Does that work? There we go.
This is the one that's set up to record. Of course, if I don't
turn it on, well, it makes it much harder to get a recording.
Alright, Titus chapter 1 verse 5. The reason I left you in Crete
was that you might straighten out what was left unfinished
and appoint elders in every town as I directed you. An elder must
be blameless, the husband of only one wife, A man whose children
believe, and most people, including me, think that that would be
better translated, whose children are faithful. No man can make
his children believe, but he's talking about faithful, children
faithful within the context of their family. A man whose children
are faithful and are not open to the charge of being wild and
disobedient. Since an overseer is entrusted
with God's work, he must be blameless, not overbearing, not quick-tempered,
not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest
gain. Rather, he must be hospitable,
one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright,
holy, and disciplined. He must hold firmly to the trustworthy
message as it has been taught so that he can encourage others
by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it. Now when
God set up the church of the Lord Jesus, He gave various gifts
to the people in order that they might be of service to the church. And among the gifts listed in
Ephesians chapter 4, I believe it is, it says He gave some to
be pastors and teachers. Now in 1 Peter chapter 5 verse
2, Peter addresses the elders and says, as an elder, or a fellow
elder, I tell you, shepherd the people of God over whom he has
made you overseers." Now, in that scripture, Peter has put
together three words which are often, or which are used to describe
spiritual leaders within a congregation. Elder, and that word shepherd
is the very same word that's translated pastor. whenever it's
used in a religious context. And then he mentions overseers,
which are traditionally, like in the King James, are called
bishops. It means to oversee or to watch over. But these three
names are not descriptions of three different jobs within the
church. They are three descriptions of
the same job. You know, a lot of churches have
a hierarchy. You know, they've got the pastor
within a congregation and then there are elders who sort of
serve him and then above him the denomination has bishops
who oversee the efforts of all the individual pastors. Well
the scriptures don't speak of anything like that. It speaks
of the spiritual leaders within a congregation under the words
elder, pastor, and overseer. We have read one of two places
where Paul gives a description of what kind of person should
be put in that position. Now for some years I've been
praying from time to time that God would raise up men within
our congregation and in particularly from the generation below me,
raise up men with these qualities. And it's sometimes been mentioned
when we meet Wednesday evening for our prayer meetings. Several
weeks ago, I was listening to the message that Eric preached
while I was in Missouri. Of course, he's preached here
several occasions in my absence, and he's always done a good job,
always told the truth. But I listened to it, and it
was a good message, as anyone who heard it would testify, and
several of you did. It was a blessing to me. And
after I listened to that message and rejoiced in the truth of
it, it occurred to me that this was the answer to the prayer
I'd made for so long. Eric had shown all those qualities
which the scriptures have given for elders slash pastors slash
overseers. And it is my belief that if God
answers a prayer, you receive the answer with joy. And if he
gives a gift, You accept it with thanksgiving. So I visited Eric
after a few days. I wanted to think it over and
make sure I wasn't acting rashly. And I visited Eric and told him
what was on my heart and asked him if he was willing to be recognized
by the church as an elder among us. You see, the church doesn't
make elders. God makes elders. The church
merely recognizes what God has done. Eric was surprised at my request,
which actually is good. It's good that anybody would
be surprised to think that others saw grace in them. But he took
a couple of weeks to think about it and then answered that he
was willing. Now in many churches, elders are elected for certain
periods of time and are seen as above the rank and file of
the congregation, separate from them. and almost unapproachable. It's sometimes considered that
once a man is given such a position, he must take on certain airs
and quit doing such trivial things as sports and entertainment.
When I asked Eric about being an elder, I told him it would
not require anything of him more than what he was already doing.
