[0:00] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfred, Georgia. It is our prayer that you will be blessed by the preaching of God's Word. Take your Bible and go with me to Mark chapter 1 and verse 14.
[0:12] When you hear that word gospel, you probably hear it in a whole different, a whole many ways of hearing it. You hear it as gospel music, you hear it as preaching the gospel, you hear it as all sorts of other meanings possibly.
[0:27] So today we're going to try to find out a little bit about what it means. Because if you'll look with me in Mark 1, 14, down through verse 15, read that again with me.
[0:38] The Bible says, And after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee. So you've been in the book of Mark. If you're reading the book of Mark, it starts off with John the Apostle preaching, John the Baptist preaching and getting everything ready for Jesus to come.
[0:55] And then Jesus shows up and Jesus gets baptized and he goes into the wilderness and he gets tempted. And then the next thing that happens is John's now in prison. And we are full into Jesus's ministry of preaching the gospel.
[1:12] Look at what it says in verse 1 of verse 14. Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee preaching the gospel. Preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God and saying the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand.
[1:30] Repent ye and believe the gospel. There's two or three things in there that just got to be understood, got to be explained. There is a gospel, exactly what's that?
[1:43] And kingdom of God, what's he talking about when he says the kingdom of God? Then he said the time is fulfilled. What's going on? So if you'll go with me this morning, I'm going to tell you the most exciting story you've ever heard.
[1:57] I'm going to tell you the story of humanity. I'm going to tell you the story of good news that Jesus Christ is preaching. Let's bow our heads for a word of prayer and get your Bible ready.
[2:10] Get a piece of paper ready. Maybe look this up because you're going to want to tell this story again. You're going to want to share this with other people. But let's pray. Father, I pray that you would work in our lives today.
[2:21] And I pray that your name would be glorified and magnified. God, there may be someone here that you know about, I don't know about, but they're not saved. They're not on their way to heaven.
[2:31] They're not sure of their eternity. And they could get saved today. And I would like to ask you to please convict them of their sins. Show them their need and help them today to put their faith and trust in you.
[2:44] Then there's some Christians here that are wondering why. They're wondering why things happen like they do. They don't have a grasp on what the scriptures teach about this.
[2:55] And so I'm asking you now to help this be clear. And I'll give you praise and honor and glory for all. In Jesus' name, amen. Go with me, if you would, to Revelation chapter 11 and verse 15.
[3:06] I want you to focus in first on this idea of the kingdom of God. So when you hear that term, kingdom of God, you've got to be wondering, what in the world is that? We don't really believe in kingdoms.
[3:18] We don't have very many kings in the world today. Now, Morocco's got a sitting king and different countries have kings and they really do still have kingdoms. But we're kind of out of that and don't understand that in America.
[3:30] But in the Bible, Jesus came preaching the gospel, the good news of the kingdom of God. Now, what do you mean by that? What do you mean when he said, I'm going to preach the gospel of the kingdom of God?
[3:42] So here's the first thing you want to know. According to the Bible, there are currently two kingdoms in existence on the earth. Two kingdoms in existence in all of time.
[3:53] Look at this. Revelation 11, 15. And the seventh angel sounded, and there were great voices in heaven saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.
[4:12] Now, I would love, I don't know if I'm finishing this message, but you're going to get the story. I think you're going to love it. We got to go all the way back to the very beginning in Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.
[4:23] And Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden are obeying God. They're in his kingdom. He's in charge. And there's this rogue king running around. There's this rebellious guy. There's this terrorist guy. And he wants to destroy the work of God.
[4:35] And he slithers into the kingdom of God, into the Garden of Eden. And he goes over to Eve, and he tempts Eve with the idea of disobeying God. And he slanders the character of God.
[4:47] And he tells her that God has tried to hold out on her. And he tells her that what God said is not really true. And Eve takes the bait and falls.
