Luke chapter 5. Look at two verses. These really struck me. I hope. God bless you. It said, He, the Lord Jesus Christ,
withdrew Himself into the wilderness and prayed. He came to pass on a certain day
as He was teaching. There were Pharisees and doctors
of law sitting by, which would come out of every town of Galilee,
Judea, and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was
present to heal them. The power of the Lord was present.
And without presumption, according to the Word of God,
I say right now, That very power is present this morning to heal. Look at verse 1. This thing began,
it said, it came to pass, the people pressed upon him to hear
the word of God. They pressed. Oh, that more people
would press. Are you? Didn't Paul say, this
one thing I do, I press. Is this a pressing matter to
you? Did you come here this morning? Because it's a pressing matter.
If you did, you know what? You're going to be healed again. God's people do. This is pressing. There's nothing more pressing.
They lay everything aside and they come because they got to
hear the Word of God. Is that you? Verse 15 says, a great multitude
came together to hear, to be healed of their infirmity. A
great multitude. Back then, it was the beginning
of the harvest. Do you know that? Our Lord said,
look, fields white with harvest. When the Lord came, it was the
beginning of the harvest, and many, many disciples stood up
to preach. Right after our Lord was crucified,
3,000 souls heard the preaching of Christ crucified and came. Shortly thereafter, 5,000 came. He said, go in all the world
and preach the gospel. And they did. You know what?
God raised them up. Multitudes came together to do
what? Hear, and they heard, and their
souls lived. Our Lord said that. Hear, and
your souls live. Faith cometh by what? Hearing. Hearing by the Word of God. And
Peter said, this is the Word which by the gospel is preached
to you. Born again. Great multitudes
came to hear and be healed. As I quoted Sister Barbara, she
used to say, I feel clean every time I hear the gospel. I go
out in the world and I feel filthy. Well, that's what the Lord said.
He said, you're clean through the word I've spoken unto you,
but not your feet. You need your feet washed all
the time. You come in here, get your feet washed. Great multitudes. came together. And you multitudes meet today.
Not a multitude in here, is there? It's because it's a ladder harvest. Here a little, there a little.
Spurgeon preached a message one time on the last days on the
scattering of corn upon a mountain top. Just a scattering, here
a little, there a little. Our Lord said, when the Son of
Man comes, will he find faith on the earth? Great multitudes meet today.
Go down the street and they can't build buildings big enough to
house the people. What do they come for? Hear the
Word of God. They hear the Gospel of Christ
or hear the music. Isaiah prophesied of this. You
know that? Our Lord told Isaiah, go and
make their ears, shut their ears, lest they hear with their ears
and be converted." Harden their hearts. He said, they hear, they
have ears to hear, but they don't hear. They come to hear the Word
of God. Isaiah said, how long, Lord? He said, till it's all
over. But he said, there'll be a tenth. Isaiah 6, I'm paraphrasing. He said, there'll be a tenth.
There'll be a remnant according to the election. Many are called,
many are here, but few are chosen. To what? You're going to hear it again. Power of God. Do you come to
hear? Have you been given ears to hear?
Have you been given ears to hear? Our Lord said to His disciples
one day, blessed are your ears. He asked them, who do men say
that I am? And they came up with all sorts of descriptions of
Him. Pretty good descriptions. Not
good enough. And they said, who do you say
that I am? Simon. Thou art the Christ, the Son
of the Most High God. Thomas fell at his feet. Thou
art my Lord and my God. Your God is who you are. He said,
flesh and blood didn't reveal that to you, Simon. But my Father
would you know. Oh, he said, blessed are your
ears, they hear. Blessed are your eyes, they see.
Many have eyes and ears, they don't hear, they don't see. Both
the hearing ear and the seeing eye, the Lord has made them both.
He has to give it. It's His divine prerogative in
it. It's His will. I believe He's given me ears
to hear. There was a time I didn't hear. There was a time I had
no ears to hear. There was a time I had no eyes
to see myself. No eyes to see Him. No eyes to
see the danger I was in. There was a time I didn't see.
I was blind. But you know what? I know this. I once was blind. But now I see, and let me tell
you what I see, the light, the knowledge of the glory of God
in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. How did I see that? Through
my ears. I heard it. I heard a man preaching. It's like these people. Word is significant. Look at
verse 16. He withdrew himself into the
wilderness and prayed. He withdrew himself and he prayed. Oh brethren, people, if we only
withdraw ourselves from the multitudes, come out from among them. If our Lord Jesus Christ needed
to withdraw Himself from the world and from the multitude,
how much more do we need to? If the Lord Jesus Christ needed
to pray to Him, He prayed often, He prayed always, without ceasing.
