One of the things that I enjoy
most, and I, like Barnard used to say,
I'm not preaching now, I'm telling the truth, but I do honestly enjoy, thoroughly
enjoy sitting down and listening to a person talk who knows what
they're talking about. I enjoy that, I flat enjoy that. If I feel like that an individual is experienced in a certain field,
that he's not talking about what he read or what somebody else
said, but he's talking from experience in his field and he is to some
degree an expert in that field, I delight, I thoroughly enjoy
listening to that person talk. Some time ago I was in a home
and a young man in this congregation, Brother Tom Harding over here,
was talking to us about the religion of Mormonism. And he wasn't talking
to us out of a book he had read about but he was talking out
of his own personal experience. He lived it, he had been in it,
he had been successful in it, and he was telling us about what
he knew. Now, that's enjoyable, and that
goes for you men who are successful in your various fields. I like
to hear you talk. I like to hear you talk about
your business, and I like to hear you talk. You used to talk
about contracting. I enjoy hearing somebody talk
about something they know something about. Well, our Scripture this
morning is written by a man who knows what he's talking about.
This isn't hearsay. Now, here you've got in this
Scripture, you've got someone talking to us who has been an
old, dead religious Pharisee. Paul was an expert at being a
Pharisee. Spurgeon said one time, whatever
Paul did, whether he was in rebellion or whether he was in repentance,
he did it with all his heart. He never did anything halfway.
And here's one who was an old Pharisee, steeped in religion,
steeped in legalism, steeped in denominationalism, steeped
in ritualism, steeped in self-righteousness. He knew religion. Turn with me
to Philippians chapter 3 and listen to him talk about himself.
He knew religion. He knew how useless it was. He
knew there was no joy and no peace in ritualism and ceremonialism
and self-righteousness. He knew that. And he said in
Philippians 3, 4, watch this, "...though I might also have
confidence in the flesh." If any man, any of you fellows think,
that you have whereof you might trust in the flesh, religiously,
in your works, and laws, and duties, and deeds, I more, more
than you. For he said, I was circumcised
the eighth day of the stock of Israel of the tribe of Benjamin,
a Hebrew of Hebrews, as touching the law of Pharisee concerning
Zeal. I persecuted the Church. as touching
the righteousness which is in the law blameless." Now, I climb
as high as you can climb, he said. Self-righteous, religious,
a law-abiding traditionalist. He knew religion. This man is
an expert on the subject of being religious but lost. All right,
secondly, this man speaking here is a sinner. who had been truly
broken at the feet of Christ on the road to Damascus. God
broke him. God brought him to the feet of
Christ. You've read his experience. He
said he had secured papers from the high priest and from those
in command to go down into Damascus and commit to prison people who
were worshiping the name of Jesus Christ on the way to Damascus.
He said, At midday I saw a great light, and I heard a voice saying,
Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, I cried, Who
art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus of Nazareth,
whom thou persecutest. And Saul of Tarsus was stricken
blind. and thrown off his horse in the
dust. And they led him away from that
spot, a blind man, until God later restored his sight. And
along with restoring his physical sight, he gave him spiritual
sight. He said, I obtained mercy. He
said, where sin did abound, where sin did overflow, oh, he said,
I was injurious. I was a persecutor, but I obtained
mercy. This is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation that Jesus Christ came into this world
to save sinners, sinners, of whom I am the chief, of whom
I am the chief. This man knew something about
being brought from darkness to light. from the depths of depravity
to the kingdom of God's dear Son. He was speaking from experience. And then thirdly, here is God's
chosen vessel to speak. Here's God's chosen vessel, Christ
said, to bear His name before the Gentiles. I want you to look
at this scripture in Acts chapter 9. You talk about a man who knows
what he's talking about. You're talking about a man that's
got a right to talk. You're talking about a man that
ought to be heard. This was a man experienced in
religion without Christ. Here's a man experienced in rebellion
and sin and powerfully, supernaturally brought from that place, the
place of worship and faith in Christ. And here's a chosen vessel. God sent Ananias down to talk
to Paul, Saul of Tarsus, and the Lord said, listen to verse
15, the Lord said to Ananias, go your way. And you know Ananias
had said, I've heard about this man Saul of Tarsus, how he persecutes
people, commits people to prison. God said, now go your way, go