[4:59] And that moment, she becomes a captive of another king. And that moment, she becomes a person of another kingdom. And that moment, she moves from a kingdom of life to a kingdom of death.
[5:12] And that moment, honestly, big things are happening. She goes and shares that with Adam. And Adam believes that same thing. He goes along with it.
[5:22] He wasn't deceived, but he does go along with it. And he's out also. Now, I'm reading to you a verse out of the book of Revelation. And what's beautiful in the book of Revelation is, all of a sudden, in the book of Revelation, you're at the very end of the Bible.
[5:34] And there's been this great storyline that's been going on since the book of Genesis. And in Revelation, it's climaxing. And now the music is getting louder and louder.
[5:45] And the lights are getting brighter and brighter. Because God's winning this battle. And Jesus is coming out on top. And the kingdoms of the world and the kingdoms of this world system have now become the kingdoms of God.
[5:58] And that's what's going to happen. That ought to get you to understand what Jesus said. When Jesus showed up, he says in Mark chapter 1, he says, It's time. I'm here. Time's fulfilled. And I'm preaching something to you.
[6:09] I got good news. My kingdom has come. It is time for me to take over this sin-cursed, sin-defeated world and do something big.
[6:20] That's what happens there. Now, you might be thinking, I don't know if I believe that. I'm not sure I can go along with that. Two kingdoms. Jesus and the devil having a fight. I'm not sure I can get that.
[6:30] Well, go with me, if you would, to Matthew chapter 4, verse 8, if you would. Matthew chapter 4 and verse 8. I want you to understand that it is a clear teaching in the Bible that the devil's in charge of things right now.
[6:43] On earth, if you've got your Bible, you're going to find out. Now, those of you that got sovereignty leanings are thinking, whoa, whoa. Well, God's still sovereign and he's still over everything.
[6:54] And nobody could ever defeat him and nobody could ever beat him. But the story in the Bible, you're not going to be able to deny what you're about to read. The story in the Bible is who Satan is. And look at what he does in Matthew chapter 4 and verse 8.
[7:06] This would be from what we preached on last week when we talked about the temptation. Notice what happened. And then the devil, this is when the devil, Satan, is tempting. He is tempting Jesus.
[7:18] And he takes him, Jesus, up into an exceeding high mountain. And he showed him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them. Now, you need to underline kingdoms of the world.
[7:30] So he took him up on the mountain and said, check it out. Check it out. There's all the kingdoms of the world. There's all the kingdoms that belong to me. This is what I'm ruling over. I'll prove that to you in a second.
[7:41] Verse 9. He says to Jesus, and he said unto Jesus, All these things will I give you if you will fall down and worship me.
[7:53] And you know what? Jesus didn't look at him and say, you're a dingbat boy. You ain't kingdoms. Ain't nothing of yours. You have no right to give me anything. I own it all already. After what he said. He didn't argue that a bit.
[8:05] See, Satan already knew those kingdoms were his. They got capitulated to him back in the days of Adam and Eve. And by you, by the way, when you were born, you were born in a sin-cursed world, but you chose to disobey God just like Eve did.
[8:19] You've been doing just like the rest of them have, just like I have. And we've all decided, God, I don't want you. And I'll take what the world offers. And I'll take what Satan offers. And when we did that, we walked away from God.
[8:31] And we walked into sin. And captives of sin and slaves of sin. Notice what he said. He said, all these things will I give you. And Jesus' answer in verse 10 was, well, get out of here. Because it's written, you only worship the Lord your God.
[8:44] I ain't doing that. No shortcuts for me. No shortcuts for me. Get out of here. So I need you to understand, there's two kingdoms. I need you to understand, Satan is the god of this world.
[8:59] Come on. You cannot say that. Well, I can't, but the Bible can. 2 Corinthians 4, verse 4. Look that up with me. The Bible says it. I can't say it, but the Bible can say it.
