Amen and amen. What a wonderful
truth. Go tell it on the mountain. And
we're going to do that today right here at Grace Gospel Fellowship.
Anyone here for the first time? First time, we're glad to have
you. God bless you. Welcome, welcome. We're delighted
that you're here. Well, I know it's been another
disturbing week. with regard to the killings in
California. I want to tell you the good news
is that we win. Amen. I know the end of the story.
Some things are going to happen, but in the end, Jesus Christ
triumphs, and we win. I want you to know, too, and
just to be aware that This present administration is doing its best
to disarm the citizens of this country. If you can't see that,
there's something bad wrong. I want to encourage each of you
to get your gun permit to pack. I know that, and I'm still smiling. That would be a wonderful thing.
You ought to protect yourself because we're not being protected. And as a shepherd, I have to
guard the sheep. Some of you may not agree with
the shepherd, but those of you who do, I hope you'll get your
gun permit and that you'll pack and don't give up your guns.
Don't turn them in. You can see the war on guns.
We don't have a problem with guns. Guns have been around a
long time. We have a problem with terrorists,
whether they're homegrown or from abroad. And if you watch
the news, some of you are probably turned off by the news, but this
is the New York Daily News, hometown newspaper, and it says, God isn't
fixing this. It's up on the screen. God isn't
fixing this. And what they're doing is mocking
the candidates who have said we're praying for the victims,
we're praying for their family, we're asking God to interview
them. Now, that was the headlines last
week. Yesterday or day before, the
headlines of the New York Times was that the head of the National
Rifle Association was a terrorist. I would encourage you to join
the National Rifle Association. You know, and I'm smiling because
the truth is, I know we win, but I know the Bible says, do
all that your hands find to do. We're not to sit on our hands
and act like it's not happening. The truth is, if I'm a Christian
and you come in my house to rape my wife and the house, I'm gonna
shoot you dead as a Christian. God doesn't expect me to sit
on my hands. So I hope you're there. I hope
you're there. And pastors and churches need
to be calling these things out to protect their own people.
Also, talk to your children. If you think your children don't
see the news, one of the great things is, as a mom and dad said,
you tell your kids, you know, as long as daddy, mommy's here,
we're gonna protect you. We love you. God's gonna work
it out. And certainly our children need
to be talked to. I hope you will not be ashamed
to speak out. America is still the greatest
country on earth, and if my people who are called by my name shall
humble themselves and pray. We need a God deliverance in
this nation. All right. I'm still smiling.
I thought about it probably sometimes when you read the newspaper and
you watch the news, it's like you feel hopeless. Don't feel
hopeless. Don't be depressed. We're probably
going to see, I think it'll probably be in my lifetime. Now, I am
so excited about being alive before Jesus comes. And let me
tell you this too. Let me tell you this. When Jesus
comes back and he wages war against the Antichrist crew, it's gonna
be a very little thing. And the Bible says literally
that the word is gonna come out of his mouth and they're all
gonna fall. Remember, let me give you a little
story real quick about how powerful our Christ is. They came to take
him to crucify him, the Roman soldiers. And they said to arrest
Christ, the Savior, the Redeemer, the Messiah. Where is he? And Jesus said,
I'm he. And the Bible says they fell
away backwards. Just at his word. I'm telling you, he's a mighty
Christ. These are exciting times. Don't give up hope. Do all that
your hands find to do. Register to vote. Register to
vote. Let me say that again. Register
to vote. Let me say it again. It's not
quite loud enough. Register to vote. And then vote God. Amen. All right, I feel better
already. I know some of you are going
like, are we in church? Church is going to change in
the last days. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. And I'll tell
you, I know that most of you common sense people are scratching
your head, like right after the terrorist killed those 14 people,
and then some of the most liberal news agencies came out, well,
some thought he said something about his beard. So you feel 14 people because
somebody said something about your beer or somebody said, or
it was a Christmas party. We shouldn't have Christmas parties.