If the Lord Jesus Christ needed to pray, how much more do we
need to? We're poor and needy, and
without Him we can do nothing. And without Him, we can't take
a step. If we do, it will be wrong. There's
a way that seems right to us. And the end will be what? Destruction,
misery, death, trouble. But oh Lord, Thy will be done. He told us how to pray. The disciples
came and asked Him one time. They said, Lord, teach us to
pray. Remember that? What did He say? After this manner,
pray ye. This is the disciples' prayer.
It's not the Lord's prayer. The Lord's prayer is in John
17. But the disciples' prayer in
Matthew 5 where He said, After this manner, pray. Our Father. Now He's not everybody's Father.
Everybody prays that prayer, don't they? How is He anybody's
Father? They're born of God. How's he
anybody's father? They're adopted. How's he anybody's
father? Christ said, if God were your
father, you'd love me. You'd believe me. You'd trust
me. You'd look to me. You'd be taken
up with me. You'd talk about me. You'd follow
me. You'd look to me and me alone.
If God were your father, you'd be a Christian. If you are a
Christian, God is your Father. There is no man knoweth the Father,
but the Son, and He to whom the Son will reveal Him. If God were
your Father, can you say, My Father? Can you say that Jesus
Christ is God's Son, the Christ, the Son of the living God, my
hope, my all, my salvation, my hope? Can you say that? Some
name hope. What is your hope? Better not be a what? Better
be a who? Christ is our hope. Our hope,
Paul wrote in Hebrews, is entered within the veil. The holy of
holies. with His own precious blood.
My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus Christ's blood and
righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame. Anything I am, anything I've done, anything I've experienced,
anything I've professed, anything I've ever said or done, it's
all filthy rags. My hope is His blood and His
righteousness. My hope, my dress, my covering,
my acceptance with God, my all, Christ is my all. Can you say
that? Then God is your Father. Our Father. They're all taught
of God. All thy children shall be taught
of God, and everyone that hath heard and learned of the Father,
what Christ said, cometh to me. And He said, raise the peace.
Raise the peace. Why? Because He made peace by
the blood of His cross. Because He said, I give you peace.
I have made peace. I give you peace. I am your peace.
Now, call God. Call on Him. I'll go to my Father
and your Father. Say this, my father, our father. Because we call together. We
need to be together. We are sheep. That's the nature
of sheep. Sheep can't stand to be alone. Sheep have to be together.
Our father. However, look at verse 16. He
withdrew himself into the wilderness and pray. He withdrew himself.
Very soon, I'm going to recommend a message to you by me. Well, I'm doing it now. Preached it from Genesis 32. Lessons learned alone. Alone
with God. Alone with God. Jacob. Somebody wrestled with him. Alone
with God. You're not saved by the buddy
system. You're saved by the preaching
of the gospel. But you're not saved by the buddy system. Not
of the will of the flesh, not of the will of man, not of blood,
but of God. You're born of God. And here's
what will happen when God saves you. You'll be sitting with the
people. And I could ask every believer
in here to say, and you'd say, this is what happened to me.
You're sitting with God's people. And a man standing up, sent by
God. Because how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall
they preach without except they be sent? And you're sitting,
you're listening. And the Spirit of God moves like
He did at Pentecost. Like a wind. And that house is filled with
what? The glory of God. What's that? Jesus Christ! The
Gospel of Jesus Christ. Where Christ is high and lifted
up. Christ said, if I be lifted up, I'll draw them. No man can come, except the Father
draw. How does He draw? The preaching
of the Gospel. The preaching of Christ. And
here's what happened. You sat and a man was preaching. Just
preaching, okay? He's just a man. It's not by
might, not by power, not by man. But the power is in the Spirit
of God, the Word of God. And he's preaching Christ. Christ,
the power of God, the wisdom of God. And you didn't hear it
first. You didn't see it first. But
God! One day, this happened to me,
that man that was standing there was just my dad. That's just
my dad. But one day it wasn't my dad. He was my Savior speaking to
me. Stop hollering, preacher. No! This is what my pastor did. And
bless God, Brother John, My blind eyes were open, my deaf ears
were open, my hard heart was soft and broken. I heard God
speak to me. What did I do? I believed. I had nothing to do with any
of that. I confessed it, believe it or
not. But up to that point, I was dead. Dead, dead, dead. It was just another sermon. Just
another Sunday. Just another day. And I'll be
glad when it's over. But God. You see why I say that
all the time? This is my celebration. Robin,
I just want to say it to the day I die. This is my story. This is my song praising my Savior. And me, yes, dead in trespasses
and sin. But God. In the fullness of time,
God sent forth his son through the preaching of the gospel,
through a man, just a man, yeah, but in the power of the Spirit
of God, a demonstration of the Spirit and the power, and I heard
God speak to my heart. And now, I can't get enough of
it. I can't get enough. I'm still
listening to that same preacher. He being dead yet speaketh. Listen to that message. Weep
not for me. God's Word is not dead. Where am I? He withdrew himself
into the wilderness and prayed. What I was going to say, what
brought all that on, was that I was sitting in a crowd
of people, okay? A bunch of people just like you
are. And when it was over, I was the only one in there. I was
the only one in there. And I thought, he's pointing
at me. He's talking to me. I didn't
know anybody was there. I was alone with God. Anybody? And I can't tell you
how many times I've heard people come up to me afterward and say,
you were speaking just to me. And that's what I'm hoping for.
