Luke chapter 4. Luke chapter 4. I've just simply entitled this message,
The Scripture Fulfilled Only in Christ. The Scripture Fulfilled
Only in Christ. And this scripture begins and
will begin in verse 16. Lord willing we will just go
through this passage verse by verse together. And he came to Nazareth where
he had been brought up and as his custom was he went into the
synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up for to read. Now, Jesus having returned victorious
over the temptations of Satan, having proved both His deity
and His humanity, having proved fully His faith in God, He won
the victory over the enemy, over Satan, and now He comes to Nazareth
where he had been brought up or where he was raised. Now,
it was common to call him Jesus of Nazareth. Matter of fact,
that was a derogatory term. It was a bad part of town. It was the worst of the worst
come from Nazareth. Matter of fact, there was a question,
has there ever been a prophet risen out of Nazareth? No. Jesus
of Nazareth was a derogatory term. It was a hateful term they
used against him, but he gladly embraced it. But Jesus was brought
up in this city. He was not born in this city.
Matter of fact, you remember he was born according to the
scriptures in the town of Bethlehem. God had even purposed not only
that He be born of a virgin, but He should be born in that
little town of Bethlehem. Matter of fact, it was Micah
chapter 5, I'll read it to you, Micah chapter 5 verse 2, But
thou, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though thou be little among the thousands
of Judah, yet out of thee shall He come forth. Unto me, that
is to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth have been from of
old, from everlasting." Who is to come to Bethlehem? God was
to come to Bethlehem. He who was from eternity was
to come and be born in Bethlehem, Judah. You see then that Christ
had fulfilled that scripture. He had fulfilled that prophecy. And I want you to understand
that Jesus, for Him to be the Christ, for Him to be the Christ,
He must have fulfilled every prophecy that was written. Every prophecy. Now then, some
say there are over 300 plus prophecies. I am sure that there are many
more that we are maybe just not aware of, but the whole Old Testament,
as we're going to see, spoke of Him. And he must of necessity
fulfill all prophecy. Fulfill all prophecy. And this
was just one of many. He should be born not in Nazareth.
He was raised there, but he was born in Bethlehem of Judah. Now then, second of all, I want
you to notice his custom. What was the custom of the Lord
Jesus Christ? And as his custom was, He went
into the synagogue on the Sabbath day. His custom of Jesus Christ
was to go and hear or read the Word of God. That was his custom. Believer, are we not the sheep
of Christ? Is He our shepherd? The Scripture
says, My sheep shall hear My voice. The hour is coming, and
now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God.
And they that hear shall what? Live! Live! This is the result
of preaching the Gospel by the power of the Holy Spirit, is
that the dead should be raised. And they should hear not the
voice of the preacher, but rather the voice of God. And when the
voice of God speaks and He says, live, they live. I love the testimony of our dear
sister. She had come in and stayed with
us a little while, but she had heard the gospel and she said,
before I knew what would happen, I believed. And there was nothing I could
do to stop it. What a testimony! That's exactly
how it is. When God gives life, faith comes
by hearing. And hearing how? By the Word
of God. Why is it that I insist that
my children come? Because it is only by the gospel,
by the preaching of the gospel, that God saves sinners. This
is how God ordained it. This is how God uses this means. And it's not for us to say, well,
that doesn't sound logical. It doesn't care what it sounds
like. It's what God determined. It's
what God purposed. His sheep? Have you heard the
voice of the shepherd? My sheep hear My voice. And they
do what? They follow Me. They follow Me. They follow Him by faith. They follow Him. If we are the children of God. If the Son of God made it His
custom to attend the worship of God, should we not make it
ours? Now, if you were to use human
logic, who had the least need to hear the Word of God? Would
it not be the one that wrote it? Would it not be the one that
inspired it? Would it not be the one in whom
all the prophecies were fulfilled? And yet He made it His custom
to attend, to hear and read the Word of God. He made it His custom. We are followers of Christ and
let us imitate Christ. Isn't that what the Apostle tells
us? Be ye imitators. of God as dear
children. Now one of the greatest things
my children are starting to get older and but when they were
little what really thrilled my heart is them trying to imitate
me or looking up to me But as they get older, they start to
see our faults. They start to see we're just
sinners. They start to see that we have our failures. And so
they begin to less try to, they try to go on their own way. But
when they're little, they're imitators, they're mockers. That's
exactly what God said. He said, be ye imitators of God. How? As dear children, reverencing
God in all that He does and all that He is. And Christ said,
the Scripture says that it was His custom. I believe in our
day that many believers in Christ esteem the public worship of
God at worst as needless or unnecessary, and at best, only attend when
it is convenient, when something else doesn't come
up. I believe this is the spirit
of the church in our day. But all who neglect the public
worship of God for the things of the world, whether it be jobs
or family or pleasure or self, will shortly be brought to spiritual
poverty. They surely will bring many unnecessary
troubles upon themselves. The apostle says this about those
that would be rich in the world, didn't he? He said, they pierce
themselves through with many sorrows, desiring the wealth
of the world. We have such examples of that
in Scripture, do we not? Lot. Lot was a saved man. Lot was
a man justified by God through Jesus Christ. Yet he, by the
argument that he had, that split he had with Abraham. Abraham
had the Word of God. Abraham was the only man at that
time that had God's Word. And Lot was blessed to be with
him. Lot was blessed under his ministry. And yet what did Lot and when
they started arguing about cows, they were both wealthy men. And
so Lot said, well, you know, I want my cows and I want my
stuff. I want my way. And Abraham being
the... I'll tell you, Abraham was a
wonderful example. Take what you want, brother.