We're going to have several. And we'll have several people
packing at the Christmas party while we celebrate Jesus Christ. See, the whole idea of terrorism
is to put fear in you, to paralyze you. You know, the worst thing
that you can do to me, and it's not bad. I mean, you know, when
I die, it's kind of like this, absent from the body, present
with the Lord. That's right. That's exactly right. So our
future is great. Don't be discouraged. Now with
all of that, I wanna tell you about Our new Women and Children's
Program, the William Davis Women and Children's Center. Things
are just going along so fast up there. On the 18th, the new
elevator, our first elevator installation is going to... I was up there Friday, they've
done landscaping around it. It's already starting to look
so very, very awesome. But the truth is, as soon as
they get finished, which will be the end of January with the
construction part, then we need to furnish that building. And
we need 106 beds. And the beds, get this, I'll
bet no one here has a bed like this. The beds are bed bug proof. And therefore, they cost $370
a piece. So we need $39,000, $40,000, let's say, for the beds and mattresses. And what we hope
to do is raise that $40,000 with the 10th
Avenue North concert, which is the 23rd. So we have $40 tickets
and $20 tickets. And Tracy, are you back there?
There you are. I'm going to have Tracy be right
over there. So while we're singing, and you
want to get the $40 or the $20 tickets, please do that. You know, buy 10 of these and
buy a bed. That would be great too. So,
I'm going to, Tracy, you have some or you need these? All right.
Very good. Tracy's my assistant and she'll
help with that. Okay. So, we have quite a few
announcements here. They make great stocking stuffers. And I guarantee you the gospel
will be heard when you come to the concert. So, and kind of
a younger crowd than I. Well, okay, a whole lot younger
crowd than me. But I hope to pack it out and
raise at least that $40,000 so we'll have the beds paid for.
I just want to thank you. You're such a giving people.
We're up to $110,000 now on the meal ticket. So thank you. Thank you for that. All right.
How's that? Thank you. Colossians 126. Even the mystery which hath been
hid from ages and from generations, but now
is made manifest to his saints. And of course, the passages that
Greg has read to us and for us from Ephesians and from Romans
16.25 says basically the same thing. that there is a mystery that
is being made known. In Romans, the passage says it
is made known through the prophets in the scriptures. I wanna speak
to you today and continue this line of thought. And I'm calling
the message today, The Trail of Blood, a trail that runs all
through the scriptures, beginning in the book of Genesis, right
up to the throne room where Jesus Christ with nail scars sits on
the throne. Oftentimes, and this, I was reminded
of this, I see that several people in our community have, during
deer season, gotten a deer. And I know that many of you who
are hunters who have a deer, got a deer, by the way, keep
those rifles, that oftentimes you wound a deer and then have
to get out of your tree stand and track it. And the way you
track it is with a trail of blood. As the deer loses blood, the
signs are there. I would encourage you to take
your Bibles and began to track this, that there is a trail of
blood from Genesis to Revelations. Amen. I always think of the deer as
being the heart and Psalm 42 has been one of my favorite Psalms.
As the heart panteth for the water brooks, so my heart panteth
after thee, oh God. That particular passage refers
to the heart as referred to a deer who has been wounded and it comes
down out of the mountains into the valleys and seeks a place
to get a cool drink of water. I never read that Psalms except,
I think, first of all, of God's people who are so thirsty for
Christ, who hunger and thirst to hear the gospel over and over
again. And I also think of the Savior
himself who cried from the cross, I thirst. Last week, I showed
you from Genesis 3.15 the first drops of blood as we began to
follow the trail of blood through the scripture. And I exhorted
you to see the Bible as a hymn book. And I've been saying that
to you, those of you who've been around here for 37 years, I've
been saying that for 37 years. Look at your Bible as a hymn
book. If you miss that, you miss salvation. You miss Christ. You miss the
great mystery, the redemption story of the Bible. Christ being in the scripture,
the key to scripture. You can know the shortest verse
of the Bible or the longest verse. You can know how many words are
in the Bible. You can know the 10 commandments,
but if you miss this, the Bible is a hymn book that reveals a
mystery that God had before the world was ever created. A mystery. And as you read your
Bible, you will find that mystery unfolding. The mystery unfolds. The Bible talks about the manifold
mystery, the manifold grace of God. And I thought to myself
last night, what does that mean? Well, it means manifold. So I got a piece of paper and
I folded it. And I folded it many times. Elementary,
you say. Yes, but I want you to get this.
