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Gospel Tabernacle Live Stream

Gospel Tabernacle (Corinth, MS)

Transcript of a published sermon by Ron Phillips, transcribed from YouTube. An attributed primary source — not Acts 2:38 Life doctrine text.

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Summary

Summary prepared by Acts 2:38 Life from the transcript below — the preacher’s words follow in full.

He Is Able to Save Them to the Uttermost

  • He says the songs of the service have focused on salvation and broken chains, so he turns to the Word to preach about that Savior.
  • He reads his one verse: Christ is able to save to the uttermost those who come to God by him, because he ever lives to make intercession for them.
  • He announces his subject: the uttermost Savior — in down-home Corinth, Mississippi language, a Savior who can save anybody, anywhere.
  • He speaks to anyone who has wondered, "Can I really be saved?" and to anyone who has prayed and witnessed to a loved one and wondered if they can ever be saved, offering hope, renewed faith, and renewed expectation.

Scriptures: Hebrews 7:25

The Savior the World Needed Had to Come

  • Considering how far men have fallen, he says the world desperately needed an almighty and perfect Savior; nothing short of a complete ability to save to the uttermost would have been sufficient.
  • Such a Savior had to descend to the lowest, change the hardest, purify the foulest, and then establish those he saved in righteousness just as fully as they had been in wickedness; he notes some of the best saints came out of the lowest depths of sin.
  • A savior who offered salvation yet could not deal with some people's situations would be a fraud and the offer a crushing disappointment; God promised a Savior who could do these things and even more, and he did come.
  • He came in an unexpected way — humbly, meekly, poorly, a man of sorrows who was rejected — so many died without discovering that God had been in the flesh in their midst.
  • But some believed, and that belief unlocked the door: through faith, the fullness of salvation entered them.

Unbelief Ties the Hands of the Almighty

  • The same situation exists today: the uttermost Savior is presented sermon after sermon and witness after witness, yet many will not believe he can destroy the works of the devil, set men free from sin and self, make the heart holy, and keep it holy.
  • That unbelief limits God — as it was said of Jesus in his own country, he could do no mighty work there because of their unbelief; not believing prevents him from doing the work he came to do and is perfectly able to do.
  • Those who do believe are his witnesses: they would testify to the variety of backgrounds God found them in, and it did not matter where he found them, what their past had been, or who they were.
  • Each discovered a Savior who could reach them regardless of their circumstances, and they stand washed in the blood and living in the Spirit, their lives changed and transformed by the power of God.

Able to Save the Worst of Sinners

  • If he is an uttermost Savior, he must be able to save any sinner, no matter how evil or wicked; if there were one man Jesus could not save, that would rob him of his glory as a perfect and almighty Savior — his glory is precisely that he saves the vilest and foulest of sinners.
  • He illustrates with a physician and an attorney: reputations are made not on easy cases but on the desperate case others gave up on; so it is with Jesus — the saving of the worst of men brings unique glory and honor to God.
  • On earth he walked among the abandoned, cast out devils, converted public defrauders, redeemed fallen women, and saved a thief at the very moment of death; the reproach that he dined with publicans and sinners was really his glory.
  • He told them the whole need no physician and that he came to seek that which was lost; he invites the hardest case, the lowest sinner, the one Satan has captured to the greatest degree, the one sin has brought the greatest shame upon.
  • So he bursts the bubble of anyone hiding behind the thought, "I'm probably just too bad to be saved" — Jesus is able to save the worst of sinners, and he is doing it even today.

Able to Save the Most Hopeless of Backsliders

  • He means not someone who merely missed a couple of services, but the backslider who walked away from the truth, from God, from light, and from grace — who had the Holy Ghost and a walk with God and threw it all away for the beggarly elements of the world.
  • If Jesus could not save such a one, there would be a kind of sin he made no provision for, and he would not be the uttermost Savior the world needed.
  • He reads the Lord's word to backsliding children: "I am married unto you," and he will take them one of a city and two of a family and bring them to Zion — God does not believe in divorce; he is married to the soul of the redeemed and wants no separation.
  • He reads the further word: "Return, and I will heal your backslidings." The man left God — God did not leave him — and with indescribable love the Lord longs for those who drifted away to return to him.
  • The backslider's place in the Father's house is still waiting, and the robe, the ring, and the sandals are still waiting; Jesus is here tonight reaching for someone to come back to him.

