Joe, Scott. Well, we're thankful
to have our brother and pastor and friend in Darwin Pruitt up
here with us visiting and thankful that he was willing to bring
a message to us. So this is Darwin Pruitt, pastor of Grace Baptist
Church in Louisville, Arkansas. And so that's a good six hours
away. So I'm thankful he wanted to join us this sunday so it
means a lot and welcome brother come on up and preach the gospel
let's watch your step around of course Well, it wasn't my intention
to come here to preach, only to visit. I've been trying for
several months to find a time that I could come up during the
midweek and visit with you all. I just haven't been able to do
it. And then your pastor asked me to preach and I agreed to
do so. So I invite you to turn with
me to John chapter 10. We're going to stay in the book
of John this morning, and I don't know a better book in the Bible
to be in than the book of John. I so enjoyed my verse-by-verse
studies through the book of John. John chapter 10 is partly about
the sheep, but mostly about the shepherd. All of the scriptures are partly
about the sheep, but mostly about the shepherd. And so it is as
I study and prepare to preach, it's partly about the sheep,
but mostly the shepherd. Where would we be without him? What would we be without him? Everything is in him. That's why Paul said, Christ
is all. He's all. He's in all, but he
is all. He's everything. He's always
been everything. He was everything in the beginning.
And he's all, and he's made us to see that. He's made us to
enter into that. And don't it make your, I tell
you, we ought to be the most amazed people on the planet that
this little group can gather here with a full knowledge, clear
knowledge of the truth and worship God in spirit and truth. Do you
realize what a privilege this is? As I look around and talk
to people and hear people and just go to the store and listen
to people talk, and oh my soul, don't go to a funeral. I went
to my sister's funeral and it just made me sick listening to
them talk about all their fantasies of life after death and all this
sort of thing. But we're not there. We're here
this morning with a clear understanding of the truth. and we can worship
God in truth. In truth, not speculation, but
in truth. Needy sinners, that's what we
are, needy sinners need to hear. Oh, that's where we're gonna
start in John chapter 10. These men were the accusers of
the brethren. Satan worked in them, they were
unaware of it, they thought they were of God. God is our father.
Christ said, if God was your father, you'd love me. I proceeded
forth and came from God. God's not your father. Satan's
your father. Men don't know that. They think
they're of God. They dress like they think a
believer ought to dress, ever how that is, and they talk like
what they think a believer ought to talk, and they study, and
they memorize passages in the word of God, and they do all
of these things. But they don't know God. They
don't know God. Needy sinners need to hear. And this is what Christ was doing.
He was telling them what they needed to hear. He was telling
them who He is. He was telling them why He came.
He was telling them what He intended to do. He was telling them what
He was doing. And He was telling them where
He was gonna go. That's what we need to hear. Every needy
sinner needs to hear that. He needs to hear that. Without
a hearing, if I understand the scriptures correctly, without
a hearing, nothing effectual will ever happen. It won't happen. Just an empty shell. Just a hollow
profession of faith and an unregenerate body. Why? Because what's needed is life.
We're dead. People don't understand that.
You tell them, oh, I'm not dead. One fella got really upset one
night at the old church, and he said, dead, dead, dead. That's all that preacher knows,
dead. Well, that's what we are. You
have the quicken who were dead. That's where he found us, dead
in trespasses and sins. We needed life, and what's needed
is a new birth, a new creation. What's needed is for Christ our
Lord to go forth in the spirit of the gospel and call us out
of death unto life. He said the hour is coming and
now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God,
and they that hear shall live. And so they did, and so they
still do. And this is exactly what our
Lord was doing here in John chapter 10. He was preaching. He was
preaching. I know He's the Savior. I know
what He came to do. I know what He accomplished in
His person, and I know all of those things. But what He was
doing, and the reason men reviled Him, they didn't revile Him because
He healed the sick. They reviled Him because of what
He said. They reviled Him for what He
preached. And it's the same today. He was preaching. He was telling
them in a simple parable how God saves sinners. He selected
something everybody knew very well in that day. The shepherd,
the sheep, the porter, and the sheepfold. There was nobody there
that didn't understand what he was talking about. You know,
sometimes we get carried away in intellectualism. A lot of
these old writers were very, had very high intellects, and
we get carried away with that. And we stand up and we start
telling people, and I can tell by the look on their face when
I start doing that. It just, just goes right over
their head. And I thought, I'm not really
saying anything. I need to, I need to come back
down. And this is what Christ did.
