Well, I will take a little more
time now. And when you see me looking back at that clock back
there on the wall, and you wonder what that means, it means nothing
at all. It means nothing at all. It does
mean something. Preachers are prone to lie all
the time, aren't they? Just can't help ourselves. I
want to express to you all how much my wife and I appreciate
you all. I don't want to get broke up. We have known, at least our assembly,
let's say Sovereign Grace Chapel, we've known the same God you've
known for years. And many of you all have known
people from chapel, but you didn't know me much. And that's my fault.
That's my thought. But God was pleased to change
that, in spite of me. Moved some people into our lives
that stirred up the nest. It's been a blessing. And Paul
and Paula love to come here, not because of me. They get me
all the time. And they probably know me better
than most anybody else, other than maybe my wife sitting back
there. They're not following me around because of me. They
love to be with you folks. And they love this gospel. And that still amazes me. It amazes me. I will mention,
Brother Mike Walker's having a meeting in October the 6th,
7th, and 8th at Cottagefield. Now, I don't get out much. He's
asked me to come preach and I don't get out much. A few years ago,
he went to Mexico with several of the brethren to preach the
gospel down there. He asked me to come preach for
him on Sunday and fill in for him, which I gladly did. I was
glad to do so at Cottageville. Well, that Saturday, Penny and
I went to a basketball game of the grandkids. So, my phone buzzes
and I pick up my phone and I say, hey, it's Mike Walker. So, he's
just checking to make sure you're going to be there Sunday, right?
You got to be there Sunday. And then I realized he was in
Mexico. Now, to let you know how much, how little I get out,
I was ecstatic that I was getting a call from Mexico. It's like,
wow, look, Penny, it says Mexico. Look it, Mexico. That's bad, isn't it? That's
bad, but that's all right. All right, you ready? Turn to
Isaiah 52. Ron texts me. I guess it was
yesterday. It was yesterday. And asked if
I wanted any certain portion of scripture read. And the passage,
the one verse I will read is from Isaiah chapter 52. And I thank you. Where are you
at, brother that read? I can't find you. Where are you
at? Right there. Thank you, brother, for reading that. What a marvelous
passage of Scripture. All Scripture is marvelous. I
understand that. But what a marvelous passage
of Scripture that reads right into another chapter that's just full of Christ. And I hope you listened as our
brother read this morning those words. James is clear, let every
man be swift to hear, slow to speak. Listen to this one verse here.
I will refer to many of these verses in this chapter, Lord
willing, and a few others, of course. But listen to this, just
this one verse, as kind of a starting point. Isaiah chapter 52 and
verse 7. This is no doubt familiar, even
the reading of it. Some of the very words of it
are quoted by Paul in his epistle to Rome. How beautiful upon the
mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings. Not
because he has beautiful feet, but because he's sent of God. They cannot preach, that is,
preach the gospel. A lot of preaching goes on. but
very little preaching the gospel. You can only preach the gospel
if God sends you. Paul added that when he quoted
this, because he knew how beautiful are the feet. Why? Because this
person sent on an errand. How beautiful upon the mountains
are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth
peace, that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation,
that saith unto thy, and here it is, thy God reigneth. When Christ, when I say when
Christ, I'm talking about Jesus of Nazareth. That's who I'm talking
about. That one who was here on this
earth some odd 2,000 years ago, was born in a stable in Bethlehem,
born to a virgin mother, lived there for just a very short time,
had to flee into Egypt, brought back and lived his life in obscurity
for almost 30 years. And this was the very God of
all glory of whom the angels fly around his throne continually,
some with wings that flap, some with wings that cover their feet,
some with wings that cover their faces and cry, holy, holy, holy. And here he lived in obscurity
for 30 years. He lived in absolute perfection
under God's law and nobody caught it. Nobody caught it. So when they don't catch your
holiness, don't be too surprised. You ain't got none. He had it
and they didn't catch his. You got none of your own. When
Christ, that is Jesus of Nazareth, God's expiating lamb made penal,
substitutionary, vicarious satisfaction, I'm here to declare that Zion
was delivered. You hear what I say? Zion was
delivered, even Isaiah. Now some say this is reference
to Babylonian captivity. I got no argument with that,
but that is a, but a picture or an example of the deliverance
God wrought in Christ Jesus for his people. And even Isaiah couldn't
stand it. He said, you will be delivered.
