has inspired some to use their
talents that he has given them to praise his name. He was known
as the lamb slain before the foundation of the world. Absolutely,
he was born. He had to come to this world.
He was born to die for his people. Beautiful song. Thank you, Cheryl.
Thank you very much. Will you turn in your Bibles
with me to the 9th chapter of 2 Samuel? I have a question for you. Do we not have concern for our
loved ones who know not this Lord, this One who is Lord of
all creation? Are not our hearts filled with
the desire to share our love for this One who first loved
us? Do we not ask, Lord, how can
I bring this One whom I love to love and know You as I do? I just get swelled up with
joy in my heart when I think somebody is starting to learn
for the first time about who the Lord Jesus Christ is. I got
all excited about a young man, one of my customers, that showed
a small interest in what the true and living God is, and who
that God is, what He's done in this world. And the more I speak
with the young man, the more he pushes back. to the point now where we don't
even want to talk about it anymore together. Joy fills my heart
when I get a glimpse of one who is coming to the true and living
God, just as joy fills my heart every time when God's people
come together to worship. I love Friday night Bible studies. It's not just because we're diving
into the Word and taking a close look at things, but I'm sitting
down and having fellowship with brothers and sisters who love
God. Love the true and living God. We come together this morning.
There's a thousand churches within Two miles of this place. Well,
maybe that's a little bit of an exaggeration. I know it's
that way back in the Bible Belt area, but around here there's
at least 50 churches around here that are close by. Why do you
folks come here? Why is it that God's people will travel through
the snow over the mountain from Tahoe every Sunday to this little
place here in the woods. Why is it that God's people will
drive all the way from Sacramento, all the way from Grass Valley
at times, all the way from where you live up there, Mike, Garden
Valley somewhere, way out in the hills, you and Daryl both,
you mountain men. Yet they come all the way here.
Why? The Lord draws you here. The
Lord has something being spoke of right here in rescue that
God's people like to hear. It's called the gospel. Mike
Loveless and I were speaking about our grown children and
their lack of concern for their souls. And the question came
up after our Friday night Bible study, how can I bring my child
to Christ? That'll be my title this morning. Bringing One to Christ. You see,
we must be brought to the Lord because the natural man will
not come unto the Son. It says that in Romans 3.11.
Let me read that for you. It says, There is none that understandeth... There is none that seeketh after
God. That's the Lord's Word. It's
not mine. It's not my interpretation of
it. It's not man's interpretation. That is God's Word. There are
none that seeketh after God. In our natural state, we will
not come looking to the Lord Jesus Christ. None will. Something had to be done to bring
us under the preaching of His Gospel. Something had to be done
to bring God's people to that. Because we all are born in this
world with a black stony heart. A heart that says, we will not
have that one to rule over us. None come into this world walking
in spiritual truths. All are lame, unable to walk
at all. They have no legs. Not just lame,
but they're dead spiritually speaking. They're dead in trespasses
and sin. I mentioned earlier that we look
back on that deep pit that we've all come from. We all know where
we came from. We see the grace of God in the
face of the Lord Jesus Christ because we know what we deserve. And we see the mercy of our Savior
because we know that if it wasn't for His mercy, we would get what
we deserve. We're just like the rest of the
world, folks. The only difference is God has
loved a people before the foundation of the world. That's great news
to me. I love to hear that because that's
the only reason I will live is because of my Savior. Now I know,
I know, this young man that I just said a moment ago, this young
child, and I am so thankful that you worry nothing about him.
You let him, well, don't let him get too crazy, but I am so
thankful that you are here both today with him. I can overtalk
him. I'm not worried about it. Some
preachers, they don't want to have children who disrupt things. But I can talk louder than Larson
can. I know that we like to see our
children as innocent. And it's tough to look at that
little blonde boy and not think, oh, how innocent. But truth reveals it. It reveals
itself as they get older, does it not? Those of us who have grown children
must agree with that. Scriptures tell us this. If you deny this, then you deny
God. For this is the word of God.