Scriptures: Jeremiah 3:14; Jeremiah 3:22

Able to Save Everybody

  • He is not only a personal Savior but a worldwide Redeemer; he is not saying the whole world will be saved, but that the whole world could be saved, because he is able to save everybody.
  • If there were classes, nations, or depths of corruption he could not reach, heaven would have sent a deliverer who was not as mighty as sin; instead, he can save anyone, anytime, anywhere.
  • His earthly ministry shows that power: he healed ten lepers in a single second, cast the demons out of the man of Gadara, filled a hundred and twenty in the upper room in a moment, and then saved three thousand souls and soon after five thousand — proof he could regenerate and sanctify every human being who would look up, believe, and receive.
  • Even while he speaks on this Sunday night, the Lord is saving people in services across the nation — some being baptized in Jesus' name, some receiving the Holy Ghost, some having their chains of sin broken.
  • The soldier in the army, the sailor on the sea, the farmer in the field, the toiler in the mine, the invalid in the sick chamber, the condemned man in the prison — it matters not; Jesus Christ is the uttermost Savior and wants to reach somebody right here tonight.

You Have to Come: The Invitation

  • He repeats the Lord's long-issued invitation — look unto me, all the ends of the earth, and be saved — and says it includes right here, right now, and everyone in this building tonight.
  • Whoever will rebuke every doubt Satan has used to hinder them and release their faith will find that faith unties the hands of God, raises the floodgates, and looses the heavenly winds he believes are wanting to blow here tonight.
  • The Bible says that in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and that fullness includes his ability to save to the uttermost — not just a few, but all that come to him; the condition is that you have to come, and the one who comes to him he will in no wise cast out.
  • He opens the altar: those who have experienced God's grace and been reminded of where he brought them from are invited to come in thanksgiving; those whom the enemy has told they can never be saved are challenged to put God to the test and give him a chance to show he is an uttermost Savior.
  • Whatever a life has held — shame, reproach, addiction, things one is not proud of — the uttermost Savior is well able tonight to change that life. (The recording ends mid-altar-appeal; the close is not in the capture.)

Scripture index: Hebrews 7:25; Jeremiah 3:14; Jeremiah 3:22.

praise God thank you brother bin praise the Lord everybody praise God Amen god bless you just remain standing and we'll just go ahead and go right to the word tonight again I just want to say what a blessing it is to be able to be here and and fill this pulpit and again just say thank you to mother Josh or his honoring us to do that and you your great response this morning thank you so much and I believe that the Lord wants to speak to us tonight so good to see you in church on on Sunday night a man named

good to see two of my sisters back tonight I made the other two mads so they did well I said one of them one of them wasn't here anyway so but the other one I made mad no I didn't I promise all right no glad to have them amen and thank you for being here tonight

Hebrews chapter seven I'm going to read just one verse and I feel that what died I want to preach tonight is certainly in in tune with the tenor of this service I've set and well stood and sat and listened to a number of songs here tonight as we've sung and worshiped and many of the songs have focused on our salvation amen you know the the the the the chains that have been broken in our lives the fact that he thought we were worth saving praise God amen and I just want to I want to preach about that Savior tonight hallelujah amen amen

Hebrews chapter 7 and verse 25 the scripture says wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost amen he is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them praise God I want to preach tonight about the uttermost Savior amen the uttermost Savior amen

would you just stretch forth your hands right now would you just ask God's anointing through this whole congregation for the next few moments here in the name of Jesus Father we give you praise and we give you glory we believe you now God that you have set the stage and the service Lord that you have arrested our hearts and our minds and you have begun to direct our thoughts set Oh Lord - the awesome salvation that you have made available into us

and I pray that tonight God you will use it Lord my lips to speak words of hope well God that someone will understand Lord that there is no one beyond your grace and your mercy thank you for it in Jesus name and everybody said amen amen god bless you you may be seated praise God an amen thank the Lord

I don't know I don't know your lives I I know a number of you just casually but I really don't know your lives some of you I do not know it all I hope maybe that'll change but but I I don't know your I don't know your circumstances I don't know your past I don't know your present necessarily yet but I believe that God wants to speak to someone here tonight that that maybe has questioned in your heart in your mind I don't know why I don't know I don't know what in the past may have put this question in your mind

but could it be that there is someone here tonight that you struggle can i really be saved yeah amen or maybe there is someone here tonight that you have a loved one someone that is near and dear to you but it seems that you know prayers have gone unanswered it seems that that you have that you have you've witnessed and you have reached and seemingly it has fallen on deaf ears and so maybe you come to maybe never spoken but in your mind and there's just a wondering I wonder I wonder if they can ever be saved

