Well, I'm glad I don't have to
follow all of that. Oh, I do have to follow all of
that. I invite you to turn with me
this morning to Hebrews chapter 9. Hebrews chapter 9. I think if David said yesterday,
I could just say ditto and sit down. I loved what was said and
I wouldn't take anything away from any of it. The book of Hebrews is a letter
written by Paul the Apostle whose heart was burdened for his kingdom. a broken-hearted apostle. And these people that he carried
such a burden for were recognized the world over as the children
of God. He writes in Romans 9 too that
he had great heaviness and continual sorrow in his heart and I don't know if I can say
this or not but he said could wish that I were accursed from
Christ for my brethren, my kingdom. Why? Why? Why did he grieve so over
Israel? That was 2,000 years ago. Ask anybody today who Israel
is, that's God's children. That's God's elect. They can
be elect, but you can't. He had this burden. Why did he
grieve so? The only nation in their day
identified with God. They carried with them the Scriptures,
and they searched them. Our Lord said that. You search
the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life.
And they are they that testify of me. They prayed to God and called
Him Father. called him Father. They told
our Lord to his face, we have God to our Father. They met in their synagogues
on a regular basis to teach and be taught. They had a missionary spirit.
They encompassed sea and land to make one proselyte like unto
themselves. Paul writes in Romans 2.19, Thou
art confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light
of them which are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish,
and a teacher of babes." He's talking about his kinsmen. Concerning their daily walk,
which he was one of, he said, I was blameless. And their zeal was matchless,
but nobody else would stone an unbeliever, but they would. So why such heaviness of heart? Why such a burden for their soul? Let me read you something here
in Romans 10, verse 1. My prayer to God for Israel is
that they might be saved. You mean you can do all of that
and not be saved? They did. They did. He said, I bear them
record, they have a zeal of God. But it's an ignorant zeal. What does that mean? I used to watch The Little Rascals
when I was growing up. You kids don't know what you're
missing. And they had this little wagon
on there. It's a little bit bigger than the little red wagons that
you see. It's a little bit bigger than
that. And it had a goat harnessed up to it. You remember, don't
you? And had this pole with a string on it and a carrot tied to it.
And when they wanted to, for the goat to pull the wagon, they'd
lower that carrot down in front of him and he'd go forward trying
to get that carrot and he'd pull that wagon. That's what ignor-zeal
does. It pulls Satan's wagon. That's what it does. Antichrist religion is Satan's
carry. Those deceived by it follow after
it thinking they can have what they could never obtain. They just pull Satan's wagon.
And that's what our Lord told them. You search the Scriptures,
for in them you think you have eternal life. And they are they
that testify of me, but you won't come to me. That's the problem. You won't come to me. It's not
about things. It's not about organizations.
It's not about denominations. It's about a person. Oh, how this book will come alive
if you ever Get that revelation from God. It's a person. They, being ignorant of God's
righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness,
have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.
For Christ, that person, is the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believeth. Salvation is in a person. Thou shalt call his name Jesus,
Joshua, for he shall save his people from their sins. God has
a people. Spiritual Israel. He's not a Jew, the scripture
said, who's one outwardly. That's not the Jew. I don't even
know why we call them Jews. They're not Jews. God tells us
they're not Jews. Neither is that circumcision
which is outward in the flesh, but he's a Jew which is one inwardly. And circumcision is that of the
heart, in the spirit, not in the letter. Paul tells us this, they are
not all Israel, the nation, who are of Israel, the patriarchs. Neither because they are the
seed of Abraham are they all children. Abraham had a child, but then he had a promised child. Well, you just don't understand. Well, Paul did. And he tells
us, that is, he's going to tell you what he's telling you, that
is, They which are the children of the flesh, now listen, these
are not the children of God. They're not the children of God. His children are the children
of the promise. Children of the promise. So who are these children of
God? Who are the elect of God? Who is it that makes up spiritual
Israel? Well, look here with me at my
text in Hebrews 9, 28. So Christ was once offered to
bear the sins of many, and unto them that look for him. Who makes up spiritual Israel? Them that look for Him. Now, I'm not an English professor. Somebody wrote me a nasty letter
who came to visit and, well, actually wrote it to the church
and said he doesn't even know how to conjugate a verb. That's the way I feel about that.
