Turn, if you will, to the 127th
Psalm, please. I heard a message by my pastor,
retired pastor Gene Harmon, about a week or so back, and I told
him that I just had to use the opening to that message he gave
at David Edmonton's church in Madisonville. David, I believe,
was down somewhere in Texas. at a church that he had used
to be a pastor of, having a little family reunion with those folks.
And he asked Gene to preach for him. And his introduction to
his message titled, Where Do I Fit In? Went about kind of
like this. It relates perfectly with what
I'd like to speak to you about tonight. He said, imagine an
entire crew of workmen. showing up to a job site to build
a high-rise building of some kind. You got all of your contractors
there, all of your plumbers, all of your electrical people,
they all show up and they're all got their tools on, their
trucks full of tools and materials, they're ready to go. And you
say, okay, where do you want us to get started? To the general
contractor. And the general contractor says, well, I got no plan. Just
go about doing it. Do what you got to do. Make it
happen. Could you imagine how ridiculous
that would be? I'm not a contractor. I have
no idea. I can't hammer two nails or two boards together with a
nail. I guess you screw them together nowadays. It's better.
But I can't even do that. But I can understand what it
would be like to show up and not have a plan for something.
Just be absolute chaos, wouldn't it? There were no blueprints and
the contractor would just stand up and say, go at it. Get going. It's up to you to decide where
to start. Sound a little familiar? It's
up to you to decide where to start. Well, that's exactly Exactly
what most religious gatherings in this world today are doing. They're showing up and they're
saying, well, there's no plan. Somebody did a little something
over here, and that person might have done a little more over
here, and now it's up to you. Just get up and do whatever you
think you gotta do to make it happen. Just get started. There was a man by the name of
Daryl Starks. Attended our church for quite some time. Some of
you may have met him. He's a mountain man from Georgetown
that's up in the hills outside of Rescue. I know you thought
Rescue was in the mountains. No, Georgetown is up in the mountains.
They live without electricity a lot up there. Mountain men.
Survivalists. They take care of themselves
in any way they can. He was just one of those men
who could do anything. At his services, A little bit
over a month ago, his final service for his passing, funeral service,
all of his family was there. A man come up to me and he said,
whatever happened to Daryl? Last I saw him several years
back, many years back, he was building churches up there. He
was going around building the church up in Kelseyville, working
here, working to get somebody saved here. And I said, well,
he heard the gospel. And he quit working. He found
a guy with a plan. Daryl didn't have any plan, he
was just going around following whatever he thought was right. The Lord who has the plans for
all things found Daryl and brought him into rescue and he heard
the gospel preached for the first time. Daryl, he highlighted in
his Bible, I went through his Bible to get some idea of what
meant, you know, what was special to him. A lot of people, they
like to highlight in their Bibles. First thing I saw when I opened
was this verse in Psalms 127, verse 1. Except the Lord build
the house, they labor in vain that build it. Except the Lord
keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain. Have you ever heard
phrases like, We must win souls to build our church. If we feed the poor, we'll win
souls for our God. We need something more than just
standing up and preaching. How about we get some bands?
How about we put some rock music up there? A lot of young people,
they like to hear a little bit of rock music. Let's not stop
there. Let's put a little smoke across. I've seen this. I've been in
churches where they had smoke going across the podium. And the music playing real soft
in the background. It's a fact, folks, that music
can inspire certain chemicals in your body to make you react
certain ways. That's why everybody cried for Old Yeller. They did
a test on that. They played the movie without
the music and people didn't cry over the death of that dog. They
played the music and people cried over it. People have figured
out a way to entertain others in all kinds of ways and you
know it's filtered into the churches, the religious organizations of
today's world. Now I'm sure, like us up at rescue,
You folks have probably had discussions at times, once or twice, about
the size of our congregations. Yeah. I know I have. But I would rather be used by
my Almighty God to bring one soul. Used of God to bring that soul. rather than bring hundreds into
a goat barn. If our congregations ever get
to be more than what they are now in large amounts, we need
to start questioning ourselves, are we still on line with the
Gospel of Christ? You see, folks, we're in the
flesh. And sometimes we forget that we're in the flesh, and
we think that because the Lord has saved us, we don't have to
think about those things anymore. The Lord warns us over and over
and over again to beware of these things. And I know, in my flesh,
I'm just as susceptible to any man as any man is to start thinking
about those things that, well, man, if we could just have a
picnic on Saturday, maybe we could get more people to come
in. That is just not the way to build
God's church. Number one is, We're not the
builders. We're not the ones with the plan.
