this morning to the book of Galatians. Galatians chapters 1 and we'll read verses 11 through the end of the chapter. Galatians chapter 1 verses 11 through 24. But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man, for neither received it of man, neither was I taught it but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. For you have heard of my conversation in times past in Jews' religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God and wasted it, and profited in the Jews' religion above many my equals in mine own nation. being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers. But when it pleased God who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by His grace to reveal His Son in me that I might preach Him among the heathen, immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood. Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me, but I went into Arabia, returned again unto Damascus, and then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter and abode with him fifteen days. But other of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lord's brother. Now the things which I write unto you, behold, before God I lie not. Afterwards I came into the region of Syria, Silica, and was unknown by face unto the churches of Judea which were in Christ. But they had heard only that he which persecuted us in times past now preach it to faith which once he destroyed and they glorified God in me." Our gracious Heavenly Father we come and glorify you for the work of grace in our lives. We thank you that you have given us an understanding of that we are justified by faith in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ plus nothing. We pray that this would cost us to be a a joy and a happy people, a people that will rejoice in you, and that we would be a people that would declare this truth and preach this gospel to a lost and dying world. Oh Lord, help us. Meet with us this morning as we look at this portion of scripture, instruct us and teach us, and we give all the praise to you in Jesus' name, amen. You may be seated. We have looked so far. The background is verses 1 through 10. And we want to just look at this letter briefly. The background of that is of utmost importance. It is paramount. I want you to know that. It spells out for us salvation, who, what, whom, and why, and when. And I had encouraged you to, and I don't know if you've done that or not, but I would encourage you, I want you to know I have memorized it, not intentionally, but I've memorized it for the fact that I have read it over and again and over and again and over and again as I have been studying the book of Galatians. Verses three through five, grace be to you and peace from God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ. who gave himself for our sins that he might deliver us from this present evil world according to the will of God and our Father to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. The last verse we read just a moment ago, and they glorified God in me. When you think about the gospel and the application of it, and what a grand application of it all. We've spent three sermons and we entitled them. The first one was God's Grace Period. Salvation is God's riches at Christ's expense. I think that's a good saying. The second sermon that we preached was there is only one gospel, folks, and it is the gospel of grace. The gospel of grace and peace in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then last week we asked the question, what is the gospel. Do I truly understand that I am being justified by faith on the basis of faith in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ plus nothing? And I want you to know that's the heart of the gospel. When I think about what the apostle writes here in this portion of scripture, he speaks of the fact that he's an apostle. And of course, in the portion of scripture that we just read, verses 11 and following, it is really a connection to what he said in verse 1. Paul, an apostle, not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead. And this is vital and important in our understanding what the Apostle Paul is doing here in this portion of Scripture for us to understand. And the Apostle was one who was sent forth. One that was sent forth. You remember, I believe, the first sermon that we preached? We dealt with a little bit of that and we looked at in detail where the Lord Jesus, when he lived here on earth, he called to himself twelve men. And he called them, he told them, come follow me, I'll make you fishers of men. And we know that in the book of Acts, we know that how they, in Acts chapter 2, in particularly after the ascension of the Lord Jesus, where Peter stood at Pentecost, And he preached and proclaimed the Lord Jesus. And we know that the apostleship, how vital and important it was to the apostles that lived with and walked with the Lord Jesus for three plus years. He called them, he taught them, he commissioned them, and he sent them forth. And that's at the stake in the heart of what the Apostle Paul is saying here in chapters one of the book of Galatians. When I think about the remarks that he made here in this first chapter, I'm amazed by it because of the very strong language that he uses in verses six and following. Let's read that one more time because that will remind us and perhaps there are some here this morning who are not acquainted with this portion of scripture. He says, I marvel that you are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel, which is not another gospel, which is not another, but there be some that troubled you and would pervert the gospel of Christ. Then I want you to know the next two verses, in my estimation, is probably the strongest language that I believe that the Apostle Paul used in addressing this thing that had infiltrated the Galatian churches with the false teachers and Judaizers and those that had listened to and embraced the