In light of what the Lord said
in Colossians chapter 3, it's good to have Paul and Kelly
Harries from Lexington and their girls with us. They're doing
the Disney thing this week. In light of Colossians chapter
3, we are in a warfare. We do labor. Here's the labor. For he that has entered into
his rest, he also has ceased from his own works as God did
from his. Let us labor, therefore, to enter
into his rest." Labor is to rest in Christ. That's the labor. We just want
to fix everything, don't we? We do. We're always on the move
to try to fix everything. And, oh, that the Lord would
give us faith to rest in Christ. The Lord's not going to let you
fix it. He's just not going to let you
do it. He's going to fix it all, and He's going to get all the
glory, and you're not going to be able to take any credit for
it. In your sanctification, in your justification, in your redemption,
in every part of our salvation, He's going to do it all or not
at all. Let's stand together. Tom, you're
just going to come 127 in the hard back temple, 127. Man of sorrows, what a name for
the Son of God who came, ruined sinners to reclaim. Hallelujah, what a Savior! Bearing shame and scoffing rude,
In my place condemned he stood, Sealed my pardon with his blood. Hallelujah! What a Savior! Guilty, vile, and helpless we,
spotless Lamb of God was He. Full atonement can it be? Hallelujah! What a Savior! Lifted up was he to die. It is finished was his cry. Now in heaven exalted high. Hallelujah! What a Savior! When He comes, our glorious King,
All His ransomed home to bring, Then anew this song we'll sing,
Hallelujah, what a Savior! Please be seated. It's always good to be back. Donald and I were talking, I
spent last week with my family, and while I was there, I realized
that the people in this room know me much better than any
family member I have. And I know you and love you.
And I'm glad to be with you. Turn with me, please, in Acts
chapter 13. Acts 13, and this, as I, the
days grow towards the end, this becomes great encouragement to
my soul. Acts said, when you're with family,
the first thing that come to mind was Paul. He said, my heart's
desire, and I'm paraphrasing, is that my brothers and sisters
and the flesh might be saved. We all wish that. He says they
have a zeal for God. My family's very, very religious,
but without knowledge. And what is it they don't know?
They don't know Christ. They have some facts they know,
but they don't know Christ. And they go about trying to establish
their own righteousness. Works religion. That's just the
gospel of works. rather than submitting to the
righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the reason this is
so precious to me is because there was a time that you and
I were in that same position. Paul is preaching, he's went
to the Jews and the Jews have rejected him. And now, as God
has said, he's turned to the Gentiles. Verse 44, And the next Sabbath day came
and almost the whole city together to hear the word of God. But
when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy and
spake against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting
and blaspheming. They weren't silent. They weren't
silent about, they hated the gospel and they hated the messenger
of the gospel. Then Paul and Barnabas, and only
by God's Spirit that they would do this today with Brother Greg
and every gospel preacher, waxed bold and said, it was necessary
that the word of God should first have been spoken to you, speaking
to the Jews. But seeing you put it from you
and judge yourselves unworthy of underlasting life, lo, we
turn to the Gentiles. I want us to say, that's us.
What was the reaction of the Gentiles? And when the Gentiles, oh, for
so hath the Lord commenced and hath set the light of the Gentiles,
that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth, verse
48's the one I want us to see. And when the Gentiles heard this,
they were glad. The gospel was preached and they
were glad and they glorified the word of the Lord. And here's
what is so precious to me, this next verse. And as many as were
ordained to eternal life believed. If I could say one verse in the
gospel, one verse of all, that's the gospel. As many as were ordained
to eternal life Believed. You see the order of things,
don't you? God the Father, the only reason I'm not with my family
is God the Father ordained you to eternal life. Gave you to
his son who did all the works necessary to accomplish your
salvation and in due time would send his spirit that you might
believe. Had he not ordained you, you
would have never believed. Who made us to differ? God Almighty. Oh, I'm so thankful He ordained
me to eternal life. And that's our prayer, as Paul's
was, for those who are lost. Oh, that God, the comfort I have
is if God has ordained them to eternal life, there's no way
that they're not gonna believe. Oh, that God may have mercy on
us. Let us go to the Lord in prayer. Lord, I pray that our hearts
would be as the Gentiles, that when we hear the gospel of God's
grace in Christ, that we would be glad, and that we would give
all the glory to you. We gather this morning, Lord,
confessing that, oh, how we need Christ, that he is our life,
that Lord you would give our brother wherever, brother Greg
and wherever your gospel preachers are to wax boldly to declare
Christ to us. That our hearts would be glad
and we pray that you would send your spirit and give us the faith,
the belief of Lord. And that we would be as the Gentiles
and that we would give you all the glory. We ask this in the
name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Let's stand together once again.