Can you imagine? He had unlimited knowledge. We pray for the Holy Spirit to
come and to help us when we preach, and rightfully so, but he had
the Spirit without measure. He could have talked in a language
that they couldn't possibly understand. That's what he told Nicodemus.
He said, I've told you earthly things. What if I switch my language
to heavenly language? right over your head. You wouldn't
understand anything they say. But he selected something simple,
something everybody could understand. The Sheepfold was a place, kind
of a joint effort, I think, if I read correctly, of the Shepherds,
and they built this compound. And the shepherd, if he had business
to attend to or whatever, would bring his sheep in there. And
they were kept safely in the sheepfold until he returned and
finished his business. And he'd come back to get the
sheep. It was a safe place to put the sheep, safe from predators,
safe from thieves and robbers. But then when the time come for
the shepherd to collect the sheep, he'd go to the door of the sheepfold,
and the porter would look out, and he would recognize him. I
know him. I know him. And the porter would
recognize the shepherd. He'd open the door, and the shepherd
would call his sheep. His sheep. Let that sink in a
little bit. His sheep. And lo and behold, they would
hear his voice. If anybody came any other way,
according to this parable, he was to be treated as a thief
and a robber. Any other way, he had to come
before the door, had to be recognized by the porter. No shepherd, no
recognition. No shepherd, no open door. No shepherd, no sheep. To him,
the scripture says, the porter openeth. Now the shepherd is
Christ. The sheepfold, I believe, is
God's protecting hand of grace. You could call it his covenant
of grace, but even in his covenant, it's his hand that gives strength
to the covenant. If it weren't his covenant, if
it weren't a covenant of grace, we wouldn't be protected. Those committed to the sheepfold
are God's elect. They're under his watchful eye.
They're under his strong hand until the shepherd completes
his business. Now, I want you to listen to
this. This is John 17 11. And now, Christ said, I'm no
more in the world. But these are in the world. And
I come to thee, Holy Father, keep through thine own name those
whom thou has given me that they may be one as we are. The shepherd and the porter have
the same name. They have the same name. Now,
it's doubtful, as I read this passage, I thought about this,
and it blessed my soul. It's doubtful that the sheep
knew what was going on. Did you, before God opened your
eyes? You didn't realize there was
a watchful hand over you. You didn't realize that God was
keeping you. You didn't realize that every
work of providence was for your good in his glory. I'm talking
about before you believed. Sheep didn't know what was going
on. They were just in the sheepfold. They were eating the porter's
food. Isn't that what we did? We ate the porter's food. We
drank the porter's water. He gave us all those things.
But we didn't know what was going on. We were being protected,
but we didn't know it. We were sheep. All the sheep in the sheepfold
looked the same. Couldn't tell by looking at them.
