Don't know you got a message
till you got one, do you? Good evening. If you will, let's open
to John chapter 11. I was trying to scribble down
a couple of things last second. Paul said, I didn't come to you
with excellency of speech. God's people don't. His preachers
don't do that. His preachers don't do that.
A very educated man in the English language, that's his major, a
brilliant man, recently said he was speaking in Hebrews 11
about how we know that there's an Old Testament, Sarah and Abraham
and all these, that we see what they've done, and Lot and everybody
else. And then the Lord says, look
at the faith Sarah had to conceive. Well, she didn't have life in
her, in fact, she had life in her. He writes it down as he did it. That's simple, isn't it? The
Lord records what he did. And that's for us. That's simple. Boy, that's amazing, isn't it?
I hope I'm simple tonight. Hope I'm simple. As an announcement,
there's no meal this weekend, only his. We'll just observe
his table. I know everybody's probably tight
between the inflation and everything else, between Thanksgiving and
holidays coming up and traveling. Some people here's traveling
for a few weeks coming up. That gets expensive and we'll
just observe the Lord's table this Sunday, no meal. John 11. Top of my message is consider
the expedient. After Lazarus was raised from
the dead, it says in John 11, verse 45, then many of the Jews,
which came to Mary and had seen the things which Jesus did, believed
on him. But some of them went their ways to the Pharisees. They didn't stay there. They
went to the religious folks and told them what things Jesus had
done. Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees, a
council, and said, what do we do? Let's get all these brilliant
minds together and we gotta figure something out. For this man doeth
many miracles. They knew that the Lord Jesus
Christ had raised a dead man. Physically. They heard that that's
just a picture of spiritual life that he gives. But they knew
for sure a man was dead and then a man wasn't dead no more. And
he said so. We see miracle healers in our
day, or did when I was a kid growing up. I don't watch that
garbage no more on TV. I don't have TV. But old Benny Hinn,
I said he'd high-five people's faces. You think if he could
do miracles, he'd do something about his hair. Couldn't he? Because that makes sense. Is
it probable? Is it possible? Does it make sense, right? That's
just good common sense things. That's foolish, isn't it? That's
laughable. Laugh at them. If I could cuss
and get away with it, I'd say the most deplorable things about
them because it's a mockery. It's a joke. They knew this wasn't
a joke. They knew this wasn't a joke.
They said, this man doeth many miracles. Verse 48, if we let
him thus alone, if we leave him alone, I wish I could leave him
alone. I wish I could preach gospel
and leave folks alone. Just say it and wait for the
Lord to teach it. I can't teach nothing. I can't teach you anything. He can. I can't. They said if
we leave him alone, if we let him thus alone, all men will
believe on him. Everybody's gonna believe on
this man. And the Romans, what's their real problem with that?
You getting religion? No. And the Romans shall come
and take away both. Romans will come take away two
things, our place, and our nation. They're gonna take away this
comfy land, this town that we love so much, and the palm trees
that they had, and the good, awesome views. They're gonna
take all that away, and our position, our place, our titles, our power,
though it's under theirs. It's pretend, isn't it? Pretend
power. It's under the Lord's, isn't
it? The Romans are gonna come and take away our place and our
nation, and we're gonna be just like everybody else. Verse 49. Here's where I want to focus.
Verse 49 through 52. And one of them, named Caiaphas, being
the high priest that same year, said unto them, ye know nothing
at all. Y'all fools, you don't know nothing.
And that's what they're all sitting around, how much they know. They
sit around and talk about how much they know. They talk about
old dead men and how much they know about old dead men. You
see that? And this one pops up more than the rest of them and
says, y'all don't know nothing. Nor, verse 50, nor, you don't know
anything at all, nor consider, you don't even consider that
this is expedient for us. You quit talking about the Lord
Jesus Christ and that he is saving his people and he is giving life.
Don't get wrapped around the axles on that. You don't know
nothing. You think how good this is for us. It's expedient for
us that one man should die for the people and that the whole
nation perish not. And this spake he not of himself.
This wasn't his brilliant discernment. He didn't figure this out. But
being the high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should
die for that nation. And not only for that nation,
not for that nation only, but that also he should gather together
in one the children of God that were scattered abroad. Then from
that day forth, they took counsel together for to put him to death."
