As Brother Marvin said, the honor
is ours, isn't it? Where are you, Marvin? Where'd
you go? There you are. Thank the Lord for that message.
Thank the Lord for you. We've been friends a long time,
haven't we? He likes to call us pastors-in-law. We've been so blessed, haven't
we? Your son, my daughter, they were betrothed. It's an honor to be here. I'm
so thankful for this church, like Brother Marvin said. And
I thank the Lord for your work of faith and labor of love. All
that you've done. You thanked us, but it was a
privilege to come and help. But I commend the members of
this church for all that you've done to make this such a pleasant
and wonderful place to worship. The Lord has blessed you, this
church, with a wonderful preacher and pastor, you know that, and
his wife, and musicians, and people that can do so many things.
But you have an abundance of carpenters here, don't you? What
a blessing, what a blessing. Brother Tony, and Jared, and
Gabe, and others. My, my, this place is just beautiful,
beautiful. Thankful for it. Turn with me
to John chapter 7. Gospel of John chapter 7. John chapter 7. The Lord was
despised and rejected, hated by man, but especially religious
men. And the Pharisees, scribes and
Pharisees, he called them hypocrite. They sent officers to apprehend
him, to take him. And down in verse 46, these officers
came back to the Pharisees. They asked him, why haven't you
brought him? Where is he? Why didn't you bring
him back? And they said, here's what they said. Never man spake
like this man. They stood in the presence, they
were amazed standing in the presence of Jesus of Nazareth. It's fitting that these enemies
of our Lord said this. Scripture says the wrath of man
shall praise him. The enemies of our Lord said
so many things in derision of him, which actually gave him
honor and glory, didn't it? So many things, like he receives
sinners and eats with them. Hallelujah. He saved others himself
he can't save. No truer words were spoken. Pilate
one of his arch enemies three words Three words Christ stood
before him. He said behold the man no truer
words have ever been spoken and these enemies of our Lord were
sent to To take him and they said never man spake like this
man and no truer words have ever been spoken Because there's never
been a man like this man. That's what I Never man spake
like this man, and never man has adequately preached or declared
or described how and what he said. The half has never been
told, has it? We keep trying, that's why you
have so many preachers. We all say just a little bit,
but the half will not be told, will it? What I hope and pray,
though, is that he will speak to us tonight. Now, every man
spake like this man because there's never been a man like him. This
is not any mere man. This is the son of the most high
God. This is God manifest in the flesh. Emanuel. That's who this is. That's why scripture says of
him, the first man, Adam, was made a living soul. The last
Adam was a quickening spirit. Our Lord said of his words, what
he spoke, he said, my words are spirit and life. Life. His word gives life. Spirit and life. Scripture says
the first man is of the earth, earthy. The second man is the
Lord from heaven. So never man spake like this
man. The wrath of man shall praise
him. And they uttered these words, it praised him. Oh, the preparations
of the heart and the answer of the tongue are of the Lord, aren't
they? The Lord had them say this. Spoken by his enemies. They were
sent to take him and they were taken by him. They were sent to take him captive
and they were held captive by him. They were sent to apprehend
him and they ended up being apprehended by him. They were sent to silence
him. And he ended up silencing them.
And that's what the Lord does to all of his enemies. It's fitting
because every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess
who he is. Whether willingly now in salvation
or unwillingly later they're gonna do it. His enemies are
gonna be brought to his footstool. Because never man spake like
this man. And the Lord still speaks today. He still speaks
today, not audibly. God in sundry times and divers
manners spake unto the fathers by the prophet, hath in these
last days spoken unto us by his son. But when Christ went back
to glory, he ascended up on high, he gave gifts to men, he gave
some prophets, some apostles, some evangelists, some pastors,
and teachers, preachers. This is how God speaks now, doesn't
it? The world calls it foolishness. Brother Darwin, this is how God
speaks to men, doesn't it? As I said, I hope and pray, I
believe He has. He's spoken to us. We'll continue
to do so. He speaks through the preaching
of the word by men who are earthen vessels. If he speaks to you,
if he speaks in power, you'll know that the excellency and
the power is of God. You'll know, like they said,
of those fishermen. Pharisees and doctors and lawyers
sat and listened to these fishermen. Where'd they get this learning?