Man looks on the outward countenance. God looks on the heart. They
all looked the same. And actually, the only difference
is whose sheep they were. That's what made these sheep
differ from those sheep. whose sheep they were, and whose
care they were under. Now I wanna show you something
here in our text. The pastor already began talking
about this, brought a wonderful message about this. I'm gonna
take up where he left off. John chapter 10, verse six. These
are the same people that were confronting him back in John
eight. When it says the Jews, and it's always capitalized and
set before you, he's talking about the High Council of the
Jews. This wasn't just Jewish people
at random. This was the High Council, this
was the Sanhedrin. And they gathered all around
Jesus, intelligent, well-read, approved, recommended members
of the High Council. These men had degrees, they had
papers. Now watch this. This parable
spake Jesus unto them, but they understood not what things they
were which he spake unto them. Why? I just told you what the parable
meant. A small child could understand
that. Why was it they didn't know? Why was it they didn't
understand? They understood not those things
which he said. The very simple parable is the
shepherd, the sheep, the porter and the sheepfold. But they didn't
get it. And this is the lot of every
fallen son of Adam. There's none that understandeth,
Paul said, and none that seeketh after God. He just told you that
the Jews had every advantage, the Gentile had none. So what, he said, are we better
off than they because we had all the advantage? No, because
I have before proved both Jew and Gentile all under sin. All
under sin. This is the lot of every fallen
son of Adam. There's none that understandeth.
Now listen, there's none that seeketh after God. The Lord was
going about doing a great work. What was he doing? Well, he said,
the spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me
to preach the gospel to the poor, bankrupt sinners, ignorant, nothing
to offer. He's anointed me to preach the
gospel to the poor, nothing to offer up to God. They're all
gone astray. Together become unprofitable. He sent me, he said, furthermore,
to heal the brokenhearted, sinners whose eyes has been opened. That's
the brokenhearted. When a man finds out what he's
been doing before God, when he finds out those things that he
thought were so precious to him and so, that offered him such
comfort were nothing but lies and empty promises. And he sees
that he's done this not against law, but against love. He's done these things that,
oh, I'll tell you, when I got a little older and realized what
I had done as a young man to dishonor my father's name, how
that hurt me so. Can you imagine once your eyes
is opened and you see all these things that you've done and you
see them opposed to a loving Savior? Broken hearted. Christ said he sent me to preach
to them. I've got some good news for them. I'm sent for the recovering of
the sight to the blind. Our Lord said, if the light that
be in thee, all this revelation that you think you have, all
this knowledge that you think you have, if the light that be
in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness? There's only
one who can recover sight to the blind, and that's the Lord
Jesus Christ. I'm sent, I'm sent to set at
liberty them that are bruised, battered by an abusive husband,
the law. Broken, battered, left hopeless,
unloved. There's no love in the law. Law
is strict justice. Cursed is everyone who continueth
not in all things written in the book of the law to do. But he said, I'm sent to set
at liberty them that are bruised. I'm sent to preach the acceptable
year of the Lord. What's that mean? The year of
jubilee. The fulfillment of that old type. You remember when the year of
Jubilee came, all debts were forgiven. All prisoners set free. All the
slaves turned loose. He said, I'm here to preach that
to you. I'm going to tell you what that is. Well, why are you telling us
all this, preacher? Well, I'm telling you this because the
work of the ministry is a great work. It's a divine work. It's
an effectual work. It's a necessary work. It's a
work that Christ was anointed to do. And it's a work that he
anointed us to do. It's necessary. Nothing's gonna
happen until you hear. Until you hear. To accomplish
our Lord was going about to do the work. He was sent to do and
And that's what he tells them later on here in the book of
in this chapter John chapter 10. He said The work that my father sent
me to do they bear witness of me what work She talking about
the miracles that he did. Well, perhaps that's included
in it, but that's not what he was talking about. I The works
that he did in his father's name is the work of redemption. This
is what the prophet said that Christ was gonna do when he came,
he's gonna accomplish redemption. He shall see the travail of his
soul and be satisfied. All through the prophets, talking
about accomplish redemption, accomplish redemption. Our Lord
was going about to do what he said to do, to accomplish the
redemptive will of God. He said, I come, lo, he said,
I come, I come. The one they'd been talking about,
I come. Why? To do thy will, oh God. It's written in the volume of
the book. I come, he said again in John
6, not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me.