They said, that's a great idea. Let's kill him. That'll satisfy
the Romans. We can keep our jobs. We ain't
got to move. We ain't got to sacrifice nothing. That's what
they said. Good idea. Let's kill somebody. Jesus therefore walked no more
openly among the Jews. That was the end of his public
ministry. You get that? We got 10 more chapters left
in this book. Chapters 13 through 18, that's one night. The Lord
spoke to his people. He spoke to his children privately
by name, one-on-one in closed rooms. He comes triumphantly
in on an ass, but he speaks only to his people. He does not have
a public ministry anymore. You ever seen a ministry stop and move? I've seen it. I told you what the last one
ever is going to be. It's back on the wall. Last newsletter. I pray for those brethren down
there. That man's ministry stopped in that area. Jesus therefore
walked no more openly among the Jews, but went thence to a country
near the wilderness and to a city called Ephraim, and there continued
with his disciples. That's good news. That's not
scary. He said, Lo, I'm with you always.
Stayed with his people, didn't he? Now, Cephas, he had a father-in-law. He was
the high priest. He had a father-in-law named Annas. And Annas was the
high priest. Now, wait a second. There's only
supposed to be one of them, ain't there? Well, they were co-high
priests. They were. We read that in Acts,
we'll see that in Luke, we see it. When we get to chapter 18
here, we're gonna see this again, those two. He takes him to his
father-in-law before they come to Caiaphas. It says, and Ananias and Caiaphas
being the high priests, plural, they were the high priests there
in Luke 3, tells us this, the word of God came unto John. John
the Baptist. They had two high priests. They
were co-high priests. God didn't even give them his
word. He gave it to John the Baptist. And John the Baptist went all
out Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission
of sins. He'd come preaching the truth, didn't he? It says that same year, verse
49, he was the high priest that same year. It was one year at
a time. The Lord established this. It's
a lifetime position. Did you know that? When the Lord
gave a high priest, it had to be the house of Aaron, the Arianic
priesthood. And when he gave a high priest,
that man was a high priest till he died. This wasn't a temporary
billet. He didn't move around. And well,
it's my turn and we'll take turns and I'm going to do it two years
here. And then I'll go two years there and I'll keep moving on
up. This ain't the Jefferson's. God gave him, when God gives
man's forever till he dies. Why'd they have two of them?
How come they had two right now instead of one? Well, the Romans
appointed one and the Jews appointed one. That'd
keep everybody happy. Well, you like this one and you
like that one, we'll just hire both of them. And it was an appointed
billet for a temporary time. And it was a political thing.
They were there for money gain, or pride, or favors, or quid
pro quo, or something was going on for this man to be high priest
for a year. Has anything changed? We'll seize
a hireling here in a little bit. Nothing's changed, has it? They
got to keep everyone happy. They got to keep their offices,
their position. They have to keep their nation. They got nice
houses. They don't want to leave them
houses. We read in Jeremiah 23, the Lord
said, Behold, I'm against them that prophesy false dreams. I
had a dream. Didn't a reverend say that one
time? A whole lot of people standing on prophecies in this day and
age, ain't they? Exhaustive hours upon hours of
nonsense, droning on about nothing. And that's exactly what it is,
it's nothing. Dung. Dung. The Lord said, I'm against them
that prophesy false dreams, saith the Lord, and do tell them and
cause my people to err by their lies. Someone's telling lies
to make them look to something other than Christ, and by their
likeness. That means, that ain't that big
of a deal. We're gonna add a little something. Now this is important,
this is the gospel, but now here's just a little side note. Not
according to the Lord, that's not a little side note, is it?
Is that just a little fair warning? God doesn't say so, does he?
plain. He said, yet I sent them not,
nor commanded them, therefore they shall not profit this people
at all. I want to be as plain as I can
be. You were not saved under an Arminian gospel and then happened
to stumble into attending the right church. Do you hear me? You weren't listening to a false
gospel and were saved then. It's not so. God said it wouldn't
profit his people. You need to pay attention to
that. He ain't lying. That ain't my opinion, that's
what he said. He said, these people that lie to his people,
they shall not profit them. Well, a little bit. He said,
at all. At all. What about this Cephas? He's
about to preach a little bit. It's going to be in contention.
It's going to be opposite day. We'll see that. He said, you
don't know nothing. And then he says, nor. That's
a negative. Nor do you. Here's something
we need to pay attention to him. I got to say this. for you all,
these false prophets. Be careful who you throw your
weight behind. You hear me? Be careful who you support, who
you quote. See if this is right, right here. He says something
that's absolutely accurate. And a broke clock's right twice
a day. Now you gonna spend your life savings on a broke clock?
