I like that we hope to die shouting. The Lord will provide. Will not
be shouting that in our death. If we don't shout it now. The
Lord will provide. Let's turn in our Bibles again
to Proverbs Chapter 8. Proverbs Chapter 8. Next Sunday I will be preaching
for some friends of ours up in Pennsylvania and Hugo and Caleb
will be bringing the messages here. So please pray for all
of us and we'll pray for you and trust the Lord to be pleased
to bless the services here and there next Sunday. I've titled this message, When
Wisdom Cries. When Wisdom Cries. Now we just saw from James chapter
three, a glorious description or definition, if you will, of
that wisdom that is from above. It is pure. It is peaceable,
it's easy to be entreated, it bows, it's a glorious work of
grace in the heart. when God is pleased to bless
his word with faith and enable us to look to the Lord Jesus
Christ who himself is all our wisdom. All these gifts, all
these things that the Lord tells us about wisdom come in and with
the person of the Lord Jesus Christ for God has made him to
be. unto us our wisdom, our righteousness,
our sanctification, and our redemption. So when we look at Proverbs 8,
verse 1, and God says to us, doth not wisdom cry? Cries out. I want us to look
at when the Lord Jesus Christ cried. And I'm not speaking of
the time in John chapter 11 when he was at Lazarus' tomb and the
scripture says that Jesus wept. I'm not talking about that kind
of crying. I'm talking about when he lifted up his voice. times that he lifted up his voice
and what he said in those times are so, they're so glorious and
they're so critically important to understanding who he is and
what it is that he has accomplished for us. If we're to know God,
if we're to know the truth, as opposed to all the lies and all
the error all the deceitfulness of this world, then we need to
know what it is God said when he cried, when he lifted up his
voice. Stuff not wisdom, cry, and understanding
put forth her voice. Oh, I want to hear what God had
to say when he put forth his voice. I want to have understanding. I don't want to live in darkness. I don't want to live in confusion,
in fear. I want to have the understanding
that comes with wisdom. This wisdom is the gospel, the
good news. That's what the word gospel means.
You know that. It's the good news that salvations of the Lord,
that everything that God requires of a sinner was accomplished
in the glorious person and the accomplished work of the Lord
Jesus Christ. One of the times he cried was
from Calvary's cross. When he cried, the scripture
says with a loud voice and said, it is finished. It is finished. Everything necessary for the
salvation of our sin sick souls was accomplished by the sacrifice
that Christ made of himself on Calvary's cross. That's the wisdom
of God. The world that knew not wisdom, when the world who knew not wisdom,
God through the foolishness of preaching was pleased to save
them. which believe. And so here the
Lord's using the preaching of the gospel in order to take the
wisdom of God which is from above and plant it in our hearts and
cause it to grow. I want that light. I want that
life. There's no life outside of the
wisdom of God. We come into this world spiritually
dead. We come into this world speaking
lies. We've had a few babies born and some more on the way
in our fellowship. And you know, when that baby,
I mean, we love our babies, we love our children, and we respond
just like that when they cry. But you know when they're crying,
they're lying, right? I mean, they want you to think they're
dying. They're not dying. They're just, you know, they're
just, they're just not content and they want something more.