And this is the Father's will which is sent me, that of all
which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but raise it up
again at the last day. And this is the will of him that
sent me, that everyone that seeth the Son and believeth on him
may have everlasting life. And I'll raise him up at the
last day. So he covered not only the accomplished work of redemption,
but he's also covering his work as a gospel preacher. And not
just his work, but that work which he's left us. But his parable made no sense
to them, made absolutely no sense to them because they were ignorant
of who the Christ was. They were ignorant of the word
of God that they bragged so much on. and they were ignorant of
the will and purpose of God. They thought God's will was to
take Israel and lift them up again to the old glory days,
and God was gonna bless a man. It'd be a man like Moses or a
man like David, and God's gonna raise this man up, and he's gonna
lead us out from under the bondage of the Romans, and he's gonna
exalt us again, and we're gonna be world-renowned. Well, that's
not God's will at all. His will is a redemptive will. When the fullness of the time
was come. What time? That time purposed by God. When
the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his son,
made of a woman, made under the law, to do what? To redeem them
that were under the law. that we might receive the adoption
of sons. That parable made no sense to
them. They were ignorant. They understood not the things
which he spake unto them. They read the same prophets.
Same prophets he read. But they didn't come away with
the same doctrine. They didn't come away with the
same interpretation. Men tell me that all the time.
That's your interpretation. Huh? Only problem was I'm not
making an interpretation, I'm reading it to you out of the
Word of God. I'll never forget that story Henry told about this
old deacon in Pollard Baptist Church. And Henry said he had
gotten so bad that I decided that morning I was just gonna
read Ephesians chapter one. Wasn't gonna make no comments,
I was just gonna read it. He said I got down to verse five,
And this old deacon stood up, mad, red. Oh, he was just mad. He said, that's enough. And Henry
said, excuse me? He said, that's enough. I know
what you're trying to say. Henry said, I ain't trying to
say anything. Oh, don't tell me that. He said,
I know what you're trying to teach. He said, what am I trying
to teach? He said, election. He said, is
that what you got out of my reading Ephesians chapter one? Because
that's what I got out of it too. I got it because that's what
it says. It's not about interpretation. The Bible is the interpretation. The Bible is the revelation of
God. It's about making us to see it.
Making us to see it. They didn't come away with the
same thing, and that's the lot of all fallen men, none that
understandeth, none that seeketh after God. The way of peace,
it says, they've not known. They don't know that. Our Lord
preached to such men, and so do I. The Lord was rejected by
such men, and so am I. All his sheep are in the world.
They're all by nature children of wrath, even as others. The
difference is, who holds them in his hand? Who holds them in his hand? And
that's my message this morning. The hand that holds us. The hand
that holds us. Our Lord preached the sweetest
words that have ever been heard and they understood nothing he
said. He said to them, I am the good shepherd. That's pretty
simple, isn't it? Well, who's the good shepherd?
The good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. I'll tell
you, if you're a sinner, them words are sweet. Them words are
sweet. It's not my life that God's going
to extract. He's gonna take it from my substance. He's going just like old Barabbas. They come down that aisle. You
can hear them soldiers stomping down that aisle. Barabbas said,
well, that's it for me. I'm going to the cross. They
opened the door and said, Barabbas. He stood up shaking in chains.
Old guy went over there, unlocked the chain, said, you're free
to go. He said, you're going to shoot
me in the back when I get. No, you're free to go. Why? Another's
been chosen to die in your stead. Our Lord preaches the sweetest
words. I'm the good shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his
life from the sheep. And in great detail, he expounds
the parable. He said, I'm the door. I'm not
just the shepherd, I'm the door. One way in, one way out. By me, if any man enter in, he
shall be saved and shall go in and out and find pasture. I'm
come that they might have life. What is that? What kind of life
is he talking about? A life that just goes on and
on and on and on? I suppose you could say that.
But he's talking here about eternal life. It's not so much how long
it lasts, it's the quality of it. What it is, or what is eternal
life? It's to have a saving knowledge
of God. It's to know God as he truly
is, and yet understand that all of those attributes are engaged
to save your soul. Think of that. Justice was engaged
to save your soul. God not gonna, I will by no means
clear the guilty. Punishment has to be, the law
has to be satisfied. Justice has to be satisfied.
