chapter, the title of my message
is Christ, not Moses. Christ, not Moses. After Paul had preached the gospel
for many years, when I speak of preaching I'm not talking
about theological discourse or delivering a paper or a lecture
in some vaunted hall of academia, but telling out the story The
old, old story that began in Genesis chapter 1 of Jesus Christ
and His accomplished work on Calvary's tree wherein He glorified
God in the full and free salvation of all for whom He died. Paul said, I determined to know
nothing among you but Jesus Christ and Him crucified. as God gives
mercy. We preach not ourselves, but
the Lord Jesus Christ. We live in a day of professionals,
where preachers are professionals, and that's nothing new. In fact,
if you read some of the old classics, you'll find that most preachers
were designed to be preachers by their mom and dad on the day
that they were born, and they were trained all their life for
that particular thing. And years later along came seminaries
and such as that. And people got a degree, and
I appreciate the wisdom of the professors and the ones who established
colleges, though I have very little use for seminaries, that
they understood that once you had attained four years or five
years or eight years of college, all you had was a degree of knowledge. You didn't have a lot. You just
had a degree. And that's why they use that
kind of language. We pumped it up to mean really
something special. But it simply is a degree of
knowledge. Paul was a brilliant man. But he said, I don't speak with
words of man's wisdom. He said, I preach as plain and
as simple as I can so that if anything takes place, all the
glory will be to God and none to me. But after Paul had preached
many years and established many churches by the grace of God,
he was mightily used of the Lord to do that throughout Asia and
Asia Minor. He summed up the results of the
preaching of the gospel and the results of his ministry that
God had given him in Acts chapter 24 or 28 and verse 24. He said this, some believed the
things that were spoken. And some believe not. That's
the summation of it all. That's the summation of every
man who stands to declare the glories of God's grace after
all is said and done. When we finally wind this thing
up and we go to the grave, we can say this, some believe and
some believe not. Ultimately, this is the word
of everyone whom God has put in the ministry and it is merely
a statement of fact. Here in Acts chapter 13 beginning
with verse 38, we see the scriptural illustration of this fact. Now this does not mean that the
gospel is ever a failure. The gospel when preached is never
a failure. It simply means that the effects
of the gospel do not depend on the preacher that preaches the
gospel. They depend on God to use it
as He sees fit. The Word declares, God declares,
that like the rain that comes down from heaven, His Word comes
down from heaven. It goes to where He sends it.
It accomplishes what He intends it to accomplish. And it never
returns to Him empty or void in Isaiah chapter 55. 2nd Corinthians
chapter 2 he says it's a savor of life and a savor unto death
some people hear the gospel and it smells like death it tastes
like death others hear the gospel it smells like life and it tastes
like life and in either circumstance it's always a sweet smelling
savor unto God always the gospel works that's why we don't spend
time with foolish things like pushing people Pressing people
trying to get people to make some kind of decision or choice
or doing an invitation at the end of services We trust the
message. We know what it'll do. I'm not
sufficient for it Neither was Paul the Apostle who is sufficient
for these things but when the gospel is preached it does what
it's supposed to do and and the way it ends up is that some believe
and some don't and some don't between verses 17 and 36 of this
chapter and Paul is preaching from the Law and the Prophets.
From the Law and the Prophets. When you see that phrase in Scripture,
it never represents the Mosaic Law. It represents the Bible
from Genesis to, at this time, to Malachi. When Paul was preaching
this, what was written was from Genesis to Malachi. That was
the law and the prophets. When Peter spoke in Acts chapter
10, he says, I'm telling you of one, the Lord Jesus Christ,
the Lord over all, of whom the law and the prophets spake. They spake of Christ. That's
what the Old Testament is about. In chapter 24 of the Acts, Paul
said to those who accused him of breaking the law, of scheming
to do away with the Mosaic law, he says, after the way which
men call heresy, that's how I worship the Lord, believing all that's
written in the law and the prophets. Our Lord said to those who studied
the word of God in John chapter 5, you search the scriptures,
for in them you think you find eternal life, but they are they
which testify of me. And the only key to understanding
this book is not years and years of study. The only key to understanding
this book is to know the Lord Jesus Christ. Because this is
God's doctrine. This is God's teaching. How do
you arrive at Christ? You arrive at Him through doctrine.
There's no doubt about that. But you don't understand the
doctrine by which you arrive until you know Him. How's that
work? That's God's business. I ain't figured it out yet. We're
born into God's Kingdom by His Word. By His own will beget us
with the Word of Truth. How's that work? I don't know.
