A Sermon For You
A Ministry of Huckaby’s Evangelism
Today’s Sermon Title
Out of The Ivory Palaces
By-Evangelist Gary Huckaby D.D
On this Christmas day 2002 less than 4% of the population of the world claims to be Christian, This fact is startling due to the number of years that Christianity has been around. And then sadder still is the fact that their are fewer believers in the world today than at any time other than at the beginning of the Church just after the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Instead of gaining converts to the Christian faith, we have lost in numbers compared to the increase of the worlds population. While the fales religions have grown, the true Church of Jesus Christ has stood still in growth. Surely the coming of our Lord draweth nigh!
(Prayer)
Heavenly Father, today we must be touched by Thy hand if we are to be of any use to You. We can not do the job of winning souls to You without the power of Your Holy Spirit. We must hear from Heaven today and tomorrow and the days ahead if we are to reach the world with the Blessed gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Surely we know that Your Son did not die in vain. He told us He came to seek and to save that which is lost, and we now should be about Your business of telling others the Good News of the sacrifice that was made on Calvary for the sin of the world. Breathe on us today, and help us to be a faithful witness for You. In Jesus Christ I ask this. Amen!
Read along with me please from the Old Testament book of Psalms. While reading the Psalms one day long ago, I came across a verse that struck my heart and mind like a hammer. A blow that has left the impression which has never left my heart and mind. It is a verse which to me states the awsome reality of the sacrifice that Jesus made when He came to be born upon this earth on that first Christmas day. The event started long before the foundation of the earth. Long before man was ever formed out of the dust of the ground. Long before the first sin was ever committed. The Bible says, that Jesus was the Lamb of God which was slain before the foundation of the world, and to fulfill that decision by God, Jesus finally came to this earth to be physically slain for the sin of the people of this world. All of them, not one single soul will ever look out of hell and say that Jesus did not die for me. He died for all, and whosoever may come and drink of the water of life freely, but you must come. I pray that this will be the time that you will decide to take God’s gift and receive eternal life from Him.
The book of Psalms chapter 45, beginning at verse 1 through verse 8.
Psalms 45:1-8
My heart is inditing a good matter: I speak of the things which I have made touching the king: my tongue is the pen of a ready writer. Thou art fairer than the children of men: grace is poured into thy lips: therefore God hath blessed thee for ever.Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O most mighty, with thy glory and thy majesty.And in thy majesty ride prosperously because of truth and meekness and righteousness; and thy right hand shall teach thee terrible things. Thine arrows are sharp in the heart of the king’s enemies; whereby the people fall under thee. Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: the sceptre of thy kingdom is a right sceptre.Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. All thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, out of the ivory palaces, whereby they have made thee glad.
Please note the phrase "Out Of The Ivory Palaces." This is where I take the title of my message from today. Please pay close attention to what is about to be said, for your eternal destiny hangs on what you do with the One who came from those palaces to give you everlasting life. That person is Jesus Christ, the Messiah! The Lamb of God!
There are countless numbers of people in our day that know little about Jesus Christ. Many have never heard of Him even in this day of communication. Satelites, Television, radio, the printed pages, Churches, and the word of mouth witness by thr believers have not reached the masses. The Lord Jesus Christ died for everyone, but not all know Him as their Saviour. As a matter of fact according to the statistic I gave you earlier only a few know Him as Saviour and Lord. Only 4% of the people today profess Him as such. The world’s population is now around 6.5 billion souls, and 4% os that number is small compared to the professing peoples of false religions.
Many today think that Jesus began at the birth of the babe in Bethlehem some two thousand years ago, but friend if you are in this number then you know little about the Bible, the Word of God. While it is true that the humanity of Christ began some nine months before that birth in Bethlehem, it is also true that Jesus has always existed, even before He came to be born of a virgin in Bethlehem’s manger. He has always existed as God, and with God throughout eternity past, as He will in eternity future, for the Bible clearly tells us that He is Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, which was, and is, and is to come.
Revelation 1:8; "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty." The Lord Jesus did not begin at birth, He has always existed!
Who was God talking to when He created the first man Adam? The Bible tells us in Genesis 1:26; " And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth." God is speaking here to someone who is His equeal for He says, us, and our. This was not the angels, for they are not equeal to God, it was the Trinity speaking with each other; The Father (Jehovah) The Son (Jesus Christ) and The Holy Spirit. Another verse I would like for us to see in the beginning of this message is found in the New Testament book of The Gospel of John. John 1:1-3; "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made." The Word in this verse is a person, and that person is Jesus Christ. Permit me to incert Christ in place of the Word and read it now. In the beginning was the (Christ) Word, and the (Christ) Word was with God, and the (Christ) Word was God. The (Christ) same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by (Christ) him; and without (Christ) him was not any thing made that was made. Verse 10 of this chapter gives further evidence of our Lord being the Creator of all things; "He (Christ) was in the world, and the world was made by (Christ) him, and the world knew (Christ) him not."
Colossians gives us more about the stability of God’s creation in chapter one. Colossians 1:12-17; "Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist."
Angels must have wondered at the strange sight in heaven’s court that eternal day when The father, Son, and Spirit walked through the celestrial city’s street talking and calculating the plan of redemption for sinful mankind. Even before the creation God had already provided a means of escape for us. I’m sure that the conversation of the Godhead was intense as the second member of the Holy Trinity offered to be the sacrifice for the sins of the world. What place of glory He would have to leave! What place of power He would have to lay aside! What place of eternal joy and happiness He would forsake to become the only means of redemption for fallen mankind. The Son of God The lord Jesus Christ was to come to earth wrapped in the humility of human flesh. God was coming to take upon Himself a body that would provide the only means of forgiveness for the human race. That means was to give His very life’s blood to cleanse us from all sin. The apostle Peter tells us of this in 1Peter 1:18-21; "Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you,Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God."
God the Son took upon Himself humanity and was born of miraculous birth of a virgin maden in Bethlehem’s manger. God condensended to become as a man to provide for us a means of reconciliation back to God from a fallen state. Jesus left The Ivory Palaces to do this for you and for me. His love for man His greatest of all creation was so great that God came as one of us. If you pay close attention when reading the Bible, from the book of John’s Gospel you will see Jesus Christ presented as the God man. Perfect God, and perfect sinless man. The Lord Jesus Christ left the glory, the joyful jubilation of heaven to come to a sin cursed earth to fulfill the plan that the Godhead had determined long before man.He who was rich became poor, so that we through His poverty might become rich! This Good News is the sweetest melody to the ears of wounded man. God’s love is so great that God came and died for us. 2Corinthians 8:9; "For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich." It was God’s grace that caused Jesus Christ to leave the Ivory Palaces to come to this world of woe! Jesus was our sacrifice when this world began. Revelation 13:8; "And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose
names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." What A Saviour! What a Lord! Jesus was willing to forsake all for you and for me, are we willing to forsake all for Him? Do you know Him as your personal Lord and Saviour this day? If death were to come to your body today, do you know that your soul and spirit would go to live with Him forever? I would not even take the chance of walking out these doors without making sure of my relationship with the One who died for me.
Jesus Christ left the Ivory Palaces to come to earth, He left the glory, the joy, the power, He laid all aside to come to be the sacrifice for sin. He gave His life freely for all who would come to Him and confess him as their Lord and Saviour. Will you do that today? Why not bow to Him right now.
Confess Him with your mouth as Lord Jesus, Believe in your heart that God hath raised him from the dead, and thou shalt be saved!
Huckaby’s Evangelism
P.O.Box 1011
Pine Mountain, Ga.31822
glhuck@earthlink.net
glhuckaby@excite.com.com
