It's good to be here. Thank you
for having me. It's been quite a while and we're
glad to be back here with you. I don't have any calling cards,
but if you young people want to go to San Diego State University,
we have the highest energy cost in the nation. We went without rain last year
for 119 days in a row and so it gets pretty hot. You're more
than welcome. But the brethren there say hello
and they love the Lord and they're dedicated to the gospel and that's
what I'm thankful for. And they say hello to you and
the Lord's working there. Not the way I would have it or
think it or anybody else would have it or think it. fulfilling his will and comforting
his people and saving his people as he sees fit. What a privilege
that is. And I've told, I think I'll just
get up here for the next 30 minutes and agree with everything Eric
said. That was for me. Thank you. God spoke to me through
you. And I've had some very strange looks. People say, how's it going
out there? I said, God's proven his word to me. Don't you believe his word? Oh,
I believe him. I believe what he says, but he's
going to prove me that I believe him and prove his word to me. And I said, you know what? I
don't think he's lying. God said so. You think he's lying? We
know he ain't, but we're going to understand. It's like that
hypothermia fellow sent to teach these Coast Guard guys hypothermia.
And they come out there, there's a big pool of ice. And I said,
what are you doing? They said, you're supposed to
teach them hypothermia. And he got out shaking. He said,
here, in about two minutes, they're going to know. He's going to
prove it to us. He's going to know. If you will,
let's turn to Matthew chapter 1. Matthew chapter 1. I never know
who I'm going to be preaching to. That's a good thing. But
I just want to have one verse tonight, and I hope to be short.
And in my notes it says I hope to be short, arrow Eric. That
means I want to hear what Eric has to say. I can go as long
as I want to now. Why are we here? Why are we here
for this conference weekend? Why am I here? I'm not asking
you, I'm asking me. Why am I here? Am I here so I can see everybody?
I want to see you. I can go see some friends, see
what my old house looks like. That'd be fun. I want to eat
some food and hang out and tell some stories. That's good, isn't
it? But I need to remember, I hope you can, we've come into this
house and gathered in His name to worship Him. So, forget about
yourself. I wish I could forget about me,
what I've got going on. what heartaches I'm going through
and what joys I'm going through. I can forget about myself and
concentrate on Him and worship Him. That's what I hope we can
do. I hope to have three messages
for you this weekend. Everything Eric said. We'll look
tonight here in Matthew 1 at the work of salvation. The work
of salvation. What is this salvation? People
use that word. They throw it around all over.
and God and Jesus and saved and heaven and glory. What do some
things mean? The work of salvation. And maybe
Psalm 23, this person that saves, Jehovah, the self-existent one
in all His names. What He does, how He comes to
His people in totality. If He is with us, He is here
totally. You understand that? No. You
ain't going to and I ain't going to see it. Not totally. He is. Where He is, He's there in totality.
And hopefully Sunday we'll look at the benefits of this salvation
by Almighty God. What it is for Him to be our
shield and our exceeding great reward. I wrote an article, it's what
made me look here in Matthew chapter 1, and I did a horrible
job writing that article, because it wasn't an article, it was
a message, and I was trying to make it this big. I can't do
that. But I'll tell you about what
that article was here in a little bit, towards the end. Matthew chapter
1, we'll begin in verse 18. Now the birth of Jesus Christ
was on this wise, when his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph,
Before they came together, before they consummated the wedding,
she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Then Joseph, her
husband, being a just man and not willing to make her a public
example, how good he was. He was just. This is what God's
Word says. We're going to glorify God. Look
what Lord did with it. Joseph, her husband, being a
just man, not willing to make her a public example, was minded
to put her away privately. Let's just get this out of here.
Nobody needs to know about this. Sin has occurred here. And we'll
walk in piously and in backwards and cover up her sin and get
her out of town, boot her down the road. Verse 20, But while he thought
on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto
him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not,
fear not, to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived
in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son,
and thou shalt call his name Jesus. For, because, here's eight
words, He shall save His people from their sins. The angel of
the Lord came to Joseph in what appeared to be a good act, what
appeared to be law keeping, and gave him something totally different.
And he said, ìFear not.î You know why we get mad? Let me tell
you what the source of anger is. Itís pride and fear. You
mix them two up real good. If I'm getting real mad, that's
just me posturing until I figure out what's going on. I'm just
going to keep being mad until I know what's happening. It's
fear, isn't it? And the angel came to him and
said, fear not. She's going to have a son. You're going to call
his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins. The gospel came to Joseph. The
gospel was preached to Joseph. I'm going to follow him, I have
eight words for you. He shall save his people from their sins.
