Hey guys, it is a little hard for me to type because I burnt my hand on a crock-pot. It left a big air bubble on the finger I was touching it with. It sounds gross, right? Anyway here's part five, and hopefully the last, of The Preeminence of the Gospel by Paul Washer. It's pretty long so I would read some today and them some tomorrow. Here it is:
We ended last time with this, "It sent we into such confusion, wondering, "Upon what should I set myself? What can I know with certainty and preach with boldness?" And I decided that I would set myself upon one thing. Learning the Gospel of Jesus Christ."
This is part five. PW: "And for years I've dedicated myself to that one thing. And I know less now than I knew when I began. Not because it cannot be known, but because it CAN BE KNOWN, BUT IT IS SO GREAT!! Me painting a picture of Jesus Christ for you, what chance is there? There is a greater chance that your dog would paint the "Water Lilies" again with his paw. Who can paint this picture? Who can proclaim this message? I remember once, in a moment of fleshly praying I cried out to the Lord and I said, "OH GOD, IF YOU WOULD GRANT ME THIS ONE THING, ON THAT ONE DAY WHEN I STAND BEFORE YOU; PERFECTED IN YOUR HOLINESS AND YOUR GLORY IF YOU WOULD JUST LET ME, ONE TIME, STAND UP AND PREACH CHIRST AND THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST AS IT AUGHT TO BE PREACHED!!! And a sound rebuke came, "Son, even then you will not my son as he ought to be preached!"
PW: Now I want us to go to Galatians for a moment. Chapter 1 verse 6. "I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting him Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel." My friend, I want you to know, we have a lot of gospels floating around in our conservative Bible believing churches in America. A lot of different gospels that are as damaging and as dangerous as any cult out there. Look what we've done. Pray this prayer. No discernment. Is there a working of God? No discernment. Is there repentance working in the heart? Has faith been born? No discernment. Pray this prayer. No preaching. Pray this prayer. AND IT'S ALL OVER. IT IS ALL OVER, AND THAT IS WHY SO MANY PEOPLE THAT ARE CONVERTED IN OUR REVIVALS AND OUR CHURCH SERVICES NEVER COME TO CHURCH. AND THAT IS WHY THOSSE THAT DO, MANY OF THEM ARE JUST AS CARNEL AS WHEN THEY DID NOT COME.
Paul Washer: "Paul says in verse 7, "Which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the Gospel of Jesus Christ." There are many who want to distort the Gospel of Jesus Christ, beginning with the slanderer, himself. If there is one message Satan desires to distort, it is the Gospel, because the Gospel is the foundation. It is our foundation. It is the foundation of Christianity. The acropolis of our faith. DISTORT THAT ONE THING, REMOVE THAT ONE CORNERSTONE AND THE ENTIER BUILDING COMES DOWN!!! And you say, "Well the building hasn't come down." It will. And when it does according to the prophet Ezekiel, then men will ask, "Where was that wall you built?" If persecution where to come to this country tomorrow, you would see the churches the big movers and shakers, throughout this country empty out so quickly it would make your head swim. Because Church has become more like a mall, than a place to worship the Lord and learn from him. MEET OUR NEEDS AND WE'LL COME!! COME IF YOU WANT TO BE A DECIPLE, OR DO NOT COME AT ALL!
