Turn if you will to Hebrews chapter
4. We'll read the last three verses.
Hebrews chapter 4. To set forth the reality of Jesus
Christ, a real savior for real sinners, we could have taken
a text anywhere in God's Word. Let's look at these three verses,
especially verse 1. Hebrews 4 and 14, seeing then
that we have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens,
Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. Don't
waver, don't throw in the towel. We have a great high priest For
we have not a high priest which cannot be touched. He's not unfeeling,
he's not stoic, he cares. We have not a high priest which
cannot be touched with the filling of our infirmities. But was in
all points tempted like as we are, he was made like unto his
brethren, yet without sin, unlike his brethren. Let us therefore
come boldly unto the throne of grace. Let's make use of this
sale. Let's come to him. If we have
such a savior that's full of grace and truth, that can be
touched, that identifies with the cares and the needs and the
heartaches of his people, then what should we do? Try to carry
that burden ourselves? Oh no, let's go to him. Let us
therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may
obtain mercy. Not that we might obtain mercy,
but that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time
of need. Now our greatest need is for
the grace and the mercy that Jesus Christ alone can provide. Notice again verse 14 how it
begins. Seeing them, seeing them in light
of what has already been written concerning Jesus Christ in the
previous chapters of this book. We see there, we come to understand
something about our great high priest. Verse 15, tells us the
high priest that we don't have. And aren't you thankful? He identifies
with us. He's touched with that which
touches us. Jesus Christ is touchable and
he touches his people. For we have not a high priest
which cannot be touched. Come unto me, he said, all ye
that labor and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my
yoke upon you and learn of me, because I am meek and lowly in
heart, and ye shall find rest until your souls come to me. Verse 14 has already told us
we have a great high priest right now. Let's just pause there. Let's
borrow the sealah from the Psalms that we find so often. Let's
just take a time out. Let's just pause. We have a great
high priest. Not that we're going to have,
or we used to have, we have right now. Right now. Regardless of
where now finds us. Regardless if right now we're
hurting, we're crying, we're going through turmoil, That doesn't
change this. We have a great high priest.
Let's go to him. Are you like I am? When I have
a problem that I'm going through something and I think I'm the
only one that's ever went through something like that, I want to
share it with everybody. I want to cry on every shoulder
except the mighty shoulder of my Lord and Savior. I want to
tell everybody, pour out my heart to everyone except the only one
that can really help me. bear that burden and give me
grace to help in time of need. We have a great high priest at
this very moment. He's the same. He never changes. There's no need to change. He's
perfect. He's the same yesterday and today
and forever. In chapter 7 of this book, book
of Hebrews, we read this in verse 24, concerning again our great
high priest. But this man, this man, The God-man. Unlike the earthly priest. Oh,
no, no. Unlike them, this man, because
he can continue with ever. He lives forever. Has an unchangeable
priesthood. Wherefore? Wherefore? Because
he lives forever, he's able to save them to the uttermost that
come unto God by him, seeing, seeing he ever liveth, to make
intercession for us. We have a living reigning, ruling,
real savior right now in heaven. Our great high priest. I ran
across this article, brief article by Brother Henry Mahan. I was
going to use it in the bulletin today, your bulletin today, but
I didn't. Perhaps another time, but I will
share it with you now. Henry said, and this was, this
is, what he wrote about arriving at right doctrine was the title
of this article. He said, a man will arrive at
right doctrine through the knowledge of Christ, but it is possible,
it is possible for him to arrive at orthodox doctrine and yet
not know Christ. I'm not saying because I come
to realize the truth of five points. I'm not saved by five
points of Calvinism, I'm saved by the Lord Jesus Christ. Henry
went on to say, the gospel is not a collection of dry doctrines. No, no, no. But it's the revelation,
the revelation of revealing to my darkened soul, when God turns
the light on, it's the revelation of a living, merciful, and ever-present
Lord. I like that. Right now. Right now he sits on the throne
of grace. The title of my message is this.
Jesus Christ, no imaginary savior. He's no aberration. He's no ghost. He's real. He's not the figment
of our imagination. Oh, not for a child of God. Karl
Marx, he was the founder of communism. And he called religion this.
You may recollect this or heard this expression. It began with
him. He called religion an opiate for the masses. It's something
that the people reach for when they can't find anything else.