We'll sing the hymn that's on the back of your bulletin. The
hymn on the back of your bulletin. Rejoice, believer in the Lord,
Who makes your cause His own. The hope that's built upon His
Word Can ne'er be overthrown. Though many foes beset your road,
and feeble is your arm, your life is hid with Christ in God,
beyond the reach of harm. Weak as you are, you shall not
faint, or fainting shall not die. Jesus, the strength of every
saint, will aid you from on high. Though sometimes unperceived
by sense, Faith sees him always near, A guide, a glory, a defense. Then what have you to fear? As surely as He overcame And
triumphed once for you So surely you that love his name shall
triumph in him too. Please be seated. We have a special treat next
Sunday. Todd Nybert will be here to bring
message next Sunday morning and going over to Sarasota to preach
there Sunday night. And I'm going to be, Trish and
I are going to be out of town this week. And Bert's going to
be bringing the message Wednesday night. And I know he covered
your prayers. And I hope that you will remember
to pray for him and be here to encourage him and to hear what
the Lord has put on his heart. I know God's already given him
a message. you'll be encouraged to be here, so. If you have your
Bibles, will you open them with me to John, the Gospel of John,
Chapter 7. John, Chapter 7. Our Lord often taught by asking questions. And he asked the Pharisees, whom
do you say that Christ is? And that's a good question. That's
a good question for you and I to consider. Whom do you say that
he is? And the Pharisees said, well,
he's the son of David. And our Lord said, why then did
David say unto him, the Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou at
my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool. The Lord
Jesus Christ was clearly declaring himself. to be more than just
the physical son of David by physical birth, but he was declaring
himself to be that prophetic son of David, the Christ, the
one who would come as king to reign sovereign over his people
and over all men for that matter. And so we have nothing less than the very God of creation
who has condescended from his rightful throne in glory. He's
been born of a woman, born under the law to redeem those who are
cursed by the law. He was made in the likeness of
sinful flesh, but he wasn't like us at all. The Lord Jesus Christ
is God. And as God, every word that he
spoke was nothing less than the word of God. The word of God. Now I'm not here to convince
you of that. I'm not here to try to make you believe that. I'm here to declare that. And
I know that if you belong to the Lord, if you're his. Father, I thank thee, the Lord
said, that you've hid these things from the wise and the prudent,
the men who in their own self-righteousness and pride would stand in judgment
over the word of God. Father, I thank thee that thou
hast hid these things from the wise and the prudent, and you've
revealed them unto babes. They shall all hear my voice,
and they shall follow me. They shall all be taught of God. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ, being
God, created a great division among men. He said, I did not
come into the world to bring peace. I came to bring a sword,
to divide men against one another. And they are divided over what
they believe about him. Look in John chapter 7 verse
43, So there was a division among the people because of him. It's still that way. It's still
that way. There's a division among the
people because of Christ. Now we're not interested in going
around being contentious. The Lord tells us that we're
to seek to be at peace with all men whenever possible. We ought
to walk through this life being willing to make compromises when
necessary in order to get along with folks. We ought not to try
to create problems. But here's what the Lord said,
if possible, if possible. When it comes to who the Lord
Jesus Christ is and what He has accomplished, it is not possible. It is not possible for God's
people to change that, to deny that, to compromise that in any
way or to consider anything that would be contrary to it. They
just can't do it. And so if that means that what
I believe about Christ is going to cause me to be a problem with
you, then so be it. So be it. I'm sorry. I'm sorry,
but that's just the way it is. There's a division among the
people. So there was a division among the people because of Him.