Take what you want. Which way do you want to go?
And Lot looked out and he saw the green pastures of Sodom and
said, I'll go that way. And he left the Word of God. He left the only one who had
God's Word. For what? Cows. Don't think you're
not beyond that. We're not beyond that. And Lot
pitched his tent toward Sodom. And you know the story. That
man lost everything. That man lost everything. If we neglect the Word of God,
we surely pierce ourselves through with many sorrows. And not only
do they neglect the good and nourishment of their own souls,
but listen, they also discourage the brethren. I want you to understand
that. Absenting ourselves from the
public worship of God discourages the brethren. It does. This is
why, Paul, go to Hebrews, and I'm going to show you in Scripture,
so I'm not just making this up, and I'm... I want you to... May God teach us this. Hebrews 10, verse 23. He said, ìLet us hold fast the
profession of our faith without wavering, for He is faithful
that promised.î Hold fast the profession of your
faith, rather hold fast the object of your faith. What good is a
profession of faith without the object of faith? We don't have
profession of faith in our faith, we have profession of faith in
Him who promised, who is faithful. So our profession of faith is
in Christ. You who believe in Christ, you
who trust in Christ, we know this, salvation is all of Christ. All of Christ. We hold fast the object of our
faith, Jesus Christ. And I tell you, He's faithful.
He's faithful. Not one of His people is ever
going to be lost. Not one of them. He will lose
none of them. And, so not only hold fast the
profession of your faith, or rather the object of your faith,
but rather, He said, and also let us consider one another to
provoke unto love and to good works. You know, this matter
of being a believer in Christ is not only setting our affection
on Christ, but setting our affection on one another. Is that not His
command to us? Love one another as I have loved
you. How was His love for us? Was
it not free? It was free, wasn't it? Wasn't
He married in that? He didn't come because we earned
it. He came freely. He came graciously. He loved
freely. He loves graciously. Without
a cause in us. Even so, you should love one
another. You should love one another the same way. And provoke one another. How
do you provoke one another to love and good works? Well, He
tells you in the next verse. not forsaking the assembling
of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting
one another so much more as you see the day approaching. We also should consider one another
by not forsaking the assembling ourselves, but rather exhorting
one another. In the book of Acts, in chapter
2, I'm going to read this to you. In chapter 2, after the
Lord had saved those 5,000 people there, it says, They continued
daily with one accord in the temple, breaking bread from house
to house, did eat their meat with gladness, praising the singleness
of heart, praising God, having favor with all men. And the Lord
added to the church daily, such as should be saved. This is not
forsaking. They were not forsaking this
assembly. They needed this. They needed
one another. Do you know, believer, that your
very presence in the worship service provokes your brothers
and sisters to love? Every time I see you, I'm provoked. I am. I'm provoked to hug you.