And quite honestly, we don't know what the plan is. We know
what He's given us of the plan in His book. But He's the one
who knows the plan from beginning to end. Oh, may our great God use us
to labor in His Word according to His plan, according to His
blueprints, rather than leave us to the dunghills of our own
imaginations. Lord, help us to be as Abraham. I'm used to a shelf down there.
Sorry about that. Lord, help us to be as Abraham, sojourning
through this valley of the shadow of death, looking to a city built
without hands. The city of God as it is stated
in Hebrews chapter 10. Now I'd like to ask you to turn
over to 1 Corinthians with me, chapter 1. It is our very nature to think
that we have some kind of wisdom. I know this, therefore I am wiser
than I was before. Isn't that correct? That man next door, Working on
computers is a pretty wise guy. I know, he worked on ours today
and he fixed it. Something we thought we were just going to
have to throw out, but he fixed it. I know that I am wise, for I
am wiser than I was before. This is our nature. It's what
blinds us to the wisdom of God. Our natural wisdom is the root
of our downfall. This is why the cross of Christ
is an offense to natural men. It destroys the wisdom of man. John 3.19 we read this, and this
is the condemnation that light has come into the world and men
love darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.
For everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh
to the light, and Jesus Christ is that light, lest his deeds
should be reproved." We don't want to go to the light because
it shows us just how foolishness, how much in our own minds we
are foolishness. This is the way our Lord begins
to build His holy city. the New Jerusalem, the Church
of God. He begins with nothing. He begins
with a dead corpse, dead in trespasses and sin. And we who are in the
flesh must say, according to our nature, that's foolishness.
You can't tell me I'm dead. I'm standing here in front of
you. I'm breathing. I can see you, folks. If I pinch
myself, it's going to hurt. To say that we are dead His foolishness to the natural
man. Oh, what wonder and what beauty
it is for the Lord to show us how dead we really were. I'm not dead. There's at least
a small flame in me, a small flame of good in me. If I just
wave it enough, I can do better. Well, the Lord's Word declares
this, He says, there are none good. He says, there are none
that seeketh after Me. All have gone astray. All have
gone out of their way. Would you call God a liar? Was there any life in Lazarus? No. He laid dead in that tomb
for four days. In fact, his sister came hollering,
he stinketh by now. There's only life in the Lord
Jesus Christ. And I'm not talking about the
wannabe Christ that's being preached from most pulpits, the ones who
have no plans on how to build their church other than what
their wisdom is leading them to do. I'm not talking about
that Christ who is waiting for you to do something. I'm not
talking about that Christ whose plan is to wait for you to decide,
or to wait for you to walk the aisle, or wait for you to get
in the baptismal, or wait for you to do anything. I'm not talking
about that false Christ. I'm talking about the true and
living Son of God. The God-Man. He is life, the
very One who sits on His throne of glory, and there is only life
in Him. In John 6, verse 65, we read
this, And He said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man
can come unto Me, except you were given unto him of My Father. And from that time many of His
disciples went back and walked no more with Him." Why? Because He told them that they
were dead. And the only life that they could
have would be in Him. And they had to eat His flesh
and drink His blood. And that's exactly what all of
God's people do. In fact, we're happy to, because
that's our only food. It's the only food that nourishes
our souls, knowing that our Lord laid down His life. He gave that
body for you and I. Out of love for you and I. Isn't this why we love Him? Because
He first loved us and gave Himself for us? See the plan coming together?
Oh, what a plan! Where was I? Then said Jesus
under the twelve at verse 67 of John chapter 6, Will ye also
go away? Will you go away too, like all
of those others who said this is foolishness, that I am God
in the flesh? To those who said this is foolishness,
that if you're a God in the flesh, why do you have to go and suffer
in Jerusalem? Why is it you have to die? Why
is it you have to be buried? Then Simon Peter. Boy, I like
Simon Peter. I like him a lot. I could see
him walking in his shoes doing the things that he does. Not
the good things, the foolish things. Simon Peter answered,
this is one of the good things. Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou. This very One who has life, who
is life, Thou hast the words of eternal life. And we believe
and are sure that Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living
God. This is my desire this evening,
folks. This is my pleasure. This is my honor, an honor that's
given to me by my Lord and Savior, and it is to point you to the
only true wisdom there is. We've got some people who think
they're pretty smart in this world. And for the worldly sense,
they are. My doctor's way smarter than
me. My wife is way smarter than me. But when it comes to spiritual
things, this world is dead. It is flat out dead. How else do you think they can
come up with things like the world's been around for a billion
years? Nobody can say that for sure. They think they've got
a theory figured out for it. They think they can look at rocks
and see how old. You know the Bible tells us that the rocks
and the earth was created to look like it was old? My desire is to point you to
the one and only true wisdom, the only builder who truly builds,
for everything else in this world is but vanity. We read in Romans
10, 13, for whomsoever shall call upon the name of the Lord
shall be saved. I want to point you to that Lord. But 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? And how shall they
hear without a preacher? That's our desire. I have seen that desire grow
in your pastor so much, it's been a delight. It's been a delight
to see the desire in pastor's eyes and ears, a heart for the
sheep. a heart to tell you about who
our Lord is. I'm not going to stand here before
anybody and tell you anything about eschatology. That's foolishness. I'm not going to stand here before
you and tell you all the other wild and crazy things that we
can come up with in man's ideas of numbers and all that. My job
is to tell you about my Lord. And the best way I can do that
is telling you about what He's done for me. I know I said that to the last
meeting here, but you know, folks, that's exactly what it is every
time. I'm talking to friends. I'm talking to people I know. What has the Lord done for me?