Because of Him, He caused them to be divided. And if you believe
Him, you're going to experience that in your life. In this world,
you will have tribulation. You will have tribulation. But
the Lord said, be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. And some of them would have taken
him, but no man laid hands on him. Why? Because it wasn't his
time to be taken. When it was his time to be taken,
he would stand before a whole legion of Roman soldiers and
knock them to the ground with the words that came out of his
mouth. Whom seeketh thee? Jesus of Nazareth. I am he. And these stalwart Roman soldiers
fell over themselves. Why? Because God was speaking. And when it was his time, he
went to the cross willingly. No man took his life from him.
He laid it down willingly for his sheep. He was in complete
control of all the circumstances surrounding his life and his
death. And so some of them would have
taken him, but no man laid hands on him. Then came the officers
to the chief priest and Pharisees, and they said unto him, Why have
ye not brought him? So the Pharisees sent out these
official, whether they were soldiers or somehow they had the authority,
to arrest. And they were instructed by the
Pharisees, by the religious leaders, to go out and get this man and
bring him in quietly. And they, under normal circumstances,
would have done just that. They would have done just that.
Why have not you brought him? And the officers answered, and
here's the message, never man spake like this man. No one's ever, we've never heard
anybody talk like him before. We've never heard anyone speak
with such authority. We've never heard anyone speak
with such power. We've never heard anyone speak
such truth. We've never heard anyone speak
with such clarity. And we've never heard a man speak
with such compassion. Never man spake like this man. Now you and I live in a world
that's full of voices. Full of voices. Oh, there's talking
heads everywhere, isn't there? The politicians have got a voice.
The educators have got a voice. Everybody's got something to
say. There's no voice in this world like the voice of God. My hope for you and my hope for
me is that he will give us ears to hear. that we will be able
to say with Samuel when the Lord when the Lord spoke to Samuel
you remember he was in the temple with Eli and Samuel kept going
up thinking that it was Eli that was calling him and Eli realized
that God was speaking to Samuel and Eli instructed Samuel next
time you hear his voice you just tell him that you're listening
and Samuel did Samuel Speak, Lord, for thy servant listeneth. Can you say that right now? Lord,
would you speak to me? Would you give me ears to hear?
Don't say that with, well, let me hear what he has to say and
then I'll evaluate it. And I'll decide whether or not
I believe it or whether or not I want anything to do with it.
If that's your attitude, you won't hear the voice of God.
You won't hear it. But if God gives you the grace
to come before him and say with Samuel, speak Lord, for thy servant
listeneth. And that word listeneth means,
not only am I hearing what you have to say, but I am ready to
do whatever you tell me. Whatever. God gives you the grace, you'll
be able to say, Never man spake like this man. I want to hear
the voice of God. I want you to hear the voice
of God. I want it to be so clear and so loud that it will drown
out all other voices and that you will find your hope in what
he says. And you'll be able to clarify
all the voices of this world. believing that what he says is
true. Now, our Lord spoke with authority. In John chapter 7, you have your
Bibles open there. Turn back with me to verse 29.
Verse 29. I'm sorry. It's not verse 29, I've written
down the wrong reference, but here's the verse. He taught them,
you don't have to look it up, He taught them as one having
authority and not as the scribes. He taught them as one having
authority. Now the lawmongers and the religious leaders, you
know, they're Their voices were, well, you know, it seems to me,
or it could be this way, or it could be that way, or they would
put men under the law, and a law that they could not keep, and
a law that, in other words, there was no authority to their voice. It was just an opinion. He taught
them as one having authority. Has he taught you as one having
authority? Have you heard him say, thus
saith the Lord? This is the voice of God. It's
not for you to evaluate it. It's not for you to stand in
judgment over it. It's for you to believe it. It's
God speaking. When Satan tempted Eve in the
garden. He tried to change the word of
God, didn't he? He said, hath God said that thou
shalt not eat of any of the trees of the garden? And Eve said,
oh no, that's not what God said. No, that's not what he said.
He said, we can eat of all the trees of the garden except for
the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which is in the
midst of the garden. God said, don't eat it and don't touch
it. Well, God never said don't touch it. But Eve's got his foot
in the door now, doesn't he? Satan's got his foot in the door.