I'm provoked to love you. I'm provoked to embrace you as
my brother and sister in Christ. And listen, you know this to
be true. I am very much encouraged by
the faithful. I'm encouraged. If you are faithful
in the assembling of public worship, I'm encouraged. If you are not,
I am discouraged. Now that's just honest. And I
tell you, that is the heart of every believer. How can I be
encouraged when you're not here? How can you provoke me to love
if I don't see you? That's what the Apostle is telling
us. But I tell you, even greater
cause for attending the public worship of God, a greater reason
than me and you, A greater reason than just an imitation of Christ. Listen, you should be here because
Christ is here. When has he ever missed a worship
service? When has he ever not been here? He is always where His Word is
preached. Is this the place where Christ
is preached? He said, where two or three are
gathered together in My name, for the worship of My name, for
the exalting of My name, there I am in the midst of them. Now,
that's either true or false. I mean, there's just no way around
that. He is making a very dogmatic statement here. I am in the midst
of them, wherever they are, whoever they are. in my name. This is important
because a lot of times we visit with one another, we socialize
with one another, the name of Jesus comes up inadvertently,
we talk about it inadvertently, and then all of a sudden the
conversation changes back to another. What is the whole purpose
here that we do? What is the whole purpose of
coming to this assembly? Is it not to exalt His name?
That's what we come here for. Is His gospel preached in this
place? Yes, we preach Jesus Christ and
Him crucified, Jesus Christ and Him exalted to the right hand
of God. We preach that all Scripture
testifies of Him, that salvation is only by Him and through faith
in Him alone. And so long as we preach the
Gospel in this place, He Himself is never absent. He is always
here. I was told this by a preacher
once, and it was by a man who did this as a profession. He
was a shepherd, as a profession, in England. And he said, if you
ever find a sheep alone, by itself, one of two things is true. He
is either lost or he's sick. Sheep by nature are gregarious
creatures. They flock together. The reason
God calls us His sheep is because that is our nature. They are
the dumbest animals on the face of the earth. Is that not true?
Is that not true of us? Do we not need a shepherd, the
Lord Jesus Christ? Is He not our great provider? Does He not lead us? Yes, He
is our shepherd. And sheep by nature flock together. And if a sheep is alone, it's
either because he's lost or he's sick. God's sheep need each other,
and we need to flock together. We need to be fed and comforted
by our shepherd. And since this is, is he not
here? Our shepherd is here. The sheep
should be where the shepherd is. And if the sheep are not
where the shepherd is, they're either lost or sick. Therefore
consider, if you willfully neglect the worship, which Christ Himself
does not, He did not in our text, nor does He now presently, then
you are either lost or sick. And in that text in Hebrews,
you know what the very next thing He talks about? Apostasy. Apostasy. You mean the apostle
linked forsaking the assembly to apostasy? Yes, he did. Why? Because that is the first signs
of apostasy. It's the first signs of apostasy. Matter of fact, John says this.
Go to 1 John chapter 2. John links this to apostasy.
1 John chapter 2 and verse 19. went out from us, but they were
not of us. For if they had been of us, they
would have no doubt have continued with us. But they went out that
they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. Surely the Lord pictured these
as the seed planted in the stony and the thorny ground." Remember,
those that planted in the stony ground, they sprang up immediately.
They received it with such joy, but when trouble came, what happened? They left, withered away. And
those that are in the thorny ground, they came up and they
looked like believers, they looked like they were doing well, but
they had no fruit. They had no evidence. Therefore, I believe by this
text we can see that our Lord made it His custom. And believers
in Christ, let us not negate the necessity of worship. It
is important. God has ordained it, set it up
for this reason, for your benefit. This is not for salvation, and
I am not inclining this. And we know, and I want to exclude
all those other people that say, well, what about this? You know. You know if your JD farmer is
in the hospital. There's just no way. The Lord
has hindered him. Otherwise, he would long to be
with you. He wants to be here. But I'm
talking about those things that are frivolous. Those earthly things that would
keep us from this. Set aside those. May God, by
His grace, give us such a heart as this. And listen, He stood
up for it to read. He stood up for it to read what?
The Word of God. The Word of God. What is the... What do we center this worship
service around? We do sing. I imagine if I could sing better,
we would do a little more. I like it. I like the song service.
But that's not what we're here for, is it? The center of our
worship service is always rooted in God's Word. Always rooted
in this Word. Surrounded by it. It's the center.
The reading and preaching of the Word of God. In some places,
they read prayer books, they read creeds and confessions.
Some deal with current events. But the center of true worship
is the Word of God. Thus saith the Lord. What else
matters? You have an opinion, don't you?
