We're going to be in John 7.
Let's turn to Leviticus 23 first. Leviticus 23. We're going to
be in John 7, but I want to look at Leviticus 23 first. As you're turning to Leviticus
23, it says in John 7, Now about the midst of the feast, Jesus
went up into the temple and taught. This was the feast of the tabernacles.
When they got about halfway through this big feast, Big eight-day
feast. He went up and he taught. God
Almighty in human flesh went into an earthly, what we would
call church building. He stood up and he preached. Can you imagine that? This was
the Feast of the Tabernacles. They had seven days of burnt
offerings. And our Lord stood up in that place meant for worship
and he taught. He taught. One, that means we need taught.
He did it, didn't he? What did he preach? I don't know. It don't tell us what he preached. But I got to thinking, he always
showed himself in these scriptures, didn't he? And so I went and
looked at this Feast of the Tabernacles, this Feast of the Booths, the
Sukkot. I wanted to see what this meant,
what was going on at that time. And I thought, I know what I'd
preach if this was the text given to me. I got excited. Look here,
Leviticus 23, verse 33. Leviticus 23, 33. Leviticus 23,
33. And the Lord spake unto Moses,
saying, Speak. What's that say? Speak unto the
children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of this seventh
month shall be the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days unto the Lord.
On the first day shall be in holy convocation, and ye shall
do no servile work therein." That first day, you're going
to show up to this Feast of Tabernacles, I'm telling you, seventh month,
fifteenth day, and the whole first day, you ain't going to
lift a pinky finger. You ain't doing nothing. You
ain't watering the cattle. You ain't doing nothing. Seven
days, verse 36, shall be offered, an offering made by fire unto
the Lord. On the eighth day shall be in
holy convocation unto you. And ye shall offer an offering
made by fire unto the Lord. It is a solemn assembly, and
ye shall do no servile work therein. Last day, no work. Nothing. Don't lift a pinky finger. Look
down at verse 39. Vedictus 23, 39. Also in the
fifteenth day of the seventh month, wherein when ye have gathered
in the fruit of the land, ye shall keep a feast unto the Lord
seven days. On the first day shall be a Sabbath,
and on the eighth day shall be a Sabbath. You see all that? We came into this world when
this world was established. Not when we came in, but when
the Lord established this world, there was peace. There was peace. Adam was made on this earth.
There was peace. He walked with Adam in the Garden
of Eden. What a thought. The Lord spoke with him. They
had communion. There was peace. There was rest.
After that fall, there's been nothing but seven days of fire.
Seven days of perfect destruction of us. But in that seven days
of perfect destruction, our Lord came. Christ came. On that Feast
of the Tabernacles, he stood up and talked What do you think
he preached? He's the sacrifice. He's the
seven days of sacrifice. He's the perfect sacrifice. And
what do we get? Communion with God. We have rest
at the end. Eternal rest. We've been made
one with the God we offended. Because of Him. Because of Christ
our sacrifice in these seven days. In this perfection. says
down in verse 42, Leviticus 23, 42, you shall dwell in booths,
that's tents and tabernacles, seven days. All that are Israelites
born shall dwell in booths. All those are the family, those
born, born of the heart. He told Nicodemus, you must be
born again. How are you going to be a child
of Israel, a spiritual child of God? You must be born again.
And we're going to dwell in tents, in booths, in tabernacles. Verse 43, that your generations
may know. We're going to do all this thing
in the physical realm. It's what they're doing here
when our Lord walked. In John chapter 7, that your generations
may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths.
When I brought them out of the land of Egypt, I am the Lord
your God. You're going to know that I did
it. You were at peace with God, you destroyed it willfully. You
were conceived in sin, you walked this whole world in sin, you
practiced sin, and Christ made peace between God and man. He's
our high priest. He's our prophet, the one that
told us about it. He's our king. We wouldn't have it no other
way. He brought us out of the land of Egypt. He's our God.
And Moses declared unto the children of Israel the feast of the Lord.
That's what the Feast of Tabernacles was. You're going to keep this
every year. Everybody's going to go there. And our Lord went. Why? You had
to go there. I had to go there. He went and
he preached himself. I don't know if that was his
text. I don't know. That's what I found. I'd preach him if I had this
text. If I had to go to this tabernacle, I'd preach him. That's
what he taught. Now back in our text here in
John 7. John chapter 7. John 7 says in verse 14, Now
about the midst, At the feast, Jesus went up into the temple
and talked. And the Jews, who's that? That's the religious folks.