He's calling into question the word of God. Now what was the
temptation that Satan gave Eve? God knows, here's the reason,
Eve, that God doesn't want you to eat of that fruit. God knows
in the day in which you eat of it, and what God say about the
day in which you eat of it, you shall surely die. That was the
word of God. That was the authoritative word.
What was Satan's message? God knows in the day in which
you eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil, your eyes will be opened and you'll be like God. What
Satan was saying to Eve was, Eve, you're just a robot. You
don't even know, you can't even discern right from wrong. You're
just always doing what God says to do. But here's the way God
is. God sees both sides. And God
knows that when you eat of that tree, you'll be given the power
of choice. You'll be able to see things
like God sees them. You'll be made like God. The
temptation that Satan gave Eve in the garden, the first temptation
to sin, was the temptation of free will. Free will. God doesn't want you to have
free will. The most universally believed lie in the world today
is that man has a free will. They're still believing the lies
of Satan. Did she have free will? No. No, will became in bondage
to sin. She doesn't have now the ability
to know God. She spiritually, well, after
Adam ate of the fruit, she died with her husband Adam, didn't
she? Separated from God. Satan is going to call into question
the word of God to the natural man. He's going to get him to
doubt the authority of the Word of God, and he's going to put
man on the throne of God to call into question the things of God.
And that's where the natural man is. He set himself up on
the throne of God. Why? Because he hasn't heard
the voice of God. And he does not believe that
it is authoritative. Our God, simply put, is God. He's God. He does what he wants,
when he wants, however he wants, with whomever he wants. And he
always does it right. Our God is God, and we're not. We're subject to his authority. That's what worship is. We bow
to him. He has the sovereign right. He
has the sovereign right to choose according to his own will and
purpose who he will have mercy on. He said, I will have mercy
upon whom I will have mercy and whom I will I hardeneth. Now that's a sovereign God. That's
an authoritative God. It's not the God of man. Man
has made God to be subject to him. God's subject to my will. I know God wants to save me,
and so I'll just allow Him to. No. God will have mercy upon
whom He will have mercy. It's not of Him that willeth.
It is not of Him that runneth. It is of God that showeth mercy. He's King of kings and Lord of
lords. No man can stay His hand. No
man can say unto him, what doest thou? You remember in the book
of Esther, Ahasuerus makes a decree. He's the king of the whole world. The scripture says from India
to Egypt, he reigns sovereign over all the kingdoms of the
earth. And he makes a decree for the Jews to be put to death. And Mordecai gets a message to
him through Esther and reveals to him, and he says, I've already
made the decree. The decree has been written in
the hand of the king, and it's according to the Medes and the
Persians, and it cannot be changed. It cannot be changed. Now there's
the decree of God. There's the authority of God's
law. What I've written, I've written.
It cannot be changed. I can't go back. Why? Because when I wrote it, I was
sovereign. If I change it now, it'll call into question my sovereignty,
my authority. However, what I can do is I can
write another decree. And that's what he did. And that
decree was to the salvation of the Jews. So it is with the Lord. He's written a decree. He cannot
change his law. He cannot compromise his law.
But he's also written a covenant of grace whereby there is one
who keeps the law on behalf of his people. maintains the authority
of God so that he can be just and justify sinners at the same
time. That's what the gospel does.
Never man spake like this man. Not only does he speak with authority,
but he speaks with power. All power, the Lord said to the
disciples on the Mount of Olives just before he ascended back
into glory, Lord, is it time now for you to establish your
kingdom? You go back into Jerusalem. The
Holy Spirit will come upon you. You'll be my witnesses. For all
power has been given unto me heaven and in earth I will never
leave you never leave you or forsake you Psalm 62 verse 11 reads God hath
spoken once twice I have heard this that power belongeth to
God he's able to He's able to save. The difference between
God and us is that He is completely able and we are totally unable. We're unable to save ourselves.