Let's pray, sing a song, we want to go home. That's all he told
him, that's all he needed to hear, wasn't it? What's this
mean? I want to stand just on this one verse tonight. He. He. That's where it begins. Tomorrow
morning we'll look at this more if the Lord allows. But this
is where salvation begins. This is where life begins. He.
He. In the beginning, God. Where does salvation start? With
God. He purposed it. Where is salvation going to get
kindled in my heart? God purposed it. He is going
to do it. Where is this payment for salvation going to come from?
God is going to shed His blood. How am I going to find out about
it? God is going to come to His child. Speak to their heart. That is where it is going to
begin. No, not you. He. He. How's somebody going to get
to heaven? Well, I. No. He saved me, but I. No. He. That's where it all begins. He. This is a message from the
Lord. This is where peace comes from.
When that angel said, fear not, peace is from the Lord. People
won't have peace in this world. You ain't going to have peace
in this world unless you're looking to Christ. Peace won't be found. You can buy a brand new Porsche
And it's going to be a day old tomorrow, won't it? Rust is going
to set in. Sun is going to work on it. It's
going to fade. It's going to be gone. But a message from the
Lord, that's good news. When He comes to His people and
speaks comfort, He comes to His people and speaks peace. Fear
not. There's nothing to be afraid of. This began with Him, didn't
it? And this gospel, this is concerning the Lord Jesus Christ.
It's what Paul told us in Romans 1-3. Do they preach the gospel
down there? I don't know. Do they preach
Christ? He's the gospel. He's the good news. It started
with Him. It's going to end with Him. He's the author and finisher,
isn't He? Who's this gospel about? It's
Christ. He. The Messiah. The Anointed One. The Christ. That's His office.
Did you know that? It's not just His name. Call
His name Jesus. He's the Christ. That's His office.
And He's our Lord. I thought that was Brother David
Pleasure preached a message on that. An elder, a bishop and
a pastor. That's all the same person, filled
by the same person, but the elder is the person. That's the man. Christ is our elder brother,
isn't He? Anything we do typifies Him. Ain't nothing in men. But it shows Him. It's a picture
of Him. That's who we're looking for.
He's our elder brother. He's the bishop of our souls.
That's His office. It's what He performs. And He's
the pastor. He's the chief shepherd. He's
the Lord. He rules and reigns all things. He gives the feed. He makes the
rains come. He makes the grass grow. He does
all things. He's the man. Christ Jesus is
the man. Christ is His office and the
Lord is His work. He's the anointed one. And what's
this one that's speaking of? He shall save. Shall save. The Lord's prophets
throughout the Old Testament declared something. The Lord's
apostles, whenever He walked this earth and in the apostolic
era, they had one message to have, to say. And His preachers
in this day, they have one thing to declare, not to debate, not
to have an open forum about. Let's sit down and talk about
this. They stand on their hind two legs and they declare a saving
God. He, God Almighty, shall save. Shall save. That's a saving substitute. That's a successful mediator. That's what He's going to do.
He shall save. A mediator is a go-between. They intercede
between two parties. Who are these two parties? That's
the Almighty Holy God of heaven and earth and us who have offended
Him. We've sinned against a holy God.
Boy, that sounds like tax code to most people. If I could slap
somebody around and shake them and get a funnel and put it down
their throat and pour it into them. We've sinned against the
holy God. All of a sudden, you're the only
one in the room. I love my wife, I love my children, but if I
know I've sinned against God, boy, that's one on one. We need
a mediator. This holy ruler of heaven and
earth and the sinners that sinned against Him. Christ is the only
mediation a sinner can ever have with the Father. Paul told us
that. He said, for there is one God
and one mediator between God and me and the man, Christ Jesus.
That's it. And we need that. We need saved. We need salvation. We need mediation. You can't do it by yourself.
I got a good handle on this. No, you don't. Brother Eric was
saying, I cried for, we'll get to that in a minute. I cried
for mercy yesterday. Well, yesterday's gone. I need mercy today. Well,
what about tomorrow, Kevin? Well, I don't know. I ain't promised
tomorrow. Right now. Almighty God that sent this gospel
message, this is good news. He didn't just simply make salvation
possible. He's a God that saves. He shall
save. That angel declared this to Joseph.
He said, He shall save. The message of mankind all over
this world. It's not just in this county.
