Kerwin Baptist Church Daily Broadcast

Welcome to the Kerwin Baptist Church broadcast today. Our question is about the fatherhood of God.

Now he starts right here. And this is very important because I want you to understand. Look at verse 3. Paul says, Grace be to you and peace from God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ. When you are saved, when you are a believer, God is not just God.

He's God your Father. And that's different. And Paul is saying this that literally this grace and peace comes from God. It's a gift.

We don't deserve that. Listen, this world is full of people that have no peace in their life. But there is no reason for a believer not to have peace in their life. This is not the author of confusion, the Bible says. And so that didn't come from God.

It came from us. Or it came from us allowing something that somebody else did to adversely affect our attitude, our spirit, the way we look at things. When you and I have God as our Father, that should bring peace to every situation. Can I oversimplify it? Whatever happens in your life, it's this.

I want you to be my Father so I can handle it. Now we have people in our church that have faced some unbelievable things just in recent days. And I don't even know, are the Eisenhowers here? I think they were going to try to make, where are they at? Somebody point them out to me.

There's brother Charles and Nelda. Isn't that sweet for them to be back in God's house? And can I be honest with you? They want to worship God but that's a hard step to come back to church. It's just difficult.

It just is. There's a vulnerability that the whole church knows, man, these people have been through this. But you know, in the middle of this, we always must remember, wait a minute, I need to remember that God, the creator of the universe, is my Father.

That means He cares. The fatherhood of God. In other words, Paul says before I go anywhere else, you need to understand what that means. Notice if you would, verse 4, who gave himself for our sins. Notice number 2, we see not just the fatherhood of God in verse 3, but number 2, we see the sacrifice of Christ in verse 4 and 5. See as he introduces the Lord Jesus Christ, grace to you and peace from God the Father, verse 3, and from our Lord Jesus Christ who gave.

This is what he did. He did something for us. He gave himself for our sins that he might deliver us from this present evil world. The whole point of what he did was to deliver us from this. So you and I should not get our talons too tight into it. This world should not get to the point that it means so much to us. Because salvation was to deliver us from this evilness.

Everybody remember that. So we see that the fatherhood of God but the sacrifice of Christ. Notice this, according to the will of God and our Father. This was God's will that Jesus give himself as a sacrifice for sin because God was a holy God and we had no way to God because we're sinners. So Jesus willingly, this verse says, gave himself.

He wasn't thrust fighting and kicking and God said no, you're going to have to do this. Jesus willingly gave himself. Notice verse 5, to whom be glory for ever and ever.

Amen. Sacrifice of Christ. Paul's laying some groundwork here. Now notice number 3, he introduces the subject of another gospel. Another gospel.

Look if you would at verse 6. I marvel, Paul says, and you've got to understand now he's saying this right after, hey God's our Father. He gives us grace. He gives us peace. And Jesus Christ has provided peace in our life because he willingly gave himself for our sins.

He goes through everything that he's done. And so then he comes to verse 6 and he says this, I marvel. In other words, it's hard for me to understand that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel. Paul says after all this, I don't understand why you're so easily taken from somebody that has sacrificed so much for you while you were so easily led astray from that to something that is not even true. How could you allow your attention to be taken away from the fact that you are blessed that God is your Father and that Jesus sacrificed for you, how could you be led away from that? But dear friend, that's our world right now. Folks are led away so easy.

They're just so enamored with stuff. Now let's look at this verse. Because Paul's laying this groundwork.

Notice. He says, I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel. Another gospel. That means anything other than the death, burial, resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Anything other than the fact that Jesus is the way to heaven. That is another gospel. And that means it's not true. It's not accurate. But notice the first thing he says about this, about this another gospel is number one is that it's persuasive. He says, I marvel that you are so quickly led away. You see, another gospel or other gospels or things that aren't really, they have a little bit of truth and a whole lot of lie.

They're very persuasive. People are so easily led astray. You know what I've always marveled at? And I say that word because it's a biblical word that I just read. I marvel at it. Some of you are like, oh, great use of a word. Great use of a word. Our pastor's so smart.

Yeah. You know what I marvel at? Some of the stuff that people believe. When compared to what the Bible calls the simplicity of salvation.