your way. He is a chosen vessel unto me. to bear my name before the Gentiles
and kings and children of Israel. Now, brethren, when I had a bad disc in my back,
and on recommendation from some friends, I made a trip all the
way to Cleveland, Ohio, to a man whom I believe is one of the
best neurosurgeons in this country. And I sat in his office, saw
some other people, and then they led me into a smaller office
and sat down, and he came in. I admired him, I respected him,
I knew he knew his business. You know what I did? Bob, I listened
to him. I didn't, I just answered questions. I didn't tell him what I thought
it was, because I didn't know. I didn't advise him about how
to do his business. I sat there with my mouth shut
and listened to him, and listened to him. And I'll tell you this,
the same thing goes for any other area where a man is an expert,
where he knows what he's talking about. And we're sitting at the
feet this morning of the Apostle Paul who's an expert. Let's listen. if I could just get myself and
you and everybody to whom we preach to quit being experts
ourselves. So opinionated. Our thoughts
are not his thoughts, our ways are not his ways, so let's see
if we can't listen to somebody who knows his thoughts and knows
his ways. And Paul, Paul had, God brought
him through all of these experiences to minister to us. He went through
all this religious training and all this religious Phariseeism
and all this religious experience. He went through that, that he
might be brought to this place to speak these words. And I'll tell you this, something
else about him. He was the old Pharisee. He was a sinner broken
by the power of God and brought to the feet of Christ. He was
a chosen vessel. to bear the name of Christ to
the Gentiles. He was a missionary to the world,
a missionary to the world, the founder of churches, the writer
of Holy Scriptures. He knows the Word. And fourthly,
here's the old warrior, bearing in his body the scars of persecution
and trial. He paid for what he believed.
He paid the consequences. He dared to boldly declare the
gospel of God's grace, and he bore in his body scars to prove
it. And he was about to close out
his ministry, he was about to go to be with his Lord, and he
wrote to his friends at Ephesus. He wrote to his friends. People,
here's a man, the old warrior, just about to fold up the tent
and lay it aside, and go to be with the Lord. And he writes
to his friends, his friends at Ephesus. These people were special
to him. In fact, he shared with them
one of his most critical hours. Sometimes if you want to take
the time to read it, I'll show you where it is. It's over here
in Acts 20. One of his critical hours, he was about to go to
Jerusalem, and he said, and he had been warned by the prophets
that Bonds in prison was waiting on him. And he'd been warned
by the Holy Ghost that they would never see his face again. But
you know who he sent for? The elders at Ephesus. In this
critical hour, in this time of farewell, in this last message
the old warrior had to preach before he went to Jerusalem,
to suffer and die for Christ, He called, look at Acts chapter
20, and it's verse 17. And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus
and called for the elders of the church. And then they had
come to him. He said to them, and there's
the message that he spoke to them in Acts chapter 20. You
can read it later. You can read it later. But in
the midst of it, he says this. He says that he's going to be
going away in verse 22. And now, behold, I go, bound
in the Spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall
befall me there, except the Holy Ghost witnesses in every city,
saying that bonds and afflictions await me. But none of these things
move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might
finish my course with joy. And the ministry which I have
received of the Lord Jesus to testify the gospel of the grace
of God, I show you that to show you this, that these people to
whom he was writing were special. Special. Now, what does he write? What does he say? He begins in
verse 1. He says, Paul, an apostle of
Jesus Christ by the will of God. to the saints which are at Ephesus,
to the faithful in Christ Jesus. Grace be to you and peace from
God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Bless God. What does he write? He begins
with a doxology. He begins with a hymn of praise
to God. Bless God. Praise God. Adoration and glory be to God. Blessed be the God. and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ. I thought when I read this and
was preparing the message, bless God, praise God, all adoration
and glory be to God. What poor creatures we are. I
am. What poor creatures we are who
have not the understanding nor the will nor the vocabulary to
praise God as He ought to be praised. I'm not talking about
jumping up and running around. I'm not even talking about raising
our hands openly and outwardly and making all kind of signs.
