It'd be something if the Lord
would, my creek's up again. If the voice of many waters speak
to us, that two edged sword come to us. Ain't a whole lot of rebuttals
when that happens. There's not a whole lot of yakking
and back talking and opinion casting and things like that.
And I've dealt with a ton of that. And take it out on me while
you can. When the Lord speaks, you won't
be able to. I wish he'd speak in our heart. If you will, let's
turn to John 14. John 14. Anytime we read the scriptures,
it's good to read a little bit behind, a little bit ahead. You
want to find three things. Who is speaking? Sometimes the
Lord records heretics in these scriptures. I've heard people
quote him. I said, the Bible says this.
And I was like, uh, he may not want to quote. That was dealt
with shortly after, but who's speaking to whom are they speaking? Who's talking, who they talk
to and what, what are they talking about? What's the subject. We
need to get a handle on that. If we don't have, we don't know
who's saying it, who they're saying it to or what you're talking
about the context of it. We've missed it. We don't have
a handle on it. Each is very important. And this
generation, like every other one throughout time, they're
not applying the word of the Lord, right? They're not declaring
who's saying what they don't know who they're talking to,
and they don't know what they're saying. It's a shame. Many times people were accurately
quote the scriptures, but they have their own person speaking
or they apply it to the wrong people. This applies to everybody. No, it don't. What we're looking
at here, the Lord's speaking to His apostles. He ain't talking
to you. He ain't talking to me. He's
talking to them. He ain't talking to the world and everybody around.
He's talking to the eleven that's left. We'll see that over the
next three weeks. There's just too much here. I
didn't know. There's a lot. A whole lot. I
think the Lord's gave me some light on it, but I want to take
tonight and Look at these next two, these verses here. And in the next two weeks, we'll
look at these sections carefully. The first one I'll look at tonight,
verse 11. Believe me that I'm in the father and the father
in me, or else believe me for the very works sake. Believe
me. Remember what I've said. Remember
what I've done. That's for us. That's for them
too. Especially for us, the work's finished. Believe him. Remember
him. Remember what he said and what
he's done next? Or will next week, we'll look at verse 12.
He says, verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on
me, the works that I do, he do also. Shall he do also. And greater works than these
shall he do. You think that'd take more than
30 minutes to explain? He said it, is that what he said?
He said, you're going to do greater works than you've seen me do.
Because I go unto my father. The apostles will do the works
that Christ did and greater. That may need a couple of messages
by itself, I don't know. Finally, our Lord speaks to these
apostles in verse 13. He says, and whatsoever you shall
ask in my name, that will I do, that the father may be glorified
in the son. He said, whatever you ask in
my name, that's what I'm going to do. And that's people think
that's just a golden ticket. You can get me a new Mercedes
Benz and slap in Jesus's name at the end of it. And it's going
to happen. Oh, no. Oh no. These boys are in a whole
different boat than I'm in. They didn't have the scriptures.
The people they were preached to didn't have the scriptures.
They might have heard of this man named Jesus Christ that came,
but they didn't know. And so the Lord had to give them
special apostolic gifts to prove who they were so they could get
a hearing, not so they could get a seeing. You get that? They
would perform magic tricks so people would hear what they had
to say. We have the finished Word of God. We can read every
bit of it. We know what happens, don't we?
We know what happens. Back in verse 1, John 14, the
Lord's speaking to who? He's speaking to the 11 apostles.
He's speaking. He's talking to them. What's He talking about?
We've been looking at this for a while. He's telling them who He is.
He's God. That's who He is. Him and the
father are one. He's told him where he's going,
what he's doing. He's got to lay down his life
for the sheep. He's the good shepherd. He's got the son of
man must be lifted up. He's gonna go lay down his life.
And he's telling them that he will not leave them unequipped.
He will not leave them. They've been given these gifts
to cast out demons and stuff. And he said, don't you marvel
at that. You marvel, you know me. Okay. So I saw those, those,
the Satan cast down like a bolt of lightning. Don't you worry
about that. But they said, maybe that's going away and we're not
getting this earthly kingdom, we thought. There's some people
now that just, they got their doctrine just dialed in to a
thousandths of an inch. Boy, they think if you're just
off a little bit. Phillip's about to ask some real
dumb stuff. And he's an apostle. We're just sinners saved by grace.
These men are different. I'm not an apostle. We've got
weeks to look at that, but these men are different than I am.