[9:09] Would you agree that the Bible has the right to say what it wants to say? Amen? And if I'm just reading the news, you can just go out to admit it and say amen. Is that right? Now, look here. Did you understand, there's two kingdoms. There's the kingdom of God and there's the kingdom of this world.
[9:22] That's the terms you're going to get used to. The kingdom of God and the kingdom of this world. And Satan offered Jesus the kingdoms a shortcut way. All he had to do was bow down and do that.
[9:33] He wouldn't have had to purchase it with his blood, but he didn't take that. And then in 2 Corinthians 4, verse 4, the apostle Paul writes and he says, In whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
[9:55] Now, take your Bible and underline the God of this world. So you see, there's this God, little g, God of this world who is blinding people's hearts, who is keeping people from seeing the glorious good news gospel of Christ, who is the image of God.
[10:13] So there's a God of this world. I don't know if you realize that, but there's a God of this world. There's a God of this world. Well, let's see what else the Bible says. Look at John chapter 12 and verse 31. You're going to do a lot of work this morning.
[10:24] John chapter 12 and verse 31. He is not only the God of this world, the Bible calls him the prince of this world. The Bible calls him the prince of this world.
[10:35] That's like the son of a king, the prince of this world. That's like somebody in royalty over this world. John chapter 12 and verse 31.
[10:45] John chapter 12 and verse 31. The Bible says, now is the judgment of this world. Now shall the prince of this world be cast out. So see, there's just two kingdoms.
[10:57] Jesus is going to win, guys. We saw that in Revelation. The kingdoms of the world are going to become the kingdoms of our God. And so Satan is the God of this world.
[11:08] He's the prince of this world. He's going to get kicked out. Ephesians chapter 2, if you would. Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 2. Look at what the Bible says. Ephesians chapter 2.
[11:19] He's the prince of the power of the air. Look at this and understand who he is. He's the prince of the power of the air. Look at what it says. Wherein in time past, you Christians, you born-again people.
[11:32] How many of you in this room are born again? Say amen. Amen. Did you know, according to the Bible, that back in the day, before you got saved, you used to walk according to the course of this world.
[11:42] Read the verse. That means you did what everybody else did who doesn't love God. That doesn't mean you did all the same sins. It just meant you did your own thing. You did what you wanted to do.
[11:53] It doesn't mean that necessarily you were a drunkard. You say, I'm not like this world. They're a bunch of drunkards. No, you don't have to be a drunkard. You just don't have to be a God lover. See, if you're not a God lover, God follower, then you're a God hater and a God not follower.
[12:06] How about that? That's a good word, isn't it? God not follower. All right. Now, look at this verse. It says, Ephesians 2, 2. Wherein time past, you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air.
[12:19] Underline that. The prince of the power of the air. The guy up here in charge. There's a guy ruling over this planet because we gave him the privilege.
[12:32] We said to him, we prefer you to God. Now, not us anymore because we moved from one kingdom to the other. We'll get to that in a second. We've moved out of his kingdom.
[12:42] But the majority of this world is still in his kingdom. And then look at this. That's who we were, though. Wherein in time past, you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air.
[12:53] And the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience. That's not us. We're not children of disobedience. We're children of obedience. But we used to be children of disobedience. We used to do what we wanted to do and not what God wanted us to do.
[13:06] There's two kingdoms. There's the kingdom of God and there's the kingdoms of this world. There are two fathers on earth. There are two fathers on earth. Go with me to John chapter 8 and verse 44.
[13:18] You see, the whole story of the Bible is these two kingdoms and this war that's going on right now. Spiritual warfare taking place everywhere.
[13:28] In John chapter 8 and verse 44, the Bible said, You are of your father the devil. Wow. Jesus is not talking nice. I mean, let's be honest.
[13:39] He's looking at these people and saying, You're of your father the devil. And the lust of your father, the desires of your father, the wishes of your father, you will do.