He got me and my wife all the way down here safely. Took us
over to these dear folks' house the other day. You know, anything
can happen out there on the road. Pastor Gene used to joke about
this, but it's true. He says, you don't know, that
little path that goes between Rescue Church and the house,
which is like 10, 20 feet, there's a couple of cracks out there,
and my wife could trip over that, and that could be the end right
there. We think the Lord's just forgetting us from our home to
the church. Yep, absolutely. What has the
Lord done for me? Simon Peter answered him and
said, 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." Read with me here,
if you would, 1 Corinthians chapter 1, and I'd like to begin at verse
21, if you would please. Chapter 1 of 1 Corinthians. We're talking about the wisdom
of men against the wisdom of God, and it does not get any
clearer than what the Lord has inspired Paul to write right
here to the Corinthians. For after that, in the wisdom
of God, verse 21, the world by wisdom knew not God. It pleased
God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. For
the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom.
But we preach Christ crucified unto the Jews a stumbling block,
and unto the Greeks foolishness. But unto them, unto them which are called, both
Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God,
Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness
of God is stronger than men. For you see your calling, brethren,
how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not
many noble are called. But God hath chosen the foolish
things of the world to confound the wise, and God hath chosen
the weak things of the world to confound the things which
are mighty. And the base things of the world, and the things
which are despised, hath God chosen yea, and the things which
are not, to bring to naught things that are. That no flesh should
glory in his presence, but in him are ye in Christ Jesus, who
of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification,
and redemption, that according as it is written, he that glorieth,
let him glory in the Lord." Folks, the very nature of our flesh
is to try and figure something out for ourselves, am I right?
Tell me about that, I know. One of the things I have, I'm
not a construction worker, but I have had to learn how to fix
things on my own since becoming the pastor up there at Rescue.
We sit back in the woods a little bit, and this is an old place
and things break. I'd never change the toilet until
I moved in up there. That's quite a task, actually.
And we think we're something when we figure those things out,
don't we? Look at that. It's not leaking. Oh, wait a
minute. Yeah, it is. Now I've got to
start all over. Yet God in His day of love comes
to His chosen His elect, those for whom the Father hath given
Him before the world was created, and He reveals our state of spiritual
deadness to us. That's wonderful. If you know
you were spiritually dead, it's because God has revealed it to
you. In John 3, 3 we read this, Verily, verily, I say unto thee,
Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Folks, we were like the blind
man, the very man you were reading in Scriptures. Blind from birth,
not even capable of understanding what sight was. But yet now,
we can see that we were blind. Why? How is it that God's people
can look back and say, you know, I was blind? Because we see the
truth now. Because God has given us the
ability, the gift of sight. He's come to us when our ears
were stopped up with the things of this world, and He's given
us ears that hear His Word. But not only that, He's given
us eyes to see His Word for the truth that it is. And then, on
top of that, He gave us the faith to believe it. You see how the
church, how the building, how the city of God is being built? It's all through Christ. It doesn't
matter whether I can fix the toilet or not. My Lord knows
how to fix everything. He's been fixing me for some
time now. And eventually, I'm going to be perfect, although
I am right now in His eyes, but perfect in all things in His
presence. We're like that blind man from
birth, not capable of understanding what sight is. Now we can see
that we're blind. Why? Because we are blind no
more. We have been given life, given
faith. And here's the wonder of the
Master Builder. It's exactly according to His
plans. Nobody can go outside of it.
How often do you hear that a building that just got built or a house
that just got built... This amazes me. My son-in-law
is a contractor, plumber for brand new homes. Brand new homes! 67% or something like that. It's
way up there. They have to go back and repair again afterwards.