And they're just sinners saved by grace. The Lord just equipped
them differently. He's telling them these things. He's speaking
to his apostles, the 11. Judas went out. He says in verse one,
John 14, one, let not your heart be troubled. Your heart's troubled. Don't let it be troubled. fret
not. Remember? Ye believe in God. What did God
just say? You believe in God. Y'all got any cake? This is great, isn't it? Yeah,
we're still trapped in this body of death, ain't we? He said,
you believe in God. Believe also in me. In my father's
house are many dwelling places, many reservations. You got a
spot there. If it were not so, I would have
told you, I go to prepare a place, a place of acceptance for a holy
God for you. I'm gonna go make a place for
you. And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and
receive you unto myself, that where I am, there you may be
also. And whether I go, you know, and
the way you know." And Thomas said, Peter just said, I'll never
forsake you. He said, you're gonna do it three
times for the cock crows. And then the Lord said, don't
let your heart be troubled. He's given, that's just, boy,
this is good preaching. He's given the good news. He's
given the word of God, his promises to them right here. And they
keep asking questions, like a little child. Why? How? How's that work? Poor Thomas. Thomas said unto him, Lord, we
know not whither thou goest. How can we know the way? If we
don't know where you're going, how am I going to know how to get there? Jesus
said unto him, I am the way. the truth and the life. And no
man cometh unto the Father but by me. If he had known me, he
should have known my Father also. There one, I and the Father are
one, ain't there? And from henceforth, you know him and have seen him. You've seen him, Thomas. How?
Because you looked at me. I and the Father are one. God's talking to me. Then Philip said, I wish I could rest my tongue.
This week, I've talked too much. I've talked too much, and I need
to rattle my tongue. I need to just hush. Here's what
God says, and then if people don't like it, I don't care.
I do care, but just keep my mouth shut. Here's what he says. Poor
Philip spoke up. This gives me hope. The Lord's
patient in me. Philip's spoken to him. Jude's gonna say something
next. He's a couple weeks from now.
The Lord show us the Father. You show us the Father and it'll
suffice us. Ooh, buddy. You show us the Father
and I'll be satisfied. Philip believed. God just said
so, didn't he? He said, you believe in God? He believed in God, but his unbelief
was strong and he was speaking like a worldly person speaks.
Christ is good and all. I like that Jesus fella, but
we need access to the Father. I wanna get to God. It's all around. It's a disease,
runs all over, isn't it? We want to get to God. You just
happen to be our end. You know the doorman. Get us
in there. Look at the patience. Look at
the long-suffering. Look at the bearing of the burden.
Look at the tenderness Christ has with His child. Look here
how He responds. Did He just smack him upside
the head and say, shut up! What's wrong with you? Didn't you hear
a word I just said? I ought not get frustrated. People
don't believe what I say. The Lord looked at His people
and they didn't hear Him. Verse 9, Jesus saith unto him,
have I been so long time with you? And yet thou not known me,
Philip, yet hast thou now not known me, Philip. He that hath
seen me hath seen the Father. And how sayest thou then, show
us the Father? How are you saying that? I'm
looking right at you, I just told you. If you've seen me,
you've seen the Father. I'm the Father in a human body. I'm a Godhead manifest in human
flesh. The incarnate God is talking
to him. And he says, now how long I've been with you, Philip?
Just tender, loving. Verse 10, believest thou not
that I'm in the Father and the Father in me? He's saying you
don't believe that I'm in the Father and the Father's in me. You believe
in God, but you ain't got your doctrine sorted out yet. Declaration, isn't it? Philip
didn't yet believe that. He didn't grasp it yet, but the
Lord's gonna teach it. He says, the words that I speak unto you,
I speak not of myself, but the father that dwelleth in me, he
doeth the speaking, the words. No, it says works, doesn't it?
It says works. That's not a mistake. The greatest
work is for God to speak to a child of Adam. You wanna see some big
works? You wanna see some miracles?
Almighty God's gonna talk to a sinner. He said, I'm the father
of one. I say his words, we say the same
words. He does the work. That's a work,
isn't it? The mediator between God and
man speaking to him. He said, believe me that I'm
in the Father. He's declared, he said, you don't
get it yet. Now here's the commandment. You ready? Believe me that I
am in the Father and the Father's in me. Believe it right now.
He can make it happen, can't he? Believe that I'm in the Father
and the Father's in me, or else believe me for the very work's
sake. You can either believe me for my words, or you can believe
me for my works, but believe, but believe. There's not a contradiction
here. I need to believe he's God. He
is who he says he is, not a God, the God, and all that entails. And I need to believe his word.
I need to believe what he says. And I didn't believe his work.
Look at what the Lord's gave us. We have his, look, he gave
us Gutenberg. That fella made a press a long
time ago. Everybody's got a Bible. Now it's on your phone. You can
have it read to you. Siri can read it to you. He's
gave that to us. He's brought the gospel to you.
He brought the gospel to me. He had a man come preach to me,
look me face to face, speak into my heart. God was talking to
me. Leave out work. He's done it.
Wouldn't me. He did it. Leave him for that
work sake. And he says so. His promises.
He said, I'll come get them. I've got sheep. I'm getting them.