I'm here to speak hope and faith to someone tonight to renew your prayers and to renew your faith that and to renew your expectation because I'm preaching tonight about a savior who is not just the savior of some or of a few or of a select group but I'm preaching to you tonight about the Savior that the writer of Hebrews wrote about damn one who is able to save that to the uttermost and praise God amen

if we could just put that in good old down-home Corinth Mississippi language we would just say he is a savior who can save anybody hallelujah praise God anybody anywhere hallelujah that's the kind of Savior that he is and I'm telling you that's the kind of Savior we need hallelujah amen

here we are moving into the Christmas season and we'll be we'll be talking about you know and hearing about and the Lord coming and the Savior coming and in a manger and all of that and you'll you'll hear songs about that you know what a strange way to save the world well yes it does seem like a strange way to save the world but it's the only way that the world could be saved an amen

it's the only way that mankind has hope would be for God Himself to roll himself in flesh and come and dwell among us and there provide the sacrifice that was needed that for our salvation amen and I'm telling you this sake the Savior that has come he is well able to save to the uttermost and a man

when we consider the hearts and the lives of men when we consider the depths to which man can and has fallen then the more we see the more we understand how desperately the world needed an almighty and perfect Savior

nothing short nothing short of a complete ability to save unto the uttermost and would have been sufficient death the Savior that was to come the Savior had to be one who can descend to the lowest he had to be one who can move and change the hardest and he had to be one who could purify the Fallas death amen and

he had to be one who could then establish those that he had saved from the lowest and the hardest and the fowler step he had to then be able to establish them in righteousness just as fully as they had been in wickedness praise God you know some of the best saints that have ever been that are those that came out of the lowest depths of sin but the Savior changed their life oh what a change hallelujah oh what a change praise God but that's that's the kind of Savior that it had to be to see

for one to call himself a Savior and then be unable to grapple with the the sinful condition a man even the most sinful of men would be the epitome of fraud to call himself a savior but then there would be some that he couldn't deal with their situation that that would be fraud to offer salvation that would be the saddest of delusions and the most crushing of disappointment to make such an offer and then not be able to follow through amen

but God promised the world just such a savior hallelujah amen one who could do these things and even more a man one who could heal the leprosy of the soul and recover that men from the lowest depths of sin praise God that's the Savior that God promised and he did come praise God amen thank God for Bethlehem thank God that Amen for that baby in a manger that praise God amen

but you see he came so unlikely he came in a way that was not expected that what a strange way to save the world he came so umbly he came so meek he came so poor he came with such lowly companions and associates at a man that when he stood before them has the man of sorrow when the Bible says he was rejected they just couldn't believe in him amen

and since faith is the condition for knowing Christ and for receiving what is in Christ many of them died without discovering that God had been in the flesh in their midst that long promised Messiah had come and they had known him and felt him not dead amen but some believed and that belief unlocked the door and through that door of faith and Jesus Christ poured into them the fullness of salvation and that the Bible talks about that and that every person so desperately needs amen

that was then and this is now but the very same situation exists even today that outermost Savior is being presented dead day after day sermon after sermon witness after witness said amen and yet there are many who do not believe that he can steal destroy the works of the devil there are many yet who will not fully accept the Bible's statement that Christ can save the soul that he can set us free from sin and from self amen that he can make the heart holy and that he can keep us holy yet and that unbelief limits it god ties the hands of the Almighty

and even as it was said of Jesus even when he was here upon the earth he could do no mighty works there because of their unbelief and and it's the same today to not believe that is to prevent him from being able to do the work that he has come to do and that he is perfectly able to do

but there are those today as the then who believe hallelujah we got any believers in the house tonight dad do we have any witnesses in the house tonight is there a savior who can change your life is there a savior who can reach to wherever you are amen if we have a little testimony service here tonight I can I'm just sure that we could if we would be amazed at the variety of backgrounds from which people have come and where God found each of you a man in your own unique situation that he meant

but it didn't matter where he found you it didn't matter what your past had been it didn't matter who you were praise God Amen that you discovered that hallelujah that there was an outermost Savior praise God you found that there was a savior who could reach you to you regardless of your circumstances and

praise God amen and so here we are the night washed in the blood that living in the spirit hallelujah our lives changed and transformed by the power of God Oh hallelujah amen I don't know about you but I'm thankful that there is a savior who has changed my life and praise God amen

when we examine the Scriptures regarding this one who came to be the savior of the world we discover some amazing facts sent to see if he if he is an outermost savior them just think about the logic here if he is an outermost Savior then he is able to save the worst of sinners amen if he is an outermost Savior that means Amen that means that he has to be able to say that any sinner no matter how evil or wicked dead because you see if he were not then words really don't mean anything the scripture really isn't true

