Habitation hovering. I saw an interview with somebody
the other day who claimed to be a believer, and they had just
come through something. Their life was spared, and that
person said that an angel of the Lord spared them. And oh,
the media, the new media laughed, they scoffed, they mocked him
like what an old-fashioned, ridiculous thing. It's true. It's true. You're an angel. Behold your Heavenly Father right
now. Luke chapter 6, Luke chapter 6, titled, here is Christ who came
down. Now do you know why we read Exodus
3? That whole story is a picture
of Christ. Moses represents Christ. The
burning bush represents Christ. Pharaoh, the God of this world,
represents Satan that Moses came to deliver his people from. That's
who Christ came to deliver people from, isn't it? He came down. Christ came down. Verse 17 says, He came down with
them. The Lord Jesus Christ came down
with them and stood in the plain in the company of His disciples
at the great moment. He came down and stood with them
right there. I remember looking at this years
ago with you. When I first saw it, it just
thrilled my soul. It's still thrilling me. He came
down and stood with them. The company of his companion,
of his people. Everything goes together. Look
how we stopped in verse 12. It says he came to pass in those
days, he went out into a mountain to pray and continued all night
in prayer to God. And when it was day, he came
and called his disciples. Isn't that exactly what we read
that Moses did? Isn't it? You with me? It was
exactly what Moses did. He said, he saw a bush that was
burning. He went up into the mountains.
He did what? Commune with God. And God gave him all these instructions. Here's what you're going to do.
You're going to deliver my people. I've heard their cry, and I've
come down to deliver them out, to bring them up. And you're
going to go, and you're going to do it. And our Lord continued all night
in prayer to His Father, communing with Him. What's He communing
to the Father about? The work that He sent Him to
do. The people that He sent Him to save. Everything that they
had covenanted concerning. Before the world began, you see,
before Christ came and called these disciples here. Before
He came, went to Calvary. Before that, He was with the
Father in the beginning, communing with Him. Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit communed together. They covenanted. They made a
covenant together. They purposed something together. It's called the eternal purpose
and covenant of God in which they agreed or came together and agreed
to create a world, mankind, and everything in it, that man would
fall. They didn't catch God by surprise,
that was in His purpose. And they committed, they agreed
to save some of this fallen race. How? That the Son of God was
going to come down. The Son of God would come down
in the fullness of time, made of a woman, made under the law
to redeem them that were under the law. The Son of God was going
to come down to these fallen creatures of His who are under
the bondage of this world and the God of this world, just like
the children of Israel in Egypt. And the Son of God, did you notice
how He said, when you do this? And Isaiah wrote of Christ that
was going to come, he said, He shall not fail. My servant, he's
going to accomplish this work like Moses, and what the Lord
told Moses, you're going to do this. I'm going to do it through you.
You're not going to be by man's hand, you're going to be by my
hand. All right? So in this covenant before the
world began, God purposed creation of all things, the fall of man,
and the salvation of man. Son, not all, but many. the miracle he saved in him. Why does he save anybody? To
the praise, the glory of his grace, of his mercy. He should have destroyed Adam
and Eve right there like he did some of the angels, but he didn't.
Why? Because God is love. Because
God is mercy. Because God is grace. Because
God made this covenant. And everybody is going to see
His greatest glory. And His greatest glory is this.
Mercy. Love to the unloved. And this is by the Son of God
coming to earth. And He's going to glorify God
as a man. He's going to establish righteousness. He's going to keep God's law. And then He's going to pay the
penalty of that broken law. He's going to be made sin for
them. He's going to redeem his people from under the curse of
the law by being made a curse for them. He's going to put away
their sin by the sacrifice of himself. Brethren, I'm preaching
the gospel right now. The good news. Christ did it
all according to the eternal purpose of God before the world
began. He said, go, you're going to bring them out. the bondage
of corruption out of the pits. And Christ did. He came. You're
going to save my people from their sin by yourself. You're
going to bring them in. And here's what Christ said when
He came. So Christ came. Here's what He said. The Son
of Man has come to seek and to save. Not seek and try to save. but to seek and to save that
which was lost. If they're lost, somebody has
to find them. They can't find themselves if they're lost. And
our Lord told that story of a shepherd, you know, if he's lost one, does
he not leave the ninety and nine, go after that one that is lost
until he finds it? If he's a good shepherd, he does.
