Let's sing hymn number 17. Hymn number 17.

Come thou fount of every blessing,
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace,
Streams of mercy never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise.

Teach me some melodious sonnet sung by flaming tongues above.
Raise the mountain fixed upon it, mount of thy redeeming love.

Here I raise mine heavenly serve
Hither by thy help I'm come
And I hope by thy good pleasure
Safely to arrive at home

Jesus sought me when a stranger
Wandering from the fold of God,
He to rescue me from danger
Interposed His precious blood.

O to grace, how great a debtor
Daily I'm constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.

Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leap, the God I love.
Here's my heart, O, take and seal it,
Seal it for thy courts above.

We'll sing this to the tune of Alas and Did My Savior Bleed.

Jesus, the very thought of Thee with sweetness fills my breast,
but sweeter for Thy face to see and in Thy presence rest.
nor voice can sing, nor heart can frame,
nor can the memory find a sweeter sound than thy blessed name.

? O Savior of mankind ?
? O hope of every contrite heart ?
? O joy of all the meek ?
? To those who fall, how kind thou art ?
How good to those who see.

But what to those who find all this, nor tongue nor pin can show.
The love of Jesus, what it is, none but his love once known.
Jesus, our only joy, be thou as thou our prize wilt be.
Jesus, be thou

Before you read, Preacher, I have a prayer request. Most of you do not know him. Some of you do. My bass player, Bill, his wife, Melinda, has been battling cancer on and off for 25 years. She's in very rough shape. They found another mass on her with another new cancer. And last I heard, when they went for treatment, she was too weak and her counts were too low to have the treatment. And he's requested prayer for them and for her. I think it's, It's an odd feeling when somebody that you know, that you don't know them to be a believer, but they ask for your prayer. I feel like that's a privilege and a responsibility. If you would, please remember them.

Luke chapter two. Yes, I tell you, that's a... Cancer's an awful thing. A terrible disease.

Let me mention a couple of things before I start reading. I brought in a box of books back there. And they're daily readings, and they're full of What they are is they're a bunch of bulletin articles. They're paperback. I've got a hardback copy of it. And a fellow named, a preacher from over in Devon, England, is the fellow that produced this book in pots. He edited it and spent a lot of time and effort on it. And I ordered us a bunch of them. Now, what we gave for them is $17. That's with the shipping and everything. If you want one, you put the money in the offering book, and if you don't feel like you want to give that much for it, just take one. Just take one. They're very good. I enjoy them very much. Most of them are just articles by different preachers. And daily, they're very good, very good. And Ian Potts is a good preacher. I listen to him often. And how I met him, was a fellow was taken to task, a dear preacher friend of mine, and I was defending him, and then Eric Ian got on there, and I'm telling you what, he made the best, he took the people that was finding fault with this dear grace preacher. You know, he can use words that I can't use. He can use arguments that I can't use. And he, He defended it, and that's how we got to know one another. He's a fine, fine man. So if you want one of those books, you get one of them. They're very good. I believe you'll be blessed by them. I know I am.

Let me start reading here again, verse 25 down to verse 35. And I'm going to deal with two verses of scripture today. But we're still dealing with Simeon. And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. The same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel. And the Holy Ghost was upon him. And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost. And that's the only way you'll ever, ever know anything about Christ. And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost that he should not see death. should not pass from this world before he had seen the Lord's Christ, God Almighty's Christ. And he came by the Spirit into the temple. The Holy Spirit led him here. And when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him after the custom of the law, he took up that 48-day-old baby took him up in his arms and turned his eyes toward heaven and said, Bless God. He praised him and blessed him and honored him and glorified him and said, Lord, oh, Lord, now let us thy servant depart in peace. Oh, to know Christ, you could leave this world in peace. I read about a man, a Scottish preacher, That he said, I've took all my bad works, I took all my good works, and I laid them all in a great big heap over there, entrusted in Christ alone. Now I can depart in peace. And that's what he said here. Lord, now let us, thy servant, depart in peace in my heart, peace with you, peace that'll honor and glorify Christ. Please, O Lord, let me depart. And listen to this, according to thy word, For mine eyes, it's like mine eyes have seen thy salvation. Job said, I know that my Redeemer liveth, and I shall see him for myself. I shall see him for myself. And mine eyes have seen thy salvation. How did he see him? See him with natural eyes, but he also saw him by the eyes of faith. Faith looked at him. Faith believed him. Because God had already told him that he was going to see him. And from mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all people, a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel. And Joseph and his mother marveled at those things which were spoken of him. And Simeon blessed them. and said unto Mary, his mother, behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel, and for a sign which shall be spoken against. Yea, a sword shall pierce through thine own soul also, that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.