Spurge can't tell you this, Gill can't tell you this. You be careful
who you share on the internet. Be careful what you thumb up,
because once you put your name behind it, would you like to
gather up with this one? This one that consulted to slay
the Lord? Bear watching. There's some wolves
in sheep's clothing. It's flat out. Be careful what
you post. And for me, I need to pay attention
to this man. This is for me to not think too
much of myself. I happen to preach. So did Judas. Today I'm gonna tell you about
the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Who he is, who
we are, what he did, what's plumbed on forever. What about tomorrow? Where does that leave me? Begging for mercy. Lord, keep
me, keep me. Don't let me be taken away with
this world. Don't let this world kill me.
Don't let this world take my mind. Don't let me do anything
else. Don't leave me to myself. Keep
me looking to your son. He must do it. I pray this is a lifetime appointment.
I entered it to stand and preach the gospel until I can't stand
and preach the gospel no more. I pray that's Lord kill me or
stop me from doing it. Verse 51, John 11, 51. Speaking of Caiaphas, and this
spake he not of himself, He didn't do this. But being the high priest
that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation. It pleased the Lord in the preparation
of his son to be a sacrifice for many. It pleased him for
the high priest, the office that he gave at that time and that
season to declare the simplicity of the gospel. Even in ignorance,
it doesn't matter who was there. It could have been a rock, it
could have been an ass, it could have been anything. But the Lord
was pleased to have the high priest in Jerusalem declare Christ. And you know what happened? He
did. You get that? Though it was ruined by a man.
It come out of a man's ruined mouth. It was accomplished for
the glory of God. Verse 49 says, and one of them
named Caiaphas, I can't get that name right, I'm trying, Caiaphas,
being the high priest that same year said unto them, you know
nothing at all, nor consider that this is expedient for us,
that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation
perish not. He said, you don't know nothing.
Nor do you consider. That's an opposite of what we
preach. We begin things. Brethren, you
know, some things, you know, some things God's taught you
some things. Isn't that precious? What if Elon Musk taught me something?
You think you would know that, but I would tell you that he
gave me a penny. That's nothing to him. He gave
me a penny. The Lord's taught you some things. That's precious. and you consider. Okay, if I
said you don't consider, you do consider, that's what we looked
at Psalm 28, wasn't it? We regard Christ, you regard
him, you consider him. What do those mean? Consider
means not like, well, we consider if I'm gonna buy a Ford or a
Chevy. That kinda weighed out a little bit. See what the price
is? No, this means deeply reckon. deeply dwell upon. And he said, you don't consider
that this is expedient. You know what expedient is? Our special advantage, an extremely
special advantage. I want us to reckon, I want you
and I to consider the serious advantage, the expedient good
news of one man tonight. What was the message? Though
it was inverted, right? It said nowhere. What was this
message? Verse 50, nor consider that it
is expedient for us that one man, one man, should die for
the people that the whole nation perish not. First thing I want
to look at. Did you read that? That's amazing, isn't it? That's
so simple. That's not complicated words
like Paul was talking about, is it? That's simple stuff. First
thing to consider, I want you to dwell. I want you to consider
deeply, thoroughly on one man, one man, that one man, that's
the person of our salvation, the simple good news, the person
of Christ. Paul told us at church at Corinth,
he said, I'm jealous over you with a godly jealousy. For I
have espoused you to one husband. I've told you about one man,
haven't I? Is that what I've told you? that I may present
you as a chaste virgin to Christ, but I fear lest by any means."
Well, that would never happen, Kevin. Paul said, any. God, the
Holy Spirit moved Paul to write any. Lest by any means, as the
serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your mind should
be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. I want to
preach one person to you. I want to espouse you to one
person, and I don't want anything Taking your mind and pointing
it somewhere else. From him. To turn from him is to turn to
something else, isn't it? That's what those words mean.
That's real simple. I don't want that to happen.
I have godly jealousy over you. Don't look to anyone. Don't fear.
Don't fear anyone or anything. Don't honor anything. Don't desire
anything other than one man. One person. Who's that person? What'd he do? Peter said, who? His own self. Bear our sins in
his own body. His own self in his own body.
He bear our sins on a tree. One man did one thing. That's
simple. That's plain. That we being dead
to Sid should live under righteousness by whose stripes you were healed. Turn over Hebrews chapter 10.