PW: "Now he says, verse 8, " But even if we, or any angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! As we have said before, so I say again now, of any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!" Now my dear friend, I want you to take note. The Jew, when he wanted the emphasize something, would use something we call a parallelism, Hebrew parallelism. I'll make one up for you. "The wicked shall not live in the land; the wicked shall be destroyed." Sounds a lot like Proverbs doesn't it? What is he doing well he's saying the same thing twice with a little bit of a different twist. Well why would he do that? That's the way they give great emphasize. That's why it says in the Bible God is Holy, Holy, Holy. And from that you can take the foundational attribute of God, if you can say such a thing, would be his holiness. It never says in the Bible God is nice, nice, nice. It never says that He is merciful, merciful, merciful; but it does say he is holy, holy, holy. And Paul repeats himself here, WHY?! TO GIVE EMPIAHSISE. TO UNDERLINE. IT'S TO SCREAM IT OUT, "YOU PREACH ANOTHER GOSPEL, YOU ARE ACURSED OF GOD!! I always tell people before I go preach at a visiting church I say, "Now, listen to me. There are two things gong on here that are quite dangerous. It is dangerous to preach. Because if I preach to you a message that is not according to the word of God, it is a dangerous, terrible dangerous thing for me. AND IF I PREACH A MESSAGE THAT IS ACORRDING TO THE WORD OF GOD, it is a terrible dangerous thing for you. Because you will be held accountable on the day of judgement when you stand before Him. Preaching is DANGEROUS! And especially the preaching of God's Gospel, and especially when that Gospel is about His Son! My dear friend, God loves His Son more than ANYONE!! And only to the degree that you honor His Son, do you honor God. And only to the degree that you preach His Gospel, correctly, do you honor Him.
PW: "To be Accursed. I want you to know. There are men in modern-day conservative Evangelicalism, that are accursed. Because they are preaching a gospel that is not found in the New Testament. Oh, they'll build big churches, they'll climb denominational ladders, but they will stand accursed on that great day when they stand before Him; before whom all the world stands. And so it is with this, that we go into our conference, The preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Paul Washer: "Now before I conclude this session, or this introduction that was to be this session. Whenever we're dealing with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, there is only reality for us in this Gospel, to the degree that this Gospel has been reveled to us? And if this Gospel has been reveled to you, than listen to me closely and with great fear. If this Gospel has truly been reveled to you, my dear friend, then Jesus Christ will be more to you than a ticket to HEAVEN. WHY IS THIS GOSPEL SO IMPORTANT? "Oh, Brother Paul, because it is our way of salvation; it is our way to heaven!" No. No. THIS GOSPEL IS PRECIOUS, NOT PRIMAIRALY BECAUSE IT IS HAS BROUGHT A GREAT SALVATION TO US. THIS GOSPEL IS PRECIOUS TO US BECAUSE IT IS ABOUT GOD'S ONLY BELOVED SON!!! IS HE PRECIOUS TO YOU?!! IS HE PRECIOUS TO YOU?!! DO YOU LOVE HIM?!!! DOES YOUR HEART BURN FOR HIM?!! IS THERE A PASSION?!! I DON'T CARE WETHER OR NOT YOU THINK YOUR GETTING IN OR NOT!! BECAUSE GETTING IN IS NOT THE TOPIC!!! THE THING IS THIS, IS CHRIST PRECIOUS TO YOU?!!!! I DON'T CARE IF YOU’RE A GOOD PERSON!! I FEAR FOR GOOD PEOPLE, WHO HAVE NO PASSIONATE LOVE FOR JESUS!! WHO NEVER WEEP ABOUT JESUS. WHO NEVER DANCE ABOUT JESUS. WHO NEVER ARE EXCITED WITH JOY ABOUT JESUS!!! WHO ARE NEVER BROUGHT SPEECHLESS AT THE FOOT OF THE CROSS, WORSHIPING JESUS!!!! DON'T TALK TO ME ABOUT YOUR KNOWLEDGE AND KNOWLEDGE ALONE. DON'T TALK TO ME ABOUT YOUR MAKING THE RIGHT DECISSION. TALK TO ME ABOUT HIS BEAUTY! TALK TO ME ABOUT HOW PRECIOUS HE IS! TALK TO ME ABOUT HIS WORTH! AND IN DOING SO, YOU'LL HAVE PREACHED THE GOSPEL WELL! YOU'LL HAVE PREACHED THE GOSPEL WELL.
PW's Prayer: "Let's pray. Father? Oh Lord that Jesus Christ, your son, would be real in this place. That He would be real to me! Oh lord, so much of my piety is plastic. So much of my zeal, enthusiasm. So much of my praying, public. Oh that Christ, that Christ, would be made more real and more real in our hearts. That we might worship Him. And adore Him and serve Him; and talk much of Him. We ask these things in Jesus name, and for His saving, Amen."
