. We return nothing but that which
he gives us. What is it to preach the gospel?
It is to preach the truth about God. And secondly, what is it
to preach the gospel? It's to preach the truth about
man. Turn to Romans chapter 3, Romans
the third chapter, beginning with verse 9. And men do not
want to hear the truth about God. They want to hear preached
in their ears the God that their own hands have created. They
want to hear preached the God that does what they let him do.
They want to preach a God that's dependent upon them, a God who
says, I can't spell church without you. They do not want to hear
the truth about God, and men do not want to hear the truth
about themselves. But the gospel preachers preach
the truth not only about God, but the truth about the sinner.
And they leave that sinner empty and broken and destroyed, with
all his foundations of flesh swept out from under him, and
all his righteous rags stripped from off him, leaving him naked
and unclothed before the searchlight of God's holiness. What does
the Bible say about man? It says here in verse 10 of Romans
3, there's none righteous. No, not one. There's none that
understand it. There's none that seek after
God. What are men seeking? Seeking their own glory. Seeking
their own pleasure. Seeking their own comfort. Seeking
their own wealth. Seeking their own satisfaction. Everybody seeks their own. They
do not seek God. They are all gone out of the
way. They are together become unprofitable. There is none that
do it good. No, not one. Not one. Christ said, You have not the
love of God in you. Somebody says, Well, I love people.
No, you don't. You just sit and think this morning
who you love. You love yourself. You try to
think, right this minute, is there anybody in this world you
really love? Huh? Well, you say, I love my
wife. That's yourself. That's yourself. That's your wife. Well, I love
my mother and father. That's still loving yourself.
That's not loving anybody. You love them because they're
your mother and father. Well, I love my son and daughter.
Yeah, your son and daughter. You love anybody else's son and
daughter? That's still loving yourself. I love my brothers
and sisters." That's yourself. Well, I love my Savior, my own
personal Savior. That's loving yourself. If he
weren't your Savior, you wouldn't love him. Everything you love
is connected with your own sinful, selfish self. Your whole world
revolves around yourself, your own pleasures, your own delights,
your own passions, your own seeking. There is none good, no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulchre. Their tongues, with their tongues
they have used deceit. The poison of snakes is under
their lips. Their mouths are full of cursing,
bitterness, murmuring, complaining, fault-finding, gossip, backbiting,
bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed
blood. Destruction and misery are in
their ways. The way of peace, they know nothing
about it. And there's no genuine, honest,
sincere fear of God before their eyes. They don't fear God. They don't tremble at the presence
of God. They don't fall at his feet as
a dead man. Even your religious worshipers
today don't fear God. If they feared God, they'd be
silent in the presence of God. They'd choose their words carefully. Their worship would be marked
not by hallelujah shouting, their worship would be marked by an
awesome reverence and fear. Job said, When I saw the Lord,
I said, I've spoken yea once, yea twice, but I'll never speak
again. John said, When I saw the Lord,
I fell at his feet as a dead man. My eyes have seen the Lord. Isaiah said, When I saw the Lord,
I cried, Woe is me! I'm a man of unclean lips. I
dwell among a people of unclean lips. When I saw the Lord, I
saw my guilt. The average person goes to church
and he comes away feeling good. If the preacher had preached
the truth about God and the truth about man, they would have come
away from that place crying, O God, be merciful to me, a sinner,
a sinner. What is it to preach the gospel?
It's to tell the truth about men. It's to tell the truth about
God. And it's to tell the truth about
Jesus Christ. My friends, Jesus of Nazareth
is not a man only. Jesus of Nazareth is not a weak,
frustrated Reformer. Jesus Christ of Nazareth is very
God of very God. He is the Messiah. He did not
die as a martyr. He did not die as an example.
He came down here and died on the cross as the victorious,
conquering, successful Redeemer of his people. He died as the
covenant Redeemer. He died for the covenant people. He died to accomplish the task
given him by the Father from before the world's creation.
And when he finished his suffering on Calvary, he said, it is finished. He cannot fail. Christ is not
a frustrated Redeemer. He is not a disappointed Savior. He is not a defeated Savior.
He is not a poor, defeated Reformer up there in heaven crying his
eyes out because people won't let him have his way. He is the
conquering, victorious Messiah who is seated at the right hand
of the Father, expecting till his enemies become his footstool.