teaching of these false teachers. Listen to it again. But though we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. And as we said before, so I say now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that you have received, let him be accursed. What a strong language that the Apostle Paul uses. In one of the commentators, that this line, it kind of stood out, it says, this letter to the Galatians was written in a spirit of inspired agitation. Now that's a pretty powerful statement, isn't it? For Paul, the issue was not whether a person was circumcised, and he'll address that. There were these people that said, faith in Christ plus circumcision, faith in Christ plus keeping of the law. Think about it for a moment. And I want you to know that's at the heart of the gospel here, that's the heart of the gospel of the Lord Jesus, and that's at the heart of the book of Galatians. That we recognize and realize that our salvation is based upon the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ, what he has done on our behalf, even as he spells out in verses three through five, who gave himself for us for our sins. And that's important, vital. In the book of Galatians we're going to see that in the next few weeks, but I do want to read Galatians 2 verse 16, knowing that a man is not justified by works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. Even we have believed in Jesus Christ that we might be justified by the faith of Christ. Think about it for a second. I want to just simply stop right here. What does that terminology mean? And I know some of you, I'm preaching to the choir. I've been preaching it ever since I've been here. It's that truth I want you to know that some over 30 some odd years ago laid a hold of my heart. The first time I ever heard it being justified by faith. What does that mean? Let me tell you what that means. That God the Almighty declares those who are sinners just as if they had never sinned. Do you all hear me? Not just the forgiveness of sin, but the imputation of the righteousness of the Lord Jesus into our account. And I think we see that in that language when he says that we believe in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ. What kind of life did the Lord Jesus live? Well He was the Son of God, He was the Son of Man. I want you to know He was a true human being and He lived a perfect faithful life. And we believe in Jesus, and because of that, we are justified, meaning by it, we have been declared just as if we have never sinned. And the righteousness of the Lord Jesus has been accredited to our account. And because of that, I want to say to you, Sunday School members, this morning we talked about the fact, the question that we ask in our Sunday School class, the person who truly believes in Jesus, he can never lose his salvation, true or false. The reason it is true, and all we need is just one word, we don't need redemption, we don't need propitiation, we don't need... It is true of all of those things, but it is true because we have been declared just as if we had never sinned. And that was that. which was at the heart of the Galatian problem, that here were these believers that when the Apostle Paul, on his first missionary journey, preached, you see, the gospel in the region of Galatia, they readily, right away, with joy, received it. They were glad by that. And then several years go by, and Jewish Christians that were part and I want you to know many of the early churches were made up of Gentiles and Jews. You can just imagine, I'm trying, I want you to know, I've been looking at this passage and looking at why is the Apostle Paul, why is he spending, you see, verses 10 and following to the end of the chapter, why is he spending so much Scripture verses in the explanation of who he is when he has already clearly stated in verse 1 that he is an Apostle, not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, Why is he spending so much time explaining who he is and what God has done on his behalf? Why? Because I want you to know these Jewish Christians, you've got to remember their background. You talk about their rich history. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. You talk about the Hall of Fame of the faithful. You talk about Joseph and Moses. You talk about the prophets of old and you talk about all of the things that were part of this nation and particularly this thing of circumcision. You can't get away from that. And these folks said, boy, Christ, yes, but there's got to be this external sign of, yes, we're going to have to add that too. And that meant so much. And the apostle Paul comes along and he preaches to the Gentiles. And they've said, wait a second here. Where's the knife? Let's get the scissors. Let's do the job that we need to do on these heathens that have professed faith in the Lord Jesus. That's the picture. And I want you to know it is this divine-inspired agitation that the Apostle Paul speaks with a flaming desire to correct that false thinking. And I want you to know, folks, this kind of mentality has been rampant for 2,000 years where we are this very hour and this very day. false gospels that are being preached and proclaimed which is not a gospel at all. Let me tell you what we need. We need a gospel that is able and capable in saving our souls. You agree with me? I mean, we need to have that which will change the heart. Now I want you to know, when we get done with the book of Galatians, you're going to see what a gracious, merciful, loving, kind God that we have. Not only has he justified us by faith, not only the just shall live by faith, but he has called us, you see, from bondage of law-keeping and this and that and he has adopted us into his family and he has given us the Holy Spirit that lives within us and he has truly set us free. I want you to know that's the gospel. And I mean we get with Muslims and you talk with Muslims about their hope of eternal life and the forgiveness of