Good morning. I've been asked
to give an update on a couple folks. Miss Shirley says Preacher
is doing much better, but he's still a little bit weak. So we'll
hope to see him again Wednesday evening. Good morning, preacher.
Hope you get to feeling better. I know you're watching and listening.
We love you and wish you were here with us. Our dear brother
Joe McSherry is, I would say, fading. He has some days better
than others. Friday and Saturday he did pretty
well, having a little bit of a rough morning this morning.
But if you would, continue to keep him in your prayers. And
my mamaw, dear Eleanor, Pray the Lord would keep them and
be their strength. We're glad to have Brother James
back with us this morning. But there are many weak among
us and the Lord be our strength and stay. Let's stand together
and sing hymn number 15 together. Hymn number 15. Brethren, we have met to worship
and adore the Lord our God. Will you pray with all your power
while we try to preach the word? All is vain unless the Spirit
of the Holy One comes down. Brethren, pray, and holy manna
will be showered all around. Brethren, see poor sinners round
you Slumbering on the brink of woe Death is coming, hell is
moving Can you bear to Let them go. See our fathers and our mothers. and our children sinking down. Brethren, pray and holy manna
will be showered all around. Sisters, will you join and help
us? Moses' sister hated him. Will you help the trembling mourners
who are struggling? heart with sin. Tell them all about the Savior. Tell them that He will be found. Sisters, pray and holy manna
will be showered. all around. Let us love our God supremely. Let us love each other too. Let us love and pray for sinners
still. Our God makes all things new. ? Then he'll call us home to
heaven ? ? At his table we'll sit down ? ? Christ will gird
himself and serve us ? ? With sweet manna all around ? Be seated. We'll sing hymn number
354. 354. What a friend we have in Jesus. All our sins and griefs to bear. What a privilege to carry Everything to God in prayer Oh, what peace we often forfeit Oh, what needless pain we bear All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer. Trials and temptations Is there trouble anywhere? We should never be discouraged Take it to the Lord in prayer. Can we find a Prince so faithful? ? Will all our sorrows share ? Jesus knows our every weakness
? Take it to the Lord Are we wicked, heavy laden? Gumbered with the hoard of cares? Take it to the Lord in prayer. Thy friends despise, forsake
thee. Take it to the Lord in prayer. In his arms he'll take and shield
thee. Thou wilt find a solace there. If you have your Bibles with you
this morning, if you would open with me to the book of Psalms.
I'd like to read Psalm 67. Psalm 67. Seven verses. Psalm 67. God be merciful unto us and bless
us cause his face to shine upon
us, that thy way may be known upon
earth by saving health among all nations. Let the people praise
thee, O God. Let all the people praise thee.
O let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for thou shalt
judge the people righteously and govern the nations upon earth.
Let the people praise thee, O God, let all the people praise thee.
Shall the earth yield or increase? God, our own God, shall bless
us. God shall bless us, and all the
ends of the earth shall fear him. Let's have a word of prayer. Lord God Almighty, our high and
heavenly Father, most holy and righteous one, we come to you
once more through your blessed Son, Lord Jesus Christ. We thank
you for being our intercessor, Lord, for taking our feeble words and presenting
them to the Father. Lord, we thank you for prayer. What a privilege it is to carry
everything to you. And we truly do, Lord, bring
everything to you. So thankful that you control
all things, that you hold this world in the palm of your hand. Lord, we thank you for your mercy.
We thank you for your grace. Thank you for your perfect will. Lord, we pray that you would
meet with us today, send your spirit among us, cause us to
worship you, Lord, cause us to worship you in spirit and in
truth, and pray for those who are unable to attend this morning,
that you would lift them up and give them clarity and cause them
to worship with us, Lord, be with them. There are many weak and weary
and sick, Lord, and this flesh fails us. so weak and imperfect,
but we know that all things are according to thy
will. But we ask that it would please you, Lord, to lift them
up and be merciful and gracious as you have been. Pray for Brother Cody as he stands
this day, Lord, that you would cause him to Proclaim the gospel message.