I have an opinion. What good is your opinion if
it is not squared with the Word of God? It matters not my opinion
about things. You don't want me to give you
my opinion. You want me to tell you what
God says. And thus saith the Lord. That's
it. Whatever God says in His Word,
that's the final say. In 2 Timothy 3, verse 16, it
says, "...all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is
profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for
instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect,
thoroughly furnished unto all good works." You see, the Word
of God is the only rule of faith and practice in the Church of
God. Therefore, we do not bring in
any human logic to add to or subtract from this word. The word of God stands on its
own. Stands on its own. I do not need to try to logically
deduce anything. I just need to tell you what
God says. You see, by trying to add to
the Word of God our logic and reasoning, this is how men come
up with infant baptism. You know, infant baptism is not
mentioned anywhere in Scripture. It's not practiced one time in
all of Holy Scripture. And yet, how did men come up
with it? Well, they logically deduced something. They took
a Scripture and they said, well, if that's true, then this is
true, then this is true. without going to the Word of
God to prove it. They took circumcision and they
made it into baptism. That's all they did. They said,
well, since a baby was circumcised, surely then God must mean for
us to baptize infants. No. Nowhere in Scripture is it
found, so we don't do it. We won't ever do it because it's
not found in the Word of God. This is where they get the worship
of Mary and the saints. They logically deduce, well,
since she was obviously the mother of Jesus Christ, therefore she's
the mother of God, therefore she has some influence. You see? They just took the Word of God,
which is not found anywhere in Scripture. The worship of Mary
and the saints is not found. Matter of fact, it is opposed
by the saints when they were worshipped. So, the book This
book is the full revelation of God. All 66 books were written
by men as they were moved of God, the Holy Spirit. This word
is God-breathed. And because it is, we don't shave
off any of its rough edges. We just tell you what it says. Listen, God is absolutely sovereign. From before the foundation of
the world, He chose only a people that He would save. He has purpose
to save them. Jesus Christ came to save them. The Holy Spirit shall call them,
and only them, and only them shall be saved. That's what the
Word of God says. Look at it in Ephesians chapter
1, 2 Timothy, 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 13. I could go on and
on. Romans chapter 9, you can tell
the election of God before the children were born. Yet the Scripture
is clear. You are responsible to believe. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be
damned. That's the Word of God just as
true as the other. And so what do I do? You can't
reconcile sovereignty and responsibility. I don't try. Why? Because the Word of God stands
on its own. It is thus saith the Lord, God
is sovereign and you are responsible. I don't dare shave anything off.
I don't dare try to clarify it. I just tell you, that's what
we do. We preach the Word of God as
it is. And the doctrine we preach, the doctrine we preach is this,
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. The Apostle Paul said, I determined
not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I determined, I made it my business,
I purposed to know nothing among you. The only thing I desire to know
among you is Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That's the only
message we have. And listen, this is the message
Jesus Himself brought. When He opened up the book, look,
He said it was delivered unto Him, the book of the prophet
Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place
where it was written. The Spirit of the Lord is upon
Me, because He hath anointed Me to preach the gospel to the
poor. He hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach
deliverance to the captive, recovering of the sight to the blind, to
set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable
year of the Lord. When Jesus Christ opened this
book and He began to read, which is found in Isaiah chapter 61,
if you would read it later, we don't need it, we have it right
here in front of us. What did He do? What was He doing? He was preaching Himself. That
text spoke of Him. It spoke of Him. Even so now,
do I take the text of our Lord Jesus Christ and I preach it
to you. Listen, the Spirit of the Lord
is upon me. Behold the man who read this
text was the one that the Spirit of God spoke of 700 years before. Isaiah wrote this. Isaiah, I
don't see how he fully understood what he was writing. I don't
think he fully understood what he was saying. But he was moved
by the Spirit to write this, because it spoke of Christ. Christ should come and fulfill
this prophecy. And this one who spoke of it,
was truly from all eternity God. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was
in the beginning with God, and all things that were made were
made by Him and for Him. 1 Timothy 3.16, for without controversy. Great is the mystery of godliness.