But it's kind of like electricity. When the fellow says, how does
electricity work? He says, real good. And that's how electricity
works. That's how this works. This works
real good. It's the power of God unto salvation to everyone
that believes. This book is about Christ. He's
the key of knowledge. He's the understanding of this
book. You really understand Genesis 1-1 when you know Christ. Until that time, it's just a
story. It's a story, and men just go crazy over it. They say,
why? They believe God created the
world in six days. That's the stupidest thing I
ever heard of. Well, it may be, but that's not what it's talking
about anyway. It's talking about Christ. It's talking about the
fall of Adam. It's talking about regeneration
by the Spirit. It's talking about God commanding
light to shine in your heart out of darkness to reveal the
glory of God in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what
Genesis 1-1 is about. Men take it and fuss about it
and debate about it. It's just silly. It's because
they don't know what it's about. If you know Christ, you know
what it's about. You know what every lamb represents.
You know what every priest represents. You know what every temple represents.
You know what the tabernacle represents. You know what the
angel of the Lord represents. You know what the angel of the
covenant represents. You know all these things because you
know Jesus Christ. You understand the Scriptures
by Jesus Christ. Paul was declaring Christ and
Him crucified. Back in the first part, the men
were talking, had read the Law of the Prophets and said, anybody
got anything to say? Back in verse 15, Paul stood
up and said, I got something to say. And he took the Old Testament
Scriptures and the Psalms and showed them who Jesus Christ
was. Now he got that on good authority, did you know that?
In Luke chapter 24, the disciples on the road to Emmaus were all
discouraged because Christ, they thought, was going to set up
an earthly kingdom. They thought He was going to build them up and put
the Jews up against Rome and everything was going to be good
because they were going to have a king. Well, their king disappeared.
The king disappeared. He died, rose, resurrected, and
ascended to the right hand of the Father. He had told them.
He said, Fellas, you've got to eat my flesh and drink my blood.
You've got to do that in order to have eternal life. And here's
the rub of that situation. I'm not going to be here for
you to do that. Well, how in the world can we eat your flesh
and drink your blood if you're not here? He said, My words,
they are spirit and they are life. That's how you do it. The
flesh profiteth nothing. My flesh, Christ said, ain't
going to profit you anything. I'm going to be gone. My words, they
are spirit and they are life. They are life. So we preach the
Word of God. Paul is preaching from the law.
The prophets and our Lord on the road to Emmaus said this
to his disciples when they didn't get it. Verse 26 of chapter 24
of Luke. He said, Ought not Christ to
have suffered these things and enter into His glory? Wasn't
this the plan all the way? Wasn't this the purpose from
the beginning? And beginning at Moses, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus,
Numbers, Deuteronomy, beginning at Moses and all the prophets,
all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures
the things concerning himself. And then down in verse 45, and
he said, These are the words which I spake unto you while
I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled which
are written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the
Psalms concerning me. Then opened he their understanding
that they might understand the Scriptures. Up to that point,
they didn't get it. And you won't get it either until he opens
your understanding to see that all of it is about him. So Paul takes the Old Testament. that has been read, the Law and
the Prophets, and expounds the Lord Jesus Christ and teaches
about the Lord Jesus Christ in these first 17 verses, or first
36 verses of this chapter from 1536. It tells about Christ being
the one whom David spoke of would not see corruption. He said David
wasn't talking about himself because he saw corruption. This
one didn't see corruption. He was raised from the dead.
He's the one you crucify. He's the one all the prophets
spake of. And then here, beginning in verse
38, he declares the gracious blessings that attend the gospel
for those who believe and trust the Lord Jesus Christ. He says,
Be it known unto you, men and brethren, that through this man
is preached unto you the forgiveness of sin. And by him, all that
believe are justified from all things from which the law of
Moses could not justify you. Forgiveness, putting away sin,
justification, imputation of righteousness through this man
and by this man and not through the law. He makes that very clear.
Now remember who he's talking to. He's talking to the disciples
of Moses. He's talking to those who say,
we have Moses. And he said, you don't have Moses.
Moses wrote of me and you don't believe me. Moses wrote of me. They had Moses and they loved
him. But it's not through the law that a man is justified on
any level. It's not through the law that
a man lives for God in this world. It's through faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ. The word man is actually not even in the original.