The fact that how simple can you get? Jesus came. He died for you. And he rose again to prove that he has overcome and victorious over death.

So if you put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ, you're saved. But people can't handle that. Have you seen some of this stuff? If you have a television and hey, good for you if you don't. But if you have a television, have you seen some of this stuff? And I get into, you know, they talk about these different religions and what they believe.

And I like to, I like to just, it just boggles my mind. Have you seen like Scientology? Have you seen some of the stuff that these people believe? Have you seen that?

And you're like, you can't believe this, but you believe that? What in the world? We have the truth. We give 50 cents in the offering. They have that. They give their entire lives. What in the world? I mean, don't even get me started on all the other religions. We don't have time. Listen, they're persuasive.

They sound good. You don't think Satan knows what he's doing? You don't think Satan knows how to make something that's persuasive in your life? You think Satan knows how to make something which is not another, but there be some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ.

Now, this is a little different. This isn't just something that's totally out there. This is taking a little bit of the truth of the gospel of Christ and perverting it.

Now, that's even bigger. Because what we do is we're like, well, there's enough truth. It's amazing what we will use to justify to ourselves.

Oftentimes, you know, we'll go to a different kind of church or whatever, another, you know, another church, whatever. We'll go, hey, I heard him the other day and he preached the truth. Well, good for him. That shouldn't be a surprise.

Shouldn't get a medal for that. We're supposed to preach the truth. But it's like we just look and we can find one good thing that justifies all the other. And dear friend, I'm here to tell you, that's perversion. It's taking the gospel of Christ and perverting it. Be careful about that. Oh, and listen, just don't get your religious advice off of YouTube.

The same place where grandmas are surfing in a toilet bowl or something like that, you know. Let's just stay away from that, from all of our religious advice, okay? Notice thirdly in verse 8, he says it's popular. Look at verse 8. But though we are an angel from heaven, Paul said, it doesn't matter if it's me or if it's an angel from heaven, if they preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.

Paul's very serious about this. It's popular. He says, listen, there's a whole lot of people that are following this and swallowing this and there's a whole lot of guys that are out there, you know, saying this. And by the way, that was in this day and time. Imagine now and through media and through all those things. But we can get perversion out there and we can twist the truth of the gospel of Christ and we can do everything we can do, enough truth, so that we can lie to individuals. It's popular out there. And may I say, Bible believing, Bible believing, Bible preaching churches are not the most popular thing out there today.

Am I right about that? I don't mean that mean. I'm just saying that we're not the most popular. You know, the come as you are, leave as you were. We don't want you to hear anything bad. We don't want you to be offended by anything. And well, if there's some verses a little bit contrary, we just won't talk about those. That's what's popular out there. And that is a perversion of the gospel of Christ.

You're like, well, happy anniversary to me. I'm just laying the groundwork that Paul laid. I didn't write this. Paul did. Notice number four in verse 10, Paul gives the motivation of ministry.

It's all eaten somewhere. We're almost there. Paul says, for do I now persuade men or God?

What do you mean by that? Well, look at me. When you and I preach the true gospel, we are now trying to persuade men. But when we preach something that is not the truth, when we preach another gospel, it's now as if we're trying to persuade God. What do you believe? Hey, God, this is how we see it.

It's not about how we see it or how we think. It's about what is true. Everybody got that? So Paul says, listen, we gotta understand right now. I'm either gonna persuade men or I'm gonna spend my life trying to persuade God that he's wrong. Look at this verse.

Look at this. Or do I seek to please men? For if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.

Paul says, this is my motivation. Either I'm gonna try to please men or I'm gonna try to please Christ. And if I'm gonna try to please men, I might as well not even be the servant of Christ.

Wow. So you and I have got to make a decision. Either we're gonna follow Christ or we're gonna please men.

Because here's what I have found in eight years. You can't do both. Now I'm natured as one that kind of, I want to please people. I'm a people pleaser. I was raised to be a people pleaser. I was raised to obey. I was raised to follow the rules.

I know that doesn't seem like it sometimes, but I was raised to follow the rules. My dad as an evangelist and my mom singing, obviously, and traveling every week to a different church, it was how I acted in that church. Don't you dare embarrass us. We're preaching this meeting. We're the evangelists for the week.