Which makes me wonder whether or not the Lord Jesus Christ
as a baby ever cried. Now we know that he was without
sin from his mother's womb. But that's how we come into this
world. speaking lies from my mother's womb, and I want to
know the truth. The Lord Jesus Christ said, I
am the way, the truth, and the life. I want to know the word of God,
what it means. If we're to know God's word,
we have to know God. That is wisdom. The Lord said
in John chapter 17, This is life eternal. This is life, and this
life is eternal. This isn't just eternal life,
you know, living forever. This is life, and this life is
eternal. That they might know thee the
only true God in Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. Paul said,
I know whom I have believed. and I'm persuaded that he is
able to keep that which I've trusted in him. I've committed
everything to him against that day, the day of judgment. John chapter one, we quote from
this passage often, turn with me there if you will, I want
you to read a couple of verses. John chapter one, when wisdom
cries, this wisdom is nothing less than the person of the Lord
Jesus Christ who, don't miss this, don't miss this, who is
himself God. I love saying that. I love thinking
about that. Most importantly, I love believing
that. that Jesus Christ, the second
person of the triune Godhead, is the fullness of the Godhead
bodily. Everything that's true about
God is true of the Lord Jesus Christ. If we know him, then
we know God. And the person with whom God
will reveal himself to a sinner is the Lord Jesus Christ. Look
at John chapter 1 verse 1, in the beginning, and that means
before time, before time, before, this is eternity past, before
God spoke the physical world into existence, in the beginning
was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. The word is God. It is the word
that said in Genesis chapter one, let there be light. It was
the Lord Jesus Christ who is God, who created all things. Look, the same was in the beginning
with God. All things were made by him and
without him was not anything made that was made. Everything. that we see in this physical
world was made by the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the creator and
sustainer of all of life. He's God. He's God. It's not presumptuous to say
that I know God. And as I said in the previous
hour, any Jesus who requires or needs anything from anybody
in order for him to accomplish his purpose or his will is simply
not God. And the Jesus that you hear about
in the world needs you to do something in order for him to
have his way. He needs you to pray a prayer. He needs you to
work a work. He needs you to make a decision.
He needs you to to pretend to be something you're not. He's dependent upon you for that's
not God. The God who is, is absolutely
omnipotent. He possesses all power. The last
thing the Lord Jesus said before he ascended back into glory from
the Mount of Olives was, all power has been given unto me. Therefore you go. make disciples
of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the
Son, the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever
I've commanded you, and lo, I am with you always, even unto the
end of the earth. The Lord Jesus Christ, who has
got all power, he's God. He's God. When he stood before Pilate,
No man took his life from him. Pilate wasn't in control of whether
he was going to be crucified or not. He set his face like
a flint towards Jerusalem. He was born into this world in
order to die. He laid down his life willingly
for his sheep. And he stood before Pilate and
Pilate in his pride and self-righteousness He said, do you not know that
I have the power to crucify you or to release you? And our Lord
looked at him and said, oh, you sad, sad man. You have no power
at all except that which is given to you from heaven. The only
reason you're crucifying me is because God allowed you to. That's it. And that's all the
power we have. A man can receive nothing unless
it is given to him from above. You believe that? You believe
that about yourself? You can receive nothing unless
God gives it to you. It's called grace. And the Lord
Jesus Christ is the one who has all power. All power. John 17 verse 2 says, thou hast
given him power over all flesh to give eternal life to all them
that thou hast given to him. He has the power. I will have
mercy upon whom I will have mercy. I will harden whom I will harden. He has the power. We don't talk
about making Jesus Lord of our lives. God's already done that.
He is Lord. He's God. What a blessing it
is for God's people to bow before the Lord Jesus Christ and make
that confession, that doubting Thomas made when he said, oh,
my Lord and my God, my God. Jesus Christ is God. So when
wisdom cries, God is crying. I started to title this message,
When God Cries, but I thought the title might be misunderstood. When wisdom cries, God is crying. When John was in prison, John
the Baptist, and sent his disciples to ask the Lord, are you the
one or do we look for another? You remember what the Lord told
his disciples? He said, go tell John. Go tell John what you've
seen, that the blind are seeing, the lame are walking, the deaf
are hearing, the dead are being raised. Those are possessed are
being delivered. Tell them that only God can do
that. Only God can do that. Jesus Christ is God, period,
end of conversation. Aren't you glad? Isn't that glorious? He's eternal. He's the priest called Melchizedek,
who was without father and without mother, without descent. Neither had beginning of days
nor end of life, the scripture says. He is the ancient of days. He is the eternal God. Never
been a time when he wasn't. And even before time, he was. He's the self-existent one. He's
the glorious I am. We're talking about when God
cries here. We're talking about when wisdom
raises its voice, when God speaks. I want to know what God has to
say when he cries out, when he speaks. This is God talking. This is not the voice of a man.