In Genesis, there's a mystery starting to be revealed. The
seed of the woman is going to crush the serpent's head. There's
going to be, and there was some blood shedding. God killed two
innocent animals, shed blood, and clothed Adam and Eve with
the skins of those two innocent animals. What does that mean?
Well, it's a hint. It's a hint, so we unfold it. And as you go through the Bible,
which I will try to do between now and Christmas, you will see
it unfolding. Oh, I didn't know that. I see
Christ. in the book of Exodus. I see
Christ in the book of Genesis. I see Christ in the book of Leviticus
that I'll talk about today. And so as it unfold, it gets
gooder and gooder. It gets clearer and clearer.
How glad you ought to be that you have and have been abled
by the grace of God to live in New Testament days. Can you imagine? I don't know how much Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob knew. I know this, they expected a
Messiah to come. They were looking for a lamb.
They were looking for bloodshedding. They were expecting all of that. But think about what God has
shown us. That actually God has come into
the world. Oh, I'm getting ahead of myself.
And it begins to unfold and unfold and unfold. In fact, if you would
read in John 15, where Jesus says, I've got to go away, but
I'm going to be here with you in the person of the Holy Spirit. And I'm going to show you, or
he, he is going to show you all things. He's going to reveal
the great mystery in clearness and plainness. And then Jesus
said in that 15th chapter, he, the Holy Spirit shall be here
with you. I'm going away, but I'll be here
with you. And he, the Holy Spirit shall glorify me. He shall show
you things to come. The Spirit of God shall show
you things to come. And let me just point out, I don't know,
some of you perhaps are sitting here thinking, oh, it's the Spirit
of God who reveals truth, that's true. All truth is revealed truth. If you haven't believed on the
gospel, believed in the Lord Jesus Christ as yet, you haven't
seen yourself a sinner, it's because you're still blind. You're
really in a predicament. Because unless God the Holy Spirit
opens your eyes, you will live and die blind. You will see no
beauty in Christ that you should desire Him. But if the Spirit
of God opens your eyes, turns you inside out, and lets you
see yourself, you will see that you need a Savior and a Redeemer. By the way, for those of you
who don't believe in sin, take a stroll down to California and
see what human depravity is. Get a grasp of what's happening
in our world. People's heads being cut off
and children murdered and killed and the whole uproar that's now
happening. It's all about depravity. It's
all about sinfulness. It's all about the need for God. Amen. And the need for a new
heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. Well,
getting back to John 15. Jesus said, the Holy Spirit shall
glorify meaning. He's going to show you things
to come. They probably didn't clearly understand what Jesus
meant when he said, my face is set like a flint toward Jerusalem. In fact, they even argued with
him. Don't go there. You know they're after you. You know they're going to kill
you. And Jesus said something like
this, my hour is not yet come, but my hour will come. What hour? Well, it's still a mystery, but
the Holy Spirit was going to unfold that mystery to the disciples. They were very disheartened when
Christ was crucified. They didn't get it. Jesus Himself
said, I must suffer and die at Jerusalem. I have to do that. It was all in that mysterious
plan and purpose. And so we see a blood trail. in the Scriptures, Christ being
the key to Scripture. 1 Peter 10 says this, of which
salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who
prophesied of the grace that should come unto you, searching
what or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in
them did signify when he It testified beforehand that the sufferings
of Christ and the glory should follow. Unto him it was revealed
that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the
things which are now reported by them that have preached the
gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven,
which things the angels desire to look into." Now, that was
a whole lot. of when Greg brought attention
to the angel up here. And I suppose they look like
that, I don't know exactly. But at any rate, do you know
the angels are here today? I'm not talking about that one,
I'm talking about angelic spirits are here. They listen to me preach
every Sunday. When I really lift Christ up,
they get excited. as I take the blood trail." And
they began to see what was going on in Genesis and they see what's
happening in Revelation, what's going to happen. They get happy.
In fact, the Revelation says they get so happy that they began
to sing. And we get excited too when we're
over there and angels and an innumerable number of people
began to say worthy as the lamb that was slain to receive glory
and honor and praise. And it sounds like thunder. Angels
are here today. And they'll get to learn something
about the gospel as you do too and more about the gospel of
God's grace. Here's what Jesus said. And he
said this to church going people. He said this to the Pharisees.