So I had to make sure that I pleased people. But I have found that if you're gonna be a servant of Christ, you can't be both. You can't be the servant of Christ and tell the truth. And last time I checked, the truth is not popular.

I want you to notice number five. He brings up the purity of the gospel. Look at verse 11. But I certify you, brethren. Now he just said, don't follow another gospel.

So what's the difference? Verse 11. But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, nor was I taught it. But by revelation of Jesus Christ, straight from the source.

Do you know we have a source? He said, I didn't get it from man. Hey, I didn't get my philosophy by listening to somebody on the radio or watching somebody on TV. I didn't get my philosophy because some professor at some university said such and such. I got my philosophy through Jesus Christ is what Paul is saying.

All right, everybody got that. So the gospel should be pure. It should come from the word of God. All God's people said. Which brings us to verse 13, and Paul brings up his past before Christ. Verse 13, Paul says this, for ye have heard of my conversation. That means his lifestyle. In time past, in the 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 jealous of the traditions of my fathers. Paul was a religious man. He followed all the rules. He knew all the laws. And he hated Christians.

Why? Well because the religious leaders of that day had been preaching and teaching another gospel. And so Paul, being a religious individual, hated Christians, hated Jesus because that was the true gospel.

And whenever you are taught the true gospel, it exposes a false gospel. So Paul began to persecute Christians. And Paul says, let me tell you what, my past life and my conversation in times past, this is what I did. And he said, hey, I wasted the church.

In other words, I brought ruin to it. I would go in, I would find them, I would persecute them. Paul witnessed the stoning of Stephen. Paul talked about it later on. Here's Stephen, one of the writers in the New Testament.

All the things that Stephen did. And here Paul says, I literally, I witnessed that and watched him die with grace. And it always bothered Paul after that. Paul never got those images out of his mind.

He never did. Paul said, this is what I used to do. This was my past. Because of my past, Paul says, you know, I don't really deserve to get to preach the gospel. Really because of my past, I don't deserve to have God as my father. Because of my past, I don't deserve to have God as my father. Because of my past, I don't really deserve the sacrifice that Jesus made for me. I know what it's like to teach another gospel. I know what it's like to be in a church that sometimes wakes me up at night in cold sweats because of the remorse I have for what I did in that past life. So that brings us to verse 15, and he brings up the subject that we're going to close with today, the grace of God. I love this in verse 15 and 16.

But my past, all my regret, the things I did but changes the whole thought. I didn't have Christ. I was preaching another gospel. I was following men. I was pleasing men. I was on my way to hell.

But I love this. When it pleased God. 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, Paul says, I conferred not with flesh and blood. Paul said, I didn't have to go to talk to anybody about this. I didn't have to say, hey, what do you think I should do?

Hey, do you think I ought to serve God? He didn't have to go to some friends and say, listen, you know, the Lord's done all this, but you know, I've got a career here. Paul said, as soon as I saw this, as soon as I realized the truth, as soon as I saw the grace of God, I did not have to confer with anybody. I didn't have to ask any questions. I didn't have to think about it. I didn't have to ponder it. I didn't have to take a few weeks away to see if this is what would be best.

My immediate reaction was this. If God would do that for me and God would call me by his grace and God would protect me and forgive me for what I've done, I don't have to talk to anybody. I'm there. Let me at it.

I can't wait. I want you to notice some things about the grace of God as I close today. Number one, God's grace starts with God's pleasure. First thing he says in verse 15, but will it please God? I don't know why some things please God.

I just don't know. Listen, I'll use me because I wouldn't want to offend anybody. I got some of you here I could use. I know I'm a preacher's kid, grew up in a travel trailer. There's only so many things you could do. But I've done some things I'm horribly ashamed of. And I'm not privileged enough. I don't deserve to be able to have God as my Father. And I don't deserve what Jesus did for me, let alone to be able to serve God and come sit in a church and all that. But it pleased God to let me pastor.

And I don't understand that. Paul says, but when it pleased God. How many of you know that when God decides he's going to do something, ain't nothing going to stop it? How many of you know when it pleases God to use you, it doesn't matter what you've done. And it doesn't matter how far you've gone in your past. And it doesn't matter the mistakes you've made.