[13:50] You know, you're not doing what God wants you to do. You're doing what the devil wants you to do. Look at the verse. It's right there. You are of your father the devil. And lust, that means desires or wishes.
[14:01] And what he wants you to do, that's what y'all do. Now, let me explain something to you about the devil. The devil doesn't care that you all do the same thing. I'm not talking to the majority of you.
[14:12] I'm talking about human race right here because the majority of you are born again, I hope. But you see, did you know that General Motors doesn't care which car you buy? They just want you to buy a car. And so they're willing to sell you a little car that runs on electricity or a really big car that burns a lot of gas and burns out all the trees and all the coal.
[14:33] All they got in mind is this. They come out and they say, We just want to sell a car. Which one do you like? You say, I don't want one that burns coal and oil and gas.
[14:43] I think that's bad stuff. I want one of electricity. Oh, okay. Well, we got one for you. Oh, no. I like a big luxurious one. Oh, we got one for you. They just want you to buy one of their cars. You know how the devil works?
[14:54] He don't care what you do just as long as you don't follow Jesus. So he comes out and says, Hey, I just don't want you to follow Jesus. So what do you want? Do you like being moral? I got a place for you. We got all kind of civic clubs for you.
[15:06] They'll be great places. Hey, I just want... Hey, hey, hey. You want to be a good Mormon? I'm all for you. I'm all for you. I just don't want you following the God of the Bible. You want to get involved in a political party?
[15:18] It's kind of like General Motors selling cars. That's how the devil is. Somehow, somewhere along the way, you got the idea the devil wants everybody to be a drunkard. He don't want everybody to be a drunkard. He just don't want them to love Jesus.
[15:29] He doesn't want them all to be a drunkard or a drug addict. He just don't want them to love Jesus. And he's at work trying to get that accomplished. So here it says, You're of the father of the devil. And the lust of your father, that's what you're doing.
[15:43] And he was a murderer from the beginning. And he abode not in the truth because there's no truth in him. And when he speaks a lie, he speaks it of his own for he's a liar and the father of it.
[15:54] Not everyone's a child of God. Now, I lived in South America for a long time. And if anything I ever heard, it was always this. We're all God's children. We're all God.
[16:06] Have y'all ever heard that? We're all God's children. That sounds sweet, but it's just not biblical. The Bible says in John chapter 1 and verse 12, But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even in them that believe in his name.
[16:24] So do you understand what he just said? Read that verse. To them gave he the power or the ability or the authority to become a child of God. So you don't just wake up and say, Hey, I'm a child of God.
[16:36] You're not a child of God. You're a creation of God. Yeah, he made you. You're special. He made you. And there's no two snowflakes alike. And you ain't either snowflake.
[16:47] So you can all be special. But the truth is, you're not a child of God. There's two fathers. One father's the devil. One father's God. There's two kingdoms. One, the kingdom of this world.
[16:58] Another, the kingdom of God. Not everyone's a child of God. Look, if you went at Colossians chapter 1 and verse 13. Colossians chapter 1 and verse 13. We used to be a part.
[17:09] If you're born again in the room, say amen. I need you to know you used to be up under the power of darkness and you used to be in the other kingdom. Did you hear that? You used to be under the power of darkness and you used to be a part of the other kingdom.
[17:23] So look at Colossians chapter 1 and verse 13. Right up here and see what the word of God says. Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness.
[17:35] So there was a time when I lived over here under Satan's domain. And by the way, it's not always all that uncomfortable. I need you to know that.
[17:48] Satan is happy with you being a happy slave. Satan's happy with making you feel good till you die. Satan's happy with saying, I'll give you money.
[18:00] I'll give you fame. I'll give you girls. I'll give you whatever you want. I just don't want you loving Jesus. That's his whole game. His whole game is for you not to love and follow Jesus Christ.
[18:15] And we were delivered from the power of darkness. Darkness is the opposite of light. And since God is light, Satan's the opposite of that. And so God's got a kingdom and it's a kingdom of light.