sin and having dealt with guilt and all of that. I want you to know they have nothing, absolutely nothing. What do we have? We have Jesus Christ who gave himself for us that he might deliver us from this present world according to the will of God. To him be glory. So this is what the Apostle does here. Because ultimately what's at stake is this, really I want you to note something. What's at stake here, let me read it again. It's the personal work of Christ, it is the life of Christ, it is the death of Christ, it is the substitutionary work of Christ, it is the will of God, it is the work of the Father, it is justification, it is righteousness by faith, and it's all alone, you see, it's all alone in the Lord Jesus. And then, of course, the application to us. How do we receive it? We'll work till Jesus comes, we'll work. We're gonna work until Jesus comes, but not to have. But we'll work because we are and we have, we have peace with God. Do you understand? Is that not a grand thing Jim when I think about you can lay down at night and you can reflect over the day the time when you had an attitude perhaps or you've done this or that you didn't do this and that and you can close your eyes and you can say if I do not wake up in the morning here that I will wake up in the presence of the Lord Jesus on the basis of my faith in the faith of the Lord Jesus? Is that not a glorious thought? Is it not? Or do you labor under this thing of, have I confessed all my sins? Am I in fellowship with God? You know, we use this thing that when we fall into sin, we've lost our fellowship with God. I want you to know we never lose our fellowship with God. In the Lord Jesus, we're joined to Him, there is fellowship. We have affected at times the relationship in the sense that we are like children. And aren't you so glad we have a Heavenly Father that comes after us? And even though it was left out in our Sunday school literature that all the Father loves, He chastens, He scourges every son whom He receives. And then he tells us that for follow peace with all men, for without holiness no man shall see the Lord. And how is that? Do we do that? We strive and we work in order for us to have? No, because we are. It's on faith alone, apart from works, faith alone without circumcision, faith alone in the continuance of the Christian life, not in ordinances, keeping of commandments, law keeping, rituals, etc. Did you hear me? And so what does he say here in this portion of scripture? That was my introduction. Let's go to verses 11 and following. The Apostle Paul, he spends a lot of time on here and he reinforces that. And I think that once we appreciate why he's saying what he's saying. You have to simply say that when you think about, well, we've just went through the Gospel of John. 21 chapters of the Gospel of John. What is it that we stopped with? That's little Reese. She hears Pawpaw preaching and she gets excited. What is it that we closed with? What we closed with, the Lord Jesus, remember, he had the fire there at the sea and they were fishing have you caught anything throw the net out and you catch some fish and they brought all them fish and then he said he fixed the meal and had fire going come and dine remember and John 20 he says as the father had sent me so I sent you and then he takes Peter and he restores him remember Peter you love me And then at the day of Pentecost, you know, they asked the question, yeah, no, wait a minute. That was 40 days before then. But you remember there at the ascension, before the Lord Jesus ascended to heaven, they asked the question, will you now restore your kingdom? And what did the Lord Jesus say to them? He said, you're gonna receive power from on high. And you shall be my witnesses, beginning here in Jerusalem, Judea, and the other most parts of the earth. Remember that he ascended to heaven. And then we've got Pentecost. And then you've got the disciples, the Lord added to the church daily so that it should be saved. Now you have, I believe it's some three years after the ascension of the Lord Jesus, there you have the account in Acts chapter nine of the Lord stopping and arresting Saul of Tarsus. And so we see here, that's where we're coming from. And he says in verse 11, But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man, for neither received it of man, neither was I taught it but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. Number one. And that's important, folks. The gospel is not of man. How can we tell that? Well, if you have a gospel after man, all you have to do is look at the world religions around the globe, what have you got? I mean, you go over there to India and you've got the cows and you've got the rats, you've got the Buddha statues, all kinds of stuff. Then you another parts of it, if you could lay on nails, I don't know what all and some of the stuff that's going on in the religions around the world, every one of them, every one of them without any exception, every one of those religions, all of these quote gospel messages, what do they all have in common? Effort, effort. And I want to tell you something. Can you imagine that right there? It's right off the bat. When you talk to a sinner that is lost and undone, and you tell them about salvation, the forgiveness of sin, of being freed from the power of sin, to be born again from above, to have the Holy Spirit living within you, and then they say, sounds good to me, what do I need to do? Tell me, that sounds really good. Where do I sign? What do I need to do? And then you say, nothing. Now, what does that sound like to you? People will say, wait a minute, that couldn't possibly be right. There's got to be something that I've got to do. And so that's what Paul is saying here. He said, it's not after man, I did not receive it of man, neither was I taught it but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. Think about it, what is he saying here? I've got an illustration here, it's