He is the Lord of the living and the dead. Some preacher said
to a congregation one time, won't you make Jesus your Lord? Well, this preacher makes bold
to tell this congregation that you can't make Jesus Christ your
Lord, that the Father has already beat you to it. He is your Lord. He is your Lord. He's your Lord
if you go to heaven, he's the Lord if you go to hell. He is
the Lord if you are saved, he is the Lord if you are damned,
he is the Lord if you are on the right hand with a sheep,
he is the Lord if you are on the left hand with a goat. He
is the Lord. And every knee shall bow and
every tongue shall confess in heaven, earth and hell that he
is the Lord. You don't make him Lord, you
recognize him as Lord. God made him Lord. The Father
hath delivered all things to the Son, the scripture says.
He is the Lord. He purchased that right not only
by the decree of God, but by his death on Calvary. Jesus Christ
is not a fire escape from hell. He is the Lord. He is not a doormat
named Jesus. He is the Lord. You bow to him
as Lord. If any man shall confess with
his mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord, and believe in his heart,
God hath raised him from the dead, he shall be saved. His life is a perfect righteousness,
and his death is a perfect sacrifice." We'd better start telling the
truth about this man called Jesus. To preach the gospel is to tell
the truth about the Lord Jesus Christ. And to preach the gospel,
let me tell you this, Paul said, I preach the gospel. I'm not
here to please men. If I please men, I'm not God's
servant. I'm not here to pastor a church.
I'm here to preach the gospel. I'm not here to see how many
people I can baptize. I'm here to preach the gospel.
And I didn't come to preach it with wisdom of word, lest I covered
the cross of Christ up so that men can't even recognize it because
of my intellectuality or my vocabulary. I've come to preach the gospel
and to tell the truth about God. and to tell the truth about men,
and to tell the truth about Christ, and to tell you the truth about
salvation. Now, let me tell you something. This thing of salvation, we use
that word awfully loose in this day, but salvation from sin is
not by the deeds of the law. This was pointed out to us on
Wednesday night. Even those who are supposed to
know something about salvation by grace, have to remind themselves
again and again that salvation is not by the works of the flesh,
not at all in any way. Salvation is not by Reformation. Salvation does not come by decision. Salvation does not come through
Church ordinances. Salvation is not always by Church
membership. Salvation is in Christ, Christ
the Lord. That's where salvation is. It's
not in a purpose, it's not in a plan, it's in a person. It's
not in a proposition, it's not walking an hour, it's not in
a church ordinance. It's in Christ. It's not in a
law, it's not in the deeds of the flesh. Salvation's in Christ! And a man does not have salvation
until he comes by the power of God's Spirit through faith to
a living, personal, vital, intimate union with Christ the Lord. Now
that's so. And people can run around here
claiming they're Christians, they're Christians, they're Christians,
all they want to. But a man's not a Christian until
he's in Christ. A man's not a Christian until
he's vitally united with Christ. A man's not a Christian until
he's inseparably joined, personally joined, to Jesus Christ. A man's not a Christian until
Christ becomes his life. A man's not a Christian until
you can cut into his heart and find love for Christ, and cut
into his mind and find thoughts of Christ, and cut into his soul
and find a painting after Christ. He can talk about going to church
and serving the Lord and all of these things he wants to,
but he's not a Christian until he's in Christ. Christ in you,
that's the hope of glory. I'm telling you the truth. I'm
telling you the truth. The Holy Spirit convicts a man
of sin, the Holy Spirit empties the sinner, the Holy Spirit brings
a man to faith in the Son of God, faith in the Living Lord. If any man be in Christ, he is
a new creature. Old things are passed away, behold,
all things become new. Most people's so-called Christianity
can be taken off with their Sunday clothes. But a man who's genuinely
saved and who has been brought to a knowledge of the Lord Jesus
Christ and who has eternal life, has Christ living in him as an
everlasting fountain springing up into everlasting life. He's been born again. He's been
resurrected from the grave. He has the very image of the
Son of God stamped on his heart and it cannot be moved. and it
cannot be moved. What is it to preach the gospel?