They're mine. I ain't gonna lose none of them. I'm with you. I
don't see you. You don't have to see me. I'm
with you. That's good enough for me. Hey, I need to believe
his word some days. All days, but. I need to believe
his works. I need to look at him and say,
hey man, he did it. And because of who he is. We need those things. He said, believe the words I
say to you. Isn't that what he said? Or else believe me for
the very works sake. Either way, you believe him.
Believe him. Believe him. There's people that ain't worth
believing. I get marriage advice from people that's divorced.
I ain't listening. I get parenting advice from people
that don't have children or they have heathens. I don't want to
hear what you say. I get financial advice from people
that's broke. I get all kinds of stuff. I don't want to hear nothing
from you. This is the potentate, that's the only authority. And he says, believe me, believe
me. And it's not, I've talked to
some people, they want doctrinal assurance. Pay close attention
to what I have to say to you. They don't have assurance and they're
looking for doctrinal assurance. I don't need doctrinal assurance.
I don't need to make sure I got all my doctrine in a row. I need
to be embraced by my near kinsman redeemer, by my husbandman. The one I made one with, that's
what I need. I need to feel his presence.
I need to hear his word. I need to see who he is and I
need to be reminded of what he's done. One-on-one, that's what
I need. I wrote this down real quick.
Kim and I, we have a marriage certificate, right? Has that marriage certificate
ever kept you warm while I was deployed? Has that marriage certificate
ever cooked you dinner while I was gone? Ever rubbed your
feet? No, a person does that, not a legal document. It's a person, God in human flesh,
isn't it? He said, believe the words I
say or believe the works I perform. What does that mean? He said,
you remember what I said and you remember what I've done.
And then I'm going to do some stuff. I've been telling you
I'm going, this hour's here. And when I do that, you remember
what I'm doing. I told you. And you remember
who I am. How often do you forget he's
on his throne? As a child of God that lives
in this sin-cursed earth, how often do you forget or act like
he's not on his throne? Ever? Do you? I do. We need reminded. We needed to
remember, don't we? Remember. Remember. Look down
at verse 25. He said, These things I've spoken
unto you, being yet present with you. I told you because I was
here with you. But the Comforter, the Holy Ghost, whom the Father
will send in my name, He shall teach you all things. There's
a whole lot you ain't got sorted out yet. The Holy Spirit's gonna
come, you apostles, and he's gonna teach you apostles all
things. If you got questions, get underneath
the preaching of the gospel, under a man that preaches the
truth, and you just listen. and all your questions will be
answered. It may take a week, a month,
a year, 10 years, I don't know. I tell you that from experience,
I've lived it. It's so. I tell you that from
experience to others. And I tell you that from the
word of God, wait on the Lord, be still, be of good courage. He'll
teach his people. The Holy Spirit's gonna come
and teach you all things, okay? And bring all things to your
remembrance. You're gonna remember whatsoever
I said to you. That come to me today too. Somebody
got me and just that fast. I thought, well, the Lord said
this. Did I say that? No. I just remember, the spirit
made me remember what he said. I hope it was a blessing. In John 16, he says, I have many
things yet to say to you, but you can't bear it now. We can
only learn so much. You can't learn it all in a day.
You can't learn it all in a year. You can't learn everything there
is to know in a decade. It's a lifetime. And we ain't
going to learn in this life. We used to do a glass dimly,
don't we? He says, I have many things to say unto you. He's
going to say them to us. You get that? That's body of
the S over. Well, that's going to be something.
He's going to be the preacher. I have yet many things to say
to you, but you can't bear it now. How be it when he, the spirit
of truth has come, that Holy Ghost comes, he will guide you
into all truth. He'll take care of it. Why do
we need to remember the words of the Lord and the works of
the Lord and who he is and where he is now? We forget. We forget. He told them, beware the leaven
of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. He said, mark them and avoid
them. How Paul worded it, same thing. Leave them alone, beware
of that. And they said, man, the leaven
of the Pharisees, we forgot to bring bread. What are we going
to do? And they fret and they worried. You know what that's called?
Caught worry, caught fret, caught anxiousness, anxiety. You know
what all that, this fancy word, $5 word for unbelief. That's all it is to it. And they
said, what are we going to do? We've brought no bread. He said,
oh, ye of little faith. Why reason ye among yourselves? That's what you're doing. You're
coming up raising inside your own head because you brought
no bread. He said, don't you understand? He said, neither
do you remember. You remember, we need to be brought in remembrance.
Do you remember the five loaves and the 5,000? Remember when
that little boy came in there with five biscuits and two sardines?
You forgot. You think that's going to be
a problem today? He said, how many baskets you took up? Oh,
you little faith. That's us when we don't remember.
When we don't dwell on, we don't rejoice in the word and the works
and the person of our Redeemer. That's when we got little faith.
The spirit must come to these apostles and teach them these
things and make them remember. Turn back to John 2. That two-edged
sword comes out of his mouth. Boy, that just sneaks up on us
sometimes. It returns to us. Well, we remember.