So what? So what? Them that look for Him. You know what that word look
means? It don't mean this. What it means is this. And you never stop looking. You
never, never stop looking. God's elect, His church, His
bride, His beloved Israel are they that look for Him. You can sum up their lives with
this. Who are they? They that look What do they do? They look unto
Him. How do they act? They look unto
Him. What motivates them? They look
unto Him. How do they worship? They look
unto Him. Why do they look on him? Because
he's all. He's all. My soul. I was telling Yvonne
a while ago, I went up as a young man, I wanted to go, well, I
knew a girl up there, so I wanted to go to Banff, Alberta, Canada. So I left Kentucky and we drove
who knows how many thousands of miles up to Banff. She lived in Banff National Park. And I was in Calgary, been driving
for thousands of miles across flat land. There was nothing
out there but wheat fields. After a while, you knew which
city would have a restaurant in it because you could count
the grain elevators. And if it had three grain elevators,
it's going to have a restaurant. Two and under is just a little
burg you're going to blow through and go on. So we finally, we
get to Calgary. There's still no mountains. And
when I'm in this big city, it's just like driving in New York,
and finally you can't see anything, so I come out the other side
and the road does this. And there's a little ditch on
each side, a little berm, and sides that go up about 16 feet
high. And the road goes, you know,
back and forth and on and on and on, and it goes, and about
10 miles later, The road comes up, and when it comes up, you're
looking right at the most majestic strip of the Rocky Mountains
anywhere in the world. You look at that, and it just
took my breath. I pulled the car over, and I
got out. I just couldn't take it all in.
I was just overwhelmed. That's what happens when you
look down. I mean, look to Him. Paul told the churches at Galatia,
you're all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. So preacher, you got a message
this morning? I hope so. Well, what is God's message to
this world? Look unto Me. All ye ends of
the earth. Be safe. Look unto me. And I just have one message.
Christ, I don't have anything else. We gonna preach from tomorrow. I don't know, but I know what
I'm gonna preach. I just don't know where I'm gonna
come from. I'm gonna preach Him. I'm gonna preach Him. That's my goal this morning.
I'm just gonna keep pointing to Him. Pointing to Him. When
I leave, your pastor's gonna point to Him. Point to Him. I just have one goal. I want
men to Him. I want men to Him. Everything else, and I hope you're
hearing me, is antichrist. Everything else. John said, and we know that we
are God, and the whole world lies in wickedness. That's a
little conceited, isn't it? That's what they tell me all
the time. You all think you're the only ones in the world who
know the gospel. I don't know. That's what John said. The whole
world, life and wickedness. But he don't stop there. He said,
and we know that the Son of God has come and given to us an understanding. We may know Him that's true.
Now listen. that were in Him. That's true. Even in His Son, Jesus Christ.
This is the true God and eternal life. Unto them that look for Him.
And Paul's brethren, and his burden I mean for his kinsmen,
is my burden for mine. His burden for his nation. is my burden for mine. His burden
for the Gentiles is my burden for anybody that the Lord will
draw and sit down and shut up and allow me to speak to him.
That's my burden. That's my burden. But the Holy Ghost don't just
leave us guessing as to which Jesus to look to. He said they'll
come preaching another Jesus, and they'll come with another
spirit, and they'll preach another gospel. Ephesians 4 tells us this, there's
just one body, there's just one body. Christ had just one elect,
one people. And that's his body, the church. And he's the head of the body. One body. He said there's just
one spirit. Not four or five spirits. There's
just one spirit. And the Spirit of God has one
mission in this world, and that is to take the things of Christ
and show them unto us. The evidence. Are you having
problems with the evidence? I've got folks in our church
struggling over evidence, evidence, evidence. And what they're talking
about that is their feelings, who knows what all. The evidence of His presence,
the presence of the Holy Spirit, is a true knowledge of Christ. If you have a true knowledge
of Christ, where did you get it? Because I have not seen, nor
ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things
that God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed
them unto you by his Spirit. If you have the revelation of
God in Christ, you have the Spirit. Well, I just don't feel like
it. It's not based on your feelings. It's based on His Word. There's just one Spirit. And he said, there's just one
hope of your calling. What is the hope of our calling?
That Christ has accomplished our redemption. That Christ has
wrought out for us a perfect righteousness. That Christ rose
from the dead, ascended up into glory, and sits at the right
hand of God, interceding for us. Now, I hope you don't have a
picture of him sitting up there, oh, please, Father, don't kill
him. And God, angry, has the lightning
bolt ready. That's not what he's talking
about. He's just talking about his person sitting there, intercedes
for us. That's why he's there. And God
said, sit right here. Christ has accomplished our redemption,
wrought out of righteousness, ascended up to glory, intercedes
for us, and that He'll come again. That's what He said, wasn't it?