You will be delivered. But then really says you are
delivered. Why? Because God's promised this.
And when God promises it, it's already happened, whether you
see the results of it or not. Zion was delivered. God was satisfied. Look at chapter
53 of Isaiah, verses 10 and 11. I won't say much, but look at
it. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him. It doesn't mean God
the Father sat up there and laughed when He bruised the Son of God.
No. It's talking about divine satisfaction. Justice was being
satisfied. Holiness was being honored. The law was being raised to its
height. We never could raise that law
like He did. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise
Him. He hath put Him to grief. Yes,
men tortured Him. Now, you understand, they tortured
Him. He didn't just die on a cross.
They tortured Him to death. Only the part is He gave up the
ghost. If they could have, Brother Kelley,
they'd have tortured him to death. But it pleased the Lord to bruise
him. The Lord put him to grief. When
thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed,
he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall
prosper in his hand. Is that what you hear out here
in most of these so-called churches today preached? No, you know
why? Because their God does not reign.
Our God, Zion's God reigns. That's the crescendo of how beautiful
upon the mountains. Say to Zion, yes, there's redemption,
but God reigns in it. Yes, there's good news, but God
reigns over it. Yes, there is peace, but God
reigns in it. He shall see, that is, the father
shall see the travail of his soul. That is, the father shall
see the travail of the son's soul. I cannot explain that to
you. I would not even attempt to try.
Thank God we will never know that. Even if you go to hell this morning,
you'll never know that. You will get your just desserts. He shall see the travail of his
soul, and God shall be what? Satisfied. Now, when you're satisfied,
what's that mean? Nothing else is needed. Right? Now, if something else is needed,
forgive my old broken West Virginia English, but you ain't satisfied.
If you've got to have something else, you ain't satisfied. Now,
you may sit back and kick your feet up in the recliner, but
that's not something you've got to have. That's something you're
enjoying because you're satisfied. And when God Almighty gives you
repentance and faith, it's because he's already satisfied. God brings
you down into the dust, it's because God's already satisfied
in his servant. He shall see the travail of his
soul and shall be satisfied by his knowledge. Shall my righteous
servant justify many? Why? Because they're going to
come to faith? Hold on. They will come to faith, but
that's not the foundation. Why? For he shall bear their
iniquities. The foundation of our justification
is in a person. The gift of God, Jesus Christ. Faith is what gives us, God comes
along and gives us freely based upon Christ so that we can receive
it and enjoy it. Know about it. and rest in it. Now think about this, God's sent
messengers, every one of them proclaim this truth. Do you see what he says? Chapter
52 verse 8, thy watchman, especially the Old Testament scripture almost
every time, maybe not every time, but almost every time you hear
the word watchman, it's talking about gospel preachers. Now,
somebody says, well, there were no gospel preachers back then.
Oh, yes, there were. Oh, yes, there were. Thy watchman
shall lift up the voice. With the voice together shall
they sing, for they shall see eye to eye. Beautiful. Eye to eye. Now let
me tell you, every gospel preacher don't agree on every meaning
of every word in every scripture. But we see eye to eye on this.
What? Peace is had. Salvation is accomplished. In salvation for Zion, God reigns. That's what we see eye to eye
on. We may disagree about some things. But we don't disagree
about that. Because if you disagree about
that, you're not one of these people. You're not one of these
people. Think about it, no false advertisement
among God sent men. They publish peace. Now, if you
publish something and it ain't what you publish, what's that
called? That's called false advertisement. You can go to jail for that.
I know. I'm in that kind of line of work.
