and he's in Malawi. His daughter
was going to be married to these young men next year and I think
they're probably in their 20s and the young man died this last
week just all of a sudden. So remember James and his family
and the young girl's family in your prayers if you will. Now
next Sunday August 14 we get back on schedule. Soup and sandwiches
and an afternoon service that's next Sunday We're finally over
this last little COVID scare, and everybody that had us over
it, so we're thankful for that. We're truly thankful for that.
You've not shown any symptoms, Cynthia? Good, good. Anybody else at school got it?
Well, that's great, that's great. Okay, let's begin our worship
service with hymn number 334, Be Thou My Vision, 334. Be Thou my vision, O Lord of
my heart. Not be all else to me, save that
Thou art. Thou my best thought by day or
by night. Waking or sleeping, Thy presence
my light. Be Thou my wisdom and Thou my
true word. I ever with Thee and Thou with
me, Lord. Thou my great father, I thy true
son. Thou in me dwelling, and I with
thee one. Riches I enough. Thou my inheritance Now and always
Thou and Thou only Ever my heart High King of Heaven My treasure
Thou alone of heaven, my victory won. May I reach heaven's joy, for
heaven's son. Heart of my own heart, forever
befall. Still be my vision, In number 186, after we read
scripture and prayer, I believe that's my church's one foundation,
isn't it? Yeah, in 186. If you have your Bibles, turn
with me to the epistle to the Colossian church, Colossians
chapter one. I'm gonna take my text from verse
23. I'm gonna read the beginning in verse 18. and
he is the head of the body the church who is the beginning the
firstborn from the dead that in all things he might have the
preeminence for it pleases the father that in him should all
fullness dwell and having made peace through the blood of his
cross by him to reconcile all things unto himself by him I
say whether they be in earth or things in heaven and you that
were sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked
works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through
death to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable
in his sight, if you continue in the faith, grounded and settled,
and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye
have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under
heaven, whereof I appalled, and made a minister, let us pray.
Our Father, we bless you and thank you for great mercy for
ruined and wretched sinners who are without hope and without
help in this world, who are naturally your enemies, who are born into
this world into sin, speaking lies as soon as we're born, drinking
negatively like water, halt and impotent, dead, doomed, and dying. Father, we Marvel at the fact
of your mercy and grace toward us. We know we deserve the worst
and you have given us the best. We thank you for God-given faith
to believe your word, to rest in the finished work of the Lord
Jesus Christ, to seek Him in all things as we look at this
book to find Him there in page after page. It's full of wonder. Father, we thank you for the
shed blood of Jesus Christ, that perfect sacrifice that propitiated
you for us, that put away our sins by that sacrifice, that was made to be our righteousness,
wisdom, sanctification, and redemption. Who is the Lord, our righteousness?
We thank you for that sacrifice that fully paid our sin debt,
that finished salvation so there's nothing left to do. We thank
you, Father, that we have been reconciled through the blood
of his cross, that we have been made by him unreprovable and
unblameable in his sight. We ask, Lord, for those who are
sick, those who have lost loved ones. We ask your help for them,
strengthen them. I remember especially playing
for D. Parks as he's having this chemotherapy. Pray for Brother
Mawali at the loss of this dear one who was about to marry his
daughter. Pray for our shut-ins. We ask, Lord, you'd be with them.
Help us this hour as we gather here together. And also, Lord,
we remember Rain French. He's going through some real
troubles. And we remember Sharon, who's taking care of him. Help
us, Lord, to remember each other in prayer, to call each other's
names after Heaven. Give us love for Christ and love
for one another. We pray in Christ's name. Amen.
The Church's One Foundation. The Church's One Foundation With new creation by water and
the Word. From heaven He came and sought
her to be His holy bride. With His own blood He bought
her and for her life He died. Electromagnetism. The charter of salvation, one
Lord, one faith, one birth, one holy name, she blesses, partakes
one holy food, and to one holy name. with every grace in due. Mid toil and tribulation and
tumult of her war, she wakes the consummation of peace forever. ? Till with a vision glorious
? Her longing eyes are blessed ? And the great church victorious
? Shall be the church at rest ? Yet she on earth hath union
? And mistakes sweet communion
? With those whose rest is won ? O happy ones and holy ? Lord
give us grace that we ? Like them the meek and lowly ? Own
high and well with thee I'm gonna ask Steve and Stan
to receive you all this morning, please. Let us pray. Father, again, we
come in the name of Jesus Christ, that blessed name that is above
every name. In fact, it's the only name under
heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. That name that
we use when we call upon thee at the throne of grace, we speak
in that name, we preach in that name. We give in that name. We look to him in all things.