He did everything else. He said He would. He's coming
again. We believe what God has told
us about His Son, that he that hath the Son hath life. He that hath not the Son of God
hath not life. Now He says, unto them that look
for Him, are you listening? Are you looking? Where do you look? Unto them that look for Him,
where do you look? He's invisible. You can't see
Him. We look. I look for Him in His
Word. I look for Him in His Word. To
Him give all the prophets witness. I look for Him where the saints
gather to worship. Because He said where two or
more gather together in my name, there I'll be in the midst. Where do you look? I look for
him in the preaching of the gospel. Paul told those folks at Antioch,
what did he tell them? He said, through this man is
preached unto you the forgiveness of sins. Where do you look? Find out where the gospel is
and go there. Go there. Find out where the saints are
gathered. Go there. Buy yourself a Bible. Well, I've
got some commentary. That Bible shed a lot of light
on them commentaries. It will. It will. Christ is all and salvation is... Now listen to me. It's all or
nothing. Oh, but this verse gets even
sweeter. He said, unto them that look for him shall he appear. Are you looking? Unto them that look for him,
he shall appear. No ifs, ands, and buts. All the
promises of God in him are yea and amen. All right, he said, unto them
that look for him shall he appear. How? How does our great God,
who draws His elect to His Son, and God the Holy Ghost, reveal
His Son unto us? He reveals Him unto us in four
appearances. Four appearances of Christ. He's
going to show us Christ. Now, He appears in the Word of
God. I've already told you that. He appears in the preaching of
the Gospel. I've already told you that. He appears in the conscience. He appears in creation. Creation
made by Him and for Him. It's His creation. Everything
in Him. We'll learn that one day in eternity.
That might be what part of our eternity is, where they're sitting
up there. Do you remember that little caterpillar you saw? Here's
what that had to do with me. Four appearances. He appears, first of all, in
old eternity. You remember what I told you
about the cornerstone? We're going to look now way back here
to eternity. And we're going to see his appearance.
There sits the true and living God. He'll have John to see this. John looked in Revelation chapter
5 and he saw God holding a book. And it's sealed. Everything God
purposed to do. And let me tell you something. God's purpose is not this, that,
and the other. God's purpose is a redemptive
purpose. Everything that is has to do
with that. That's right. Everything. I don't know what
some of these things have to do with it, but he does. And
everything that is, all of creation, all of providence, why did this
happen? Why did that happen? Why did
this one die? How come that one lives? They
deserve to die. all serving this one purpose. There's God. He's holding this
book. And John's looking. He's looking all around. And
nobody's coming to get the book. And nobody's worthy to look on
the book, let alone take it. Nobody can even look on it. Nobody
can see what's inside. Who is God's elect? I don't know.
It's inside the book. Who does God love? I don't know. It's in the book. And he begins to weep. Nobody's worthy to take the book. Oh, behold, the Lion of the tribe
of Judah. He's worthy. And he don't take it, Father
gives it to him. Oh, but what about what's on
the inside? He loses the seals. Huh? Lay them aside. Here's what's in the book. Here's
what's in the book. Oh, look. There was elders there. We'd be astonished. They were
astonished just seeing Moses and Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration. What if you would look up into
heaven and you see all these elders and these angels and all
this? It ain't what he saw. He said,
in the midst of the elders, in the midst of the angels, in the
midst There stood a lamb as if he'd
been slain. Huh? A slain lamb can take that
book and open it up to your heart. A slain lamb? Nobody else. Nobody else. Oh, I was just sitting
in my closet one day and it just came to me. You're a liar or
deceived. If you learn anything about God,
it's going to be in Christ. He's the one with the book. When
he came into this world, what did he say? Huh? Lo, it's written of me in the
volume of the book. To do what? I come to do thy
will, O God, on my soul. In John chapter 6, I came not
to do my own wills. Is that why I'm here? I came to do the will of Him
that sent me, and this is the will of Him that sent me, that
of all which He hath given me. I'm not going to lose any. I'm
going to raise them up at the last time. I'll show you a book. Unrevealed
blessings, great mysteries, great is the mystery of godliness. I ain't talking about you keeping,
paying your tithes and dressing proper to come to church. Great
is the mystery of godlikeness. God was manifest in the flesh. One able and willing to take
the book loose at seals, bring the very will of God to
pass. What will? God's redemptive will. In Genesis 1, he said, and the
earth was without form and void. This is back yonder before creation. In the beginning, God created
the heavens and the earth. Well, there was this big boom.
