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Bro. Bill Nichols
Found from Paul in 1 Corinthians 15 beginning at verse 1. Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I have preached unto you, which also you have received wherein you stand, by which you are also saved, if you keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless you have believed in vain.
For I have delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, and here it is, how Christ died for our sins according to the scripture, and that he was buried, and that he rose again on the third day according to the scriptures, and that he was seen of Cephas, and then of the twelve.
After that he was seen above five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. And after that he was seen by James, and then of all the apostles, and at last he was seen of me as one born out of due time.
For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am. And his grace which was bestowed on me was not in vain.
But I labored more abundantly than they all. Yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. Therefore, whether it were I or they, so we preach, and so ye believed. Okay, the gospel tells us how we're saved.
We're saved through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. All of that was predicted. All of that was made clear to us in the prophecies. We are the elect of God. Our salvation is a gift of God.
Moreover, it's an unmerited favor. And beyond that, the scripture tells us that there is no other way to be saved. I was just listening this morning, not this morning, but a couple of mornings ago, on a Christian radio station, and said a poll was taken amongst Christians in America.
And 77 of them, 77 thought that they had something to do with their salvation, with their election. I suspect that if you had asked them a little tighter question, it would have been a higher number than that, that would believe that they have a role to play.
But John tells us, let not your heart be troubled. This is John 14, verse 1. Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you.
I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there you may be also. And whither I go, you know, and the way you know.
And Thomas said unto him, Lord, we knowest not whither thou goest. And how can we know the way? And Jesus said unto him, I am the way. The truth and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. That rules out a lot of, if I am good enough, I can be saved.
Or maybe if I think sincerely enough, I can be saved. It's not just who you believe. I'm sorry, it's not just that you believe. It's who you believe in and whose beliefs you have. It's not even enough to believe that Jesus Christ is Lord.
That's not enough. The demons know that. And they tremble. What's enough is that we have Jesus' belief put in us. It's not our belief anyhow. It's His. The faith of Jesus is what saves us. And there is no other way.
Because we're saved, we're given instructions with regard to how we should live. There's two groups of people that make a mistake here. One is those who believe that the instructions given as to how to live is what saves them.
And there's another group. And if we have a fault, that's our fault. There are a lot of folks that believe that because they're elect, there's nothing that they've got to do. That being elect is enough.
Well, if you're elect, that would be enough. But I don't think you would be elect if there was nothing for you to do. That's kind of what James said. If you are really elect, you will do something. Well, we're given instructions as to how to live.
These are instructions as to the work that we're to do. But they're not works done to secure our salvation. Rather, they're works to be done because we are saved. If we go ahead and read the rest of Ephesians...
Well, I'll take that back. If we go to Ephesians 2 verse 8 and read it all. For by grace are we saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God. Oh, we all read that. We like that.
Not of works, lest any man should boast. Nothing for us to do because if we did it, we'd want to take credit for it. If there was something we did that allowed us to be saved, we'd want to take credit for it.
But we are His workmanship, created in Jesus Christ unto good works. That's part of this passage. Not just it is a gift of God. That's great. Not of works, lest any man should boast. We are His workmanship and we're created in Jesus Christ unto good works.
Which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. Well, let me tell you. If He is going to elect you. If He is going to select you. If He is going to pick you. He is going to pick you preordained to do good works.
And if you don't do the good works, then you may be mistaken as to whether or not you were elected in the first place. Well, let's go to Philippians 2. Beginning at verse 12. And consider whether this is saying the same thing or not.
Or if it's saying something different. Verse 12. Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now much more so in my absence. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
For it is God which worketh in you, both to will and to do His good will. Well, does that contradict what was said in Ephesians? In Ephesians it said, not of works, lest any man should boast. And in Philippians it says, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
Is that a contradiction? Only if you take it out of context. You can make it be a contradiction if you take it out of context. Okay, then we won't do that. Now what does it mean, you work out your own salvation?
Okay, you'll do the work you're predestined to do. And what is that work that you're predestined to do? Okay, I'm looking for something specific. Okay, if we get too specific, the answer is we may not know.
Let's go back to Revelation and hopefully things will clear up. That's going to be the second one of mine. Yeah, we're going to go back to Revelation 6 and I'm going to skip a little bit. And I saw another angel, and then skip down to verse 7.
Saying with a loud voice, fear God and give glory to Him for the hour of His judgment has come. And worship Him that made the heavens and the earth and the sea and the fountains of the waters. So how do you give glory to God?
I'm sorry, how do you work out your salvation? You fear God. You give glory to Him. And you worship Him. Way back in the Old Testament, the wisest man that ever lived, Solomon, said the same thing. Essentially.
