Matthew chapter 10. The Lord
is sending out his twelve disciples into a sinful, evil, dangerous
world. A world that is in captivity
and under the influence of the God of this world. And that same world we live in
today. And the same promises, the same
warnings still exist. He warns them, you've noticed
with me, beware of men. Be wise as serpents, harmless
as tether. And he promises them, he promises
them his certain care and protection. He promises them, all of them,
His certain care and protection. He tells them of all the trials
and many trials and troubles and tribulations they will face.
All of them. These words are to all of His
disciples. Every one of them are going to
go through the same trials to more or less degree. All of them. And these words are to us too. And he sums up, and he says for
their comfort three times, he keeps emphasizing this, fear
not. Did you read with me? In five
verses he said it three times. Fear them not, fear not, fear
not. And then he sums up his absolute
sovereignty over all things, over them, and His loving care
for them with these amazing words in one verse. Verse 30, look
at it. The very hairs of your head are
all numbered. I borrowed these thoughts from
Brother Spurgeon. I at least borrowed the points. I have a confession to make.
I was over at my mother's house and she had a little book sitting
there. The hairs of your head are numbered.
And I stole it. Mom, I have your, where are you?
I have your book. I stole it from you. And I took
it to the study with me. I was on the way to the study.
I was checking on her. I went to the study and started reading
it. And I've got every page highlighted in red now. Helen's mother had
these little sermons in book form, and Helen brought them
over one day and said, would you mind if you want these? And I said, no, put them on the
table. Let everybody have them. And so after reading that, I
took the rest of them away so I could preach it to you first.
And here they are, you can read it. I borrowed his voice. My dad
used to say, if somebody preaches a better message, I'm going to
preach it. I'm going to take it and I'm going to preach it.
Nothing's new. Nothing is original. The prophets
got their word from the Lord. The apostles got their word from
the prophets. And we get our words from the
apostles, so nothing is new there. I borrowed these thoughts, and
I've worded it a little differently. Of course, nothing is the same
that you read as it is in person. Three things. Three things. What
we see in this amazing verse of Scripture, what our Lord said.
Three things. We see God's predestination.
How that everything is predestined, foreordained. We see God's valuation
of how precious God's people are to Him. They're predestined,
they're precious, and the last thing is, they're preserved.
They're preserved. How that we are predestined and
everything about, we are precious and we're preserved. The very
hairs of your head. Oh, Lord, help us honor our brother's
prayer. Predestination, foreordination,
everything about us. Now, our Lord was speaking to
his disciples, and that's who I'm preaching to. OK? I hope,
I pray, the Lord will make everybody in this room his disciple. Everything about us. was foreordained
and purposed and ordered before the world began. Everything. Let's look at it again. Romans
8, okay? Go over there. Romans chapter 8. Let's look
at it again. Every single thing. And this may be our memory verse
for tomorrow. Acts 15, 18. Known unto God are
all His works from the beginning of the world. I quote that often,
don't I? And we all need to remember that.
Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world,
because he ordered them, he purposed them, everything was predestined,
foreordained by our God before the world began. He is called
the author and the finisher of our faith. The faith. The faith. One Lord, one faith. That is
the truth. He's the author and the finisher.
Now, just a little illustration here. An author, have you ever
read a book and you thought, this was so good, this is so
complex, you kept in suspense until you get to the last chapter?
I used to love to read Sherlock Holmes. And I thought, how did
he come up with all that? You get to the end, and it all
works together, doesn't it? You start out, it's a whole mystery,
and you read it, and you just don't know what's going to happen
until you get to the end. Wow. Isn't that amazing how it all
came together? Well, what happens is, an author
will take, he knows the end from the beginning. He already knows
his whole story. He's already purposed it. He's
already planned it. And so he already knows the end,
and so he begins, and he brings it all together. Not hard for
Him. He knows the whole thing. And
our God declares the end from the beginning. It's all been
purposed, all been predestined. Every single thing. Romans 8.
We know, verse 28, God's people know this. We believe this. Not only because God said it,
not only because we read it in His Word, but we know it from
experience, don't we? That all things work together
for good to them that love God, to them who are called according
to His purpose. God of the Bible does everything
on purpose. Predestined, ordained, every
single thing. From the stars in the sky, the
scripture says, He telleth them all. He calls them by their names. How many stars are in the sky? The sand on the seashore. No. Yes. The hairs of your head. No. Everything. Known unto God are all His works
from the beginning of the world. He's the author. He's the finisher.