Something just to help them make it through life on this earth.
That's all it is. That's all it's good for. And
he considered it just a delusion. Now that may be so. What he said
may be so to a degree concerning mere religion. But knowing Jesus
Christ is something altogether different. Knowing Jesus Christ
is more than a mere religion. Religion is one thing, but knowing
whom I have believed that, now that's a different story. That's
a different tale altogether. To know Jesus Christ, not to
know his doctrine, oh yes, and our glory and rejoice in the
blessed truths of his blessed gospel, but that gospel is all
about his son. The old Puritan Thomas Adams
said, the Word of God is about God the Word, about Jesus Christ
himself. More than once, the disciples
themselves thought Jesus Christ was just an aberration. Remember,
even after he rose from the dead and appeared to them as they
were huddled together in that upper room, afraid. They've killed
the master, they're coming for us next. And he appeared to them,
doors being locked, that was no barrier to him, I will come
to you, he said. I won't leave you comfortless,
I will come to you, nothing can keep me out. And he appears in
the midst of them and says, peace be still, this is in Luke 24.
And remember what their reaction was. They said, oh my soul, they
were troubled. And they said, this is a spirit.
This is a ghost. This is an aberration. And Christ said, A spirit hath
not flesh and bone as you see me have. Let me prove it to you.
Give me a piece of fish. Give me that honeycomb. And he
ate in the presence of them all. Here's another occasion in Matthew
chapter 14. They thought when they saw the
Lord Jesus Christ that he was an aberration, a ghost. Matthew 14 verse 22. You can
turn there if you like. Matthew 14 verse 22. We'll begin
reading there. Here's another occasion that
the disciples saw the Lord Jesus Christ and thought he was a spirit. Verse 22 of Matthew 14. In a
straight way, Jesus constrained his disciples. This was after
feeding the multitude. He constrained them to get into
a ship and to go before him and to the other side while he sent
the multitudes away. And when he had sent the multitudes
away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray. And when the evening
was come, he was there alone. But, but, the ship was now in
the midst of the sea, tossed with waves, for the wind was
contrary. And in the fourth watch of the
night, three o'clock in the morning, Jesus went under them, walking
on the sea. And when the disciples saw him
walking on the sea, they were troubled. Why so troubled? Saying, it is a spirit. It is
a spirit. And they cried out for fear.
You know a more literal translation of what they said would be this.
They said, it's an aberration. It's an aberration. It's a ghost. John Gill said this concerning
that verse of scripture. They thought it was a nocturnal
aberration. The Jews, especially the Pharisees,
had a notion from whom the disciples might have had theirs been influenced
by the same. Aberrations, ghosts, many supposed
aberrations have been merely the creatures of man's own fear
and fancy, their imagination. But Jesus Christ is no ghost. Jesus Christ is no apparition. Jesus Christ is no imaginary
Savior. We just read it. Jesus Christ
is a real Savior. He's a real Savior for real sinners
with real grace that brings a real salvation. He is no ghost. He's not a fairy tale. As we
read in Hebrews 4, he can be touched, not physically, no,
not physically, but just as real. Because after all, in chapter
11, we're given a clear definition of faith. What is it? Faith is
the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not
seen. I do not have to see the Lord
Jesus Christ. One day I will. Now I don't. I can't see him like I see Billy
Cobb sitting there, but that doesn't make him any less real
to me. I see him by faith. Jesus Christ. We see him by faith, the eyes
of faith. He's embraced in the arms of
faith. Just like old Simeon. That's
what prepared Simeon to die. Let me die. Let me face death.
There's nothing else in this world I want to see. These eyes
have seen your salvation and he embraced him in his arms.
That was real. And faith really embraces the
Son of God. It sees Jesus Christ as the one
God and Savior, the only mediator between God and man. Verse 27
here in Matthew 14. But straightway, they said it's
an aberration. They were full of fear. But straightway,
verse 27, Jesus spake unto them saying, Be of good cheer, it
is I. It's not a ghost, it's not an
aberration, it's not a spirit, it's not the figment of your
imagination, it is really me. Don't be afraid. We don't look
through the storm upon the Savior and view him as though he was
unreal. Only imagine why we view the
storm and say, oh, it's real. It's real. This storm is real.