[18:26] And Satan's got a kingdom. It's a kingdom of darkness. And God's got a kingdom. It's a kingdom of freedom. And Satan's got a kingdom of slaves. And God's got a kingdom of being accepted. And Satan's got a kingdom of being abused.
[18:38] Because even if you live a really not, you know, I grew up on a farm. I don't know if you've ever, I got a weird sense of humor. But you know, we used to go out and Daddy would say, we're going to kill that calf right there, put him in the barn.
[18:51] Well, none of the other calves got to go to the barn. They all had to live outside. Rain came, they got wet. Lightning came, they got lightning. I mean, you know, it didn't matter. They're just out there. But this one calf, we'd go out there in the field, we'd pick that calf and we'd walk him into the barn.
[19:06] And we'd put him in a nice stall. If it was too cold, we kept it a tad warm. And we even had fans sometimes, you know. And he made sure the flies weren't there. And we fed him all he could eat.
[19:19] And he had to be thinking, I'm the luckiest calf on the farm. They are fattening me up. What they didn't know, what he didn't know was we were fattening him up.
[19:31] In Peru, when they have Christmas, they give you turkey. And they don't want the turkey to hurt. They feel like if the turkey hurts before he dies, the meat won't be as sweet.
[19:43] So they literally get him drunk. So they'll get the turkey and they'll feed him beardly, gets good and drunk. And when he's drunk, they'll cut his head off. I mean, if you got to get your head cut off, I guess getting drunk would be the better way to go.
[19:58] Amen? Amen? Hey, and if you're going to, and if you're going to have to be killed, might as well be in a nice stall, well fed and groomed and taken care of. That's what the devil's doing.
[20:10] But here's what God did. He delivered us. And then notice what it says. So you got to understand there's these two kingdoms. You notice this verse? He translated us. He moved us from the kingdom of devil to the kingdom of his dear son.
[20:26] Do you understand that? He brought us out of death and into life. He brought us out of hell and into heaven. He brought us out of darkness and he brought us into light. John 5, 24, the Bible said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that hears my word and believes on him that sent me hath everlasting life has passed from death to life and shall not come into condemnation.
[20:46] So that's what's going on. You see, there's two kingdoms. There's two kingdoms. By the way, Jesus' kingdom was never of this world. He never had in mind to set up a kingdom in Geneva or Rome or Nashville.
[21:02] He never had a kingdom on this earth. So here's what he says in John chapter 18 and verse 36. John chapter 18. Are y'all still with me if y'all say amen? We're not even finished. We're halfway through point one.
[21:13] We may be in trouble. It's a memorial day and I'm going to make it a memorial day. Amen. John 18, 36, the Bible says, My kingdom is not of this world.
[21:25] Look at that. So let's just get an understanding here. When Jesus was here on the planet and he could have easily set up a kingdom, he said, Nope, that's not what I'm here for. My kingdom is not of this world.
[21:37] If my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight that I should not be delivered to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from here even, not from hence. Now, understand, the kingdom of God is such an important thing that when Jesus taught his disciples to pray, he taught them to pray for his kingdom.
[21:54] Matthew chapter 6, verse 9. You got that? Look at one up. Matthew chapter 6 and verse 9. After this man, how many of you have learned the Lord's prayer? Say amen. Okay, pray it with me.
[22:07] You ready? Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom. Whoa! You didn't even know what you was praying. You just thought, I don't know what that means, but we say it.
[22:21] Well, here's what he taught them to pray. So when it comes time to pray, pray for my kingdom to come. The devil's been running things long enough. Time for King Jesus to take over. Time for God to rule again.
[22:33] Time for God to take control again. Thy kingdom come. And then it says, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Revelation chapter 12, verse 10.
[22:44] Let's finish this first one up. See, there's two kingdoms. There's the kingdom of God and the kingdom of the world. And the world is the system that lifts itself against God.