They're going to lock you up for false advertisement. Yet,
all across, and I say this with heavy heart, all across this
country, yea, across this terrestrial globe, men are false advertising
on God. They're saying, well, there's
peace out there if you do something. That's the reason Christ had
to die, because we couldn't do it. We can't do enough to get
it, to earn it, to merit it. It just can't happen. I owe too
much to pay God. Even the death of the wicked,
God has no pleasure in. Why? There's no divine satisfaction. That's why men and women who
go to hell, go to hell forever. It's not because their sin's
eternal. Their sin is something that happens in time. What's
the problem? They've offended an eternal God. And my sin was offensive to God
before I ever came along. Before I ever even existed. And
just think of it in this light for the sake of argument. When
God thought about me and my sin before the world was, He had
right to hate me. and to justly punish me for my
sin. Because sin is against God. We
are taught today that sin is just what you do. Sin is what
you are. It's what's down in here. And then it crawls out in all
these things we do. Out of the abundance of the heart,
the mouth then talks. Why does the person cuss and
swear? Why? Why do you cuss and swear? Why
do I cuss and swear? Because it's down in here. Why
does a man, a real man, why does anyone take a needle and stick
it in their arms? Why does anyone take a bottle
and drink it until they're plumb out of their mind? Why? Is it because that thing really
has a grip on them? People lay it down all the time.
You can go to programs and they'll get you off of that, but you
still ain't got rid of a problem. It's down in here. Henry Mahan said years ago, a
man doesn't become a thief because he steals, he steals because
he's a thief. God sent men Do not false advertise. We're here to declare what Paul
said in Colossians 1, and I won't read it, but go back sometime
and read it. Colossians 1, verses 20 through 23, Christ made peace. Now there are many so-called
preachers that say that, but they don't mean that. Paul meant
it when he said it. And I mean it when I say it,
Christ made peace. Christ has already reconciled
a people to God. There's nothing you can do to
make that more sure. And he reconciled, wait a minute,
what? Sinners. Is there a sinner in
this house this morning? Is there a sinner in this house?
Oh yeah. Oh yeah. But you know what? In many so-called
houses of worship, there are very few sinners. You know how
I know that? Oh, I know the book says we've
all sinned. The book is true, but you go ask them if they're
sinners. Go ask them, are you a sinner? And they'll say, are
you a sinner? I'm not that bad. Well, I didn't
say that bad. I said, are you a sinner? Well,
yeah, but I'm not. I'm a sinner, but I'm not as
bad as somebody else. We can always find some poor
schmuck down in the dust lower than we are. Some of us can. But we're all just a bunch of
maggots wiggling in the slime pit. Feasting upon the carcass
of this God-awful rotting flesh. That's where we live, folks.
We're called maggots. And what do maggots do? We feast
on rotting flesh. That's a metaphor for what we
are by nature. Again, no false advertisement
among God sent men. They publish. See the word? Publish. They don't offer They
don't offer peace, they don't offer salvation. They publish
it. They publish salvation. Notice, and you probably, nah,
you know what I'm talking about. But listen to Ephesians chapter
1. It's what, verse 13. In whom ye also trusted, after
that ye heard the word of truth. And that's the only time you're
ever going to trust it. Only after you hear it. You're
not going to trust it before you hear it. in whom you also
trusted after that you heard the word of truth, the gospel
of your salvation. You didn't hear that you could
be saved. Oh, no. If the message that converted
you was you could be saved, you're still trying to save yourself. The message that God sent men
preaches salvation is done. It's published. Here it is. The Son of God has brought it
with His own hands and His own will and His own works. It's
done. Think of it. Isaiah says it. All who discover themselves thrust
into the dust of repentance. This is for them. See it? Shake
thyself from the dust. What's that mean? That's where
you are. Has God ever shown you where you really are? I'm not
being mean. I'm preaching good news. And
if you're not in the dust, this ain't to you. But if you're in
the dust, notice you don't fall down in the dust. You're born
in the dust. We are dust. When we die, what do we go back?
From dust shower to dust shut out. Isaiah says, all who discover
themselves thrust into the dust of repentance, shake thyself
from the dust, arise, oh yeah, but do what? Sit down. Don't
work for this, just sit down. Think about that. Yeah, don't
try to run around for God, just sit down. What? Sit and listen.