God was manifest in the flesh. God was manifest in the flesh. See, this is not a controversy,
but just rather something to be declared. Jesus Christ is
God. The one who wrote this text was
the one reading this text. And yet the eternal Son of God
was purposed by the Father to be the Savior of all His people. Ephesians chapter 1, it says,
in love, having predestinated them according to the adoption
of children, how? By Jesus Christ. Do you see not
that God had purposed Him to be the Savior before there was
ever a sinner? God purposed Him to be the Redeemer,
the Mediator, the High Priest of all His elect people. And Jesus said this in John 6,
He said, All that the Father hath given Me, I should lose
nothing. Lose nothing, but raise it up
again at the last day. There were those chosen of the
Father. They were put in Christ before
the foundation of the world. Those purposed of the Father
to be wholly adopted sons. Yet because of the sin nature
that they were born with, because they were born dead in sins, because they would be born of
a ruined race, They could by no means save themselves. Therefore, God purposed that
we should be saved by Jesus Christ. God purposed that Christ should
be the Savior. Isn't that what He said at the
beginning? Isn't that a prophecy of the Lord Jesus Christ that
must be fulfilled? The seed of the woman. shall
crush the head of the serpent, and he shall bruise his heel."
This was always God's purpose, that Christ should come into
the world, that He should be made a man. Why should God be
made a man? Why should the Son of God come
and condescend to be among men? It was by man that sin came. By the disobedience of one, many
were made sinners. Even so, by the righteousness
of one, shall many be made righteous. By the obedience of one. You
see, by a representative, sin came. Even so, by a representative
man must righteousness come. And here He is, the man. Jesus
Christ had come suddenly into His kingdom. He had come into
this world suddenly. And there He was. He was reading
the prophecy of Himself. And that's what we do. We read
the prophecy of Him, of Himself, of Christ, who is God, manifest
in the flesh. And what does it say of him?
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. John says this in John 3.34,
The Spirit of God was given to him without measure. The Spirit
of God was on him. Therefore behold Jesus, the Son
of God and Son of Man, that the Spirit of God was given to him
for what purpose? What was the Spirit poured out
on him for? Because He hath anointed me to
preach the gospel to the poor. The purpose of Jesus Christ coming
into this world is to preach the gospel. To declare the gospel. To declare Himself the gospel. And I tell you, this gospel is
preached to a certain people. Who did Christ come to preach
this gospel to? He said He came to preach to
the poor. To the poor. Jesus Himself being
the revelation of God, the only way that a man can know the Father
is by the revelation of Jesus Christ. He said, No man knoweth
the Son save the Father, neither knoweth any man the Father save
the Son, and to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him. Do you know
the Father? You do if you know Christ. Because
He reveals the Father. To whom then is this gospel preached? Now listen, every one of you
hear me? The sound that I project, every one of you have ears? You
hear what I'm saying? You process it in your mind? But I tell you that this message
is not for everyone. Who is it for, preacher? The
poor. The poor. Not poor in the bank. Not poor in the things of the
world. Spiritually bankrupt people. Those who have no righteousness
of your own. Is that you? Are you bankrupt
before God? Can you provide anything that
God would accept of your hands? Is there anything you could do
to merit God's favor? Is there anything within yourself
that you hold on to to say, okay, God will love this. God will
accept this. I'm not preaching to you. You've
got something. You've got something. This is the people who have nothing.
That's who this gospel is preached to. The poor, bankrupt. There is none righteous, no,
not one. There is none that understandeth.
There is none that seeketh after God. They are altogether become
unprofitable. There is none that doeth good,
no, not one. Therefore, by the deeds of the
law shall no flesh be justified in His sight. You see, only the poor, Only
the poor see they have no hope in themselves. No hope to pay God. And you owe
God. You owe God. Sin is a debt, isn't
it? In Scripture, sin is a debt.
You see, I have nothing to pay. What then is my hope? I need mercy. forgiveness of sins, pardon of
sins. How should he pardon? By grace. Because I have nothing to pay.
You remember the man that had two debtors. Jesus said there
was a creditor who had two debtors. One owed him billions and the
other owed him fifty cents. And when they both had nothing
to pay, He didn't have 50 cents, and the other person didn't have
a billion, and He freely forgave them both. You see how grace
is? Grace is freely forgiven to the
poor. Now, who loved Him most? Those that were forgiven most. Love Him most. We are spiritually
bankrupt, and this gospel is preached to us. This gospel is preached not only
to the poor. He said, He has sent me to heal
the broken hearted. Are you broken hearted about
your sin? Are you broken hearted not at
the consequence of your sin, but rather because you have sinned
against God? Pharaoh was upset at the consequence
of his sin, right? He was upset at the flies, and
the frogs, and the lice, and he said, Oh God, forgive me,
forgive me! Take these things away from me!
