The Lord said, open your mouth
wide and I'll fill it. Blessed are they that hunger,
they'll be filled. This passage is so full. I do not preach what I want to. I preach what I have to. I've been wanting to preach from
my back at three for weeks, Other scriptures have spoken to my
heart, so I have to feel like it's of the Lord. And I was just
reading, like that young man who shot an arrow at a venture,
and it hit another man in the heart. Well, I was just reading
Luke, and this just spoke to me. It's such a blessing. Just
a blessing. And he came down. Verse 17, I'll
never forget the first time I read it. And He came down with them,
stood in the plain, the company of His disciples. So much here. If He does, if He comes down
this morning, if He's with us, He's going to raise us up. I've
been wanting to deal with Hosea 6. After two days, He'll raise
us up. The third day, we'll live together
with Him. So much to preach from. It's
all about Him, Christ. This book is a Him book. His
story, not history, not Jewish history, but His story, the Lord
Jesus Christ. These pronouns, in English I
was terrible at math, but I was good at English. I know what
pronoun is, personal pronoun, third person pronoun. He, Him,
and His is all through here. In the first 19 verses, 20 times. He, Him, and His. It's all about
Him. This book. This book. The whole
book. Not just Luke, but the whole
book. Look at verse 13. When it was day, He called unto
Him His disciples. Verse 17. He came down with them
and stood in the plain in the company of His disciples. And they came to hear Him. He. Him. His. Verse 19, a whole multitude
sought to touch Him. For there went virtue out of
Him. This is about Him. Salvations
of Him. It's His work. It's His work. All heaven. All heaven. right now is singing unto Him
who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood. Unto Him be all glory both now
and forever. That's what the church is all
about. He is. We preach Him. We sing to Him. We meet together to honor Him,
don't we? To worship Him. We sing hymns. Have you ever wondered why somebody
named spiritual songs hymns? I don't know where that came
from, but I do know why. Because they're about hymns. They're not just songs. They're
hymns. Look at Luke 24. Go over to Luke
chapter 24 with me. Those of you who know this love
this chapter. This is where two of His disciples
were walking along after the Lord was crucified and buried. He had not yet appeared to them.
They thought He was dead. And look at verse 13. Two of
them went that same day to the village called Emmaus, which
is from Jerusalem, about three score furlongs, seven and a half
miles. They were walking like you'd start walking to Pharaoh. Deborah and Red, y'all and Emma,
when service is over, start walking. How long would it take you? A
long time. Well, they were talking together,
verse 14, of what? The things that happened. Christ
crucified. Our Lord said, where two or three
are gathered together in my name, what do you say? I'm there in
the midst. And it came to pass, verse 15,
they communed together in reason, and He, Jesus Himself, the Lord
Jesus, drew near. Don't you want Him to draw near
this morning? Draw me nearer. Draw nigh unto
God. He'll draw nigh unto you. And they didn't know who it was.
They thought it was just a preacher. Oh my, was it a preacher? And
he communed with them. What manner of communication,
verse 17, what manner of communication are these that you have one to
another as you walk and are sad? They were sad, Brother Wesley,
they were sad. One they loved had died and they thought he
was dead. He's not dead. And neither are
his people that fell asleep in him. They are not dead. He wasn't
there. He's risen. And neither are our
brethren that the Lord has taken from our midst. They don't go
to the land of the dead. They leave the land of the dead.
They're in the land of the living. Don't you envy them? We're down
here like all these people vexed. Read on. Down in verse 21, they
say, We trusted it had been He which should have redeemed Israel. He did. He'd been telling them all along,
hadn't he, John, that he must suffer. Why? To redeem his people. The volume of the book is written
that Christ must suffer, enter into his glory, pay for the sins
of his people. All those sacrifices. It's all
about Him. Everything in the Old Testament
was about Him. Everything written in the Old
Testament says someone is coming. He's coming. The Redeemer. The
Savior. God manifesting the flesh. The
woman's seed. Emmanuel. God with us. The Redeemer. The whole Old Testament. That's
what it's about. Not Jewish history. It's His
story. And down in verse Verse 25, look
at it. Then said He unto them, O fools,
slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken.
Ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into
His glory? And beginning at Moses and all
the prophets, He expanded unto them in all the Scriptures the
things concerning Him Himself. This is all about Him. Your salvation
is completely up to Him. Aren't you glad? Somebody say
Amen. If you're a sinner, helpless,
hopeless, a man with a withered hand, vexed, need healing, a
leper, lost, undone, that's where I came. If He's here with us
this morning, you're going to leave this place healed. Yes, you are. Back in our text, Luke 6, verse
12, it came to pass in those days, He went out into a mountain
to pray. In those days, there's so much
I could say in those days, in the fullness of time, God sent
forth His Son. The very day that God in history
purposed for Christ to come, He came. It came to pass. Everything does that God has
ordained. Everything does that God has
said. Whatever God has spoken, He said,
I'll bring it to pass. It has and is and shall come
to pass. He said heaven and earth will
pass away, but not one word of mine will pass until it all be
fulfilled. And it's all about Him. God made
this universe for the glory of His Son. It's all about Him. It's all
going to come to pass. It's all for His glory. It's
all for His kingdom. I hope you're a part of it. So, in those days, when all was
fulfilled and the kingdom was over, these days were going to
end. And what a day that will be when
He comes. In verse 12, it says He went up into a mountain. It's
all significant. He went up into a mountain to
pray. He went up into a mountain. Listen
to these scriptures. Listen to Psalm 125. I'll read
them for you. You don't have to turn. Psalm 125, verse 2 says, Those
that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Zion that cannot
be removed. And as the mountains are round
about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about His people from
henceforth forevermore. This is He of whom David wrote,
the high priest, the precious ointment upon the head. This
is the dew of Hermon, the dew that descended upon the mountains. This is He who was on high and
came down upon the mountains, and how beautiful upon the mountains
are the feet of Him that brings good tidings of great joy. This
is He of whom the Scriptures speak. And he dwelled often in the mountains,
didn't he? That's where the high and holy one belonged. That's
fitting that he dwelled in the mountains, not in the valleys,
the mountains. And you know the highest place
on earth is condescension for the Lord to come down. For the
Lord to set foot on this planet, he called it this present evil
world. For the Lord to set foot on this
planet is great condescension. What is man that thou art mindful
of him, Scripture says, or the son of man that you would visit
him? Why would the High and Holy One come down and set foot in
this despicable place? Why? Because we're here. Because
of His great love, wherewith He loves some of thee, many of
thee, Wretched sinners. And he came down with them. To save them. So he was in the
mountain. He continued, look at it, verse
12, he continued all night in prayer to God. He's communing
with God. He's calling on God. Did you
notice right before this, you read with me, that his enemies
communed together to do what they're going to do with Jesus.
That's what man communes together about. That's what man has a concerted confederate effort
to try to bring God down from his glory. We'll not have this
man reign over us. No God for us. Oh yes, you have
one. And every knee will bow and every
tongue confess. And this same Jesus whom you crucified, God
hath made Lord. You don't make him Lord. He made
Him Lord, and He is your Lord, and your life is in His hands.
Better bow now. Better bow now. Better worship
Him now. Better commune with God, not what you're going to
do with Jesus, what He's going to do with you. There's a billboard,
and I'm going to say it again, because this man needs to be
exposed. There's a billboard all over the southern United
States that says, what you do with Christ now determines where
you'll be in eternity. Billy Graham said that. What
you do with Christ doesn't determine whether you spend eternity or
not. It's what He does with you that
determines whether you're going to spend eternity. That's so
far from the Scriptures. That's the absolute opposite
of what God's Word said. Any man who says such a thing
like that doesn't know God, doesn't know Jesus Christ. They need to be exposed. What
you do with Christ now determines where you're going to be in eternity.
This is what they wanted to do with Jesus. Pilate said, what
will you do with Jesus? Crucify Him. And then after they did that,
and Peter preached at Pentecost, he said, you with wicked hands
have taken and crucified the Lord of Glory. You did what God
determined before to be done. Now the question is, what's He
going to do with us? This generation needs to hear
that loud and clear, don't they? He's not in our hands. We're
in His hands. And I can't say it loud enough
or strong enough or with more authority than that. Don't they
need to hear that, brother? Sister, that's what you heard
when you were in religion. You didn't know the Jesus Christ
of Scripture, did you, sister? But God! Called you out of darkness into
His marvelous light. Called you out of death into
His light. Called you. You weren't calling on Him. He
called you. You didn't choose Him. He chose
you. Who gets the glory here? Who
does the saving here? We're going to see in this story.