Hear the advertisement. Hear the publication, listen
to the message. It's not DO, it's not do, it's
done. Christ has done it all. And faith
doesn't add to that, it receives it. Faith says, I believe Christ
done it all. Shake thyself from the dust of
death. Arise. Odd language, but it's the language
of the gospel. Arise, sit down. You in the dust,
raise up, get up. What did the prodigal son say? I will arise and go to my father. But did he go to his father bragging
about what he's going to do for the father? And he said, Father,
you're it. I've got no hope. Oh, be merciful
to me, the sinner. Now somebody say, he didn't say
that. Oh, yeah, he did. Oh, yeah, he did. Think of it. Isaiah says, all who feel the
noose of God's holy law. Look at it. Oh Jerusalem, loose
thyself from the bands of thy neck. You see that noose? You
see it? From the bands of thy neck, oh
captive daughter of Zion. Here's the question. Are you
in the dust? Do you feel the noose around
your neck? That's the question. You see,
God never clothes anybody in the righteousness of Christ until
they first realize that they are stark naked when it comes
to righteousness before God. God says, He that hungers and
thirsts after righteousness shall be filled. If you're in the dust, If you feel the noose around
your neck, this message is for you. Isn't that what he says?
Oh, captive daughter. Isaiah says, those who know the
usury of works religion. First part of verse three. For
thus saith the Lord, you've sold yourselves for nothing. I was
born and raised under apostate Christianity. I was born and raised under the
sway of the whore of Babylon. And I'm not a Roman Catholic.
I was a Baptist. And I was still under the influence
of the great whore of Babylon. But God Almighty called me out. And I wasn't even looking for
it. He sent a messenger to me to preach that gospel. And the
first thing I said is, I will not believe that. I will not believe. That's not
my God." And he said, oh yes, I am. And he made me to acknowledge
that. I had a fellow who preached my
grandmother's funeral, and if that says anything, and I knew
him when I was back there in that apostate religion, he said,
our God's a gentleman. He won't make anybody do anything.
That's what I call a wimp. God is God in deed as well as
in name. And he's the one who's able,
if a man walks in pride, he's able to abase him. So that means
this, if a man walks in pride and he's not abased, it ain't
because God can't. It's because he chose not to.
If he's able to do it, and he showed he could do it in Nebuchadnezzar,
proud man, mighty ruler. God made that man lick up grass
like dust in a field for however long it was? Huh? If God doesn't bring you down,
it's because God's determined not to bring you down, but leave
you right where you are. Oh, but thank God He's chosen
to bring some folks down. Isaiah says, this is for those
who've been made barren and devoid of true righteousness. Look at
verse 9, the first part. Break forth in the joy, sing
together, ye waste places of Jerusalem. You see, by nature
I had, have, and shall never ever have anything to offer to
God. but bloody rags. And if any of y'all, I'm sure
your pastor's probably taught you what that means from the
prophet Isaiah. Bloody rags. You think my wife's gonna come
to me with her bloody rags and say, here, my husband, look what
I've got for you. You want this? As one preacher,
Moose Park, said in our assembly last year, he said, that's disgusting.
Is it not? That's disgusting. That's what
we do by nature all the time when we offer up our works before
God. Because this same prophet said that even our righteousnesses
are as filthy rags, bloody rags that a woman has every month,
once every month, as filthy rags before God. I have nothing to offer to God. Nothing to offer to God, and
neither do you. And when you first begin to discover
that, it is a frightening thing. And you don't realize it, but
you know what? It's a good thing. Because most people are not in
the dust. Most people will not sit still to listen. They want
to be busy about work. Most people could care less about
selling themselves into religion. They want to do more. There are
people who give millions of dollars for the sake of religion, but
could care less about hearing Christ glorified and honored.
Do you know that? Most people are not barren and
devoid of true righteousness. Go ask them. They can tell you
all the great humanitarian deeds they've ever done. And I still,
there's a part of me that still says, God's got to honor that
somehow. Going down there in Houston, helping people out,
that's got to have some merit. Not one ounce of merit. It's the right thing to do. But
it's got no merit before God. Because that glorious deed in
the sight of men cannot cancel out my corruption before God. That's the problem. It's not
in and of itself those things are bad, but we use those to
try to cover up like Adam and Eve did the fig leaves. What's
wrong with throwing up fig leaves if you realize you're naked?
Nothing wrong with that, but God knows you're still naked.