And it may be that Paul was saying through this, this, preaching
of the gospel, this declaration of who Christ is and what he
has accomplished, because that's the gospel. It's not only who
he is, because who he is cannot even be defined apart from what
he's done. You can't do it. You can't even
say his name without declaring what he's done. Thou shalt call
his name Jesus. Why? For he shall save his people
from their sin. He's the Christ, the one anointed
for the task of saving his people, the Messiah, the Christ of God,
the Christ of God. and he's the Lord, the one who
has power and wherewithal and ability and potency to actually
accomplish the work of salvation. This distinction is not new either.
Our Lord in John chapter 1 says the law came by Moses but grace
and truth came by the Lord Jesus Christ. So the law, though true,
is not the truth. It's true. It had its place and
is now set aside. It is true, but it's not the
truth. And the law has no grace in it.
If there ain't no grace, you ain't going to be saved by it. Grace and truth is in the Lord
Jesus Christ, and that's how these things came. And Paul knew
the response to the Word. He knew what they'd say. Their
response was wholesale rejection of what Paul had said. These
fellas didn't like it. They really got upset with Paul.
And he calls this bunch of religious men who were the best of society
and who believed about themselves that they were God's chosen people,
and they believed they were chosen of salvation. They were an elect
nation to picture those who would be chosen or had been chosen
to salvation, the kind of people that God has chosen. And he calls
them a bunch of heathens. We used to say in the South,
you heathen, Ain't nothing but a heather. That's why I always
thought that's the way you pronounce it all my life till somebody
corrected me on it. He says, ìYouíre a bunch of heathens,
is what you are.î Look at verse 40 and 41. ìBeware, therefore,
lest you come upon you that which is spoken of the prophets. Behold,
you despisers, and wander and perish. For I work a work in
your days, a work which you shall in no wise believe, though a
man declare it unto you.î He quoted from Isaiah chapter 28,
verse 14, and now back at chapter 1 and verse 5. Now, heís using
their Bible, what they hold to, what they search day and night,
what theyíve just read in their temple in verse 15. He uses that
Old Testament to show them that they didn't know God. He uses
their book to show them that they don't know God. That's what
He teaches them here in this passage. Now, by evangelical
standards, this was not a great day. He did not increase the
church rolls by much, if any at all, and people didn't flock
to Him, though some did listen to Him and wish Him grace along
the way. But after the Jews left, the Gentiles having heard the
words that were spoken, especially the fact that Paul rebuked the
Jews. They liked that. Because if you had to live around
someone who constantly tried to put the law on you and make
you live by the law when you couldn't do it, you'd be tickled
to death if somebody said, well, you're a bunch of heathens, wouldn't
you? But that's what they were. They
were a bunch of heathens. Paul referred to the inability
of the law to bring about forgiveness and justification. That must
have sounded good to them Gentiles, because they knew they couldn't
keep it. And they besought that Paul would preach the same thing
to them the very next Sabbath. So come back, Paul, and preach
to us again. I want to hear this again. The Gentiles said death. And apparently some of the Jews
had heard that day also. whether they believed or not,
they were kind and ecumenical enough to wish Paul and Barnabas
well in their endeavors. Look at verse 42, And when the
Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these
words might be preached to them the next Sabbath. Now when the
congregation was broken up, many of the Jews and religious proselytes
followed Paul and Barnabas, who, speaking unto them, persuaded
them to continue in the grace of God. So evidently there were
some believers among the Jews also and proselytes that day.
Now when the next Sabbath came, They had a crowd. They had a
crowd. The whole outfit of Gentiles
turned up to hear the words that had been spoken the week before.
They want to hear this again. Tell us what you said to them
Jews. Tell us what you said about the
law. We want to hear that again. We want to hear that again. And
underlying this gathering were two things, I believe. First,
curiosity and the fact that the Word of God was no longer a possession
of the Jews alone. This meant something to these
Gentiles. Because the Jews had always said, you fellows are
dogs. You fellows are miscreants. God
has nothing for you. He only deals with Jewish people.
Look at verse 45. But when the Jews saw the multitudes,
that's on the next Sabbath, they were filled with envy. and spake
against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting
and blaspheming." This is human nature, especially religious
human nature. The Jews who rejected the Gospel,
who didn't want to hear anything, they were filled with envy when
they saw all the Gentiles turn up to hear the Gospel. Doesn't
make any sense, does it? But that's the case anyway. But
you see, that's what the Lord said about the Pharisee. Matthew
chapter 23 he said you stand outside the gate now you won't
go in and you won't suffer anybody else to go and you keep other
people out you don't want anything to do with it but you don't want
anybody else to have anything to do with it either And that's
what the law does. That's how the law makes a man
think. Their envy was probably twofold.