So that's how the Lord speaks. And the same Lord who silenced
those men back then, he breaks, he silences, he stops the mouths
of his enemies with his word. I'll give you a couple of examples. There was a young man, 17 years
old, his name was Robert Robinson, years and years ago. He was a
rebel, a rebel, an out and out hoodlum. And he went to hear
George Whitefield preach. He went there with the purpose
of disrupting the meeting and deriding and making fun of George
Whitefield. Well, the Lord ended up saving
that boy by George Whitefield's preaching. And that young man
went on to be a famous hymn writer. And he wrote one of my favorite
hymn. He wrote, Come Thou Fount. Another example, some of you
know and have read the book by John Warburton, Mercies of the
Covenant of God. When he was a young rebel, rowdy
one, he went to hear William Gadsby. And his intent was to
disrupt that meeting. Well, the Lord ended up saving
him through William Gadsby's preaching. And Gadsby baptized
him. And John Warburton became a preacher
in his own right, a good preacher. And he ended up baptizing a young
fellow named J.C. Philpott. That's the way the
Lord does. That's, he still speaks powerfully.
He speaks through men. It was said of Whitefield that
he could be heard by thousands. Well, our Lord, never a man spoke
like this man. He was heard by heaven, earth,
and hell. Never a man. Now, I want us to
consider this morning, or this evening, how he spoke. and what he spoke, okay? Turn
with me to Luke chapter four. We'll stay in Luke chapter four
a good bit. So mark that place, Luke chapter
four. How he spake, the manner in which
he spoke. And every man spake as he spoke. And every man spoke with such
a power and such authority, such majesty and such wisdom. Our Lord came to his hometown
of Nazareth, and as a custom was for a 30-year-old young man
to stand up and read. And they had him stand up and
read, and they delivered him the book. He didn't need a copy
of the book, but they gave him the book to read. And he turned
to Isaiah 61, and he read from that. And look at verse 20. Luke
chapter 4, he closed the book and he gave it again to the minister
and sat down and the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue
were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them,
this day is this scripture fulfilled in all in your ears. And all
bear him witness and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded
out of his mouth. They said, is not this Joseph's
son? He just merely read the scriptures, and they were amazed
at how he read the scriptures. Brother Donny, someone probably
said, he reads like he wrote the book. He did. He reads the word of God like
it's his own word. John, it is. He's the author of it. He read with great grace, just
the reading of it, his reading of it. Verse 31, look down at
verse 31. He came to Capernaum, city of
Galilee, and taught them on the Sabbath day. They were astonished
at his doctrine. His word was with power. It means
authority. Yes, he has authority. All authority
is given unto him in heaven and earth. Verse 36, they were all
amazed and spake among themselves, saying, what a word is this,
with authority and power he commanded the unclean spirit. And they
come out, yes, because he is the absolute authority of this
universe. Everything, Barnard used to say,
everything that writhes or wriggles is under his absolute sovereign
power. Subject to him does what he says
he spoke and it was done a Mighty God has spoken called the earth
from the rising of the Sun called the earth into account for everything
that he said He's the absolute authority at all right of every
subject he said I am the way I am the truth I I scoff at all
those who call men experts." Well, he or she's an expert.
Oh, really? That's going to change in a few weeks. Our Lord is the
authority of all. Never a man spake like this because
he knew all. Ever been around somebody who
thought they knew everything? They never quit talking yet.
They're words of noise in your ear. Well, not him. He did know
everything. knows everyone and everything. You speak with power. Power means
force. irresistible force, the word
of his power. That's how he spake. Look at
chapter four here in Luke, Luke chapter four. Everything and
everyone was subject to this irresistible force and power
of him, the devil himself. Chapter four, verse six. The
devil said unto him, all this power will I give thee, the glory
of them, for that is delivered unto me. Who delivered this power
unto him? The devil was, our Lord was confronted
by the devil, and he said, I've been given some power. Who gave
you that power? The one standing in front of
him. Like Pilate, the time he stood in front of Pilate. He
said, you have no power over me at all, except that we've
given you from above. The one standing in front of
him gave him the authority to do that. And all this was for
his glory, okay? And our Lord said, look at verse,
The Lord answered and said unto him, Get. Like you'd tell an old curd dog,
get behind me. The devils are subject to him.