As I said, the church doesn't make elders, it merely recognizes
them. And it does not recognize them
unless and until they're already doing the work that an elder
is supposed to do. So Eric will be and do what he
has been being and doing until now. But a man's expressed willingness
to take on this job. And in Timothy, that's what it's
called. I've made the remark before. There are no offices
in the church. to be occupied. There are just
jobs to be done. And when a man's expressed willingness
to take on this job and the church's recognition of that, well it
has some of the same significance as a wedding. A man may love
a woman and express that love to her and even propose marriage. And all of that's fine. But we
all know that standing before all and making one's vows, saying,
I do, adds a significance to his expressed love. And if a man says, I will, to
a request to be recognized as an elder, he is not taking on
a title and an authority. He's taking on a responsibility.
He's taking on a job. He is saying that he was willing
to back up his claim to love the truth and to love God's church
by taking responsibility for her care. Now how are we as members of
this congregation to respond to such things? Well, first we
are to give thanks for his gift. We are to thank God anytime God
enables someone to occupy a place of spiritual leadership and to
be a teacher and a preacher among us. It is written he gave some
to be pastors and teachers and if he gives them we ought to
give thanks for them. Secondly, let us pray for Eric. Whenever
a man steps into the battle he becomes a target of the enemy.
Trials will certainly come his way and it will be the devil's
goal to discourage him to the point that he quits or falls
to some sin that brings reproach upon the name of Christ. I'll
admit, Eric, I didn't tell you about that part when I was talking
to you, but it's too late to back out now. That's the way
it is. You step on the battlefield,
you become a target. But we do give thanks. I'm so
grateful to have one that God has given us, one with a heart
an attitude such as our brother has. So let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, we thank
you for this gift that you have given to Eric and thus have given
to us of one who's been enabled to declare the unsearchable riches
of Christ. And we do pray for him, Lord.
We pray that you'd protect him, protect him from the enemy, or
certainly the enemy has taken note. Give him the inner grace, the
inner strength, and the inner determination to do the work
that has been given him to do and to persevere in that work.
We entrust his care to you. In the name of the Lord Jesus,
we pray, amen. And now for this morning's message,
if you'll turn back to the 118th Psalm, I was perusing the internet
this past week, and it's remarkable how many people are taking note
of the disasters going on here and there, as though these kind
of disasters are new. But they're talking about all
the forest fires going on, talking about the hurricane down in Houston
and now the one that's coming into Florida. Earthquake in Mexico. And many are saying, oh, these
are the signs of the times. And these are evidence the Lord
is coming back. Or others say this, this is the
sign of God's judgment upon this nation. And many are frightened by it. worrying about what's going to
happen. And they think that this is a very dark day. And I've commented a couple of
times when I saw these things. I said, there's nothing going
on right now that doesn't go on all the time. In fact, somebody
mentioned the fires going on in Western Montana. And somebody
from Western Montana wrote, said, this happens every year. It's
nothing new. You know, when our Lord talked
about His return, He says that His return would be as it was
in the days of Noah. For until the very day that Noah
entered the ark, They were marrying and giving in marriage and they
were eating and doing all this kind of stuff. And I've heard
people say, you see, that's how we can tell when the Lord's coming
back because people are going to be marrying and giving in
marriage. That is, they're going to be married and then to get
divorced and remarried again and all this kind of stuff. That's
not what God meant at all or what our Lord meant at all. Until
the day that Noah went in the ark, things continued on as they
always had been up to that point. There was no warning except that
warning given by Noah. There was no other warning except
the presence of this huge boat. And you can imagine people thought
Noah was somewhat silly. Why are you building a boat out
here in the middle of nowhere? You can't drag that thing to
the ocean. You should have built it right
by the ocean, you know. So he could float it. Noah said,
I don't have to. The ocean's coming to me. Because the Lord
has said he's going to send a flood to destroy the earth. And they
said, oh well, whatever. And they went about doing what
they always did. They're getting married. Fathers
were giving their daughters away in marriage. They were eating
and feasting. And you could have mentioned
all the other things that go on from day to day. Until the
day that God shut Noah and his family and all those animals
in the ark. And the fountains of the great
deep broke up and the heavens were opened. There was no other warning given
except that Noah said, it's coming. And there stood an ark. And you
know something? When our Lord comes back, it's going to be
an utter surprise because despite what many people think, he has
not given us any signs by which we can determine or predict or
even get the idea that we are right on the cusp of the Lord's
return. He said, just like in Noah's
day, everything's going to be going on just like it always
went on. He says there'll be wars and rumors of wars. And
people say, look at all the wars and rumors of war going on. Oh,
there's always been wars and rumors of wars, threats of wars. In fact, I wrote a rather lengthy
comment on Facebook here the other day. I said, you know,
we think about how supposedly horrible our day is. Do you know
what it was like 100 years ago? 100 years ago from right now,
the United States was involved in a war that would go on for
another year. And by the time the war was over,
the total casualties Just of military people would be 18 million
and another 23 million civilians. And in about 20 more years, another
war with more dead. And Nazism and communism would
pile up the bodies by the millions. Friends, when it comes to war
compared to 100 years ago, there's nothing much going on. All, you
know, we've been at war of one sort or another over there in
the Middle East since 2002, I believe it is. Do you know what the total
war dead for 17 years of war, both military and civilian, is?