Ecclesiastes 12, 13. Let's share the conclusion of the whole matter. He has gone through 11 chapters, basically, telling all the things that he thought he had to do. And that in them, when he did them, he found emptiness.
And he kept saying, under the sun, everything that man does under the sun, everything that man does of his own volition, is vain. Is useless. Is empty. And he gets all the way down to chapter 12 and he says this.
I want to sum it up. Here's what you really need to know. Let's share the conclusion of the whole matter. Fear God and keep His commandments. That's the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment with every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil.
You're going to do something in your life. And you may think that you're going to do the things that you want to do. But I'm going to tell you, you're not going to do the things you want to do. You're going to do one of two things.
You're going to do the things that God commands you to do and He wants you to do. Or you're going to do the things that Satan commands you and He tells you to do. And you're not going to do anything else.
So if it's an evil thing, you'll be judged for it. If it's a good thing, you'll be judged for it. If it's a good thing, it's what God told you to do. If it's an evil thing, it's something that God told you not to do.
Or for failing to do something that God told you to do. So what does it say? It says fear God. He doesn't say fear Satan. He doesn't say fear the Antichrist. He doesn't say fear the false prophet. He doesn't say fear man.
Nor fear what man can do. He says, fear God. James says, submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. You don't need to fear Satan. Even with all of his powers, he will flee from you, but not because of what you do.
When will he flee from you? When you submit yourself to God. If you submit yourself to God and resist the devil, he will flee from you. Brother David talks about his mentor, Dr. Rocky, and one of the things that he did a lot was he dealt with people that were having issues with, I don't want to exactly say demons, but I'm going to say it anyhow.
What he would tell them to do is things to do to remove yourself from the dominion of the devil. But he never said that it was something that he could do or something you could do. He always said, it's something that God could do.
So if you want protection from the evil one, you can pray for protection, but you pray for God to protect you. You don't say, I am going to rid this room of any demonic influence, because you can't do that.
But you can ask God to, and he can, and he will. Submit yourself to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you, if you submit yourself. And keep his commandments. This is the whole duty of man. So our next question is, who hears the gospel?
Well, I want to say this, everybody can hear the gospel, and in the end times, everybody will hear the gospel. But not everybody will receive the gospel. So maybe I should have text this little preface as, who receives the gospel?
Well, last week Raj in his sermon went to 1 Peter 2, 9, and it said, but ye are a chosen generation. And Raj spent about 15 minutes describing the chosenness of the generation. It's special. It's special to be a chosen generation.
And then he's going to go on a little bit later and say, and you are a peculiar generation. And that's even better. But if you'd go with me to Ephesians 1, 4, I'm going to pick up another idea of chosen.
Because Peter is very terse. He says a lot in a few words. Paul is much more wordy. He says the same amount of things in a lot more words. Verse 4, Ephesians 1, according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world.
Who has chosen us? God has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy without blame before him in love. Having predestined us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself.
According to the good pleasure of his will. To the praise of the glory of his grace. Wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. In whom we have redemption through his blood. The forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace.
Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence. Having made known unto us the mystery of his will. According to his good pleasure. Which he hath purposed in himself. That in the dispensation of the fullness of time.
He might gather together in one all things in Christ. Both which are in heaven and which are in earth even in him. In whom we also have obtained an inheritance being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh in all things after the counsel of his own will.
That we should be the praise of his glory who first trusted in Christ. So what is that mystery of his will that he has made known to us? Well it was something that was not known to the Jews. I'll give you a hint.
It was in Christ all that are in Christ. Not the Jews only but the Gentiles as well. That was the mystery. The mystery that Paul had to face all the time was the Jews thought the Gentiles could not be saved.
The mystery was the church. The mystery was the bringing together in one all things in Christ. Both which are in heaven and which are in earth even in him. Everything that is going to go forth will go forth because of him.
And for what reason that we should be the praise of his glory who first trusted in Christ. The whole idea is for the glory of God. Someone asked not too long ago, how do we know that what is being said is true?
And the answer is who does it glorify? If it glorifies God then it's true. And if it glorifies someone else then it's probably not true. Back to 1 Peter 2 verse 9. But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people.
I'm not going to go with that because Raj did a great job last time and I would just mess with it. A peculiar people. It is just so good to be peculiar. It is good to be different than everybody else.
If you're the same as everybody else then you're not a chosen generation. You're not a royal priesthood. You're not a holy nation. You're not a peculiar people. But if you are a peculiar people you should show forth the praises of him that has called you out of darkness.
It's not enough just to be a peculiar nation. You need to show forth praises of him. That's one of the things that he's called you to do to work out your salvation is to praise him. Not to save you but to make your salvation evident.