Our father. We come and do as Simeon did. We come to bless you, to lift up our hearts before you, to see you by faith, to rejoice in you, to bless you, to praise you, to honor you. And, oh, Lord Jesus, we ask for your presence today. Oh, God, give us your presence. How we need your presence. And, Lord Jesus, we Thank you for the saints of God. Thank you for their love, their generosity, their faithfulness. Thank you for the gospel, O God, that brings us hope and joy and peace in this world. Thank you for the word of truth, the truth that sets us free, the truth, O Lord, that makes us to know that Christ is our all and in all. Lord, we look to no one else or nothing else. We don't look to our faith. We don't look to our work. We don't look to our merit. We look to nothing but our Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be his holy name. Thank you for that name that's above every name. And Lord, we look forward to the day when every knee shall bow, every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God. And Lord Jesus, we pray for those among us who are weak, who are frail, who have heartaches, who have trouble, who are bound some way or another. We pray for Jim, and we pray for him again, and we pray for Rick and Helen. God, continue to strengthen them, bless them, and comfort them. And Lord, we especially pray for this woman that that was mentioned this morning. Lord, we especially pray for her and her husband. I know that they're afraid. I know that they're burdened. I know that their time is short. And I know that they're so concerned. And Lord, so we'll pray for them. We're concerned for them. And we asked, oh Lord Jesus, that you'd be merciful to them. that you'd use this in your providence to bring them to need the gospel, to need Christ, open their hearts to their great need. For, Lord, the fact that they ask for prayer, we're thankful. And, Lord, we feel our responsibility to pray. God, Samuel said, God forbid that I should cease to pray for you. So, Lord, we look to you for them. And God, you be pleased to do something for them. We'd bless you. And whether you don't, we'll bless you. But we do pray for them. Pray for your mercy. Pray for your mercy. I know you're merciful and kind and good and tender towards people that have to leave this world without any hope. So please, God, please intervene. And we ask it for Christ's sake. Amen.

Let's all stand together and sing the hymn of the day in the bulletin. Now gracious God, thine arm reveal, and make thy glory known. Now let us all thy presence feel, and soften hearts of stone, and soften hearts of stone. Help us to venture near thy throne and plead our Savior's name. For all that we can call our own is vanity and shame, is vanity and shame. From all the guilt of wretched sin, may mercy set us free. And let the week we now begin, begin and end with thee. Begin and end with thee. Send down thy spirit from above that we may love thee more. And others now may learn to love who never loved before, who never loved before.