But it was satisfied in Christ. It was satisfied in Him. I'm
the door. I give unto them eternal life.
I'm come that they might have life and have it more abundantly.
Listen to this, 1 John 5, 20. John just keeps telling us, and
we know, and we know, and we know, and we do, and that's the
miracle of it. That's what I'm talking about
this morning, what he was doing. We know that the Son of God hath
come and given to us an understanding that we may know him that is
true. We're in Him that's true. And
this is the true God and eternal life. That's what eternal life
is. It's to have a saving knowledge
of God. To look at that justice and not
tremble, but to look at that justice satisfied. Justice satisfied. He said, I'm a good shepherd
and I know my sheep. I know. Religion would have you
to believe that if you do this, you become his sheep. You've
heard it, I've heard it. Anybody that's raised in it has
heard it. You do this, now you're gonna be born again, now you're
gonna become one of his sheep. He said, I know my sheep. Why does he know them? Because
they're his. Where'd he get them? Scripture said the Father chose
us in the Son before the foundation of the world. All his sheep,
all his sheep. He said this, he said, my Father
loved with me because I lay down my life for the sheep. He's still
talking to the same men, he's still talking to this high council. The gospel's not about the world.
The gospel's about a sheep. The gospel's not about what the
sheep have to offer. It's about what the shepherd
is willing to give. The gospel's not about the strength
of the flock. It's about the strength of the
shepherd, their sheep. He gave them, as I've given to
you this morning, as plain an exhortation as words can offer. Here's the shepherd, the sheepfold,
the porter, and the sheep. That's pretty easy to understand,
isn't it? But they didn't get it. They
didn't get it. And I tell you, I used to, I
used to just, I would try to talk to an unbeliever, and they're
just doing this, and I don't care how simple you broke it
down, I don't care how plain. I said one time, you could stack
scripture around them like cordwood, and it just didn't faze them,
didn't faze them a bit. They didn't get it. And it says
there was another division over these things. There was a division
back in John 8, there was a division in John 9, and now there's another
division. Now watch this, verse 24. John chapter 10. Then the Jews,
the high council, the chief Pharisees, the doctors of the law, came
round about him and said, how long does thou make us to doubt?
If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly. How men love to blame their sins
and unbelief on God. Paul said, he begins teaching
there in Romans chapter nine, and he said, I know what you're
gonna tell me. It wasn't the first time he did that. I know
exactly how you're gonna say, why doth he yet find fault for
who hath resisted his will? Nay, but O man, who art thou
that replies against God? And that's what you're doing.
That's what they were doing. It's not God that makes you to
doubt. It's a mind that's enmity against
God. A religion that makes the things
of the spirit appears foolishness. Natural man, he receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God for the foolishness unto him.
And a love of darkness that refuses to come out into the light. Tell
us plainly, and I'm gonna tell you, don't ever take a position
of demanding anything from God. Don't do it. Don't do it. Listen to how our Lord responded
to that. Jesus answered them, verse 25,
I told you. I told you I was the good shepherd.
I told you I was the door of the sheep. I told you why I came,
to give life. I told you, I told you, I and
my Father are one. I told you these things, but
you believe not. The works that I do in my Father's
name, they bear witness of me, that work of redemption, That
work of righteousness, Christ is the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believe it. Paul said, I'm not ashamed of
the gospel, it's the power of God unto salvation, for therein
is the righteousness of God revealed. That's what he was doing there
that day. The work of reconciliation. You that were sometime alienated
and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled
in the body of his flesh through death. to present you faultless,
without blame, before God. And he was there to preach the
gospel. The gospel of God, the one gospel, the effectual gospel,
the very means that God has ordained to save sinners. How you gonna
escape, he said, if we neglect so great salvation, which at
the first began to be spoken by our Lord. That's what he was
doing here, speaking this gospel. He manifested the very name of
God in the work he was accomplishing, yet they saw nothing. And then
he tells us this, verse 26. You believe not because you're
not of my sheep. Is that how that reads? Did I
write that damn correctly? You believe not, because you're
not of my sheep, as I said unto you, my sheep hear my voice. Now I'm gonna tell you what he
said to the 70 who sent out to preach. He that heareth you,
heareth me. We're ambassadors of God, of
Christ, as though God did beseech you by us. That's all you're
gonna hear. God's not gonna send you an angel.