probably a poor illustration. It was several years ago we had a lady that visited us from Germany. that I don't believe that she's a Christian. I don't think that she knows the Lord Jesus. And yet at the same time, she had chosen to come and spend a month with us and that her, she had finished college and school and she was continuing her education. She was gonna be a religion teacher in the public school in Germany. Believe it or not, in Germany you still have Religionsunterricht, you still have religious instruction in German schools, both with Lutherans and with Roman Catholics. They divide them up, you're the Catholic bunch, you're the Lutheran bunch, and they have weekly studies from the Bible. Now this woman, she said, I want to be a Religionslehrer, I want to be a religious teacher. And I found that very interesting because, you see, she looked at that as a profession. It's like, I want to be a lawyer, or I want to be a doctor, I'm going to be a religious teacher. And so one of the things that I had agreed with was, is I said to her, I said, you know, that's wonderful. You can stay with us. But I would like to ask you that while you're here with us, could we, would we not get our heads together and we study the Book of Romans? Michelle, you're laughing, but I want to tell you something. That's a great, great book. And so we started in the Book of Romans, the first three chapters deals with sin and the guilt of all mankind, both Jews and Gentiles, all are guilty. None have a righteousness which counts in the eyes of God. All are found guilty. And there's going to be no justification for anybody, period. No hope, no help, no salvation. And so, so far so good. And then we came to that portion of scripture, but now the righteousness of God is revealed from heaven. And talking about the righteousness which is found in the Lord Jesus Christ, the one who came and lived a perfect life, who became the wrath bearer and the propitiation for our sins, in order that God might be just and the justifier of him that believe it. Well, I won't tell you that. It was an incredible journey, wasn't it? I remember one morning she came down and we had breakfast and we'd have our Bibles there. And in the conversation I began to talk to her about, does she know what, does she know what this portion of scripture was saying to us? And she was, it was, let me tell you what it was to her. It was, it was theory. It was just theory. It was just facts. It was just like a mathematical thing. There was nothing there that got a hold of it. And I began to preach the Lord Jesus to her. See, in her mind was, that I'm gonna be a religious teacher, a Religionslehrer. I'm gonna be a teacher that will teach religion in public school. But I want you to know she had absolutely nowhere with all for what the gospel of the Lord Jesus is. All she could do was recite facts and dates and people's names. I want you to know the Apostle Paul when he is saying here is this, I did not go to school. I was not in the seminary. I didn't get my education here or there. It is neither of man. I did not receive it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. You see, Paul, when you think about it, stands alone in this as an apostle, doesn't he? All of the others were called by the Lord, they saw Him, they were with Him. 1 John 1.1, he said, John, we were with Him, the eternal life. We touched Him, we handled the word of life. We had fellowship with Him, we had fellowship with the Father. We were right there with Him, we are called, we're the apostles. And here's this man who is, you see, literally arrested and stopped on the road to Damascus. He really stands alone. and that he did not have, you see, that same encounter, but at the same time, he did have the encounter with the Lord Jesus, didn't he? And so the problem was, you see, Albert Barnes in his commentary on the introduction of Galatians says, point number five, it says the fall teaches in the church of Galatians that they taught that the apostle Paul was inferior to the apostles there. that he had been called more recently in the apostolic office, that the apostles at Jerusalem must be regarded as a source of authority. And so the first objection here was this, is that Paul is saying, my commission, though he had not seen the Lord Jesus before he was crucified, he had nevertheless derived immediately from him. And this is what he's saying in this passage. Not of man, neither was I taught of man. And then what did he do when the Lord Jesus got a hold of him there at the road to Damascus? What did he do? He went to Jerusalem. And he said, Peter, the pillars in the church of Jerusalem, let me tell you what happened to me at... Is that what he done? No, he didn't do that. Let me tell you what he does. He emphasizes the fact of what he was in his past life. That's the second part in this passage. He gives us here really an autobiography. He gives us a testimony of the fact what he was before his calling. And you see, that makes it even when you think about it. Who was this man? Look what he's saying. He's saying it and he says, for you have heard of my conversation, the way of life in times past in the Jewish religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God and wasted it. and profited in the Jews' religion above many my equals in my own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers." What is he saying here? You've heard of my past. I want to know, Paul never, let me tell you, every time that the Apostle Paul met with anybody, he always made a reference of the fact, let me tell you what happened to me. thought that is really a good thing for any of us to do. In Acts chapter 9 verse 1 you remember that word that's the chapter of what we read and it says, And Saul, yet breeding out threatenings and slaughtering against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest and desired of him letters to Damascus, to the synagogues, that if he found any of this this