Be seated. I hope you're still in Luke chapter 2. I'm going to deal with verses 34 and 35. Not only does Simeon bless the Lord, and see the Lord Jesus Christ, but he spake some things concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. And Simeon blessed them, came to them and said, God's blessings be on you. And said unto Mary his mother, behold, this child, this 40 day old baby is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel, and for a sign which shall be spoken again. Yea, a sword shall pierce through thine own soul also, that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed. This is Simeon's prophecy, and he's talking exactly how the Lord Jesus Christ would be treated when he came into this world. He said, first of all, he said there in verse 34, He said, the fall and rising of many and for a sign which shall be spoken against. And what that says is that our Lord Jesus Christ has said it not, a sign spoken against. Our Lord said in himself in Isaiah 53, he said, I'm despised and rejected of men. He said, they hated me without a cause. You can't find a cause in Christ to hate him. It's impossible to find a cause in Christ to hate him. But the scripture says, they hated me without a cause. They spoken against him. Everybody that was anybody said something against Christ. And you know, said him it not. And I want you to look with me in Psalm 22. Look with me in Psalm 22. You know, spoken against, it says he's spoken against, a sign spoken against. In Psalm 22, verse six, look what it says. If I can get there myself, this new Bible, this page is hard to turn. Look what he says down in verse six. Now this is our Lord speaking. And if it wasn't written in the Bible, it'd be hard for us to grasp our Lord and calling him this. He said, but I am a worm. I am a worm. He so identified with us and so spoken against that he said, I am a worm. O thou worm Jacob. And look what he says, a reproach of men. Men reproach me. I'm a reproach. People reproach me. They got nothing good to say about me. They don't interested in me. And look what he goes on to say. And despised of the people. And they all see me that laugh. All that they that see me laugh. Me to scorn. That's what they did. Loft him to scorn. And oh, look what else they said. And they shoot out the lip. That's what they got to say. They shake their heads saying, he trusted in the Lord that he would deliver him. And oh my, that's what they said at the cross. Let him deliver him if God really delights in him. If God really delights in him. He was spoken against. Oh my, there was such a hatred for Christ.

You know, men, Men who don't agree with one another in so many ways and nothing else, but they do agree in their hatred for the Lord Jesus Christ. People say, oh, that's not, people don't hate him. Yes, they do. You read the signs on church things and all the things that they say, the despicable things, blasphemous things.

If you do good, God will be good to you. You know, Jesus died for everybody. That's hatred for Christ when they say that. When they say it's left up to man's free will, that's hatred for Christ that says that. And I'll tell you what, anybody that's not interested in Him, our Lord said, if you're not interested in Me, if you're not for Me, you're against Me.

And they hated him without a cause. They picked up stones one day to stone our Lord Jesus Christ. And he said, for what good work, for what good work are you going to stone me? And they wasn't interested in good works. They all believed in good works. And our Lord said, for which good work are you going to stone me? He said, not for a good work are we going to stone you. You know why we're going to stone you? Because you said, make yourself to be God. And we can't have God ruling over us. We can't have God, this man, ruling us and telling us what we're to do. We can't have that. And oh my.

And they told him in one place, you know, they said that this man cast out devils by devils. calling him a devil. This man hath measles, bub. And then one of the worst things that they accused him of, you know what one thing they accused him of? That he was a friend of sinners. He is a friend of sinners. And Simeon said, oh, listen, he's set for the fall and the rising of many.

Our Lord Jesus Christ look what he said about him over here in John chapter 7 in verse 20 John chapter 7 in verse 20 But look what he says up here in verse 16, start there. My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether I speak of God or whether I'm talking about myself. He that speaketh of himself, he seeks his own glory. That man that brags on himself and talks about what he's accomplished and preaches himself, he seeks his own glory. But he that seeketh his glory, that sin him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness in him.

Did not Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keepeth the law? And listen to this now. Why go ye about to kill me? The people answered and said, Thou hast a devil. Who goeth about to kill thee? Who goes about to kill you? Well, they did. They did. And I tell you, another thing about said it not, he said he's a sign spoken against, said it not. When our Lord opened that blind man's eyes as born blind, they came to him and said, who opened your eyes? Who opened your eyes? And they said, oh, listen, as for this fella, we don't know whether God spoke to him. But we know that God spoke to Moses. He said, would you believe him, too? Said, no, no, we're Moses' disciples. We're law disciples. We're Moses' disciples. And oh, they were so offended in Christ.

Look what they said about him at the cross in John chapter 9. This is what we just read about in John chapter and Psalm chapter 22 in the 23rd Psalm. What he said about him here in John 9, excuse me, Luke 22, I'm sorry, I said Luke 22, I went to the wrong place. Luke 22, Luke 22. 63, look in verse 66. Look 22, 63. And the men that held Jesus, why did they have to hold him? He says he was led as a lamb to the slaughter, but they held him, mocked him, and hit him, smote him. And when they blindfolded him, put a blindfold on him. And they struck him in the face and asked him, saying, prophesy, who is it that smote thee? Who hit me? Prophesy to us. Who slapped you? We got you blindfolded. Tell me now, who slapped you? Our Lord knew exactly who slapped him, knew exactly who hit him, knew exactly what they was going to do to him. and many other things blasphemously they spake against him. You think men don't hate Christ? Oh my.

