Good morning, everyone. I've never spoke to this larger congregation.
And I was nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking
chairs. I don't know why that is. It has to be the flesh. Because
the spirit's willing, but the flesh is weak. I thought several times as I
came in yesterday evening, I said, well, I know who I'm going to
preach from. Until I heard Brother Tom and Brother Donnie. And I
said, well, maybe I'll need to back up. But they didn't say
everything I know to say. We've got some notes here. I
pray the Lord will bless it to you. The title of the message is But. Three little words, B-U-T. This little word is used 3,751
times in the scripture. I told the folks at home a few
weeks ago, I said, don't get nervous. I'm not going to look
at all of them. But what I want to do is see
how this one little word sets such a distinction between so
many things. The first time this word is used
is in Genesis chapter 2 and verse 4, or verse 4 through 6. This was the Lord talking and
he said, these are the generations of the heavens and of the earth
when they were created. And the day that the Lord God
made the earth and the heavens, he's telling us when this took
place. And every plant, every plane of the field before it
was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew,
for the Lord, the Lord God, had not caused it to rain upon the
earth, and there was not a man to till the ground. But, it never
rained before. But there was a mist, for the
mist of God's grace coming down upon a people, undeserving, hell-deserving. As Brother David was singing
that song, he used this word. But when she met the Master,
that changes everything. But there went up a mist from
the earth and water to the face of the ground. God will supply. The last time it's used in scripture
is in Revelation chapter one. John said, the Lord showed me
a pure river. Where's that river, David? That
flowed from the throne of God. He showed me a pure river of
life, clear as a crystal. And when we see Him, they played
the song, Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus. When we see Him, we see
Him clearly by this thing of faith. Oh, Paul said we see through
a glass dimly or darkly, but oh, when He reveals Himself to
us, when He actually comes and takes abode within the heart,
we see Him clearly. Oftentimes we forget because
of this flesh. Oftentimes we stumble. But he's
clearly set forth not only in his word, but in our hearts. And this river, it proceeded,
where does this come from? It proceeded of the throne of
God and of the Lamb and in the midst. right in the middle of
it, of the street of it, and on either side of the river,
there was a tree of life, which bore twelve manner of fruits,
and yielded her fruit every month, and her leaves of the tree were
the healings of the nation. And there shall no more curse
in that city, in that river, in the very presence of God.
There shall be no more curse. But, but the throne of God, and
of the Lamb shall be in it, and his servants shall serve him.
We await for the day that we can meet the Lord. I waited for
this day that we'd come here and worship together. Brother
Gabe called me sometime back, and it delighted my heart, not
just to come and preach to you, but just to come and be with
you. And they shall see his face, and his name shall be in their
foreheads, in their minds, and in their hearts. And there shall
be no more night, and they need no candle, neither light of the
sun, for the Lord God giveth them light. Is that not what
he's doing here this morning? Is that not what he did last
night when When Don and, or Tom and Brother Donnie preached the
gospel to us, did not it enlighten our hearts? Did it not rejoice
our souls and our minds? We need this. We need this. And they shall reign ever and
ever. We shall be with him and we shall
be like him. Now in between Genesis chapter
two and Revelation chapter 22, This word is used 3,749 times. And I just want to look at a
few of them. Just a few of them. How that
it sets apart. Often times when we read through
the scripture, we read over these little words. Oh, these little
words like us. He's long-suffering to us-ward.
He gave his self for us. And then that word them, hmm.