You know, I've heard that. I dwelled on that a long time.
I've heard that my whole life. Other people haven't heard that
their whole life. When I think of that, that's religious folks.
That's the religious folks of the day. And somebody said, we
got some religious folks coming and they're going to have a picnic
with you. I go, I don't like it. I've been told from birth
that this is bad. That ain't who we need to be
around. This is bad faith. And the Jews, the religious folks,
they marveled. They marveled. Christ got up
and spoke. And these high-minded religious
folks, these squeaky clean people that walk around grinning like
possums heating light bulbs in our community, they think they're
just so good. They heard him and they marveled.
We're right there. What did they marvel at? Saying. How knoweth this man letters,
having never learned?" Is it going to do you any good to be
around a religious person? Is it going to do you any good
to be around a preacher? That's a preacher. He's ordained. That's some governing body dictated
him that he's something special. You think it'd do you good to
be around him? These great high-minded minds of Israel at the time,
they heard God Almighty in human flesh preach, and they said,
how can he know how to read? He knows shape letters. How did
he learn that? We know him. That's a carpenter's
son. He's just some poor old carpenter. He's a blue-collar
worker. How can he read? How did he know Leviticus? How
did he know where to turn? How did he know how to say these
things? They didn't marvel at what was preached. They didn't
marvel at the purpose of this feast that they were at. Why
are you here? You're here for eight days. Christ up told you
why. Him. He's why you're here. They didn't
marvel at that. They didn't marvel at all the
illustrations the Lord used. They didn't marvel at the parables
he spoke. They didn't marvel at the pictures he talked about.
They marveled that that one preaching to them knew how to read. How
could he know Leviticus if that's what he preached from? He didn't
go to our Christian preschool. Knock out religion's junk off.
Time's short. If I go out and shake everybody
in this county, I'd say, all these religious radio stations
you listen to, it's hogwash, and all this good deed you think
you're doing, putting your kids through Christian school, I'd slap them up both
sides of the face and say, knock it off. Stop. Bow to God. You
need to hear about who God is, who man is. Leave it alone. They
didn't go to our Christian preschool. He didn't go to a Presbyterian
grade school. He didn't go to a Pentecostal middle school.
He didn't attend St. So-and-so High. He hasn't been to our seminaries.
People think that's weird. That's weird. Oh, are you a pastor
here? Yeah. Was you a pastor in another
church? You came here? Uh-uh. No, I'm here. And I ain't
going nowhere. That's weird. Would you just
come out of seminary? No, I didn't go to seminary.
That's weird. What'd you do? Fix the ice machines? That's
so strange. This one was a carpenter. You
see the foolishness? In our day, people want these
titles and this high society living, and these uppity to-dos
with one another. Our Lord was a carpenter, and
He worked hard, and then He entered the ministry. He began His public
ministry. Our Lord answers. They ask this
question, how can He do this? How can He know these things?
And He answers it. He gives us the answer. Aren't
you excited about that? Verse 16. Then Jesus answered
them and said, My doctrine is not mine. but He that sent me."
My doctrine, my message that I preach, it's not mine, but
it's He that sent me. It's the Lord's doctrine. How
do you know all these things? Where did you come up with such
an idea like that? He says it's God Almighty's doctrine. Now,
I don't want people to try to make excuses and discredit the
word of the Lord. We know that this is God the
Son. This is Almighty God in human
flesh. And we know that God the Son, God the Spirit, and God
the Father are one. He said, I and my Father are
one. This is His doctrine. It's His work, we know that.
But here our Lord's speaking as that prophet, capital P, prophet,
Son of God. He's in His incarnate form. What's
that mean? He come down here and was a man
and walked this earth. As our representative, that's how He's
speaking. He came as the God-man in human
flesh, that eternal prophet, that eternal priest, that eternal
king. And the Word says, it's not the thoughts of a mortal.