I think people can do that and not praise God. But I'm talking
about that genuine, genuine, sincere, heart praise. that goes up to glory, up to
God. Like in Psalm 135. Turn over
there a minute. Let me show you something. Psalm
135. Listen to this. Psalm 135. Let me just read a
few verses here. And you know, this praising God
can be done openly or inwardly, outwardly, quietly. But it's a heart condition and
a heart expression. We murmur well. We've got the
vocabulary for griping and murmuring. We're all well equipped for that. We've got the understanding and
we've got the will to murmur. But all for the understanding
and the vocabulary and the will to praise God, bless God. Listen to Psalm 135. Praise ye
the Lord. Praise ye the name of the Lord.
Praise him, O ye servants of the Lord, ye that stand in the
house of the Lord, in the courts of the house of our God. Praise
the Lord, for the Lord is good. Saying praise is unto his name. It's pleasant. Isn't that pleasant? And I'm not talking, please don't
misunderstand me. I'm not looking for folks to
jump up like popcorn here and say, hallelujah, praise the Lord,
so forth. I'm talking about if we could
just do it quietly, personally, individually, sincerely, from
the heart. Praise God. Well, thank God. Look, turn over one page. Psalm
135, verse 19. Listen. Bless the Lord. Bless
His name. O house of Israel, bless the
Lord! O house of Aaron, bless the Lord! O house of Levi, ye that fear
the Lord, bless the Lord! And right out here, O house of
Bartram, O house of Pennington, O house of Payne, O house of
Let's bless the Lord. That's what he's saying. That's
what the writer of Scripture here is saying. Bless the Lord! Ever has. Ever has. Let it be a little church in
itself to praise God. That's the way. When Paul, when
this man, he knows what he's talking about now. He's no novice. It's as though Brother Barnard
said, this is no one gallus evangelist coming through town. This is
the old Pharisee, the old sinner saved by grace, the chosen vessel,
the old warrior about to lay it down. He writes to his friends,
says, well, bless God. Bless God. Why? All right, let's
read. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ. First reason we bless God is
because he is God. I do wish this, and I'm talking
to me, that I could bless and praise God, not just because
of his gifts, but because he's the giver. Bless God for himself. Bless God because he's worthy
to be blessed. He's worthy to be praised because
he's God. He's infinite holiness. He's
infinite wisdom. Do you admire wisdom? Then you
ought to admire God. He's infinite wisdom. Do you
admire purity? Do you admire perfect purity? The glory and whiteness of perfect
holiness, do you? Then God is worthy to be praised.
He's perfect holiness. Do you love somebody who loves,
who shows forth that unselfish love? Pure love. Love because it loves, not because
someone deserves it or buys it. I sure do. Then you ought to
love God. He's perfect love. He's worthy to be. He's infinite
power. He's infinite justice. He's infinite
righteousness. He's God. Blessed. bless God, and not only because
He's God, but because He's the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, my friends, listen to me.
I would never be guilty of dividing the Trinity in any way, setting
one against the other. I worry about people who talk
about the Old Bible and New Bible. I worry about people when you
read a scripture, they say, oh, that's in the Old Testament.
I worry about people who seem to think that that God of the
Old Testament is somewhat different from the Christ of the New Testament.
Let's never divide the Trinity. The Lord Jesus Christ came into
this world because God loved. The Lord Jesus Christ did not
come into this world and die on the cross in order to create
love in the heart of God. He came because God loved. For God so loved the world, He
gave His only begotten Son. The Lord Jesus Christ came into
this world not to create mercy and love in the heart of God,
but to enable God to exercise that love and mercy and still
be God. We need to learn those things.
The Redeemer's death is not the cause of God's love, it's the
results of God's love. Bless God because He is God. Bless God because He's the Father,
He's the Giver, He's the Sender of our Lord Jesus Christ. Bless
God. Praise God. And then thirdly,
this old warrior says, blessed be God. and the Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us." Bless God because He hath
blessed us. He did it. He did it. He's the giver of every good
and perfect gift. He's the source of every mercy.