See, there was these two planets, and they were kind of just running
wild. Pow! They hit each other and
everything. And a tiny little pair of mesium
crawled up out of the ocean. Give me a break. The Earth was without form and
void. You know what that means? It
was nothing. There was nothing there without
form and void. and darkness now listen, God
was there. Darkness was upon the face of
the deep. What is that deep? Well there
was nothing else there but God. When the Holy Spirit reveals
to you something, what does He do? He reveals to you the deep
things of God. Everything about God is deep. Darkness was upon the face of
the deep. The deep had a face. It always
has. It had a face in the very beginning. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And nothing
happened apart from Him. Nothing. And the Holy Spirit did what?
He moved on the face of the waters. Well, what in the world has Genesis
1-2 got to do with me? You ever read 2 Corinthians chapter
4? Well, God, who commanded the
light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts. Huh? What did He shine? The light
of His glory where? In the face. What face? That face from way back yonder
in eternity. He shined in our hearts, His
face. The glory of God in His face.
He showed us Himself in Christ. The very character and glory
and counsel of God. Before God will begin to create
in the new creation, the Holy Spirit's going to shine. He's
going to move on that same face. That's where He moves. That's
where He moves. That's what He's going to reveal. Well, God told me, somebody up
in Michigan years ago, said, God told me for you to send me
so much money, a thousand of you, send me so much money. And
he went out there, and he built this big old lake out in front
of this cathedral. And he built this big statue,
supposedly, of Jesus. And he's standing out there in
the water. And he's looking up like this. And he's got his hands
out. And he's looking up. And I saw that going up there
to preach one time. And I thought, oh, what an abomination. God sent a storm, and lightning
hit that thing. And the next time I come by,
that thing was sitting there with no arms. It was just sitting
there in the water. I see Him in old eternity, God
giving to Him all His eternal appointments. When did He become
our Savior? Way back yonder. When did He
become the One Mediator? Way back there. When did He become
the surety of the everlasting covenant? Way back there. All but then, thousands of years
went by. Thousands of years. God destroyed
the world, all but eight souls. Israel was up and down, all these
things. And then God gave us another
appearance. I see Him in the fullness of
time appearing in this world. A representative man, a substitute,
the federal head of the body. Salvation incarnate. That's what
Simeon said, I see thy salvation. Made of a woman, made under the
law to redeem them that were under the law. I see him who
is the God-man coming into this world as the propitiation for
our sins. coming to exalt God's law and
make it honorable and to satisfy divine justice. Peter, whom do men say that I
am? Well, they say this and that,
Elder. Whom do you say that I am? Thou
art the Christ, the Son of the living God. Peter, flesh and
blood didn't reveal that to you. My Father revealed that to you. Paul wrote to Timothy and he
said, God has saved us. Poor men hate that. You ain't saved till, ain't what
Paul said. He said, God saved us. And then
he called us. If he hadn't saved us, he wouldn't
have called us. He saved us and then he called
us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to
his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus
before the world began, but is now made manifest, now listen,
by the appearing of Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought
life and immortality to life through the gospel. Believers see that. They see
Him back yonder in eternity. They see Him through God's Word
and the preaching of the Gospel. And they see Him back there and
God giving to Him all these appointments. And then they see Him. He'd been
promised. All the prophets give witness
to Him. Told about Him. He'd come into
this world and fulfilled everything that was ever written of Him
by the prophets. And He appeared. He appeared. Oh my soul. And he accomplished
our salvation. He accomplished it. John said the life was manifested
and we seen it. It appeared and we saw it. Have
you ever seen it? I'm doing my best to show it
to you. We seen it. And we bear witness
and show unto you that eternal life. That's what I'm trying
to do this morning. And then thirdly, Hebrews 9, 24. I'm going
to try to hurry. He said, for Christ is not entered
into holy places made with hands. When he died on the cross and
rose from the dead, the temple was torn down. The tabernacle
had been done away. He didn't go pick that heavy
bale up and go beyond. No. Christ did not enter into holy
places made with hands, which are the figures of the true,
but into heaven itself." Why? Listen, to appear in the presence
of God for us. Can you see Him there? I'll tell
you if you can, you'll keep looking. I'll keep looking. Went into heaven itself. He even
goes past that in Ephesians chapter 2. He said when He raised us,
He raised us up together with Him. When He ascended into glory,
we were on the cloud with Him. Because we're in Him. And when
He sat down at the right hand of God, we're seated together
in the heavens. Isn't that what it says? Oh my
soul. Hebrews 9.28. And I'll close
with this. This is the last appearance.