And it doesn't matter all your regrets. If it pleases God to use you, then you can be used. God's grace starts at his pleasure. It means this, that God is pleased to give you grace. When it pleased God.

Boy, how many of you could sit here today and think of times that things could have happened in your life. As brother John sang about today. Which brings me to number two. God's grace starts with God's pleasure.

Number two, God's grace is what gave protection. This is what Paul said. I love this. He creates this whole scenario. You know my life.

You know what I did. But when it pleased God. He created me from my mother's womb.

What is he saying? He's talking about protection. Paul said, but it pleased God for some reason.

To protect me through all that. Now, there are some, I'm not claiming this. I don't know.

But I can't say that they're wrong. There are some that believe that Paul had, we know he had a thorn in the flesh. Some believe that Paul's thorn in the flesh was chronic ophthalmology, they would call it. A horrible problem with his eyes.

We know that he talks about different things about his eyes. He talks about one church that he knows they loved him so much that they would even give their own eyes so that he could be free of this pain and suffering. But many believe that this was as a result of a birth defect because there was a very horrible birthing process when Paul was small.

And he alludes to this that literally he should have died when he was born, but God separated him from his mother's womb. In other words, that Paul's saying this, and I don't know if that happened. And it certainly might be.

It might not be. I don't know this. But I do know this. That if you're sitting here at Kerwin Baptist Church this morning on March the 8th, 2020, I am telling you it is only because of God's protection on your life.

Some of you have been in places and done things and participated in stuff and went down that route. You could have died a thousand times, but it pleased God to protect you. And you would have to do what I need to be thankful to God for that.

And if you're here this morning and you do not know that God is your father and you do not know that you're saved, I am here to tell you that it is the grace of God that has protected you from your own sin, from your own flesh, from your own mistakes, and he's giving you opportunity to become his child. Paul says, hey, but when it pleased him who separated me from my mother's womb all these years, Paul said it pleased God. All that time I was persecuting, I could have been killed. Paul ended up in fights and in battles. Paul could have been stabbed. He could have been killed. A thousand things could have happened. But Paul said for some reason, it pleased God to protect me.

Some of you sitting in this building, you know you should probably be dead from some of the mess you got involved in. But it pleased God. That's grace. I want you to notice the third thing about what Paul says here about the grace of God. God's grace starts with God's pleasure. God's grace is what gave protection. But notice, thirdly, God's grace is what gave power. Paul said, who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by his grace.

Called me. By his grace. Paul said my call on my life is only because of the grace of God.

And dear friend, can I say this? When God calls you to do something, that is as much power as you need. God would not have called you to do something if he wasn't going to give you the power to do it. God's grace is power. Do you know what God's grace is? It is literally all the riches of God imparted into your life through Jesus Christ. That's all you need.

And if that's not enough, that just ain't enough. Dear friend, all that God has is enough power for anything that is needed. Paul says grace is what pleased God. Grace is what protected. Grace is what has given me power. But notice verse 16, he said to reveal his son in me. I want you to notice next, God's grace is what gave the plan.

Do you know this is the plan? Now please, come on back to church. I've been preaching on the gospel now for almost two months.

Little over two months. And I know old Satan's going to make you tired of it. But I'm going to keep preaching on it.

Because at some point our brains are going to be wired how important the gospel should be in our lives. Listen to what Paul says. This is how you and I get the gospel out. Paul said to reveal his son in me. Look at me.

Get this. All you and I are supposed to do is to be the agent that Jesus reveals himself through to others. We think we've got to be good at this and fluent in this and know all the answers. Listen, all it takes for each others is for Jesus to be revealed in our lives. We are to live the gospel.

Literally that's what he said. Paul said the whole purpose of my life is for God to be able to reveal his son Jesus in me. Listen, if you're saved, he's in you. Now we are to live in a way where people can see it.

And that will tell them more than you ever could. I will draw all men. You don't have to be lifted up. Our job is to lift up Jesus. Paul said to reveal his son in me. Oh dear friend, listen, you and I need to look at this a little bit different. When individuals walk into this church, they really don't even need to see it. ... ... ... ... ...