And then our Lord said, and when he finds it, He's not going to
lose one of them. That's what he said in his prayer,
didn't he? Don't you love this? You love his glory, you do. Christ
said in his prayer to the Father, All that thou hast given me I
have kept, none is lost, but one according to his purpose. Christ said this when he came.
He said, I am come that they might have life. They're dead. I am come that they might have
life, not offer life, but give life. Christ said this, I came not
to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. So our Lord, as we read there
in verse 12, He prayed all night to the Father, praying, communing
with the Father of this work that He was sent to do, of the
people. He didn't pray for the world.
He prayed for the people that God had given him, and now he's
going to go out and he's going to call on them. Look at verse 13. You with me? This is glorious. And when it
was day, when the sun came up, it was darkness like Genesis,
remember? Darkness covered the face of
the water, and God said, Let there be light. All right? These disciples, every one of
them are in darkness, even as others. Say it loud. But God came to call them out of darkness
into His marvelous light. Every one of them, us included. Listen to this. Right before
the Gospel of Matthew, the very first Gospel, the Lord was silent
for 400 years. And right before that, in Malachi
4, it said, Behold, the day cometh. The day cometh. It shall burn
as an oven. All the proud, yea, all that
do wickedness shall be stubble. And the day that cometh shall
burn them up. The previous chapter says, He
shall be. He is the day spring from on
high. He is the sun. He shall be like
a refiner's fire. It says, The day shall come up
and burn them up, saith the Lord of hope, neither leave root or
branch. And the next verse says, But
unto you that fear my name shall the sun of righteousness arise,
with a peeling in his wings. So he prayed all night. darkness. And then when the sun
came up, he did too. And he started calling. Well, I don't know about you,
but that just sends chills up my spine. Oh, my. Every word, every phrase is significant. Under him give all the prophets
witness. Malachi, before Christ came, said the son of righteousness
is coming. And brethren, when he came, the
sun shone upon this earth. Here is condemnation that light
has come into the world, but men love darkness. All right,
verse 13 in our text. Here He came. It was day. The
sun arose. And He called unto Him His disciples. And of them
He chose twelve, whom also He named apostles. He called. He
came. He came. He called. They came. He came. He had chosen. Known
unto God are all his works for the beginning of the world. The
foundation of God standeth sure, having the seal, God knoweth
them that are his. All that the Father giveth me,
Christ said, shall come unto me." Mark's gospel, this is recorded
in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Mark's gospel said he went up
into a high mountain and called unto him whom he would, and they
came. He called whom he would. He didn't
ask, he didn't invite. Whoever wants to, He called unto
Him whom He would, and they came. Aren't you glad? Aren't you glad? He called unto Him whom He would
by virtue of His power. He said, My sheep, hear My voice.
His power is His voice. Read Psalm 29 sometimes. His
power is His voice. His gospel is His voice. He called
us by his gospel, but it's his voice. When the time comes, if
you belong to him, chosen of God, if given to Christ in that
covenant, Christ is going to come through the preaching of
the gospel, through a man, and he's going to call you, and you're
going to come. See, contrary to what people
think, they say, if that's true, why preach? That's why we preach.
Because that's the power of God. That's exactly the... If I believe
what they believe, I wouldn't preach at all. God loves everybody,
you know. No, he calls by the gospel. The gospel is the power of God
and the salvation. And this is how he called. The
gospel called by virtue of his power, his voice. Christ called
every one of these apostles. And they came, and disciples.
You notice verse 13. It said he called his disciples,
and of them he chose twelve. So there were more than just
the twelve he's talking about. I'm a disciple. I thought about
this yesterday while I was studying this. I thought, you know, I'm
a disciple. I really am. What's a disciple? It's somebody who's heard of
Christ, who believes Christ, who loves his doctrine, who loves
him and follows him. He wants to learn from Him. He
wants to be like Him. A disciple. Sister Helen, that's
me. That's you. We're disciples. How did we get to be disciples?