It's not just in this state. Not just in this nation. Worldwide
is the Father loves everyone. Christ died for everybody. And
the Holy Ghost is just pretty well-pleasing going to come and
beg you, if you'd let him, save somebody. That's not so. That's a lie. That's not what
saving means. I wrote a poor article, but I
think I got a message. My oldest son, many of you remember
him, Jared, he got a job as a lifeguard at a water park there in San
Diego County. And he went through all this training. He did CPR
classes, did first aid classes. He did a swim test. He had to
make sure he swam real far and could tread water long enough.
They said, can you swim? He said, what stroke do you want
me to do? He'd been swimming his whole life. They said, I
think you're going to pass. But he went through all this training
and became a certified lifeguard. And as we're concerned and the
vocabulary mankind has, he's now able to save somebody. Now the company's policy is if
a person is in distress, they're struggling, They're drowning. You have to ask them permission
to be saved. You need some help? If I was going to get clickbait,
I'd title this, I don't want an Armenian lifeguard. Can I
help you? And if they say no, you can't
touch them. I'm going to make it. I'm going
to make it. I'm going to make it. If they're a small child
and they're struggling, they're showing signs of distress that
they're going to die, you have to ask the parents. Mom and Daddy,
can I save your child? I'm certified. I'm able to do
so. Will you let me? Will you allow
me to save your child? And people say no. This has happened. Not him, thankfully. I established
an LLC real quick. That hasn't happened yet, but
it's happened at that place before. People say no. But if that person
is unconscious, if they are dead, if they are unable, if they can't
hear, they have no knowledge, they can't speak, they can't
do anything, they are deaf, they are dumb, they are lame, they
are hot, unconscious, graveyard, dead, floating in the water,
now you can go in and save them. Once they stop fighting and try
to save themselves, once they stop struggling, once they stop
kicking, now go in. Now you can go in and save them.
Almighty God shall save His people. He shall save. You want to do
it yourself? Keep kicking little buddy. Let
me know how deep that pool is. See how long you can hold your
breath. It ain't going to work out. Not in these waters of justice.
We're swimming in a pool of our own sin. We drink sin like it's
water. Iniquity like it's water. And
we're in the waters of wrath of Almighty God. You ain't going
to survive. Stop fighting. Lay down your
shotguns and bow to Him. Call out to Him. The Father did not purpose everyone
to be loved before He chose a people. Christ did not die for everyone
to be offered salvation. He died for a particular people.
And the Holy Spirit does not wish, does not want, none of
them do. He is God also and His grace
that He comes speaking is irresistible. People say that ain't fair. You'll
thank Him if He comes to you. You wouldn't have it any other
way. A man I know was preaching one time, and he was trying to
say the efficacy of Christ's blood, but he said the efficiency
of Christ's blood. And I said, no, that's right.
It gets the job done. There's efficacy in the blood,
but it's efficient. Ain't a drop wasted. And there
ain't a drop that's needed that ain't there. That's exactly right. Verse 21 says, And she shall
bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall
save his people from their sins. Salvation is not universal. God
does not love everyone. He will say, You're lying. Ask
Esau. Go ask Pharaoh. Go ask all those
nations, the Hittites and the Perizzites, that the Lord said,
I gave nations for you. Because he loved a particular
people, a particular people. Nowhere in this book does it
even suggest that God loves everyone. He's trying to save anybody.
And folks will say, what about John 3.16? Do you understand
the context of that? That is beautiful. This man,
remember the Sanhedrin, came to tell the Lord what he knew.
I wouldn't suggest instructing
him or those after his own heart. You going to prove on it? Came
to tell what he knew. And the Lord said, you must be
born again. I said, what are you talking about? Am I going to
go in my mother's womb again? He said, you've got to be born
of the water, of the Spirit of God, the Word and the water.
God's going to have to do it. It's going to have to begin with
Him. He's going to have to shall save you. And they said, how
can this be? The Lord said, just like that
serpent was raised up in the wilderness, so must the Son of
Man be raised up. That's how it's going to be,
Nicodemus. And he said, for God so loved the world. Now you can
think of what he's saying. Here's one of the 70. Oh, that's
highfalutin. He got a haircut for whatever
service. He's ready to go. Prettiest robes you've ever seen.
You couldn't touch him on the outside. He walked a holy life.
And he said, God so loved the Gentiles, he gave his only begotten
son. You want to be a member of this
kingdom to be born again? You're going to be a Gentile,
Nicodemus. Give up all that nonsense you're holding on to. Christ's high priestly prayer
in John 17, he said, I pray for them. I pray not for the world,
not the whole world, not everybody that's ever lived throughout
creation, but for them which thou hast given me, for they
are thine, and I am glorified in them. Those that are His,
those that He shall save, they're going to glorify Christ and Him
alone. That's who Christ prayed for. And that's who He died for,
His people. He shall save His people. That's
whosoever. How do I know who his people
are? I don't. I have no idea. So like you read there in Luke
14, that parable of the great supper, my job, Clay's job, Eric's
job, come. Supper's ready. All things are
done. Everything's ready now. There's
no work. Don't wash your hands. Don't bring any almonds with
you. Don't do nothing. Just come. Who? Those that'll come. He'll make you come. Come on.