Hebrews 10. Hebrews 10 verse 9. Hebrews 10 verse 9. Then said he, Lo, I come to do
thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that
he may establish the second. By the which will we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once. This one
man, willingly, in his body, his own body, in his own self,
bear our sins one time. Verse 11, and every priest standeth
daily, ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices,
which can never take away sin. They just do this over and over,
physical exercise, bodily exercise, going through the motions. But
this man, this one man, this man, after he had offered one
sacrifice for sins forever, he sat down on the right hand of
God. from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his
footstool, for by one offering, one man, the God-man, he hath
perfected forever them that are sanctified. You know that. Okay, if I said you don't know
nothing, you know that. How? The Holy Ghost is a witness
to us. The Lord's taught us that. He
spoke to that, didn't he? Why did the Lord have to die? Back
in our text. I want to consider something
else. Consider this good news. Consider this expedient towards
us. The person of Christ, the one
man, and the work. Verse 50. Consider that this is expedient
for us, that one man should die. That's the work. One man should
die. What's it say? For the people,
that the whole nation Perish not. He must work a work we cannot. What happens if he doesn't die?
The whole nation perishes. His whole nation. That means
everybody. There's no hope. If he doesn't
willingly lay down his life, this one man, nobody's got hope. We're all going to die. We're
all going to die. Why would we die? The wages of
sin is death. But the gift of God is eternal
life through one man, Jesus Christ, our Lord. He had to die our death. What's that called? Substitution.
He's a substitute. I was supposed to be there, but
he was there instead of me. I deserve death. That's what
I earned. My wages is death. I sinned. He paid it. Get that? And then I got his payment. I got what he worked for. You
got what he worked for. You were made him. He was made
us. Borat, one man, and his body,
his own body, on his cross, a Roman cross, that'd keep him Romans
happy. That's probably Annis' idea,
wasn't it? He bore it. He became us. He was made sin
for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God. What's the righteousness of God?
What's the holy act from a holy nature of a holy God, Christ?
We're made Him. We're made him. How can that
be with man? That's impossible. I can take
your penalty. If you've been sentenced to 10
years, or you have to do 20 push ups or whatever, I can take your
penalty for you in man's courts and man's ability and man's ideas
in this land. I can't take your guilt. He did. The holy God looked on the Lord
Jesus Christ on a Roman cross after he'd been beaten and abused
and spit on and cursed and ridiculed and made fun of and things that
won't just make me fight mad, I'm gonna cut off more in the
ear. And the Lord looked at him and saw me. He saw you who he
died for, his people. And he saw us and he killed him.
He turned his back on him. And because he did that, And
he bore our guilt and our sin and our shame that we ought to
have that we don't. He bore all that for us. The
Lord saw us in him and killed him. He looks at us now and says,
my good and faithful son, perfection. Come, you hungry? I got a table
ready for you. You're going to stay with me
forever, forever, ever, eternity. We don't know what that means.
Without end. With man, that's impossible.
Man can't even explain it, much less do it. He sure ain't gonna
come up with it. With God, oh, what wisdom. What wisdom. He's just the whole
time remaining holy. And he's the justifier. And what's
he teach us? A little question. We see who
he is. We see we ain't him. We see who
we are, don't we? We see his work. Substitution. Well, we come asking, where's
the lamb? What'd Isaac ask Abraham? We've been taught some things.
We consider some things. Daddy, where's the lamb? What,
did he have a deep theological dissertation of 47 pages to explain
it to him? Son, God'll provide himself a
lamb. That means he's gonna provide
himself a lamb for himself, and he's gonna provide himself, he's
gonna be the lamb. That ain't hard words, is it? Turn to Romans 3. Well, Romans 5. We'll see the work of this one
man substitution. Romans 5, verse 12. Wherefore, as by one man sin
entered into the world. What'd Adam do? What was the
person and work of Adam? He's our seminal head. We're
born into his race, his nation. He's our representative. He did
something. He brought sin into this world,
and death by sin. So death passed upon all men
for that all have sinned. Look down at verse 18. Therefore,
as by the offense of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation,
even so after the same manner by the righteousness of one,
the free gift came upon all men in the justification of life.
For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by
the obedience, the perfect work, the person and work of one shall
many be made righteous. That's what that one man did,
made his people righteous, his nation righteous. The Lord said,
I'm a good shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his
life for the sheep, but him that's a hireling and not a shepherd,
they ain't his sheep. They see the wolf coming, and
they leave the sheep. They run. They ain't his sheep,
and the sheep are scattered. The Lord had to teach me that
this evening. I was out cutting kindling. It's gonna be cold
tonight. I'm gonna start a fire, wood fire. And I heard some cluckling.
I'd let my chickens out. I walk my chickens in the evening.