John 2, verse 13. And the Jews' Passover was at
hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. and found in the temple those
that sold oxen and sheep and doves and the changers of money
sitting. And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he
drove them all out of the temple and the sheep and the oxen and
poured out the changers' money and overthrew the tables." I
don't know if you remember when we looked through this, that
was about 35, 40, 50,000 people there, 100,000 people. This was
a miracle. He made a little tiny scourge and drove out the cattle
and could you drive out 50 sheep with a little scourge? That'd
be hard. He performed a miracle. He performed a miracle. And he
said unto them that sold doves, take these things, hence, get
them out of here. Make not my father's house a house of merchandise.
What do you think you're doing? This is God's house. And his
disciples remembered. They remembered that it was written,
the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up. They remember that
psalm. Psalm 69, is that what it was?
You remember him saying that? Then answered the Jews and said
unto him, What sign showest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest
these things? And he answered and said unto
them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I'll raise it up.
They thought he meant that building he was standing in. And they
said, What are you talking about? It took forty-six years was this
temple in building. And with thou reeling it up in
three days you're going to rebuild this? What kind of carpenter are you? But he
spake of the temple of his body. He said, You're mad enough to
kill me. Kill me. Watch what happens. Three days
I'll raise it up. I'll come out of the ground. When therefore
he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he
said, they remembered his words, didn't they? This unto them.
And they believed, they believed the scripture and they believed
the word which Jesus had said. They remembered his word and
they remembered his work and they remembered who he was. Did he say he's going to send
a spirit to teach them all things? It happened, didn't it? His word's
true. At the end of Luke, it said they
remembered his words. They remembers his words. Do
you remember? Do you remember when the Lord entered on that
young, unbroken colt, that young ass, that untamed colt? He come into town, riding in
his triumphant entry, and it says in John 12, these things
understood not his disciples at first. They didn't get it.
That's finally it. All right, we're taking over
Jerusalem. But when Jesus was glorified, when he was glorified,
then remembered they the sayings that were written of him. And
that they had done these things unto him. They remembered the
words and the work of Christ and who he was when he was glorified.
You want to see God? He's going to be glorified. You
want to know his word? You want to know his works? He's
going to get the glory. Man's got something in it. There ain't
going to be no assurance. There ain't going to be no peace.
There ain't going to be no rest because it's works. And we're dead. We can't
do no work. We got to see him. Peter remembered
these words. And when this happened here in
John 14, Peter remembered. He was down in Joppa, and an
angel told some people, said, hey, you get ahold of Peter.
Go sin for him. He'll preach to you. And it says in Acts 11, he goes,
I began to speak, and the Holy Ghost fell upon me. As on us
at the beginning, God was with us. The Spirit was here with
us. And then I remembered the word of the Lord. He was preaching
and he said, I look in you in the eye and I know if you're
paying attention or not, boy, they're getting it. They're rejoicing.
I could see it on their faces. Their frowns turned upside down.
There's tears of happiness, tears of joy, tears of conviction.
I see it. God's with us in this place.
And then I remembered. He said, John indeed baptized
with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost. God's with
us. Holy Ghost is with us. For as
much then as God gave them the light gift as he did unto us
who believed on the Lord Jesus, what was I that I could withstand
God? And when they heard these things,
he said, Lord's here with us. If he's going to bless it, he's
going to bless it. And when they heard these things, they held
the peace. They didn't say what they thought. And they glorified
God saying, then hath God also thus Gentiles granted repentance
unto life. God gave us repentance too. Amen. God blessed that place. And Peter remembered, didn't
he? Turn over to Isaiah 62. That's what happened then. And
Lord spoke to these apostles, right? What about us? I ain't
an apostle and you ain't an apostle. There ain't no apostles these
days. Isaiah 62. Isaiah 62. How is it in our day
that men and women will be brought into remembrance of the words
and the works and the person of Christ? How you gonna remember? How's anybody, you pay close
attention to me, how's anybody gonna remember? We'll see in
the next few weeks, these apostles were different. I'm not an apostle.