We see a Savior for real sin, and we rejoice in a real pardon,
a pardon which has buried all of our sins, a real salvation,
a salvation which sets our feet up on a rock beyond the reach
of harm that cannot be moved. Yes. Bobby and I talked about
this by text a little bit the other day. Yes, we lament over
our sins as we should. And I suppose we'll do so until
we reach the gates of heaven. Sin can never be too much lamented
over or repented of, but at the same time, at the same time,
I would emphasize this, at the same time, we are not to so mourn
over our sins as to forget that Jesus Christ died, and by his
death and precious blood, he put away my sins. Yes, I'll remit
over my sins, but oh, I'll rejoice in the cure, the Lord Jesus Christ. Know with every note of sorrow
for my sins, may I let left up a joyful song for grace triumphant,
grace that is greater than all my sins. Christ has finished
my transgression. He's made an end of my sins,
and he that believeth in him is not condemned, and he never
will be condemned. Did you hear that? What about
that Billy Cobb? Those that are in Christ Jesus
can never be taken out of Christ Jesus. God put them in, and God
will never take them out. There's no condemnation to those
who are in Christ Jesus. There never will be. There never
can be. Jesus Christ is no ghost. Christ is a real savior for real
sinners. Real sinners. Not pretend sinners. Not pretentious sinners. Oh,
real sinners. They're a rare breed. aren't
they? A real sinner is a rare breed. You can bear witness to this.
I'll ask you, you can give evidence of this, that sinners are a rare
breed, hard to find. When was the last time you talked
to one? When was the last time you talked
to a real sinner? I mean a sinner like that public
and our Lord spoke of in Luke 18. He knew he was the sinner. The Pharisee stood and looked
down his self-righteous nose and said, Lord, I thank you that
I'm not like other men. I'm not like this publican, the
sinner. But he didn't, he wouldn't have
gotten an argument, a protest from the publican. He knew he
was the sinner. He was much worse than the Pharisee
thought he was. He was a sinner and he knew only
the real mercy of God could send him home justified. That's what the Lord Jesus Christ
said, didn't he? I'm saying to you, I'm telling
you this, concerning that publican that's the sinner, that's asked
me for mercy, asked me to be propitious to him, to have mercy
upon him, I'm telling you, I've given it to him. And because
I have, he's going home justified. He's not going home wealthy.
Not going home healthy, not going home to the biggest house, but
he's going home with something that money cannot buy. That man
is going home justified. In the court of heaven, the gavel
has fallen and God Almighty declares that that man is not guilty. Now what's that worth? What's
that worth? Oh, that's what the real grace
does for a real sinner. Real sinners? How about that
woman in Luke chapter 7? You remember her, you remember
that story. Simon, a Pharisee, invited the
Lord to his house. And this woman knew that the
Lord was there and she came in, this woman. And the Pharisee
again, like the one in Luke 18, like he that looked at the publican,
this Pharisee looked at this woman and said, oh, she's a sinner. If this man was really who he
claims to be, a prophet, he would know that woman that's touching
him, that's washing his feet with her tears, she's a sinner. She's a sinner. He would never
allow her to touch him. I would never allow her to touch
me. Who let her into my house? This is embarrassing. Oh, but
the Lord Jesus Christ, it was to that woman who was a sinner
and not to Simon who thought he wasn't a sinner that these
blessed words were spoken. The Lord said to the woman, not
Simon, he didn't need the physician, he wasn't sick. Oh, but this
woman, he said, thy sins which are many are all forgiven. They're gone. They're gone. Only a real savior can do that. I had people when God got me
lost, man, I was miserable. I see this, oh, this farce that goes on in
churches. You see it where people trot
up the aisle, as Henry said, don't even bother to spit their
gum out and they say the sinner's prayer and somebody slaps them
on the back and it's all just a jolly good show. no awareness
of sin, don't even know their need of salvation. And someone
tells them, oh, now you've done God a favor. We're so proud of
you. Oh, my soul. That's a far cry when God gets
a man lost. He brings him down. He strips
him. He clothes him. He convinces
him that he's the sinner. And that's not fun. That's not
pleasant. That's tough. That's tough. But
it's necessary. It's necessary. But when he speaks peace, that's
real too. I had people tell me, my grandmother,
preachers, friends, God saved you, God saved you, God saved
you, you're saved, you're saved. Just accept it, just believe
it. And I'd lay down at night and God said, that's a lie. You're
not saved, you're lost, you're lost, you're lost, you're lost.