Read on in Romans 8, verse 29. For whom He did foreknow. That's forelove. Foreordain. He predestinated. He did predestinate
to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be
the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate,
them he also called. Notice how all this sounds like
it's in past tense. Because, knowing nothing of God,
all is worship from the beginning. Whom he called, he justified. Whom he justified, he also glorified. What shall we then say of these
things? If God be for it, who can be against it? I hope this whole message will
show us that nothing is against God's people. It's all for them. For they're good according to
God's purpose. Everything about every one of us, and for that
matter, everyone in the world, Everything about every one of
us is foreordained, purposed by our God, predestined before
the world began. That's impossible for us to understand,
but it's so, because He's God. Someone once said, I don't understand.
No, you don't want a God you can understand. That means He's
just like you. He's infinite above us. His thoughts,
His ways, as high as the heavens are the earth, and I'm glad.
I'm not here to argue with unbelievers. I'm not going to do that. I'm
not called to argue. I'm not called to prove. I'm not proving
God. God doesn't prove Himself. God
reveals Himself. Do you understand me? I don't
have to prove myself to anybody, and I don't. Somebody says, I
don't believe that Paul Mahan exists. Well, who cares? Let
him prove himself. No. And that's God. But God, rich
in mercy, chose a people to reveal Himself to. And He comes to him
and says, I am God. You are, aren't you? And then
everything proves Him. See? See? See? See? I see. I'm not here to prove
God. I'm not here to argue. But comfort
the Lord's people. That's who He's talking to. That's
who the Lord is talking to here in these verses. He's talking
to his disciple. Not talking to the world. To those that know
him. Those whom he foreknew. Those
whom he chose. He chose these disciples. Now, everything about us is predestined,
foreordained by our God. When we would be born. October 1st, 1955, God Almighty,
before the world began, said that Henry and Doris Mahan would
have their fourth child. Mom didn't want a fourth. After
the third, she said, no more. No, God says, one more. And she's lost two of them. And the other one is not unbeliever. And now she's real glad that
she had the fortune. Everything. When we would be
born, our parents, the Lord Jesus Christ chose His parents. He's
the only one who could and did. Chose His parents. Chose the
place He'd be born because thus it is written. But our parents,
the place we would be born, Ashland, Kentucky, the name of the hospital,
I love the Wednesday night's message, the king and his daughters. Is that where you were born,
David? King's Daughters Hospital. Man,
I just hope that's a prophecy. That's where we were born. The
King's Daughters Hospital in Ashland, Kentucky, October 1st,
1955. Same with you. Everyone of them. Same with you.
Your mother's had these babies, and that doctor says you're going
to have nine months. You're going to be born nine
months. Well, maybe. Maybe not. Maybe early, maybe
late. But the Lord purposed it. Everything
about us. Everything about our bodies.
How tall we would become. Everything about us. Tall, short,
weak, strong. Everything and everyone, whether
sound in body or not sound, it's the Lord. On purpose and good. Real good. It couldn't be better. Our minds, our personalities,
you know, we've got two granddaughters. And they don't even look like
sisters. And their personalities are so different. Sometimes I
think, do they have the same parents? Yes. But it's so different. Personalities. Everything about us is predestined. Our youth, all we go through,
every single thing we'll go through in our youth, are all predestined. A lot of times I think I'd like
to go back and redo something. I'd like to go back and undo
and redo and try it all over again. No, can't do it. Can't
do it. No, if it took place exactly the way it's supposed to be,
people are going to mess up the chain of events. Take comfort. Oh, I'd like to
take back some of my youth. And I pray like David, remember
not the sins of my youth. But it was all in God's predestination. Youth. All those born of God
were born by God from their youth. Listen to Isaiah 46. He said,
Hearken unto me, O house of Jacob, a remnant that are born by me
from the belly, carried from the womb. And he goes on to say,
to your old age I'll carry you. We're not our own. He never sets
us down for a minute. He's carried us all the way according
to His purpose. Where He would have us go, what
He would have us do. I don't understand. I don't either,
but I'm so thankful. Bless God. My middle age, if
you will attain the middle age. My brother, oldest, 21 when he
died. My best friend, 15. Twenty-one,
my brother. My sister, 42. Forty-two is so
young. Oh, I'm so young. Two teenagers
at home. It's the Lord. Forty-two. That's middle age
isn't it? Old age. Old age. My mother's ninety-five. Ninety-five. She wanted to be
gone fifteen years ago. It's the Lord. How long he live? And it's the Lord. Everything
about us has been predestined down to the very hairs of your
head. Numbered. Numbered. Counted. Before the world began, how many
hairs you would have in your head, when you would lose the
ones you lose. Or keep the ones you kept. Right? I do want you to turn, well,
these verses you know well. Listen to this. I am the Lord,
there is none else, there is no God beside me. I girded thee,
though thou hast not known me, that they may know from the rising
of the sun from the west. There is none beside me. I am
the Lord, there is none else. I form the light, I create darkness. I make peace and create evil. I, the Lord, do all things. See now, that I, even I am He. There is no God with me. I kill. I make a life. I wound. I heal. Is there any that can deliver
out of my hand? Do you believe that? That's God. And the very hairs of your head
are none. Fear not. Fear not. Everything in our life has been
purposed and foreordained, predestined by God before the world began.