Tell us about our Lord Jesus Christ. Cause your word to go
forth. Lord, we pray that your word
would go forth into all this nation, all this world. That you would send it to your
people wherever they may be. Lord, please be with us. Let
us not meet in vain. Keep us and guide us. Teach us thy way, Lord. We pray that that will be done
for Christ's sake. Amen. Let's all stand together as we
sing the hymn of the day in the bulletin. Christ bears the name of all
his saints, deep on his heart engraved, attentive to the state
and wants of all His love has saved. In Him, a holiness complete,
light and Perfection shine In wisdom, grace, and glory be A
Savior all divine which as a priest he bears for
sinners is his own. incense of his prayers and tears
perfumes the holy throne. In him I will Though I am weak and vile, I
read my name upon His breast, And sing the Father's praise. Be seated. We have Brother Cody
Henson with us today. He's gonna, Lord willing, come
and preach the gospel to us again. There'll be no evening service
this evening, and Lord willing, we'll meet again Wednesday. I'm
gonna say that before I forget it. If anything changes, I guess
we'll see it on Facebook and have word of mouth. Brother Cody,
you can come on when you're ready. Good morning. I invite your attention to First
Corinthians 15. 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Start reading in verse 1. Moreover, brethren, I declare
unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have
received, and wherein ye stand, By which also ye are saved, if
ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed
in vain. For I delivered unto you, first
of all, that which I also received, how that Christ died for our
sins according to the Scriptures, and that he was buried, and that
he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. And that he
was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve. After that, he was seen
of above five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater
part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. After
that, he was seen of James, then of all the apostles. And last
of all, he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.
Verse nine. For I am the least of the apostles,
and that I'm not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted
the church of God, but by the grace of God, I am what I am.
And his grace, which was bestowed upon me, was not in vain, but
I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the
grace of God, which was with me. Therefore, whether it were
I or they, so we preach, and so you believed. For our message
today, I wanna focus on verse nine. This is a familiar account
of scripture and usually when I turn here I don't harp on verse
9, but it just captivated me. How the Apostle Paul referred
to himself, look at it again, verse 9, for I am the least of
the apostles. You know, when I think of the
apostles, I tend to think of Paul as being the greatest of
the apostles. But that's not how he saw himself. And we know that it's only as
verse 10 tells us, by the grace of God. It's the grace of God,
one, that saved Paul and that made him an apostle. And it's
the grace of God that caused Paul to know in the depths of
his soul what he was the least. Now the word least here means
smallest in rank and excellence. And if we know anything about
Paul's background, that's amazing, isn't it? The mighty Saul of
Tarsus. You know, a lot of people think
that he was the rich young ruler. It seems that he fits the bill
from what we know. But regardless, we are told,
Paul tells us in Galatians 1 and Philippians 3, he tells us he
was a mighty religious man, religious leader. He was somebody before
God saved him. He was. Oh, I'm so thankful God saved
him. God's free, sovereign, electing grace, saving grace, came to
that man, Saul of Tarsus. We're going to do a little bit
of turning today. For the first point of our message, I want
to take a good look at how Paul truly saw himself, how he truly
viewed himself. It wasn't good. And the point
of this is I pray God would give us the same view of ourselves.
All right, turn with me to Ephesians chapter 3. And let me just say
this, naturally we all think very highly of ourselves. When
I think about the fact that we're in a church service, we're in
a church, you know how many church services are going on right now?
In Crossville, I view Crossville as a small little town. I'm from
Danville, Kentucky, small little town. You wouldn't believe how
many churches are there. Actually, you probably would, because there's
probably the same number here. And yet, again, because God has taught
me a little something about my wicked flesh, I know that church
service is everywhere. It's just full of us sinful men
and women exalting ourselves and glorying in ourselves. Listen,
we know Paul is someone God saved. I pray God would truly enable
us to see what Paul said about himself. knowing it was by God's
grace. Look here in Ephesians 3, verse
8. Ephesians 3, 8. Paul said, unto me, he just said,
I was made a minister by the grace of God. Verse 8, unto me,
who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given,
now look at this, that I should preach among the Gentiles the
unsearchable riches of Christ. He said, I'm the least of the
apostles. And then he said, I'm less than the least, not just
of the apostles, of all saints, less than the least, less than
the least. That's a man whom God saved.
That's true God-given humility. That's the gift of God that's
gonna cause us to say that about ourselves and truly mean it.
Turn with me to another familiar text, 1 Timothy chapter one.