I put a big compost pile, make a big pile, and then they jump
on it and spread it out, and then we hilt back up the next day, but
we lock them back up. And I heard something. I come
up the hill, and I got a hatchet in one hand. Y'all been in the
house. Come around the side of the house.
Come up there to the top of the car's park, and I saw a goat.
running with a chicken in its mouth. And I thought, what? Goats
don't eat chickens. What in the world is going on?
Oh, it was a bobcat. Wildcats in Kentucky, down in
Amec County, Mississippi, called them souped-up Billy Wildcat,
a lynx. Yeah, I had one, huge. Well,
I got an ax in my hand. I'm from Kentucky. I ain't scared
of no wildcat. Picked up a rock and threw it at it. Get out of
here. And it dropped the chicken. That was my chicken. I ain't getting
away with that. It wasn't hireling, I own them chickens. The Lord
owns this chicken. He ain't scared of no wildcat. But the hireling, like Cephas,
they scatter the sheep. They're in it for themselves.
That's why he said back in John 11, he said, he's speaking out
of himself. He said, I ain't dying for them. One man's gonna
die, it ain't me. Look at that right now. Turn back to Romans three. Romans three, verse 23. Romans 3.23, for all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God, being justified freely by
his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom
God has set forth to be a mercy seat, technically a lid of the
mercy seat. That's where all the blood is,
an acceptable atonement covering, an acceptable bloody sacrifice.
God made Christ that through faith in his blood to declare
his righteousness for the remission of sins that are passed through
the forbearance of God to declare, I say at this time, his righteousness,
that he might be just and the justifier of him which believeth
in Jesus. That's who he is, what he did,
he come to do. to bear His people in a way we
don't even understand, much less can describe, to become us, to
make us like Him, to conform His people to Christ, give us
a holiness. There's a new man in us that
cannot sin. That's necessary to be in the
presence of God. Moral innocence ain't gonna do you a lick of
good. You can't even have the possibility of sinning in front
of Him. He made us that way. Where's boasting then? Verse
27. People say, I accepted Jesus. I figured out the doctrines of
grace. I was locked in a basement somewhere
and had Mordecai Ham's commentary and I figured it all out. No,
you didn't. That's boasting. Stop it. Smack him on the hand. Stop that. Where's boasting then? It's excluded. By what law? We gotta have a law, don't we?
Here's a law for you. Works? No. But by the law of
faith. Believe Christ, do what you want.
you'll serve him. If you believe him, you'll follow
him. If you believe him, you'll be with other people that believe
him. You will. That's so. Back in our text,
John 11. John 11, verse 50. Caiaphas says,
nor consider, right? He's speaking in the negative,
and he's telling the truth in the negative. Do you get that?
It's like putting a minus sign in front of numbers. That means
you ain't got none. It's negative. Yeah, I had that
happen to me once. A couple of y'all was there.
I preached a funeral one time and I got up in the best of my ability.
I told people who God was, who man was, and what Christ did
for sinners. Bow to him. And a man got up
who was not invited right behind me and preached the opposite
of everything that come out of my mouth and made eye contact
with me the whole time. You sitting right there with
him. He knew what he's doing, nor Negative. That's a bad way
to argue. I say the opposite of anything
you say. Don't argue that way. Don't preach that way either.
He says nor, but here's what he was saying. Consider that
it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people,
that the whole nation perish not. And this spake he not of
himself, but being the high priest that year, he prophesied that
Jesus should die for that nation. First thing I want you to consider
that's expedient, first thing you consider that's so advantageous,
so good for us, consider this good news, the person of the
one man, the holy God man. Second thing I want you to consider,
to deeply, thoroughly think about, and how this is good news for
us, his work. He willingly laid down his perfect,
sinless life, his holy being for us. Now thirdly, consider
this good news. Consider this expediency. Who's
this for? It says to die for that nation.
Are you Jewish? Well, me neither. Are we alive
2,000 years ago? I'm not, I'm alive right now.
Is that good news for you? There's a semicolon there, isn't
there? Look at the next verse, verse
52. And not for that nation only, Not for a physical nation, and
not just for his people in that day, but that also he should
gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad.
Who's that great multitude? How many are there? No man could
number. What nation are they from? All nations, all kindreds
and peoples and tongues. That's who's going to stand before
his throne. That's what Revelation 7 and 9 says, doesn't it? What
did Paul tell those Galatians? He said, there is neither an
heir for Jew nor Greek. It don't make any difference.