He's the fountain of every comfort. I'll tell you this. I hear people
use this term, and I know sometimes it slips out. I know sometimes
that we say things that we really didn't mean to say. But we say
things, when some blessing comes our way, we say, boy, that was
a good break. That was a good break. He got
a good break. That, we sure were lucky. My
friends, he has blessed us. He hath blessed us. It's God
that... And not only that, watch this.
He hath blessed us. He hath already blessed us. Everything
that we shall ever enjoy, God has already decreed and purposed
to give us. Turn to Romans 8. Romans 8, listen
to this. He hath blessed us. Romans 8,
verse 28. And we know that all things all things. You know, if we really believed
this, if I really believed it, you really believed it, we'd
quit having so many of these mountains and valleys experiences.
We'd quit being hot and cold, up and down, in and out, and
we'd have a more peaceful, a more peaceful and level Living experience day by day
and and I'm not just talking to him talking to me There's
something we feel something goes wrong in God's plan. Nothing
ever goes wrong Like Scott said I hadn't heard any bad news since
I heard the good news Because if I've heard the good news and
even the bad news is good news In this world you shall have
tribulation but be of good cheer I've overcome the world and I've
planted my feet on the rock of ages, and I shall not be moved.
Not only not moved by success, but not moved by poverty or failure. Not only not be moved by elation,
but I'll not be moved by depression. Because whatever happens, big,
little, great, or small, it's for my good. Isn't that what
he says? We believe it up here, don't
we? If you were to give us a test on our Calvinism, we'd make a
hundred. If you, and there's theological Calvinism, we'd make
a hundred. Give us a test on the experiential
Calvinism, we'd probably all flunk. But it says here plainly,
Romans 8, 28, I know that all, yeah, I know, but I don't know.
He said, and I know that all things work together for good
to them who love God. who are called according to his
purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he did predestinate to be conformed
to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among
many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate,
he called whom he called, he justified whom he justified,
all past tense, he glorified. I'm already glorified. He hath
blessed me. It doesn't say He will, plans
to, intends to. He hath blessed me. I'm alright on that, built on
that, trust in that, hope on that, rest in that. He hath blessed
me. And all the demons in hell can't
take it away. He said, I'm the Lord, I change
not. And neither height, nor depth,
nor things present, nor things to come, nor angels, nor principalities
from heaven or hell, nor powers, nor any other creature can separate
me from that love of God in Christ. He has blessed me. Me. Me. You. He's blessed us with
what? All spiritual blessings. Now
brethren, we're such earthbound creatures. I'm going to stop
turning that television on, listening to these preachers. I keep saying
I'm just going to quit listening to them. Quit listening to them. I tell you, we think too much
of this body. All in the world they ever talk
about is driving a bigger car, living in a bigger home. Gettin'
my arthritis straightened out, gettin' my heart healed, gettin'
my hearing back, gettin' my eyesight back, gettin' healed, gettin'
the gifts, gettin' all prosperin', plant your seed, you'll be rewarded.
Rewards, healing, prosperity, financial, we're, that's all
flesh. That's all in the world, all
that junk is flesh. And I don't care how much of
it I have, I'm gonna wind up in a hole in the ground. dead
and a mackerel, back to the dust from whence I came. You know
what I need? I don't need better physical
eyesight. I need some spiritual eyesight. I don't need to be able to hear
you. It'd be better if I didn't. The jump that goes on, it'd be
better if I stoned down. I need to hear Him who speaks
from heaven. I need to hear I don't need to
be able to run up that hill. I can get there after a while
walking. And I don't need to eat right.
I don't need to live to be a hundred. I hope I don't. A hundred years
of this junk's enough too much for anybody. I need to live forever. That's what I... I need these
spiritual blessings Paul's talking about. These spiritual blessings. What are these spiritual blessings
turned to 1 Corinthians 1? That's what I need. I need spiritual
blessings. I tell you this, most people
in financial difficulty got themselves there. Now isn't that about right? We overcharged. I know a lot
of it. is unintentional, and so forth.