This is not just the opinion of another. This is the very
Word of God. You still have your Bibles open
to John chapter 1? Look down with me at verse 10. He was in the world, and the
world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. They know
us not because they knew Him not. He came unto His own, His
own received Him not. Talking about Israel, He came
to national Israel, to the Jewish people, and they received Him
not. Why? Because he was a threat. We will
not have this man reign over us. The priest got the Pharisees
together and said, we must do something. If we allow him to
continue, he will take away both our position, our place, and
our power. But as many as received him, don't misunderstand this, this
is cause and effect here. Some of the people read this
and say, well I received him so therefore he made me the sons
of God. No, he made you the son of God, therefore you received
him. And then the next verse clarifies that. Look, But as
many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons
of God, even to them that believe on his name, which were born
not of blood, nor of the will of flesh, nor the will of man,
but of God. You see, you have to be born
of God before you can receive him. Regeneration happens at
the same moment in time as faith happens, but regeneration necessarily
precedes faith in cause. You're not gonna have faith if
the Lord doesn't unilaterally invade you and cause you to be
alive. One of the times our Lord raised
his voice was at Lazarus' tomb in John chapter 11. And with
a loud voice he cried, Lazarus, come forth. Oh, when wisdom cries, God's
crying. God's raising his voice. God
is speaking. The Lord told those Pharisees,
Abraham, rejoiced to see my day and was glad. And they looked
at him and they said, you're not yet 50 years old. How could
Abraham had seen you? And our Lord said, before Abraham
was, I am. I am. He's not saying I was or I shall
be or I'll try to be. I am. I'm the self-existent one. I'm not like you. I'm not created. I'm not dependent. I'm not derived. I exist within
myself. I'm eternal. I'm the eternal
God. The Word was made flesh. And
look at verse 14 of John chapter 1. You still have your Bibles
open there. And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld his glory as of
the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and full of truth. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. If
he's pleased to If God, God Almighty, walked
into this room right now, what would you do? What would you do? I hope you would do what you're
doing right now. Because he said, where two or
three are gathered together in my name, there I am in the midst
of them. We have the promise of his presence right now. From
the heart, we are bowing in worship and pleading for his mercy. Lord,
have mercy upon me, the sinner. You wouldn't stand and insist
upon your right or tell him what he could do. He's the eternal one. Here's
the truth, brethren. Everything that happens in time
has already been purposed and ordained and happened in eternity. What a God we serve. What a glorious
God. He's in control. Our God reigns. He works all things together
for good, for them that love him and those that are called
according to his purpose. God, he's lifted up in the person
of Christ. He's immutable. I am the Lord
and I change not. He's not like you and me. Everything
you and I are familiar with is constantly changing. Michael
Etheridge and I were comparing bruises this morning. We're getting
old. And we're getting to the point
to where when you barely bump your arm on something, you got
this big old black spot. He said, where'd that come from? You know, it is, We're changing, aren't we? Some
of the young people think, well, I'm glad I'm not there. Trust
me, you'll be there sooner than you think. Sooner than you think. Life is a vapor. You are changing,
we're dying. This world is deteriorating,
and we serve a God who is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He changes not. Isn't that glorious? What greater hope can we have
than to rest All our faith, all our trust, all our hope in Him
who changes not. He said, I'm the Lord, I change
not, therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed. Everything
else is mutating, everything else is changing. The Lord said,
I am the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the ending,
saith the Lord, which is and which was and which is to come,
the Almighty. The Almighty. What a glorious
God we serve. He's holy. Holy, harmless, undefiled,
separate from sinners, higher than the heavens. He doesn't
have to make daily sacrifices in order to put away our sin,
like those priests in the Old Testament, who were always changing. But by one offering, offering
himself once and for all, he put away all the sins of all
of his people. What a glorious God we serve. Jesus Christ is God. Now say this again. If you believe
him, you believe on him, you've been brought to bow to him, you
worship him as God. You're a believer. There's plenty of. Plenty of. Groups who call themselves Christian,
who deny the very essence of the deity of Christ. They honor
him with their lips, but their hearts are far from him. Turn
me to Revelation four and will. He's the lamb. The Lamb of God
that was without spot, without blemish. Revelation chapter 4,
look with me at verse 11, and the four beasts. These are the
same four beasts that we see in Isaiah chapter 6. These are
called seraphim. They're hovering over the throne
of God. You remember in Isaiah, saw them crying, holy, holy,
holy is the Lord God of hosts. And the four beasts, each of
them had six wings with him. And they were full of eyes within.