if there is one man if there is one man that Jesus could not say that then that Rob's him of his Gloria as a perfect and Almighty Savior amen if there's one on the other hand it really is to his glory that he can and does save the vilest and the foul list of sinners that's really where he receives his greatest glory amen

let me give you an example let you know when how does a physician how does a physician get a national reputation and an honor well it's not by curing a case of measles or a sinus infection I can tell you amen it's because he dealt death with a disorder a disease of which all other doctors despaired or he performed some skillful surgical operation that went beyond what others had been able to do in other words he received his great acclaim because he dealt with the most difficult of situation

an attorney in a way it's not you know it's not winning a few petty cases in a county court that's gonna get some attorney national recognition as it dead but rather it's his skillful and and and successful management of some great case that maybe saved a man's life when the whole country and and and all the other attorneys had considered the case hopeless sin and so it is with Jesus said amen

it's the saving of the worst of men that brings unique glory and honor to God praise God that's why when he was here on the earth he walked among the abandoned he cast out Devils he converted that public defrauder 's and he redeemed fallen women a man

he saved a thief at in the very moment of death that praise God you see that what that what the people thought that they were casting upon him as a reproach yet when they said he dined with publicans and sinners that that was really to his glory yeah amen because you see he told them that that you know the whole they need no physician but I am come to seek that which was lost at a man

I've not come to those who need no physician I've come to the very worst of the worst bring me the hardest case bring me the lowest Center bring me the one Amanda that Satan has has captured and to to the greatest degree bring me the one that sin has brought the greatest shame and reproach upon that praise God amantha and and he's doing that even today hallelujah and we'll continue to because he is the uttermost Savior and he is truly able to save the worst of sinners and amen so if he is an utter most Savior then he's able to save the worst of sinners

so I've just got some bad news for somebody here tonight that may have been hiding behind your prideful thought then you know what I'm just probably really too bad to be saved amen amen I'm sorry yeah I've just got a burst your bubble tonight death amen because Jesus is able to save the worst of sinners amen and if he's a nutter most savior

then he able to save the most hopeless a backsliders Amen I'm talking about I'm talking about the real backsliders I'm not just talking about the backsliders that you know missed a couple of church services you do know your back slid a fter you miss to church services right you know amen

no I'm talking about I'm talking about the backslider who has walked away from the truth walked away from God walked away from light walked away from grace amen I'm talking about somebody who who had the Holy Ghost who who enjoyed the communion with heaven and prayer amen I'm talking about somebody that that really had a walk with God and yet for some reason threw it all away yeah for the beggarly elements of the world amen

you know and and that is that's a very serious thing amen that that's a terrible that's a terrible tragedy in a life and and sometimes that we look at some backsliders and maybe we're even we're even tempted to question can Jesus save that that person can Jesus save him can Jesus save her but you see if he cannot death then that means there's one kind of sin that Jesus has made no provision for that means that he is not the outermost Savior that the world needed and looked for amen if there is one kind of sin that he cannot dad save from

but what does the Bible say Jeremiah chapter three and verse 14 turn Oh back slip-sliding children saith the Lord for I am married unto you and I will take you 1/4 of a city and two of a family and I will bring you to Zion amen that is an incredible passage when you stop and think about it damn because the law that says to tell the backslider rent I am married to you amen

and God does not believe in divorces he is married to the soul of the redeemed through Grace and he wants no separation Amen so even if that person has separated himself or herself from God in the word he says in Jeremiah 3 and 22 return and I will heal all your backslidings amen this is the man who left God God did not leave him but he left God and now with indescribable love the Lord longs for those very individuals who have drifted away from him to return to him a man a man

that if I'm speaking tonight to anyone in this congregation that you're not where you used to be with God Amen I'm here at with a message of a hope and challenge for you I'm here to tell you and remind you of the authority of the word of God a man that has the uttermost Savior that means he is able to save the most hopeless of backsliders I'm here to tell somebody tonight a man that

your place in the father's house is still waiting for you praise God a man a man the road that is still waiting for you the ring is still waiting for you the sandals are still waiting for you I'm here to tell somebody that Jesus Christ is here tonight reaching for somebody a man to come back to him because he is able to save even the most hopeless a backslider said a man and if he is a note of uttermost Savior

then that means he is able to save everybody Amen everybody amen I love to think about the almighty Ness I don't know if that's a word or not dead don't google it right now okay amen but the old mightiness of God you know what I'm saying Amen that that he is not only a personal Savior but that he is a worldwide Redeemer amen and he must be this in order to be the uttermost Savior say are you saying that the whole world's going to be saved no certainly not amen but I'm saying the whole world could be saved amen amen because he is able to save everybody