If you listen to the message, it is a lot more powerful hearing it from him than me writing it out. I hope you enjoy it. It's a little (just a little) long. Come on, it 's a forty minute sermon! I encouage you to listen to this sermon, if any other from Paul Washer. I emplore you to!! I exort You to!!
For the Glory of God's Son,
Jesus Christ!!
-Kole
The Preeimence of the Gospel (part 5)
The Preeimence of the Gospel (part 4)
I hope you guys have enjoyed reading these posts on this sermon by Paul Washer. When I heard it I wanted to post the sermon on here, but I knew that it would be to long and some people wouldn't make it to the end of it. However, I encourage you to listen to it. I will try to post it at the end of this post. To hear it from him is so much more powerful than reading it. I would also encourage you to "Hold fast". :) We left off With Paul Washer asking, "Why is the Gospel no longer good enough? I'll tell you why, because we're not preaching on sin. And men are not afraid of sin, and they are not afraid not of judgement." So here is the last part of Paul Washer's message:
"It says in the next part of the verse, "by which also you were saved if...if... you hold fast." I will not take that conditional clause out of there. Some people say, "Now hold on Brother Paul. What are you talking about here? Your saying they're saved if they keep going, and if they don't keep going they're not saved?" That's exactly what I'm saying. "Well than brother Paul, you’re saying that a man can lose his salvation." No I'm not. I'm saying what scripture says, and it is this. The proof of having been truly saved is that you continue on in the faith. And if you turn away from the faith, it is evidence that you have never come to know him; and even more importantly he has never come to know YOU! The doctrine of Eternal Security AS IT IS PREACHED in America today, is damning many people to hell. BECAUSE WE'VE COME TO BELIEVE THAT SALVATION IS NO MORE THAN A FLU SHOT THAT YOU TAKE!!! YOU ENTER THE SMALL GATE, AND THAN YOU WALK IN THE BROAD WAY, AND EVERYTHING IS FINE!! NO MY FRIEND! THE EVIDENCE THAT YOU HAVE PAST THROUGH THE SMALL GATE, IS THAT YOU ARE NOW WALKING IN THE NARROW WAY, MARKED OUT BY THE WORD OF GOD!! AND IF YOU GET OFF THAT PATH AS A BELIEVER, THE FATHER WILL DISCIPLINE YOU AND PUT YOU BACK ON! BUT IF YOU WALK OFF THAT PATH, STAY OFF THAT PATH, AND THE THINGS OF GOD MEAN NOTHING TO YOU, IT IS EVIDENCE THAT YOU HAVE never, never, never come to know him. And most of the people today because of a false teaching with a regard to this doctrine, are rededicating their lives to Christ when in fact some of them are getting saved and some of them are getting nothing.
PW: "Now we go on. "You hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received." As a first importance my dear friend. As a first importance. I can imagine, Noah, preaching decade, after decade, after decade, after decade, preaching and preaching and preaching. And every day he meets devotional time with his family. "Dad what are you going to teach on today?" "It's going to rain." "Dad you been teaching on that for 120 years." He goes out to the square. "What are you going to preach on?" "It's gonna rain." "Why don't you preach something else?" "Because it's gonna rain." If he can be so faithful to such a small message, if he can give it priority above every other thing, than how much more this message, that is the message, there is no other message! It's like brother Charles Lighter told me one time, I think that someone was coming into the pulpit or something and said they was going to teach on faith. And someone said, "I've already heard a message on that." Or someone stands in the pulpit and says, "I'm gonna preach on Ephesians 1," and two woman stand up walk out and say, "We already heard a sermon on that." You could preach those things all of eternity, and not understand them, not grasp their full glory, how much more the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and how much more is it to be our priority. AND NOT JUST AMONG OUR ADLUTS. AND NOT JUST AMONG ADULT SERVICES. IT NEEDS TO BE EVERYWHERE, AMONG OUR CHILDREN, AMONG OUR YOUTH. AVERYWHERE EXPLAINING, TEACHING, AND PREACHING THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST!!! WE GOT KIDS WHO THE ONLY THING THEY KNOW HOW TO DO IS PAINT PICTURES OF NOAH'S BOAT!! Someone says, "Well can a child understand these things or the Gospel?" Well let me put it this way. A man who has served sixty years as a professor at Harvard cannot understand these things apart from the spirit of God, and with the spirit of God a five-year-old child can understand it soundly. Again let move out of this realm of humanistic, and into the realm of GOD!! WHO CAN DO ALL THINGS!!!