This is all about Him. These disciples, every one of
them, they say, settle down, preacher. I can't. This is my
story. To God be the glory. Every one
of these disciples knew that He's the One that chose them.
He's the One that called them. He's the One that named Him.
He's the One that died. He's the One that redeemed. He's
the One. It's Him. It's Him. It's Him.
They were going on about their business. Doing this and doing
that. You know, living for fishing and living for money. But God
told His Son, go down there and arrest that man. Go down there
and find my lost sheep. Find every one of them. Bring
them to me." And he did. And I'm way ahead
of myself. But that's alright isn't it?
Couldn't wait to get to it. Continued all night in prayer.
Think about that. That's communion with God the
Father. Though he's one with the Father, he prayed. Though
the Father was in him, and he in the Father. He prayed all
night. Though in the bosom of the Father.
Interesting, John. You bring up John 3. He said, let me read. I don't want to misquote it.
We've been reading that for years. And this just struck me. John
3, verse 13, it says, No man hath ascended up to heaven, But
He that came down from heaven, the Son of Man, which is in heaven. He was on earth, John. He said
He was in heaven. Right then and there. That struck
me. It's not just a man here. This
is God. He and the Father are one. He
said, He that has seen Me has seen God the Father. He was on
earth, but He was still in heaven. John 1, John quoted, the Son
of God is in the bosom of the Father. Right at the end. Explain
that. He can't. He's God. But He's
one with the Father. The Father is in Him, but He
prayed. Why does He need to pray? Why does He need to call on God?
He is God. But what's that say about us? How much more should we pray? Because without Him, we can do
nothing. We're not even sufficient to
think right thoughts. What did He pray? He prayed all
night long. What did He pray? Oh my, the
magnitude of the work before Him. He had to fulfill every
jot and tittle of the Lord. at that Brother Wesley's funeral,
Brother Charles Wesley, going to be yours soon enough. There
were quite a few German Baptist people and others who think they
keep the law. Oh, no, you do not. To offend
in one point is guilty. Beside, the law is a curse, and
I had to say that. Cursed is he that continueth
not in all things that are written in the book of the law to do
them. Christ came to be made a curse under the law, but he
had to keep every jot and tittle. We can't. Don't even try. He did. That's why he came. What did
he pray about? Oh, the magnitude of the work before him. All he
must do in such little time to do it. Have you ever had a big
job to do and you thought, I don't know if I can do this? Many,
many times. Every time I stand up, I'm going
to stand up here and say, Lord, I can't do this. This is way
over my head. But have you not had jobs to
do and you thought, I just don't have the strength, I don't have
the ability, I don't know if I can do this. The older I get,
I can't do this. So what do I do? Lord, help me. Don't you? Kelly, there's a time where you
can jump on the back of the rump of a horse and take off into
the sunset. Now, somebody's got to help you up in the stirrup.
That's just the way it is. Getting older. Well, our Lord
was, He limited, He was in a body. He was in a flesh, in a body.
He got tired. And he said, that man's got to
work close to 12 hours in a day. He slept very little. He ate
very little. Why? The work before him. And he prayed,
Lord, Father, give me the strength. In the garden, he sweat blood.
I'm going to die right here. Oh, how he prayed. How much more
should we pray? What about us? We have no strength.
We have no ability. None. Zero. Do we grow weary? It doesn't take much at all for
us to grow weary. Want to quit? He said men ought always to pray
and not to faint. All night long. All night long. This is significant now. He prayed
all night and the next verse says, verse 13, when it was day. The sun arose the next morning. He's about to call some men out
of darkness. This is He who in the beginning
created the heavens and the earth, God, who created the heavens
and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness
covered the face of the waters. And this is the same God who
said, Let there be light. What happened? There was light. And when it was day, when the day spring rose, Christ
the Son of Righteousness arose. And when He did, He called His
disciples. Can you see how I got excited
about reading this? When the sun came up, He called His disciples. He called them to men out of
darkness. He said, to my dark heart let there be light. God
caused the light to shine out of darkness, to shine in the
hearts of some in here, to give the light of the knowledge of
the glory of God in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. How
blessed we are. From darkness to light. From
death to life. It's His. He did it. It's His
glory. Look at verse 13. It says, He
called His disciple called unto Him. He called them to Him. Verse 13, called unto Him His
disciple. Again, it's all about Him. Is it not clear to us when you
read this book who this book is about and who's doing what? Is it not clear to you whenever
you read, wherever you read, who's doing what and who's not
doing anything? These disciples are not doing
that. And as I said, they're out there fishing and Matthew's
collecting money and they're all living their lives on earth.