for His all-wise, infinite, good, loving, kind, saving purpose. And nothing and no one is against
us. It's all for us. He that spared
not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, God's people,
how shall He not with Him freely give us all things? Who shall
deliver us? Or who shall separate us from
the Love of God which is in Christ. Nothing and no one. Read the
article by Spurgeon. It was in there. That's the reason
I wanted to tell it before he did. Read it. Whatever it is, it is the Lord.
And it can't touch your real life. If you have real life, it's good, it's good, it's good,
it's good. It's all good. We just can't
see it. We're blinded by flesh. We're
blinded by this veil of terror. We're blinded by this world.
We're deafened by all that we hear. Well, stop your ears and
listen to the Lord. Okay? It is the Lord. As I said before, Proverbs 16,
4. If people would just read that, just mentally speaking,
it would change their theology. God, the Lord, hath made all
things for himself, even the wicked, for the day of evil. He chose Judas in this chapter
to betray him. It's awful. The greatest proof of God's predestined purpose
Using even evil is cavalry. Men with wicked hands took and
crucified the Lord of Glory, but they did what God determined
before to be done. Aren't you thankful? That was
purpose. Satan, the tempter, the adversary, God
of this world, under whose influence the world is and whose captivity
the world is in right now. Satan is God's devil. When people
first hear this, they... well, it's just so. He's a created being. And everything and everyone,
like that proverb says, is under God's absolute rule. He rules over all and overrules. And purpose and rules, everything
he rules is in our favor. The judge of the earth rules
in our favor. You know why? Because we have
an advocate with the father. The Job chapter 1 is the story
of a man named Job who had everything. Large family, prosperity, health,
wealth, Well-known, fame, fortune, health, all of that, but he knew
the Lord. He was a just man. He was a righteous man. He feared
God, eschewed evil. He belonged to the Lord. The
Lord in that story. The oldest book in the Bible.
It's going to show us. A man's life consisteth not in
the things that he possesses, but in the one who possesses
him. True life. This is life returned. The life
of God. Life in the soul. It takes away
everything. He can't take away his life. God proved himself in that and
took away everything that Job had. But he sent means. He sent the Sabians, enemies,
adversaries. The Sabians came down and took
all the camels and killed all the servants that were watching
them. And then the Chaldeans, another set of enemies, they
came down and took all the sheep, and killed all the servants that
had them. Job never mentioned the Sabaeans or the Chaldeans.
He never one time said, I hate those Chaldeans. Not one time. Those Sabaeans,
never one time. He said, Lord, they were just
the men. The Lord set fire and the Lord
set wind and killed all of his children. He said, the Lord gave. He never
blamed anybody, but he blessed the Lord. He didn't blame anybody,
he blessed the Lord. It is the Lord, Elijah said.
Let him do what seemeth good. And he does. And he does what's
good for his people. The end of Job, he received double. And it boils, and on and on it
went with Job. Ah, the very hairs of our head
are numbered. The Lord sent all of that. The
Lord purposed everything in his life. The Lord sent Job. Satan
couldn't do anything. The Chaldeans couldn't do anything.
The Sabians couldn't do anything. The fire couldn't touch Him.
The wind couldn't touch Him. He had a hedge about it. It couldn't
happen unless God said, I'm going to touch Him. You hear me? There's not a jerk in this world that can touch
anybody unless God says, It's not a sand, a grain of sand
that blows in the wind. That's the purpose of it. And
where it lands, God didn't ordain it. You believe that? You better.
If not, you better run to the hills. I'll tell you what you
better do. Lift up your eyes under the hill
from which cometh your help. My help cometh from the Lord.
