Annie Robinson. Sweet, sweet, sweet sister in
Christ. Loved to hear the gospel. She's
up in heaven singing a perfect tune right now. With a voice,
a voice of angels. So she won't
mind me saying that she couldn't hold a note worth anything. She
could when she was younger, but as she got a little older, it
was harder for her voice to hold, and I understand that. My mom
is the same way. The last time she sung special
music, she sang that song. And, you know, it'd have been
better if we hadn't had any music at all. And all we would have
heard were the glorious words. God's angels singing right here
on earth, Lord, do not pass me by. I'd like to ask you to turn
in your Bibles, if you would, to 2 Corinthians chapter 11.
We're going to read one verse. Second
Corinthians chapter 11, I want to read one verse for you. You
know, sometimes we just got to get back to basics. I'm going to make a confession
this morning. I've had a guest with me for
the last two weeks, as you know, a man that I've had to help get
in and out of bed, a dear friend, a dear man who lived across the
street from me for 30-something years when Kathy and I were down
in the valley. It's hard for him to go to bed
early. And I'm an early bird bed. You don't call me after
7.30 at night, because I'm usually sleeping. Especially on a Saturday
night, because 4 o'clock in the morning comes off early on Sunday.
And that's my study time is in the morning, early morning. So I like to coffee, sit there
and contemplate things. And it's been a little disruptive. having him here in that way,
only in that way, and I'm not saying that in any complaint
at all. Please don't take it that way. Having him here was
a blessing, and I just praise the Lord for putting Kathy and
I in a position that we could take care of him for a couple
weeks. Back to basics. There's a little boy who is probably
listening to us online with his parents right now, The gospel of Jesus Christ and
him crucified for the love of his people is a simple message that even
a child should be able to understand. Too many preachers get up and
want to go through the messages, and I fall into that very same
category at times. Oh, I want to look through and
find this, and I just, I want to bring this out. This is so
good. You know, the Lord's showing me something in here. And I know,
because I sat in these very pews and heard preachers, including
my own pastor, do this, and they don't realize they're doing it.
And they just, in all the years, I go, huh? Okay, yeah, okay,
uh-huh. And you just kind of lose it
a little bit, you know, things get too complicated for you. Even for me. So it's good to get back to basics,
to the simplicity of who Christ is. God manifests in the flesh. The
simplicity of what Christ did, He saved His If you don't know Him yet and
ye belong to Him, you will know it. If you already know it, you're
jumping up and down for joy because you know that you don't deserve
it. You're singing out, Lord, pass me not, O gentle Savior.
Oh, amazing grace, how sweet to sound, that saved a wretch
like me. Here in verse 3, 2 Corinthians
chapter 11, read these words with me, but I fear, writes Paul,
I fear to you, Corinthians, I fear to you, church of God, lest by
any means as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subculate, so
your minds should be corrupted from the what? The simplicity. That is in Christ. Verse 4, For he that cometh preaching
another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another
spirit which ye have not received, or another gospel which ye have
not accepted, ye might well bear with him. For I suppose I was
not a wit behind the very chiefest of apostles. Paul declares that
he must have been the least or the inferior of all the apostles.
But though I be rude in speech, yet not in knowledge, but we
have been thoroughly made manifest unto you in all things. And I
have commended in office and abasing myself that ye might
be exalted, because I have preached to you the gospel of God freely."
Now, I've had a conversation one time with one of my coworkers,
and he claimed to be a Christian.
Him and his wife have been going to church. He says, but we don't go to church
anymore. Well, why not? Well, pastor that we liked so
much, he just not, he retired or he moved off. I can't remember
what it was. He moved off or something. And he said, the guy
there is just not a very good preacher. The guy that was there,
he was a great preacher. And I thought to myself, what makes you say this man or
that is a good preacher? I want you to think about that
for a minute. You and I all know that we've
been here for some time. Those of you online who have
attended these services here for several years, know that
there were many a people who would show up here at this pulpit
to hear certain men speak when they came to town. Our numbers here were quite a
bit more when Pastor Gene was here. Does that mean there's something
wrong with John Reeves? No. I preach the same message. I bring you the same message
that all gospel preachers bring, and that is Christ Jesus and
Him crucified. And you folks who have been here
know that. One particular man who had traveled here twice a
year, you know him by the name of Don Fortner, knew this. He
knew this, and it broke his heart. It tore him to pieces to know
that there would be those who would not come to the conferences
at Rescue anymore because he wasn't there to speak. And many
other places in the world, too, where he would travel around
to speak. What makes a good preacher? Is it the guy who's standing
before you, or is it the subject that they're talking about? I
bought a message one time that was titled, The World's Greatest
Preacher. They had a contest on the radio
one time about, write us an essay about your
preacher. And we want to figure out who
the world's greatest preacher is and set him up on a pedestal
and give him a trip around the world or something like that.