There were 12 of them, saved the son of perdition, and then
Paul was added as one born out of due time, right? That's 12
of them, I ain't one of them. And ain't nobody now, okay? There's no other apostles. There's
never been any, there won't be any. They were called in person
by the Lord Jesus Christ and taught in person by him. And
then the Holy Spirit come to them just like us. So what about
all those other Sands of the Sea? Out of all the elect ever,
that's just 12 of them. What about the rest of us? How
are we gonna be brought into remembrance? Look here at verse
six. Isaiah 62, verse six. I have set watchmen upon thy
walls, O Jerusalem. which shall never hold their
peace day or night. If you're gonna have a word from
them, it's gonna be the same during the daytime as it's gonna
be at the nighttime. If they're tired and cranky or
they're happy, it don't make a difference. They're gonna have
the same thing tell you. What are they gonna say? Ye that make
mention of the Lord. That's what they're called, these
watchmen. They make mention of the Lord. If you got a marginal
reference Bible, that translation is literally, they are the Lord's
remembrances. They're the ones that give remembrance. God sent them and he put them
on the walls of his city. And he says, keep not silent
and give him no rest till he established until he make Jerusalem
a praise in the earth. We are instructed to tell people
of the person. That's us. I don't have a ministry
in San Diego County. We have this ministry. You get
that? We preach Christ and Him crucified. We preach the truth. I don't mean y'all out there
with bullhorns on the street corners, but you're hearing your attendance
and your prayers and your presence and your contributions, and we
keep the lights on in this place. We preach it. We're instructed
to tell the people of the person, the word, and the works of God,
and to call God to remembrance to His people. Our job is to
say, here's what it says. Right? And we're to call on God
and say, Lord, remember us. You said it. Remember what you
said? Not that he can forget, but we have words we have to
use, don't we? We call on his remembrance. Those
opposed to Christ, those that are opposed to the Lordship of
Christ, his word, his work, his person. They just want to hear
something new. We know all that stuff. I've
been a Christian for 75 and a half years. I've been going to church,
I've listened to thousands of minutes. You know how many gospel
preachers stayed in my house? They get tired of it. They get tired
of it. That's what they said in my Acts.
They said, all those Athenians and the strangers, strangers,
which spent their time in nothing else, nothing else, but either
tell or to hear something new. Ooh, what's, what's popping?
What's the newfangled thing? You know what old so-and-so?
Oh, buddy, they're preaching something good down there, something
new. Uh-uh. No, no, no. When Paul and Barnabas
returned to Antioch in Acts 14, it says, they come and they had
gathered in the church together and they rehearsed. Brought remembrance. What do you do? I stand over
there. Yeah, it's rehearsal. It's like in a play. They rehearsed
all that God had done with them. They remembered everything God
said. They remembered everything God did for them. And how he
opened the door of faith into the Gentiles. That's his works. That's what he said he's going
to do from all the way back here. He said, I'm going to save the
Gentiles. Circumcision and uncircumcision is going to die together. My
people, those circumcised of the heart, always has, hasn't
it? Nothing new, better not be nothing new. Is it old hat? If I keep it under an hour, Lord
said, can't you stay with me for an hour? Can't you stay waiting
for an hour? That's why that's my, that's my cutoff. Better
not go over 60 minutes, huh? The Lord spoke through Jeremiah
and he said, thus saith the Lord. That's how I know he's God's
prophet. Somebody got real tired of me
saying that this week. You just keep telling me what
the scriptures say. You don't want to know what I say. Jeremiah
said, thus saith the Lord. That's it. Stand ye in the ways,
and see, and ask for the old paths. If you ask for that old
gospel, that's the good way. Wherein is the good way, and
walk therein. Ask for the old gospel, that's
good. You walk in it, and you'll find rest for your souls. That
covenant of grace from eternity past, that love, it's everlasting.
You find that, and you get to it, and you find somebody that
says, this is what God says, and you'll have assurance. People,
I don't, I feel sorry for folks. They ain't got no assurance.
You'll have assurance. Look to him, look to the person,
the word and the work of Christ. We will not walk there in was
the reply. And he says, I also set watchman over you, hearken
to the sound of the trumpet, listen to the man I sent to you.
I wish you had a better one. Old rusty trombone. He sent a
trumpet. He said, hearken to him. But
they said, we will not hearken. We will not have this man reign
over us because we won't have Christ reign over us. And we
won't listen to his words because we don't listen to Christ's words.
Because all that fellow ever says, thus saith the Lord. I'm going to park everybody up
real good. You ready? I've been called a
lot of things in my life. I am not a Calvinist. I am not a hyper-Calvinist, and
I am not anything else. I'm one that says, thus saith
the Lord. And either I preach the gospel, or I don't. I either
tell you what God says, or I don't. There is no middle ground. He
said so. I thought I was really making
a bold statement when I thought that out. That's what he said. They will
not profit my people. You can lie to yourself and lie
to everybody else and say he does, and they don't. It's flat wrong. He said, I'll give you pastors
according to mine heart, which shall feed you. I hope I'm feeding
you. I hope I ain't just giving you
knowledge and understanding, especially this is some hard stuff to go
through. Now feed you with knowledge. This is what says an understanding.
What does it say in Nehemiah? Nehemiah, Ezra got up to preach
on a pulpit, wooden pulpit, and everybody stood up while he read
the word from morning till noon. I won't do that to you. They
prayed, and they bowed their head when they prayed. And it
said, so they read the book. It sums up what they did, the
Levites. So they read the book in the law of God distinctly.