Who's he talking about? Us. Them and us are the same. But how does this little word
make such a distinction between two different things? In the
beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. So God, in Genesis
1, verse 27, it says, So God created man in his own image,
and in the image of God created he him, male and female created
he them. And God saw everything that he
had made, and behold, it was very good. There they stood,
everything that God had created. They stood in perfection before
Him. Sin had not entered into the
world yet, but it's getting ready. But between Genesis chapter 1
and Genesis chapter 6, something happened. Something happened
that changed the world. It changed all men in the world. Sin. sin entered in the world. We see something here that never
happened before. That God saw, Genesis chapter
6 verse 5, and God saw that the wickedness of man was great in
the earth. What changed from Genesis chapter
1 to Genesis chapter 6? When he looked and said, behold,
everything that I've created is very good. And now he says, the wickedness of man is great
in the earth. And every imagination, every
thought, everything that runs through our mind is only evil
continually. What happened to the good here? Sin came in, into the world by
this man Adam. And we can't look back and say,
it's Adam's fault. Oh no. We've tucked this thing
of sin and we've heaped sin upon sin. As Brother David said, our
souls were bound for hell. Oh, but we met the master. And our Lord said, now I don't
understand this verse right here. I've heard a man speak on it
and I've I still don't understand it. Verse six. And it repented
the Lord that he had made man on the earth. And it grieved
him at his heart. And because of this, because
it repented the Lord, whatever that means, and because it grieved
him at his heart, he said, I will destroy man whom I have created
from the face of the earth, both man and beast. Now, the beast
hadn't sinned. The creeping things hadn't sinned.
But man, everything that man's foot touched was made sin because
of the sin of this flesh. So he said, I'm going to kill
everything in the earth, beast, creeping things, fowls of the
air, for it repented me that I have made him. God was ready to execute justice,
which is the result of sin. The wages of sin is death. Oh,
but here's this little word. But the wages of sin is death. But the gift of God is eternal
life. And he looked upon all that he
had created He said, oh, I must destroy. I cannot just let sin go by.
God is too holy to just sweep sin under the rug. Sin must be
dealt with. And here he deals with it. He
deals with it in that generation. And he calls it a great flood.
to come upon the earth. The scripture says the heavens
was open. First time it ever rained was right there. And every man, every woman, every
beast ever fell to the air, ever creeping things upon the earth,
God said, I'm going to destroy. Oh, but ain't you so glad of
this one little verse? Genesis chapter 6 verse 8. But,
but, Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. You see the
distinction here? You see how this one little word
just sets everything apart? It divides them to a distinction
that Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. These others
were dead in their trespasses and sin, and God brought judgment
upon them because of this thing of sin. And God told Noah in Genesis
chapter 6 and verse 17, And behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of water upon
the earth to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life
from under heaven, and things that are in the earth shall die.
This flood is a representation, a picture of the wrath of God
against sin. and it covered the whole earth.
If I understand scripture right, it was 15 foot above the tallest
tree on the tallest mountain. 15 foot of water over the tallest
mountain that you can imagine in the world. That's the overscoring wrath
of God. Men say, oh my God, don't do
that. My God's a loving God. He loves everybody. He wants
the best for everybody. He's got a plan for your life.
God says, I, even I, do bring a flood upon thee, a flood of
water upon the earth. I'm going to do this. Oh, but thankful for the next
verse. Verse 18. But with thee. Oh, but with Noah. I will establish
my covenant and thou shalt come into the ark. Thou and thy sons
and thy wives and thy sons and their wives. Come into the ark. Come into the ark. Noah worked
for years on building this ark. You can go back through the book
of Genesis and you can see the description, how big it was and
how it was made and this and that. It had one door, it had
one window. Christ said, I am the way, the
truth, and the life. I'm the door. No man enters in
except by me. And Noah entered into this ark,
which is a picture and a type of Christ. And as I was preparing
this, I thought, you know, there was not one drop of rain that
ever fell upon Noah. He was in the ark. And so it
is with you and I. We will not see the wrath of
God. We're in Christ. He took the wrath for us. He
bore our sins in his own body on the tree. And that freed us. We sing the song at home, free
from the law, happy condition. Jesus has bled and there is remission. That's what's happened here.
When Christ came and he took upon himself flesh and then 2
Corinthians 5 verse 21. He, God the Father, has made
Him, God the Son, to be sin. For who? Us. Us, who by the grace of God believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. We don't just get up one morning
and decide to start believing. This is something God does within
us. This new man that he creates within us, that's the only one
that believes. This flesh don't believe. We
try to reign in here and we try to reign in there. I thought
of that years ago, we used to go to a carnival. And they had
this little game. Some of you have probably seen
it. You had a bat in your hand, and there was a head that would
pop up like that. You'd knock this one down, he'd
pop up here. That's the way sin is. We fight against it in one
place, and it raises its hand in another, to the point that
we cannot do that which we would. We cannot serve God as we would
because of sin within us. Oh, we delight in the law of
God after the inward man. Oh, I see another law that brings
me into captivity to the point that I cannot worship God as
I would. I cannot speak as I should because
of this thing of sin that dwells within me. You see how God makes
a difference? You see how He distinguishes
between people? This one verse here in Romans
chapter 9 and verse 13 has been a debate and dispute over thousands
of years. But it does not change what it
says here. Men may fight against it, men
may throw up their head and say, we don't believe that. But it
does not change God's word. As it is written, written where? Written in the Old Testament
scriptures. Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. That's not right. My God loves
everybody. was the god of this book dump.