And I got to thinking about, well, you know, I have, right
now, in today's world, I have the world's best preacher. My
preacher, Gene Harmon. And then I thought to myself,
well now if I send his name in, he's going to be mad at me. If
I send his name in and he happened to win, he'd turn it down probably.
So I got to looking into God's word. You know, that's where
we find the truth in all things. In the word. Not on some radio
station gimmick trying to get people to write into it and stuff.
You know, the world talks about a preacher who preached the word
perfectly. His name is the Lord Jesus Christ.
He preached Himself. Remember the road to Emmaus?
He preached to those two men on the road to Emmaus, all the
things concerning Himself in the Scriptures. That means from
Genesis all the way to before Matthew was born there, to Malachi. It's all about Him. It's not the man who stands before
you, it's what the man is speaking of. Is it the simplicity of Jesus,
or is it some complicated thing that you have to help get through
with? Here's the simplicity of it.
Jesus was manifest in the flesh. God was manifest in the flesh.
His name shall be called Jesus, for He shall save His people. What did we read there a minute
ago? This was before we began the recording, so for those of
you who are listening and recording, we read on the front of today's
bulletin, I'm going to read it again. The Lord of hosts has
sworn, saying, surely as I have thought, so shall it come to
pass. Do you think the Lord God Almighty
thought about people He would save before the world began?
Before anything was ever created? Of course! He's God! Everything is His thought. All
of creation was a thought for Him, and it happened. It became. It is. That's our God, the one
who rules over everything, including the will of this man who stands
before you. And I'm thankful that He rules
over my will, because my will, that He allowed for 40 years,
ran amok. running around in the darkness
loving the things that He did, and God's will overruled my will,
and said, you will be mine. My Son went to the cross for
you, you are mine. And that's what He says for each
and every one of you if you belong to Him. The Lord of hosts hath sworn,
saying, surely as I have thought, so shall I come to pass. I had
a phone call this morning, a dear lady who's helping us do the
move. Arlie's sister, she said, I'm
not going to make it. She wanted to be here this morning
to hear me preach. She said, I'm just not going to make it. I wonder what she thought when
my reply to her was, no worries. Lords will be done. Do you know that Iran attacked
the consulate of the United States last night, and I've only heard
about it on one place out there? No worries. Gods will be done. We lost the election. The Republicans
lost the election. No worries. God's will be done. He says in Romans 8, 28, and
if you believe God, do you believe this? Most assuredly, all things
are for our good. Is that correct or not? Is that
true? It's absolutely true. All of
God's word is true, especially that. Because he works it all
out for us. Folks, I'm telling you, he loves
you. Does he love the whole world? Absolutely not. Does he love
his people? Absolutely, without a doubt,
perfectly. He's not going to let you lose
to yourself. He's paid for all your sins,
all the sins that you've done today, all the sins you'll do
tomorrow, and you will be in heaven with him if his son died
for you. What makes a good preacher? Not
this guy in the flesh. Absolutely, Bill Silva. The one
who brings the message to the hearts. The one who brings that
message down, grabs ahold of your heart and says, this is
me, look how much I love you. Look at the grace I have for
you who don't deserve. Praise ye the Lord. Isn't that
what we read in that psalm? I'm going to turn back to that
again. What was that psalm we read? I'm going to read that
again. It was only two verses. It was
Psalms 117. You know, this is so good. I don't know why I didn't read
that before. I don't normally try to go to
the Psalms and pick up anything. I like to be surprised, and this
is a great surprise. What was it? 117. No, not 17.