He's the one that possesses the power to save. It's not of him
that willeth, it's not of him that runneth, it's of God that
showeth mercy. It's not by might, not by my might, not by my power,
but by the Spirit of God, saith the Lord. He possesses all power. When he speaks, he speaks with
power. When he spoke in creation, he
said, let there be light. And I love the next few words.
and there was. Just like that. Just like that. No, it didn't take billions of
years for it to happen. He said, let there be light and
there was. That's power. That's the power
of his word. The power of his word to speak
to you and to speak to me is to speak peace to your heart,
to speak truth to us, to reveal himself to us. And when he's
pleased to do that, there's no man that can stay his hand. When
he's pleased to speak to our hearts in power, he makes us
willing in the day of his power. We have no power to save ourselves.
We can't just decide that we're gonna come. He's the one that
has to speak. He told Nicodemus, said, Nicodemus,
you can't, you can't come to me. You've got to be born again. You've got to be born from above.
You've got to be born of God. And Nicodemus, Lord, how can
that be? How can I go back into my mother's womb? Oh no, Nicodemus,
you don't understand. You're thinking of things of
the flesh. That which is of the flesh is flesh, and the flesh
profiteth nothing, profiteth nothing. But that which is of
the spirit, The Spirit's like the wind. Oh, He listeth withersoever
He wills. And when He speaks, He speaks
in power. Has He revealed to you? Has He
revealed to you in the word of His power that you're a sinner? That in you, that is in your
flesh, dwelleth no good thing? Has he made that known to you?
That you have no righteousness? You have no claim on God? You've
never been able to keep one of God's laws, not one single time? That's power. That's the power
of God that reveals that to the hearts of men. And then to cause
us to see Christ. to see him in his beauty, to
see him in his glory, to see him in his accomplished work,
and to hear him say, it is finished. Never a man spake like this man. When he spoke those words on
Calvary's cross, it is finished. There's nothing left to be done.
He has done it all. Now that's speaking with power.
Who's going to stand before God? Who of us is going to stand before
God and say it's finished? It's finished. I've done everything
necessary to appease the justice of God. I've done everything
necessary to satisfy His divine law. Who's going to say that?
Never a man spake like this man. You can't speak that. I can't
speak that. He's the only one that can do
it. He speaks with authority and he speaks with power. The prophet said, I passed by
you and I saw you polluted in your own blood. And while thou
was polluted in thine own blood, I said, live, live. That's power. Matthew had a good
job. I mean, he was a successful man. To be a tax collector was a pretty
lucrative business in the days of our Lord. And here he was
sitting at the money changer's table, taking in the profits. And the Lord, the scripture says,
walked by and made eye contact with Matthew and said, follow
me. And the scripture says, and immediately
Matthew got up from his table and followed after Christ. Now
that's power. Never a man spake like this man.
When the Lord came to Lazarus' tomb, and he cried, Lazarus,
come forth. And he came out of the tomb.
Lord, he stinketh, he's been in there three days, four days,
he's been in there four days, he stinketh. Lazarus, come forth. Oh, when he speaks, when he speaks,
God's people live. Lord, would you speak to me?
Would you speak to me in power? Would you reveal to me what you've
accomplished for me, for me? Not only does he speak, with
authority and with power, but he speaks in truth, in truth. You know, I was thinking this
week, we live in a world that prides itself in relativism. And I got thinking about that,
and I realized that in fact, Most of the things of the world
are relative. They are relative. The whole subject of politics
is relative. We live in a country that our
whole political system is built on compromise, and it's the only
thing that's made it work successfully for all these years. It's relative.
It is relative. Our education system. One would
say, well, you need to educate this way and other that way.
It's all relative. Philosophy is relative. Even
history. Even history is relative. It
is. I'm just sure that the Britons
have a different view of our history than we do. You know,
Paul, maybe you could enlighten us on that sometime. You know,
but we do. Everything in this world's relative.
At some degree or another, it's all a matter of perspective and
views of things. Pilate said, art thou a king? And our Lord said, for this cause
was I born, and for this reason came I into the world, to bear
witness unto the truth. They that are of the truth hear
my voice, and they follow me. My kingdom's not of this world.
The voice of the Lord Jesus Christ, if he speaks to your heart, you'll
know there's nothing relative about it. There's nothing relative
about it. When God speaks it, He speaks
the truth. He said, I am the way, the truth,
and the life. There's nothing relative about
the word of God, about the Lord Jesus Christ, about the gospel. Now, men in religion make it
relative. They say, well, you just have a different perspective.