We know that he's that perfect gift that you give to your children
and with him you've freely given them all things. So as we return
unto thee, what is yours? Let us do so with joy. We pray
in Christ's name. Amen. draw your attention back to Colossians
chapter one verse twenty-three if you continue
in the faith grounded and settled be not moved away from the hope
of the gospel which you have heard and which was preached
to every creature which is under the sun whereof I Paul am a maid
a minister the title of my message this morning is faith or snare
faith or snare. Now if you're reading along with
me in the few verses I read prior to this, verses 18 through 22,
you found that there could be no question that these verses
are some of the sweetest and most assuring words in all of
Scripture. It's impossible to read these
words in doubt in any way. The sacrifice of Christ was effectual
and that it resulted in the full and complete salvation and reconciliation
of the elect. If you read it and you believe
what words say, that is the only conclusion you can reach concerning
the work of Christ. There is no place in these verses
to inject a shred of things like probability or possibility or
even availability. This is a done deal. We are reconciled
to God by the blood of His cross. Somebody, somewhere in this world
and in this universe was actually, truly, and completely reconciled
to God by the blood of the cross. Then we get down to verse 23
and we find three words that PERK THE EARS OF ALL THOSE WHO
HATE THE GOSPEL, IF YE CONTINUE, IF YE CONTINUE. And the first
words of this verse 23, MAKE THOSE WHO DESPISE THE DOCTRINE
OF EFFECTUAL, PARTICULAR, SUCCESSFUL REDEMPTION, MAKE SOME SALIVATION. There you go, they say. See,
it says, IF YOU CONTINUE. They, in their warped and mutated
minds, think that the words, if you continue, disallow the
work of Christ as to an accomplishment and put salvation squarely in
the arena of the choice and decision and obedience of fallen humanity.
Verse 23 is an admonition, there is no doubt, but it is an admonition
to those who have been redeemed, to those who have been reconciled,
to those who have been made righteous by the blood of Christ. And this
kind of language is not foreign to scripture. Paul uses this
language quite often. It's not isolated to this particular
passage over in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 when Paul talks about
preaching the gospel to the Corinthians. He says this, Moreover, brethren,
I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which
also you have received, and wherein you stand. Now, they have received
it, and they stand in it, by which you are also saved. They
have been saved by that gospel, if you keep in memory what I
preached unto you, unless you have believed in vain. Now, he
uses that same type of language. He also uses the same type of
language in Hebrews chapter 3. In verse 6 it says, But Christ
as a Son over His own house, whose house are we if we hold
fast, the confidence and rejoicing of hope firm to the end. Then
in verse 14 he says, We are made partakers of Christ if we hold
the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end. So this
language that he uses here in Colossians chapter 1 is not strange
to scripture. These admonitions are important
because they are inspired by the Holy Spirit to be written
down for our understanding and our belief. But they have become,
I think, a divine snare. And I believe this is by intent
and purpose that God puts these things in His Word where men
who will hate the gospel will grab on to it while saying they
believe the gospel and use it against the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ. They have become these words,
I think, a divine design of a strong delusion that men would believe
a lie. Now that's spoken of over in
2 Thessalonians chapter 2 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, it says this in verse 11, For
this cause God shall send them strong delusion, now it says
God sends them a delusion, shall send them strong delusion that
they should believe a lie, and the result of God sending them
delusion that they would believe a lie is that they will be damned
for believing the lie. that they all might be damned, who believed
not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness." Now, he's
speaking of those who are in church making themselves out
to be as if they were God, saying their will is their salvation,
that they have the power to reject God or to accept God, that's
the kind of language they use, and he's talking about people
not outside there in the bars and the bordellos and the whorehouses,
he's talking about men and women who go to church and say they
embrace the truth. But he said he has actually sent
them a delusion that they would believe a lie, and I believe
this type of language in scripture serves that purpose. Words such
as this are the fodder of vacuous souls who espouse the salvation,
that salvation is by the works and will and obedience of fallen,
impotent, and dead men. These scriptures prove a trap
and a snare to those who would seek to rest them to their own
destruction by using the Word of God to deny the Word of God.