Come to his supper. That's it. From. He shall save His people from. That's save from something, isn't
it? If you're in a burning building and you're saved from burning
to death, you're saved from a burning building. If you're saved from
drowning, someone pulled you out of the water. If God Almighty
saved your soul, you're saved from sins. The sin that we are,
the sin that we commit, everything just flows in and out of us like
it's just air and water. Totality, the whole of us, we're
saved from ourselves. Plural, sins. Who saves? The Lord does. How certain is
it? He shall. Who does He save? Whosoever His people are. What
does He save us from? Our sins. Natural man has this
verse flip-flopped. We say, well, He shall save His
people. That's so exclusive. That excludes people. That pushes
people away. You're saying, He only has His
people. And then they say, He saves them from their sins. Well,
now that includes everybody. That's inclusive. Everybody's
been a little bit bad, ain't they? I've done a couple of things
wrong. I've committed sins, but I've
cleaned up a whole lot. I don't sin as much as I used
to. Hogwash. Natural man's got that flip-flop. His people, that
includes all, whosoever. The exclusion is, save you from
your sins. That is all I am, outside of
God's grace. Right now. Me standing in this
pulpit, speaking to you, I've committed enough sin on my mind,
heart, lips, everything else to send all of us to hell for
eternity. And then to, He has to save me from me. Oh, if He'd make us know that.
He came to save sinners, of whom I'm chief. That's a worthy, good
phrase. To accept with all expectation.
He came in the world to save sinners in whom I'm chief. I
tell you, I've told some folks the reason I think the Lord made
me a preacher is because I'm the least likely to hear His
Word. I'm the least likely to study. I'm the least likely to
pray to Him. And He proved His Word to me
and He's put me in the dust to make me cry out to Him. Maybe I don't sound like I ought
to be a preacher. That's how He does it. He's going to prove
Himself. Does He save us from our sin,
singular? That feminine noun, just what
we are. Yes, He sure does. But sin's
plural. Past, present, and future. That
excludes a lot. Well, I used to be a sinner.
Well, you're going to have some problems. You ever heard the
Lord's Prayer? Look over at Luke 11. When the
Lord taught us how to pray, taught His disciples how to pray here
in Luke 11, There in verse 2, the disciples
said, ìLord, teach us how to pray.î John taught his disciples,
ìTeach us.î In Luke 11 verse 2 it says, ìAnd he said unto
them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed
be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be
done. As in heaven, so in earth. Give
us day by day our daily bread and forgive us our sins. For we also forgive everyone
that is indebted to us and lead us not into temptation, but deliver
us from evil. Hallowed be thy name. How can
we say something like that? How can we say there's a holy
God and praise Him for who He is? He's going to have to have
saved us. There has to be a new creation in us. We have to be
born again to call on a true and living God. To worship Him
in spirit and in truth. And it says, forgive us our sins.
He has saved us and He is saving us. Boy, I need that. Today. And Lord, Thy kingdom come. And
we shall be saved. That saving will be out of the
water. We'll be on dry ground, we'll be with Him. The waters
will be succeeded, and we'll be on dry ground just like Jonah
was. And we'll be plumb saved, looking Him out of the eye because
we've been made like Him. That's the end state. Over in 2 Corinthians
1, if you want to turn there, if not I'll turn there quick.