Not gonna send you a vision. Not gonna speak to you in the
dark. If God speaks to you at all, it'll be through a preacher.
That's what our Lord was telling them. My sheep, here are my boys,
and I know them. I know who they are. I know where
they are. I know my sheep. They hear my
voice. I know them. Now watch this. And they follow
me. They follow me. And that's what
I said a while ago. Believing God is a divine work.
It's a mysterious work that God does in us, enabling us, making
us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of enlightened saints. It's a divine word. Paul wrote
to the Thessalonians, he said, knowing, brethren, beloved, your
election of God, because my gospel came not unto you in word only.
You see, when a gospel comes in word only, and people respond
to it, they're not responding to that word. They're responding
to the personality of the man talking to them. They're responding
to the things of this world. They're responding to their own
emotions. That's what they're doing. But
when the gospel comes in power, it doesn't matter who preaches
it. Paul said not that we're sufficient
of ourselves to do anything before God. We don't even think that
we're sufficient. Our sufficiency is of God. God, I'm dependent
totally on the Holy Spirit of God. And so are you. It came in power, it came in
the Holy Ghost, and watch this, it came in much assurance. That's
not confidence in your confidence. That's assurance in Christ. That
Christ is who he says he is. That he's done what he said he
did. That he's up there where he said he was, and doing what
he promised to do. Assurance. When a man hears the
gospel, this is it. Isn't that what you, this is
it. I've heard preaching, but this
is it. This is Christ. This is the one. I can trust him. Paul said, I
know whom I have believed. And I'm persuaded. How'd he get
persuaded? He heard, didn't he? He's able to keep that which
I've committed unto him against that day. And in Ephesians 2,
Paul talks about that union of Christ with his church. And how we're raised up together
with him, made to sit together with him in heavenly places.
And then, listen to this, that, in order that, in the ages to
come, he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness
toward us, through Christ Jesus. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves, it's the gift of God. Not of
works, but we boast on it. One thing I can say. God's everlasting covenant of
grace, David said, is ordered in all things and sure. It's
sure because Christ is the surety of the covenant. And his presence
and glory guarantees the success of his gospel. And that's what
he told them. Can you imagine the Lord stepping
on that cloud? He just stepped over on that
cloud, up on the side of that mountain. And then he turned
and he said, let me tell you something. All power, heaven
and earth, given unto me. Now you go preach. You go preach. We tell preachers everything
in the world but that. That's your hope. That's your
hope. His presence and glory guarantees
the success of the gospel. His presence and glory guarantees
our intercession. He's our intercessor. There's
just one mediator between men and God, the man Christ Jesus. You believe not, he said, because
you're not of my sheep. As I said unto you, my sheep
hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. There's nothing
iffy about the salvation of sinners. They're in the sheepfold. God's
keeping them. Have you considered my servant,
Joel? Oh yeah, I considered him, but you got a hedge. You better
believe there is a hedge. He's in the fold. He's in the
fold. When he comes to the door, he's
seen and approved by the porter. He opens the door. He said, take
who you want. And he starts, and he calls them,
Eric, Mark, Joe, Matthew, Mark. He calls them. And you know what they do? They
shoot. They hear him. They recognize
him. They go right out the door. He didn't put collar on. He don't
hold them on string. He sets them out in front of
him and they follow him wherever he go. Verse 28, he said, I give unto
them eternal life and they'll never perish. Neither shall any
man pluck them out of my hand. My father which gave them me
is greater than all. And no man can pluck them out
of his hand. And I and the father are one. We're one. It's not just the
hand that holds us, it's the hand in the hands. And they're
both God. They're both God. And they hold
you. Who's gonna get you? Who's going
to separate you from the love of God? Myself. Who's going to condemn
you? Christ died. He justified you. Now who's going