And that's a weird thing, but that's what they do. You use
the Word of God to actually deny the Word of God. These are spoken
of in Isaiah 28 as those whom God had set upon them, precept
upon precept, line upon line, here a little, there a little,
but they would not. They would not. They despised the truth. And He said, But don't think
the word is of none effect. Because the same word to some,
to the elect, is a sweet, good news message and so refreshing
gospel. And the same message to others
is a snare. He said it traps them and it
drives them backward. It moves them away from God rather
than toward God. The same word. The same gospel. It's to some a savor of life
unto life, to others a savor of death unto death. Now he's
talking to those who have faith, who have been given faith, but
he's talking also about those who are ensnared by the gospel. And
such dark holes, such bottomless pits take this passage to mean
that the work of Christ is only effectual if one continues on
a religious path of piety and personal merit, and if he does
not, then Christ's work is null and void, nothing but an empty
wager, a woeful wish from a frustrated God, counting on the affirmative
choice of a wretched human being. It is interesting to note that
the writer of this epistle, Colossians, also wrote to the Galatians,
and these two books, Galatians and Colossians, are the most
scathing reports on the law and grace. Most scathing has been
against those who would bring law into it. And Paul wrote the
book of Galatians. In Galatians chapter 5, he said
this about these folks who are dependent and believe that salvation
is dependent upon their obedience. In Galatians chapter 5, he says
to the believer, Stand fast, therefore in the liberty wherewith
Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again in the
yoke of bondage. Behold, I say unto you, that
if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. In
other words, if you endeavor to keep the law for righteousness,
or as a way to be accepted by God, Christ is nothing to you,
and he profits you nothing. For I testify again to every
man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole
law, That's every last bit of it, and not only that, he's got
to do it perfectly in order to stand before God. He says, Christ
is become of no effect unto you whosoever are justified by the
law. You're fallen from grace. Now, he's talking about people
who have said they embrace grace, said they embrace the gospel,
but he said if you go back under the law, that proves you've fallen
from what you say you embrace. You've fallen from grace. For
we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by
faith, by faith alone. It is a sure thing that Paul
is not asserting here in Colossians that the success of Christ's
work is conditioned upon man's continuance, lest the words we
just read in Galatians fall to the ground and are found to be
a contradiction in the Word of God, and they are not. Yet these
words of verse 23 of our text are not to be disregarded, nor
are they to be discounted. They are vitally connected in
the same phrase to the peace and reconciliation accomplished
by Christ in his body, through his flesh, through death, by
which all for whom he died are presented holy, unblameable,
and unapprovable in His sight. These if-you-continue is connected
to that. So we need to understand that. And having been connected
to being presented holy, unblameable, unapprovable in His sight, declares
that the if in this text has nothing to do with our being
presented holy. Already got that. Has nothing to do with our presenting
unblameable or unapprovable in His sight. declares that the
if in this text has nothing to do with that. There is no scenario and certainly no indication or
even suggestion in scripture in the which the children of
God by doing or not doing something will ever be found presented
holy, unblameable, and unreprovable in his sight. There is no condition
placed upon men, where that becomes true. Anywhere in scripture,
you simply won't find it. You see, that glorious estate
is the result of the work done entirely outside yourself. Before
you knew it, before you in this generation, or the generations
born for the last 20 centuries, knew anything about it. This is a sublime work accomplished
by the Father and the Son and illuminated to His people by
the Holy Spirit. Another thing that we can be
sure of is that Paul is not giving ammunition to those who are assaulting
the church at Colossae with the ceremonies of rites and Judaism.
This is what he was dealing with. He's not giving them some hope. Paul, especially by the inspiration
of the Spirit, would not give the enemies of the Gospel a way
to harm the brethren. He said, for those in Galatia,
I wouldn't give them in the space of an hour, and I wish they were
cut off, and the word there is castrated. I wish they were castrated.
That's what he thinks of it. You say, well, that's tough.
Well, Paul was a tough customer, but even he wasn't as tough as
the Lord was. This passage cannot on any level
make the salvation wrought by Christ alone effectual by the
obedience of the believer. It simply does not. And he makes that clear in this
book. In verse 8 of chapter 2, he says, Beware lest any man
spoil you, through philosophy, that's a word, friend of the
truth, that's what philosophy means, or not, but that's what
they believe, friend of the truth, and vain deceit, that's empty
deceit, after the tradition of men, and after the rudiments
or the elements of the world, and not after Christ. He said,
beware of them, beware of them, he also says this in verse 16,
he says, let no man therefore judge you in meat or in drink
or in respect to a holy day or a new moon or the sabbath days.