And as soon as God did, he was right back to where he was, in
his own vomit. How many people do that? Trouble
comes in, and you're all scared, and you're all upset, and you're
afraid, and you say, Oh God, have mercy, have mercy! And then
as soon as he lets that go, you go right back to the vomit of
your sin, having no thought of God, or fear of God. Repentance. That's not repentance. Repentance
is a broken heartedness toward sin. Hatred of sin. And Jesus has said, I come to
heal the broken hearted. How does He heal our broken hearts?
Because by His stripes we are healed. He came to heal the brokenhearted. He said He came to preach deliverance
to the captives. Oh, it's sin. Sin holds men captive. You ever tried to stop sinning? It's like damming up the river.
And on the surface, the river, as you watch a river flow, it
looks passive, doesn't it? It looks really gentle and it
flows along. You try to dam it up and see
how passive the river is. You try to dam up your sin, you
try to hold back your sin, and I promise you, you will be overwhelmed
by it. Sin is a chain. It's a bondage. The law is a bondage. The law keeps us bound. It says, Cursed is everyone that
continueth not in all things written in the book of the law
to do them. The law binds us. Satan binds us. How then is a
man made free from sin, free from the guilt of his sin, free
from the power of his sin, free from the presence of his sin?
Because sin is what chains us to the law. The only one who can deliver
you is Jesus Christ. And I tell you, He will deliver
whom He will. If you've been delivered, it
is because He has willed it so. He said, I have translated you
from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of His dear Son. And now we are free. You see,
I'm free from the guilt of my sin because He bore the guilt
of my sin, paid the guilt of my sin. I'm free from the guilt
of my sin. I'm free from the power of sin.
I have a new nature that is righteous. And you know what, this old man,
he is still just as vile and wicked as he was. That means
one day I'll be free from the presence of sin. When this body
dies, I'll be free from the very presence of sin. I'm free. He sets the captives free. Well,
pastor, I'm not captive. I can do what I will. I can do
what I want to. Again, he's only preaching to
captives. This gospel is only for captives.
Jesus said, I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to
repentance. You know, if you're not sick,
you won't go to the doctor, will you? Why go to the doctor? You're
not sick. Why come to Christ? If you have
self-righteousness, you won't ever come to Christ. It's only
those who are captive come to Christ. Only those who need deliverance
come to Christ. to recovery of sight to the blind. You see, only the blind need
sight. Isn't that right? If you see, what good would that
do you if you had a man that could heal blindness? You had a man right now in the
middle of this congregation that says, I can heal blindness. You'd
say, well, I can see. I'm not blind. So you wouldn't
have need of that man. But I tell you this, we by nature
are blind to the things of God. And it's only when God opened
our eyes that we saw our need of Him. And He said, I came to preach
the acceptable year of the Lord. Very carefully, today is the
day of salvation. Today. You have no tomorrow. Today is
the day of salvation. Today is the acceptable year
of the Lord. Today is the day of grace. Believe
on Christ. Trust in Christ alone. And be accepted of God. You know, there's only one place
God will accept you. In Christ. In Christ. I think the ark is the most vivid
picture of that. The judgment of God was pronounced
over all flesh to destroy all flesh, and only those who were
in the ark were saved. I tell you, only those in Christ
will be saved. Only those in Christ will have
life. Only those in Christ who believe
on Him will be saved from the judgment and justice of God. And you know what? Today is the
day. If you die in your sins, it will not be because you did
not hear the word of the Lord. It's because you did not want
Christ. You love darkness rather than
light. But you who believe, I like this,
say you to the righteous, it shall be well with I like that. It shall be well. In other words,
this world, we're in a lot of trouble, aren't we, believers?
We're in a lot of problems. We got a lot of difficulties.
It'll be well. It'll be well with you. Why? Because you're in Christ. Safe. God's love is towards you. God's
grace is towards you. And you know, when he closed
that book, every eye was on him. It is my hope that every eye
should be on Christ right now. You should look to Him, love
Him, follow Him, serve Him, believe Him. Many in that day, they had their
eyes on Him, but they didn't believe Him. Matter of fact,
at the end of this message, you know what they want to do with
the Lord Jesus? They want to throw Him off a cliff. Some of you want to throw Him
off a cliff. Away with this man! But not me. Not me. I must have
Him. I must have Him. Christ is all. May God bless His Word to your
hearts. Let's stand and be dismissed
in prayer.