Oh, my soul. Every waking hour, were just
screaming into my heart and conscience, lost, lost, lost. And then one
day, I took my eyes off things. And God, by his marvelous grace,
brought me to bow down before the Lord Jesus Christ and cried,
Lord, if you will, you, you, nobody else can. They've tried,
but they can't. You can make me clean. And that's
a real savior that touched me. and made me whole. The Lord told
his disciples, remember in Matthew 24, he warned them to watch out
for false Christs, for imposters, for counterfeits. You remember
that. He repeated himself concerning that more than he did anything
else. Jesus said unto them, take heed that no man deceive you.
For many shall come in my name saying, I'm Christ, and shall
deceive many. And many false prophets shall
arise and shall deceive many. Man, that's a serious business,
isn't it? The Lord taught if it was possible
they would deceive the very elect. But thank God it's not possible.
The Lord also taught that many will carry this delusion, this
false hope in another Jesus, in a false Christ. They'll take
it with them all the way up to the judgment. Imagine that. Again, that's some serious business,
isn't it? They'll go right up to the judgment
thinking they're going to hear him say, welcome home, glad to
see you, been expecting you. Not everyone that says unto me,
Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he
that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many, many
will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied
in thy name? And in thy name cast out devils. We hear and
see that all the time, don't we? People claiming to do that.
And in thy name done many wonderful works. And then, then, will I
profess unto them, I never knew you. I know my sheep. You're
not my sheep. I never knew you. Depart from
me, ye that work iniquity. How could that happen? How could
they been so deceived, so blind? They trusted a false Christ. They trusted, as Paul said, another
Jesus. As our Lord accused Israel of
doing, these things has thou done and kept silence. Thou thoughtest
that I was altogether such a one as thyself. That's not Jesus
Christ. Oh, no, no, no, no. Again, Psalm
115, we read this last Sunday. Their idols, unlike the true
God that's in the heavens doing whatsoever he hath pleased, their
idols are silver and gold. They're the work of men's hands. The work of men's hands. They
that make them are like unto them. So is everyone that trusteth
in them. How can a so-called God that
I invented help me? As water cannot rise above itself,
how then a God that is no more than I am do anything for me?
That's an imposter. That's an imposter. The invention
of man. The invention of religion. He's not authentic. He's not
real. People that believe that other Jesus, they bought a lemon. They bought a lemon. He can't
save. You've heard the story, and I
probably have told it to you. I'm going to tell you again.
There was a man in a village, country village. He was a carpenter,
a woodworker. He lay on his bed dying, and
they called for the village priest. We better go get the father.
The father going to come in with his bag of tricks and mumbo-jumbo
and get this man ready to slide into purgatory. And the priest
came in and he reached in his robe and he pulled out of his
bags of paraphernalia a wooden cross and he held it before this
dying man and said, behold your God. Imagine that. And that poor man looked up at
him and said, my God, my God. He said, I made that. I made
that. A God that cannot save and so
it is with many today. said in my article in your bulletin
today, let me be mistaken about anything else in my life. But please God, don't allow me
to accept a counterfeit salvation instead of truly knowing Jesus
Christ himself by a personal experience of his mercy and grace
in revealing himself to me. Let me by grace believe in and
trust in and embrace the same Jesus the disciples saw that
day for the last time on Mount Olivet when he ascended back
to heaven and the angels told him, listen, this same Jesus,
this same Jesus, that came into the world to do the will of his
father, this same Jesus that came to save his people from
their sins, this same Jesus that cried as the mighty victor that
he is, it is finished after being made sin for us that we might
be made the righteousness of God in him, this same Jesus you
see and exalted, I, and give him the name of every name, This
same Jesus, not that imposter that can't have his way, the
mighty God and Savior, He's coming back again. He's coming back
again. That's who we're looking for,
this same Jesus. He's not an imaginary Savior. He alone can save to the uttermost
every real sinner that comes unto God by Him. Neither is there
salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven
given among men whereby we must be saved. Only this same Jesus
that ascended back to the glory that he had with the Father before
the world began is mighty to save. Only this same Jesus can
keep me from falling. Can keep me from falling. Remember,
In John's Gospel, chapter 6, our Lord had fed the multitude.