This is what I think it says, or it says something along these
lines. They read it distinctly, and they gave the sense. It's
what it means. It's what he's saying. It's who
he's talking to. It's what he's talking about. And it caused them to
understand the reading. They didn't read a commentator
out loud. They read a word of God out loud. Hold on, it's coming. You'll see in a second. Paul
wrote that. He said he gave some apostles
and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors, teachers for
the perfecting of the saint. How are you going to grow in
grace? It's going to be through that. The foolishness of preaching. Not
foolish preaching, but maybe a fool. God made a preacher.
for the perfecting of the sites, for the work of the ministry,
for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to
the unity of faith. How am I going to grow in faith?
Well, it's going to have something to do with what he said, his words, and
the knowledge of the son of God unto a perfect man, unto the
measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ that were
brought into his body. That's the way he chose to do it. Peter
said to him, elders, which are among you, I exhort. I'm an elder
too, I preach. He said, I've witnessed the sufferings
of Christ. I'm a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed.
I'm saved. He said, feed the flock. He's
telling them churches, them pastors. He said, you go feed the flock
of God, which is among you. You take the oversight. I ain't gonna
give it to you. Not by constraint, but willingly. Not because you
have to, because you want to. Not for filthy lucre. Not to
make the big bucks, but of a ready mind. Neither is being lords
over God's heritage, but being an example to the flock. And
when the chief shepherds shall appear, you shall receive a crown
of glory that fadeth not away. What crown of glory is that?
Is that different than the ones that ain't feeding the flock? No,
it's the same one. And we find out this word, it's like me being
the banker at Monopoly. Do you remember back in 1997
when John Lucas was a banker at Monopoly? Boy, I'm still mad
about him. Who cares? Lord's controlling all this.
Turn to Romans 10. Romans chapter 10. Romans 10, 10. Paul writes here,
for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with
the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture
said, whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. But
there's no difference between Jew and Greek. For the same Lord
over all is rich unto all that call upon him. We get that same
crown of glory, same riches. We get Christ is what we get.
Verse 13, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord
shall be saved. I've got to take many tasks this
week. When's a fellow saved? When you call on him, that's
when you're saved. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. How then? That ain't the problem. How then? Shall they call on
him in whom they've not believed? You've got to believe on him
to call on him, ain't you? And how shall they believe on him
whom they've not heard? Well, I don't even know what they're
talking about. You have to hear about him. And how shall they
hear without a preacher? Someone's going to have to preach
to you. And how shall they preach except they be sent? As it is
written, how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the
gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things. How beautiful
is our foundation? How beautiful is the providence
that God brought them here? They've not obeyed the gospel.
They've not all obeyed the gospel for Isaiah said, who hath believed
our report? These people's heard this. They've
had the gospel brought to them. Somebody's still on her hind
two legs and said, here's what God says. And they heard it not. I asked a guy today, I told Kierma
Shedd, wait till now to hear what it was. And my friend Don
used to say, somebody called him, pecking him real good and
just getting his knee deep things. I don't know, he didn't answer
the phone. And he'd say, where do you pastor? No, and they didn't
pastor nowhere. And they said, what ministry
do you faithfully attend and support with your hard-earned
money? Or do you go out and sweat with your brow and earn money
and support that man's preaching? Well, I don't attend nowhere.
He knew that, right? And so I asked a fellow, cause
I'm, you know, brilliant. I got this one. And I said, who's
your pastor? I said, you got a pastor? Who's
teaching you these things? He said, I got a pastor. I saw
really where he's well, he passed away. I saw. Yeah. He goes, yeah, John gills, my
pastor. God gave me a word right fast.
I said, really? I said, how's bearing his burden
going for you? How, how are you being long suffering
with him? And how's he being long suffering
with you? The man's been dead for a couple
hundred years. God sent a voice and his generation and that decade
or whatever the heck you want to call it. And that time. If you don't like me, I don't
care. I hope you loved your U-Haul. Go somewhere else where you can
hear the gospel. I know a bunch of faithful people, and I know a bunch of
places where it's cheaper and dirt to live. Live like a king. If you don't like that, learn
Spanish, move to Mexico. Go sit underneath where the gospel
is. If you're hungry, you'll go. They bite me tooth and toe
now. Discussion. People want to discuss
your thing. There's problematics things. I have a whole lot of
problems over people who have internet ministries. There's
people that get on the internet and they want to talk about religion.
They want to talk about doctrine. They want to correct people and
they want to uncorrect people. And then somehow they end up my way. And
I got to deal with this junk. And they want to have a discussion.
That's what they've been trained to do. People have been trained
on this coast for 75 years to have a discussion. The gospel
is not discussed. It's proclaimed. It's declared. If I'm the Lord's man, he's gonna
speak through me to your heart. It's a one-way conversation.
If it's open for discussion, that means it's open for fault.