300,000. Now, that's bad. I'm not saying it's not bad.
But compare that to 18 million in a space of two or three years.
Not just 18 million, if you add military and civilian, you get
41 million dead people. Women would go into childbirth
without any certainty that they would survive the process. I believe that about 100 years
ago, the infant mortality rate was somewhere around one in three. Disease. At about the same time
World War I was going on, a flu epidemic hit the world. Millions
perished. Now you go get a flu shot, the
worse we do, and I engage in this. You start feeling bad and
got a little virus, oh, I got the flu, and you fuss around
about it, but almost no one dies of it. We live longer, we live healthier.
And I tried to point that out, but it seems that people, kind
of enjoy looking at the world in a morbid way. And you know,
the news understands that, and that's why the news is basically
a collection of all the bad things that have happened. We've had
some protests going on in our country. Now, I don't know how
many were with these groups. For instance, that one in Charlotte.
You've got those guys and you know, with the pointy hats and
the white robes and all that kind of stuff. And you wonder,
how can it be that in the 21st century anybody would even be
caught dead walking around looking like that? But they do. And they,
you know, and they say some things. And then you had counter protesters
coming, some of whom were even more violent than the first guys
who started beating people up with bats and stuff like that. Now, I don't know how many were
involved in that. Let's give a number, say. 2,000.
Well, that gets splashed all over the newspaper. But on that
day, roughly 330 million minus 2,000 went about their day. They went to their jobs. They
went to school. They did whatever it is. And
so we get this faulty view of what the world is like because
we read the news that condenses everything that's bad and we
think the whole world is like that. You find these special
interest groups. They're the ones that get the
microphone. And you suddenly think everybody is griping like
they are. But even if the world was as
bad as they want to make it out to be, and that this day was
a day of great darkness, how should we as believers look at
it? And it is very simply this, verse
24, this is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and
be glad in it. Now, I'm not using that scripture
as some people do who say, you know, if you say, oh man, when's
this rain going to stop? And somebody goes, this is the
day the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in
it. And they want to act like they're super spiritual. And
they just, you know, there's okay with a rainy day as a sunny
day. It's not what we're talking about
at all. In fact, the day that is being
spoken of here is not a single day found upon a calendar. It is not a day like Monday,
as opposed to Tuesday, or even under the Jewish economy, it
was not, as some Sabbatarians want to say, it was the Sabbath
day he was talking about. God had made the Sabbath and
it's so good to have a Sabbath day. And I know some people observe
a Sabbath day and actually rejoice in it and that's fine, but I've
noticed people, most people, who are rather strict about observing
the Sabbath day, seem miserable on the Sabbath day. So if that
indeed was the day the Lord made, why don't they go to the next
line and rejoice and be glad in it, you know? But that's not
what he's referring to here. He's referring to this. Look
at verse 22. The stone the builders rejected
has become the capstone. The Lord has done this. And it
is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day the Lord has
made. Let us rejoice and be glad in
it. What day is that? The day of the fulfillment of
all of God's promises and prophecies and types and pictures in the
person of the Lord Jesus Christ. The stone the builders rejected
has become the capstone. Our Lord Jesus Christ came here
as Messiah. For unto you is born this day
in the city of David a Savior who is the Christ, the Messiah. He is the Lord. And some at that
time received it with joy. Those shepherds did and they
rushed to Bethlehem and found everything just as the angel
had told them it was. They found Joseph and Mary and
this little infant and they rejoiced in it. And later on, some wise
men from the East came and visited him. They took him to the temple
and Simeon saw him. He'd been told by the Holy Spirit
that he would not die until he saw the Lord's Christ. And led
by the Spirit, he went to the temple just as Joseph and Mary
are coming there. And this would have been about
40 days after the Lord was born. Because after 40 days, they were
to go in for the rites of purification. And here they got this little
baby in their hands. And Simeon, led by the Spirit,
went over there and he took our Lord Jesus up into his hands
and he says, as you have promised now, Lord, you may dismiss me.