Don't let any man judge you. In other words, don't let any
man say to you, you've got to keep the sabbath day, you've
got to keep the new moon, you've got to eat a certain meat, you
can't eat pork. I had pork chops yesterday and they were delicious.
Fried with gravy. Delicious. And I didn't break
no law doing it. But there are some I know that would say, you
shouldn't do that. don't let them do that. Paul said let no
man do that. He didn't say that men shouldn't do it. They shouldn't
do it. He said don't you let any man judge you in that. You
don't allow that. Use the word no. He says those
things were a shadow. All those things back in the
Old Testament, whether it be dietary laws or whether it be
new noons or sabbath, they all pointed to something else. They
were a shadow which things would come, but the body of it is Christ. That's what they were really
about. Let no man beguile you. witchcraft you, the word pharmakonda,
drug you, let no man beguile you, you reward involuntary humility. Don't let them talk you into
how to look and be humble. Don't let them do that. Or worshipping
of angels, which is a big deal today, intruding into those things
which they have not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind,
and not holding to the head, which said, we just read the
head as Christ, from which all the body and joints and bands,
having nourishment, ministered, and knit together, increases
with the increases of God. Wherefore, if ye be dead with
Christ, or since ye be dead with Christ, from the elements of
the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world,
are ye subject to the ordinances? You're dead to these things.
What are these ordinances? Well, they have to do with touching
and tasting and handling. All these have to do with the
senses that a person has, has nothing to do with faith he said
touching tasting and handling all these are going to perish
all these are going to perish with the using after the commandments
and doctrine of men which things have indeed a show of wisdom
in will worship and humility and neglecting of the body not
in any honor to the satisfying of the flesh all these don't
do anything you can practice them but they won't do anything
They will not satisfy. They will not satisfy. He makes
it clear. Believers are not to go under
the law at all. At all. So Paul is not given
ammunition when he says if you continue. He's not given ammunition
to those who would defy the scriptures and deny the worth of Jesus Christ.
To use it for such a purpose would be to take the name of
the Lord in vain. This text begins with the word if. does not deal
with if and and, but either and or. The thing addressed is about
proof of existence of a thing. It addresses whether we are truly
at peace with and reconciled to God by the death of Christ.
And he's simply saying this, for those who say they're in
the faith, if you do not continue in the faith it reveals that
you did not begin in the faith you began some other way the
faith here is not talking about our faith that is the gift that
God has given us to believe his Bible that's a gift freely given
to all his elect the faith doesn't speak of that it speaks of the
faith which is something particular to the gospel Continue refers
to holding on, sticking to, being glued to, clinging to the truth,
the gospel, the doctrine, the faith that you have received.
That is what Paul called it in Romans chapter 6 and verse 17,
the faith. It is like the writer of Proverbs
said, Buy the truth and sell it not. Buy the truth and sell
it not. The trial of faith does not reveal
the strength or power of faith. That's where most people go wrong.
They think this is gonna show that I really got faith. That's
not what the trial of faith is about. The trial of faith is
to prove the existence of faith. That's what it's for. The continuing
of our text is the same. It is not suggested that by continuing
or not continuing make ourselves more or less presentable, more
or less holy, more or less unblameable, more or less unreprovable in
sight. It proves whether or not we were made to be these things
at all, because He's already said somebody was. Some people
are reconciled, and those who are reconciled
stick with it. Brother Mahan preached from Jeremiah
32 one time on believers never quit. Believers never quit. Paul is dealing here with perseverance.
As far as our works are concerned, though we may never be able to
recognize what they are, they are ordained and we will walk
in them. Do you know what your works are?
I don't know what mine are. Sometimes I think I do, and then
after I think about it for a minute, it sounds more like self-righteousness
than a recognition of my works. What are my works? My life. My
getting up in the morning, and going out through the day, and
having dealings with people, and earning a living, and supporting
my family, and being a friend. All these things are just, but
we don't think about that. We don't think about that. Deb
sometimes would take a bagel and cut it in half and stick
it in the oven and put butter on it and crisp it up a little
and then put my favorite pear preserves on top of it and just
show up. I didn't know she was doing that. She shows up and
gives me two minutes. What do you think? Do you think that
she thinks now, I'm doing a good work here? Why does she do that? Because she loves me. and she
wants to do things to please me. Now I'm the same with her.