117. We're going to read it again. Because it
wasn't recorded. Oh, praise the Lord, all ye nations. Praise Him, all ye people, for
His merciful kindness is great toward us. We had a little Bible
study. It's very short. I don't know
if Kathy recorded it or not. It's called Usward. We broke
away from 1 Peter for just a moment. I'll try to get back to it next
week. But, us-ward. The word us-ward. Our Lord, Jesus Christ, in Scriptures
declare you and I together with Him. Us-ward. Toward us. For His merciful kindness
is great towards us. and the truth of the Lord endureth
forever. Praise ye the Lord. What makes
you say this man or that is a good preacher? All of God's true preachers
have one message. 1 Corinthians 2, verse 2, you
don't need to return there, but it says this, it says, For I
determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. Actually, you know what? Let's
turn over there. Turn over to 1 Corinthians chapter
2. 1 Corinthians chapter 2. Throughout all the ages, of all
of God's prophets, beginning in Moses, and through all the
prophets, all of God's ministers, all of God's preachers have done
one thing in common. They pointed their hearers to
the One who saves, Christ Jesus the Lord. You hear this all the
time, what would Jesus do? What would Jesus do? What would
Jesus do in the case of this? I can tell you what He would
do. I can tell you what He would do on the authority of Scriptures,
Christ preached Himself. He went through the entire time
He was on this earth declaring who He was, declaring what He
was there to do. After feeding twice a multitude
of people, our Lord came to the disciples and He said, who do
you say that I am? First He said, who do the people
say that I am? And just like you and I did at one time, well,
maybe John the Baptist, maybe it was this guy, maybe it was
Elijah, maybe it was one of the prophets. And that's the way
we all answered that question at one time or another. You got
to admit that. You know that for sure, because
you thought in your own mind, eh? Eh, who is he? He's a good guy. And then he asked him, who do
you say that I am? You're the son of the living
God. And in Matthew 16, it goes a little deeper. He says, well,
blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not
revealed the Son to thee, and I will build my church upon this
rock, and the gates of hell shall not prevail. And then the Lord goes into the
next subject and declares, I must go to Jerusalem. I must suffer. I must be killed
and I must be raised on the third day. Our Lord declared throughout
His entire ministry, He was God Almighty in the flesh. What He
was going to do and why. In Luke 24, 27, we read these
words, In the beginning of Moses and all the prophets, He expounded
unto them, this is speaking of the two men of Emmaus, Expounded
unto them all the scriptures, and all the scriptures of things
concerning himself. This is the desire of all who have been called
to preach. This is my desire. My desire
is to stand before people who God brings through that door
and tell them about my Savior. It's my desire to preach by God's
grace. There is no other way to God
but through His Son, the Lord Jesus. Moses preached Christ. That's what it says in John chapter
5, verse 46. For had ye believed Moses, ye
would have believed me. For he, speaking of Moses, wrote
of me, speaking of Jesus. Moses preached Jesus. Abraham
preached Christ, it says in John 8 verse 56, your father Abraham
rejoiced to see my day and he saw it and was glad. He saw Jesus
Christ. And of course we read in Romans
chapter 10 verse 13 through 15, for whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call
on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they
believe in Him in whom they have not heard? How are you going
to hear about the Lord Jesus Christ if you don't have a man
who God has sent to stand before you and tell about who He is?
Philip was sent out into the desert to meet an Ethiopian on
his chariot, a leader of a whole bunch of warriors. He had all
the treasures of his of his queen with him. And Philip was sent
out into that desert to meet that man on his chariot and to
preach Jesus to him. When he asked, who is this that
the scripture is talking about? Philip began to teach Jesus from those verses. Isaiah
53. It's preaching Christ. It's the simple
message of who He is. How shall they believe, it says,
in him and who they have not heard, and how shall they hear
without a preacher? And so it goes with all the prophets throughout
the word of God, those who wrote what they were inspired to write
by the Holy Spirit, who, by the way, also speaks of Christ, speaking
of the Spirit and not of himself. We preach the only comfort, and
that is to a true sinner, and that is our Lord and Savior.
There is a Savior, there is one who has put away the sins of
His chosen people. It despises me to hear people
say, God loves you. How do you know? I know He loves
some, but where do you get off and walk around telling the whole
world that Jesus loves the whole world? How do you know? I know that
He loves me, but how do you know? I know that He loves me because
I love His Word. Because I believe His Word and
only those whom He has loved believe His Word. Every bit of
it. Not just a piece of it here and
there, not just a little bit, but the whole thing. Even the
things that I don't understand. And that's a lot. I believe that He who knew no
sin, a perfect Savior, a perfect God in the flesh, a perfect God-man,
He who knew no sin was made to be sin. I don't understand that. I don't understand that. Don't
ask me to explain it, but my God's Word says it so, and I
believe it. He was made sin that I would be made righteous in
Him. I don't understand that either. If I look in the mirror,
I'm like going, that can't be. God, thank you for turning my
eyes away from the mirror and turning my eyes to my Savior,
who I can believe and trust in His righteousness. That's my comfort. Is that yours? Is He your only righteousness? Are you walking around thinking,
well, I'm not such a bad person? Well, you might not be. But that
doesn't make you good enough to be in the presence of God. We sing a song, a song that goes
like this, we dare not look to the sweetest friend, but wholly
lean on Jesus' name. We know that we have no righteousness
of our own, we know the sin that is in us, And this is why we
need to be comforted. This is why we need to hear about
Him and the story of Him is simple. 1 Timothy 1.15, it says this,
this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. It's just that
simple. There's no, if you'll just come
down here to the front of the church, come down here to the
front of the altar, I want you to come down to the front of
the altar, but not this big piece of wood that's sitting here or
this front here. Come to the altar who Himself
is the sacrifice on that altar, our Lord and Savior Christ Jesus.