What he meant by you can let me die because I've seen your
salvation. And another woman named Anna,
a woman who was widowed very early on, was only married seven
years before her husband died. But after her husband died, she
went to the temple and just devoted herself to the worship of God
there at the temple. I don't know what all she did,
but they said she just about lived there. And at this time,
she's 84 years old. So let's assume she was in her
mid-20s when her husband died. So now nearly 60 years she's
been at that temple. Worshiping God. Maybe doing some
of the menial labor around there. I don't know. But when she saw the Lord Jesus,
and maybe she heard what Simon said, it says she went throughout Jerusalem
telling about the Lord Jesus to everyone who sought for redemption
in Jerusalem. This was the stone, the foundation
stone upon which God was going to build his living temple. And it was brought in. And after
he was born, about 30 years later, it says he went out and started
teaching. And so now the stone is a prophet. And he goes from place to place.
declaring the truth of God by mouth and also revealing the
very nature and character of God just by his person because
he is God in human flesh. He's not just the best of prophets
for the very best that the best of prophets could do is tell
you what God told them. This prophet was God. speaking to everyone. And this
prophet not only brings a message, he is the message that he brings. And he begins to preach. And
the builders of that day, the religious leaders, the high priests, and the chief
priests, and Temple guards, the Pharisees,
the conservative wing of temple worship. And the Sadducees, that's
the liberal wing. And the Herodians, that's the
secular wing. Isn't it funny? Those three groups
couldn't stand each other. But they found common cause in
their hatred of the Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, it's written that later
Pilate and Herod, they couldn't stand each other. But after Pilate
had Christ crucified, Pilate and Herod became buddies. Isn't
it something how enemies become friends in their opposition to
Christ? But these were the builders,
the shakers and the movers, the ones who should have been the
very first to recognize the Lord Jesus Christ for who He was,
and bow down at His feet and call Him Lord and give thanks
to God that He has finally sent the Christ in full performance
of His promises. But no, that's not what they
did. It's not what they did at all. At every opportunity, they
withstood His teaching. At every opportunity, they tried
to trip Him up with tricky questions. Imagine trying to trip God up
with a tricky question. The Lord Jesus Christ not only
knew the answer to the question, He knew their hearts. He knew
why they were asking the question. And He often totally ignored
the question they asked and pierced them right to the heart with
a challenge regarding their attitude towards Him. He says, you want
to kill me? And they go, what do you mean we want to kill you?