We come from our mother's womb, speaking lies. and I know for a fact that's
true because I know who I am and I know what I am. Folks,
as all who are born of Adam would not, will not come to the light,
for the light reveals the wickedness of the dark." If you walk into
a room, and how many times have we heard this? We've heard this
a lot of times, right? But it bears repeating. You walk into
a room, and it's totally dark, you can't even see your hand
in front of your face, you turn the light on, and there's all
that stuff in there. What's the light of Jesus Christ
when He comes in? All the darkness is exposed of
what we were and what we deserve. You walk into a room, you turn
the light on and you see the things that are there. Christ
is the light of the world. And we are the wickedness of
the earth. And we don't want to come to the light because
it reveals us for what we are. One must be brought to the Lord. But how? How? How can one be
brought to the Lord? Lord, how can I bring? How can
I bring my son? I know he's grown now. How can
I bring my son to know who the Lord Jesus Christ is? How can we bring those that we
love so close to us to know this love that God has for His people
as you and I know? Right here, 2 Samuel chapter 9. Let's begin looking
at verse 1 and let's look at what our Lord gives us as an
example. And David said, is there yet
any that is left of the house of Saul that I may show him kindness
for Jonathan's sake? Now notice, for whom the king
shows mercy. Is there anyone left of the house
of Saul that I may show kindness for Jonathan's sake? David is
not showing mercy or kindness for that person's sake. No, he's
showing mercy and kindness for another's. Are we getting a picture
here? God the Father shows mercy to
His people for His Son's sake. Not because of anything we have
done. Not because of anything that we could do. Not because
of anything that we will do. But for Jesus' sake, for Christ's
sake, our Lord has mercy on us. There's no righteousness in us
that God can look on and say, well, if I flame a little bit
there, maybe that'll be... that's a bunch of hogwash. There's nothing in us. Our righteousness
before God is as filthy rags. And I don't need to explain what
filthy rags mean in scriptures, do I? God the Father shows mercy for
the sake of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. In Ephesians 1-3
we read, Blessed be God the Father and the Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places, in Christ. Our heavenly Joseph The keeper
of all the storehouse of blessings has the key to God's mercy and
grace. In fact, He is the key. Just as He is the altar for sacrifice,
He is also the sacrifice. We come not by any other way,
but through Him. John 14 verse 6 says, Jesus saith
unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto
the Father, but by Me. Verse 2, And there was of the house of
Saul a servant whose name was Ziba. And when they had called
him unto David, the king said unto him, Art thou Ziba? And
he said, Thy servant is he. And the king said, Is there not
any yet of the house of Saul, that I may show kindness of God
unto him? And Ziba said unto the king,
Jonathan hath yet a son, which is lame on his feet. And the
king said unto him, Where is he? And Ziba said unto the king,
Behold, he is in the house of Mechir, the son of Amiel in Lodabar. Then king David sent and fetched
him out of the house of Mechir, the son of Amiel from Lodabar."
Notice what it said there. We're talking about how can we
bring one to Christ. What can I do to bring my child,
what can I do to bring my loved one to Christ? It takes more than me. It took somebody
with power to bring John Reeves to the Lord Jesus Christ. My
mom had tried for years. Son, come to church with me.
Mom, what do you want for Christmas this year? Son, come to church
with me. Don't worry about it, Mom. I got my own relationship with
God. It takes more than the power that you or I have to bring anyone
to Christ. It takes the power of a king. It takes the power of the Lord to
turn the hearts of men to where they'll come to the Lord and
say, God Almighty. The king sent and fetched someone
was sent, and this one for whom the king would show mercy was
fetched. The word fetched is not a word
that implies go over there and ask them if they'll come, will
you? No. It means this. It means go get him and bring
him to me. It was a command. It was commanded,
fetch him. This is a command that comes
with power. It comes from the word of a king. Our great Lord
spoke the word of authority and the word of the king and the
word of power, and when He called forth Lazarus, what happened? That's exactly right. The dead
came forth, so much so that He was still wrapped in His clothes.