That's what He's talking about. This ain't my opinion. This ain't
something I scrounged up. I come up with that. That's not
what he's saying. He said this is God's message. This doctrine's
the Lord's. It says in verse 17, if any man
will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be
of God or whether I speak of myself. If any man will, will
you? If any man will, if you'll be
saved, you'll do his will. You're going to know doctrine,
and you're going to know whether it's God's doctrine or if it's just a man's
doctrine. Verse 18, he that speaketh of
himself seeketh his own glory. What's that mean? Either promoting
themselves or preaching what people want to hear. I think
I'm going to get up tonight. I know so-and-so would like to
hear that. That'll make them happy. Or I can't say that, that
might offend so-and-so. That happens everywhere, all
across this nation, across this world, throughout time. People
get up, and they're too afraid to say something to hurt somebody's
feelings, or they think they gotta say something to keep somebody
entertained. Old brother Don preached at a
conference one time, and afterwards, men that were sitting around
had preached at the conference. One said, I wish I could preach
like you. And he didn't mean, I wish I could stand up and speak
the way you speak, or I could explain a point the way you could
explain it. What he meant was, I wish I could get up and say
what you said about that gospel. And Don said, I know why you
can't. And he pulled his wallet out and he laid it on the counter.
Right there's why you won't do it. You're afraid the well will dry
up. You're afraid of money. They'll cut you off. And no word
was said. He had him where he lived, didn't
he? Those people worry about preserving their own glory, seeking
their own good. It says at the end of verse 18,
but he that seeketh his glory that sent him, that great John
the Baptist, the greatest man ever born of Adam that walked
this earth. He said, who are you? I'm a voice. Nobody. You know how long he knew the
Lord? When in the womb, he just kick and go on. She couldn't
be around to marry him. Cousins couldn't be together.
That baby go crazy. I was excited to serve his God.
And he said, there's one that comes after me. I'm not worthy
to untie his shoelaces. He's younger than I am. I'm just
a voice. He that seeketh his glory that sent him, the same
is true and no unrighteousness is in that one. Our gospel, if
we're seeking God's glory and not our own, it did not originate
with us. It's his gospel. It doesn't promote
us. It promotes him. It's not secured
by us or by you or anybody else. It's secured by Him. That's the
gospel. Paul told us that. He said, But
though we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel to you
than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. Well, he's close. I say it, Paul. They're accursed. Let him be
accursed. Lord, rebuke them. Lord, deal with them. Stop it.
Quit lying to folks. This is an eternal matter. this
ain't horseshoes, this ain't hand grenades. Close don't count." He said, let him be accursed.
This gospel, it's God's gospel. It glorifies God. It's the gospel
of Christ and we don't preach it from ourselves. It's not from
my standpoint, my opinion. It's not about ourselves and
it's not for ourselves. For Christ's sake, we're your
servants. We're your servants. Let him have the glory. What
about Kevin? Lord, take care of Kevin. I ain't worried He's
fed me my whole life. He'll keep feeding me until he
sees fit not to. I'm here to preach his gospel. Take what
he says. I want to focus in real quickly on verse 17. It says,
if any man will, if any man will do his will, that's open to everybody. If he will do his will, he shall
know of the doctrine, whether it be of God or whether I speak
of myself. If anybody will, Will anybody? I thought of him speaking
to that man by the pool. And he said, will you be made
whole? Boy, there's a whole lot goes
to that. This ain't just an ice cream sandwich we're buying in
passing. There's some cost to it. There's
some sacrifice to it. This gonna be your life. Will
you? Will you be saved? Will you do
his will? If you really want to know God,
know His will, know His redemption, know of His grace. If you really
want to know about God's mercy, if you want to know about His
purpose in eternity, His will, you will. If you really want
to, earnestly. If you have a heart in you that
desires to know God, you'll know Him. And you'll know the difference
between someone preaching Christ and someone preaching man. You'll
know the difference. It ain't going to take a sleuth. It ain't
going to put your detective hat on a monocular to try to figure
it out. You'll know you say, that ain't right. What's wrong with
it? I don't know, but I don't like it. And you'll get goosebumps. I'm going to go to the market
and leave that alone. It's like you find bad meat in
the grocery store. Do you sit and just analyze that meat? Let's
smell it some more. Let's poke it. Can I taste a
little bit? That's bad meat. I want to taste
it. No, you don't. That's bad. Throw it away. Give me that good
meat. That's what you go for, don't you? We understand that. These Jews did not. They were
hung up on Christ's ability to read, on His ability to stand
up and read the Scriptures. Does anyone really want to know
what God's will is? They want to do God's will. What
is it? What's doing the will of God?
Look back in chapter 6, verse 28, one page over. John 6, 28. John 6, 28. Then they said unto
him, What shall we do that we might work the works of God?