The devil himself is subject to him. Demons are subject to
him. Down in verse 33, he said, and
there's a man with an unclean devil, cried with a loud voice,
said, let us alone. What have we to do with thee,
thou Jesus of Nazareth? Art thou come to destroy us?
They knew who he was. I know thee who thou art, the
Holy One of God. And Jesus rebuked him saying,
hold thy peace, shut your mouth, come out of him. All power. Every man speak like
this man. He speaks and it's done. He purposed
it, he said, I'll do it. He speaks and it's done. He commands
everything and everyone, everything and everyone does his bidding. He said, is not my word like
a fire and a hammer? The word of God is quick and
powerful and sharper than a two-edged sword, able to do whatever he
sends it to do. He says, come and you come. Right,
Marvin? And he says, come, you will come. Elements are subject to look
at Luke chapter 8 hold your place in Luke chapter 4. I'll come
back there Luke chapter 8 look at this the elements are subject
to him the apostles saw this Luke chapter 8 verse 23. They
were in the storm of their life. These expert sailors were scared
to death Big rough and tumble Simon Peter scared to death in
verse 23. He was asleep A storm of wind
on the lake. Who raised that storm? Who brought
that storm? He did. They were filled with
water in jeopardy, and they came to him, awoke him, saying, Master,
Master, we perish. Then he arose, walked out on
the bow of that ship, and rebuked the wind. Stop blowing wind,
Cody. Never man spake like this man.
And the water laid down, and it ceased. And they said, what
manner of man is he? He's no mere man, is he? No,
never a man spake like this, because there's never been a
God-man. This is the God-man, the elements.
The elements are subject to him. But his greatest power, like
You know, creation is the heavens declare His glory, the firmament
showeth His handiwork, day unto day others speak, night unto
night knowledge of who God is, His eternal power and God is
clearly seen in the things that are made, but His greatest power
and the power of His Word is his power over men and women,
over the hearts, the will, the minds of men and women, because
they're the hardest, they're the worst of all the beast on
earth. John Bunyan used to say, with
apology to the beast, the ox knows his owner, the ass knows
his master's crib. He said, my people, he came to
his own, the creator came to his creation and he received
him not. No greater proof of man's depravity than he won't
acknowledge his creator. He won't hear his creator. Bites
the hand that feeds him. Won't come worship his creator.
We're told to come worship. We wouldn't have come to worship
him if he hadn't told us to come. With wills of men. are in his
power to break the hearts of men, are in his power to do with
as he pleases. Even a king's heart is in the
hands of the Lord. Like the rivers of water, he
turneth it with us wherever he will. He just says the word. This is amazing. He just say
the word, he can stop the raging, ranting rebel and lunatic in
his tracks. Stop the wild career of a lunatic
like me and bring him to himself. That's amazing. Never a man spoke
like this man. Has he spoken to you? If he does. He was a Gadarene demoniac. Remember
that fella? Nobody could tame him. Nobody
could do anything with him. Our Lord came to him, came where
he was. When it was all over, he seated
at the Lord's feet, clothed in his right mind, with his mouth
shut, listening to the Lord, enwrapped by him, worshiping
the Lord, a demoniac. A cussing sailor. Don't you picture
Simon Peter as being a big, rough, tough, brawling fella that'd
just as soon fight you as look at you, don't you? One last time,
you know, he was gonna call a house on everybody in the garden, wasn't
he? Gonna take them all on. Don't you picture him like that,
Donny, huh? Now, who's gonna tangle with
a fella like that? Our Lord came by his ship and
said two words, follow me, and walked off. And he dropped everything,
everybody. Followed him for the rest of
his days. Never a man spoke like this man. Never a man. Self-righteous Pharisee. Saul
of Tarsus. Breathing out slaughterings,
threatenings and slaughtering. I'm going to put this Jesus out
of business. I'm going to end this Jesus business once and
for all. Oh, are you now? And our Lord came to him, surrounded
him, apprehended him. He said, Now Saul, Saul, stop
kicking. I'm going to tell you what I'm
going to do with you. Never a man spake like this man. Never a man spake. By the word
of his power. And he still speaks, as I said,
through the gospel. Oh my, the gospel. Is this not
your story? Ephesians 2, Brother John read
Ephesians 1. That's my favorite chapter, isn't
it yours? Next is chapter 2 and 3 and 4. But there was a time
I didn't read this book, the time I didn't care anything about
this book, but God. And you, is this you? Hath he
quickened? Who? The Lord Jesus Christ. by his word, who were dead and
trespassed in sin. In time past, you walk like that
Gadarene demoniac. The course of this world, according
to the prince of the power of the air, that worketh in the
children of disobedience. Didn't you, darling? Among whom
also we all had our conversation in times past, the lust of our
flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and the mind, were
by nature children of wrath, even as others." Now, here's
the gospel. Here's the power of God in two
words, but God. He's rich in mercy. He's great
love. Well, how did He do that? He
came, it says in chapter 2, He came and preached peace to you.