First of all, they were envious because of the vast number of
Gentiles, these miscreants and dogs that showed up, threatening
their power base in religion. That was a crowd of people showed
up. And nothing scares organized religion like a crowd of people.
I'm sorry, we're not much of a threat to organized religion,
are we? But that's nonetheless. Don't worry about it. And secondly,
They were envious because they believed that the Word of God
was exclusively theirs. They didn't believe the Old Testament
had nothing to do with the Gentiles. But it did. If they read it,
they'd know. They read especially the prophet Isaiah. They began to contradict and
blaspheme, is what it says in verse 44. The next Sabbath day
came also, the whole city gathered together to hear the word. And
when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy and
spake against those things which were spoken by Baal, contradicting
and blaspheming. They hated the gospel. They didn't
want the Gentiles to have anything to do with it either. The reason
is because you see, when people come under the gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ, religion loses its control over them. Preachers
lose their control. They really do. And for some
preachers, that just scares them to death. Scares them to death. A young lady, a couple of weeks
ago, attended here. And she said, I'd like to start
attending. I said, well, be fine. She said,
but I, you know, sometimes I won't be able to make it on Sunday.
I might only make it on Wednesday because sometimes I have to work
on Sunday. I said, that's all right. She said, well, don't you have some
kind of rule where you've got to be? I said, no. I said, listen, even if you
can't come on Wednesday, if you're able to go Wednesday, you'd rather
go fishing, go fishing. I'm okay with that. You're free, you see. Love sets
you free. Christ sets you free. I ain't
about to put some kind of restriction on you. You gotta be here. We're gonna give you an account.
I've had people come in here visiting from campgrounds, people
running, hand me their bulletin, say, would you sign my bulletin?
And I'm thinking, they want my autograph. They don't want my
autograph. They don't want my autograph.
You see, what they want is to be able to go back to their church
and show their pastor that they was at church service so they'll
be counted as not missing church. Isn't that sad? You see, the
Jews knew. They had control over the Gentiles
because they held that law over them. They were kind of always
messing with their minds and their conscience. And they knew
they was losing it. And let me tell you about preaching
the gospel. When the preacher of God preaches the gospel, he
knows this, he's lost control of the crowd. He's lost control
of the crowd. Why? Because they've been set
free and they'll not be bound by the constraints of human ideas,
or human convictions, or church covenants on some wall, or some
rule book, or something like that. They're not going to be
bound by that constraint. If you are a child of God, I know
something about you. You'll want to be there when
the gospel is preached. And nobody is going to have to
push you, or pull you, or bribe you, or tell you you're going
to get a pen if you come, or going to get in trouble if you
don't. It's not going to happen. I want you to be here to hear
the gospel. But I'm serious. I'm serious as a heart attack.
If you don't want to be here, if you'd rather be out fishing,
Get your line, get your pole, get your tackle and go. I'm alright
with that. Because I know if you want to
be here, you'll be here. Isn't that right? If at all possible,
you'll want to be here. You'll want to be here. The Jews
knew that they were losing this kind of control. And then Paul
dropped a bomb in verse 46. Then Paul and Barnabas waxed
bold. and said it was necessary that
the Word of God should first be spoken to you. But seeing
you put it from you and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting
life, we're taking it to the Gentiles. We're done with you. Now that was predicted in all
the Old Testament. All you have to read is the Old
Testament. This day was coming. The Lord said He was going to
take it and give it to the Gentiles. But he says this. Can you imagine
this? This is the religious power structure of the day. And he
stands up and says, the words of God is not for you anymore.
I'm not going to talk to you anymore. I'm going to preach
the gospel to them. Back in verse 5 of this chapter,
he was separated for this purpose unto the Gentiles to preach the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's a bombshell. But Isaiah
49, it says, I'm sending the message to the Gentiles. I'm
sending the message to the Gentiles. And because of the wording and
the distinction that our Lord makes in the next verse, verse
47, we see both human nature and also the free and sovereign
grace of God. Verse 47 says, For so hath the
Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee as a light to the Gentiles,
that thou shouldest be for the salvations to the end of the
earth. And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and
glorified the word of God. When the Gentile heard it, they
were glad. Now I'm a Gentile. I'm a Gentile. I'm a true Israel.
I'm really a Jew. a real Jew, because he is a Jew
who is not one outwardly, but one inwardly, the circumcision
of the heart, not of the flesh, the praises of God, not of men.