We want to do his work. We want to do his will. Jesus
answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that
ye believe on him whom he hath sent. Believe on a son. Believe on a son. What does that
result in? If you believe on a son, if you
will, if you're willing to be saved and do the will of the
Father, what's that mean? Believe on a son. You believe
on Christ. What's that result in? What happens
when that happens? Turn back to John 3, just a couple
pages. John 3, 36. The apostle writes
here in John 3, 36, He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. If any man will, do his will. What's that? Believe on the Son.
What's the result of that? If you believe on the Son, you
hath everlasting life. What's the opposite of that?
He that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath
of God abideth on him. Well, now, so-and-so was real
sweet. You either believe on the Son
or you don't. You kiss the Son or you spit
on it. You're either at peace with God Almighty because of
what Christ did in your heart or you're at war with him. It's
one or the other. Time's drawn near. Time's drawn
near. I went from 32 to 42 that fast. Did you? Most of y'all are older
than I am, half of you anyway. It goes quick, don't it? Times
are coming. We either do the will of God,
believe on a son, have life, or we don't. Or we don't. A crazy
lunatic does not want something better than what they already
have. Whether it's a bicycle, Would you like to have a better
bicycle that's not as broke as your bicycle? Well, yeah. That's
right, isn't it? More money and less pain. Wouldn't
a sane person want that? Would you like to have more benefit
and less grief? Would you like to have more better days? More
sunny days and less rainy days? We understand that, don't we?
But do I? Do you? Do you really want to
serve the Almighty God of Scripture? And do you want to do it on His
terms? Oh, now this is a who. This ain't the God of our imagination,
this is the Almighty God of Scripture. And we're going to serve Him.
Do we want to do His will on His terms? On His terms? Have Him dwell in us? Take up
His abode in us? Have Him reign over us and in
us? Have Him order all things, sustain
all things, good or bad. Remember what we think of it.
And the whole time, either good or bad, either on a mountaintop
or a valley, we put all of our trust on Him to do so. A person
can believe in a sovereign God and still think they're holier
than God. They say, oh, that check mark of doctrine's right.
There's a sovereign God. Demons believed that, didn't
they? Listen to people talk. My old man thinks he's a better
decision maker than God is. Why is this happening? That shouldn't
happen. That ought not happen. This couldn't
be happen. Well, do this way. This should happen this way. Old Ryder wrote, the child of
God's life is a bed of roses, thorns and all. Thorns and all. It is, isn't it? Boy, it's roses. It smells like roses. It ain't
nothing but thorns too. That comes with it. It ain't
just rose petals, is it? Do I really want to do the will of God? Do
I really want to be saved? Well, how can we know? How can
I know if I'm one of them people that truly, is this what mommy
and daddy said my whole life, and I just get on board, I vote
the way they vote, I buy groceries from the place they buy groceries,
and I go to church where they go to church. Is that just something
I do? Am I really one of them that want to do the will of God?
I want to. I got a few questions I can ask,
and I can show you what those people that really do want to
serve God, what they see, what they think, what happens to them,
it's pretty common. First, when a person who really
wants to do the will of God is serious about it, and they seek
a person. They seek a person. Turn over
to Jeremiah 29. Jeremiah 29. Someone that will do the will
of God, that will be saved, they seek a person. They don't seek
a denomination, they don't seek a theology, they don't seek a
feeling, and they don't seek an experience. They don't call
back to those things. Well, I know I'm saved because
I, or because this happened, or because I was baptized, or
because I said a confession of faith, or I filled out a card
when I was 14. No, they're seeking a person. Can I back it up in
Scripture? Is that what God says? Is that
my opinion? Is that my gospel? Or is that
God's gospel? Look here in Jeremiah 29 verse 11. 29, 11. For I know the thoughts that
I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace and not
of evil, to give you an expected end. That comes first. You see
that? We read that verse, verse 11,
before we read verse 12. God has these thoughts towards
his people. Verse 12. Then shall ye call upon me. Then shall ye go and pray unto
me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek me and find
me when ye shall search for me with all your heart. And I will
be found of you, saith the Lord. And I will turn away your captivity,
and I will gather you from the nations and from all the places
whither I have driven you, saith the Lord. And I will bring you
again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away. Those
people that find the Lord, that He causes to come out of all
nations, what was they looking for? It wasn't a what, it was
a who. You see how many times it says,
me, me, me, me, me. Go through it later on, read
that again, underline them, highlight them or something. And how did
all that start? How did all that start? That
we seek Him. He knows His thoughts to us. Oh, isn't that precious? We ain't gonna mess that up.