Now, you know, all these things spoken against. Now let me, let me give you a verse of scripture and I want you to look at this with me because this is the next thing I'm going to say. I'm going to talk about, blessed is he who is not offended in me. These people are so offended in Christ. Look over in Matthew chapter 11, verse 6. You know, our Lord Jesus Christ went about, blind received the sight, the lame walked, the lepers were cleansed, the dead are healed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the gospel preached to them. And look what he said in verse 6. And blessed is he Whosoever shall not be offended in me. Do you know what that word offended means? That means to stumble over. You're walking along and you stumble over something. You know, the older you get, the more you stumble. But I'll tell you one thing. It says, here's this man. Here's this man, the Lord Jesus Christ. Here's this man that God sent into this world and people walk and they stumble over him and fall. They stumble over him, he's set for the fall of many. Instead of rejoicing in him, they walk and they stumble. There's this big stone, the Lord Jesus Christ. They catch their foot on him and fall. And fall. Blessed is he who's not offended in me. And so many people are offended in Christ. And I tell you, a stone of stumbling is what he is.

And I'll tell you what, boy, people stumble over the Lord Jesus Christ. And I'll tell you, He's a rock of offense. They stumble over His doctrine. Let me tell you that. Men stumble over the doctrine of Christ. I know you don't, but there's people that do. They stumble over the doctrine of there's only one Savior in this world. All is not a Savior. The Pope ain't a Savior. A priest ain't a saviour. Free will ain't a saviour. The preacher ain't a saviour. Christ is the only saviour. And men say, now wait a minute. What about they people put these things, you know, let's all, you know, everybody listen. Listen, there's people in their religion, they hated Christ so much, and most religious people did, that they crucified him. The most religious people, the most powerful people, is the ones that crucified him. And I'm telling you they're offended at his doctrine.

What about the doctrine of election? Now wait a minute, God don't have the right to choose whom he will. God don't have the right to, that's unjust, that's not right, that's not the way things should be in this world. Oh, that's why Paul said, you know, He'll have mercy on whom he'll have mercy. He chose Jacob and Esau, and loved Jacob and hated Esau before either one of them was ever born. And the first thing they said was, there's unrighteousness with God. That's not right. And you know how Paul responded to it? Who art thou, O man, that replies against God? Shall the clay talk back to the potter and say, why did you make me like this? And oh, listen, the potter, he can do anything he wants to with the clay. And that's what they do. They hate, people don't like the doctrine of election. I don't know how many preachers that I've heard that say the doctrine of election was hatched in hell. And oh no, you know where it was found? It was found first and foremost in the Bible. God had chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world.

And I'll tell you another thing, the doctrine of righteousness, the doctrine of Christ being the only righteousness a person has. There's no other righteousness in this world but the Lord Jesus Christ. And men stumble over that. The men stumble over that. How men stumble over this business of righteousness. Oh, listen, preachers preach all the time about people, their own righteousness. That you got to be righteous and you're trying to arrive at righteousness. If you live right enough and good enough, then God will save you. But there's only one righteousness. There's only one righteousness. And let me say something about this. You know, righteousness is imputed in the sense that God charges us and justifies us and says you're righteous. But also at the same time, he gives us a new heart. He gives us a new mind. He gives us a new will. And we're born of the incorruptible seed. And when you're born like that, born that incorruptible seed, not only do you love righteousness, you delight in righteousness, and you're grateful for righteousness, because you know that there's no way in the world for you to produce one of your own. You can't produce one of your own. And I'll tell you what, they stumble over our Lord Jesus Christ. Look what he says in Matthew 21. what our master says over here. You know how I know that just the very fact, and I'm grateful that you're here. I am. You know, wherever you're sitting under the gospel, God can do something for you. Without the gospel, God can't do nothing, won't do nothing for you. But you know, I'm telling you, I'm telling you, verse 42, the fact that you don't believe Christ, the fact that you won't bow to Christ, the fact that you won't submit to Christ shows you that you don't care much for him. Are you stumbling over him? Are you stumbling over Christ? Look what our master said here. In verse 42, Jesus said unto them, did you never read in the Scriptures? And this is Psalm 118. Did you never read in the Scriptures? And that's where people mess up. They don't read the Scriptures. Don't read the Scriptures. I remember when I used to do all our newspaper articles, at the end of every one of them I says, read the Bible. Read the Bible. And I don't know how many people came to my office trying to tell me that I interpreted the Bible wrong, so they're going to come and tell me how to interpret it. But read the Bible. He says, have you never read the scriptures? Did you never read this in the Bible? And look what he says. The stone, which the builders rejected, said, we don't want it. I don't want to build on that stone. I reject that stone. I don't want to build on that stone. I don't want my foundation laid on that stone. And look what he says. The same, God made the head of the corner. And oh, this is the Lord's doing. Marvelous in our eyes.