suppose there were some classes and nations that he could not reach suppose there were some areas of this world that God just had to ride off and say you know what they're they're just they're just unreachable he meant that there were depths of moral corruption that he just you know that's just that's just beyond me I just I just can't deal with that amen if that were the case then heaven would have sent a deliverer who did not deserve the name Amen he would not be as mighty as sin he could not undo with grace the far-reaching works of evil

some men then would have to be lost an account of the weakness of salvation and some tribes and some nations would have to perish because the salvation of God could not compass' all but that's not the case amen that is not the case in fact the very opposite death is true because he can save anyone anytime anywhere hallelujah amen

you know his his life and ministry here upon the earth that ought to be ample evidence to over to a set of his great power and amen you know when he when he when he healed ten lepers in a single second of an incurable disease what was he doing he was showing us what he could do he was showing us his incredible power hey man when he made ten thousand demons that pour out of the man of the man of gaturro a man that was to show us that he could cast out all devils and out of all men that if men would allow him

when he baptized a hundred and twenty in the upper room of Jerusalem in a moment with a flash of holy fire of the Holy Ghost praise God amen and when the next hour he saved the souls of 3,000 men and then soon after five thousand he men that was to let us know that he could at this moment that regenerate and sanctify every human being on planet Earth if they would suddenly look up to him and believed on him and receive him hallelujah because he is the uttermost Savior and he can save everybody amen

that's an incredible thought to me to think amen oh if at one moment the whole world looked to look to the Lord praise God Amen and believe that I'm telling you this if if just a hundred you know if just a few disciples in a room in Jerusalem prayin could cause the house sheikha what would happen to this world amen if the whole world said O Lord I believe in you and I want your power in my life hallelujah praise God amen

unfortunately we know that that will never happen but I'm telling you God is saving to the uttermost 10 amen everywhere in this world even right now while I speak I'm telling you the Lord is saving people that praise God he's saving people this is Sunday night I'm telling you praise God churches going on all across our nation amen all across North America churches going on tonight praise God and I'm telling you people that are finding at the grace of God tonight hallelujah amen

I can tell you there's people that that'll get baptized in Jesus name tonight for the remission of their sins there's people that will receive the Holy Ghost tonight with the evidence of speaking with other tongues as the Spirit gives the utterance amen there's people that whose chains of sin will be broken tonight a man that why because he is the uttermost Savior a man a man hallelujah praise God

the soldier in the Army the sailor on the sea the farmer in the field the toiler in a mind a man that the invalid in the sick chamber the condemned man in the prison it matters not hallelujah Jesus Christ is the uttermost Savior hallelujah Amana and he wants to reach to somebody right here tonight damn hallelujah

so we stand together tonight hallelujah long ago he issued the challenge and the invitation look unto me look unto me all the ends of the earth and be ye saved look unto me all ye ends of the earth and be you saved and praise God hallelujah amen I believe that includes right here amen I believe that includes right now I believe that includes everyone in this building tonight damn hallelujah amen

if there's someone in this house tonight who will accept the challenge of the Word of God and you'll rebuke every doubt in your mind that Satan has tried to hamper and hinder your life with them and if you will release your faith tonight I'm telling you faith and ties the hands of God hallelujah amen faith raises the floodgates hallelujah faith brings down the streams of salvation faith looses the heavenly winds hallelujah amen and I believe that they are wanting to blow here tonight dead praise God amen hallelujah

the Bible says in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily yet hallelujah and and and that fullness scent incorporates his ability to save to the uttermost not just simply a few not just even a larger number but all that come to him but the condition is you have to come amen he that cometh to God he that cometh to me he said I will in no wise cast out amen

tonight I'm opening this all to read praise God amen for those that have experienced the mighty grace of God then maybe tonight the Lord has just reminded you of where he brought you from maybe the Lord has reminded you he man man that den it took an utter most Savior for your case Amen well then I want you to join us in the front here and Thanksgiving to the Lord

but if you're in that individual land that the enemy has told you I don't think you can ever be saved I don't think I don't think God's grace is great enough for you I'm challenging you tonight put God to the test why don't you come down here and give God a chance to show you that he is an utter most Savior and hallelujah he meant

your life may have been met a life of shame of reproach yet of addiction and it may be an alignment he meant that you're not proud of that but I want to tell you the uttermost Savior is well able tonight death to change your life and praise God amen he is well able tonight

Scripture references as spoken: Hebrews 7:25; Jeremiah 3:14; Jeremiah 3:22.