And then he left, crossed the sea, and they followed him because
they got hungry again. That's the only reason they fought.
They wasn't interested in the bread of life. They just got
hungry again. And the Lord Jesus Christ has
always dealt honestly with their souls. He kicked that false hope
out from under them. He told them the truth about
themselves. You've not really come to me,
he said. Coming to me is not something you've done with your
feet. You can't really come to me, he said. I'll even go so
far as to tell you this. You can't come to me unless God
Almighty brings you to me. Everybody that's learned of the
Father comes to me. He told them the truth about
himself, about themselves, what coming to Christ really is. He
said, therefore, I say unto you, that no man can come to me except
it were given him by my Father. You remember the conclusion of
that? You remember how that ended up? That multitude, that multitude
that had followed him, crossed the ocean to follow him and find
him. From that time, many of his disciples went back Many
of his so-called disciples went back and walked no more with
him. And that's still happening, isn't
it? I remember hearing Brother Henry
again preach, and he said, if the gospel of God's grace can
tear a church up, it needs to roar up. Amen. It sure does. Old John Newton would put it
this way. When any turn from Zion's way, alas, what numbers
do? Methinks I hear the Savior say,
will you forsake me too? O Lord, with such a heart as
mine, unless thou hold me fast, I feel I must, I shall decline
and prove like them at last. After they had walked away, the
Lord turned to his disciples and said, will ye also go away?
Do you want to join them? And the truth is, if Jesus Christ
is not a real savior, I'll also go away. If his grace doesn't
reign over my sin, I will go away. If he that began a good
work in me doesn't complete it, continue it, until the day of
Jesus Christ, then yes, I will go away. Then Simon Peter answered
him, Lord, to whom shall we go? I love that. Don't you? Lord, to whom shall we go? We
don't want to go with them. They're going back to who knows
what, but we've got nobody else to go to. To whom, not what,
to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life, and we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ,
the Messiah, the Son of the living God. Oh, thank you, Lord. for every sinner, especially
this one right now that can say, Lord, I've got nowhere else to
go. Nowhere else to go. Old Newton
went on to write, yet thou alone has power, I know, to save a
wretch like me. To whom or whither shall I go
if I should turn from thee? What anguish has this question
stirred? If I will also go, yet, Lord,
relying on thy word, I answer humbly, no. No, I don't want
to join them. I don't want to go that way.
It's true that many do fall, but not those who truly trust
Christ on this earth. They're as safe as the great
shepherd who holds them in his hand can make them. God's covenant
cannot be broken. It cannot be nullified. His purpose
cannot go unfulfilled, and his power cannot be defeated. You
remember what Gamaliel, Gamaliel, I think, in Acts chapter 5, when
the disciples had been called on the carpet the second time
in just a couple of days for preaching the gospel of Christ.
They'd been threatened and beaten, but they went right back and
did it again. In Acts chapter 5, the Sanhedrin, the religious
powers that be, went aside from the disciples, and without them
hearing it, they said, this is what we're going to do, let's
just kill them. Let's just slam. We'll put a stop to this. And
this teacher, he had a little bit of sense, Gamaliel. He said,
I say unto you, refrain from these men, and let them alone,
for if this work be of God, it will come to naught. It'll come
to naught. It won't amount to nothing if
it's not of God. But if it be of God, ye cannot
overthrow it. Oh, bless God, he that's begun
a good work in you will perform it in the day of the Lord Jesus
Christ. It is God that worketh in you
both the will and the do of his good pleasure. God's grace cannot
be overthrown. This is a work of God and you
cannot overthrow it. But if it's not of God, if it's
a work of man, it'll soon fizzle out, won't it? It'll soon just
fizzle out and amount to nothing like most professions do today,
just a profession. Brother Don Fortner said this,
faith understands that all who are in Christ are in him by God's
work alone. Faith understands and rejoices
in the fact that Christ is made of God unto us wisdom and righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption. Faith hears God say, he that
glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. And faith says amen. Amen to that. I don't have a
problem with that. Thank God for his reigning, sovereign
grace. Thank God for his unspeakable
gift, for a living, filling, and always full of grace that's
able to help in time of need, Savior. Thank the Lord for the
Lord Jesus Christ, that I can come to him in time of need,
and that's all the time. Is there ever a time in your
life that you don't stand in need of grace? Ever? Oh, no. Where could I go? Oh, where could I go? Seeking
a refuge for my soul. Needing a friend to save me in
the end. Oh, where could I go but to the
Lord? Again, I repeat, Jesus Christ
is a real Savior. There's no question about that.