No thoughts of Jesus privately. He called them. Look at Mark
chapter 3. Mark chapter 3. I'll never forget
reading this. I think I was sitting six senses
off the seat. Mark chapter 3. It's clear. when you have an understanding.
Who's doing what? Who's calling whom? Who's saving
whom? Who is choosing whom? Very clear. This is the same account. The
very same account, only more. You see, if all that was written
and said of our Lord Jesus Christ was written in books, the world
couldn't contain the book. This is why we have four full
Gospels. Men talk about the full gospel.
There's no other kind. Mark chapter 3, verse 11, I love
it. Unclean spirits, when they saw
him, fell down before him and cried, saying, Thou art the Son
of God. You see, every knee will bow
and every tongue will confess it. Men and devils, then, now,
and forevermore. Spirits are subject unto Him.
He made them, didn't He? He created all things, principalities
and powers, rulers, didn't He? The devil is subject to Him.
Satan does his bidding. Oh, that's right. Read the book. Read your Bible.
Read the book of Job. Look at verse 12. He charged them. He charged them. They should not make Him known.
Charged them. And verse 13, so He goes up into a mountain and
calleth unto Him whom He would. He chose whom He would call.
They didn't choose Him. He did. And they came to Him. Didn't
they? And He ordained, verse 14, 12,
that they should be with Him. Talk about Him. It's His Word.
John 17, greatest prayer ever prayed. High priesthood prayer. God the Son looked into heaven,
and no man could do that but one, the God now. Glorify Thou me with the glory
I had with you in the beginning." I finished the word. And at the
end of that prayer, John must say, I will. We have to pray, Father, Thy
will be done, if You will. The Lord will it. He said, I
will that those whom Thou hast given me be with me where I am. Him? He was on earth. that they might
behold My glory. Whom He did foreknow, He did
predestinate. Whom He predestinated, He called. Whom He called, He justified.
And whom He justified, He glorified. What is glory? It's to see His
glory. You're going to be with Him in
glory. You've already been glorified to a certain degree if you've
seen His glory. And like Saul of Tarsus, if you've
seen his glory, all other glory fades. And you say, God forbid
that I should glory, saving the cross of my Lord Jesus Christ. Look at 1 Corinthians real quickly,
1 Corinthians chapter 1. Those who know these scriptures
love them. This is the Lord. This is the great shepherd of
the sheep that calls his sheep and they calls him by name and
he chose them and they come to him and they follow him. All
of them. No doubt about it. They have different names. They
had names like Simon and And he named Peter, and Andrew, and
James, and John, Philip, and Bartholomew, Matthew, and Tom,
different names, and different kindreds, and different occupations. Some of them were fishermen,
as said. Another was tax collector, and
so on and so forth. And they're somewhat different,
but they're all the same. They're just a bunch of sinners,
unworthy sinners, unsuspecting. Death, dead, and trespass and
sin. I thought about this. I thought
about, you reckon Simon Peter looked down on Matthew, that
publican, that tax collector? You're talking about two different
people. Simon Peter, rough as they come. Tough and gruff. I thought that sissy, that Levi
money, he can't do nothing. And he reckoned this tax collector
rich, Christ was good, said, that poor fisherman, he doesn't
have a clue. Boy, when the Lord called him,
he brought him together. And they both realized we're both
a bunch of nobodies. We're just sinners saved by grace,
aren't we? Aren't we glad the Lord called
us? And he broke down that enmity. He made of two men one. He made
these two fellows so far apart, one in Christ. And now they're
not looking down on each other. They're highly esteeming each
other. But they all think of themselves that they're nothing,
but they esteem Him as their all in all. Andrew. Do you reckon they look down
on each other? Sinners. That's all we are. You
see your calling, brethren. 1 Corinthians 1. I love this. I know you do too.