Why? Because I don't think of when
I do something for her that I'm doing it to get points or that's
a good work. I don't think about those. Nobody
does. Our Lord didn't make good work some big, huge things. In
fact, those who claimed big, huge things in Matthew chapter
7, they said, didn't we cast out devils in your name? Didn't
we do mighty wonders in your name? Didn't we do great things
in your name? That's big stuff. He said, Depart
from me ye that work iniquity, I never knew you. But he said,
If you give somebody a glass of water on their thirsty, a
glass of water, that'll be remembered in heaven. That'll be remembered. We don't
know what our works are. We just don't. But they're ordained. we are
his workmanship created in Christ Jesus and two good works which
God has foreordained that we should walk in them. That's the
language of scripture. Jeremiah 38 says, I'll put in
their heart they will not depart from me and I will not depart
from them to do them good. Our works are the stuff of our
life whatever our lives are. The continuing that is addressed
here is a perseverance in what we have heard. That's what he
said, what you've heard. what you've heard because faith
comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. Continuing
in so-called works of religion for evidence of faith would play
right into the hands of those who are enemies of the truth.
They would love to employ this passage in this manner. They'd
love to be able to prove to you that you're only saved, you're
only saved because you continue. That's not what it says. They
would love to employ this passage in this manner as if it would
give credence to the perverted view of holiness. What they cannot
abide is someone declaring that he is holy and unblameable and
unreprovable in God's sight because of the death of Christ alone
and has been given faith to believe just that. When the Bible says
you're justified by faith what that means is God gives you faith
to believe you're justified by Christ by Christ. They've given faith to believe
the gospel that proclaims exactly that. The good news is that Christ
has finished the work of salvation and the bane of religion and
the bane of legalism is to be confronted by one who continues
in the faith, in the faith, who continues holding the faith as
the hope of the gospel. This is what religion can't stand
and so they want to use this to pull men away and say, no,
this is if you continue, if you continue. Only those who have
faith are able to comprehend what this means. To such, faith
is the evidence of the substance. That's what faith is, evidence
of the substance. You know, that's the only time evidence is used
in Scripture. The word evidence is used in Scripture. But people
always talk about, you've got to show evidence of salvation.
There ain't but one evidence of salvation. There's only one.
Believing. That's it. The Lord said, only
believe. He didn't say only believe. He
said, ONLY BELIEVE! Don't do anything else BUT believe! Believe! This text does not deal
with anything but the only evidence of salvation, which is BELIEVING.
Only those who have faith can comprehend this, to such. That's
the substance. They do not persevere by visible
palpable or recordable means they persevere in the faith by
believing the ground and substance that is faith, which is Jesus
Christ. And no explanation is necessary
to the believer and there is no possibility of explaining
to anyone who has not faith. You can't explain it. You wear
yourself out trying. But this is by revelation. One cannot continue in the faith
unless he is in the faith to begin with. So Paul is not speaking of perseverance
in any other way than by declaring that the one who is grounded
in faith will persevere. If one embraces the truth yet
turns from it, the reason for that is that they only nominally
possess it. And I've known men who did and
women who did. I've known men who were preachers
of the gospel for a while. I mean, clear as a bell for a
while and end up being in some free will establishment or leaving
the gospel altogether. never darkening the doors of
a church again. But boy, while they was going
at it, it was good. They embraced that doctrine, made them feel
like they knew something nobody else knew. They embraced that
doctrine, thinking it makes them smarter and more of a theologian
than anybody else. The only reason you know the
truth is because God showed it to you, and that's the only reason.
You ain't nothing and I ain't nothing. If one embraces the truth, yet
turns from it, the reason for that is they only nominally possess
it. If one, for example, gives credence
to the faith, the gospel, yet endeavors to justify himself
by the works of personal merit, he really never believed the
gospel and was never really in the faith. Paul Peter talks about
that over in 2 Peter chapter 2. He describes such. Describes them as having great
swelling words. Now these people that he's talking about are not
politicians. Well, they are, but their political
power is within the church. These people are in the church.