Now listen to what he says. Therefore I say unto you, the kingdom of God shall be taken from you. Wouldn't that be an awful thing to say for God himself to reach out there and say, I'm not going to let the kingdom of God come anymore to you. I'm not going to say anything about the kingdom of God to you. Not going to do it. And he'll be taken from you and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. Now this is what I list to this now. And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken. You fall down on Christ. Fall down on Christ, submit to Christ, and when you do that, your heart's broken, your will's broken, your mind and everything about you that you ever believed in is broken. Your confidence in the flesh is broken. Your hope for salvation in yourself is broken. All your false doctrine is broken. All your righteousnesses are broken. When you fall on Christ, that stone, you're busted all to pieces. Broken. And oh my, and then what he says, but also whoever it shall fall, if it falls on you, you know what he said? I'm gonna grind you to powder. You're just gonna be powder. Then I'm gonna blow on you like that and you're gone. You're gone. Oh my. They stumble over our Lord Jesus Christ. Stumble over Him. Stumble over Him. And you know, and why men stumble over Christ? They're offended with Christ because they fail to trust Him. They won't believe Him. They won't trust Him. Men are not offended. Men are not offended in free will. Men are not offended in good works. They're not offended over morality. They're not offended over charity with the church. They're not offended over baptism, water baptism. But you know who they're offended with? Christ. The scripture says there was a division because of him. Our Lord, our Lord came into this world to divide. He sent a sword. He said, you think I come to bring peace? He said, I came to bring a sword. And you know what I'm gonna do with that sword? I'm gonna make me, I'm gonna separate people. I'm gonna separate people here, separate people there. I'm gonna cut them here, I'm gonna cut them there. And I'm gonna, I come to say, I said a mother against a daughter. A father against a son. If there's anybody that don't believe me and trust me, said I'm gonna, I've got a sword for them. And I'll separate them from my people. I'll separate them or they'll never be a believer. I'll separate them. I've got a knife here. I got a sword that separates people. Separates true doctrine from false doctrine. Separate Christ from somebody else. Separate God who is sovereign from a God who's not.

And I'll tell you what, you want to start a fight, all you got to do is just tell somebody right out when you're talking to them. I don't believe you're one of God's elect. You sure don't act like it. I don't believe you trust Christ. You know, I go to such and such a church, well, I feel sorry for you. Why do you feel sorry for me? Because you're being lied to. Do you believe in election? Oh, yeah, I believe God chose Israel. Who's Jesus Christ? You ask them, who is Jesus Christ? And the first thing they'll say is, well, he's a savior. Well, who's he saved? Everybody. Everybody who's willing, they'll tell you that.