You just have a different view. You just have a, no. You have
a different gospel. Those who believe the gospel
believe the same thing. There's no division in Christ.
We all see eye to eye. Why? Because it's not relative.
And it's the same voice. He's not saying to one of his
children one thing and saying something else to one of his
other children. He speaks from his word. He speaks
by the power of his spirit. He teaches us all the same thing. There's nothing relative about
the gospel. Even when we speak about the
gospel, we can bear witness to the truth, but in order for the
truth to be spoken clearly to the heart, He's got to do it.
He's got to do it. And when He does it, you just
know it's true. And you know every word of it's
true. Why? Because he has spoken with authority,
he's spoken with power, and he's spoken to you the truth. The simple, clear, plain, immutable
truth of God. When he calls you a sinner, God
calls you a sinner. You say with that Syrophoenician
woman, Truth, Lord. Truth, Lord. Oh, would you brush
a few crumbs off of the master's table for this dog? Lord, I know
I'm a dead dog sinner, but I need some crumbs from thy word. I need them to be spoken to me
authoritatively. I need them to have power in
my heart, and I need to know that they're true. Because the
words of men All the words that are out there, there's nothing
that we can say is true. It's all relative. Never man spake like this man. Has he spoken to you authoritatively? Has he spoken to you in power? Has He spoken to you the truth?
The truth about who you are? The truth about who God is? The
truth about how it is that God is pleased to save sinners through
the sacrifice of His own Son and only by the accomplished
work of the Lord Jesus Christ? Has He spoken that truth to your
heart? If He has, then you know that
that voice is also spoken with clarity. Clarity. The message of religion is so
confusing. It's so convoluted. You can't
make sense of it. They'll speak about God's sovereignty
and then they'll speak about man's free will. They'll speak
about not being under the law and then they'll put you under
the law. It doesn't make sense. It's confusing. It's complicated. The gospel of God's free grace
is clear. Christ is all and in all. Now how much clearer can you
be? How much clearer can you be? Michael, that verse you quoted,
to as many as were ordained to eternal life believed, I was
talking to a man years ago about that very verse. I was trying
to share the gospel with him, and I brought that verse up.
And it was on a Sunday afternoon. And he said to me, he said, that's
very interesting that you should bring that verse up. He said,
I teach Sunday school in my church. And we found that verse this
morning. We spent an hour talking about
it. We never could figure it out. to as many as were ordained
to eternal life, believed? You can't figure that out. You
see, that is clear as it is, is contrary to what they already
believed or what they already thought was true. They had believed
a lie. God had sent them a strong delusion
so that they would believe a lie. So when they heard the truth,
the truth wasn't consistent with the lie that they thought was
true. The Word of God is not complicated. When God says that
you're a sinner, that's not complicated. It means that everything about
you is sinful. When God says that I chose a
people according to my own will and purpose before the foundations
of the world, that's not. People ask me all the time, well,
do you believe in election? Do you believe in predestined?
Of course I do. It's right there. Well, but that's not really what
it means. Well, what does it mean then? It means what it says. The Word of God is clear to those
who would believe it. Now, the natural man will rest
the scriptures. He'll twist them to his own destruction. He'll change them. If you go
to God's Word, Speak, Lord, for thy servant
listeneth. You will find this book to be so clear you'll find the voice of God
to be so simple. It's not complicated. It's not
a mixed message. You know, we have problems, most
of our problems, I might say, have to do with miscommunication
and misunderstanding, don't they? I mean, we have that all the
time. We have it with our spouses,
our children, our coworkers, you know, everybody. What'd they mean by that? If
we have a problem with miscommunication between us and God, it's not
because he wasn't clear. It's not his fault. We bear all the responsibility
for any misunderstanding that we have about the voice of God. When this man speaks, He speaks
with compassion. He speaks with power. He speaks
with authority. He speaks the truth. And he speaks
with clarity. Turn to me to John chapter 10.
You're right there in John. Look at John chapter 10. Look at verse 24. Then came the
Jews round about him and said unto him, How long dost thou
make us to doubt, if thou be the Christ, tell us plainly?