I told you. He calls all His disciples. It gives me comfort. I believe I've heard His call. And verse 12, He says He made
some of them apostles. They weren't more special to
the Lord any other disciple. They weren't loved more of the
Lord than any other disciple. Were they? No, they were just
called apostles. Some he called apostles, evangelists,
pastors, teachers, but they're all disciples. This gospel call, I had, wow,
two dozen or more scriptures to turn with you. We'll turn to this, okay? We'll
turn to this one, because brethren, this is His glory. It really
is His glory whom He calls. Every one of these disciples,
if you'd asked them how they've got to be disciples, they'd say,
He called me. See, that's His glory, isn't it? I'm not trying
to defend the doctrine of election. It's His glory. Anybody that denies this is denying
Him His glory. 1 Corinthians 1. Let's just turn
there, okay? I was going to have you turn
to Romans 1, Romans 8, Romans 9. While you're turning, I'll
read Romans 8 to you. How about that, okay? And you
know this. We know that all things work
together for good to them that love God. To them that are what? The called. Called according
to what? His purpose. What purpose? Giving us in Christ
before the world began. A purpose God made. His covenant
purpose. Electing grace. That's His glory. If He didn't do that, nobody
would come. For whom He did foreknow, whom
He loved. Whom He chose. He did predestinate
everything about them. The hairs of their head are numbered.
Brethren, I know you've heard this before, but this is your
comfort. Whom He did foreknow, He predestinated everything about
them. Everything. Every single thing
works together for their good. Down to the hairs of their head. I don't understand. It's because
He's God. Our God is God. He does everything
on purpose and everything about us is on purpose and for our
good. That's what God used to say.
My dad, one word, purpose. But I never get tired of telling
that. I never get tired of hearing it. And I look around me, I see
chaos, I see confusion, I see sin, I see evil, I see corruption,
I see all this stuff. And I'm worried. You're lying
if you say you're not worried. But what that worry is, unbelief.
Because God has purposed all things. Why do we shout? Maybe somebody will hear it. that everything is working together
according to His will, His purpose, ordered in all things. And what?
Sure! Hallelujah! Aren't you glad God's
God? Why would anybody go and hear
about a God who's a bystander? Don't need a God like that. I
need a God who is God. to everything about me, everything
about this world, everything is in His hands, according to
His will, not man. His will. Oh, man. Where am I? Oh, 1 Corinthians 1. Look at
this. Talking about the call of God.
effectual call, redeeming call, a powerful call, sovereign call,
eternal call, saving call. It begins this way. Paul called. Paul can't preach two words without
saying called. Didn't he? Solitarsis, free will
preacher. Solitarsis, free will, Arminian,
legalistic. Here's what I'm going to do with
this Jesus. Oh, are you now? You better be glad, Paul, that
God chose you. Oh, He was. And boy, He preached
it everywhere. He wrote about it over and over
again. Blessed be God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ
according to His purpose that He chose us. Our Lord came to Him. He didn't
come to the Lord. He aided Him. Our Lord came to
Him to solve. Just like He did Adam. Simon called him. He said, when it pleased God
who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by His grace. 1 Corinthians 1. Paul called to
be an apostle. He wouldn't be if God hadn't
called him, if Christ hadn't called him. Under the church
of God, which is at Corinth. It's not written to everybody. False preachers all over the
land are standing up today and saying this just applies to everybody.
It doesn't. It's to the church. All right,
look at it. To the sanctified in Christ. Set apart. Called to be saints. With all that every place calls.
Do you notice the order there? They're called to be saints and
then they call. Right? Romans 10.13, Whosoever shall
call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. That's all these
so-called soul winners quote that number. Whosoever, whosoever
shall call. Where did that come from? Where
did that verse come from? Peter quoted it in Acts 2 when
he was preaching, didn't he? Peter quoted it. Whosoever shall
call on the name of the Lord. Joel 2.32. It says this, and
I don't want to misquote it. I can, but I might misquote it.