way, whether they were of men or women, that he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem. I want you to know that you can see what is he saying here. When he writes to Timothy he said, I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who had enabled me for that he counted me faithful putting me into the ministry who was before a blasphemer, a persecutor, injurious but I obtained mercy because I did it in unbelief. What is he saying here? This is what I was. I don't have it but when he continues on there in first Timothy I want that on my tombstone this is the faithful saying and worthy of all acceptations that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief is what he said. What happened to this man? He is talking about the fact that the gospel that I preached, the authority that I have is not of man. I didn't learn it of man. He did not go to Jerusalem and ask Peter and them. He didn't do that. He said, and the Lord who called me by his grace to reveal his son to me that I might preach him among the heathens. Then he says, immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood. And then he says, neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me, but I went unto Arabia and returned again unto Damascus. What is it about the Apostle Paul with all of it? He gives the testimony before King Agrippa. We won't read all of that, but he tells us a portion of what he tells him. He says that the Lord has said, he said to the Lord, Lord, who art thou? And he said, I'm Jesus whom thou persecutest. And then he said, But rise and stand up on your feet, for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen and of the things into which I will appear unto thee. delivering thee from the people and from the Gentiles unto whom now I send you." Do you see the testimony he gives? I know people thought, wait a minute, we've heard of this man, he's got a reputation. What do you mean he's preaching Christ and preaching the gospel? We heard of him. Do you know the Lord saved sinners? But in this particular case, he says, to open the eyes and to turn from the darkness to light and the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me. And then look, listen to what he's saying to King Agrippa. Wherefore, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision. What did he do? Well, he got busy, didn't he? And of course, when you read all of the testimonies of that in Acts 22 and Acts 26 and all of that, you find that how he responded. Then in the third place, we see in this passage that he says, in the third place, and immediately, look at verse 17, what is it that he done? What he done immediately, neither when I up to Jerusalem and to them which were apostles before me, but I went into Arabia and returned again unto Damascus. And then when it's all said and done, after three years, he appears to Peter and a boat within 15 days. And but of the other apostles, I saw none save James the Lord. And then afterwards, he came to Syria and Silica. And then in verse 23, but they had heard only that he which persecuted us in times past now preached the faith which once he destroyed, and they glorified God in me. As I was studying this sermon, the question that I asked with the first chapter of Galatians, I'm asking the question, what is it that we can learn from this portion of Scripture? Number one, and I think, listen to me, we need to get away from sentimentality. And I don't want to be misunderstood, but yet I want to be understood. there's only one gospel and if we know people who are have a gospel embrace that is Jesus plus let me tell you what we need to do we need to warn them now we need to do that we need to do that You see the gospel, there's only one gospel and the second thing I think that we learn from this is that we have been entrusted the gospel. What does that mean? As one of the commentators said, here we learn that the gospel is not ours but God's and that men are but keepers of it and for this we are to praise God. I want you to know, listen to me, you know we're fighting over this thing in our nation and there's all kinds of stuff that's going on in our nation with to be quote politically correct and not offend major religions and on and on and on. They're working real hard and the fact that let's get off of our currency and God we trust. as far as pledge allegiance, that we don't have to make any reference to God and all of that. Let me tell you what, all of that, those are all symptoms of something bigger than that. You want me to tell you what is at the heart? The heart is this, is that the gospel of grace is missing in the lives of people. We have been entrusted the gospel. And instead of being so jealous over the politically correct stuff that our government does, we ought not be surprised what our government does because our government is really a reflection of the people that have elected them. Let me tell you what we need in our nation. I know we want to send people to government that are conscientious, good people. We ought to be praying for them that we live quiet and peaceable lives in all godliness. But let me tell you what we ought to be concentrating on as a Christian with our time and energy and effort and that's to be the keeper and the proclaimer of the only gospel there is of that has the kind the power of saving faith. Because only that would have an effect on the lives and hearts of people. At the same time I think we need to say we must be aware of the false and I want you to know the only way that we know the false is you're going to have to know the real. I think they say if you're fighting counterfeit currency, that the best way to teach counterfeit currency is they put the real thing in your hand. You look at the color, you feel of it, you have a sense of it, you examine it, and you know the real. And when you know the real, then you're going to detect the false. I want you to know to detect the real gospel is not going to be very