[22:56] I'll try to show you that in just a second real quickly. Look at Revelation 12, 10. And I heard a voice saying in heaven, say, let's remember this.
[23:06] Even the way the Bible's put together is not as big an accident as you think it is. You might think it's some kind of accident. This is the book of Revelation. See, in the book of Genesis, you got beginnings and in the book of Revelations, you got finishes.
[23:18] Beginnings to finishes. In the book of Revelation, Genesis, you got sin getting started. In the book of Revelation, you got sin being whipped and God went into battle.
[23:30] In the book of Genesis and you're working your way through it, there's all these pictures that are going through the Bible to show you Jesus is coming to pay the sin debt and then Jesus comes and pays the sin debt and in the book of Revelation, basically, this is rocky up on top of the thing when, yeah, we won!
[23:44] That's exactly what's going on in Revelation. Check out this verse. And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, now is come salvation and strength and the kingdom of, let me read that like a Baptist preacher.
[23:57] Now is come salvation and strength and the kingdom of our God and the power of our God. Come the salvation and the strength and the kingdom, the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ and the accuser of the brethren.
[24:14] Who's that? Come on, who's that? That old stinking devil been messing with us all this long. He is cast down which accused him before our God day and night.
[24:28] The kingdom is coming in power. I think before I go on, I should help you understand when the Bible uses the term world, it's not really talking about creation.
[24:42] You know, a lot of people are traveling today and they're having vacation and they're out seeing the nature. A lot of them are on the lake. Let me explain to you, that's not going to the world. Like if you ever hear somebody talk about a Christian, he went to the world, that don't mean he went to Six Flags.
[24:58] It doesn't mean he went to the Alps. It means he went to a system that rebels against God. Nothing wrong with the stars and the moon and the trees and the grass and the birds and the bees and the horses and the chickens.
[25:13] Nothing wrong with that. Your doggy and your cat, that's not the world. When the Bible uses the word world, it could use it that way. But the majority of times, anytime the word world is negative, you know what it means?
[25:25] It means a whole system run by another guy. Satan, who says to God, I won't listen to you. I want to be God. That's Isaiah 14, another day, another time.
[25:37] When he said, I want to be lifted up, I want to be, that's who it was. So when you talk about the world, you're talking about somebody who's, and it's not about drunkenness and sex. It's only about one thing.
[25:49] The real problem is not drunkenness and sex and dope. The real problem is about, I don't want to follow Jesus. I just want to do my own thing. I want to do my own thing. You see, in Romans chapter 3, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, in Romans chapter 3, verse 10, it says, there's none righteous, no not one.
[26:06] And then like the next verse says, they don't do any good. They've all gone their own way. In Isaiah chapter 53, it says they've all gone out of the way. In other words, what happens is, it's like God said, this is what I'm asking you to do, and they've done something else.
[26:22] You understanding that? So, there's the kingdom of the world. Now, the kingdom of the world is under the power of Satan. You ever wonder why the world's so messed up? You ever wonder why there's cancer?
[26:33] Well, it ain't because of God. There was no cancer in the Garden of Eden. You ever wonder why so much junk is going on? It's a product of this wicked world system. It's sin.
[26:43] It's against God. As soon as you get to God, and as soon as we all get to Him, He's going to wipe away all the tears. He's going to fix everything up just like He always wanted it to be, but you chose not to, and I chose not to.
[27:00] Second thing I need you to see in five minutes, I've got two more things I want you to see. There's only one gospel. Go with me, if you would, to Galatians chapter one and verse six.
[27:11] Now, here's the deal. What's the gospel? He said, believe the gospel. And I'll have to abbreviate this, and maybe another day in the millennium we'll get the rest of it. Well, watch this.
[27:23] You're in a kingdom of sin. If you're here and you're not saved, you could be pretty happy right now. Like Christians always act like you'd be miserable. Not necessarily. The Bible says there's pleasure in sin for a season.