But I just think here in the United States of America, we
all try to live above and beyond our means. We need to operate
with what God gave us, what God gave us. We used to. We used
to. But here's what we need in 1
Corinthians 1.30. But of him are you in Christ
Jesus, who of God is made unto us what? Wisdom. And I'll tell you this wisdom
thing. It's understanding. He had come and given us understanding. Wisdom to see God's purpose and
power. Wisdom to see God's grace in
Christ and His glory in the face of Christ. That wisdom is Christ's
wisdom. Righteousness, holiness, perfection. He has given us righteousness. the righteousness of God which
is in Christ. He has given us sanctification. He has set us apart. He has made
us His own. He has separated us from the
thing, the defiled thing. He has taken that which is common
and ordinary and made it godly. I'm His and He's mine. And He
hath given me redemption. I've found a ransom. I've been
paid for. I've been bought and paid for.
I've been redeemed. He hath, He, bless God, the Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, because He's blessed me. What's He blessed
you with? All spiritual blessings. Little word there, all spiritual
blessings. Jesus Christ is made to me All
I need. I don't need one thing that the
law can give. I don't need one thing that the
church can supply. I don't need one thing that I
can supply. I don't need one thing that the
Pope can supply. I don't need one thing that an
angel can supply. I have in Christ all spiritual
blessings. In Him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily, and I'm complete in Him. All I need is
in Christ. Is that right? Why don't we believe
that? Why don't we rest? Why are we
always getting upset and troubled about whether or not we're going
to heaven or not? If Christ is in heaven, I'm going there, because
I've got in Him all I need. All I need. Look at 1 Corinthians
3. Do you know this? This may be
a surprise, but this is true, that God made this world God
started this whole thing and brought it together and is letting
everything go on as it has gone on. For your sakes. That's right, for our sakes.
For Christ and us and we're in Christ. Now listen to this in
1 Corinthians 3, I'll show you. Verse 21. Therefore let no man
glory in me, for all things are yours. AW, all things are yours,
all things eternally purposed and planned, eternally designed
and made, whether it's Paul. Paul was born and lived a fairer
sea. He did that for your sake. His
conversion, his revelations, his writings, that's for your
sake. He's yours. Paul, Apollos, Peter,
You're not his. You know, these religious leaders
get all this power, and they move people around like puppets.
Well, the people aren't theirs. They belong to the people. If
they're God's people, God's servants. Paul said, we preach Jesus Christ
the Lord and ourselves, your servants, for Christ's sake.
We're God's instruments and means that God has supplied to bring
you to Christ. I endure all things for the elect's
sake that they might come to knowledge of Christ. That's what
he's saying. Paul, Cephas, Apollo, the world,
God made the world for you. Or life, you'll live and to live
again. Or death, you'll die to go home. Or things present or things to
come, all are yours. Isn't that so? That's what he's
saying. And you belong to Christ. And
Christ belongs to God. So this whole thing, this whole
shooting match, the sun that shines, the moon that reflects
the light, the stars, the planets, the earth, the creation, the
fall, the restoration, the Christ coming, living, dying, suffering,
buried, rose again, ascending to heaven, the apostles, the
scriptures, That's all for us. That's all for us. He has blessed
us with all spiritual blessings. Now watch this. In the heavenlies. Now my friends, listen to me.
And I know some of these things are necessary, but what I'm trying
to say, what I'm trying to get us to do, I'm trying to get us to do this. Let's put the emphasis where
it belongs, in our affection, where they ought to be, where
a man's treasure is, his heart is, where his heart is, his treasure
is. And some of you have money in the bank. You have money in
the bank, you have businesses. Well, let me tell you something.
They may fail tomorrow. The United States government
may fail tomorrow. I hope not, but it could. In
1929 it did. There's folks jumping off the
Empire State Building in 1929 because they suddenly, they were
one day millionaires, next day they'd have a dime, not a thing. And you've got good health now.
I've got good health. I'm thankful. But I tell you,
I don't know about tomorrow. It may fail tomorrow. We have
houses and lands. See, these are earthly things.