that were far off, strangers and foreigners, now you're fellow
citizens with the saints of the household of God, built on the
foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself,
the chief cornerstone. Gospels, the power of God and
the salvation. Break the hardest heart open,
blind eyes, deaf ear, a voice to raise the dead, the only one
that can. Never a man spoke like this man.
Never. The manner in which he spake
in power, force, wisdom, authority, grace, poured from his lips,
Scripture said, poured from his lips, kindness, This is proof
of man's depravity, because no man spake with more kindness,
more compassion, more tenderness than our Lord, did he, David?
No one could, no one ever has or ever will. He spoke the truth
he loved, didn't he? We still hated him, and we would
too if he didn't make us love him. All right, what'd he say? What
did he say? That was a poor attempt at trying
to say how he spoke. What did he say? All we want
to do, Brother Gabe, is just say what he said. That's all
these preachers want to do. Stand up here and tell you what
the Lord hath said. Thus saith the Lord. And we'll be successful
if we do that. He'll bless that. Luke chapter
four, go back there. Told you to stay there. Look
at Luke chapter four. What did he say? Never man spake what he spoke. Never man spake what he said,
no man can. Luke chapter four, look at verse
18. This is what the Lord read, and
he could have turned to any place in the gospel of Isaiah. He could
have turned anywhere and spoke of him. Chapter six, anywhere,
couldn't he? Couldn't he come anywhere? But
he chose chapter 61. And these gracious words came out of his
mouth. Verse 18, the Spirit of the Lord
is upon me. That means he's the Christ. There
is no other. He's the anointed one. He's the
Christ, the Messiah sent by God. The only way to God, the Messiah. Because he hath anointed me to
preach the gospel to the poor. Oh, blessed are the poor in spirit.
Theirs is the kingdom of God. He's the one that gives it. He's
the one that came in search of his subject and he rounds them
all up and he preaches to them, tells them the good news, I've
come for you. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted. He's the only one that can break
the heart and he's the only one that can heal it. He breaks the heart,
he healed. He sent me to preach deliverance
to the captive. As said, Satan holds this whole
world captive at his will according to the will of the Lord. But
everyone is in the captivity of Satan, the god of this world,
until a stronger than he comes and binds him and takes what
belongs to himself back to himself, takes captivity captive. He's
the only one that can. And he does, he does just that. Deliverance to the captives the
Sun make you free you're free And only he can and mud He sent
me said to recover sight to the blind Hmm said it liberated them
that are bruised lost bruised and mangled by the fall Christ
that's redeemed us once To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
I love that don't you acceptable year of the Lord in other words
God's accepting everyone Christ said, that comes by me. Now what man could say that? Never man spake like me. He said,
no man, no man can come, he said, Marvin. And he said, no man cometh
unto the Father but by me. What does that mean? That he's
God. the only mediator between God
and Him. He's that Christ, the Messiah, the one sent by God.
He's the only one. Over in chapter 18, most of you
know the story of the Pharisee and the Publican. Our Lord told
that parable of the Pharisee and the Publican. Two men went
into the temple to pray. Two men went to church. One of
them was a good moral fellow, they thought, and he prayed thus
with himself, bragging on himself, but then the old publican, the
old sinner, everybody knew he was, and he prayed the perfect
prayer, seven words, seven's perfection, he prayed the perfect
prayer. He said in verse 13, the publican
wouldn't lift his eyes up to heaven, smote upon his breast,
said these seven words, God be merciful to me, the sinner. And what did Christ say? He said,
I tell you, this man went down to his house, justified. With a word, Jesus Christ said,
justify, cleared of all sin, all charges. You can't do that.