All of the church of God is true Israel. But I was not born in
the Jewish religion, and that's what the Jews are, they're a
religion, not a race. They all come from Abraham. They
all come from Abraham. They all do. Not a race. All
come from a man who wasn't a Jew. In fact, it wasn't such a thing
as a Jew. When Abraham was called out of the curve of Calvary,
the covenant given to him was a picture of the covenant of grace. Read it. Read Genesis chapter
11. See the covenant of grace in
the calling out of Abraham. There were no Jews at this point.
There was no law. The only law was the one we had
broken. That was the one in the Garden of Eden when we fell in
Adam when he ate of the fruit. There was no law. So there was
no sin imputed according to Romans chapter 5 because there was no
law to define what sin is in order that it be imputed. When
the law came down from Sinai, it didn't create anything but
a religion. That's what it created, a religion,
a defunct religion. A religion that never saved anybody.
A religion whose all the blood of lambs never put away one sin.
A religion that was doomed when it began. Built with an inability
to do what it pictured and what it showed would take place. It
couldn't do it. And so Christ put it away when
He came. But these fellows, this was their bread and butter. And
our Lord said, I'm taking it away from you. I'm giving these
people that you hate and despise. I'm taking it to the Gentiles. And they were glad. They were
really happy about this. They were probably glad that
the Jews couldn't have no more say so. Knowing what I am, that's
probably my first reaction. Wouldn't it? I'm just telling
you the truth. If I'd have been out here under
all this pressure with this religion all this time, and they finally
got set free, and then the preacher stands up and says, these guys,
I ain't going to talk to them no more. I'm talking to you. I'd have
had to, you know, give me that or something. And that's what
they did. They was glad. They was glad. Now they had not been privy to
much of it. Nor had they had a steady diet of the gospel.
And it does not say that they glorified God, but rather that
they glorified the Word of God, the preaching of the Word of
God, and said that Christ was the light to the Gentiles for
the salvations in the earth, because I'm sure that's what
Paul quoted in Genesis 49. They were glad that the Jews
were finally getting their comeuppance. Then our Lord inspired a divine
disclaimer that separated those who were glad for the wrong reason
and were glad, and those who were glad for the right reason,
because they were all glad. It was a happy time. It says in verse 48, And when
the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and they glorified
the word of the Lord. And as many as were ordained,
to eternal life. Believe. There's all glad. There's
all glad. Some of them are the elect. You can be glad about the gospel.
You can be glad that it's being preached to you. I know people
who sat under the gospel all their lives and have never had
one ounce of interest in the Lord Jesus Christ. Love the preaching,
love the preacher, love the style, whatever. Like the people. There ain't no better people
on the earth than God's people. I'm telling you that. Even if you're
a lost man, you get in with a bunch of God's people, you're going
to be a happy person. They're going to be good to you. They're going
to treat you right. They're not going to judge you. They're going to be nice
to you. It's a good place to be. And a lot of people get in
it for the social aspect. A lot of people sit under the
gospel all their life, but it never enters into their mind
and heart. The Holy Spirit doesn't take
it and press it upon their soul. But I'm telling you this, If
you are ordained to eternal life, you're going to believe. That's
what it says. They all were happy and as many
as were ordained to eternal life believed. How many believed that
day? those that God had ordained.
Now that word ordained in the Arabic means appointed to. In
the Latin Vulgate it means to as many as were preordained.
In the Hebrew and in the Greek both it means those who were
ordained or written to life. Now where were you written to
life? You were written to life in the Lamb's book of life before
the foundation of the world. That's when the names were written
there. I know that when I used to go to revivals when I was
a kid, we all went to tent revivals and then church revival and things
like that, and the preachers used to say, and when you come
down front, the angel Gabriel, he flies over to the cistern
and dips his wing in the blood of the Lamb and writes your name
in the book of life. That sounds great. It's probably
just a lie, not any truth in it whatsoever. If your name is
written, and you're written to life, it was written before the
world ever began, before the world even was. The word language
in the original says prior to the conception of the world.
Now I can't imagine that, but that's as strong as a human mind
can grasp, that something prior to God conceiving the world,
and God knows all things, so there's no point of conception
with God, but the language that we have to use to show that it's
so far back that we had nothing to do prior to the conception of the
world. Ordained to what? To life. To living. To being
in Jesus Christ. Ordained to life. As many as
there were there that were ordained to life believed. Those whom
God had written to life believed. And when they get to the judgment,
they're not afraid of the judgment. They don't worry about the judgment.