Can you picture that? He asked somebody to move the
stone for him. He asked men to go over and roll
that stone out of the way. And then standing however far
he was, he said, Lazarus, come forth. And Lazarus, still wrapped
in his dead clothes, in his burial clothes, came forth. He couldn't walk, his feet were
wrapped. What an amazing sight that must have been. But that's
the power of a king. He who has true authority, not
some wimpy king who's waiting for somebody to do something
for him. Go get him. Go get her. Go get that one. That one's mine. In Matthew 28, 18, we read this,
and Jesus came and he spake unto them, and he says, all power
is given unto me in heaven and in earth. God the Father has made his Son
Lord of all. So how does this word come to
those whom he calls? Turn over with me, if you would,
to Ezekiel chapter 37. Open your book to the 37th chapter
of Ezekiel, set it down there in your lap, and we'll talk from
there for the rest of this morning's time. And while you're turning
there, allow me to read this for you. God sends someone to
fetch His chosen people, and He does it by sending His preachers
to preach the Gospel. In the 10th chapter of Romans,
we've read this many times where it says, "...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? How are you
going to believe in somebody you've never heard about? I'm
telling you folks, if you're down the street in one of these
free will churches that preach at your free will, they're not
preaching about the true and living Christ. And you're not going to hear
about the true God listening to those people talk. only from
God's true preachers. And there's many of them around.
I'm not trying to say this is the only place. And I know there's
some who say, well, you people down in Rescue, you think you're
all by yourself in the world. No. There are people over in
Marysville who have a preacher who preaches the truth. There
are people down in San Diego who have a preacher preaching
the truth. There are people all over Kentucky,
Tennessee, the Dalles, Oregon, who have preachers who preach
the truth. God sends His preachers. How
then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed?
How shall they believe? How are you going to believe
in somebody you've never heard of? How shall they believe in
Him in whom they've not heard? How shall they hear without a
preacher? The verses right before what I've just read were also
discussed in Friday night's Bible study. We had guests. I was really
hoping they would be here this morning. They were quite concerned about
what they'd been hearing in the churches around us. And he asked the question, what
am I supposed to say to my children? And he brought this up in chapter
10 verse 9, the verse that says, that if thou shalt confess with
thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart
that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. The key to that is, if thou shalt
believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead,
thou shalt be saved. The key to that is that you can't
put that before the cart. We cannot put the cart before
the horse. God must do the work in the heart. The heart of stone
must be removed. Life must be given to a dead
one. We must be born again. These
are words of God, folks. These are not mine. The gift
of faith. The gift of faith. Not our gift
to God, but God's gift to us to believe. Once we have those gifts, once
the Lord has moved into the heart of one of His chosen and given
that person life, then, then they confess with their mouth
that the Lord Jesus, and then they shall believe in thine heart
that God hath raised them from the dead and they shall be saved. We do not decide that we shall
believe We don't just walk into a church
some day, you know what, I've been walking around doing this
other stuff all my life, I'm done with that, I need to start
believing. It's not the way it works. In
Ephesians 2 it says, For by grace you are saved through faith,
and that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God, not of works,
lest any man should boast. Here in the 37th chapter of Ezekiel,
we see a wonderful picture. of the Lord sending out a preacher,
one that He is sending, go fetch, go here, commanding this preacher
to go and do this, to preach to dead bones. Oh, can I relate to this? The hand of the Lord was upon
me, verse 1, and carried me out in the Spirit of the Lord and
set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones."
Folks, you've read the 23rd Psalm, right? We walk through the valley of
the shadow of death every day. Our flesh walks through the valley
of the shadow of death. It's just a shadow of the death
to come for some. And those of us who will live
forever because of what our Lord and Savior has done, we have
to walk through that valley still. A preacher was sent to that valley. Have you ever noticed that this
is kind of like a little valley right here? Pastor Gene Harmon
was sent here almost 40 years ago to preach the true gospel
of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And that's what he preached every
Sunday. I asked you earlier, why do you keep coming here?