Well, there are not many folks preaching the gospel, because
there are not many people telling the truth about God. Everybody
has got a God. Everybody has got a God, but
eternal life is to know the living God. What is it to preach the gospel
is to tell the truth about man. And we're not going to like what
we hear. It's to tell the truth about Christ, and it's to tell
the truth about salvation. Our Lord said, everybody, it
says to me, Lord, Lord, I'm not going to enter the kingdom of
God. The old spiritual that he used to sing down south says,
everybody talking about heaven, I ain't going there. The second
thing that Paul deals with here quickly, though I preach the
gospel, watch it now, I have nothing to glory of. Why is it that we who preach
the gospel have nothing to glory of? Well, number one, we're conscious
of our own guilt. Any man who is not conscious
of his own guilt can't preach the gospel, because he doesn't
know the gospel, and you can't tell what you don't know anymore,
and you can come back to where you hadn't been. A man is conscious
who preaches the gospel of his own guilt. This very man who
wrote this scripture right here, led by the Holy Spirit, said
this. I am not worthy to be an apostle.
I see no worthiness in myself. Later on he said, I'm less than
the least of all the saints. Pick out the least saint in God's
house, and I'm less than that least saint. And then later on
he said this, Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners,
of whom I'm chief. I wonder if I asked this morning,
would the chief of sinners please stand? Would anybody here really
stand? Huh? Would you now really? Huh? Would you? No, we wouldn't stand. But the Apostle Paul said that.
The man who really knew God felt that. The man who really knew
Christ The man of whom Christ said, He's a vessel chosen of
me to bear my name. When somebody said, Paul, who's
the chief of sinners? He said, I am. Now, you're pretty
good, but you're going to hell. But Paul, he was a sinner, and
God saved him. God saved him. For the main thing,
you're uncouth. That's all right, I'm getting
my point across, aren't I? Paul said, I'm the chief of sinners.
Oh, Dr. James M. Gray wrote this, Suffer
a sinner whose heart overflows, loving his Savior to tell what
he knows. Once more to tell it, would I
embrace? What do you want to tell, Dr.
Gray? I'm only a sinner saved by grace. Only a sinner saved
by grace. A man who really knows God never
graduates above that statement right there, I'm only a sinner
saved by grace. He never climbs any higher than
that, he's only a sinner saved by grace. He may grow in grace
and grow in talent and grow in gifts and grow in knowledge,
but he's still only a sinner saved by grace. We have nothing
to glory. We're just using borrowed gifts.
Turn to 1 Corinthians 4, listen to verse 7. Who maketh thee to
differ? Who maketh thee to differ? Are
you able to preach? Who gave you the power? Do you
have a little more than somebody else? Who gave it to you? Do
you have some more talents, maybe, than the next fellow? Who made
you to differ? What hast thou that thou didst
not receive? Now if you received it, why distill
glory? Why do you glory in your beauty?
God gave it to you. Why do you glory in your strength?
Without God you wouldn't have it. Why do you glory in your
wealth? God gave it to you. Why do you
glory in your talent, in your singing ability? Go around with
your snooty nose in the air like you're somebody. If it hadn't
been for God's grace, you'd be croaking like a chicken. That's
right. Why do you glory in your ability
to play an instrument? You couldn't play the radio without
God's grace. You'd be a simple-minded imbecile. Who made you to differ? What
do you have that God didn't give you? When if you're walking around
with something somebody gave you, why are you bragging as
if you have it of your own natural ability, huh? Why do you think
you're any better than anyone else? Only God's preventive grace
and God's merciful grace and God's gracious grace enabled
you to be anything but a stuttering, stammering moron. Let me tell
you a true story. Charles Spurgeon wrote this in
1855. Last week The quiet neighborhood of Newtown
was disturbed by an occurrence which had thrown a gloom over
the whole neighborhood. Something dreadful happened.
A well-known teacher, a man who had been principal
of the Academy for Young Men, For many years, Spurgeon continued,
who was my own professor, has become mentally deranged. He's
lost his mind. A warrant had to be issued for
his arrest. And while waiting for the vehicle
to carry him away to the institution for the mentally insane, He stood
on the front porch, this old white-haired man, who had been
principal of the Academy for Young Men, stood on the porch
of his home where he had lived all his life before his friends
and his neighbors, handcuffed to two policemen. He was then led away. He was
my teacher, Spurgeon said. He was the man from whom I learned
whatever human learning I have acquired. He was a man of genius. He was a man of ability. I've
fallen. I've fallen. How quickly can
human nature sink below the level of the beast? Don't get too smart,
fella. Don't get too smart. They might
handcuff you and carry you away if God turns his back on you.