He said this to people who thought they were better than other people.
The Pharisees, by the way, the Pharisees are still with us.
And Jesus said this in the gospel of John chapter five in verse
39. He said, Jesus said this to them,
search the scriptures, read your Bible. For in them you think
you have eternal life, and they are they which testify of me."
That's what Jesus said about the Bible. Hey, you church-going
folks, it's not all about the Ten Commandments. Jesus said,
it's about me. Read your Bible. So if you go
to church somewhere where it's not about Christ, you need to
find a new church. They're off course. All of the
hocus and pocus of religion and the formality and all of that
stuff just doesn't matter. You can praise God under the
maple tree. Outside, anywhere where you lift
up Jesus Christ. I want to, yes, that's true. When the Holy Spirit comes, Jesus
said, he's going to glorify me. And what I'm getting at is he
did a right good job of it in the scriptures. The Bible is
a book written by the Holy Spirit. He's the author of this book,
not Paul or Peter. This is the inspired word of
God. And so the Holy Spirit moved
men to write these things. and gives us this trail of blood
that runs throughout the scriptures. You know, I know you know this,
but can I just do it one more time for you? I've done this
so many times, but I want to do it again. I brought some of
my old notes and I want to just read you some things. You'll
be all right. Jesus said there in John, when
the Holy Spirit has come, he shall guide you into all truth,
into all truth. In other words, to crystallize
it, to focalize it, to centralize it, our Lord says the Bible is
all about me. The scriptures testify of me. The Old Testament cries, behold,
he comes. The four gospels put their sad
emphasis on, behold, he dies. But the acts of the apostles
follow with, behold, he lives. The epistles join the chorus
with, behold, he saves. The revelation completes this
chorus with, behold, he reigns. That's it. He comes, he dies,
he lives, he saves, he reigns. They are they which testify of
me. The blessed lines of both New
Testament and Old Testament meet in him. The Bible, having been
composed at intervals of hundreds of years, yet with one chain
of truth, one message, God built up all the books of this Bible,
saw his end, and made reference to that end in every stage of
revelation. Christ is here in the Bible from
cover to cover. You and I, like the Sadducees,
do err in not knowing the Scriptures. If in our Bibles all we see or
look for are laws and precepts, do's and don'ts. Always look
for Christ when you read your Bible. The discovery of Christ
and his salvation explains the whole record of Scripture. Every
part of our Bible is meant to teach us Christ. Jesus, the Messiah,
is everywhere to be found in the Old Testament, in the promises
to Adam, Abraham, Moses, and David, in the types and emblems
of the ceremonial law, in the predictions and the other prophets. Christ is not merely in the Gospels
and Epistles. Christ is to be found directly
and indirectly in all the Scriptures. Moses spoke of me. That's what
Jesus said. I didn't say that. Moses spoke
of me. The first five books of the Bible.
Moses' writings are full of Christ. Nowhere did he not write of Christ. Moses and Christ must both be
accepted. You say, well, I believe the
Old Testament. Well, the Old Testament is just
pointing to somebody's coming. If you accept the writings of
Moses, you've got to accept the writings of the New Testament.
Amen. Full of acceptance. Moses, whom
you invoke against me, Jesus said, will testify against you. They are they, the Old Testament
scriptures are they which testify of me. Luke 24, 27 says this,
our Lord began at Moses and all the prophets and expounded in
all the scripture the things concerning himself. Are you following
me? You still with me? Christ. That's what this book is all
about. Jesus Christ, the great mystery, the Lord Jesus Christ. Here's what the Bible says. Christ
was the coming prophet greater than Moses, whose glorious advent
filled the pages of the prophets. Christ was the true seed of the
woman who was to bruise the serpent's head, the true seed in whom all
nations were to be blessed, the true Shiloh to whom the people
were to be gathered, the true scapegoat, the true brazen servant,
The true lamb to which every daily offering would point, the
true high priest of whom every descendant of Aaron was a figure,
of whom every priest was a type. Every part of the tabernacle
was a shadow of the substance. The old patriarchs indeed did
see a person, a coming person. They all saw him afar off. but
on him they fixed their eyes, their gaze. He was David's king,
fairer than the children of men. He was Solomon's altogether lovely
one. He was Isaiah's child king, a
son of a virgin with shoulders strong enough to bear the government.