And he ain't faulty, because he said. He says it. But if you want to,
my job is to tell you. It hurts my heart though. He
says in verse 17, so then faith cometh by hearing. How's somebody
gonna have faith? You got to hear, hear. How did
God meet Jacob and Peniel? Face-to-face. Face-to-face. Faith comes by hearing, hearing
by the word. What'd he say? Believe me for
my word or my works. If you're going to hear, that's
his works. What are you going to hear? His word. What about
his word? Who he is? Where is that? Hearing what? God's word concerning
God's work. I was thinking if anybody's going
to be without assurance, if there was somebody, a child born of
Adam, that was going to walk this earth and have total assurance,
who would that be? It has to be John the Baptist.
Surely John the Baptist never had a shadow of doubt, right?
He's the last of the Old Testament prophets. His birth was a miracle
and prophesied and all these things. And it says there in
Luke 1, he said, he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even
from his mother's womb. And Elizabeth's getting near
Mary, and he just start punching and kicking. He got excited because
his savior was near. That man couldn't ever had any
doubt, could he? Boy, had to be just stronger than goat's
breath to be able to walk through this. He had to be tough, didn't
he? What happened? Turn to Matthew 11. Back to Matthew
11. I thought I was gonna preach
15 minutes and I'm sorry, but I'll keep it under an hour. Matthew
11, verse two. John was in prison, John the
Baptist, and it says in Matthew 11, verse two, now when John
had heard in the prison the works of Christ, the works, he heard
the works, believe me, for the works sake, when he heard the
works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples and said to
them, art thou he that should come or do we look for another?
Are you him? John's tied up in prison. God's
prophet's sitting there in prison. He sends two disciples. They
said, are you him? Do we need to find somebody else? And Jesus
answered and said to them, go and show John. What's that say
in your Bible? Again. You go tell him what he's
going to have to remember because he's been told before, right? These words, he's heard these
words before. Tell him again, you need to be
told again. Can you tell me one more time? Do you remember? I
forgot. Tell me one more time. What'd
he say? That's what he said. He said, you go tell John again
those things which you do here and see. Tell him the word and
tell him the work. The blind receive their sight,
the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the
dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them.
If I was raising dead folks, if I was giving blind folks that
you knew was blind, I mean, just you see cataracts, they fall
off and they could see, this place would be packed. Why not?
Them apostles were given some ability to perform miracles like
that and raise the dead. Peter killed a couple of folks. I'm
glad I don't have that one. One of me left on this earth.
If we're doing all those things, people say, there's miracles,
there's miracles, there's miracles. What does God say? What's his
word? Well, it might be a long time
before we remember this. What's he say that a miracle is the
last one? Say the best for last. The poor have the gospel preached
to them. And blessed is he whosoever shall
not be offended in me. in my person, in my word, in
my word. I ain't afraid to say I am, but
as the Lord enables me, I ain't afraid to say what he said. You
can think all you want. He says it. You're wrong. He's right. You're a liar. I'm
a liar. He's right. Just tell you what he says. His
works. Oh boy. We can read his word. We can pick it up and we can
read about his works. We have all these New Testament
epistles, these open letters to us, right? We have the Acts
and Romans and letters to different churches and Revelation. And
we have all these things. We're greatly blessed. We're
greatly blessed. They didn't have those things
back then. Those apostles didn't. That's why they was given those
gifts. And Peter said, we have a more sure word. He said, I
stood on that Mount Transfiguration and I saw him. And he said, we
have a more sure word of prophecy, where until you do well to take
heed, better take heed how you hear. Is that what God said?
Take heed how you hear? Better take heed as to a lot
that shan't in dark place till the day dawn and the day star
arises in your hearts, knowing first that no prophecy of the
scriptures is of any private interpretation. Pairs of scriptures
and scriptures is what he says. Well, I think. It don't matter
what you think. What's he saying? What's the
context of what he says? Who's talking? Who's he talking
to? What's the subject? For the prophecy came not in
old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as
they were moved by the Holy Ghost. If you don't think Paul's an
apostle, throw the book away. Don't read him. If people don't believe what
I tell them, Don't listen to me. Throw me away too. Cross came. What was his works?
He came and he gave blind sight. He gave those lame, made them
walk and the leopards. He cleansed them and he death
here and the dead raised and he preached a bunch of poor folks.
But all that physically means nothing. That physically means
nothing. Each of those must take place
in the heart. That's his works. He comes to save sinners. I'm
a chief one. His works, Christ the Godhead,
was manifest in a body. That's a great mystery of godliness,
isn't it? Without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness.
God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen
of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the
world. That's miraculous too, isn't
it? are sieved up into glory. Those are majestic things. That's
his works. He was born. He lived a perfect life. He paid
the perfect payment for our sins. He was made sin who knew no sin. That's a work. He laid in a tomb. His soul was not left in hell.
And he arose and he's seated at the right hand of the father.
And right now he's making intercession for us until that great shepherd
comes again to receive us. Just like he promised him a possible,
because he said so. That's his work, isn't it? And
we remember those things. We remember his word. We remember
his works. We remember him because we know him. We've heard him.