Daniel Hosea Joel Amos, if I can find it. Listen. It shall come to pass
that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be
delivered. For in Mount Zion, that's a church, isn't it? And in Jerusalem, that's the
church, shall be deliverance, the gospel of deliverance, as
the Lord hath said, and in the remnant whom the Lord shall come. That's who comes. Do you see
you're coming? Are you called? If you can say, There was a day
when the preacher preached and made his invitation, and I just
felt this pull, and I came down front, and I was weeping, and
I felt so bad about the sin, and he told me if I just accept
Jesus as my personal Savior, and I did, I accepted him. He
said, let Jesus into your heart, and I did, and I felt this peace
go over me. You're not saved. No. No. That's not the call of God. He
hadn't been called. You made some decision. And the
preacher got glory for that, and you take some credit for
it. No, no, you haven't been called. Here's the call. Simon
Peter's in a boat. He got his head down. He's looking
at nets and fish. And all of a sudden, Simon! Who's that? Did Christ say, Simon, I've come
here to save sinners, and would you please? I want to save you.
God loves you, Simon. And He sent me to tell you I'm
offering you salvation if you'll just accept me. I want to be
Lord. I want to be your Lord, but I
can't be your Lord, Simon, unless you let me. Is that what He did?
Simon, come! What happened? He came. He came! to the praise of the glory of
that great, effectual God. Come! When our Lord stood up
that day and said, Come unto me, all ye that labor and heavy
laden, was that an invitation? No, it was a divine command.
Somebody came. Who was it? Those he chose. They
came. They came. Do we need to say
this louder now than ever before? than ever before. Why? God's glory. Whose giving the glory? Whose
decision is it? Whose will is it? Whose acceptance
is it? Whose work is it? Hmm? This is a line drawn in the sand.
Now I'm looking at Look at 1 Corinthians 1, verse 26. You see, you're calling, brethren,
that not many wise men of the flesh, not many mighty, not many
noble are called. Listen to me. Are there any doctors
in this room? Go ahead, raise your hand if
you are. There might be one. Maybe you're afraid to admit
it. But there's not. Lawyers. Famous people. Anybody? Mayor? Governor? Secretary of Housing
and Development? Anybody? Worth anything? Well, if you go down the street
here, this building is full of people like that. full of them. That's where they
go, the rich and famous. Why? Because a man stands up
and tells them how much God needs them. They're glad God is for
them to be there. Not this preacher. Not God. Not God's prophet. Not God's
preacher. None of them. You see your colleague
brethren? Not many wise men at the place.
Not many mighty. Look at it. Verse 27. But God. You see, a true preacher
can't preach without saying, but God. But God hath chosen. God hath chosen. God hath chosen. God hath chosen. God hath chosen. Is that necessary to preach the
gospel? There ain't no gospel without it. That's where it started.
God hath chosen. A doctrine? It's God's glory.
Christ came. He shouldn't have come. He didn't
have to come. But he did. Why did he come?
Because God chose a people. And he shall save his people
from their sin. And he's going to get all the
glory for them. And he came. Alright, look at our text in
Luke 6. Look at it. When it was day, he came and
he called his apostles. And brethren, as I said, the apostles They were chosen
to preach and teach and heal, but they were just men. They
were sinners, like us, okay? Thank God for them. Romans 10
says, How shall they call on him whom they have not heard?
How shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except
they be sent? How beautiful, according to this
written, how beautiful are the feet of them that bring the glad
tidings. Oh, I'm so thankful God called Apostles and prophets
and pastors and teachers called me through a pastor. He doesn't
get the glory for that. He doesn't get the glory for
that. That's just the means that God has used. That's what God
says. Anybody that denies that and anybody that doesn't like
that has never been called. And it goes without saying, thank
God for the preacher. But he doesn't get the glory
for it. Ask Paul. He'll say, who is Paul? Paul
didn't die for you. He said that. Don't talk about
me. I'm thankful he did, aren't you?