First Timothy 1. First Timothy 1, verse 15. 1 Timothy 1.15, again Paul writing
says, This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation,
that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom
I am chief. Now this right here, this is
our hope. This is our glorious hope that Christ Jesus, the Lord
Jesus Christ, God Almighty came into this world that he created.
for this reason, to save sinners." Christ came to save sinners.
Does that not bless your soul every time you read that, every
time you hear it and think about it? Now that's a faithful saying,
but the end of the verse is a faithful saying too. Paul said, of whom
I am chief. Of whom? Sinners. I'm the chief
sinner. Again, we view him as Paul, chief
apostle, don't we? He viewed himself as Paul. Now
he would say an apostle of Jesus Christ, the prisoner of Jesus
Christ, servant of Jesus Christ. But here's what he was, chief
sinner. Paul, chief sinner. Of all sinners, I'm the worst. That's what he's saying. on the
absolute worst. I couldn't help but think of
that song we sang. I love this song so much. Boasting excluded. Pride
I base. I'm only a sinner. That's all
I am. I'm only a sinner saved by grace. Where is boast? It's excluded. If God ever causes
us to know that's me. You know we say this all the
time, don't we? Move over Paul. Let me take my place. That's,
listen, that, the chief sinner, the seat for the chief sinner,
that's the place for every child of God. That's the place we all
claim and say, that's mine. That's me. Chief sinner. Salvations for sinners. We know
this. Christ came to save sinners. God saves sinners. I love the, I think it's a song,
but I view it as a quote. Joseph Hart said, a sinner is
a sacred thing. That sounds backwards, don't
it? Sinner's a vile thing. By God's grace, someone whom
God causes to know I am a sinner, that's a sacred thing. Here's
why. It's because the Holy Ghost hath
made him so. Again, we all prance around in
this life thinking we're somebody, we get a big job, think we're
a big shot, and stand up here, start glorying in self. Oh, God
forbid. You know, Paul said, God forbid
that I should glory. Saving the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,
he gets all the glory. Has God shown us what we are?
Has God caused us to acknowledge I'm the least? No, I'm less than
the least. I'm the chief sinner. How about this one? Turn to 2
Corinthians chapter 12. 2 Corinthians 12. 2 Corinthians 12, look with me
at verse 11. This is right after Paul was
caught up into the third heaven. This was right after the Lord
had given Paul a thorn in his flesh. Verse 11, 2 Corinthians
12, 11. He said, I am become a fool in
glorying, ye have compelled me. For I ought to have been commended
of you, for in nothing am I behind the very chiefest apostles, though
I be nothing." Now Paul, just like you and me, was prone to
glorying in his flesh. Now he certainly did before God
saved him, but he couldn't help glorying in his flesh after God
saved him. We read again in Philippians 3, if any man hath whereof to
glory in the flesh, boast in the flesh, I more. And right
here in this text, the Lord had given Paul unspeakable revelations
and he gave him that thorn in the flesh to humble him, to keep
him laid low, to keep him as the least, to remind him. He said, my grace
is sufficient for thee. And it is, isn't it? Our brother
just told us about some great sorrow and sadness amongst those
we love and are close to. God's grace is sufficient for
us, let's never forget it. We need God's grace every day.
We need God's grace not only to comfort us, keep us encouraged,
we need God's grace to humble us because we will get lifted
up in pride, all of us. I do all the time. I need to
hear about God's grace and how I desperately need him and his
grace daily. I do. And so did Paul. Now Paul tells us something here
in verse 11. He said, In nothing am I behind the chiefest of the
apostles. He said, By God's grace, I'm
right up there with them. And he was. Do you remember what
Artex said? He said, I labored more abundantly
than they all. Speaking of the apostles. And
he said, Yet not I. It's not for my glory, it's not
me boasting. He said, it's the grace of God that's with me. Do you have a problem giving
God the credit for everything? Really? If this message is a
blessing to anybody, and I pray it might be, don't even give
me a thought. God forbid I give myself a thought.
Oh, give him all the praise. If we're blessed, it's not because
we heard a sinful man saved by God's grace speak, it's because
we heard God speak. Through a sinful man whom he
saved, through his word which he gave. Now the reason I want to turn
to this verse is the last few words. He said, I'm not behind
the very chiefest apostles, though I be nothing. Now, we talk about the warfare
within us. Do you not see it right here?