And they rest not day and night, saying, holy, holy, holy, Lord
God Almighty, which was and which is and which is to come." These
are the angelic hosts hovering over the very throne of God,
where the Lord Jesus Christ is seated as God. And they're crying,
holy, holy, holy, as the Lord God of hosts, heaven and earth
is filled with his glory. And when those beasts gave glory
and honor and thanks to him that sat upon the throne, who liveth
forever and ever, the four and 20 elders, that's the 12 tribes
of Israel and the 12 apostles of the New Testament. And that's
a symbolic number, 24, representing all the elect of God. That's
the Old Testament church and the New Testament church. That's
all the believers. So these 24 elders is the church
gathered together around the throne of God. And the four and twenty elders
fell down before him that sat on the throne, and worshipped
him that liveth forever and ever, and cast their crowns before
the throne, saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory
and honor and power. For Thou hast created all things,
and for Thy pleasure they are and were created." The creator
and sustainer, the glorious self-existent I am He's God, he's the Lord
Jesus Christ. John tells us in John chapter
12 that the one that Isaiah saw and the one that John saw was
none other than Christ himself, the Lord Jesus, the word that
became flesh, the word who is God. So when, Wisdom cries, God is crying. Now, when God cries, he's not
crying because he's attempting to get control of something that
he's lost control of. That's so obvious, isn't it? If he's God, he doesn't have
to raise his voice in order to try to manipulate a situation
or try to get control of something. You remember when Elijah in 1
Kings chapter 19 fled from Jezebel after having killed her 450 prophets
on Mount Carmel? And he went, the scripture says,
to Mount Horeb. And that's Mount Sinai, that's
the mountain of the law. And Elijah, fearing for his life,
runs back to the law. Have you ever done that? You
fear for the spiritual hope of your salvation. And so you, you
look to your life and try to find things in your life that
show evidence of your salvation. Well, Lord, I'm not doing this
and I am doing that. And that's just running back
to the mountain of the law. There's no, there's no encouragement
there. There's no, there's no comfort
there. And the Lord says to Elijah,
he says, Elijah, what doest thou here? What did you come back
here for? And Elijah remembers in a cave
on Mount Sinai. I like to think of that as being
the same exact cave that the Lord put Moses in many years
before when Moses had to be hid in the cleft of the rock in order
for God to pass by. Maybe the same exact cave. And
the Lord told Elijah, come out, look over the mountain. And the
Lord sent a mighty rushing wind that the scripture says it rent
the mountains and it break the rocks, but the Lord was not in
it. And then he sent an earthquake,
but the Lord was not in it. And then he sent a fire, but
the Lord was not in it. And then Elijah heard a still
small voice. Now what are the four elements
of this world in which we live? Wind, earth, fire, and water. And you and I oftentimes, you
know, growth in grace and the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ
is a slow process. Our children grow, to their view
very slowly, don't they? They want to be much bigger than
they are, much older than they are, much stronger than they
are. For us parents and grandparents, they grow up too quick. But for
them, it's just not coming, is it? It's just not coming quick
enough. And we're like them when it comes
to spiritual things. We think, well, this is not just
coming quick enough. I want to be more faithful. I want to be
more like Christ. I want to have more understanding
and more knowledge. And here's the thing about it,
brethren. Weeds grow fast. Oak trees grow really slow, really
slow. And we like Elijah. We want God
to speak. mighty Russian wind. When else
did we see the mighty Russian wind, the earthquake, and the
fire? Pentecost. This is where Pentecostalism
comes from. You know, people who are pretending
to have an experience with God because they've had an earth-shaking
experience, they've had this wonderful, exhilarating feeling,
and they've got the fire of the tongue of the Spirit of God over
them, and the mighty rushing wind blowing through, and God
said to Elijah, and God was not in it. God was not in it. What is God
in? Well, those are the first three
of the four elements, wind, earth, fire, and water. What is the water? It's the washing
of God's word. This is the water, little by
little. Precept upon precept, line upon
line, here a little, there a little. Now what scripture says, Isaiah
28? I understand every believer,
I wish I was, I'm like a, I'm like an eight year old who wants
to be 18. But I'm still eight. It's gonna take a long time to
get to be 18. But little by little, child of God, Listen, listen,
God will speak to you by his word. That's why we're here.