He was Jeremiah's branch of righteousness. He was Ezekiel's plan of renown. He was Daniel's stone cut without
hands. He was Joel's hope of the people.
He was Obadiah, the deliverance upon Mount Zion. He was to Micah,
the turning again to God. He was the one Nahum saw up on
the mountains, publishing peace. He was the anointed of whom Habakkuk
sang as going forth for salvation. He is the true Zerubbabel who
shall bring forth the headstone with shoutings of grace, grace,
grace. He himself being the dawn of
the day when holiness shall be upon the bells of the horses.
He is the Son of Righteousness of Malachi's dream. His name
is Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father,
the Prince of Peace. He is the Rose of Sharon. He
is the Lily of the Valley. He is the Bright and Morning
Star. He is the Fairest of Ten Thousand. He is Alpha and the
Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.
He is the Most High God, Possessor of Heaven and Earth. His name
is Jesus, Savior, Redeemer, and Lord. He is the way, the truth,
and the life. He is the shadow of a rock in
a weary land. He is the light in our salvation,
our fortress, and our high tower. He is the bread of life. He is
the light of the world. He is the good shepherd that
giveth his life. for the sheep. He's the water
of life. He's the living vine. He's the
door by which we enter heaven. He's the resurrection and the
life, the author and the finisher of our faith. Let it be a subtle
principle in our minds in reading the Bible that Christ is the
central son of the whole book. Let us keep our eyes on Jesus
Christ. Amen. I thought last night and jotted
these things down. The Bible says my king is king
of the Jews. And then I wrote this. He is
king of Israel. He is the king of righteousness.
He is the king of heaven. He is the king of glory. He is
a sovereign king. Though no means of measure can
define His limitless love, He is the greatest phenomena that
has ever crossed the horizon of this universe. He's enduringly
strong. He's entirely sincere. He is
eternally steadfast. He is imperially powerful. He
is immortally graceful. He is impartially merciful. He
is God's Son. He's the center Savior. He's
the centerpiece of civilization. He stands alone in Himself. He's
august. He's unique. He's unparalleled. He's unprecedented. He's supreme. He's preeminent. He's the loftiest
of literature. He's the highest personality
in philosophy. He is the supreme problem in
higher criticism. He is the fundamental doctrine
in true theology. He's the cardinal necessity of
spiritual religion. He is the miracle of the age.
He is the superlative of everything good that you choose to call
him. He's the only one able to supply
all our needs simultaneously. He supplies strength for the
weak. He's available for the tempted
and tried. He sympathizes and He saves. He guards and He guides. He heals
the sick. He cleanses the lepers. He forgives
sinners. He discharges debtors. He delivers captives. He defends
the feeble. He blesses the young. He serves
the unfortunate. He regards the aged. He rewards
the diligent. He beautifies the meek. He's
the key of knowledge. He is the wellspring of wisdom.
He's the doorway of deliverance. He's the pathway to peace. He's
the roadway of righteousness. He's the highway of holiness.
He is the gateway of glory. He is master of the mighty. He
is captain of the conquerors. He is head of the heroes. He
is overseer of the overcomers. He's the governor of governor.