And Jesus answered them, I told you, I've made it as plain as
it can be made. I've spoken to you clearly, but
you believed not. The words that I do, the works
that I do, I do in my Father's name, and they bear witness to
me. But you believe not, because you're not of my sheep. I said
unto you, my sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow
me. And I give unto them eternal
life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand." That's not complicated. My sheep hear my voice. I give
them ears to hear. I give them hearts to believe.
And the gospel is just simple and clear. It's all about who
I am and what I've accomplished for them. My last point. Authority, power,
truth, clarity. Never man spake like this man.
compassion. Our God has never one time raised
his voice to his children. Why do we do that? Why do we
raise our voices to one another? I'll tell you why. It's a sign
of our weakness. It's because we feel like we're
losing control and we're trying to intimidate and recapture control. Isn't that what it's about? He's never felt that way. He's never lost control. He's
never had to be desperate in his attempt to recapture control. He's got everything exactly where
it needs to be. He's got no need to raise his
voice. When he speaks to his children,
he speaks to them with compassion. He speaks to their hearts, and
he breaks their hearts with his voice. Never man spake like this
man, ever, ever. He draws us, the scripture says,
with cords of kindness and bands of love. I remember preaching
one time on the story of David and Nathan. We preached on that
a couple weeks ago. But years ago, I made the mistake
of saying in that sermon that Nathan got in David's face and
stuck his finger in David's chest and said, thou art the man. I
don't believe that for a minute. It's not the way God speaks.
When Nathan stood before David and told him that story about
the man that stole the ewe lamb, Nathan was weeping. Nathan said, David, you're the
man. You're the one. And Nathan did. David's heart was broken. It's
the goodness of God that leadeth to repentance. He's not angry
at his children. He's compassionate towards them.
And he woos them with his love and with his kindness and with
his compassion. We do not have a high priest
that cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities,
but was in all ways tempted as we are, yet without sin. He knows, he remembers that we're
made of dust. He knows what your life's like.
He knows what Satan's like. He knows the struggles that you
have. And when he speaks, he speaks
with compassion to the heart. Truth, power, authority, clarity,
compassion. When he told Peter that night
before his crucifixion, Peter, you're gonna deny me. I'm just
sure that he had tears welled up in his eyes and I know that
when Peter saw him, That night, in the praetorium there in Pilate's
palace, and the Lord, the scripture says, walked through, and he
had already been flogged and beaten and had the crown of thorns
on his head, and the robe, the purple robe, they'd been mocking
him. And the scripture says that he looked at Peter. You think that was a look of
condescension? You think that was a look of
anger? You think that was a look of disappointment? It was a look
of compassion. He spoke to Peter with his eyes,
and what did Peter do? He wept bitterly. And then when
the Lord rose from the dead, and the women came to the tomb,
what did the Lord tell the women? Go tell the disciples and Peter
that I'm risen. What did Peter do? He denied
him with cursings. The Lord never got angry at him. Peter, lovest thou me? Lovest thou me? Lovest thou me? O Lord, thou knowest. You know
my heart. You know what you've done. You
know what I believe. You've spoken to me. I've bowed
to the authority of thy voice. It's come to me in saving power. I believe it to be the uncompromising
truth of God. And it's so clear. And thank you. Thank you for
speaking to me with such compassion. That's what I needed. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, we ask that
you would speak to our hearts for Christ's sake. Amen. Let's stand together, Tom. Number
77 in the Saltback Temple. Your word, O Lord, I love to
read, Or hear the Bible read to me. Earth's greatest privilege,
indeed, To have the book declared to be The word is like a fire
to melt My heart so cold and make me groan Its power is like
a hammer felt And breaks this stubborn heart of stone God speaks
again, His Word reveals, The substitute for sinners slain. Forgiveness by His blood it tells,
A balm to heal my heart's great pain. Spirit of God, my Teacher
be, Give eyes of faith, all ways to see, The Word's great truth
and mystery, In every line show Christ to me. Dear Lord, my thanks
I give to you for your inspired and holy word. My reverence and allegiance to
it claims the mighty word of God. Okay. All right.