Come to Him. It's the only way. More about Jesus would I know.
More of His grace to others show. More of His saving fullness see,
more of His love who died for me. Listen to the words of Isaiah
chapter 40 verses 9 through 11. Our Lord inspired Isaiah the
prophet to write these words. He says, O Zion! You know who
Zion is? It's God's people. God's mountain. The church. The one whom Christ
Jesus is building upon himself, that very rock that the gates
of hell shall not prevail against. Oh, Zion, that bring us good
tidings. Get thee up into the high mountain.
Oh, Jerusalem, that bring us good tidings. Lift up thy voice
with strength. Lift it up. Be not afraid. Say
unto the cities of Judah, behold your God. Behold, the Lord God
will come with a strong hand. This is our Lord and Savior.
He hadn't come yet. They were looking to the same
thing you and I look back to. Now, a lot of people had heard
about Jesus back then just as they had heard about Jesus now
after the Lord had come. So, not all believed, though. There were some, though, that
did. Our Lord has had a remnant of his people in every generation,
in every nation, in every tongue. A remnant, a small little piece
of the robe at the bottom, tucked up and rolled underneath, just
a small, that looks like rescue. that I'd be really concerned
if this place was full of people right now. I'd be questioning, John, make
sure you're not preaching something that's tickling people's ears
other than the Lord Jesus. If people's ears are getting
tickled here at Rescue, they better be tickled by God himself
and not me. Behold your God, behold the Lord
God will come with a strong hand and His arm shall rule for Him. His arm shall be sovereign for
Him. His arm, His strong arm shall
rule for Him. Behold, His reward is with Him
and His work before Him. He shall feed His flock like
a shepherd. He shall gather the lambs with
His arms and carry them in His bosom and shall gently lead those
that are with young. Our Great Shepherd is leading
us through this world, through the valley of the shadow of death,
and He is gathering His sheep along the way. Preaching by the
preaching of His Son, the Lord Jesus. By that very message,
the message of the Gospel, His sheep are called out to see His
truth, and they come willingly. You know, I completely skipped
over the 1 Corinthians part, didn't I? Well, that's all right.
We're going to keep going for time's sake. Sorry about that. I'm getting old. White hair! When he has used the simple message
of his gospel, the simple message to cut away The preaching of
His wonderful news to cut away that old stubborn heart that
we were all born with and give us a new heart, we see the truth
of His word. We are gathered as helpless lambs
unto the One who has all power. In Isaiah chapter 40, verses
17 through 18, we read these words, all nations before him
are as nothing, and they are counted to him less than nothing
and vanity. To whom then will ye liken God?
Or what likeness will ye compare unto him? Oh, how we try to make
some kind of a comparison out of the God we worship, don't
we? That's the whole problem with
religion. Because it takes the true and living God and it makes
it into something man wants it to be. Our Lord talks about it
in Jude, in the book of Jude, where he says men who will creep
in unawares, creep into the church unawares and make lasciviousness
of his word. And after they've crept in and
the Lord has allowed them to be there, they become men of robes of righteousness, so-called
thought, what man thinks righteousness is, and they preach that, man's
righteousness. The simplicity of the Gospel
is this, there is no righteousness in any flesh but our Lord and
Savior Christ Jesus. When we seek Christ, the Almighty
Creator, who is likened unto Him, What can compare to the
Lord of Glory? The One who is sovereign over
all things. The One who has all power in
heaven and earth. Can anybody, can anything, principality,
can anything turn His hand? I mentioned the other day, Kevin
was You know, Kevin Thacker down in San Diego. We were talking
on the phone and he had listened to the message and I don't even
remember really kind of making it. He said, John, you said something
that just went BAM! To those who don't know the Lord.