2 Corinthians 1 verse 10. Well, that's 1 Corinthians, that
ain't going to do me no good, hold on. I've got reading glasses
since I was here last. I can see this but I can't see
you. It's a shorter distance here in San Diego. 2 Corinthians. We'll begin in
verse 9. But we have the sentence of death
in ourselves that we should not trust in ourselves but in God
which raiseth the dead. We're depraved dead, graveyard
dead sinners, and we must trust in God. Verse 10, Who delivered
us from so great a death. Oh, He saved us. And doth deliver. Doth deliver. We see Him today. We get our daily bread. Lord,
give us our daily bread. Does that mean I'm going to have
to eat today? Yeah, I can make it till tomorrow. I think I'll
be okay without physically eating bread today. But I need Christ
today. I need Christ to live in bread
today. who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver,
in whom we trust that He will yet deliver us. We shall be made
like Him. He saved us, He's saving us,
and He shall save us. How could that be? There must
be two natures inside of somebody. Doesn't that make sense? There's
an old man and a new man. Paul talked about that in Romans
7, didn't he? It was so clear. There's a law. I mean take it
to the bank. This is going to happen. There's
a war going on inside of me. How are you faring today? I've
been to war and that was way easier than this. That was way
easier than proving my helmet works and all that stuff and
those tactics and what the Lord's Word says. That's a lot more
violent it seems at times. But how am I faring in that spiritual
warfare today? I'm doing okay. I got four children
staying in three different states and phone ain't ringing off a
hook and I think I have some messages to come preach to people
and I'm doing all right. I'm healthy. Today ain't too
bad. There's a war going on. Wait till tomorrow morning. Wait
till the rounds come in. My pastor always said when I
was young, don't look down on David just because your best
she-bat showed up yet. Don't look down on those that are hardened
in battle. Think different of them. Think you're hardened in
battle because then bullets start flying and you may just start
flinching. You may just start diving in the gravel. We have
two natures in us. Right now an old man, it is absolutely
at war with God. And a new man is completely at
peace with God. There's no condemnation. And
those two have to dwell together. That's the most peaceful, most
insane person that's ever walked this earth. We need our pure mind stirred
up. I need to be reminded of who Christ is, what He did, where
He is now, what I am in myself and what I am in Him. Both of
them. How am I going to have my pure
mind stirred up like Peter talked about? Well, it's going to be
here every week and twice on Sunday, in Ewing, New Jersey,
every Thursday and twice every Sunday morning, in Nixon, Missouri,
every week, San Diego County, Lexington, Kentucky, Asheville,
Kentucky, Crossville, Tennessee, wherever the Lord's people are,
Nara, Australia, they're in England, wherever He's put somebody. That's
how my pure mind is going to be stored up. I want to go and
hear the gospel one more time so I can go out in this evil
world and this old man can make it until the next meal comes. Let this mind be in you. Where
is sin most greatest on display? It's there at Calvary. We can
go through and read Matthew 27. Physically they spit on our Lord,
they cursed Him, they mocked Him, they abused Him. That's
how all this salvation come to pass. This is where it physically
took place at Calvary. Well, spiritually, did they spit
on him and curse him and mock him? You going to stop them? Growing
up, I had multiple people say, well, if I was there, I would
have stopped them. That's why he come for this hour.
My sins were what put him there. And while he was there being
mocked, being spit on, being ridiculed, he cried out, forgive
them, they don't know what they're doing. They know not what they
do. Why? For He shall save His people
from their sins. That's what He comes for. Let
this mind be in you. Not one and done, is it? The
Lord saved me back when I was 16, I got a card to prove it.
No, no, He has saved me. He's saving me and He shall save
me. He died once, the just for the unjust. But we take His table. And we do in remembrance of Him.
We see His broken body one more time. We see His shed blood one
more time. He's our daily bread. Christ
our Lord. Jared came home and told me and
Clay that the other day when he was there at our house about
the rules there for the companies. Now we got to ask them if we
could save them. And both of us looked at each
other and said, I don't want no Armenian lifeguard. I don't. I want a believer up
there. I don't want one that's going to not take me out of the
water unless I let them. I don't want a reformed lifeguard.
Someone that will get you out of the water, but you've got
to do CPR by yourself. Better keep your heart beating.
I don't want it. I need a Savior that shall save
His people from my sins, the sin that I am. And I need Him
to completely go underneath me in that miry pit of clay and
destruction and death and pull me clean out of it, resuscitate
me, give me life, give me born again spirit after his incorruptible
seed sustain it forever in this life because I'm gonna prone
to wonder Lord I feel prone to leave the God I love that don't
mean like I well I might if the situation arises if he takes
his hand off of me I'm done he has to sustain the whole thing
and then that day that I shall be saved and be conformed like
him that's what I need that's what I'm that's what his people
need the ones he saves the Lord shall save his people from their
sins. Is he lying? Has he proved it? I believe him, buddy. I don't
think he's lying to me. Tooth and toenail, completely.
And you know what's going to happen tomorrow? I'm going to
wake up and say, Lord, I need a message for this morning. What
am I going to do? You're going to leave me all by myself? And I'll
cry out like a baby. Cries of a child ain't offensive
to the parents, are they? Other people on an airplane,
they might say, oh, that kid's crying. Just pull your shoulder up to
your ear. But if it's your child, they
hear those cries, don't they? Hope that's a blessing to you.