I'm right up there with the chiefest of God's apostles, and yet I,
in and of myself, am nothing. We see what God's done for us,
and we see what we've done to ourselves, don't we? We see what
we are in this flesh. Now, the meaning here where it
says, though I be nothing, it means I am nothing, I am of no
account, nothing whatsoever, no one at all. That's what Paul
confessed himself to be. Nothing. I feel like I mention country
songs all the time when I'm here, but I love country music. But I thought of a Travis Tritt
song that says, I'm gonna be somebody someday. One of these
days, I'm gonna break these chains. I'm gonna be somebody someday.
You can bet your hard-earned dollar, I will. And I like the
song. But how silly is that? I mean,
honestly. I'm gonna be, isn't that what, isn't that? We get out and start going about
our life. We're just trying to be somebody
and want people to know my name. Want people to know my credentials. By God's grace, according to
God's word, I want to be like the Apostle Paul. I want to be
nothing. I want Christ to be everything.
I don't need to be somebody. I mean, I hope nobody here has achieved
that. Really, I hope we never do. I hope God will show us what
we really are. Psalm 138 verse 6 says, Though
the Lord be high, yet hath he respect. And here's what that
means. Look at with favor. Though the Lord be high, yet
hath he respect unto the lowly. He looks at the lowly, the meek
and lowly with favor. That's what Christ is. He's meek
and lowly. But the proud he knoweth afar
off. Paul was proud. I mentioned Saul of Tarsus. Oh,
you wouldn't have found a prouder man. You're not gonna find a prouder
man. Ain't gonna happen. What we need is to be made lowly. Notice I didn't say to be lowly. We would be wise to be lowly,
but here's a confession. I can't make myself lowly. He
must increase, I must decrease. We need the Lord to decrease
us. We do. We need the Lord to cut us down
that He may build us up in Christ. What we need is what God did
for Saul of Tarsus. We need God to come to us. You
know, He was on His way to go persecute God's people. And then
almighty love arrested that man. We need almighty love to arrest
this man, to stop us in our tracks, to come to us, to knock us off
our high horse, lay us in the dirt, speak to us, saw, saw. It's hard for you to kick against
the pricks. We need God to cause, he blinded
Saul. We need God to cause us to know we're blind. I can't see. Lord, give me sight. He gave him sight. Saved him
by his grace. That's what I need God to do
for me, and that's what you need God to do for you. Otherwise,
we're never gonna be lowly. We're never gonna be the least,
less than the least, the chief sinner, nothing, unless God make
it to be so. In Galatians 1, this is Paul's
testimony, okay? But when it pleased God, he talked
about how he was so lost and steeped in religion, the nonsense that that was, but
when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, called
me by His grace to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach
Him among the heathen, he said, when God did that for me, he
said immediately, I conferred not with flesh and blood, because
God did it. The only decision Paul ever made
was to persecute the Church of God. We read it in our text.
And we know he stood there consented to the death of Stephen. He had
papers on his way to Damascus. He had no good intent. He wasn't
saved because of a decision he made. The decision he made was,
the glory's mine, it ain't Christ's. And then again, in Philippians
3, we read after the fact, after God saved me, he said, oh, how
foolish I was. I count all that done that I may have Christ,
that I may know him, that I may win him, be found in him, having
one righteousness, his and his alone. Paul, oh, God was pleased
to break that man. God was pleased to reveal to
Paul, you're nothing. You're nothing. It's like what
Nebuchadnezzar said. He said, all the inhabitants
of the earth are reputed as nothing. That's what we are. I look back
in our text, nothing. We're nothing. First Corinthians 15.9. For I am the least of the apostles
that am not meet to be called an apostle." And they're right
there where it says, I am not meet to be called an apostle.
Here's what that means. I am not worthy. The title of this message is
unworthy. Unworthy. If there's one thing
we need to know, it's this. We're unworthy. We're just flat
unworthy. And I want to say this, and I
pray God calls me to mean it. We can say, I'm the least. We can say, I'm less than the
least. We can repeat, I'm the chief
of sinners. We can utter the words, I am
nothing. Anybody can say those things.