He goes, when you think of your God, when your God says shall,
what does it mean? Does it mean shall or does it
mean something else? And he thought to himself, a God who works everything out
according to his own counsel, according to his own will, a
God who's waiting for you to make up some kind of a decision
for him. No, our God says shall, he means
shall. He says must, he means must.
When he said it is finished, it is finished. Sit down and
rest in the Lord. Can anything turn the hand of
the Lord Jesus? I can tell you this, that if
anything could, then he could not be called God. Look with
me if you would over Isaiah chapter 40. Turn over to Isaiah chapter
40 for just a moment. Isaiah chapter 40. We just preached on this the
other day. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people. But I want to look
at something a little deeper than that. Could anything turn the hand
of our God? No, absolutely not. Paul said,
I am confident. I am confident that nothing,
and then he goes through a whole list of anything, all things. Covers it all in, so I'm confident
that none of that stuff, nothing, nothing can separate me. Are
you confident? Are you confident in that? I'm
confident in my Lord's Word. If I try to look at this flesh,
no, I'll become weak and wobbly. But when I read my Lord's Word
and He says, nothing can separate me from the love that is in His
Son, the Lord Jesus. What confidence we can have in
that. Over in Isaiah chapter 40, would you read with me verses
21-31. Have ye not known? Have ye not
heard? Hath it not been told you from
the beginning? Have ye not understood from the
foundations of the earth? It is He that sitteth upon the
circle of the earth. This is our Lord Jesus, folks.
This is the very One that in John 1-1 created all things. The very one that also in the
first chapter of John, verse 14, was manifest in the flesh.
He was made flesh. It is he that sitteth upon the
circle of the earth and in the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers
that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain and spreadeth them
out as a tent to dwell in. That bringeth the princes to
nothing. He maketh the judges of the earth as vanity. Yea,
they shall not be planted. Yea, they shall not be sown.
Yea, their stalk shall not take root in the earth, and he shall
also blow upon them, and they shall wither, and the whirlwind
shall take them away as stubble. To whom then will ye liken me,
saith the Lord? Or shall I be equal, saith the
Holy One? Lift up your eyes on high, and
behold, we're talking about the Lift up your eyes on high, and
behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their
host by number. He calleth them all by names,
by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power,
and not one that faileth." Doesn't that... that just... Yee! Praise the Lord! He can't fail! I like the fact that my Lord
Jesus does everything right and cannot fail. Verse 27, Why sayest
thou, O Jacob, and speakest thou, O Israel, my way is hid from
the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God? Hast
thou not known, hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God,
the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not,
neither is weary." Does that bring good news to your heart?
The one who has saved you, the one who has done it, who says
it is finished, he cannot be turned? He doesn't weary like
we do? There is no searching in his
understanding. He giveth power to the faint.
Oh, Lord, I'm so faint. I need you every hour. Don't pass me by. Don't pass me by. I need you.
I need you now. I need you while I stand before
your people. Do you need Him now while you're
here? I needed Him when I sat in the pew and heard. Do you
need Him now? He giveth power to the faint
and to them that have no might. He increases strength. Even when
the youth shall faint and be weary, the young men shall utter
fall. But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.
They shall mount up in the wings. Did you notice it didn't say
that you that will go forth and act in your own righteousness,
feeding the poor, doing this, doing that. No, but they that
wait upon the Lord. Lord, help me to wait on you. Do you wait? Not like I want
you. Not like I want you at all. Wait on the Lord. He shall renew
your strength. They shall mount up with wings
as eagles. They shall run and not be weary.
and they shall walk and not faint. Now look over at verse 10 of
chapter 41. Fear thou not, for I am with
thee. Be not dismayed, I will strengthen thee, yea,
I will help thee, yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand
of what? Of your good works? Of something
you can do? No, no. I will hold you up, I will uphold
thee with the right hand of my righteousness. simplicity of the gospel, that
even a child, a child whom God has given ears
to hear, could understand. Don't think that's not possible. With all, with our Lord, with
the God who rules over everything, I know through God's word of
a baby that wasn't even out of its mother's womb yet, when it
heard another speaking of our Lord, jumped in the womb of his
mother. What do you think made him do
that? Same thing that made you and
I jump. when his gospel talked to us for the first time. Same thing that drew us out of
that darkness when we heard about our Lord and Savior, the power
of God. You see, that's the simple message
of the gospel. He who has all power, not just
a little, not some, but all power. Here is the comfort we need.