And he tells these people, I never knew some of these people. There
was a number that God had chosen before the foundation of the
world. And men despise this, especially around my place. Men
despise this. We don't want to hear about that.
What about our free will to choose? What about our works that we've
done for the Lord? Burn them. Burn them. Get rid of them before God get
rid of them for you. It's a fact that there's some
that God loves, and there's some that he does not love. Brother
Don told me years ago, Brother Don Fortner, he said, what do
you do with people that you have no affections for? You know,
there's some people, now we're commanded, we're told to love
thy neighbor as thyself. And we would love to do that
if it's possible. But as long as we're in this
flesh, it's not possible. We can't do it. We strive to,
but we can't do it. And so it is with God. Oh, he's
not in the flesh. That's not what I'm talking about.
There are those that he has no affections for. Now, that's not a popular subject. But it's the truth of God. There
are those, he said, I never knew you. And there are some that
said, come. Come into my house. Come. Let us reason together. Well, I'm getting off my notes.
Let me get back where my notes is here. When Adam sinned, a
death sentence was passed upon all mankind. And that sentence
was, the soul that sinneth, it shall surely die. And every one
of us, from the youngest to the oldest, I look around at these
young people, this is the next generation for the gospel's sake.
These are those that will hear the gospel. These are those that
will believe the gospel according to the will of God. And these
are those that's gonna spread the gospel. You look around us. Someone made the mention last
night. We that are here, that's preaching this weekend, we're
over 70 years old. We don't have much longer here.
Somebody wrote a song, who's gonna fill their shoes? God will. He won't leave his self out of
witness. He will bring the gospel to his people, or bring his people
to the gospel. But the natural man, this natural
heart, is enmity against God. It's not subject to the law of
God, neither indeed can be. It cannot receive the things
of God. It is of the flesh and not of the spirit. That's the
reason that he has to come unto us and create something new within
us. Something that never was there
before. A new creation have I created in thee. A new spirit will I
put within thee. And a new heart will I give thee.
This is what God does for us. This is not what we do by walking
an aisle, making a decision. This is what God does for us. Listen to what the psalmist said. I looked to see who wrote this
song, and there's no title or no name beside Psalm 130. Out of the depths have I cried. Out of the depths of what? Out
of the depths of sin, out of the depths of depravity, out
of the depths of unrighteousness, Have I cried unto thee, O Lord? Lord, hear my voice. Let thine
ear be attentive to my prayer, or to my supplication. Oh, if
thou should mark iniquity, that sin, who should stand? Who's gonna stand before God?
Stand there and say, Lord, look what I've done. Who's gonna stand
before God when God saw all man of evil in this world? The whole
world, everyone in the world, their evil imagination were only
this way continually. Lord, who can stand? Verse four says, but there is
forgiveness with thee. that thou mayest be feared. Now
how can a holy God, holy, holy, holy is the Lord. How can a holy
God receive a sinful man? That's an age old question. That's
a question that man has been asking for years and years. Who
can stand in the house of the Lord? Who can approach the throne
of God? Who's able to come and worship
at his throne? How is this possible? How can
God be holy but yet forgive sin? One way. One way. And it's called a substitute. It's called a substitute. That's
the only way that a holy God can have any dealing with a sinful
man. God's too holy. He will not. He cannot. He just sweeps in
under the rug. It must be dealt with, as we
said earlier. And this is how it's dealt with. Sacrifice and offerings thou
wiltest not, but a body thou hast prepared me. God so loved
the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." There's
that little word again. We're not going to perish, those
who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. We're going to have eternal
life, the life of God Himself. For God sent not His Son into
the world to condemn the world, that the world through him might
be saved. Our Lord said, for I came down.