Who's threatened you with death? You're out of your mind. I wonder if they were so deceived
that they didn't realize the murderous nature of their heart
towards Him, or if they were doing as they always do, trying
to cover what was really in their heart. But our Lord spoke, and they
rejected. They said, we have Abraham to
our father. And He said, before Abraham was, I am. and they rejected
him and picked up stones to kill him. In his own town, he read
from Isaiah and he speaks of a time when
the eyes of the blind would be open and the ears of the deaf
unstopped and the lame man leap like a deer. He spoke of the
day when the gospel would be preached to the poor. And then
he rolled up the scroll and he looked at that little congregation
there in Nazareth and he says, this day, this prophecy is fulfilled
in your ears and before your eyes. Why? Because he was the
one Isaiah was talking about. And then he said, you're going
to say to me, why don't you do the works we've heard that you're
doing in other places? After all, this is your hometown.
You know, and we all like a story of a, you know, hometown boy
made good. And he said, we've heard that
you heal here and do this there and that. And why don't you do
that in our town? And after all, you should. For
all you were raised here, you ought to have a special regard
for us. And our Lord says to them. He uses some examples from the
Old Testament. how that God, in times of Israel's
great distress, ignored Israel and provided blessings to Gentile
people. And you know what they did? The
hometown boy they were so glad to welcome just a little bit
before, they sought to take him out to the brow of a cliff, throw
him over, and then cover him up with stone. They rejected
him. And finally their hatred towards
him rose to such a pitch that they did conspire together to
have him put to death. And they were even able to enlist
the help of one of the twelve that our Lord Jesus Christ had
chosen as a disciple. A man named Judas. And they got him in league with
them. And of course behind the scenes in all of this is the
devil himself where he entered the heart of Judas. And the Lord
had already told these so-called builders here that they were
of their father the devil. But with hatred, murderous hatred
in their heart. Hatred for God first and therefore
hatred of God in human flesh. And hatred for God's truth as
it really is. They conspired together to eliminate
him in the foolish idea First of all, that they could. I mean,
you know, they obviously didn't understand who our Lord was. But they thought they could.
And then the foolish idea that if they did eliminate him, it
would put an end to this message that they didn't like. And they rejected him wholeheartedly. They found false witnesses against
him and they brought, since they couldn't put anybody to death,
the Jews weren't allowed to do that. And so they took him to
Rome later in that day. And they did everything legal
and illegal they could to force this man Pilate to have the Lord
Jesus crucified. And in the ultimate rejection
of our Lord, they took him outside of Jerusalem and nailed him to
a cross and mocked him as he hung there in agony. The stone
the builders rejected. Friends, that's not the day that
we're talking about. That's not the day the Lord made
in which we are to rejoice. Now I'm glad for that day, no
question. But you know there was nobody
rejoicing that day. The disciples weren't rejoicing.
The Lord's mother wasn't rejoicing. The Lord himself wasn't rejoicing. At least he didn't rejoice until
he gave up the ghost and went to paradise and a few minutes
later brought that one thief up there with him. So that was not a day of rejoicing. It was a day of great sorrow.
What was the day of rejoicing? The stone the builders rejected
has become the capstone. Now I started out saying that
God put him down as a foundation stone, and he did. And Paul said,
there's no other foundation that can be laid except the one that's
already been laid, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ. He is
the foundation of God's living temple. But you want to know
what else he is? He's the topmost stone. In fact, I remember Way
back when I still lived in Ashland, I preached a message, and I talked
about this word, or I'm not sure about in the Hebrew, but when
it's quoted in the Greek New Testament, that word could refer
to the foundation, it could refer to the very top stone, or it
could refer to one of those stones put across the door, the lintel
that held the weight, you know, the stones over top of it, so
you could have a door underneath. But you can see that in two of
the cases, it's a stone that bears the weight of everything
above it. And in one case, if you call it the capstone, it's
the one with the most glory. It's the one set at the top.
But I see it also as this. He is the bottom, he is the middle,
and he is the top of this temple, living temple that God is building. How has he been made that capstone?