That wasn't hard for me to say that. But if we say these things,
if we think those things in our minds and our heart, I pray God
would cause it to be true. In our heart of hearts, we do
some serious soul searching. At the end of the day, when it
all comes to, when push comes to shove, do I really believe
myself to be unworthy before God? Or do we see something of
worth? It's just, listen, all it takes
is a little leaven to leaven the whole lump. Just that you
throw in a little bit of works and there you go, you saved yourself,
or at least you deserved it. Let's examine ourselves here
for a minute, alright? Let me ask this question, what
do we deserve? What do we deserve? When someone
does something kind for us, do we deserve it? The kindness that God shows to
his people, where do we even begin? Do we deserve that? The common belief is that man
deserves God's favor. That God would not be right if
he did not offer salvation to everybody. Supposing that if God did not
save me, if he didn't give me a chance, is that not saying
I'm worthy? Is that not saying I deserve
something from him? Think about it. It's not hard.
God wouldn't be right if... May God stop our mouths from
even thinking such a thing or saying such a thing. What do we deserve from God? It ain't a chance. It ain't salvation. It's not His infinite goodness. We read God saved Paul, God made
him a minister and caused him to know he's less than the least
of all saints and He sent him to declare the unsearchable riches
of Christ. Do we deserve that? Did Paul deserve that? I'll tell you what we deserve.
We deserve God's wrath. God is holy. We don't know the depths of that. We don't know just what that
truly means. God is holy. God is righteous. God is just.
He has righteous anger. God's judgment will be a just
judgment. He's going to give us what we
deserve. Remind you, we're unworthy. We're unworthy. And we're going to stand before
God. We deserve to be punished. We
deserve to be cast out into those chains of everlasting darkness.
That's what we deserve. The wages of sin is death. The
soul that sinneth, it shall die. There's a verse that says the
Lord will not hold him guiltless that takes his name in vain.
Anybody here taking the Lord's name in vain? You ever had a negative thought
towards God? God doesn't owe us anything except
to judge us. We must all appear before the
judgment seat of Christ. Not going to escape it. We'll
just let this one slip on through. Now what about, this is for those
whom God has saved. The next couple questions are
for those whom God has given faith in Christ. Have we improved? Got any better? Better than we used to be? We
see something in ourselves now, looking a little better these
days. Have we gotten our sin in check? Have we figured it out? Have
we cleansed ourselves from unclean thoughts? Anybody? Do I finally see why
God should love a soul like me. Am I now worthy of God's favor,
of God's choice? You know, people will say about
election, oh, well, God looked through the portal of time and
he saw who would, that's nonsense, that's ridiculous. Yeah, I can see why God chose
me. Is that what we think? Paul didn't. He did not. As a believer, he confessed time
and time again, I'm unworthy. Romans 7, oh, wretched man that
I am. The things I want to do, oh,
I just can't. That which I hate, that's what I find myself doing
every day. Who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? Oh, I'm unworthy. He did not
attain a state of worthiness the longer he was here. And neither
are we going to. It's impossible. Salvation's
of the Lord, it's not of us. Proving ourselves, well, I'm
finally gonna show I was worthy. Oh, may God cause us to know
better, honestly. to think that I might suppose
God owes me his grace. Grace is unmerited favor. We don't deserve it, we never
could. Never could. Do you know that? Do I truly
believe that? I wanna look at a couple brethren
real quick. Look at Genesis 32 with me. Genesis 32. Genesis 32, verse 9. If you're
not there, just listen. I need to speed up. Genesis 32,
9. And Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham, and God of my
father Isaac, the Lord which said unto me, return unto thy
country and to thy kindred, and I will deal well with thee. This
is Jacob's confession, verse 10. I am not worthy. My Senator Morgan says, I am
less than all. I am not worthy of the least
of all the mercies and of all the truth which thou hast showed
unto thy servant. I'm not worthy. That's someone
whom God saved. That's someone who'd experienced
the grace of God. No doubt about it. Turn with
me to Matthew chapter eight. Matthew chapter eight. And we
know Jacob was a sinful man, don't we? Conniving trickster.
Evil brother. And yet he was a chief sinner
whom Christ came to save. Matthew chapter 8, verse 5. Matthew 8, 5, And when Jesus
was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion beseeching
him, and saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy,
grievously tormented. And Jesus saith unto him, I will
come and heal him. The centurion answered and said,
Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof,
but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. For
I'm a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say
to this man, go, and he goeth. And to another, come, and he
cometh. And to my servant, do this, and he doeth it. Verse
10, when Jesus heard, he marveled and said to them that followed,
Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no,
not in Israel. That's a man whom God saved.