That's what I'm praying for. That the Lord will take somebody
in here, somebody who's obviously not heard, because it's just another sermon. And we'll open blind eyes, deaf
ears, because the power of the Lord is present. And as I say,
I'm not saying that presumptuously. Because what is the power of
God? You just read it with me. The gospel is the power of God.
Have I already preached Christ? Have I? Have I declared the Lord
Jesus Christ? Have I preached God's word already?
Yes. It's the power of God. If He
wields it, if He uses it, if He takes this sword and pierces
a heart, And you know, the wind blows
where it listens. And we cannot tell the sound
thereof. I love how this happened. I love
it. I pray for you. I pray for your
children. I pray for your grandchildren. Lord, bring them. Bring them
to hear the Gospel. They must hear the Gospel. Bring
them. Paul thanked Lois and Eunice, Timothy's grandmother and mother,
that they brought him to hear the Word of God, which was able
to make him wise unto salvation. They brought him to hear the
Word of God. It's able. The Word of God is the only thing
able. The Spirit of God, the Gospel
of God is the only thing. It's the power of God. And he thanked God that they
did. Timothy didn't hear it for a
while, but there was a day he heard. I think he heard Paul. Because Paul said, I've begotten
you, didn't I? Didn't he? He didn't take credit
for that. He gloried in God. But, oh, I pray. I pray for your children. I pray.
And here's what happened, invariably. I pray. I think about a certain
person more than another. And I think, oh, Lord, they haven't
heard. They haven't heard. Please, would you open their.
And I've got a list of people on my desk. Lord, open their eyes, open their
ears. Please, Lord, please, would you
do that? And someone in particular I have a burden for, and I think
this is the message. I think every message will be
the message. One of them is going to be. I think this is it. And you know
what happens? They don't come. You hear what I say? I can't help it. I say, well,
shoot. But Wesley? I shoot an arrow and I'll aim
over here. You know what God does sometimes?
He hits over here. Somebody I wasn't aware of. This
person really needs this bad. You know what will happen? It
hit me. It hit me. Because God's Word
will not return void. Accomplish something. If anything,
it will accomplish His glory to where everyone has to say,
I heard it. God was glorified, Christ was
lifted up. We don't believe it's our fault.
We believe it's His glory. That's contradictory. No, it's
not. It's the truth. My wife, I'm way ahead of myself. I got this written down on the
last page. Brother Donnie and I often say,
we've got notes, we've got notes, hope we don't have to use them.
My grandmother-in-law, Mindy's grandmother, was in her 70s. How old was she when she first
heard my dad preach? Was she in her 70s? Early 70s? She was a Christian church? Is
that what she was? Methodist. Methodist. That's
the same thing. Might as well be a Roman Catholic.
Might as well be a Buddhist. Methodist. They don't use Bibles. Anyway, she was a dying little
Methodist. OK. Oh, she was a straight-laced
woman, you know. I wish you could have known her.
Religious. Set in her ways. In her 70s.
Can you teach a 70-year-old anything? Well, I hope. But not a religious
one. That's a Pharisee. She was a
Pharisee. Saved. Knew everything, you know. Independent woman, okay? Her
dad, her son, Mindy's dad, the Lord opened his blind eyes. He
wasn't religious, he's just heathen. and opened his blind eye, and
he said, Mom, Mother, you've got to come with me to hear this
man preach. I've heard God, I've heard the
truth. She said, OK. So she came in
her 70s. She sat there. You know what
she said? One of the first things she said, she heard my dad preach.