And we remember that he remembers us. Remember that He remembers
us. That's what matters. It don't
matter if we remember Him, it matters if He remembers us, Bob.
I know Him now, but I may lose my mind. If He remembers me,
that's what's important. It don't matter if I'm on His
side, it matters if He's on my side. That's never seen a rebel
and a regenerated child of God. We might go through Jeremiah
next book, but Jeremiah wrote this. And he said, I know the
thoughts that I have towards you. Lord said, I know the thoughts
I think towards you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace and not
of evil and to give you an expected end. That's his thoughts. He's
going to work it. He said so. Then shall you call
upon me. When he does that, you'll call
on me and you shall go and pray unto me and I will hearken unto
you. And you shall seek me and find me when you shall search
for me with all your heart. That new heart I gave you is
gonna look for me and you're gonna find me, because I gave
it to you. We pray, Lord, remember us, don't
we? David said, they said, remember me, Lord, with the favor that
thou hast, that thou barest unto thy people. Oh, visit me with
thy salvation. You remember me and you come
with your Christ, with your salvation to me, that I may see the good
of thy chosen, that I may rejoice in the gladness of thy nation,
that I may glory with thine inheritance. Remember me. If you remember
me, I'll be with you. Your salvation will come. There
in Luke 23, it says, and Jesus said unto the, and he said unto
Jesus, Lord, remember me. That's what that thief on the
cross was. I ran out of time today. I ain't got nothing to
rub down. Thief on the cross. What kind of theological statement?
You think he was a hyper-Calvinist? He was a sinner about to die.
And he said, you're God. I heard some sayings of yours.
You're going to have to do the work. And he asked the Lord something. He said, remember me. The thief
said, Remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said
unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in
paradise. The fellow that knew the least,
that knew the shortest, that knew everything else, had the most
of shorts ever. God looked him in the eye and said, Today you're
going to be with me. David said, He's our Lord and
our God. His judgments are over the whole
earth and he's remembered. His covenant forever. Not my
covenant. He's remembered His covenant.
The word which He commanded a thousand generations. And He never changes.
He doesn't change. Ezekiel says, then the heathen
that are left round about you shall know that I, the Lord,
build the ruined places. That's us. And plant that which
was desolate. That's me. And the Lord has spoken
it and I'll do it. I said it and I'll do it. That's
His word. That's His word. See the pattern
here? Believe him, believe what he says, believe his works. For
the works say, thus saith the Lord God, yet will I be inquired
of the house of Israel to do it for him. I'm gonna do all
this, I said so, and you gonna ask me to do it. That new heart
I put in you is gonna ask me. And I'll increase them with men
like a flock. I ain't gonna leave them out
by themselves. I'm not gonna leave the 99 and go to that one and rub it on
the head and say, good luck little buddy, I'll see you in glory.
He said, I'm gonna increase them, I'm gonna draw them together,
I'm gonna grow them up like men, like a flock, like sheep. The holy flock, he said. As the
flock of Jerusalem in her solemn feast, so shall the waste cities
be filled with flocks of men, and they shall know that I am
the Lord. What are you gonna know? You're gonna remember him,
you're gonna know him. His person, his word, and his
works. Back in our text, John 14. Verse eight, John 14, eight. Philip saith unto him, Lord,
show us the Father, and it sufficeth us. And Jesus said to him, have
I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me,
Philip? He that hath seen me hath seen the Father. And how
sayest thou then, show us the Father? Believe thou not that
I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I speak
unto you, I speak not of myself, but the Father that dwelleth
in me, he doeth the works. Believe me that I am in the Father,
and the Father in me, or else believe me for the very work's
sake. Believe me. We got a lot to believe, don't
we? He's worth believing. He's gave us a great cloud of
witnesses. We got his word to read. It's so, he's proved it
to us in Providence. He's proved it in our hearts.
And we know him. We know him, don't we? Does that
sufficeth you? When the Holy Ghost came to Philip,
it sufficeth him. Let's pray. Father, we have so many questions.
We're so filled with doubt and concern. Reveal Christ in us as it pleases
you and your good time. Lord, open this word to us. Shed
light on it. Send a man to your sheep, wherever
they may be, to preach this word to them. Give them the sense
and give them understanding. Lord, allow us to see your works
in your providence, in your creation, in your salvation, and in us.
Show us that, Lord. We've been bought with a price.
We're not our own. Make us remember that. Remember
your word. Remember what you've done for
us. Stir up our pure minds, Lord, as you see fit. We ask these
things, Lord, not in our merit, Grand ideas of self. We ask these
things because of who Christ is. What he's done for us. Where he is now. For his sake. For his blood's sake. For our
benefit. Hear us. Thank you for this hour. Thank you for our brethren. Be
with those that can't be with us. cause them to remember. In Christ's name that we ask,
amen.