Psalm 121. You don't have to run at all. Just sit still. No, he's Lord. Everything. Alright, let's look
at this. The preciousness or valuation
of his people. Matthew 10. Look at this. Preciousness. They're predestined. Everything
predestined. They're foreordained. And they're of great value to
our Lord. His people. Very valuable to
Him. He sent His Son to die for them. They're not their own. They're
bought with a price. And everything down to the hairs of their heads. Look at it, verse 29. Don't you sell two sparrows for
a farthing nickel? Two sparrows. And he says, not one of those
sparrows falls to the ground unless it's ordained. And here
it says, without your Father. In other words, not just ordained,
He's the one that pulled them off the branch. We had some birds build a nest
in a house that I built. And you know, the whole creation
has grown. I really didn't think animals
were sinners, but they are. Yeah, they are. Some of them
can be mean. They'll kill you if they can.
That's right. Some bluebirds built a nest in
this house, okay? And their babies were hatching.
Well, two sparrows came and ran them out of that house and took
their babies. And I found those two babies
lying on the ground, dead. The boy was furious at the sparrows.
Furious. Don't you know? Worthless birds.
Worthless. He said he sold for a nickel. He said, but the very hairs on
your head are all numbered. And he says, fear not, verse
31, you are of more value than many sparrows. Now, in and of ourselves, people,
we are worthless. Just like those sparrows. We're
not born good people. We're sinners. And if God doesn't
do something for us, God's angry with the wicked every
day, like me and those sparrows. They don't deserve to live. You know what? I let them live.
I let them live. I didn't bother them. They raised their babies
in that same house that kicks them out. I let them go. I should have killed them. But
I didn't. I had mercy on them. It was the
mercy. I mean, they're my house. I built
it. And they did that? I let them
alone. I let them alone. What about us? Worthless, in
and of ourselves. But God, rich in mercy, for His
great love was with us when He loved us. Even when we were dead
in sin, quicken us together with Christ. Send Christ, pay that
price of redemption. His own precious blood for worthless
worms, not sparrows, worms. Sinners against God. Broke down
that enmity. Sent His Spirit through the preaching
of the gospel. Broke down that enmity. Showed us how we just
didn't kill our fellow. We killed God's Son. And God said, now, you're sorry,
aren't you? Now, repent. He gave us repentance.
He had to do it all. He gave it all. children, and
bought with a price. And he said, the very hairs on
your head are numbered, and you're worth more than all the sparrows
in the world. Man. Yes. Huge. Every single one Christ
died for. Invaluable to Him, because Christ
paid an invaluable price. An unspeakable gift. Are you
not worth more than many? Sparrows? Yes, all of them. The
very hairs of our head are precious to our Lord. Our Lord loves and cares for
His children so much that everything about them is precious to them,
down to the very hairs on their head. You fathers and mothers,
do you remember when that first baby was born? Again, when the
fourth was born? But the first one, you remember,
when he was born, oh, didn't you look at, oh, what did you
love about it? Everything. Didn't you? You don't believe that, Luke,
but your dad and mom, every, look at that hair. God purposed
that. But didn't you? When you held,
didn't you, Jeanette, when you held Wendy in your arms, Ed,
everything about it, particularly their behind. Back of the neck. Precious in it. You just want
to kiss them. You just want to eat them alive. Every hair. I'm telling you the truth from
experience. We've had loved ones, and you've
had loved ones, whom the Lord gave cancer to. To difficult, painful, Terrible
disease. God did it. Then if you get a cold, God sent
it. That's right. We've had loved ones who've died
from cancer. He sent cancer. Very painful. Go through terrible treatments,
and quite often in that treatment, chemotherapy or radiation, they
lose all their hair, don't they? It's humiliating. But not to you if you love them.
It's precious. You know what I'm talking about. Every hair on their head. Precious. Gabe's mother, Linda, Marvin's
first wife, the Lord gave her breast cancer. Lost all her hair. Who did that? The Lord did. She was over at our house, we
were such close friends, Marvin and Linda and us, such close
friends. She was over at our house, she
had a wig on, okay? And she felt so comfortable,
felt so loved in our presence, she said, it was in the summertime,
she said, would you mind if I took off this wig? Please do. She took that off,
the wig. And you remember when I went
over and rubbed her head and kissed her head? She'll never
look more beautiful. Every hair in our head is numbered
and precious to our Lord. If you have it, if you don't.