Paul's son, Simon, and they were sinners all. All of them. Now,
look down at verse 16. He called Judas, the brother
of James, and Judas Iscariot, which was also the traitor. Judas
Iscariot was a traitor. Now, this is important. Our Lord chose him to be the
betrayer of him. Now that's the truth. Look at
John 17. John 17. That's the truth. And
this truth ought to cause us not only to fear, but give us
great comfort. Judas, and this is what those
that are, Peter said, are unlearned and unstable, do rest to their
own destruction. They make it sound like God predestinates
these to hell and these to heaven, and that nobody can go to heaven,
even if they wanted to, if they're not going to do that. This is
what men say. They say that to us. They argue
that with us, that if you believe. And they argued with Paul in
Romans 9, didn't they? They said with all things, he
saves whom he will, and whom he will he hardeneth. Then if
everything is according to God's will, and we can't resist His
will, then how can He find Paul? How can He charge us? How can
God charge us with what is His will? That's what they argued. You know? That's what they argued
then, and they're arguing the same thing now. How did Paul
answer that? Do you remember? Do you know
what he said? Who art thou to reply against
God? Can the thing formed say to him
that formed it, why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter
piled up the clay, of the same lump, to make one vessel unto
honor, and another unto dishonor?" That's what he said. He didn't
explain it away. He didn't apologize for it. He said, this is the
way it is. This is God. Look at John 17 and verse 11. Our Lord said, I am no more in
this world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee.
Holy Father, keep through thy own name those whom thou hast
given me, that they may be one as we are. While I was with them
in the world, I kept them in thy name. Those that thou gavest
me, I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of
perdition, that the scripture might be fulfilled." It's absolutely
according to the purpose and will of God before Judas was
ever born. The children being not yet born,
neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of
God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him
that calleth. He was said unto her, The elder
shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have
I loved, Esau have I hated. That's unfair. No, it's God. Not that unfair. Okay, here's
the thing. Did Esau deserve to be loved
by God? He heard about the birthright.
He heard about the God of Abraham and Isaac. He heard about salvation
of God's people. He heard about the worship of
God. He heard these things. And Esau said, I'd rather have
a bowl of beans than worship God. I'd rather do anything than worship
God. His God was his belly. Judas did exactly what he wanted
to do. He did exactly what his evil
will wanted to do. His love, his heart was for money. He wanted money. And our Lord
tolerated him for three years. Our Lord kept him from it for
three years. And then when the time came,
all the Lord had to do was just leave him alone. And he would
do what his evil will and his evil heart did. God doesn't have
to predestinate people to hell. They're going there anyway. They're
born that way. They're born rebels against God.
All he has to do is leave them alone. Has he hardened people's
hearts? Leave them alone. Has he softened
hearts? Lays hold of them. Works them. Breaks their hearts. Has he hardened
hearts? Leave them alone. He said to
the Pharisees, leave them alone. They're not mine. They're not
mine. Judas did what he wanted to do. But he did what God determined
before to be done. I don't understand. Yes, you
do. Yes, you do. This is what Peter preached at
Pentecost. He said, You with wicked hands have taken and crucified
the Lord of glory, but you did what God determined before to
be done. And he said it again in chapter
4. Herod and Pontius Pilate and all the people were gathered
together against Christ, against God's anointed for what to do.
Let me quote. For to do whatsoever thy hand
and thy counsel determined before to be done. And why are you saying
this, preacher? Because it's true. And that we
might fear. Lord, don't leave me alone. Don't
leave my son or daughter alone. Oh, I hope, I pray, they're one
of thine own, they're one of your elect, one of your chosen.
Oh, Lord, call them by your gospel, by this gospel. They're not going
to hear it in another gospel. Call them by this gospel. And if they
hear it, I know they belong to you. And then I'll be happy,
I'll be satisfied, I'll be comforted. And Lord, all this evil that's
going on around here, I don't understand how it can work your
purpose, but I do know this. For my comfort, I know this,
I believe it. It's all working your purpose.
Listen to Isaiah 45. Go there with me. Isaiah 45.
This is for our company. Isaiah 45. Wonderful, wonderful,
wonderful. You have it? Isaiah 45. I have
it. I'm going to start reading it.