difficult. Where do we start? Where do we start? We start with the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We start with the triune God. We start with the gospel of grace. We start with the gospel of substitution. We start with the gospel of satisfaction. We start with the gospel of eternal purpose. We start with the gospel that is of the saving kind. We start with the gospel, it is faith plus nothing. And if you go wrong with that, let me tell you what we need to do. The Lord will enable us and help us that we can call it for what it is. I want you to know, then when you talk about here in this portion of scripture, do you know the Apostle Paul was there for just a little while? And then it was several years later he came back. They had embraced the gospel with joy and his doctrine. Then he's gone and then he hears of it. And then what happens just a few years later? They are troubled by those that pervert the gospel. And I mean, easily they were misled. And how easily can you and I be misled by it too? Just because somebody has a grand following Turn on the television. There are those that speak to millions and to thousands every Sunday. But I want you to know they're not preaching the gospel. They're entertaining people. They're making them feel good. They're not dealing with the problem of sin and peace with God. They're not dealing with the finished work of Christ. They're not dealing with the effects of salvation and holy living. They're not dealing with it. And we're just simply saying, Oh, I can't say nothing to them. They're God's anointed. Do not touch God's anointed. I want you to know I'm not an apostle and I want you to know I didn't learn it of man or of men and I didn't learn it in school but yet at the same time I'm so grateful that I'm the recipient of the gospel and the message of the Lord Jesus and the finished work and faith in Christ. You see there are those that pervert and it is very serious And we must be faithful to call it for what it is. How many weeks, Josh and David, did y'all spend on the little book of Jude? I mean, here's one chapter in the Bible. You guys spend almost two, three months on that little Jude letter. And here in Jude he says, Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you and exhort you that you should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. Why? Why? And I think this is where we run into problems. I think that every one of us we feel awkward with. When we come face to face with people and they profess, quote, faith in Jesus plus something else, we're very awkward with, well, what is it that I can say and how can I address that? We'll feel very awkward or we're even at the place to say, I don't know if I'm qualified to say anything or not. He said, we're to earnestly contend for the faith. Why? And I believe our nation is full of it because it says here, for there are certain men have crept in unawares who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of God into lasciviousness and denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. Why is that so important? I want you to know it's important because souls of people are at stake. Let me tell you what we need. We need a reformation. And what was it that fueled the reformation of the 1500s? What was it? There was an established, quote, church. There was a, quote, so-called, quote, bonafide hierarchy. There were the officers and the popes and all of the priests and the cardinals. There were all across Europe, there was the religious establishment. But what is it that was missing? The gospel. the heart of the gospel. And what was it that was the liberating message to these folks who were under that legalistic yoke? You need to do this. You kiss the ring and you kiss the feet. You kiss the step and you recite this and you do this and you do that. And then perhaps if you put a little bit more money into the coffer, perhaps we can get people out of purgatory. Perhaps, maybe there's going to be something that will be positive to you. Listen to me. It was that which was brought about the Reformation was to just shall live by faith. Let me tell you what we ought to be doing. Maybe you ought to get one of them old rainbow bread trucks. And I mean, go take it down here to the people that do the signage stuff, and put all over that thing, the just shall live by faith. For I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation, to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first, also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed, for it is written, the just shall live by faith. And then we ought to drive it, we ought to have designated 24-hour drivers. You're laughing. We ought to drive it and we ought to have speakers on top. And we ought to say, flee and repent. The Savior has come. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Come empty-handed and embrace Him. And maybe we can sing, what can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow that makes me white as snow. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. That's what we need in our nation. I want you to know we've got enough denominations. We've got enough of these churches mushrooming up here with all kinds of nonsense and names and stuff and attractions of the stages and the performance and entertainers and all of that, but no gospel at all. We ought to weep and cry. and beg our Lord for a revival and spiritual awakening. Wouldn't you like to be a part of that? Wouldn't you like to be a part of that? Oh Lord, help us with that. Lastly, this one more point. Have you experienced it yourself? Have you ever come to the place that you've said, nothing in my hands I bring Simply to that cross I cling. Naked come to Thee for dress. Foul I to the fountain fly. Wash me, Savior, or I die. You ever been at that place? If that's the case, I want to tell you something. Justified. Peace with God. Hope to see the glory of God. Let's make this message clear and plain. Let's pray.