[27:37] So anybody would try to act like all sin's terrible, whether it's terrible in the eyes of God, but facts are, most people can like it pretty good. They can even make commercials about it. So you're in this kingdom, but in this kingdom, whether you're bound by drugs and alcohol or a sex addiction or whether you live in the good life, you're only living the good life in the stall drinking the booze before they cut your little turkey head off.
[28:07] Because you're going to die and you're going to go to hell. Because the moment we decided to sin against God, we walked away from God, we chose our own way. It's not like we did something really wicked, just to be blunt honest.
[28:21] It ain't like you, you don't have to shoot a bird at God when you walk away. All you got to do is say, hey, I like you God and I don't mind you at all. I just don't like everything exactly like you. We could even get along pretty good, God, but I just don't like everything like you.
[28:34] That's just not the way it works. See, the second you choose your way, you just un-chose his way. Hmm? So the Bible says in Galatians chapter one and verse six, Paul, I'm not even going to be able to read this passage.
[28:49] You can write it down. My time is gone and I have a ton more to say. I'm going to summarize it real quick. But in Galatians chapter one, Paul said, guys, they have come into your town and they've been telling you, the good news, but they've been twisting the good news.
[29:00] They sound more like they came from the kingdom of darkness because they're adding a lot of darkness to the gospel and they're making you do a bunch of rules. Here's the blunt truth. John 14, six says, I am the way, the truth, and the life.
[29:13] I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but by me. And the Bible says, there is no other name given among men under heaven whereby we must be saved.
[29:26] There's only one name. You don't get to heaven the Jewish way, the Jesus way, and the Buddhist way. You get to heaven one way. There's only one gospel, only one good news, only one good news advocate.
[29:38] His name is Jesus. He paid the debt. Everything about salvation is God. It's God. It's God over here in his kingdom and he could have stood right here and said, y'all can die and burn and suffer forever if you want to.
[29:51] That's what you choose but I love you enough. I will send my son. He will come to the cross. He will live among you for 30 years and then he'll lead ministry for another three or so and he'll die on a cross and he'll pay your sin debt so he can say, come on, let me take you to the Father.
[30:07] Let me take you to the Father. That's the good news. That's the good news. That's the good news. Let's go back to Mark chapter one. For the sake of time, let's go to Mark 115 so I can go ahead and finish for you.
[30:23] Here's what happens. Jesus came from heaven to earth, lived among us, died on a cross, paid our sin debt to take us to the Father.
[30:38] Here's the bad news. Not everybody's going to go to heaven. Even though he said that. Because in his goodness and in his kindness, he allows you to choose to accept or reject his gift.
[30:56] But to as many as received him, John 1, 12, to them gave he the power to become the sons of God. If you'll receive him, if you'll believe, he'll give you the power to become his son. He loves you and he wants you saved.
[31:13] So if you'll notice in Mark chapter one and verse 15, it said, the time has come, guys. The kingdom of God is really close. I'm about to do my thing.
[31:26] By the way, he has been showing us all sorts of things all through. I don't have time to tell you. But every story in the Old Testament was a story about how God would send Jesus to die on a cross for us. Every time a little lamb died, when a brown serpent was raised in the wilderness, back when they used to go in the wilderness and pray and put their hands over an animal, and after that, one animal was killed and another animal was sent out in the wilderness and it also died, he was saying, this is all pictures of what happens.
[31:54] You can't get out of that kingdom and into that kingdom without coming through the lamb. The lamb's Jesus. So here's what he told them to do. Repent ye and believe the gospel.
[32:11] Repent ye and believe the gospel. Now what's that word mean? So you're supposed to repent ye. You see, here's the thing. This guy that's over here living, you know what he's thinking?
[32:23] He's thinking, I got it all under control. I got my life under control. I don't really need some crazy old Baptist preacher telling me nothing. Don't even tell me anything.