Who made you to differ? What do you have that you have
not received? Salvation is the gift of God. Faith is the gift of God. Repentance, don't you know that
the goodness of God led you to repentance? strength, health,
the ability to breathe, everything you have, God gave you. Though
I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of. Nothing. Nothing. I can't break the heart, the
Holy Spirit has to do that. I can't convict me in a sin,
God has to do that. I can't give repentance and faith.
God has to do that. I can't reveal Christ. If my
words are the only voice you hear, you'll just have to perish.
You've got to hear him speak from heaven. Read the next line in our text
quickly. Necessity is laid upon me. Why
is it necessary for me to preach the gospel? Why are you, preacher, why are
you so compelled? Why is it that every time you
speak, it's always Christ and him crucified, the gospel? I'll
tell you why. Reason number one, because of
the truth and the beauty of the gospel. I see in the gospel of
substitution a beauty beyond all things. I see in the gospel
of Jesus Christ, the good news of the Son of God, the truth
of God. Only Christ can meet the perfect
law. Only Christ. No man, only Christ. Only Christ can satisfy the justice
of God. Only Christ can open the way
for us into the holiest of all, into the presence of the Father.
Only Christ can supply the need of the bankrupt sinner. Only
Christ. His grace is free and His grace
is sufficient. And only Christ can keep me from
falling. Only Christ can keep my mind
on him. Now unto him who is able to keep
you from falling, and to present you unto him who is able to present
you faultless before the throne and the glory, the presence of
his glory with exceeding joy, to him be glory both now and
forever. That's why it's necessary for
me to preach the gospel, the beauty of it, the glory of it,
the truth of it. I could tell you salvation's
in the church, but it wouldn't be true. I could tell you to
come down here and shake my hand, God'd take you to heaven, but
it'd be a lie. I could tell you, let me baptize you, obey the
baptismal commandment, and you'd go to heaven, but it wouldn't
be so. I could tell you if you give every good life and pray
and go to church on Sunday and give a little offering that God
will take you to heaven when you die, but it wouldn't be so.
It wouldn't be true. I could tell you to quit drinking,
quit going to the picture show, and live a good moral life and
you'd go to heaven when you die, but that would be a lie, wouldn't
it be so? Because God sends you to hell for your thoughts. and
for all your sins and your evil. But when I stand and tell you
that Christ died for our sins, that Christ is a sufficient Savior,
that Christ is an effectual Savior, that Christ is an effectual substitute
who came down here and gave us a righteousness which we didn't
have and couldn't produce, and went to the cross and bore our
sins and paid our debt and satisfied the justice of God, and your
hope is in him as your living advocate at the right hand of
the Father. And if you come to a living,
vital union with him, you'll be saved. That's the truth, and
only the truth shall make you free." The last line, and I close. And I wish I had the ear of every
preacher in the world right now. Not that I deserve to preach
to preachers, but I know this is so. It doesn't matter if a
little child says it or an ignorant person says it or who says it.
Paul said it first. The Holy Spirit inspired him
to say it. Woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel. I'm
in trouble, real trouble. I cannot think of any crime,
I can't think of a crime more terrible than to be entrusted
with the immortal souls of eternity-bound boys and girls, young people,
men and women, like every preacher is entrusted every Sunday, and
then stand up here and take the time talking about myself. and
take the time and stand up here and talk about my problems, or
my so-called denomination, or my church, or talk about my ideas
of what's right and what's wrong. I cannot think of a greater crime,
I cannot think of a more terrible crime than to be entrusted with
the souls of men and women who are sitting before you, some
of whom may be in hell before next Sunday. some of whom may
be dead and standing before the judgment bar of God before next
Sunday, and take that time singing a bunch of ditties and carrying
on a bunch of jokes and foolishness and making a mockery out of the
gospel of Jesus Christ. I cannot think of a more awful
crime against society than to deceive people who are given
to you to instruct in the things of the Lord. Woe is unto me,
God help me. I don't have time for Sunday
school reports or training union reports or social announcements.