He's the prince of the princes. His office is manifold. His problems
are sure. His goodness is limitless. His
mercy is everlasting. His love never changes. His word
is enough. His grace is sufficient. His
reign is righteous. His yoke is easy, and his burden
is light. He is indescribable. He is incomprehensible. He is invincible. He is, hallelujah,
He is irresistible. The heavens cannot contain him,
let alone a man explain him. You can't get him out of your
mind. You can't get him off your hands. You can't outlive him. You can't live without him. The
Pharisees couldn't stand him, but they found out they couldn't
stop him. Herod couldn't kill him. Death
couldn't handle him, and the grave couldn't hold him. He's
always been, and he always will be. He had no predecessor. There was nobody before him,
and there'll be nobody after him. And the truth is you can't impeach
him, and he's not going to resign. He's King of Kings and Lord of
Lords. Amen. Okay. All right. All right, I feel better. the trail of blood. You see all
of this began before the foundation of the world. God planning and
God purposing. And now we at this time of year
began to center our minds on that one has come to earth. What we preach and proclaim in
this great mystery is that God has come to earth, not to spy
out our sins, but to deliver us from our sins. He came to
give himself a ransom for many, to die in our room and in our
stead and take our place. And you know what? I'm going
to finish this next week. because I haven't got to the
blood trail yet. The blood trail all through the
Bible. I hope you read it now and it
becomes a new book to you. Especially when you get in all
those genealogy stuff. So-and-so begets, so-and-so,
and so-and-so begets, so-and-so, and so-and-so begets, so-and-so,
and so-and-so begets. And you're going, why? But every once in a while, And
those genealogies, you'll find him and his genealogy. You know, there's a harlot in
his genealogy. That's right. There's some bad
folks in his genealogy and God used them. And then John said in the gospel
of John, in the beginning was the word and the word was with
God. And then verse 14 says, and the
word became flesh and tabernacled among us. So in this Christmas
season, I want you to be thinking about this. It'll make you raise
your hand in the mall. God has come to earth to save
me. I long for the day when I'm over
at Somerset in Macy's. We're not going to be bashful
about God, our Savior. You look at the terrorists and
those folks, they're not bashful about their God and their God's
wicked. I can tell you that. You won't
find that with the Christian God. He's merciful and gracious
and he's long suffering. And he came to save sinners like
us. That was his whole purpose. So,
and I want you to think too, the next time you see a piece
of paper folded, I want you to think about it. The manifold
mystery. You think about some of you.
Some of you have only been converted a very short time and you're
struggling in life. I want you to think about this.
Crack's nothing. Heroin's nothing. By the way,
I'll just tell you this. I just might as well say it.
Go green. Now, I said that for a purpose.
I said that for a reason. Greg Geider said, this is Ohio's
colors. I thought to myself, hide those
things. Anyway, actually, Man of Grace got that scarf last
night for me from McDonald's. But what I was going to say is,
you know what I thought while I was watching that football
game last night? As I watched that football game,
of course, I was for Michigan State. As I watched that football
game, I thought, how trivial compared to this, God has come
to earth. I actually thought that. And
I thought, in all of this mess, we're getting, in all of this
mess, we get so excited about small things. You know, a hundred
years from now, you won't even remember who won that game. It won't matter. But I'll tell
you, when we've been there 10 billion years, we've no less
days to sing His praise than when we first begun. As things get worse, and they
most likely will, this church will take a stand for the gospel
of Jesus Christ. We will do what we can, and we
will remember this. We will remember this. There's
a great day coming. There's a day when the trump
of God shall sound, the dead in Christ shall be raised. You
know, I've got a lot of folks already in heaven. I know Jesus
is there and I want to be there and he's, he's central, but I
have an infant son who's there. I have a two, three grandmothers
who are there. Great grandmother, great grandfather,
dad, mom, Milton, Men of grace that have gone on
to be the Lord. Herb's still up there talking
90 miles an hour. I mean, just think about it.
I'm nearer home than I was yesterday. Whatever comes, God is working
everything for my good and for His glory and honor and praise.
So, church, I'm going to do my best to not let you get down,
not let you get gloomy. Stay on the firing line and fight
the battle, but don't get down. Look up. Amen. Amen. All right. I thought you guys would have
already made your way. You don't believe me when I say
it next week. Let's stand together. It's 1203. We're going to sing
his praise. Let me encourage you. Today would
be a great day for you to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. to
trust him. Say, pastor, I think I saw it
today. I think the mystery, I think
the scales was taken off my eyes today. I see what Christianity
really is. It's him coming to earth to his
own glory and praise to save us, to redeem us, to be a substitute,
to pay our sin debt, the blood trail. There is a fountain filled
with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins, and sinners plunge beneath
that flood, lose all their guilty stains. Think about this. Everything
that you've ever done that's bad and wrong and sinful, the
blood of Jesus Christ wipes it all out, removes your sin as
far as the East is from the West. Let's sing together. Sing it
with us. Silent night.