The question lies in a different direction. Are you a real sinner?
Do you need a real Savior with real grace that brings a real
salvation? Every sinner that's experienced
His grace, that is, as Peter said, has tasted of the Lord
that He is gracious, knows for themselves whom they have believed. They're persuaded that the Lord
Jesus Christ is no figment of their imagination. He's not an
aberration. He's real. Every type or every
miracle, literal miracle, yes, literal, they happen in the Gospels,
are but a picture, a demonstration of his saving grace. When Lazarus
was raised from the dead back to life by Christ and knew it
likewise, you had the quickened who were dead in trespasses and
sins, blind Bartimaeus, When Christ touched him and said,
receive thy sight, and he knew it even so, God, who commanded
the light to shine out of darkness, has shined into our hearts to
give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. How about that outcast leper? When Christ reached forth and
answered his plea for mercy and said, I will be thou clean, the
great physician touched him and he was clean. Likewise, know
ye not, listen to this, know ye not that the unrighteous shall
not inherit the kingdom of God. Be not deceived, neither fornicators,
nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with
mankind, no matter who says it's okay, nor thieves, nor covenants,
nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit
the kingdom of God, and such were some of you. but a real
Savior with real grace. By Him you are washed, you are
sanctified, you are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus
and by the Spirit of His grace. Old John Newton, you've heard
this. In his old age he was blind.
He heard someone recite the verse, but by the grace of God I am
what I am. And he just sat there silent.
And he said, it's true. I'm not what I ought to be. I'm
not what I want to be. And I'm not what I hope to be
in another world. But still, I'm not what I used
to be. But by the grace of God, I am
what I am. Let me close by reading a couple
of paragraphs. This is good. I think it'll help
you. This is from a sermon of Old Spurgeon. It's from a message
he preached from Matthew 14. We read it a moment ago. This
was his text. And when the disciples saw him
walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit. And they cried out for fear.
Here's some remarks of Old Spurgeon on that verse of scripture. We
must not forget to illustrate this state of mind also by the
condition of many saints when they're under trial. How often
when the storms are out and our bark is filling, do we realize
everything but what we should. We are like the disciples on
the Galilean lake. The ship is real, oh how the
timbers creak. The sea is real, how the hungry
waves leap up to destroy them. The winds are real, see how the
canvas is rent to ribbons. how the mass bends like a bow.
Their own discomforts are real. Wet to the skin with the spray,
and drenched and cold are they all. Their dangers are real. The ship must certainly go down
with all on board. Everything is real but the master
walking upon the waves." They thought he was an Aboriginal.
Yet, beloved, there was nothing so real in all the storm as the
master walking upon the sea. Nothing more real than him. He
went on to say, now observe how often we are in a similar condition. Our wretched circumstances, the
bare cupboard, our bodily weakness, the loss of that dear child or
parent, all of the distresses that await us, the dread of bankruptcy
or poverty, all these are real. But that word, I am with thee,
appears often in such circumstances to be a matter of belief certainly,
but not a matter of realization. And the promise all things work
together for good, that them that love God, that them who
are called according to his purpose, we dare not deny it, of course
not, but we are not comforted by it to the degree we should
be, because we do not grip it and grasp it. The holy children
in the fire knew they were in the fire, but they were safe
because they knew also, to an equal certainty, that the Son
of Man was with them in the fire, and he was no aberration. He
was with them. With them. But straightway, Jesus
spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer. It is I. It is I. It is I. Larry, it is I. Don't be afraid. I, no aberration,
no imaginary savior, I'm real, I'm true, and I'm here, I'm here. Isaiah 43 in one, and we'll close. But now, but now, thus saith
the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel,
fear not, for I have redeemed thee. I have called thee by thy
name, thou art mine. When thou passest through the
waters, I will be with thee. and through the rivers they shall
not overthrow thee. When thou walkest through the
fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle
upon thee, for I am the Lord thy God." No ghost. I am the Lord thy God, the Holy
One of Israel, thy Savior. And thank God he's a very present
help in time of need. God bless you. God bless you.