If you keep it, if you lose it. God did it. And it's precious. Everything. Precious in the sight
of the Lord. is the death of these saints
and everything they go through. The hairs on their head are numbered,
the tears that they shed. He keeps track of them. How valuable? Is he going to send anything
to you that's not good, that you won't be able to bear? It's
not possible. It's not possible. We can't do
evil. We can't do evil. We can't do
evil. We can't do evil. We can't do
evil. We can't do evil. We can't do evil. We can't do
evil. We can't do evil. We can't do evil. We can't do evil. We can't do evil.
We can't do evil. We can't do evil. We can't do evil. We can't
do evil. We can't do evil. We can't do evil. We can't do
evil. We can't do evil. We can't do evil. We can't do
evil. We can't do evil. We can't do evil. We can't do
evil. We can't do evil. We can't do
evil. We can't do evil. We can't do evil. We can't do
evil. We can't do evil. We can't do evil. We can't do
evil. We can't do evil. We can't do evil. We can't do evil. We can't do evil. We
can I have redeemed thee. I have called thee by thy name.
Thou art mine. When thou passest through the
waters, I will be with thee. And through the rivers, they
shall not overflow thee." You're not going to drown. When thou
walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned. I'm with
thee. As Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
Ananias has arrived my ship. A flame will not kindle upon
death. I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Savior.
I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Saba for thee. That was precious to me. Deniable. Not me, I'm not honorable. I've done nothing to bring Him
shame. You've brought me honor. I've loved you. Having loved
His own, He loved them to the end. Every hair on their head. He gave men for thee, people
for your life. Why don't we trust Him? He gave His Son for our life.
We're a sorry bunch, aren't we? You say, I'm not precious, I'm
not honorable, I'm not lovely. There's nothing about me lovely.
The Lord sees us in Christ. He sees the new man in us, that
new creature born of God. He sees that. He doesn't even
see that old man. He's dead. He's in the grave. He's as good as gone, John. He's
not looking at him. He knows what we ought to be.
He knows what we want to be. He knows what we're going to
be. That's who he looks at. When Isabella, my first granddaughter,
was born, she was ugly. That's honesty. Nobody's ever
said that about their granddaughter. I did. She was ugly. I brought
many, wasn't you? Many of your grandmothers. Flat
nose. Seriously. She's altogether lovely to me
now. what she has become. And she
had nothing to do with it. She had nothing to do with it.
When I stand before His throne dressed in beauty, not my own,
then I'll know, and not till then, how much I have. Predestination. The last point is this. Preservation. Crab Creek called it perseverance.
Perseverance and preservation. Luke 21. Go to Luke 21 with me
real quickly. Luke 21. And you know, it says, not a
hair on your head shall perish. Scriptures talks about Christ
being the head and we're his body. Remember, it says that
not a bone of his body should be broken. Well, surely. Brother
John, you'll love this. Surely not a hair of his head
will perish with him. Not one. The crown, his glory,
his trophies of his grace. Not a hair, that's all. They're
all numbered. Elects. Preservation. Preserved. Luke 21. The hairs of our head
are numbered, foreordained, predetermined, precious, preserved by our Lord. Look at Luke 21.11. It tells
them about everything that's going to happen. Earthquakes,
diverse places, famines, pestilences. That's what's happening now.
Fearful sights, great signs from heaven. Before all these, I'll
lay their hands on you, persecute you, deliver you up to the synagogue,
into prison, brought before kings and rulers. For my sake, it shall
turn to you for a testimony. Settle it in your hearts. What
are you going to answer? I'll give you a mouth and wisdom.
Your adversaries will not be able to resist. Verse 16, you
shall be betrayed. My parents, brethren, kinsfolk,
friends, some of you shall be put to death. They're going to
kill you. That's what he just said in Matthew 10. You'll be
hated for my namesake. But, verse 18, now here's a little
different statement. There shall not a hair of your
head perish. Not one hair will perish. Now stay with me now, you're
going to love this. Spurgeon didn't have this in
him. And he said, in your patience, possess your soul. Get a hold
of yourself here. Alright? Every hair is numbered
and every hair is preserved. And not one single hair on your
head will perish. This is why when he said, possess
your soul, Paul later said, let the Word of Christ dwell in you
richly. Let the peace of God rule you. Remember this verse. Remember these words, hairs are
numbered and not one hair will perish because you're not your
own, you bought with a price. And our Lord Jesus Christ paid
for every hair. And not one's going to perish. He'll have what he paid for.