She went home and said in the car to her son, she said, he
contradicts himself. She didn't know nothing about
the Bible. Nothing! But yet, he contradicts himself. He says, come, and then he says,
you can't come. He says, believe, and then he says, you can't believe.
Well, he says, it's not your choice, but he says, if you don't
come... He just contradicts himself. You know what? The Lord saved her. How? By that contradictory fella.
It's all cleared up. All cleared up when she was born
again. I ain't gonna hear that. God says, yes he will. Because it's by his will. He saves whom he will. And whom
He will, He hardeneth. And all He has to do, and this
is what He does, how He hardens everybody. Leave them alone. But those He softens and breaks
their heart, bring them to hear. And this rain falls. And breaks
their hearts. Christ the rain. At the hard
head, it gets through that hard head. Opens those deaf ears.
Opens those blind eyes. And I don't care where they come
from or who they are. You know what they're going to
say? They're going to say, God's true and every man's a liar.
They're going to say, I was lost, now I'm found. I was blind, now
I see. I was deaf, now I hear. I believed
in Jesus. I didn't believe in the Lord
Jesus. Thought I knew God, didn't know God. Now I know God. Every one of them. They're going
to say the thing. Lost, past, rubbish, my former
religion, my profession of faith, my baptism, my work, my righteousness,
everything I ever did was filthy rags. Now I see that it's Jesus
Christ. My only hope. Was that you? Whether it's a drunk in the gutter
or a self-righteous Pharisee in the pew. They're going to
hear His voice. They're going to hear the gospel.
They're going to hear the same thing. They're going to hear
the same one. And they're all going to come to the same conclusion
if they're God's elect. They're going to come to this
conclusion. God is just. I'm a no-good, hell-deserving
sinner. If He sends me to hell, I'll get what I deserve. But
I sure need mercy. If He shows mercy, it'll be sovereign
mercy. If He gives me heaven, it'll
be a gift of God. If I get there, it'll be by the
power of the Spirit of God. If I'm saved, it's gonna be by
Jesus Christ and Him alone. His blood, His righteousness.
It's not me. It's not what I know. It's what
I've ever done. It's not anything about me. It's him. It's him.
It's him. It's him. That's what they're
all going to conclude. From the best woman on earth
to the lowest hireling in the gutter, they're all going to
say, unto him who washed from our own blood and his own precious
blood, it's him. It's him. It's him. It's him.
Is that your salvation? You've heard his voice. Would you hear this on the street? Would you hear this in a share
session? My dad used to... Men think they're
smarter than God, you know. But God said, this is how it's
going to be done. This is how he's going to do it. My dad used
to... Oh, he would preach against...
He said, they've relegated the pulpit to the scrap heap. Now
we're having share sessions. Let's all sit around so we can
all have something to say. No, shut your mouth. When the
gospel comes in power, you know what it'll do? It'll shut your
mouth. You'll realize I have nothing to say. I don't know
anything. I am nothing. I know nothing.
I've never done anything. Tell me about Him who's done
it all. Is that right? Paul did. Saul did. He thought
he knew God. He didn't even know God. He could
quote the Scripture. He didn't know the Scripture.
The Scriptures were Christ. He thought he was blameless.
He wasn't blameless. He's about to go to hell. But God... Paul's the one that
wrote that. But God quickened me. Quickened us, all of us, by His
grace. It's by grace, you say. He couldn't
even say four words, Brother Kelly, except by saying, Grace! Here it is again. Here's the
power of God. Listen to it. You want to listen
to it? You might want to hear it again. Here it is. This is what I heard. Here's
the power of God. Paul, the apostle of Jesus, cried, By the will
of God, through the saints, which are in Ephesus, to the faithful
in Christ Jesus, grace be to you. Yes, peace. Where does it
come from, preacher? God. From the Lord Jesus cried, Blessed, blessed, blessed, blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ.
Here's the number one, according as He's chosen us in Christ before
the foundation of the world. Election. Who loves election? My sister down here said, I do. It's not a doctrine. Byron used
to say that. This is not a doctrine. This
is a holy God choosing worthless worms. This is a holy God who ought
to send us all to hell saying, I'm going to choose that one. And they say, all of them, me!