He's put His whole heart into it. Do you know that? That's
what we read before service started. He put His whole soul into it. God Almighty put His whole heart
into saving His people. We're seeking a person. The Lord
told us, seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. His righteousness. And all these
things will be added to you. Don't you worry about these other
things. This is serious. That woman with the issue of
blood, she must touch His garment. Don't matter how many fingers
she gets stepped on. Don't matter if she breaks a wrist. It's Christ
or death. I've got to touch him or I'm
dying. Blond Barmaus cried out, Hush! You be quiet. God's walking
through town. And he cried the louder. I don't
care what you think. It's Almighty God. I need to
talk to Him. I need Him to talk to me. I need
Him to have mercy on me. All those that come to our Lord
in this manner He dealt with tenderly. He dealt with in compassion,
didn't He? He didn't turn them away. All
those that came to Him in a haughty attitude, in righteous positions. You know what? I just know some
things, and it'd be good if you knew them. I'm going to teach
you some things. What did He call them? A generation of vipers.
A generation of vipers. A person who really wants to
know God, they will. They're going to know a person, and they're
going to know something of the value of their soul. This isn't
a potential eternal punishment, eternal death and damnation.
This isn't a 10-year stint at Chino. You understand that? It's
something like, well, I'd really not rather do that, but we'll
get through it. We'll get some calling cards,
write some letters, and I might get me a college degree. No,
this ain't it. It's eternal death. It's eternity,
and it concerns us, concerns you, concerns me. We understand
something about that. The Lord told us in Mark 8, He
said, For what shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world
and lose his own soul? We have something to lose. All
mankind does, don't they? Fear not them which kill the
body, but are not able to kill the soul, but rather fear Him
which is able to destroy both the body and soul in hell. A person
that truly wants to know Christ, have Him as our life, they realize
that He is life. I have a soul to lose and I need
Him. I need Him. Turn over Hebrews
chapter 9 real quick. I meant to warn you it was going
to turn a lot. I'll try to go quick. Hebrews chapter 9. We have a soul to lose and we
need Him. We don't need this world or titles or respect from
other human beings. We don't need positions. Things
like that, that ain't vital. Us having a sandwich to eat and
a roof over our head and clothes on our back, that really ain't
vital. That's vital to this old body, this body old eye. But for this soul that's in me,
Christ is vital. Christ is vital. Look here at
Hebrews 9 verse 27. And as it is appointed unto men
once to die. I want to have a series of messages,
hopefully, common phrases we quote. And I want to see the
context of them. Well, forgive your brother 70...
Lord, increase our faith. Why do we say that? Because God
told him to forgive your brother 70 times and forgive him infinity.
He didn't say, I need more grace to do that. I need mercy. He
said, Lord, increase our faith. You have to believe God to forgive
your brethren. I can't forgive my brethren. You don't believe
God. Lord, I didn't give you the faith to do so yet. That's
faith, isn't it? We always say, we know there's a time appointed
unto men once for them to die. But after this, the judgment...
I know I've got to physically die. You know you gotta physically
die. That's coming. Anybody knows
that. I'm here, and there's gonna be
a time I ain't here. But after this, that's what I'm worried
about. That's why this whole world is turning upside down.
That's why people are scared of everything above them, below
them, on the sides of them, what's going on, turn on the news. Oh
my gosh, what's that? They're scared to death, because
they're afraid of after this. After this. It's written in their
hearts. Mankind knows that. There's a judgment coming. We're
gonna have to deal with a God we offended. A person that don't
know these things in wherever South America, they don't want
to die. This sure is why God says so.
Because after this, after this is judgment. A person is earnest
and they seek a person. They understand they have value
of a soul and it's eternal life and they never get tired of seeing
the majesty and the holiness of Christ. We're really seeking
to do His will. Over in Revelation 15, it says,
And they sang the song of Moses, the servant of God, and they
sang the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvelous are thy works,
Lord God Almighty. Just and true are thy ways, thou
King of saints. Who shall not fear thee, O Lord,
and glorify thy name? For thou only art holy. For all
nations shall come and worship before thee, for thy judgments
are made manifest. You're the only one holy. God
Almighty is holy. Well, Kevin, we know that. What's
something we can do? Bow to the sun, praise Him because
He's holy. Well, ain't there something else?