The creator of all that is has sent his son to be our propitiation,
our substitute, our sacrifice, our righteousness. Because he
has loved his people, a people whose names were written in the
book of life, written before the foundation of the world,
God humbled himself and became a man. He provided Himself a
sacrifice for His people. These ones who He has loved with
an eternal love, these are the ones who He calls My people. This is the good news that God
has a people and He will not lose them. This is the comfort
that He provides. This is the simple message we
read in Isaiah 51.15. You don't need to turn there.
But I am the Lord thy God. that divided the sea, whose waves
roared, the Lord of hosts is his name, and I have put my words
in thy mouth, and I have covered thee in the shadow of mine hand,
that I may plant the heavens and lay the foundations of the
world, and say unto Zion, God's people, say unto you, thou art
my people. We who have seen the truth of
what we are before a thrice holy God have no other comfort but
that, that our God rules, that our God is sovereign over everything,
including every part of me. But what God the Spirit would
reveal in the Son of the living God is this, it's the simplicity
of the Gospel, it's the good news of Jesus Christ, who He
is, what He did, who He did it for, and what He is doing right
now. Did you know there's a God-man
sitting on the throne right now, working out everything for you
and I, according to His purpose? I'm sorry. I can't be there today. No worries. The Lord's will be
done. Another country has attacked
ours. No worries. The Lord's will be done. This is the simple message. This
is the message that God's preachers preach. We preach who Christ
is, and we preach Him crucified for His people. Turn over to
Philippians, will you, Chapter 2, and we'll read 11 verses,
and we'll bring this to an end. Philippians chapter 2, we read
these words, beginning at verse 1. If there be, therefore, any consolation
in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the
Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, fulfill ye my joy. that ye be
like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord and
of one mind." Brothers and sisters in Christ, if there be any peace for you,
if there's any consolation in Christ for you, be of one mind. If you're a child of God, One
for whom he shed his blood for. You'll be this of one mind of
who he is. Can we not all agree that he's
all powerful? Can we not all agree that his
blood is perfect and paid for every one of our sins? Can we
not all agree that he's sitting on his throne right now working
things out for us? Let nothing be done, verse three,
through strife or vainglory, but in lowliness, lowliness of
mind, let each esteem the other better than themselves. Let not
every man on his own things, let not every man on his own
things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this
mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in
the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God,
but made himself of no reputation. Does it boggle your mind that
our Lord, the Lord of glory, the very one who put us in our
mother's womb, came here to be our servant? who being in the form of God,
thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself
of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and
was made in the likeness of men. And being found in fashion as
a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even
the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly
exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name, that
at the name of Jesus every I was talking to Pastor Gene not too
long ago about, I don't know if I can preach. to a group of people who had
not known the Lord, for one who did not know the Lord. And he
said, well, sure you can. This was a couple of years back
when I first was put in this position. I thought, you know,
how can I preach a message to comfort those who sit in the
pews to hear a message that they don't believe, about one who
didn't believe? Let's say there was a dead casket
here. How can I preach to someone?
He goes, well, it's simple. It's the same message you would
preach to one that did know the Lord. It's the message of Christ.
If somebody dies and goes through that marked death, what could
you say to a group of people that have never heard of the
Lord Jesus Christ? Could you say, like, well, this
person didn't know the Lord. They're in hell now. That's not
going to bring any comfort to anybody. But you can say this. This person who has gone through
that marked death has the same story every person who has gone
through that door marked death has, and that is Jesus Christ
is Lord of all. Think about that. The man who
was in hell cried out for a bit of water. Cried out to who? He cried out to Abraham, God
Almighty. Write out to the Lord Jesus Christ,
everybody who goes through that door marked death, every knee
shall bow, every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is
Lord to the glory of God the Father. You give that message,
and God does the rest. That's the simplicity. Let me
read one more set of verses for you over in Matthew chapter 8.
Let me just turn over there real quick and read verses 1 through
3. When he has come down from the mountain, great multitudes
followed him, speaking of our Lord and Savior. And behold,
there came a leper. This is the picture of one who's
full of sin. One who's full of sin, a leper,
with boils from their head to their toes, whatever, they had
boils on them, they stunk of dead flesh, and behold, there
came a leper, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt,
Lord, if it be your will, no worries, Lord's will be done. Lord, if it be your will, Thou canst make me clean. And
Jesus put forth his hand and touched him. Oh, we're going to close with
that song.