Can you see it? That's someone who'd been given
great faith. You know, when the Lord would say things like, I've
not seen so great faith, that thy faith hath saved thee. He
gives the faith. Don't forget that. Faith's the
gift of God. Faith is the work of the operation
of God, something God does in a person. God saved that man. We don't come to the Lord and
ever fall down at his feet or cry unto him, Lord, desperate
with a need. We don't come to him and say,
Lord, I'm unworthy of you. I'm unworthy of your... Attention,
I'm unworthy of your healing hand. That's someone God saved. I love that. I love how he told,
I love the context there, verse nine. He said, I'm a man who
has authority. In my flesh, you could say I'm
somebody. That man told us he was a nobody. I love that. I'm
somebody, but I'm a nobody. I love that. I'm not worthy of you. You remember
that prodigal son when he returned home to his father, his kind,
gracious, loving father? He said, I am no more worthy to be called
your son. Are we worthy to be called God's
son? Well, I made my decision. Well, I love Jesus, as people
say. You know what that sounds like to me? I'm worthy. That's
what it sounds like to me. I'm telling you, every child
of God will confess from the depths of their soul, I'm unworthy.
I'm unworthy. And that's all I will ever be. What a terrible thought to think
that we're worthy of God Almighty. And yet so many people do. If
God hasn't quickened us, we would too. Still, we're not worthy
of His love and favor. We're just not. But there's one
who is. Finally, we're going to get to
the good part. There's one who is worthy. Turn with me to Revelation
chapter 4. If nothing's blessed your soul yet,
I pray this might. Revelation 4, verse 10. Revelation 4, 10. The four and twenty elders fall
down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that
liveth forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the
throne, saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord. to receive glory and
honor and power, for thou hast created all things, and for thy
pleasure they are and were created. The one who is seated on his
throne, the one who lives forever and ever, the one who created
all things, and he did it for his pleasure, according to his
good pleasure. He alone, and we're told that's the Lord, in
case you didn't know. That's the Lord Jesus Christ.
He alone is worthy. I can't tell you how happy it
makes me to get to tell you that. I am unworthy. But the Lord Jesus Christ, he
is worthy. Worthy of what? To receive glory
and honor and power. Turn over a page to chapter five.
He's worthy of us to fall down at his feet and worship him right
now and forever. That's what eternity is going
to be. That's what heaven is. Sitting at Christ's feet, worshiping
Him. Praising Him. Giving thanks unto Him. Forever. I can't wait. Revelation 5, look at verse 11.
I wanted to read the whole chapter, but there's just not time. Revelation
5, 11. And I beheld, and I heard the
voice of many angels round about the throne, and the beasts, and
the elders. And the number of them was ten thousand times ten
thousand, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, Worthy
is the Lamb that was slain, to receive power, and riches, and
wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing And every creature which is in
heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as
are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying,
saying everybody's gonna be saying this for all eternity. Blessing,
and honor, and glory, and power be unto him that sitteth upon
the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever. What do we
say to that? The four beasts said amen. And the four and twenty others
fell down and worshiped him that liveth forever and ever." When
we hear that, what do we want to do? Do we want to say amen?
Do we want to fall down at his feet and worship him forever
and ever? Oh, I pray it would be so. Worthy is the Lamb. Salvations
of the Lamb. All glory to the Lamb. No wonder
John the Baptist said, Behold the Lamb. You look to the Lamb.
We sing a song, Look to the Lamb of God. Don't look anywhere else.
Don't glory in anyone or anything else. Oh, look to Him. Oh, may
God cause us to look to Him. Now I want to close this message
with something glorious. It's a text, very familiar text for
a lot of people, but perhaps someone here doesn't know it.