That's what we're doing right now. We're hoping that God will
cry and speak by his word to our hearts. Luke chapter eight, verse eight. Turn with me there. When wisdom cries, there are very few times when
the Lord lifts up his voice. Isaiah chapter 42 says, he shall
not cry nor lift up nor cause his voice to be heard in the
streets. He doesn't need to raise his voice to get our attention.
He's God. He can change our hearts and
cause us to hear. Oh, and when you hear the still
small voice of God, how loud is it? I heard the voice of God. Was it audible? No, it was a
whole lot louder than that. Oh no, when God spoke, I believed
it, I heard it, yes, yes. He doesn't have to resort to
threats or intimidation in order to get our attention. He speaks
with a still, small voice. But there are a few times where
God lifted up his voice. Now I want us to look at just
a few of them, most of them actually. Luke chapter 8 verse 8, the Lord
had just given them the parable of the soils. You remember? The farmer goes out with a seed
of the gospel and he scatters the seed and some of it fall
on the wayside and the devil comes and plucks it away so that
you don't remember what you heard. How many times have you left
this place? I had people ask me on Monday,
boy, that message yesterday, well, my mind's already on what
I'm gonna preach the next time, and I've already forgot about
what I preached yesterday. You ever have that problem? Yeah. We all have that problem, don't
we? Or the stony soil, and there's not much depth to the roots,
and the things of this world, the thorny soil, choke it out.
And then there's some seed that falls on fallow ground, ground
that's been toiled and tilled and it's ready for the seed of
God. Although we can relate to all
four of those in our lives as believers, that's really not
what the parable was told for. The parable was told in order
to show that the believer is the good soil. The word of God
falls on the heart of the child of God and it does produce fruit.
Fruits of righteousness, fruits of faith, fruit of the Spirit. And in verse 8, look at verse
8, and others fell on good ground and sprang up and bear fruit
a hundredfold. And when he had said these things,
he cried, he that hath ears to hear, let him hear. Notice in the very next verse
and the disciples asked him saying what might this parable be? Now
did the disciples say oh we have ears to hear we know exactly
what you were saying No, what were they saying? Lord give us
ears to hear Or give us ears to hear Lord,
you just lifted up your voice and you cried, let him who have
ears to hear, hear. What the Spirit saith unto the
church is, Lord, we wanna hear, we wanna know. And the Lord got
them aside and he explained the parable to them. And that's what
he does to each one of his children when they gather together for
worship or when they open God's word in private devotion, private
prayer and Bible reading, we come to him, Lord, Give me ears
to hear. Open my heart. Show me what this
means. Reveal Christ to me. Enable me
to worship him. Lord, if you don't do it, I can't.
I'll never come. I'll never see. Lord, I'm blind
left to myself. I'm crippled left to myself.
I'm deaf left to myself. I'm a leper. Lord, have mercy
upon me. It's what the Ethiopian, you
see, this is a humbling place to be, isn't it? The Ethiopian
eunuch. When Philip asked him, he said,
understand this what thou readest? And he was a poor Bedouin disciple
walking through the desert. I can imagine what he looked
like. And here's the Ethiopian eunuch.
with this ornate chariot and this entourage of servants and
gold and they're walking down through the desert and this,
and Philip says, do you understand what you're reading? And most
men would have said, well, I understand a lot better than you could possibly
understand it. And what did he say? How can
I accept a man should guide me? Come up here, tell me what, is
he speaking of himself? Does the prophet speaking of
himself or is he speaking of another? And he preached unto
him, Jesus. Oh, that's the place to be. Lord,
you cried and you said, let him who has ears to hear, hear. Lord,
give me ears to hear. When I gathered together for
worship, the Lord said, call upon the name of the Lord and
he shall be saved. But how should they call upon him in whom they've
not believed? And how should they believe in
him in whom they've not heard? And how should they hear without
a preacher? Lord, and if all I hear, if all you hear is from
this man, you haven't heard from God. But God will use the audible
voice of a man to speak effectually the truth of the gospel to our
hearts, won't he? That's the means that he uses. And so it's
not, Lord, help me to hear what the preacher's saying. No, help
me to hear from you. So there's one of the times when
our Lord lifted up his voice. Let me show you another one.