He's talking about his nation, his people, he died for, spiritual
Israel. There's neither bond nor free.
There's not slaves and masters, not employees and employers.
Get that garbage out of your head right now. There's neither
male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. That one that lived perfect,
that we was made one with, we're one in him. You and I are, we
are. We're one in him. Isn't that
something? Our Lord said, I'm the good shepherd.
The good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. He that's
in hireling, and not the shepherd who's on the sheep or not, seeth
the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth, and the
wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep. He's the good shepherd. His under shepherds just tell
you how good the good shepherd is. What works, he did. That's it. That ain't hard, is
it? He told us in John 6, 37. He
said, all that the Father giveth me, that whole nation they're
talking about right here, and the ones that scattered abroad
and the nations throughout time, all that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. And he that cometh to me, I will
no wise cast out. He said they shall come to me.
Now I ask you, what does God mean when he says shall? What
does your God mean? He says it's done. That's going
to happen. What if something, what nothing? His people's gonna
come to him. It's gonna happen. He said, they
shall come to me. And those that come, they're
going to, right? He said they shall. He won no wise cast out. That one man lived perfect for
and died for, and that nation he should gather. Who's gonna
gather all his people? Is that left up to you? It's
all about your good works and your Bible planting and church
planting. And I got offered a grant today because we're a small church.
No strings attached. Kept saying no strings attached.
And I said, there's about as many times they said that's about
how many strings are attached to it. I guarantee it. Keep your
money. Lord don't need your money. If I don't need your money, Lord
sure don't need your money. I can tell you that right now. Keep it. He said, my sheep hear my voice,
I know them and they follow me and I will give unto them eternal
life and they shall never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand. The man, the one, one man, the
God man lived perfect for his people. He willingly died for
those people. He took their place and substitution
and their satisfaction. What if his substitute wasn't
no good? What if he didn't care? What if he's not risen, right?
If he be not risen, you're dead, and you're sinned. That's important,
isn't it? The substitute has to be, there has to be satisfaction.
The fourth thing to consider, to deeply, thoroughly chew on
is the last thing. I'll let you go, okay? Satisfaction,
the person, the work of the person for a people, it's eternal, and
it's accepted of the Father. because of where he is now, because
of what he's doing right now, interceding for his people, ruling
and reigning, A double L, all things. My own belief makes me afraid.
My own belief makes me sad and depressed and not happy with
what I got. I was talking to a brother today,
talking about first world problems. I was sad because I had to break
in my new micro cushy foam shoes, memory foam shoes. That's a first
world problem. That's terrible. The Lord gave
me that. If he didn't give me any shoes, I ought to thank him.
He's wise. He's holy. He knows all things
and it's for my good and for his glory. Amen. You got the
sniffles? Good. You got a bug bite? Good. Praise him, thank him. Revelation 1, 5 says, unto him
that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood. He did all that, didn't he? He
did all of it. And hath made us, what's our
place in our nation? Our nation's the kingdom of God.
They were worried to death about losing their place in their nation,
wasn't it? This ain't my home. I got a nice
house. Air conditioner works, heat works,
running water. That's nifty. Ain't my home.
Lord burned it to the ground. That's fine. It's his home. He's
letting me stay there. That ain't my home. This world
ain't my home. My nation's his nation, his kingdom. What's my
place in it? This is unbelievable. He hath
made us kings and priests unto God and his father. to him be glory and dominion
forever and ever. What'd I do in any of that? What'd you do
in any of that? Thank him. You know what you
do? You go worship him. If you're his, you will. He's
able to get you attention, make you fall on your face and say, to say like one of those brothers
said something like that a long time ago, didn't he? He said
he came into the world, Christ Jesus came into the world to
save sinners. I'm chief of. I'm chief of. Amen. Let's pray together. Father,
thank you for your word. We're thankful that it's pleased
you to proclaim Christ to a nation, to a people that were given to
him before time, that you've purposed to be made like him,
that he lived perfectly for, His work was to be made like
us, Lord. How unimaginable, the bottom of that pit. And we're
made like Him. How unimaginable and unfathomable
the perfection of His righteousness. Oh, put a new heart in us that
makes us grateful. Make us consider these things
and make us consider how beneficial, how glorious and wonderful this
is for us. And it's all for your glory.
Thank you for this day. Lord, forgive us for what we
are. Forgive our unbelief and strengthen us. Increase our faith. Be with our brethren that aren't
with us, Lord, and draw them near unto you. Assemble them
with us. It's in Christ's name that we
ask. Amen.