You say, I don't understand. Hang on. You go to the store
and you have a list. You have a list. I used to be
bad about not taking a list until Mindy got real upset with me. I forgot half of what she told
me to get. So finally, you men taking notes
here, get a list from your wife. Go and don't vary from it. Don't
change it. Don't get what you think she
wants, Rick. Get what it says. Okay, you with me? 47 years of experience. You go
there and you've got this list. Get this, get this, get this,
get this, get this. It's got a name, it's got a number,
it's got the brand and all that. And you get it and you pay for
it. You're checking it, checking it out. You're going to get every
item you pay for, aren't you? So will our Lord. Every time. They were getting ready to leave
Egypt and Pharaoh said, let your cattle stay behind. Moses said,
nope. Not a hoof will be left behind. And not a hair of our head will
perish. I've lost most of my hair, haven't
I? I didn't lose it. The Lord took it. I'm not making
a joke here. Do you remember, it's written
in the scriptures long before it happened, but what they took
and pulled out the hair out of our Lord's face. Do you remember
that? Ron, that's your son. He's got
a beard. Everything about Jason is precious to you. Down to the
beard on his face. I've lost all my hair. No, I
haven't. I'm going to get it back. Every hair. I'm not making this up. There
have been people that have gone for thousands of years. They've
been buried. They've been buried in the sea.
Some of their bodies have been burned. Ashes. In the end, the Lord is going
to call for the four winds of the earth and gather my people
back together. Every hair that I paid for. and present
my people complete, whole, preserved. Gather my people back together
before me. You remember old Joseph? He said, you're leaving. Don't
bury my bones in Egypt. Don't bury my bones in Egypt.
And so they took his bones and carried them for 40 years. What
was left of them? Well, the Lord put them all back
together. And Joseph is right now with the Lord. Complete. There have been martyrs. Let
me just tell you a true story. This is one of many, many, many
stories. You know, they killed James first,
and then, well, John the Baptist. They cut his head off. Remember
that? Disciples came and got his body. What did they do with
his head? Do you know how precious that
head was to the Lord Himself? That head has spoken the gospel. And the Lord returned that head
to that precious body. This is a true story. A man named
James Guthrie of Scotland back in the 1600s under the reign
of the bloodied Queen Mary and hundreds and hundreds of them.
James Guthrie had a brother named William Guthrie that wrote one
of the greatest books in the English language. Christian's
greatest great entry. Jonathan Edwards says next to
the Bible the greatest book he'd ever read. But his brother James
was a preacher of the gospel for many years. He was only about
5'2". Short. Spurgeon called him the
Zacchaeus brother. Spurgeon was 5'4". James Guthrie was sentenced to
hang for preaching the gospel. And then he was to be beheaded,
cut his head off, and a fellow preacher with him. And they did
it. They hung him for preaching the
gospel. And they cut his head off and
his friend and stuck that head on the top of a pike in London,
England. On one end of the city and his
friend on the other end of the city for 27 years. That head
got stuck on that fear of everybody to see coming and going. James Guthrie had two children.
He was only 48 years old. He had two children, one named
Sophia. I forget his name. Five years old and three years
old. And they were forced to see their
father's head stuck on that pine cone. Who did that? Well, listen to his testimony.
And this is just one of many. And he told his little daughter
before he was to go there, They're going to say that your father
has died in shame. No, your father has died in honor
to his Savior. Before he went, he said, I'm
to be hanged on a tree just like my Savior. How blessed I am. They asked him the morning he
was to be hanged, he said, How are you? He said, Very well.
This is the day the Lord hath made. I rejoice and am glad in
it. Two little children, William
was one, and then Sophie put on his knee and said, the day
will come. They say your father was hanged in shame. He said,
no, little Sophie, your father has died for a good cause, the
cause of Christ. And after it, they took his wife
and two children and banished them, took everything they owned
away from them and banished them to abject poverty. For preaching
the gospel. Who did that? God did it. Alright, now listen. His hands
tied together and he's walking up that scaffold. He's stepping
up there in a great crowd. He's a pastor of a church. And
they're all there. The great crowd is hushed. And
he said to all of them, I would not exchange this scaffold
for the palace in England and the crown of any prelate. Blessed
be God who has shown mercy to me, such a wretch. and revealed
His Son in me and made me a minister of His everlasting gospel. This is a seal upon the ministry
and the hearts of our people, the congregation of the Lord,
that Jesus Christ is our life, our light, and our righteousness,
my strength and my salvation, and all my desire. And He said
to the people, with all my strength and all my soul, I commend Him
to you. Bless him, O my soul, from henceforth evermore. Lord,
now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, for mine eye
hath seen thy salvation. Amen. Rejoice. Give thanks.