John chapter seven. John chapter seven. Now you can go to Leviticus chapter
23 and read about the Feast of Tabernacles. The Feast of Tabernacles
was a week-long celebration where the Jews were to remember how
God had provided for them in the wilderness. And so they built
booths in their yard and they would live outside of their house
in a booth and they would make offerings every day. And on the
eighth day, that great solemn assembly, And this was celebrated
every year, every year. And this is the celebration that's
being spoken of here. So this is the last day of the
feast. This is the eighth day of the feast. And what are they
to remember about the wilderness wandering? They would have died
had that rock not followed them. That rock that Moses smote with
his rod, the rock from which water flowed out and gave them
life. And so the eighth day of the feast, after the sacrifice
was made, the last thing to be done was the pouring out of the
drink offering to remind them of how God had provided for them
water in a desert. I mean, what a contrast. Here
they're living in a dry desert, and that's where you and I live.
We live in a dry and thirsty land. There's no water out there.
There's no life in this world. God has to smite the rock with
a rod of his justice in order for water to come forth. And
that last day and that last procession of the Feast of Tabernacles in
Jerusalem at the temple was a high and holy moment when all the
people would have been waiting, anticipating the pouring out
of that drink offering. There's a lot of people there.
It's very quiet. Verse 37, in the last day, that
great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, if any
man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth
on me, as the scriptures have said, out of his body shall flow
barely shall flow rivers of living water in this he spake concerning
the spirit which had not yet come. Are you thirsty? God made you
thirsty. You know they say you can't lead
a horse to water, but, I mean, you can lead a horse to water,
but you can't make him drink. You give a horse a salt block and
he will be drinking as long as he's licking that salt block.
And this gospel is the salt, isn't it, that makes us thirsty.
And the Lord gives us the salt of the gospel. He said, I'm the
salt of the earth. You're the salt of the earth.
The salt loses its saltiness. What purpose is it? And so God
causes his people to get thirsty. Oh Lord. And then he says, come
unto me. I'm that rock. He cried with a loud voice. Can you imagine the drama of
that moment? If any man thirst, let him come
unto me and drink. As the scriptures have said,
out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. That's what
wisdom cries. What a cry. What a cry that wisdom
is. And look at, while you're there,
look down at verse 46. The Pharisees had sent the police
out to arrest the Lord and bring him in. And when the police came
back, they asked him, the Pharisees asked him, where is he? And what
did they say? What did they say in verse 46? And the officers answered, never
man spake like this man. We never heard anybody speak
like that before. If any man thirsts, let him come
unto me, What kind of man is that? He's the God man. He's
wisdom crying. He's God who's saying to you
and me, are you thirsty? Are you thirsty? Come to me and
drink. The rod of God's justice has
smitten the rock and out of that rock has flowed rivers of living
water. John chapter 11. John chapter 11, verse 41, our
Lord is in a graveyard. That's where the Lord
has to come in order to get his people. He has to come to a graveyard,
doesn't he? You and I left ourselves are
dead in our trespasses and sins. We're dead to God. We're spiritually
dead. We say, well, I'm alive. I can
do what I want. I'm free. Not spiritually. Outside of Christ,
there is no life. There's no life. And Lazarus
is a picture of us. Martha and Mary. Lord, don't, don't take the stone
away. He'd been dead four days. His body stinks. It's going to
be a shameful thing for that dead body to be exposed. Verse 41, then they took away
the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus
lifted up his eyes and said, Father, I thank thee that thou
hast heard me. And I know that thou hearest
me always, but because of the people which stand by, I said
it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me. There's the
reason. He didn't say it in order to
get his father's attention. He said it for the people that
were there so that they would believe. And when he had thus spoken,
he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. When God speaks the truth, of
who you are and who the Lord Jesus Christ is and what he did
to save you of your sins. It's a loud voice, isn't it?