I am the Lord. There is none else, meaning nobody's
in charge of anything, except what He designates. There is no God beside me. I
girded thee, though thou hast not me. that they might know
from the rising of the sun from the west. There's none beside
me. I am the Lord. There is none else. I form the
light and create darkness. I make peace and create evil. I, the Lord, do all these things."
Is that what he said? That's the God of the Bible. I could go on and talk about
that, but I'm not going to. Just leave it at that. Do I need
to comment on God's Word? No, I don't. I'm going to read
it. That's what it says. As I said, this would cause us
to fear. Fear who? God, not man. And give us great
comfort. If I know this God, if He knows
me, if He's called me by His grace, if I believe this truth.
I mean, I don't just believe it. I don't just believe that. Don't you? I don't reluctantly
say, well, I believe, yeah, I guess it says I believe God is sovereign. No, brethren, it's who has received
the love of the truth. See, God's people love the fact
that God is God. Now our God decides that we give
thanks, O Lord, that thou hast taken unto me thy power and you
reign. Oh, how thankful we are that
you've made us to know that you reign and we're in your hands. Oh my, that gives me comfort,
that gives me hope, doesn't it? There is no hope in a God who's
not God. In a gospel that doesn't save. And see, religion doesn't believe
that, so they've got all these gimmicks and tricks and business
tactics. You've got to do all this, get
people in, and it's evil. It's saying God doesn't have
the power to call people. It's saying God who caused the
light, God who said, shine, it shined. But now, no, God can't. These people in darkness, He
can't call them. We've got to call them. We've
got to bribe them. We've got to put dollar bills under the
pew. My dad said they did that, didn't they, Mom? Put dollar
bills under the pew. Who wouldn't come? That's evil. God's word is his gospel. The
man stands up and says, all the man is to do two things. Isaiah, he said, what shall I
cry? Two things. All flesh is dressed. And behold, you're God. And sit down. And you watch me,
God, because I'm God. And he does that. Because you
did it. Because me too. How? Just like
that. Just like that. Nobody begged me. Nobody
pleaded me. Nobody, you know, had to coerce
me. Nobody had to bribe me. God just
said, come. You see, he came. Down. Down. This is the Creator of
glory who came. This is the Son of God who came.
All power is given unto Him in heaven and earth, Christ said.
All authority is given unto Me. And so it has given Him power
over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many
as you've given Him. He came down from heaven with
a purpose from God, to save God's people. That's who this is, not
a Jesus who tries and fails. This is a Son of God who put
on righteousness as a breastplate. Put a sword in His hand and said,
I'm come. to defeat the armies of hell and bring in the armies
of heaven and bring my people in. Time come, and he did. Got a captain, a glorious conqueror,
and he came. That's the God of the Bible.
That's the Jesus Christ of Scripture. Anything less is not the gospel. Somebody says, y'all preach that
radio message every Sunday. I do. We do, don't we? There is no other gospel. It's
where it all starts, and this is where it all ends, with God. What does man have to do? Nothing.
Nothing. If there's anything left up to
us, we're all goners. Look at the world. That's what
man thinks. Everything's left up to man,
his will. Well, look at it. Huh? Look at it. Everybody on
the earth is afraid it's going to blow up any minute now. Why? Because they believe man's
in charge. Well, let me close with this.
I wanted to give this. I've got a few more minutes.
Look at Luke 6. This is wonderful. He came down. Verse 17, with
them, all the children, because of his love for them, for as
much as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself
likewise took part of the same, that through death he might destroy
them, that to power death, that is, the devil, and to deliver
them who through fear of death are all their lifetime subject
to bondage. He didn't take on the nature
of angels, but the seed of Abraham. Oh, he came down, condescended. He came down where we are and
stood in the plain. I love that. Stood in the plain. This is no play on words, people.
This is just the way it is. He stood in the plain. A plain
man. The world didn't recognize him.
Why? Because he looked just like a
man. They said this is Jesus. We know him. This is a carpenter's
son. We've seen him for thirty years. We know who this is. Just
a man. No, that's because he had a plain
wrapper. He had a plain brown wrapper.