Well, that's what eternity is going to be wrapped up in. We're
going to be saying how perfect and majestic that Lamb of God is. Holy, holy,
holy. Look at Him. All praise to Him.
Well, ain't there something else? Not in glory there ain't. There's
Christ and praising Him. That's wonderful to a believer.
Good. That's what I want it to be. Is anybody going to see me
doing it? No. Your voice is going to bleed
right in for everybody else. They won't even know you're there.
You won't care. Cry out. That's the Lord. Praise
Him. They don't get tired. They don't
get old. To those that serve the Lord.
Those that will be saved. Would you be saved? Is that alright
for Him to have all the glory forever and ever and ever? Really?
Not forever for 45,000 years and then you'll get a year after
that. Uh-uh. No. for eternity, Him alone. Those that want to do the will
of God, to believe on Him, in Him, from Him, believe to Him,
His Son, they're always aware of their inability. Are you willing
for that to happen? I know in this wicked birth and
our wicked nature and the practice, I'm not willing, I'm not able.
The Lord said, you won't come to me that you have life. No
man can come to me except the Father draw him. We know those
things. Turn over Psalm 51 real quick.
Psalm 51. Here's what David wrote about
it. If someone don't know that they're
completely and totally unable to do anything for themselves
in salvation, they're deceived. They're deceived. They think
they're any good in them or any good in anybody else. They're
deceived. John told us, he said, if we
say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not
in us. Scriptures tell us if we say
we have not sin, we make God a liar and his words not in us. Is so-and-so really not that
bad? Calling God a liar? Psalm 51 verse one. Here's what
David wrote. He knew from His birth and in
His nature and everything He did, He is a sinner. Have mercy
upon me, O God, according to Thy lovingkindness, according
to the multitudes of Thy mercies. Blot out my transgressions, wash
me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For
I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me
against Thee, and Thee only have I sinned and done this evil in
Thy sight. that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest,
and be clear when thou judgest. Behold, this ain't nothing new. I was shapen in iniquity, and
in my sin did my mother conceive me. That's all I am. Without
Christ, I'm nothing from conception to the grave sin. Not I did sin,
I am sin. That's all I am. Somebody that
is willing to be saved, somebody that's willing to serve the true
and living God, they'll know that. That's what I am. Outside
of Him, I deserve death. God needs to be just. He's just
to slay me. Someone who's truly willing to
know God, to do His will, to serve Him, they're earnest about
finding a person. And this ain't a game to them.
This is eternal life and death. They never get tired of hearing
how holy and majestic God is, and it doesn't hurt their feelings,
and they enjoy hearing a believer who's equally as grass as they
are here, all flesh is grass. That's right. Man ain't nothing.
We're just dust. All flesh is grass. Amen. No
one can come to me except the Father draws him. Amen. I must
be made willing. I must be made willing in the
day of His power. It's going to take the power
of God to make me willing. Amen. Make me willing, Lord. I am willing
today. Lord, make me willing. I want
to do Your will. Someone that truly wants to do
the will of God, they know that they have to be represented by
somebody else. I'm wicked, God's holy. This is serious. This is
too serious for me to handle. I gotta have an advocate. I gotta
have someone represent me, stand in my place. What's that? I have
to have a substitute. In what area? Everything. Absolutely everything. I must have help from outside
of me. Outside of man. Outside of somebody else. I'm not a priest. When we hand
out the elements, I sit down, I don't look up. I don't need
to see them things. I don't handle the money. I don't need to see
them things. I'll pray to God. I'll petition him for you, but
my prayers ain't no different than somebody else's. I don't
have like a direct line. You ought to hear the nonsense
people say to me. I mean, horrible, blasphemous,
just rude things. People say, oh, you must be doing
the good work. You got a direct line to God. That's blasphemy.
Hush that. Knock it off. Will you pray for
this? Pray for that? Pray for this? You pray for it. I'll pray
for you. How about that? You pray for
me, I'll pray for you. That's what we'll do the praying for. That's what David wrote too in
Psalm 121. I will lift up mine eyes to the hill, from whence
cometh my help. Is this some mountain? Do we
have to look to Sinai? What are we looking at? Is there
my help coming from the Lord? I need help. Where are we going
to get that help? Him. You know what we started with?