I've got to preach the gospel. Woe is unto me if I don't. God help me if I don't. God have
mercy and he won't. If I don't, woe unto the cities
of Sodom and Gomorrah, woe unto the Christ crucifiers of Jerusalem,
but double woe upon the preachers and shepherds and pastors who
for advantage and filthy lucre and the praise of men deceive
men's souls. God help them, but he won't. God help them. woe is unto me,
if I preach not," what? The gospel. And there's not another
one. It's the gospel of Christ. If
an angel from heaven preached unto you any other gospel, Paul
said, let him be accursed. Now, if you want to play games,
you play them, but you play them somewhere else. I'm going to
preach the gospel here. If you want to play church, you
play it, but you play it somewhere else. I'm scared. I'm preaching
as a dying man to dying men. I'm preaching as one who may
never preach again, and under God I'm going to tell you the
truth. As I say this in closing, woe is unto me if I don't preach
the gospel. But I've got something to tell
you. Woe is unto you if I preach it and you don't believe it.
Now, you just take that and put it in your pipe and smoke it.
And you can run around all over town saying, I don't want to
go to church out there. Well, you don't come if you don't
want to. But I'm telling you this, war is unto you if I preach
the gospel and you don't believe in it. You may not understand
it, and it may not fit in with your tradition, and I'm sure
if it's the gospel it won't. And it may not fit into your
denominational pattern, and I'm sure if it's the gospel it won't,
because Christ didn't fit the denominational pattern when he
came down here either. And he didn't fit into their
religious theology when he came down here either. And he didn't
fit into their tradition when he came down here either. And
he didn't fit into their mold. They crucified him and then martyred
all eleven disciples. And Paul the twelfth one killed
them, except John, whom they exiled out on the Isle of Patmos.
But my message may not fit into what Mama taught you, but Mama
ain't God. And she wasn't even a servant
of God. She wasn't sent of God to preach the gospel. I am. If
I didn't believe that, I'd quit. God called me to preach. God
ordained me to preach. You're not a preacher. And God
didn't call you to preach. He called me to preach. And he
didn't call you to tell me what the gospel is. He called me to
tell you what it is. You see what I'm saying? And
I'm saying, woe unto you and woe unto the tri-state area and
woe unto everybody under the sound of my voice if I preach
the gospel and you don't believe it. Now that's so. I'm willing to take my medicine
if I don't preach the gospel. But you get ready to take yours
if I do and you don't receive it. That fair? That's fair. I preach the gospel, Paul says.
And I preach it, I don't have anything to glory of. I'm just
a sinner saved by grace. Necessity is laid upon me, I've
got to preach the gospel. For woe is me if I don't preach
it. Now will you say this? Watch
it. I believe the gospel. But if
I believe the gospel, I don't have anything to glory of. Will
you say that, huh? God gave me the knowledge, God
gave me the repentance, God gave me the faith. For necessity is
laid upon me, I've got to believe the gospel. Because there's no
truth anywhere else, there's no beauty anywhere else, there's
no hope anywhere else, there's no refuge anywhere else. Necessity
is laid upon me. Can you say that? And can you
go on and finish? Woe is unto me if I don't believe
the gospel. That's all I've got to say. That's
it. That's it. That's between you and God. I
leave it with you. Our Father in Heaven, we pray
that you would take the gospel of our Son, the Lord Jesus Christ,
whom we love, who is our refuge and strength. I'm nothing, but
Christ is everything. I have nothing, but in him there
is everything. I'm dead in trespasses and sin,
filthy, naked and depraved, but Christ is perfect and holy and
sinless. Let him be my mediator, let him
be my representative, let him be my lawyer, let him be my advocate
and plead my cause. And plead not my righteousness,
I have none, but plead his. and not my works but his, and
not my sins but his grace and his mercy. O God, let thy blood
be propitiation for me on the mercy seat, and for all my friends
here. We don't have anything. We come
empty-handed, and we say, Rock of Ages, cleft for me. Let me
hide myself in thee. O God, bless us, bless us with
the knowledge of thy Son, and with the glorious peace of thy
presence. In Christ's name we pray, amen.