to condemn you? Who's going to lay anything to
your charge? Ball said God was in Christ,
reconciling the world unto himself, the Gentile world, the fallen
world, the cursed world, the hostile world, the cursed world. People out of every kindred,
tribe, nation, and tongue under heaven, idolaters all, God-haters
all, ignorant, blind rebels, and Christ came, and he made
them new creatures. Old things passed away. What
old things? Old disabilities. Old disabilities. You can't believe. Did you know that? Faith is the
gift of God. If he don't enable you, I don't
care how much straining you do, you can't believe. You can't
do it. It's the gift of God. He has to enable. He makes you
meet. And if he don't, you'll remain
there. You believe not, because you're not my sheep. That old blindness, he gave you
eyes that blessed are your eyes, for they see. That old ignorance,
that old will. And he said, and behold, all
things have become new. You've got a new mind now, the
mind of Christ. You have a new will now. When
wisdom takes the place of ignorance and love takes the place of enmity,
were made willing in the day of his power. New doctrine, new principles,
a new inheritance, a new citizenship. I and the Father are one. This is the hand that holds us.
The hand that holds us. Oh, that God would make every
distraction, every bump in the road to flee away. in the light of the glory of
Christ. And it will, if we see Him. It just fades away. Kind of like the stars. I used
to love to go out at night down in the Yucatan, Mexico. There
was no pollution in the sky, and we'd go out there at night,
and you just could not believe how many stars that we don't
see in this country because of pollution. And you go down there
in that clear jungle sky, and you look up, and it's just filled
with stars. But you know what? When the sun
comes up, you don't see any of them. You don't see any of them. You know he calls his preachers
stars, don't you? Stars. But when the sun comes up, you
don't see the preacher anymore. Now you see the sun. Wait on
that day star, Peter said. That day star is going to rise.
It's going to rise in your heart. Just don't move. Just stay right
where you're at. Keep looking up. Looking up when
the sun comes up. Everything else fades away. Thank
you. As you remain sitting, let's
have a closing hymn. 224, I know whom I have believed.
224. I know now why God's wondrous
grace to me he hath made known, nor why unworthy Christ in love
redeemed me for his own. But I know my happy leavin' And
am persuaded that he is able To keep that which I've committed
Unto him against that day I know not how this saving faith to
thee he did impart, nor how believing in his word brought peace within
my heart. But I know whom I have believed
and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I've committed
unto him against that day. I know not how the Spirit moves
convincing men of sin, Revealing Jesus through the Word, creating
faith in Him. But I know whom I have believed
and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I've committed
unto Him against that day. I know not what of good or ill
may be reserved for me. Of weary ways or golden days
before his face I see. But I know whom I have believed
and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I've committed
unto Him against that day. I know not when my lord may come
at night or noonday fair, nor if I walk the vale with him or
beat him in the air. But I know whom I have believed
and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I've committed
unto him against that day. thank you brother we really appreciate
that message glorifying christ and exalting him and we're just
thankful for that so after we conclude services the ladies
have prepared plenty of food so you're all welcome to stay
please do and help help enjoy it so let's close in prayer and
then we'll be dismissed our gracious lord we thank you father for
your great abundance of mercy. Lord, we thank you that you are
all, you're everything, Lord. We thank you for your preserving
and keeping hand, which keeps us in Christ and provides everything
for us. Lord, we pray that you would
continue to bless us and feed us with Christ. that he would
be all and sufficient for every need that we have. Lord, keep
us in faith. Keep us ever looking to our Savior. Lord, bless your people. We pray
that you would bless this food now to the nourishment of our
bodies and bless the time of our fellowship, that it be sweet
in Christ. It's in Christ's name we pray
and give thanks. Amen.