These are earthbound things. We're earthbound creatures and
all these things. These are all temporary. This
is all temporary. But God hath blessed God, the
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings. But these spiritual blessings
are not in this body. They're not in a bank. They're
not in a building. They're in heavenly places. That's
where I live, where thieves don't break through and steal, where
moth and rust does not go up. My heavenly treasures and my
heavenly blessings are where? Where my Savior is, where my
Mediator is. They're at the right hand of
God within the veil. Everything I've got, that's where
it is, Bob. Mike, that's where it is. Everything lasting, everything
worthwhile, You say, is not your family worthwhile? Dear, dear. Your friends, this Church? Dear,
oh yes. But they're going to decay, that's
what I'm saying. Let's use this world, but don't
abuse it. You men work, but don't get it
in the wrong place. Our treasures are where Christ
is now. These spiritual blessings, God
has blessed us physically, God's blessed us materially, God's
blessed us in many ways. But the thing that counts, Paul
said, bless God, He hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings
in the heavenlies. Let's read about it in Hebrews
6. Let's read about it in the heavenlies.
And I'm not preaching down to you. You know that. I don't preach
that way. I'm talking to us. I'm preaching
to us. Now watch this right here. In
Hebrews 6, verse 19, which hope we have as an anchor of our souls,
and it's sure and steadfast, and it enters into that within
the veil. And you know what that's talking
about. You had the Old Testament tabernacle and the holy place
where all the priests came. But in here, the Holy of Holies,
separated by that veil right out here. That veil was right
there. Back here, the Holy of Holies. And in the Holy of Holies,
the ark and the mercy seat, forgiveness, propitiation, grace, God's acceptance. And over that mercy seat, the
Shekinah glory. Oh, to be within the veil. Oh,
once a year the high priest came in there with the blood. God
accepted it. Everything's all right. And brethren,
let me tell you something. That's where I want my treasure,
within the veil. But not this veil. Up yonder,
in the holy place, not made with hands. In the presence of God
himself, listen to the next verse, 20, within the veil, whither,
where the forerunner is for us already entered, even Jesus made
a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. In the heavenly places, these
spiritual blessings that came from heaven, They're of a heavenly
nature. They'll lead to heaven. And Christ,
our forerunner, has already entered into heaven, and we're there
with him. Isn't that great? We have reason to bless God,
to bless God. Let me give you a couple of more
things. He said, bless God, the Father, our Lord Jesus Christ,
who hath blessed us. He has blessed us, past tense,
with all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places. Now,
this is so important. And I said, let's camp here.
They're in Christ. These spiritual blessings that
count, these spiritual blessings that cause us to rejoice. These
spiritual blessings, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
redemption, justification, acceptance, peace, joy, no judgment, no condemnation. Spiritual blessings are ours
and they're within the veil. They're there in our name. In
our name. Because Christ wears our names
on his heart. That's right. They're there.
The four letters already entered in. He's already entered in and
possessed it for us in Christ. And here's where we're most prone
to miss the good news. And here's where we're, this
makes it all, this makes it all, it forfeits it all if you can't
see this. We talk about God's blessings.
We talk about all that God gives. We talk about the spirituality
of what God gives. We talk about a heavenly hope.
But my friend, the source is in Christ. These blessings are
not in me. They're not in the church. They're
not in an altar. They're not in a baptismal pool.
They're not in a sacrament. They're not in religion. They're
not in your do's and don'ts. These blessings are in Christ.
They're in Christ, and I participate in them by a union with Jesus
Christ, and that union with Jesus Christ comes by faith in Christ. Listen to this psalm. In Christ
the Father's sovereign love was freely to me given. In Christ
the Father's righteous grace secured my home in heaven. In
Christ, I have all my soul desires. He is my supreme delight. In
Christ, all that God requires to turn my darkness into His
light. In Christ, the source of all
my bliss, my Savior, brother, friend, my wisdom, my righteousness,
on Him and only on Him do I depend. If you ever come to that place
you say, That's fine. You can walk an aisle, do anything
you want, but you have to come to that place, that place. Let me tell you a story. In the land of Egypt, there were
seven years of plenty, seven years of plenty, followed by
seven years of famine. And Joseph told Pharaoh, he said,
there will be seven years of plenty, followed by seven years
of famine. of famine. So Pharaoh said, all
right, Joseph, you're in charge. He turned over to him the whole
country, its farming, storage, and everything. Well, the seven
years of plenty ended and the famine began. Turn to Genesis
41. Let me show you something. Now,
this is so important here. I want you to turn with me. Genesis
41. This is a type and a picture. And the people were hungry. The
people of other nations were hungry. And it says here in verse
55 of Genesis 41, with me, And when
all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for
bread. And Pharaoh said to the Egyptians,
Go to Joseph, and what he says to you, do. And the famine was
over all the face of the earth, and Joseph opened the storehouses.