Who has called you out of the darkness into his marvelous light. So there you have it. You're chosen by him and for him. You're chosen before the foundation of time. In that you have absolutely no role to play.
There is nothing that you or we can do to ensure that we're chosen. But having been chosen we've got a lot to do. For we are his workmanship created in Jesus Christ unto good works that the Lord has before ordained that we should walk in them.
The very same time before the foundation of the world when he decided to choose you he decided what you were to do. Do we always do what? Do we always do what he has decided that we should do? The answer to that is yes.
We just don't always do it in the most straightforward way to the solution. I have students in my classes all the time. In math you have a premise that you start with. You have a procedure to follow and you have an answer to get to.
And it doesn't matter what procedure you take as long as all your procedural steps are right. When you get to the answer if you don't make any mistakes the answer is the correct answer. But sometimes the path is really quick and sometimes the path is long and winding.
But his work will always be done and as a matter of fact the path that you take we think we take it ourselves. He guides us in that path and sometimes he takes us through a difficult path because he knows that when we get there we need to have been through that difficult path.
That's why we rejoice. That's why we should rejoice all the time and in all things. Back to Revelation. And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and to kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give him the glory.
For the hour of his judgment is come, and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of water. This everlasting gospel preached by the angel is the same one that has been proclaimed all the way through history.
It's the same good news of forgiveness and eternal life. What he will do is he will declare that all people are sinners. All are facing eternal judgment in hell. But God has provided an atonement for sins through his death and through the death of Jesus Christ.
And that message of forgiveness was given even in the Old Testament. I want to go to Jeremiah 31, 31. And I want you to listen to the number of times that we hear the word, I will. And recognize who's saying it.
Jeremiah 31, 31. Behold, the days come, saith the Lord. Who's talking? The Lord is talking. Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, which covenant they broke, although I was a husband to them, saith the Lord.
The covenant that brought Israel and Judah out of Egypt was a covenant that had conditions assigned to it. You do this, I'll do this. You do this, I'll do this. You fail to do this, I'll not do what was suggested to be done, had you done it.
Well, they broke His commandments. They broke His covenant. This covenant though, but this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel. After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts.
Who does that? He does it. I will put my law in their inward parts. I will write it in their hearts. I will be their God. I will, I will, I will, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, saith the Lord.
For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sins no more. Not a single thing that they had to do in the old covenant made with Israel when they came out of Egypt, there were conditions to be met.
In this new covenant, it's going to be done. They have nothing to do. Oh, something had to be done, but it didn't have to be done by them. Who had to do it? Jesus had to do it. God had to do it. Jesus had to do it.
Jesus took their breaking of the covenant upon himself. If he had had something for them to do, they wouldn't have done it. Then in Ezekiel 36 verse 25,. Then I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean.
From all your filthiness and from all your idols I will cleanse you. A new heart will I give you. A new spirit will I put within you. And I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.
And I will put my spirit within you, and I will cause you to walk in my statutes. There's where your work comes in. Why will you do the work that you do? He'll make you do it. I will cause you to walk in my statutes, and you shall keep my judgments and do them.
All to whom the gospel's benefits were applied will repent and seek forgiveness and grace. Or, this is the Old Testament, so all to whom the benefits were applied repented, sought forgiveness and grace from God, even though the Savior had not yet died.
So according to the purpose of God and the merits of the Lamb slain at Calvary, the merits of God of the Lamb slain at Calvary have been imputed to all who repent in all ages. That is in the Old Testament, in the New Testament, and even in the Millennial Kingdom.
Anybody that repents, the merits of the Lamb will be imputed to them. And that's the only way that they have salvation. In the tribulation period, most people will already be familiar with the gospel.
There will have been the preaching of the 144 ,000, the two witnesses, and other believers. But Jesus declared that before the end comes, the whole world will hear his gospel. I'm going to read this and then I'm going to stop because I've already run over.
Matthew 24, 18. And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness to all nations, and then the end shall come. The preaching of this angel will reach any who have still not heard the gospel message.
As the earth's darkest hour approaches, the angel will proclaim the good news that it's not too late. There is still time to repent before God's judgment resumes. So the question that we'll deal with next time is, what will they do with the gospel?
And I'll tell you the short answer. Some will receive it and some won't. But that's going to take more time and I'll run way into Brother David's period. So we'll stop now. Most gracious Heavenly Father, thank you for this day and thank you for all the many gifts that you have given us.
Thank you for the time, the space, the gospel. Thank you for your holy book. Thank you for giving us the Holy Spirit to guide us through that book. Bless us and keep us and bring us back again next Sunday.
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.