This is the purpose of me coming into the world. This is the purpose
of me taking upon myself flesh. This is the purpose of all things
that God did from the beginning. Known unto God are all his works
from the beginning. Men say, well, when Adam sinned,
he had to back up and make another plan. No, he didn't. There was
a sacrifice standing before there was ever a world created. Christ
stood as a lamb slain before the foundation of the world,
and he was slain for a people, a people that he said, thou,
or they were thine, and thou gavest them me. And that's who
we are. We are a gift from the Father
to the Son. Oh, what a poor gift we were.
What a miserable wretch we were. But we're also a gift from the
Son to the Father. Now we are a precious people.
Now we are a glorified people. Now we are a holy people. We're
a righteous people. How is that possible? Only in
the merits and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's how
God can be a just God. and yet a savior. Oftentimes
I wondered, how could God look upon me and find favor? Well, we must look out of ourselves.
We must look out of ourselves because nature, the flesh is
not changed. When God looks upon the world
today, he sees it the same way he did in Noah's day. Every imagination
of the heart was only evil continually, and so it is in our day. And
it seems to be the more people that are in the world, the more
wicked we are, the more sinful we are. But God, oh but God,
Brother Tom and Brother Donnie went over 2nd Corinthians, or
Ephesians chapter 2 last night, up and down, up and down, over
and over. But it says, But God, who is rich in mercy, for his
great love wherewith he loved us, even while we were yet dead
in our sins, while we were yet rebels against God, he's quickened
us. He put life within us. And he
told us, come unto me, all ye that labor and heavy laden, I'll
give you rest. And he sends forth his spirit
and draws us unto him. The spirit draws his people unto
the master, and we willingly go, led by the spirit. You remember the story of Joseph.
Most of you probably know this by heart. Joseph's brother disliked
him because they thought that Joseph's father loved him more
than he loved the rest of the people. And they were determined
to get rid of Joseph. We ought to get rid of this guy. And he says he's going to rule
over us. And he said he's going to do this. Joseph is a picture
or a type of Christ. And in Genesis chapter Genesis chapter 50, verse 19. This is the end of it. They sold
Joseph into slavery. Most of you know this. They sold
him into slavery, down into Egypt, and God was with him. And then
Joseph's brother came into Egypt to buy corn and to buy supplies. There was a famine in their land.
They came down into Egypt to buy supplies from this one, but
they didn't know who he was. But after all this was done,
this is what Joseph said to his brother in Genesis chapter 15,
verse 19. And Joseph said unto them, fear
not. He made himself known unto them
at the end of this story. He said, for I am in the place
of God. But for you, my brothers, Ye
thought evil against me, but God meant it unto good. I'm exactly where God put me. And if you ask Paul, sitting
there in prison, Paul, what are you doing here? I'm exactly where
God put me. And so it is with you and I.
We're here today because God brought us here for a purpose. Some of us is here to rejoice
and be glad. Some of us is here for other
reasons. But the only way we can rejoice and be glad is because
God brought us here. He brought us here for a purpose.
And that purpose is to hear the gospel. When Peter went into
Cornelius' house, Cornelius told him, he said, we're all here.
We're gathered in the name of the Lord. We're here. What? To be seen? To get an acquaintance? To make new friends? That's fine.
But the reason we gather is to hear. Whatsoever the Lord has
commanded thee to say. Now here we are. Preach the gospel. Be instant, in season, out of
season. You preach the same thing Brother
Donnie did last night. I'm sure Brother Greg's gonna
preach the same thing that Brother Donnie and Brother Tom did last
night. Sing it over and over again to me. Wonderful words
of life. Oh, this is what we need. This
is what we desire. This is what we hunger for. So
as we read, and as we study the scripture, let us not overlook
these little words. They're used too many times.
God has used them for a purpose, and that purpose is to enlighten
us, to show us, I'm God, and besides me, there is none else.
If you are to have life, it must be me freely giving it to you,
so it comes. Come, hear the gospel, rejoice
in the gospel, bow to the Son, kiss the Son, lest ye be angry.
Thank you for your attention.