A person. This ends with a person. That's who starts, that's who
finishes. If I really want this, if somebody really, really wants
Him, if they want salvation, they want to do the will of God,
if they will, if they will do the will of God, they'll find
it. If you truly want to, you'll
find it. Where does one who can help come from? comes from the
mountain. God's holy mountain comes from
the Lord. The one who God, the whole Godhead dwells in the body.
That's one God sent. That's manifest in the person
and the work of his dear son, Christ Jesus, our Lord. That's
our help. That's it. The Lord sent him.
We read Genesis 3, that's the seed of woman that's going to
come. The Lord purposed to send him. He provided him. In Genesis
22, Jehovah Jireh, the Lord provided. How are we going to know about
it? There in Deuteronomy 18, he said, I'll raise up a prophet, capital
P. This is the prophet from among their brethren like unto thee,
and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak unto
them all that I shall command him. What is he saying in John
7? This ain't my doctrine, it's God's doctrine. What's he quoting?
Deuteronomy. He's fulfilling all the scriptures.
Isn't that it? And it shall come to pass that
whosoever will not hearken unto my words, which he shall speak,
In my name, I will require it of them. God Almighty preached
to those poor Jews, those religious folks. And they said, how did
he learn how to read like that? Isn't he just a carpenter? God says, I'll require it of
them. Someone who earnestly has a desire
to do God's will, to be saved, to know eternity is coming. They know what a wretch they
are at birth, they know what a wretch they are in nature right now,
and in practice right now, right now. And they don't get haughty,
and they don't get uppity, and they don't instruct everybody
else they know it. God shut them up to their sin. They know the
Lord in heaven and earth is right. He's right to judge me as I am,
and we plead to Him. He's holy. We don't get tired
of hearing it. And to approach that holy God, we must have a
representative. We must have a mediator. And that's Christ
our representative, Christ our mediator. And all this takes
place on God's terms. We're okay with that. You okay
with that? Naaman wouldn't. Naaman, that leper, God hadn't
worked in him yet. And he went down there and he
went up to this shack and a servant went in and said, hey, this head
general's out here. He's got leprosy. You need to
come heal him. Our king sent us word to your king and your
king told us to come down here. You're the prophet. Come handle
it." And Elisha didn't even get out of his easy chair. He sent
a little servant boy out there and said, go tell that big old
mighty general, go dip in the Jordan seven times. Go dip in the Jordan seven times.
He got mad. Well, I thought, ooh, don't think
about God's word. He said, well, I thought he'd
come out here, and I brought all his horses, and I brought
all his chariots, I brought all his gold to give him, and all his nice
things to give him, and I thought he'd come out here and talk to
me personally. And he'd come talk to me. That's Balaam den
Amon, wasn't it? And that some unnamed poor servant said, Master,
if he'd have told you to do some great thing or take a city, wouldn't
you have done it? He said, yeah. He said, we got nicer rivers
where we come from. He said, he just told you to go dip into
Jordan. Why don't you believe him? Do what God says. Do what his prophet tells you.
So I went and dipped. Guess what? He's clean. Will
you? You have to come off that big
old shiny white stallion you were riding, leave all them chariots
behind you, leave all that gold behind you, leave all that status,
ooh, and titles and names, and go get down the nasty old river.
Why? God said so. He said so. That's good enough for me. It's
going to be on his terms. Is that good enough for you?
God said the only way you're going to be saved, you're going
to have life, this is his will, is to believe on his son. to
believe on the Son. Bow to the Son. Believe what
He says. And He says, His words are required
of you if you don't believe what He says. Oh, the words and promises
of God. Aren't they amazing? For His
people. There is salvation. People say,
I don't like the way that's organized. Don't like it then. I love it.
I wouldn't have it no other way. Amen. Yes, Lord. Do it. I'm nothing but holy. Allow me to worship your son.
I say allow, I don't mean that I have the ability to, and God's
restraining me, and I'm just primed to worship him, and as
soon as he opens the door, I can run out and worship like crazy.
That means enable me, give me a heart that wants to worship
him, give me a mind and a tongue that can worship him, accept
the worship because of him, and keep me worshiping him, and make
me thankful to worship him. That's what I mean by that, by
allow me to worship him. Will you be saved? Will you throw
away all that dung? Is it dung? Well, we'll keep
this one off. Throw it away. Bow to it. Bow
to the son. Amen. All right, Brother Mike,
if you'll come lead us in the song.