So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many. Not all,
but many. A lot. A number that no man can
number. You're talking about sand. A numberless multitude. He was offered to bear the sins
of many, and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second
time without sin unto salvation. Now, I don't believe that this
is talking about folks going to the window every 30 minutes
and looking out to see if the Lord's coming, or running out
on the patio and looking up. He said he's going to come like
a thief in the night. He's not talking about that.
He's talking about those looking for Him exactly the way I told
you to look for Him. That's what they're doing. They're
looking. They're looking to Him as He's
revealed in the Scriptures through the preaching of the Gospel.
And they patiently... Paul said, I know your election
of God. Well, he told those Thessalonians, and the last thing he told them
was, You're waiting on the Lord, patiently waiting on the Lord.
That's what God's people do. All them that are looking to
Him, they're waiting for Him. Are you looking for Him? If you're
looking to Him, you're looking for Him. Because that's how He's
revealed. He's coming back. I go to prepare a place for you.
And if I go away, I'm coming again. And I'm going to tell you something.
You're not going to find him out on the boat there and up at the
sky. You're not going to find him
out on the mountaintop. You're not going to find him
up there in that little grove that somebody built up on the
side of the mountain. Put a little koi pond there and
some waterfalls and go up there and hog. I just feel so good. You ain't gonna find Him up there.
You ain't up there. You're gonna find Him in the
Word of God and in the Gospel. That's where you're gonna find
Him. You're gonna find Him where God's
saints are gathered together. And if somebody here has been
fed a line on, you can just worship God anywhere, you need to read
your Bible. That's just not so. It's not so. He instructed us
in this thing of worship, didn't he? He instructed us. Back in the early days of Niagara
Falls, It become a drawing card for
daredevils. A lot of people went there to
see the falls. And these guys thought, boy,
we can cash in on this. It become a drawing card. And
all the daredevils, they went up to Niagara Falls. And some
of them would ride over the falls in a barrel. And some of them would get in
a boat and try to go over the falls. And some of them just
went over the falls. Very few survived. But the main
attraction is when somebody decided to stretch a cable all the way
over to Canada from the United States and walk across that great
abyss. And if you've never been there,
the sound of the water alone is deafening. I can't imagine. I just can't imagine tempting
God by walking on that little wire. But the greatest of these daredevils
that came there called himself the Great Blandin. And this man did things on the
tightrope that nobody had ever seen before. He put peach baskets
on his feet. Any of you watch that, I don't
even remember his name, that walked across the falls? He had
a big pole, and he was like this the whole time, and he was exhausted
when he got to the other side. This man didn't have a pole.
He put peach baskets on his feet and walked across Niagara Falls. He rode a bicycle across that
cable, crossing that great abyss. He rode a bicycle. And on a certain
day, he went out into the middle of that great abyss, deafening
sound of that water and the mist rising up from it, and laid down
on that cable, put his hands behind his head, and then he
rose back up and stood up on it, and he reached down and got
him a string, and the maid of the mist, that boat was down
below, And he lowered that down, and they tied a bottle of wine
and a glass on the string. And he pulled it up, standing
out in the middle of that wire, and pulled him a drink and drank
that wine. And then he walked to the other
side. The crowd was just going off. And there on the other side
was his promoter. His name was Harry. And he looked
down at his promoter, and his promoter was just clapping and
standing and just going on and on and on. And the great Blanding
came over to him right on the end of the wire and looked down
at him. He said, Harry, he said, do you now believe that I can
do all the things that I told you I can do? Harry said, I believe. He said, get on. Huh? Get on. And after some thought, he did.
He got on. And that man carried him back
across the falls and set him down on the other side. You believe
what I'm telling you about Jesus Christ? You believe what Gabe
said? What David said? Get on. Get on. Believe on Him. Believe
on Him. He can do everything He said
He can do. That's my hope. Now I tell you
right now, if that ain't so, I'm lost. I don't know God. It's
all in here. Thank you so much for having
me.