First time you hear the voice of God, first time you hear wisdom
cry, oh, it's so loud. It's a still small voice, but
it's loud, still small voice, isn't it? It's like, yes, yes,
I do believe. Yes. Jesus Christ is God. And I have no hope of salvation
outside of him. Yes, I am without any righteousness
whatsoever. Yes, the Bible is the word of
God. This is the truth. I cannot live
without it. And it's so loud. Someone has
said, had the Lord not said Lazarus, every dead corpse in that graveyard
would have come forth. That's how powerful his voice
is. But he speaks his sheep. He speaks to his sheep by their
name. Mary? Oh, Robona, she fell at
his feet, didn't she? How do I know he's spoken it
to me? because I'm not making application of this gospel to
this person and that person and the other person. You know, we
all wish that our unbelieving friends could hear sometimes
what we hear, but we're not making application to this of everybody
else. Well, this is somebody else's
problem. No, this is my problem. I'm the sinner. I'm the one who
needs Christ. This is for me. He spoke with
a loud voice. Lazarus, come forth. Lazarus came out of that tomb,
all wrapped up like a mummy, and the Lord said, loose him
and let him free. Oh, Lord, speak that truth to
me. Mark chapter 15. Mark chapter 15. Our Lord hung on Calvary's cross
from high noon, well, from nine o'clock in the morning until
three in the afternoon, but from high noon to 3 p.m. was utter
darkness over the face of the earth. The Lord Jesus Christ
had been cut off from his Father. He was burying in his body all
the shame and all the guilt, all the ugliness of all the sins
of all of God's people. He was suffering the sorrow for
those sins, not like you and I sorrow after our sins. So he sorrowed them in a way
that pleased God. He felt the full weight of them.
And at three o'clock, the time of the evening offering, when
the priest in the temple was making the sacrifice of that
lamb that's without spot and without blemish, our Lord cries
with a loud voice. Look, here it is, Mark 15, verse
34. And at the ninth hour, That's three o'clock in the afternoon.
Jesus cried with a loud voice, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani, which
is translated from Psalm 22 verse one, my God, my God, why hast
thou forsaken me? Our Lord was fulfilling everything
that had been written about him. everything that had been purposed
for him to do. He knew why he was being forsaken. For God had made him, who knew
no sin, to be sin. And God's eyes are too pure to
look upon iniquity. God was pleased to bruise him.
God had no choice. And if God did that to his son,
When he saw sin on him, what would he do to you and me if
he ever sees sin on us? You see, our need is for the
Lord Jesus Christ to bear all our sin and put them away by
the sacrifice of himself. And you read Psalm 22, oh, they
pierced my hands and my feet. Everything in Psalm 22 is the
suffering of the Lord Jesus Christ. And our Lord was saying, fulfilling
that. He spoke with a loud voice. And
then look at verse 37. And Jesus cried again with a
loud voice and Mark tells, Luke tells us what he said in that
second cry. It is finished. It is finished. Everything that God demands,
everything that God requires for a sinner to be saved is accomplished
in the sacrifice that Christ made of himself on Calvary. This
is God. This is God doing business with
God. The Lord's not crying out with
a loud voice so that we feel sorry for him. No, the Lord said,
don't weep for me, weep for yourselves and for your children. Don't
feel sorry for me. Our God's not wanting our sympathy. He's crying with a loud voice
to his father. Saying to the father. Everything
you and I agreed on in the Covenant of Grace before time began, I
finished it. All when wisdom cries. God cries. And there is one last time that
God's gonna cry. And it's when the eastern sky
splits and the trump of God sounds and the dead in Christ shall
be raised and those of us which are alive should be caught up
together with him in the air. Revelation chapter 10 verses
one through five. God's gonna cry. in that day
of horrible judgment and of deliverance for his people. It'll be a day of judgment for
some, a day of deliverance for others. Wisdom has cried, brethren. Wisdom has lifted up its voice.
God has spoken. We are without excuse. Amen. Lord, I believe I believe what
you've said. He's God. He's God. Our merciful Heavenly Father,
bless your word. Forgive us of our unbelief. Cause
us. To fall at thy feet. to worship
Thee as God and to believe all that wisdom has cried. For it's
in Christ's name we ask it, amen. Number 19, let's stand together,
number 19.