But oh my, they offended at him. They offended him because of his appearance. They're offended at his appearance. You know how many people were offended at Christ because of his appearance? You know what they said about him? said, he's a carpenter's son, he's a poor man. That's what they said about our Lord Jesus Christ. When they come to him, said, when they saw him do works and preaching, they said, is not this Joseph's son? Mary and Joseph's son? We know, and we know his father, we know his mother, we know his brothers and his sisters. How sayeth then, he coming down from heaven? Oh, my. Oh, I tell you. And I'll tell you another thing that people really, really offended at Christ is, you know, because of how few people believe him. How few people believe him. They'll ask you, how many folks you got at your church? Well, a few. Well, I tell you what, you wouldn't believe how our church has grown. Oh, I tell you what, we're winning souls hand over fist. We're getting five, six, and seven-year-olds saved. Oh my, it's unbelievable what we're doing. We had to put in a special baptistry to baptize them at both ends because we got so many people that we're baptizing. Oh my.

And I'll tell you another reason why people's offended in him because who he claims to be, he claims to be They said, oh, we don't stone you for being good works. We stone you because you being man, you make yourself to be God. To be God. If he's not God, then he can't save anybody. And oh my, rejoice in Emmanuel, trust in him now. Oh my. And our Lord said he thought it not robbery to be equal with God. And it didn't. He didn't rob God. Oh, he was equal with God in every way. He was God in this world. The invisible God became visible in Christ.

And I'll tell you another reason men get offended in him, because of his substitutionary death. Men stumble at Christ because, you know, our Lord Jesus Christ himself, himself said, I come not to call righteous, but sinners to repentance. He himself said, He himself says, no man can come unto the Father but by me. And he himself said, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone. But if it dies, it'll bring forth much fruit. Our Lord Jesus Christ himself says, come unto me. Don't go no place else, come to me. There's nobody else that can do anything for you. You can't approach the Father except by me. God won't hear you unless you call my name. God won't have anything to do with you unless you bow to me. God won't speak to you unless he speaks to me through you. Oh, my. Oh, listen. Our Lord Jesus Christ and the fact that he He said his own disciples were offended at him when he says, the son of man must go to Jerusalem and be delivered into the hands of sinful men and must die and rise again the third day. And they said, oh, no, no, no, Lord, be that far from you. You can't have that. You can't have let that happen to you. Get behind me, Satan. You can't have that happen to you. Oh my.

And when we talk about as our substitute, here's two things that we got to understand. And this is so offensive to people, they stumble over it. First thing that God done when he sent his son into this world and crucified him was first and foremost for himself. First for himself. God had to be glorified. God had to be honored. God's will had to be done. And I, Lord Jesus Christ, come into this world first and foremost to do something for God. When God said he'll provide himself a lamb, Christ, he said, that's that lamb. You got to do something for God. The first thing his sacrifice did, it honored God, satisfied God, glorified God, and bore the wrath of God in our stead.

And the second thing is, is that when he died on that cross, he died as a sacrifice for sin. Sin. Sin. And if you ever have sin, if you ever become a sinner, if you ever become someone who from the top of your head to the sole of your foot, you got no good spot in you. that there's not a spot in you, inside or outside, that God'll look on with favor. Never has, never will. And then Christ our Lord came into this world, and bless His name, when He was on that cross, the scripture says that He Himself, He Himself bore our sin in His own body on the tree. And oh, no wonder we say how precious is the blood of Christ. How precious is that blood that was shed, that blood that cleanses us from sin, that blood that washes us free, that blood that God accepted. Oh my, and oh, precious, precious blood.

I'll tell you what, and oh, and you know what they said at the cross? He saved others, but he can't save himself. That's exactly right. He saved others, But he can't save himself. Ain't you glad he couldn't save himself? If he'd have saved himself, he wouldn't have saved us. But oh, bless his name. He said, all that the Father gives me, they're going to come to me. And every single one of them that come, oh, listen, that's the difference. Every single one of them that comes, There's nothing they'll ever say or do that'll cause me to cast him out. But you don't know what I say, preacher, when nobody's looking. Won't cast you out. You wouldn't believe how mean I am, but sometimes he'll never cast you out. You'd never believe how unbelieving I am, he'll never cast you out. You would not believe all the things that I've said and done and the things that I've let my ears hear, he'll never cast you out. In fact, he says, I'll raise him up again. the last day.