I hope someone doesn't know it. Turn to Philippians chapter 2. This
is so good. Philippians 2. What I'm about to say is the
most important thing I have to say, all right? About to wrap
this up. Philippians chapter 2, look at
verse 5. Philippians 2, 5. Let this mind
be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the
form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God. but made
himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant,
and was made in the likeness of men, and being found in fashion
as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly
exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name, And
right here in verse 10 and 11, this is exactly what we just
read in Revelation, verse 10. That at the name of Jesus, every
knee should bow of things in heaven and things in earth and
things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Now, let me
make a few comments and we'll be done. The worthy one, Christ. tells us he made himself of no
reputation. Here's what that means. I never
knew this. It means he made himself empty. You know, that's what
we are, is empty. He made himself, he who is equal
with God, he who is God, made himself empty. He came into this
world, God, as a servant. You know, people wanted to make
him king. He is king. He shall forever be king. They
mockingly hailed him as king. But the king of heaven, the king
of glory came here on purpose as the servant. Isn't that amazing? He humbled himself. He came in
the likeness of men, his creatures that he created. He humbled himself. He became obedient. He was the
obedient servant. Obedient unto death. He came
to die a death. The death of the cross. Let's consider that for just
a moment. Our Lord came to die on a cross. Life himself came
and died. The only one who is worthy of
God Again, he is God. He came here and traded places
with unworthy sinners. I say this with the utmost fear
and trembling. Our Lord made himself to be unworthy. He who alone is worthy made himself to be unworthy in
order to make his chosen elect people, chosen in him, worthy
to stand before God accepted. I believe that's okay to say
because the scriptures say he became us. He was made sin. He was made a curse. God ever gets a hold of us with
that glorious truth. Oh my soul, we're gonna say exactly
what Paul said, aren't we? I'm unworthy. I'm unworthy. It's no wonder Paul preached
the unworthiness of himself, the unworthiness of man, and
the worthiness of Jesus Christ, our Lord. I wanna leave you with
the words of a song. I've only ever heard this song
sung one time. Some dear brethren from Texas
came and sang this to us at our Damble conference years ago.
I believe it's called Unworthy. Maybe some of you know it. I'll
read you a few of the words. Unworthy am I of the grace that he gave. Unworthy to hold to his hand.
Amazed that a king would reach down to a slave. This love I
cannot understand. Unworthy, unworthy. a beggar, in bondage and alone. But he made me worthy, and now
by his grace, his mercy has made me his own." Is that your story? Oh, may God bless his word. Let's have a word of prayer.
Our gracious God, Heavenly Father, we thank you for your precious
word. Oh, the word of life. Thank you
for the Apostle Paul's testimony that you wrought in him and for
him. I pray that you would cause every
soul here and our loved ones and our Children to know that
we're unworthy of you were unworthy to stand in your sight, but that
Christ our Savior is worthy cause us to trust in him and bow to
him. Seeing him is all our acceptance, all our hope to stand before
you, all our righteousness, all our plea cause him to be all
we need. Lord, I pray for the afflicted
in this congregation. We we think of Brother Joe and Sister Eleanor,
we pray for them, Lord, be with them in the days to come. Be
with all your people who are sick. There are many more, Lord,
going through great tribulation. Pray that you restore Pastor
Donnie to health and bring him back here and allow these dear
brethren to continue worshiping you together. Thank you for your
goodness. Forgive us of our sins. I pray
that this message, that your word might be a blessing to your
saints, Lord. Forgive us, direct us, every step we take, may it
be to your glory. Lord, never let us go. We ask
it in Christ's name, amen. Thank you, brother. He is the
worthy one, isn't he? Our Lord Jesus Christ is certainly
worthy to be worshipped. Let's stand together and sing
number 29 in our course books. 29 in the course books, and we'll
be dismissed. you On a hill far away died the Christ
of the cross. He yielded to suffering and shame. He died in my place, the purpose
of God's tearful flee. So I'll cherish the Christ of
the cross And before His throne I'll bow down I will cling to the Christ of
the cross For Thee is the King I must crown. O the Christ of the Cross, so
despised by the world, as a wondrous attraction to me. He, the dear Lamb of God, left
his glory above to bear So I'll cherish the Christ of
the cross And before His throne I'll bow down I will cling to
the Christ of the Cross, for He is the King I must crown. In the Christ of the cross, and
His blood so divine, a marvelous beauty I see. For he opened my eyes that long
had been blind to behold him now on his throne. So I'll cherish And before His throne I'll bow
down I will cling to the Christ of the cross For He is the To the Christ of the cross I
must ever be true His shame and reproach gladly bear For in love
he constrains Till all shall be gained And his glory forever
I share So I'll cherish the And before His throne I'll bow
down I will cling to the Christ of the cross For He is the King You're dismissed. We'll meet
again Wednesday evening. Lord willing.