I just did. Never a man could say what he
said. I say, they brought a woman to
his feet one time. She was condemned by the law.
They said, Moses said she's to be stoned. What do you say? He
said, no condemnation. Cleared of all charges. Never
a man spake like this man. What he says goes and what he
says the Father grants. Never a man spake like this man.
Woman came to him weeping, bathing his feet with her tears. He said,
woman, thy sins be forgiven thee. With a word, never a man spake
like this man. Never a man could say what he
said. He said this, he said, he that hath seen me hath seen
the Father. What does that mean? It means
he's God, God, man, and the flesh. He said, all things are delivered
unto me of the Father. He said, come unto me, I'll give
you rest. That's what he said, I'll give
you rest. No one else can. No one else can say that. No
one else can give it. He can and he does. He grants
it. He said, all that the Father
giveth me shall come to me. Right, Marvin? They shall. And
him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out for any reason
under any circumstance ever cast him out. Isn't that great? Who can say that? but Him. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
he that believeth on me hath everlasting life. Don't you love
that? Don't you love that? I believe
on Him. I believe, don't you? I really
do, don't you? Do you? Oh, we're so ashamed
of our faith. I believe. Help my unbelief,
but I do believe. I really do. Well, he said, you
believe me, you have everlasting life. He's a man of his word.
There's an old saying that a man is only as good as his word.
That's true. But that's not true of any man
on this earth except the God man. He's a man of his word.
They say, that man is true to his word. I can never be said
of a human being except said of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's
true to his word. He cannot lie. God who has promised
us eternal life. God who cannot lie. He said,
he that cometh to me are no wise cast out. He that believeth on
me hath everlasting life. He cannot lie. He cannot tell
a lie. He is to be believed. He is to
be trusted. He should, he can be, he should
be, he ought to be trusted and believed. He's the only one that
should be. Cannot lie. What he says, he
does. What he promises, he fulfills.
Listen to the greatest word. Brother Marvin said it. And I
hope every preacher in here will say it. These three words that
he uttered on the cross, his last word before he died. He
said, it is finished. What do you mean by that? It is finished the work you set
to do He said his meat and drink was to do the will of the father
to finish the work that he sent him to do And when he hung on
that cross he said it's finished Brother gave you and I'll never
will never finish what we set out to do Because we got someone
wants to do other things He finished the work He finished the war,
he finished transgression, he put away sin, he put away sin
by the sacrifice of himself, he made reconciliation for iniquity,
he brought in an everlasting righteousness. He fulfilled all
the prophecies, all the promises of God, he fulfilled it, he sealed
it up. No, no man ever spake like this
man, ever. No man could say what he said,
because he's no mere man. No man prayed like he prayed,
couldn't. We say, Father, if it be thy will. You know what
he said? Father, I will. That those you have given me
be with me where I am. He gets what he prays for. The
Father always hears him. We hope and pray that the Father
will hear our prayer, and so we pray in Christ's name, don't
we, Brother Gabe? The Father always hears what
Christ prays, and he always gives him what he prayed for. He said,
I will that those you've given me be with me where I am. And how do you know the ones
he's given to Christ? Because they come to him. They
believe him. They follow him all their days. Like Simon Peter, he can't run
them off. It's words of life. Hated words, maligned words by
everybody else, but to his sheep, his people, words of life. They
can't live without it. They hang on his every word.
They have to have it. Oh, no man ever spake like this
man. No man ever prayed like this
man. And I like to think, you remember when they had the table
together and they sang a hymn They sang a hymn before they
went out. Surely no man sang like he sang. You reckon? David's called the sweet psalmist
of Israel. Where'd he learn to sing? From
him. Oh my, this song says, his voice is so sweet the birds hushed
their singing. No, never a man spake like this
man. No man ever prayed like this
man. No man ever sang like this man. No man ever lived like this
man. No man ever died like this man. No man ever did what this man
did. No man ever will, because there's
none like him. Never will be, never shall be
another like the Lord Jesus Christ. What a man, what a Savior. May
the Lord bless you.