Our Lord's work does not have to be repaired. It's done perfectly
just as everything He has done is perfect. I love to quote these familiar
words, but God. But God? Yep. "...whose rich
in mercy for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were
dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. By grace
ye are saved, and hath raised us up together, and made us sit
together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages
to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness
toward us through Christ Jesus, For by grace are ye saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves. It is a gift of God, not of works,
lest any man should boast." By His grace, we have been brought
to see the works of Him who has loved us with an everlasting
love. Quickened. You know what that
word means? That means given life. Christ
is life. He's the one who gives life.
We have been brought to see the works of Him who has loved us
with an everlasting love. We see His grace in becoming
flesh. Great is the mystery of godliness.
God was manifest in the flesh. We see His grace as our surety. He walked perfectly as our substitute,
fulfilling every jot of the law. Everything our Lord did pleased
His Father. He fulfilled everything where
we could fulfill nothing. His works are our surety. We see His grace in providing
Himself as our sacrifice, a sacrifice that actually accomplishes something. And I mean by that, not a sacrifice
that's waiting for you to do something. Our Lord did not attempt
to save people at the cross. He saved us. We were saved in
Him. It's as though we were on that
cross. He was our substitute. He took
our place, what we deserve. We sing that song, Amazing Grace. Why is it so amazing? Because
the Lord didn't have to do that for us. But because He has loved
us with an everlasting love, an eternal love, He willingly
laid down His life for us on that cross and shed His blood, that you and I will spend an eternity with Him. That's a love that we can't understand,
folks. We get a little glimpse of it. You love that baby with
all your heart, I'm sure of it. I loved mine too. She's not a
baby anymore, but I still love her. Absolutely, we know what
love is, but we don't know the depth. We don't know the true
depth. We get a little picture of it.
We see through a glass darkly. We get a little picture of it.
But oh, the day is coming when we will stand with our Lord for
eternity and know exactly how deep that love goes. We see His grace in providing
Himself as our sacrifice, a sacrifice that actually accomplished salvation,
the perfect blood of the Lamb of God. It was made, the perfect
Lamb of God is a done deal, a finished work. He said it Himself from
the cross, it is finished. We see His grace in making our
iniquities His own. He never sinned, yet God the
Father made this one who knew no sin to be sinned, that we,
the children of God Almighty, would be made the righteousness
of God in Him. We see His grace in taking those
sins, every single one, from the moment we breathe one breath
of air to the day we go into the grave, and burying them forever
from God's sight. We see the grace in His power,
the power of God. Death could not hold this One
who created the worlds, and all that goes with it. He arose from
that grave a mighty victor. The sting of death cannot touch
the church of God. It cannot touch the city of God,
for Christ has made it the holy city of Jerusalem. Turn over, if you would, to the
21st chapter of Revelation for just a moment. Revelation chapter 21. Look with me at verse number
9. And there came unto me one of
the seven angels, which had the seven vials full of the seven
last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will
show thee the bride, the Lamb's wife. And he carried me away
in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me
that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from
God." Over in Hebrews 10, we read that Abraham was looking for
a city made by God. Is that right? In chapter 10? Yeah, verse 9, you're right.
I always write it down. You know how they put the page
numbers at the top? I always write it down in my notes the
wrong way. Chapter 11, verses 8 and 9. By faith Abraham, when
he was called to go out into a place which he should after
receive for an inheritance, obeyed, and he went out not knowing whether
he went. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise as in
a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob,
the heirs with him, in the same promise. For he looked for a
city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God." The Holy City, built without
hands, built of God Himself, presented as the Bride of Christ. Now turn over to Matthew chapter
16 if you would. We're talking about a city built
of God, a city built without hands. And every building must
have a plan and a builder, and Christ is that plan. It's not some blueprint that
the Lord put up and said, well, this is it right here. This is
the Word of God. Yes, but the plan is Christ Himself. He is the plan. He is the life. We have to come to Him for everything. He's the cornerstone that holds
it all up. He builds His church by the preaching
of His Word, not by the ones doing the preaching, but by the
Word of Truth being preached by them. It is the Word of Truth
that the Lord applies to the hearts of His chosen people.
It is the Word of who He is. Perfection walked with the imperfect. Isn't that true? God Almighty
came to the earth and walked as a man in the flesh. He was
perfect in every way. It's the Word of what He did.
Out of love, He laid Himself down for our sakes. He became
our substitute. He provided Himself our sacrifice. It's the Word of where He is
right now. You know, the problem I have
with eschatology, in times, they want to bring out that the
Lord is going to return to the earth and sit on a throne. Now,
I don't know about that, and I'm not going to argue with anybody
about that, but I'm going to tell you this, my Lord sits on
His throne right now. If He wants to come back and
sit on a throne for however long, He's God. I'm fine with that.