He had a veil over him. It's called flesh. One day he
took three of his chosen disciples up on a mountain to see who he
is. To see him as he is. Not what
is. God who dwelleth in light, which
no man can approach unto. And he showed Peter, James, and
John, not any man, but his chosen disciple. He peeled back his
robe of flesh, and they couldn't look at him. And they fell on
their face, all of them. Fear. Fear. Who is this? Jesus? This is God. This is our
God who is a consuming fire. This is our God who dwelleth
in life. We can't even look on Him for the glory of His image,
of His visage. Oh, we couldn't look on Him.
But He came and touched us. And he peeled back, he put back
that wrapper, that veil, he put it back so they could behold
him. And he touched him. He said, fear not. Men don't
know me. But you do. You do. I do. I've seen a little bit
of that. He came down. You see, this is
God manifesting the flesh. And stood in the plain, a plain
man. But this is also true. He stood
in the plain. Do you remember the story in
Genesis 19? Where God came down and said,
I hear the cry of Sodom is great. He said, it's come up before
me in my ears. This is the Lord Jesus Christ
of America. The same God. He said, the cry of their sin
is exceedingly evil in my ears. I'm hearing what they're saying
to me. I hear what they're saying about me. I see what they're
doing. Brethren, His eyes behold, His
eyelids try. And the Lord Jesus Christ came
down into Sodom. He came down into the plains.
It's called the city of the plains. And He came down to Sodom. And
He said, He's a righteous God. He's a holy God. He said, If
I find five righteous, I won't destroy them. Just five. City of maybe five
million. If I find five righteous, you
know what? There was none righteous. No. Not one. But God. There was one man in there. And
by looking at him and listening to him, you wouldn't know he's
righteous. Because he lingered. He wanted to stay there. His
wife did, and God destroyed her. Alright? But God. But the Lord,
being merciful, the scripture says, being merciful to him.
While Lot lingered, it says, the Lord Jesus Christ laid hold
of him. And his daughters, Melanie, his
daughters too. You're coming with him. Oh, isn't
that what we say, Lord, don't leave me to myself. Lay hold
of me. Isn't that it, Kelly? Isn't that
it? If He doesn't lay hold of us, And if He lets go of us,
we're gone. Lord, lay hold of me and my daughters. Bring us out. That's why He came. I am come down to lay hold of
them. They're inside of them. And He did. He does. He still
does. Come out. I am come down. to deliver them out. You know,
at first, they don't want out. They don't want out. But God
begins to work on them to show them, you do want out. If I don't
deliver you out, if I don't take this out of you and you out of
it, you're going to perish with everybody else. So He begins
this work in them where they see this work of corruption in
themselves. Lord, get this out. And then
they look around, and it's all this dark and vain and wild,
and they say, Lord, take me out! Christ said, I ain't coming.
Down, stooping down to the guilty center to deliver them out, to
bring them up. He stood in the plank. Over there,
he stood in the plank. We didn't even correct the sermon.
He stood in the plain. Who with? The company of his
disciples. He stood there with them. He
came down with them, where they were, and he stood in their company.
Who's the company that the Lord keeps? Who does he keep? You
read it in 1 Corinthians 1. You see your calling? They weren't
any wise. They weren't any mighty. They
weren't any noble. They were just a bunch of no-good fishmen. Ask Matthew. He'll tell you, I was a publican.
I was sitting at the receipt of customs. I was sitting there
counting my money. Then he came. called me by his
grace. Now here I am. Yeah. Salvation is of the Lord. It sure is. And all of them that came
to him, to hear him, they were healed of their diseases. They
were people that were vexed with unclean spirits. That's me. That's
you. I'm vexed. A lot was vexed, but
I am too. If your daughter is, she may
not know it. She is. That's who the Lord came
from. And the whole multitude sought
to touch Him. Whoever came to Him this day, they sought to
touch Him. Why? Virtue comes out of Him. It's only from Him. He's the
only one there with virtue, with power. That's the best I can do with that. OK. Let's sing number 152.