Oh, there's no salvation, no remission of sins, no gospel apart from the declaration of our Lord's substitutionary sacrifice on the cross. And I'll tell you another thing that men offend over and stumble over is the gospel of grace. Gospel of grace. Men won't stumble over works. They won't stumble over being accepting Jesus. They won't stumble over, you know, telling folks, you know, just open your heart. They don't stumble over that. But when you say salvation is by free grace, that God will not accept any thought you ever thought, any word you ever said, any deed you ever done. God will not never look on you at all. You know, the only person he looks to for salvation is his son. Huh? Free grace. You know, I was talking to Moose Parks this weekend. He got to have some more treatments. But anyway, to make a little story short, he said he's going to preach on Titus where it says, the grace of God that bringeth salvation.

Well, a fellow told me one time, he'd come to me and he says, you know, and he says, this says the grace of God has appeared unto all men. And I said, do you believe that the grace of God has appeared to everybody? He said, yes. I said, if that's true, then this means you leave this office right now and walk across the street and knock on that door, go down the street and knock on the next door, and go down the street and knock on the next door, and ask them if God's grace has appeared to them. He said, oh, no, no, no, no, no, we can't do that. I said, if you believe that you would, The grace of God, what does it do? It brings salvation. Huh? Where you sitting at? If you have salvation, God brought it to you. Grace brought it to you. Huh? And I ain't gonna stumble over grace. Oh, I love it. I love it. I'll tell you what. Oh, grace, grace, grace, more grace. Put the stop on the building and say grace, grace unto it. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound. Oh, there's just too much grace for him.

A dear, dear man that I knew for years and years and years. Paul Hefner was his name. Old Stevie knows him, remembers him. But old Paul Hefner. He come spent the night with me one night, and I preached up there, around up there where he was. But anyway, he come and I started talking to him about grace. And he said, I know what you believe about grace. I've done found out what you believe about grace. You believe in sovereign grace. I said, I understand that. But he says, you know what I'm going to deal with? I'm not going to deal with that. I'm going to deal with the other side of it, man's responsibility. Go ahead, knock yourself out. Just knock yourself out. Go ahead. Tell man that he got to do something. But I tell you, if you do something, God won't have it. He will not have it. You listen. I love that.

You know, listen, how could you stumble over a salvation that didn't cost you nothing? How could you stumble over a salvation that requires nothing from you? Shirley and I was talking yesterday that all the blessings that we have are in Christ. And you know, even the faith and the repentance we have, He gave it to us. He granted us repentance and He gave us faith. And then He turns around and tells them that they're ours. If you believe, He gave you faith. If you repent, He granted you repentance. And here's the wonderful thing about both those, that once you start believing, you cannot stop believing. You cannot not believe. And once you start repenting, you never stop. You sit in a service sometimes and say, Lord, I'm sorry for that what just went through my mind. That's repentance. Oh Lord, I'm sorry that I'm such a, I'm sorry that I'm so sorry. That's repentance. Oh my. I'm so grateful for the Lord. So grateful for God. Oh my.

And I'll tell you what, some just don't like him because of his appearance. They stumble over our Lord Jesus Christ's claims upon men. He's a saver of life to some, a saver of death. unto others, and they stumble over his death, and his cross is offensive, and they fall out over it again. But look what it says back over in our text. What it says, verse 34, Simeon blessed them and said unto Mary his mother, behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel. You know, fall and rising again. You know how many people have fell over Christ, fall over Christ, stumble over Christ, but yet he says that not only they're going to be a fall, but there's going to be a rising again. You know how many people the Lord has saved, to the Jew first and also to the Gentile.

Oh my. You know, and let me give you, when our Lord Jesus Christ cried the first thing he said off the cross, when all this multitude was gathered around him, and all of them were screaming and hollering and making fun of him and mocking him, the first thing our Lord Jesus said when he was on the cross, Father, my Father, forgive them. They don't know what they're doing. And our Lord Jesus Christ just assures he prayed that way. Old Scott said one time, there's a nearer way to Christ. When that soldier pierced his side and blood come out, he said, there's a nearer way to Christ than that. And that's by faith. You know, you can come to Christ. People can come to Christ right now and not move a muscle. That's what's so wonderful about it.