Well, the Lord Jesus Christ died under the rejection of those
builders. He suffered and died and he was
buried. But once the work was done, once
the prophesied time had passed, he came out of that grave. God
raised him from the dead. Now the resurrection is not an
event in and of itself. I know that it's, you know, Christmas
is in broad Christianity, Christmas is the most holy day and then
right next to it is Easter. And they celebrate, you know,
the resurrection as though it's an event in and of itself. Well,
it's certainly a notable event, but the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead is merely the beginning of his ascension
to the right hand of God. And he stopped for 40 days to
give his disciples some final instructions and then finished
up his trip to the right hand of God. But the Lord Jesus Christ,
rejected by the builders and made a substitute for God's people
by God himself, went to the very depths when as low as a man could
ever be. He went down as low as you and
I are by nature. He bore our sins, He bore our
punishment, He was forsaken by God, forsaken by men, and experienced
all the agonies that a holy God can pour out in a just reaction
against sin. And then He began His ascension
to the right hand of God. And He left that tomb And it's
my belief that he wasn't inside saying, when's that angel going
to get here and roll that stone away so I can get out? He left sometime that night or
early in the morning. And for the sake of the women
who were going to come and put spices on his body, God sent
an angel who said to roll the stone out of the way for him.
They need to get in and see that he's not there. And our Lord went where He wanted
to go. He went through locked doors. He could be in one spot
and an instant later be somewhere else. This is our Lord Jesus
in His glorified state, even though at this present time,
or at that time, He was hiding much of His glory because this
world could not bear the sight of the Lord Jesus Christ in uncovered
glory. In fact, it says that when our
Lord Jesus Christ comes again, that merely the glory and brightness
of His coming shall destroy the wicked. So He had to keep it
under wraps. But He spoke to His disciples,
gave them final instructions. And then in a cloud, He went
up and was seated at the right hand of God. That's the day. The day our Lord was made the
capstone. The day our Lord was made the
preeminent one. He must have all the preeminence,
says the scriptures. God set him in his right hand,
which is to say, this man, Christ Jesus, is the chief thing in
the universe. This man, Christ Jesus, is the
sovereign ruler of all things. This man Christ Jesus is at my
right hand indicating He has all my favor. He has all my authority. And from that throne, the Lord
Jesus Christ is carrying out the purpose of God without fail. And it just plain doesn't matter
what's going on in the world. Jesus Christ has ushered in the
best day there ever was. Now, this is the last day, friends,
and I don't mean that now, 2,000 years after Christ was here,
we're entering the last days. It's been the last day since
Christ ascended on high, the last age. In the religion I was
raised in, they said, well, after a certain amount of time, we're
gonna have an age called the Tribulation, and after that,
we're gonna have an age called the Millennium. But on at least
two occasions, the scriptures call this the last, the final,
the consummation of the ages. It says that Jesus Christ came
and at the consummation of the ages offered to sacrifice. Friends,
this is the last one. Now, in every age, God has made
the light brighter. Now, there was light right there
in the Garden of Eden when God made the promise of the Lord
Jesus Christ, but it wasn't a very bright light. And then he made it a little
bit brighter after the flood. And it got a little bit brighter
when he spoke to Abraham. And brighter yet when he spoke
to Moses. And brighter yet when he spoke
to the prophets, to the fathers. But the day came, the book of
Hebrews says, God who had been speaking all
this time in little bits and pieces, He spoke in His Son. And when God spoke in His Son,
the light was turned on at full force. Now that doesn't mean
people saw it, because it doesn't matter how bright the light is,
blind men can't see. But you and I live in the day. when the truth of God is as bright
as it's ever going to get until the Lord himself returns in power
and great glory. Why should we rejoice in this
day when we do see things, like in our nation, I mean, let's
face it, I spoke about how things were a hundred years ago, but
you know, a hundred years ago, nobody was saying that we ought
to let homosexuals marry And if you're not on board with that,
you are a bigot in the lowest form of life. And if you won't
bake us a cake, we're going to take everything you've got. 20 years ago, you wouldn't have
thought that could happen in the United States. It's happening. we do see some terrible things
going on. But you know what? For all of
that, this is still that great and glorious day that God made
when he set Jesus Christ down at his right hand and let us
rejoice and be glad in it. The light has never been as bright
as it is right now and it's never going to get any brighter until
the Lord returns. While it may be fashionable to talk about
times of great darkness, friends, this is time of great light.