PW: "For those of you who are young here, younger preachers, I want you to know something. I grew up in my Christianity, in a age where there was a new book out on the Second Coming of Christ every week. It sent me into such confusion, wondering, "Upon what should I set myself? What can I know with certainty and preach with boldness?" And I decided I would set myself upon one thing, learning the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Kole: Hey guys I know this is pretty long right now so I will end up finishing it tomorrow.
To my Brothers in Christ,
-Kole
The Preeimence of the Gospel (part 3)
Yesterday's post was going to be really long but I shortened it down by splitting the message down into four parts instead of three. If you have not read the earlier posts, I encourage you to go back and read those first. Today's post won't be too long. Here is Paul Washer:
"He says the Gospel which you "received." It means, "to take in the Christ." Christ becomes the very sustenance of your LIFE! HE BECOMES ABSOLUTLY EVERYTHING!! Your whole life is now lived out in a different context, and that context is in CHRIST! He's not some little accessory that you tie on to your LIFE!! He's not something that you do on Sundays. He's not something that you ' Oh I've got that done already, don't worry about me preacher.' You received him! You take him in! He is your life, and you must take him wholelisticly. These silly little arguments about, lordship of Jesus Christ. Well is it lordship's salvation when you get saved. Do you get saved by believing he's the savior, without accepting him as lord? What do you think, the lord Jesus Christ is schizophrenic. HE IS LORD, CHIRST, MESSIAH, SAVIOR!! And when he is taken in he is taken in wholelisticly. He is taken in completely AS LORD AS SAVIOR AS GOD!!! Again you say I'm asking too much. No I'm asking too much from men who have not been regenerated by the Holy Spirit, but when the power of God is working I’m not asking too much.
Paul Washer: "Now we go on. "By which also you are saved." Now this is the part that burns. This is a part that I have to be careful of not getting in the flesh. This is a part that makes me fierce, angry, and warrior-like in my preaching. I am sick and tired of all these Gospel preachers promising things God never promised, because the promise of salvation is no longer good enough for carnal men. WE'RE PROMISING THEM "OH IF YOU ACCEPT CHIRST JESUS YOU'LL HAVE A WHOLELISTIC LIFE! IF YOU ACCEPT JESUS HE'LL BALANCE YOUR CHECKBOOK! IF YOU ACCEPT JESUS HE WILL DO THIS AND THIS AND THIS AND THIS! When did salvation not become enough? THAT HE HAS SHEED HIS OWN BLOOD FOR MY SOUL! THAT I' M SAVED I'M SAVED PRAISE GOD I'M SAVED, THAT I WAS A WRETCH BOUND FOR HELL!! COULD NOT ESCAPE, COULD NOT EVEN WANT TO ESCAPE; AND YET HE HAS SAVED ME!!! Why is that no longer good enough? I'll tell you why, because we're not preaching on sin, and men are not afraid of sin, and men are not afraid of judgement.-Kole
The Preeimence of the Gospel (part 2)
I hope you guys liked the first part of the sermon that I posted yesterday. Part 2 is a little longer. But I hope everyone can find the time to read this. This is Paul Washer:
"Turn back with me to Romans 1:16. The next part of the verse says, "for it is the power of god." The word power is the same word in the Greek as the word dynamite. And what we are going to study in the next session will seem quite unusual to you because we are going to study the radical depravity of man. Because we've got a PROBLEM today in that we believe men are SICK!! MEN are not sick, MEN ARE DEAD!! Men do not cooperate, men cannot help themselves, they cannot adjust the rout or route, or their power or even the fixture of their eyes. If men are to be saved they are to be saved by the power of an ALMIGHTY GOD, and again that power is manifested through the preaching of the GOSPEL!! not gimmicks. not props. not pillars made of dough. Men are saved by the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. If man cannot bring down the walls of Jericho, they cannot bring down the depravity of their own heart. It must be the power of God.