1 Corinthians 1, the first part talks about under the cold, all
that are cold. And down in verse 26, it says,
You see your calling, brethren. Have not many wise men after
the flesh? You know that the people that
think they're somebodies, the doctors and the lawyers and the
politicians, the scientists and all, think that you bunch of
Franklin counties are a bunch of nobody. You know that, don't
you? Like they said of the Galileans. That's what they said about the
Galileans. Galileans. Can anything good come out of
Nazareth? Can anything good come out of Franklin County? That's
what Roanoke thinks about it. Well, God doesn't call many high
and mighty. Look around us. Charles was a
farmer and a truck driver. Truck driver. Truck driver. Truck
driver. Railroaders. Where are the high
and the mighty and the wide? Mechanic. Huh? Where are they? God doesn't call
many of them. But no flesh is lower than His
presence. You see your calling, brother? Aren't you glad it's
His calling? But God, but God, see that? Verse
27, hath chosen the foolish thing. We sang that song. Did you mean
it? Once I was foolish, and sin ruled my heart. Oh, my footsteps
from God did depart. Oh, but sin alarmed me. God,
like Noah, alarmed, warned him, and he moved with fear. It's the end of the alarm bell.
May I happy my case. I'm only a sinner. Stay back
there. God's chosen the weak things, base things of the world,
despised things, things that are nothing, a bunch of nobodies
from nowhere, that no flesh should glory in His presence. And I've
got to read verse 30. Now, you do too. Of Him. It's of Him, you see.
Are you with me? How do we start this? It's about
Him. Your salvation is in Him. Of
Him. Are you in Him? In Christ Jesus.
Who of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption. He did it all, didn't He? That
according as it is written, He that glorieth to Him, glory in
the Lord. Oh, my. Back to Luke chapter 6. Our text. I got to hurry. I wish
I didn't. Luke chapter 6, go back there.
Look at verse 17. In verse 16, he chose his traitor. See that? He chose his traitor. He chose
his disciples. Foundations stand assured. The
Lord knows them in His hand. And he chose the one to betray
him. And he came down with them. They were all on the mountain.
You read with me Mark 3. He called them up onto the mountain.
He called us into the mountain. Mount Zion. He's called us into
the mountain. Mount Pisgah. From where those
lofty heights we view the city and the sights. He calls us to
Mount Calvary to see Him high and lifted up. He said, if I
be lifted up, I'll draw him unto me, and see his glory, our wisdom
righteousness." He called you to the mountain and says, and
he came down. They have to come down from the
mountain, don't they? When we come into here, come to Mount
Zion, the church of the living God. Not Mount Sinai, but Mount
Zion, the church of the living God. Unto Jesus, the testator
of the covenant, the author and the finisher of the faith, the
spirits of just men made perfect. We come to this mountain, Mount
Zion. Isn't it a blessed place to be?
God loves Mount Zion more than all the dwelling places of Jacob.
He's here. He's with His people. You come
down. We've got to come down. Wish we didn't, but we do. One of these days we won't have
to come down. One of these days we'll go up
and be done with this thing. And he came down with them. With them. Listen to me now,
please. A few more minutes. This is so
wonderful. He came down. This is all through
the Scriptures. He came down. He shall come down,
David said. He shall come down like rain
on the mown grass. Isaiah 55. My Word is going to
come down. Water the earth. Let righteousness
spring forth out of the air. He came down with them. God is
with us. The Lord of hosts is with us.
The God of Jacob is our refuge. That's one of your favorite Psalms,
isn't it? Psalm 46. He came down with them. He's
with sinners. He was numbered with the transgressors. Oh, He identified with us. He's
one with us. He's in love with His people.
And they with Him. His bride. And look at verse
17. He came down with them and stood
He stood with them. He stood for them. He stood in
their stead. Covenant Head, the second Adam,
stood on this earth. He shall stand, Job said, my
Redeemer. His feet shall stand upon this
earth. He did, Job. Job said, oh, that
my words were written in a book with a pen of iron and lead in
a book. Job, they are. for all of God's
people to read. He shall stand upon this earth.