They're having these great swelling words. They are clouds without
water, but boy, they are clouds. Big, beautiful, white, fluffy,
cirrocumulus clouds, and they look like they're full of rain,
but they ain't got no rain in them. They speak great swelling
words. He said, but this about them.
in verse 20 of chapter 2 of 2 Peter, for if after they escape the
pollutions of the world, and the Gospel will do that for people
even if they don't believe it, it will make them have some type
of moral compass where they won't want to be messing around with
the things of the world anymore. It will do that. It has made
moral people throughout the world lost but moral. The word moral
is not in the Bible, by the way. anywhere in the Bible. After
they have escaped the pollution of the world through the knowledge
of Jesus Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ, if after they have done it they
are again entangled therein in the world and overcome by it,
the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. It would
be better if they had never heard the gospel. That is what he is saying. It
would have been better for them to have not known the way of
righteousness And after they had known it to turn from the
holy commandment delivered unto them, or to which they were delivered,
but it is happened unto them according to the true proverb,
the dog is turned to his own vomit again, and the sow that
was washed to her wallow in the mire." That is someone who embraces
the truth for a while and turns from it. Paul is not talking
about those in this passage of Scripture. He's talking about
those who are redeemed. Paul the Fall further sets forth
this principle in Caesar by declaring the manner by which these elect
receive the gospel and the manner by which they preserve it is
through the preaching. He says, I preached this everywhere. All around wherever I've been.
Now his world was kind of small, but he did establish 50 churches
and walked more than any other disciple, any other apostle. Our Lord never went more than
50 miles from his hometown in all his preaching. Never more
than 50 miles from his home town. Paul went all over. Sometimes
you get to Concordia and your Bible's got maps. And look at
Paul's journey. He did this on foot or by ship. Didn't have no chariot. On foot. He went everywhere. He said,
I preached the gospel ever heard back in our text. in verse 23
he says, "...not removed away from the host of God which ye
have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under
heaven, whereof I, Paul, am a minister." This is how it happens. It's
a wonder and amazement to me because I've actually sat down
at times and tried to convince people of the truth and saw the
error and the foolishness of it. It never works. I've actually
convinced some folks. But you know where they are now?
They're nowhere near the Gospel. wrong person convinced me if
God don't convince you I ain't gonna do you no good and neither
is any other man how does a person call on Christ? how does a person
receive the gospel? how does that happen? the Lord
sets it up in a very succinct and categorical list of things
that occur to bring a person to the place where he hears and
believes the gospel He says in Romans 10, verse 13, Whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. That's the
truth. If you call upon the name of
the Lord, for out of the heart a man believes in unrighteousness,
out of the mouth he confesses. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. If you, as a wretched human being,
are brought to the place where you call upon God, truly call
upon the Lord, You'll be saved. That's the Word of God. But He
doesn't end there. He says, How then shall they
call? How are they going to come to the place where they call
out to the Lord? Is it because they have a car
accident and they're scared of dying? Because they fell off a bridge
and they're scared of dying? Why? Or maybe they've got some
kind of disease and they're scared of dying. Is that what caused
them to call on Him? How then shall they call? That's important,
isn't it? How shall they call on Him in
whom they have not believed? They have got to believe. They will call on the One they
believe. How are they going to believe? How shall they believe in Him
whom they have not heard? So in order to call you must
believe, in order to believe you must hear. And how shall
they hear without a preacher? That's weird, I know. But you
ain't going to get it written in the sky and a bluebird ain't
going to land on your shoulder and tell you you're saved. It
ain't going to happen. If you're saved, it's because
you call upon the Lord whom you believed in, whom you heard in
from a preacher, one whom God has called. That's what's next.
And how shall they preach except they be sent? This is the way
God does it. This is how a person is brought
to faith in Jesus Christ. And if he is, the believer continues
in the faith because he continues in the gospel. And if you've
ever really heard the gospel, you'll never want to leave it.
I'm telling you right now, you'll not want to leave the gospel
if you've ever truly heard the gospel. You can't leave it! It's
your life's blood. It keeps you going. every preacher of the gospel
is tempted from time to time to come up with some new thing.
I have. Over the years I thought, well, maybe I'll try this. But
I didn't. Thank God. Some idea born of the flesh that
will appeal to the flesh, but the preacher of the gospel can't
because the only thing that does the trick is the old gospel. The old, old story repeated again
and again and again. I've been trying to do that now
for forty-five years now. The Declaration of the Gospel
is a singular motivation for continuing in the faith. How
do I continue in the faith here in the Gospel? Over and over
and over again. Continuing in the faith is done
in the spirit of thanksgiving and praise for the good news
that Christ in the body of His flesh through death, has made
peace and reconciled us to God and presented us holy, unblameable,
and unreprovable in His sight. Can you imagine being motivated
and inspired by your own works? Can you imagine that? Or can
you imagine being inspired by anything else than the good news
of the success of the blood of Jesus Christ. That inspires me,
keeps me going, keeps me going. What does it do? It makes me
continue in the faith and the hope of the gospel. Father, bless
us to understand and pray in Christ's name.