PW: "When I went to preaching class when I was younger, our assignment was to write a sermon, and I did a presentation of the Gospel. They asked me afterward, "Why did you preach the Gospel in a preaching class? The Gospel is for lost people. Did you pull this from a sermon you had already wrote, so you need not write a new one?"
Paul Washer: "I've gotten to the point now where if I walk into a congregation, and the preacher comes forward and says he wants to share from his heart I get up and leave, Because I could really careless what's in his heart. The Bible tells me his heart is deceitfully wicked, who can know it. I don't want to hear what's in a mans heart. When someone stands before me I WANT TO HEAR "THUS SAYTH THE LORD." TELL ME THE WORDS OF GOD! I NEED POWERFUL WORDS FOR THIS WEAK HEART OF MINE! I NEED POWERFUL WORDS TO DIRECT THIS DULL MIND OF MINE. Give me the word of God."
PW: "Look what we have done to this word. We have turned this word "receive" the Gospel down to the most pitiful, impudent, superstition. I have heard of evangelist who someone will come forward without any sign of repentance or brokenness, and tell them, "do you want to go to Heaven?" How many people do you know who would raise their hand and say, "No, I'd rather go to Hell?" Do you want to go to Heaven? 'Well yes I do.' Then pray this prayer. 'Well praying makes me uncomfortable.' Ok, well than repeat this prayer after me. 'Well that makes me uncomfortable too.' Than, I pray the prayer and if it what you want to say, squEEZE my HAND!! That's what we have done with the Gospel of JESUS CHRIST TODAY!!! The salvation of a man is a supernatural work of GOD, where I believe in my own heart that more power is manifested in the regeneration of one man of a wicked heart, than the power that was manifested in the creation of the UNIVERSE!!! IT IS THE LITTERAL RAISING IF THE DEAD!!! AND WE"VE REDUCED IT DOWN TO squeeze my hand. WHY? We don't trust in the power of the Gospel, so we use gimmicks."-Kole
The Preeimence of the Gospel
Hey guys. Sorry I've been so late in posting today. We're expecting company this afternoon so we've been cleaning the house a lot. Anyway, yesterday I listened to a sermon by a man by the name of Paul Washer called the "Preeminence of the Gospel." It was AWESOME. I knew I had to post about it afterward, but I hadn't taken any notes on it for you guys. Well, I decided that I would listen to it again, and I tried to shorten it but it was just too GOOD! It's one of the best sermons I've ever heard before! It's going to take me a while to write it out so it will be broken up into probably three days. I'm about two-thirds done and I have nine pages of notes! So lets get started.
Paul Washer: "Romans 1:16 says 'For I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the Power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.' Why would Paul be ashamed? Lets talk about it. People believe today that the gospel is a baby step, and then you go onto greater truth. Let me tell you something. There is no greater truth than the Gospel of our lord and savior Jesus Christ! There is no greater truth and you will not, you WILL NOT spend the rest of eternity trying to discover all the hidden meanings in the book of Revelation; but you will spend all of eternity trying to discover and ever failing, to know the glories of God revealed in the cross of JESUS CHRIST!!! So if you want to do something, learn to preach the Gospel and learn to preach it well."
"Turn to 1 Corinthians1: 18,26. People believe today that the Gospel has to be contemporary. We believe we must not only prop up the Gospel, but we have to make it beautiful as well. The Gospel cannot be embellished to an unregenerate world without changing it. When worldly, carnal men think the Gospel is a wonderful thing, you are not preaching the GOSPEL!! The Gospel of Jesus Christ has been, is, and always will be offensive to arrogant fleshly men!! And when you take the offense out of it you will destroy the power of it!!"