sold unto the Egyptians and the famine waxed sore in the land
of Egypt and all the countries Came unto Egypt to Joseph to
buy corn And you see what I'm saying,
this is a good type picture of Christ You go to God you say
I won't forgiveness. He says go to Christ Go to Christ
You see go to all these different sources the world I say go to
Christ and Christ opens the storehouse. But like all types, and I wish
we could get this through our heads, they serve only one purpose
and they're all imperfect. A picture is not the real thing.
An illustration is not the real thing. Joseph filled the storehouses. Joseph had charge of the storehouses. Joseph opened the storehouses.
But wait a minute, Joseph himself was not the storehouse. And that's
what I'm saying about Christ. He fills the storehouses. He
has charge of the storehouses. He opens the storehouse. But
here's the thing. He himself is the storehouse. He is the bread. He is the life. He is my righteousness. He himself. He doesn't just give me sanctification.
He is my sanctification. That'll help us if we can discover
that more than anything else, that he, Christ himself, is these
things. Having him, I have him. Bless
God. We're going to continue this
tonight in the next few verses, get into some old-fashioned grace
preaching. Bless God. He hath blessed us. We're not worthy. I know that.
Good gracious. He doesn't bless worthy people.
He loves unworthy people. Doesn't save righteous. He saves
sinners. with all the spiritual blessings,
and they're in the heavenlies, within the veil, and they're
ever one in Christ. And so I could do what all the
preachers doing this morning, I could say, now let's ever head
bow and ever eye close. Now I want you to tell me, what's
the use in that? I'm tired of tradition. Why? Why you won't bow your head and
close your eyes? Everybody looks around. Everybody knows everybody's
a sinner. You just say a sinner as I am. And you see me, you
bowing your head and me bowing my head. Now everybody here wants
to go to heaven. Raise your hand. I never met
anybody that didn't want to go to heaven. But I'm telling you
this. God has set his king in the holy
hill of Zion. And I'm saying to you, whether
you want to raise your hand or bow your head or what you want
to do, you better fall at his feet and worship him. And that's
a command. That ain't no invitation. Ain't
that right? I'm not inviting anybody to believe
God. I'm telling you, you better believe
God. I'm not inviting anybody to receive Christ as his personal
Savior. I'm commanding every man to repent. and every man and woman to fall
at the feet of Christ and give Him the glory. It's His. And
if you don't do it here, you'll do it in hell. But you're going
to do it. Is that true? That's so now.
That may be hard. You say, that won't get you crowds.
Well, I know it won't. But I tell you this, the people
who will bow, they'll sure be glad. They're sure going to be
glad. And people who are honest say,
that's the truth. that's And that's not some preacher
putting his approval on you. We're seeking God's approval,
not men's. Please be patient with me. I'm
trying to tell the truth. And I tell you, in a world that
doesn't want to hear it, it's hard to do. It's hard to do. It's hard to be truthful when
you've got so many traditions and customs and the way people
do things, not because God said it, because that's how they've
always done it. Our Father, give us these words, not just
words, but these praises in these hearts of ours that we may say
with Paul, bless God, blessed be the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, who himself hath blessed us, unworthy creatures,
with all that we need, all that we need. And our circumstances
and environment doesn't change those mercies because they're
not here, they're in heaven. They're not changeable like the
things of this world, even our fleshly natures. But they're
in heavenly places within the veil wherein Christ, our forerunner,
has already entered and secured them for us because they're in
Him, in Him. and ours because we're in him.
And we thank you. We praise you. Lord, we want
to see people saved. We want to see our young people
brought to knowledge of Christ. But we just don't want to see
some outward walkings and workings. We want to see the results of
your working inwardly. in the hearts of men and women,
faithfulness, loyalty, devotion, dedication, faith in Christ,
grace demonstrated, grace demonstrated. Do that for us. We pray in Christ's