Yes, there are those who walk in darkness. They walk in darkness
because they're blind. But the light is there, and if
God is pleased to give them sight, they're going to see. And they're
going to see more clearly than Abraham did. They're going to
see more clearly than Moses did. Yea, they will see more clearly
than Isaiah himself saw. Do you realize you see things
more clearly than any of the prophets of the Old Testament
did? Why? Their eyes were as open as yours
are, but the light wasn't as bright back then. What a wonderful
day to live in. A great and glorious day. Because
regardless what's going on in the world, regardless of what's
going on with us, regardless of what may be going on in us,
this is God's great and glorious day of Christ Jesus. Let's rejoice
and be glad in it. In the book of Hebrews, as those
Christians were facing persecution, and I'm sure they were thinking,
oh, this is a this is a dark and horrible day. And what did
the writer say? He said, stand up, strengthen
those ankles. He says, you strengthen your
arms. It's good thing for the heart
to be encouraged with grace, he said, to be strengthened.
We have no reason. For a pouty face. We have no
reason. for a gloomy outlook. We live
in the day of the glory of God being revealed in the face of
Jesus Christ. I would choose no other day to
live in. Secondly, here's why this day
is such a great day and we should rejoice and be glad in it. The
door to salvation has never been wider than it is right now, and
it will not get any wider than it is right now. And how wide
is that? How widely has it been open?
Why, it's been thrown open completely. Now think of it. In the days of Noah, how wide
was the door? Wide enough to let one guy and
his family in. That was it. In the days of Abraham, how wide
was the door? Wide enough to get Abraham and
Sarah and Isaac and Jacob in. And it would take quite a few
years to get from Abraham to where Jacob and all his descendants
were down in Egypt. And you know how many people
that was? 70. God didn't open the door very
wide back then. But the Jews grew and multiplied
there and finally came the day when God redeemed them out of
Egypt and he stopped them there by Mount Sinai and he made a
covenant with them there. And he opened the door somewhat
more. And yet still that door was open
wide enough pretty much only to admit the Jews because the
Jews were the only one who knew that there was a door. Nobody else even, you know. If
you don't know the doors there, it really wouldn't matter how
wide open it was, would it? Yes, there were a few when they entered
the land there, people like Rahab, the harlot. God opened a door
big enough for her to get in. There were a few. But for the
next 1500 years, The door of salvation was open
pretty much only enough that a remnant of the Jews got in. Not even the whole Jewish nation,
a remnant according to the election of grace. But then Jesus Christ came and
he said, I am the way. the truth and the life. He says,
and I, if I be lifted up, and he was speaking there of his
crucifixion, if I be lifted up, I'll draw all men unto me. By
that he meant all kinds of men. He was going to bust that door
open. He was going to throw open wide
and it wasn't going to just admit Jews anymore. He was going to
admit Jews and Gentiles. He was going to admit people
from every kindred, tribe, tongue, and nation. Our Lord said, all
authority is given to me in heaven and earth. Go into all the nations
and make disciples of them, teaching them to observe everything I've
commanded you. Now they didn't understand just how wide the
Lord had thrown open that door because He said go into all nations.
And what did they do? They stuck around Jerusalem.
And they went a little bit out here and there, but they didn't
really become missionaries like they were supposed to. So what
does the Lord do? He sends serious persecution on these people and
scatters them out of Jerusalem, forces them to go to the uttermost
parts of the earth. Why? The Lord has a people from
all over the earth. He's thrown open the door of
salvation so wide that there's room for that great mass of people
to come in. He has promised to save all who
come to Him through Christ Jesus. And you need not look at that
door and think it's open just a crack and it's not going to
be big enough for you. You need not think that there's
someone standing there at that door to decide whether or not
you're worthy to come in. The door is open to the unworthy,
and there's a bunch of them. The door is open to the unworthy.