It's the same story every Sunday. I've been coming here 20 years
and I've heard the same story every Sunday. We go to different
verses in Scripture. We look throughout God's Word.
We expound the things of Christ in this book. But it's always
about Him. It's a hymnal about Him. We walk through the valley of
the shadow of death. All around us is death in this
world. It's cursed. The very ground
that we walk on is cursed and will be burned up in the end.
But have you noticed something? It's no more than a shadow of
death. Eternal damnation is the real death. Our Lord says in John chapter
11 verse 26, And whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall never
die. Believest thou this? I believe. Just as that man That
man whose son was to be healed, Lord, I believe. Help Thou my
unbelief." Who are the whosoever? If all are dead, then how can
any believe? Our Lord tells us with men, this
is impossible. But all things are possible with
God. Read on, verse 2. The preacher who was sent, and
the Lord, caused me to pass by them round about the valley of
dry bones. And behold, there were many in
the open valley, and lo, they were very dry." Now I've heard,
as I can best recall, that this word, which is translated very
dry, that's actually one word in the Greek, it actually means
more than that even. It means parched. It means brittle. Not one molecule. They can't
go in there and take any DNA out of these bones. They're so
dry. There is nothing there. Not one
molecule of moisture can be found. One preacher calls it this. I
believe it was Henry Mahan who said it was dead, dead. Dead,
dead. That's got to be pretty dead. Read on, verse 3. And he said
unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O
Lord God, thou knowest. And again he said unto me, Prophesy
upon these bones. Say unto them, O ye dry bones,
hear the word of the Lord. How can I? How can I bring my loved ones
to this God that I love so much? This God who loves me so much
that He would send His Son to be my sacrifice. Hear the Word of the Lord. That's
what we say to Him, Mike. I tell my son in conversations
daily, the Lord rules this, the Lord
rules that. He knows who my Lord is. He's
Lord of all. There it is. There it is, right
there where we led. O ye dry bones, hear the word
of the Lord. Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the word of the Lord. Another scripture that was given
to us Friday night. Our great and all wise God sees
fit for sinners to preach to sinners about the One who saves
sinners. How do I get my loved one to
know this Lord? Tell them. Tell them who the
Lord is. He shall be called Jesus, for
He shall save His people from their sins. Read on, verse 5, Thus saith
the Lord God unto these bones, Behold, I will cause breath to
enter into you, and ye shall live. And I will
lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and
cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live. And ye shall know that I am the
Lord, I know who the Lord is because He's given me the faith
to believe Him. I know who the true and living
God is because He has come into my heart and made that His temple,
His place of residence. He's taken out the Master John
and shown me who the true Master is. So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I
prophesied, there was a noise, and behold, a shaking, and the
bones came together, bone to His bone. Just as the Lord had
said it would, isn't it? And when I beheld, lo, the sinews
of flesh came upon them, and the skin covered them above.
But there was no breath in them, Then He said unto me, Prophesy
unto the wind. Prophesy, Son of Man, and say
to the wind, Thus saith the Lord God come from the four winds,
O breath and breathe upon these slain that they may live." Who
is it that gives life? Are these bones just getting
up and saying, you know, I'm going to make a decision today.
I'm going to go down there to the church. I'm going to climb
into that pool and get baptized. I'm going to pray a little prayer
at the beginning. No. God is doing it all. I love that. I love that with
everything about me. God is doing it all. So I prophesied, verse 10, as
He commanded me, and the breath came unto them, and they lived,
and stood upon their feet, an exceeding great army, And then
He said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house
of Israel. Behold, they say our bones are
dried and our hope is lost, we are cut off for our parts. Therefore prophesy and say unto
them, Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, O my people. God has a people that He calls
My people, My elect, My chosen. We're part of a particular people
who belong to Jesus because He bought us and paid for us with
His own precious blood. Oh my people, I will open your
graves and cause you to come out of your graves. And I will
bring you into the land of Israel, and you shall know that I am
the Lord when I have opened your graves, O My people, and brought
you up out of your graves, and shall put My Spirit in you, and
ye shall live. And I shall place in you in your
own land, then shall you know that I the Lord have spoken it
and performed it, saith the Lord. Amen. God sends His messengers
to fetch those who were once dead. You want to bring someone
to Christ? You want to bring your children
to Christ? You want to bring your loved one to Christ? Then
tell them about who He is. He's God Almighty. The God-Man. Equal with the Father in every
way. Perfect and holy. He knew no
sin at all. In today's world, we have to
dispute this other Jesus by telling our loved ones who the true and
living God is. He's not sitting around waiting
for you. I have shared this with my granddaughter.