Job said, I'm going to see Him. And He is. He's seeing Him. He stood on this earth. He stood
with them. He stood for them. Centered.
He stood in their stead. He stood before the law. Blameless. He stood before God. Holy. Stood before the adversary. Our
captain. This deserves six more hours.
He stood with them, stood for His people. And now, you know
where we stand? Say it, in Him. Do you? What's your standing? Somebody
asked a fellow preacher years ago, one of these legal fellows,
says, what's your stand on the law? He said, I stand in Christ. Condemned before the law, I stand,
but I no longer stand condemned, because there is no condemnation
to them that are in Christ. We stand in Him. Look at this, verse 17, He stood
with them in the plain. In the plain. This may be a play
on words, but the Scriptures is... He stood, came down from
the mountains into a plain, a valley, okay? And that's a good picture
of this world that we live in. Though I walk through the valley
of the shadow of death, what? Can you quote the rest of it? I'll fear no evil. Why? Because
technology is good now, we've got vaccination. Because the Lord's with me. Because
thou art with me. The Lord is my shepherd. Right? There's salvation in no other.
He alone makes me to dwell in safety. Though I walk through
the valley of the shadow of death, I'll fear no evil, for thou art
with me. He came down and stood in the
valley, the valley of the shadow of death. He came down. But I like this in the plain.
He came down a plain man. We both said that about your
dad, didn't we? That's what he was, a plain man.
That's who Christ came to save. That's what Christ was. When we see him, Isaiah said,
there's no beauty about him that we should desire. And no form,
no comeline. Not taller than anybody else.
Not more beautiful. In fact, no beauty means he was
not pleasant to look at. Oh, hold on. Beauty is not outward. The old saying, beauty is in
the eyes of the beholder. What does God say about him?
This is my altogether lovely son. He's not beautiful to man. Oh, God said he's altogether...
And he was never more beautiful than when his visage was marred
more than any man. Unrecognizable in His own blood. That's a picture of that ark
of the covenant inside the tabernacle of old. You know what? The first
tent, a temporary dwelling, not the temple, a temporary dwelling
was a tent, a picture of Christ crucified. It had a brown skin
on it. Badger skin. Rough, hewn, tough,
can withstand the weather. Not a drop is going to enter
that tabernacle. And that's Christ came down in a plain brown wrapper. And nobody saw any beauty in
Him. But go on the inside. Walk in the inside. And not anybody
can. Only the priests, those He makes
priests before God, can walk on the inside. What are you going
to see? Chicana glory. Keep going. Go through the veil. Enter into the veil. Right there
you see a brown box with blood covering all of it. Open it up.
What do you see? Glory. covered with gold, but yet covered
in His own blood. The mercy seat. That is Christ
crucified. None more beautiful. None more
glorious. Fairest Lord Jesus. Do you see why He is the subject
of all subjects? Do you see why we meet in His
name? Do you see why this is what we are to do every time
we meet? This is why it is an abomination
to God for men to do anything but worship His Son. There's not enough time to develop
this message. For all the glory in every line,
every word, every phrase. Not enough time. What are we
going to do? This is the time we need to redeem.
This is the time where He said, I'll be with you. I'm going to
be right in the middle of you. You're going to behold My glory. What better
we have to do? There is nothing better on this
earth. No song more glorious. No picture more beautiful. No
story. They can't be told like this.
No beauty on earth compared to Him. Woe is unto me if I preach not
the gospel. And the gospel is a person. He
stood in the plain in the company of His disciples. I quote that
in Psalm 119 all the time. I quote it all the time and I
use it in the first person. Personal pronoun. This is me.
This is he. And it says, David said, I'm
a companion of them that fear me. That's Christ speaking. That's the Son of God speaking.
He came down in the company. The company of sinners. He's
a companion of those who fear Him. Sister Sally, are you listening
to me? He's your constant companion. He said, I'll never leave you
or forsake you. No matter what you do. No matter
where you go. No matter what you go through.
He's with you. He's your constant companion.
Do you need anybody else? And then the next verse said,
those that fear Thee will be glad when they see me. Psalm
190. Those that fear Thee will be glad when they see me. That's
Christ. Have you seen Him this morning?
I think I have. And I'm so glad.