The door is Christ Jesus. And everyone who goes through
that door goes in, as the Lord Jesus Christ says, into the sheepfold
of God. And they find pasture. They find
food. They find salvation. And I know this, if you perish
under the wrath of God, it's not going to be because the door
wasn't open big enough for you. It's going to be because you
wouldn't go through. Oh, what a day to rejoice in.
The door of salvation is open, and nobody's guarding it, because
it doesn't need guarding. Oh, there's people over here
trying to get into the city, trying to cut a new hole through
the wall, but the stones are too hard for that. And they're
dashing themselves against that wall, thinking that somehow or
another they're going to, I don't know, magically get through. They try to climb
over the wall. Won't work. But everyone, who come to that city, as is
described in the book of Revelation, and there's really many gates
in the city, but all those gates are Christ, the representative
of Christ. But you come through that gate. You just walk in. Nobody's going to ask your name.
You're not going to have to present documents. You came in by Christ. You were in. It's the best day
there ever was. There's nobody alive on the earth
to whom you may not say, with all the authority of God, call
upon the name of the Lord, and you will be saved. Oh, how people
try to make the door small. Well, you can call on Him after
you've done this. And once you've given up that,
and once you've committed yourself to, then you can go to the door.
No, you go through the door just like you are. It's wide enough
to accommodate you with all your sin, with all your vileness. This is a wonderful door. It's
open wide, and when the vile go through, they come out the
other side, pure as the driven snow. There will never be a better
opportunity than right now to lay hold of God's salvation. God's door will never open wider
and your religious works and experiences will never put you
in a better position than right now to enter God's rest through
Jesus Christ. This is the day the Lord has
made. Today is the day of salvation. Now is the time of God's acceptance. And then lastly, this day which
the Lord has made, in which we are to rejoice and be glad, there
has never been and never will be a more profitable time to
serve the Lord Jesus Christ than right now. Now, I'm very susceptible
to discouragement, to pessimism about preaching the gospel. Well, we're going to preach,
but there aren't going to be many who believe. A young man came to
Spurgeon one time and complained. He said, Spurgeon, they're just
It's not getting many converts. I preach and preach and preach
and just not many people believe in what I preach. And Spurgeon
said, well, you don't expect God to save somebody every time
you preach, do you? He said, well, no. Spurgeon said,
well, that's your problem. That's your problem. Now, we
don't know when God will choose to save someone. But we know
the means by which He does it. He is determined by the foolishness
of this message of the gospel to save them that believe. Paul
said, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it's the
power of God unto salvation to them which believe. That means
that you and I have within our possession that message which
is the very power of God. And we live in that day. when
the Holy Spirit is giving abilities to his people and teaching them
all what the truth is so that they have the capacity to tell
other people. And he is calling folks to himself from all over
the world. Today, there are people being
brought from darkness into light by the power of the gospel. Today,
Those who have been held in the bondage of satanic religion. And I don't mean satanism. I'm
talking about those forms of self-righteous Christianity.
Which hold people in bondage. There are people in that kind
of bondage. Or the bondage of pagan religion. Or the bondage
of worldliness and all kinds of corruption. People being brought
out of that bondage and into the liberty of the sons of God. That's a great day, isn't it?
Now, you're not going to see that on the news because they
don't care about that. But it's happening. People dead in trespasses and
sins will be made alive today. Enemies against God are going
to be reconciled to him today. Sins are going to be washed away. today. The sorrowful are going
to be made happy today. And he'll do it again tomorrow.
And he'll do it again the next day. Because all these days are
part of one day that the Lord made when he sat his son at his
right hand and said, sit here till I make your enemies a footstool
for your feet. Sit here until I bring everyone
that's ever lived, human, angelic, or whatever, to bow before you
and call you Lord. You sit right here until all
those for whom you died are called and brought in by the gospel.
This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad
in it.