No, can't be me. Yes, you! And you! Hath he quickened? Not me, surely
he's not talking to me. Yes, he elect! Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, according as He has chosen me before the
foundation of the world. Paul said in 2 Thessalonians
2.13, we're bound to give thanks always to God for you brethren,
for the love of the Lord, because God has chosen you. Chosen, that's what they say.
Election, election. I believe it. It can't be me
though. And they hear a preacher stand up and say, yeah, it's
you. And they say, glory be to God. How did He choose? How did He
do this? Through sanctification of the Spirit. What does the
Spirit do? Takes the things of Christ and shows them to you.
Sets you apart from the multitude. Brings you apart from the multitude.
Outside the camp, you go and you hear the Gospel preached,
where it's not preached in the multitude. You go and hear the
Gospel preached. Outside the camp, and you'll
hear Christ high and lifted up. He's chosen you through sanctification
of the Spirit and belief of what? The truth, the truth, and the
whole truth and nothing but the truth. That's how you say. What
is the truth? It ain't a what? It's a person. Christ said, I am the truth.
It's not about him. The truth's not about Christ,
it is him. The resurrection's not a thing. Christ said, I am the resurrection.
He that believeth in me is already been resurrected. Explain that. You're contradicting yourself.
No, I'm not. It's just you haven't been born again. It's all cleared
up when you're born again. You quit arguing. It's all the
Tarsus. Nicodemus. I didn't even get
to this. These Pharisees and Sadducees,
the scribes, they came. They were sitting by. It does
not say that he healed them. It says the power was present.
Christ was there. His Word is His power. He's there,
He's present to heal. And He heals those who have need
of healing. The Pharisees didn't need healing. They didn't need
healing. Read the rest of the verses.
Right after this, they said, when Christ said, you want to
hear a good message? Come Wednesday. I already know
it's going to be a good one. Why? Because this man, we're
going to look at this man here, he's brought, sick of the palsy,
and he's going to hear the best news, the sweetest words, the
greatest words that a human being can ever hear in their life. And they're going to hear it
from a preacher, the Lord Himself. Come, maybe you'll hear it. Maybe
you will. I hope so. Can you hear it now?
But the Pharisees were there. I'm going to go ahead and tell
you. We might not make it. But our
Lord said to this man who couldn't walk, who's dying, He said, Son,
be of good cheer. I've got a good report. Thy sins
be forgiven thee. Does that sound good to anybody? Sinners,
not Pharisees. These same Pharisees were sitting
there and they said, who can forgive sins but God? So their
own mouths will condemn them. You're exactly right. And that
one that said it is God. He's the only one that can. He's
the one that must. A little while later, well, let
me go on. Where am I? Oh, preaching the
gospel to you. Here it is. Want to hear it again?
Here it is. Blessed be God, Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings.
See, that's true blessing. People all over the world, I'm
so blessed, I'm so blessed. If you don't know Christ, you're
not. You're under the curse. You may have the whole world.
If you don't know Jesus Christ, you're under the curse. He's
blessed us with all spiritual blessings and heavenly things.
Where are they, Paul? In Christ. According to this,
He's chosen us for the foundation of the world that we should be
holy. You can't make yourself holy. There's not a just man on earth
that doeth good and sinneth not. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. There's none holy. You can't make yourself
holy. I'll tell you who can. The only
one that can. God. Jesus Christ. He has to
do it. And we should be holy without
blame, but for Him in love. You know, He's the only one able
to present us faultless before the presence of His holy all-seeing
eye. When we come there before God,
He's the one that must have blotted out all our transgressions on
Calvary's tree. Do you understand that? Anybody?
Isn't that good news? He's predestinated us. Having predestinated us. Boy,
if I was in most places, Pharisees would go, don't say that again.
Predestinated. God's people like Rahab. Say it again! He's ordered everything
and sure. He predestined. My destiny's
been predetermined. Say it again! Pharisee, I don't believe in
that. I do. Because if he didn't, I'm
a goner. Because my enemies are lively,
but I got a Lord in whom I live. under the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to Himself according to the good pleasure of His will. What is it all about? We've got
it on our sign out there. It's the name of this church.
It's the theme, the song, the substance of the Gospel. To the
praise of the glory of His grace, the gift that He's bestowed undeservingly
upon many. And we're accepted how? It doesn't say you accepted Jesus. That's a lie and it's blasphemy
of the worst sort. And if that's the way you were
saved, you don't know God. You're lost. It says, bless God,
we're accepted in the beloved house. Let's turn around and look at
it again. Let's go again. Until everybody in here. No.
Maybe another day. 388. Let's sing number 388.