I got no problem with that at all. But I'm telling you, He
sits on His throne now. He's not waiting to come back
here to the earth and sit on some throne made by hands. He's
sitting on the throne of God. Plain and simple. Where is He right now? Sitting
on that throne, working everything out. according to Himself, the
blueprint and the builder. It's all about Him. And to a
true believer, He is all and all. Amen. Look at verses 13
of Matthew chapter 16 with me. When Jesus came into the coast
of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, Whom do
men say that I, the Son of Man, am? And they said, Some say that
thou art John the Baptist." Interesting how the first thing they came
up with is, some say you're just another man. You're just like John the Baptist. Our Lord was nothing like John
the Baptist. John the Baptist was a good preacher,
and he did good works of the Lord. But just like Mary and
everyone else that has ever walked this earth, he was a man who
was saved by the grace of God. And they said, some say that
there are John the Baptist, some Elijahs, others Jeremiahs, or
maybe one of the prophets. And he saith unto them in verse
15, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and
said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus
answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for
flesh and blood hath not revealed it." The wisdom of man revealed nothing. It takes the wisdom of God to
reveal these things to the flesh, to man, to give life to a man,
to understand, and it says that very next thing, unto thee, but
my Father which is in heaven. No man standing before you was
able to reveal that to you. No preacher, not even yourself. Not even your own wisdom can
figure that out. It took God the Father to reveal
these things to them. This is the grace of God that
comes down to us, folks. This is the grace of God that
shines His love in our hearts. He didn't have to do that for
any of us. We could be just like the rest of the world, wandering
around in goat barns, and then the day come when we pass through
that door marked death, and we'll all be standing there just like
many will be's. gnashing their teeth, wait a
minute, haven't I done good things? Haven't I built up buildings
in your name? Haven't I done this? Depart from
me, ye workers of iniquity. Oh, for the love that God has
for you and I, Verse 18, And I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon
this rock..." Now, not upon Peter. That's not what that's saying
at all. Peter was no more than John the Baptist. Peter was no
more than you and I, but a tool used by God for whatever reason
pleases Him. No, it was Peter's answer. Thou
art the Son of the Living God. Did you know you can't say that
with your heart? You can't say that from your
heart unless the Holy Spirit... No, there's a lot of people who
say it. But do they say it from the heart? Thou, my Lord and Savior, is
the Son of the Living God, the Christ, my Savior. I'm talking to friends, I'm telling
you about my Savior. Is He your Savior too? Upon this rock, I will build
my church. and the gates of hell shall not
prevail against it." A city built without hands. Allow me to make
this point before we close in song. If you are one of those
precious stones, those precious stones that we just read about
in Revelations, If you are one of those stones that the Lord
is building His city with, is there any possible way that He
would lose you, misplace you, or forget you? No. No, our Lord, He is called
God for a reason. It's because He cannot be frustrated. Who or what can turn His hand? And that's talking me to me. My Lord is going to have me no
matter what. And if you are His, He is going
to have you no matter what. This is the peace I have for
children who have no desire just like me at one time. Children who have no desire to
know who this Christ, this Savior of mine is. My only peace, knowing
Him, is that if they belong to Him, they will know Him too.
No doubt about it. If you think in the wisdom of
flesh there is anything that can separate, then you don't
know the true and living God. Let's not worry, folks, about
the size of our congregations, the size of our churches. And
I'm talking to myself right now. Let us do what God has given
us to do. Preach the Gospel. and the Lord
will add to the church such as should be saved. The psalmist
wrote in chapter 40, verse 2, He brought me up also out of
a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a
rock. This one who builds his city
without the hands of men, brought me up out of that miry pit, and
set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. And He hath put a new song in
my mouth." Even praise unto our God. Peter
and John went into the temple to preach, and sitting outside
the temple was A lame man who had been lame from his mother's
birth. He was well known throughout the town. Every day he was sat
there. Somebody carried him, sat him
on the porch, on Solomon's porch, so he could beg. And as they
passed by, they stopped and said, you know, we don't have any money
to give you. We got something way better though.
We got God Almighty in the flesh, Jesus Christ, and they preached
Christ to this one. When He got up with limbs that
had no power in them, had instant power from God, He leaped and
praised the Lord. And He hath put a new song in
my mouth, even praise unto our God. Many shall see it, and fear,
and shall trust in the Lord. Blessed is that man that maketh
the Lord his trust. Amen.