You've seen her here. Her husband believes, I think. And she's not bashful to say
that she doesn't. But she's heard me say this more
than once. When God's ready for you, you're
going to come. And she's laid that to heart.
Don't worry grandpa, when God's ready, I'll be there. You want to bring your loved
ones to Christ? Tell them about why he became
flesh. Why did God lower himself, put
his glory aside for a moment, and become flesh, because there's
no other way. The only way to satisfy God's
judgment for your and my sins is perfect blood. We can shed
our blood all day long for the rest of eternity, and it would
do no good. but perfect blood was shed for
you and I." You want to bring your children, your loved ones
to Christ and tell them about what He accomplished. He saved
us from our sins. There is now no condemnation. That means no judgment can be
brought to those who are in Christ. Judgment was already brought.
The Lord Jesus Christ went to the cross and was judged. He was made sin. Do you understand
what that means? We may not comprehend how, but
that means the perfect Lamb of God saw, at least saw, At least have the sins of men
put on Him. He bore our sins in His body. He who knew no sin was made sin
for us. Because it was the only way.
It was the only way God's justice could be met. You want to bring one of your
loved ones to Christ and tell them what He is doing this very
moment. He's sitting on His throne. The grave couldn't hold Him.
He was raised again for our justification. We are justified in Him. Just as if I'd never sinned. I know that's hard for us to
see. We're still in this flesh. And every one of us will walk
out these doors. And forget this very thing for at least a moment.
And go about our way in the world and do what we do. Because that's
what we do. But the day is coming. A day
is coming when our intercessor who sits on his throne right
now says, I paid for that one. My blood was shed for this one.
They're mine and they'll spend eternity with me. In Ephesians
1 verse 9 it says, Having made known unto us the mystery of
His will, according to His good pleasure, which He hath purposed
in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of times He might
gather together one in one all things in Christ, both which
are in heaven and which are on earth, even in Him, in whom also
we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according
to the purpose of Him, who worketh all things after the counsel
of His will, that we should be to the praise of His glory, who
first trusted in Christ, in whom ye also trusted, after that ye
heard the word of truth. You want to bring your loved
ones to Christ? They need to hear the Word of
Truth. They need to hear the Word of
Truth. The Gospel of their salvation,
in whom also they have believed to be sealed with the Holy Spirit
of promise. Folks, you want to bring one
to Christ? Then tell them the truth about Him. He's not some wimpy imaginary
thing waiting for you to do something. He's the sovereign ruler over
all things. All that is in Romans 9.16, so
then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but
of God that showeth mercy. When you stop to think of those
words the Lord inspired Paul to pen to the Romans, doesn't
it make your heart just glow out, our God has mercy on some?
In the 8th chapter, verse 31 of Romans, if God be for us,
who can be against us? He that spared not His own Son,
but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also
freely give us all things? There is true peace. You want peace in this world?
Right there. How shall He not freely give
us all things? If God has revealed to a sinner His true standing
before the Almighty, then the words penned that I just read
are good news indeed. Good news, the Gospel. Bring
your loved ones if they will come. Maybe. Maybe God has sent you to fetch
them. If He does, He'll send it with
power. And as you speak of who the true and living God is to
those around you and those that love you, God will make it effectual
with His power in the hearts of His people. Bring your loved
ones. If so, if He has sent you to
fetch them, if so, then they will come, for God has the power
to bring them. He makes us willing in the day
of His power. Amen.