[32:36] I got more money than he has. I got more education than he has. I got a better family than he has. I drive a nicer car than he does. I really don't need him. I am a good person.
[32:46] I am the president of the Rotary Club, the Kiwanis Club, and the Key Club, and every other club you can come up with. I'm a good guy. I'm just a really, you want to see my resume of goodness? Here's my resume of goodness.
[33:00] So you got to repent of that. You got to realize that all your good deeds are like filthy rags because God looks down and says, that stuff stinks to me.
[33:10] You're just trying to, you're just trying to put a shine on the manure. You can shellac it all you want, but it'll still be what it is. That's the story over here.
[33:24] Then the other guy's over here and he's like, I like my sin. Well, you're going to have to say, you know what? I'm willing to turn from my sin and I'm willing to turn to my Savior. That's what it says here.
[33:35] You see, you can't believe, you can't believe as long as you're holding on to believing in yourself. So my time is up, but I've told you the story. I'm going to tell you again because I just think it works.
[33:47] I was a little boy, born on a farm. I swam in creeks all the time. We had creeks on our farm. The good thing about a creek is it might be deep right here, but if you get in trouble, the water just pushes you down to where it ain't so deep and you'll be all right in a minute.
[34:04] Or all you got to do is jump one time and you're out of the creek just about, you know? It's a little creek. I went to the big city camp where all you rich people live and they had a swimming pool.
[34:14] They dug a hole and put water in the hole. I mean, that's the wildest thing you've ever seen. And then they told us there's a small end of this pool where it's not very deep and there's a deep end of this pool where it's really deep but you got to be a good swimmer to get in that.
[34:27] And they said, now all these little kids, you get to step here in the shallow end and all you big kids get to be over there. Now I am a Tennessee hillbilly redneck and now I do not like being called boy. Let's just clear something up.
[34:39] When I was two, I was a grown man. No, I just... I mean, I got that attitude, you know. And so I went to the pool and they said, if you can swim from this side of the pool to the other side of the pool, we'll just swim in the deep end.
[34:49] So all the kids had to pass it. I just took off running, dove in and the pressure of diving in carried me to the other side. I got out, I was like, told you I was a man. Wasn't a few days later, I'm swimming in the deep end and I got about this close to the edge of the pool and I could not get out of the pool.
[35:08] I was finally, I was down there dog paddling. My legs were weighing about two tons. I didn't think I'd ever be able to pick them up. I mean, I'm a little bitty scrawny guy. I probably weigh a hundred pounds dripping wet but I'm pretty strong but I keep strong enough to swim in that pool.
[35:23] So somebody walked by and they said, hey buddy, you need help? I said, nope. Somebody else came by and said, hey, you need any help? I said, no. I'm just dog paddling.
[35:38] Finally, somebody came by and this time I knew if anybody else comes by, bless God, I'm taking them up on it. And he said, hey, you need help? I said, yep. He reached out and pulled me out. I think my body temperature shot to 300 degrees while I sat on the sidelines.
[35:51] Got all that exercise, all that work and all that fear. That's where you are though in your pride. You know you ain't doing as good as you're acting like you're doing. You know you're just dog paddling on the edge, don't you?
[36:07] Tell the truth. I don't need nothing. I don't need nothing. I don't need Jesus. I don't need no preacher. And then the minute when you tell them men they can help me, I don't need it. Repent and believe.
[36:21] Stop thinking you can and start knowing he can. That's what everybody in this room had to do. It's really hard on pride, isn't it? The old Tennessee hillbilly pride, man, it's just hard, hard, hard.
[36:37] I can't imagine rich Alpharetta pride. I can't imagine the car you drove up in here screams, hey, I'm pretty good.
[36:51] Isn't it time to turn from your sin to Jesus? This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfred, Georgia.
[37:03] For more information, log on to www.visionbaptist.com where you can find our service times, location, contact information, and more audio and video recordings.
[37:14] Thanks.