Religion worries about the judgment because it's always looking at
what it does instead of what Christ did. Scripture says, Perfect
love casts us out fear. We do not fear the judgment because
as Christ is, so are we in the world. As He is now seated at
the right hand of the Father, perfect, having accomplished
salvation, living as a righteous human being at the right hand
of God, you're just that way seated in heavenly places in
Christ if you're a believer today. Why? Because God wrote you down
that way before the world began. And when the judgment comes,
I know religion says, how are you going to come away? A lot
of us are going to come away smelling like sulfur. Because you know,
a lot of stuff we sin. We sin all the time. We sin every
breath we take. We sin every one of our heartbeats.
Everything we do is touched by sin and tainted by sin. We can't
do anything else but sin. When we sin, what a stupid idea.
We sin. My sins are not going to be accounted
there because God has forgotten them, Scripture says. He's forgotten
our sin. And we're not going to be judged
out of the books that open up where men are condemned to everlasting
damnation. Scripture says there's another
book. And we're not even going to be
judged in that book because we've already been judged on Calvary's
tree. What is that book? It's a list of names. A list
of names. Everybody else is going to be
standing trembling at the judgment. The child of God is going to
be waiting to hear His name read. When the roll is called up yonder,
everybody on the roll is going to be there. That roll is the
Lamb's Book of Life. God is not going to look at you
if His child says, well you know, let's run a big video tape of
your life and let everybody see what a rotten Christian you are.
They are not going to do that. God does not remember your sin.
Christ is put away by the sacrifice of Himself. You see this man,
by this man you are justified of all things. by which the law
of Moses could not justify you. You're ordained to life, written
to life, you're in the book. It's in the book. One day you're
going to open the book. You're not going to say, Wayne,
come before me, we're going to judge your good works and your
bad works. You're going to say, Wayne, I see you're registered. I see at the seat of the table
of the wedding of the Lamb, you have your name at one of the
plates, and it says, reserved from all eternity. Every chair
up here got a name on the seat. You see where you're supposed
to see it. Why? Because I wrote your name before
the foundation of the world. And on that day when Paul preached
this message, Those whose names were written there believed on
the Lord Jesus Christ. As many as were ordained to eternal
life believed. If you read the rest of the chapter,
verses 50 through 52, Paul kept on preaching. He went here and
there and preached. The rejecters kept on rejecting.
Paul left them with the word that he had preached and went
on about his business. that it would be important to do. And though they were received
by some, the message was received and rejected by others, they
were full of joy and went on the Holy Ghost as their comforter.
Paul wasn't worried about this. I used to be. I used to be worried
about, you know, folks not coming to know Christ when I preached
the Gospel, because I look into my preaching and it's to do with
Christ. Now I just don't worry about
it. Just don't worry about it. If you tell me after this today,
I don't believe in God, you know what I'm going to say to you?
He ain't losing no sleep over it. That's what I'm going to
say to you. Because He ain't losing no sleep
over it. You see, as many as are ordained to eternal life
believe. What I'm doing up here is I'm looking for the sheep.
I don't know where they are. I'm looking for them though.
I've got a message. I've got THE message. They'll
hear the voice of Christ and they will come to Christ. They'll
follow Him, God and Christ, and give Him eternal life. No man
is able to plug them out of Christ's head. This man, through the preaching
of this man, you're justified of all things. From which the
law of Moses could not justify. Justified. Just as if you'd never
sinned. That's what justified means.
God don't look at your life from the day you believed and say,
well, I forgive everything from here on out. In His economy,
you were holy in Christ. Separated in Christ. Chosen in
Christ. Appointed in Christ. Written
in Christ before the world began. You came into this world having
someone already signed His name to your debt. And God never looked
to you to sign it. Never looked to you to pay it.
You're sure He'd already signed His name on it. He didn't look
to you to pay it. You're sure He'd already signed
His name. He always looked to Christ. You had no idea. You
went popping your blowgum and tripping over yourself all your
life and being as stupid as you possibly could be, just like
me. And one day, God sent somebody to stand on their hind legs and
look out and tell you that Jesus Christ had done something for
somebody. He had accomplished salvation. And you said, I wonder
if that's for me? And you know you'd never even
ask that question if it wasn't. As many as were ordained to eternal
life believe. And that's the story of what
it is to preach the gospel. Some believe, some believe not. I pray. God will give you faith,
so you'll be in the first category, not the latter. Father, bless
us for understanding it in Christ's name. Amen.