But oh my, you think about Father forgive them. All those folks fail. But oh, Christ raised them again. Raised them from the death of their sins. Raised them from the death. Saul of Tarsus hated Christ with a passion. And he fell. Christ raised him up. Made him to be a preacher. And Lazarus. Oh, Lazarus sat there, and he's been dead four days. And our Lord said, Lazarus, come forth. And he, I can't, every time I say this, I just can't, it's just, it's an amazing thing. And he that was dead came forth. How does a dead man come forth? when Christ calls them. Wouldn't it be wonderful if he spoke to you and said, come unto me? In the last days, our Lord said, I'll raise you up in the last days. He's the savior of many. It's only he that can bring life.

And then look what else he said there. in verse 35, that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed. Oh my, Christ, you know how your hearts are revealed? Christ reveals it. Opens your heart. He gave them understanding. The gospel brings light and reveals the real character of many. The thoughts of many hearts will be opened up, may be revealed, be revealed as to what they really are. Some believe, some believe not. Some ignore, some fight it with a passion. But the gospel not only gathers, but it also scatters.

And let me close in John 6.65. Let me close with John 6.65. You know, and then he says, He said, a sword is going to pierce your side also. A sword's going to pierce your side. John 6, 65. You know, the light shined in darkness. The darkness comprehended it not. But when God brings a man to the light, he confesses, confesses all the offenses that he's done.

But our master said, And verse 65, well, start at verse 63. They were offended at Christ in verse 61. Did this offend you? Why didn't you just see the Son of Man ascend up where he was before? It's the Spirit that gives life. The flesh, it profits absolutely nothing. The words that I speak unto you, their spirit and their life. But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believe not and who should betray him. He knew. And he said, therefore, said I unto you, that no man can come unto me except it were given unto me and my father.

And from that time Many of his disciples went back, walked no more with him, said, oh, this is just too hard. It's just too hard to say. We can't take this. And then Jesus said unto the 12, we also go away, and this is where we are as believers. Simon Peter asked him, Lord, oh, Lord, to whom shall we go? We got no place else to go. No one else that can save us. No one else that knows our hearts. No one else that knows our thoughts. No one else that knows our fallings and failings and all the things that's wrong with us. Oh, Lord, to whom shall we go? You've got the words. We've got the words of eternal life. And we believe and are sure that there are that Christ, the son of the living God.

I pray, and I honestly do pray, I do pray that the Lord would do something for some people in here that he hasn't done nothing for. I really do. I don't want anybody to perish. I'd love that everybody in this building was believers, that everybody in this building was like Simon Peter. Lord, you got the words. Ain't got no place else to go. I pray that for everybody.

And let me, I'd say this, if God makes you to be a believer, if you feel like that you believe the gospel, that God's taught you and revealed the gospel to you, revealed Christ to your heart, you can come and talk to me or you can either make a stand up and make a public confession. Or we can baptize you, and that's your public confession. And may the Lord do something for you.

Our Father, in the blessed, blessed name of our Lord Jesus Christ, thank you for your abundant mercy. Thank you for your grace. Thank you for our Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, Lord, we don't want to stumble over him. We certainly set him at naught. He's a saver of life to us. Oh, Lord, we rejoice in him. We delight in him. We find him to be everything to us. All of our blessings, all of our life, all of our hopes, all of our righteousness, all everything that we have, we look to him for it. And, oh, Lord, if you'd be pleased to use this gospel today, use this word today, we'll bless you and praise you and thank you. But if you don't use it, in the hearts of some, we're going to bless you anyway. You're God, and beside you, there is no other. You're the great I Am. You're the great I Am.

But, Lord, if you'd please, for Christ's sake, for Christ's sake, Oh, Lord, bring people to fall on Christ and be broken. Fall on Him and be broken. We ask these things in our Lord Jesus Christ's name. Amen. Amen.

There is a name I love to hear. I love to sing his praise. It sounds like music in my ear. The sweetest name on earth. Oh, how I love Jesus. Oh, how I love Jesus. Oh, how I love Jesus. Because he first loved me.

See you Wednesday, God willing.