He knows what you've done. He knows what you are. And thank
God He shows some of us, to a degree, that about myself. To you, to these kind of people,
Isaiah says, and I say, peace is made. Peace is made. Are you a proud rebel and you
know it? But you're ashamed of it? It weighs heavy upon your
heart? Huh? Do you say within yourself,
I believe, but I'm so filled with unbelief. And you know what
unbelief is? It is rebellion against God.
Unbelief is not just the absence of belief. It is positive disbelief. It is, I will not believe God.
And that, you know, you know why that's such a crime against
God? Because believing has to do with his son and his son is
the most dear thing to him in all This is my beloved Son in whom
I'm well pleased. Now do something for Him. Is
that what he said? Is that what God Almighty said? Now do something for Him. No,
hear Him. Oh, to be accused of being a
part of the do-nothing religion except for believing God. I heard Tim James say one day,
and I've been preaching for 30-some years, trying to preach the gospel
for 30-some years. He said, it's okay to believe
God. And that finally dawned on me after all those years.
Think about it. I've been preaching the gospel
for 30-some years. And that man, God stands and
he sends him once again in a fresh sense. It's okay to believe God. And it's like, because I believe God in spite
of myself. I believe. Yes, I've got unbelief. And who
has to take care of that? He does. Remember that man in
Mark 9? Lord, I believe. Now, Lord, you
help me to straighten this unbelief out. Now, even what he said,
Lord, I believe, help Thou! Even his unbelief was surrounded
by belief only in Christ. Oh, God, conquer my rebellion. Why? Because you reign. Because
you reign. But it's even more than that.
It's even more than that. The good tidings of good, and
that's the Gospel. It rises to immutable, unthwartable,
unassailable heights when it says to Zion, Thy God reigneth. Think of this. He is as much
mine as I am His. because He has given Himself
to me and for me. I didn't have to unite to Him.
He united Himself to me. Now, I realize most of us are
not used to this in our country, but in some places it's still
true today. The woman don't have a say-so. Now, come on, folks. And this book here and all of
this truth is surrounded by that culture. You understand what
I'm saying? The woman had no say so. The
Father said, that woman's going with that man, and I'm even going
to give some gifts with that woman to that man. Right? A dowry. Right? Let me tell you
folks, that's what God Almighty does with His bride. He chose
her, chose the one He wanted, and He gives her to His Son,
and He brings all these gifts right along with her. It's all
the work of His hands. One place the prophet says, put
on your righteousness. Yeah, put on your righteousness,
which I have wrought for thee. Which I have wrought for thee.
Here it is, it's written, God reigns. He reigns. Now, isn't
it amazing, isn't it amazing that God reigns in the one thing
that apostate Christianity denies, that's salvation. They say God
reigns in a mud hole. He reigns over your flat tires.
He reigns over your job. He even, sometimes, they disagree
on this. He reigns over storms. But now
we all know He don't reign in salvation. That's up to you.
That's the biggest lie that was ever fostered amongst the sons
and daughters of Adam. That's the one place the Scripture's
clear that He reigns. In good news. in peace, in salvation. That's the one place. And then some have the audacity
to say, well, but preacher, when Paul quoted from Isaiah 52 verse
7, and he did, and he does so in Romans 10 verse 15, you can
check that out, and they're right about that, he does. When Paul
quotes from Isaiah 52 verse 7, in Romans 10 verse 15, why does
he not mention God's reigning then? And I'm thinking, duh! Chapter 9 precedes all of chapter
10? And chapter 9 says, Zion, thy
God reigns! And then he just quotes enough
of Isaiah 52 and 7 to say, see, this is the way it's always been.
Paul wasn't preaching anything new. He preached in the same
gospel that Jesus Christ preached to Adam and Eve in the garden
right after they failed. That's right, the word of the
Lord came walking in. The very good news himself, Kelly,
was preaching the good news about himself to our first parents,
Adam and Eve, while they stand there clothed in their silly
fig leaf aprons. Notice, he came after them. They
hid from him. But do you think they were really
hiding from God? And neither am I. And neither
are you. So, I still got a half a page
of notes left. That's all right. Think about
it. There is no doubt, my brothers and sisters, Christ reigns in
His cross work. He does. He reigns in divine
satisfaction. He does, but He also reigns in
the saved. Do you understand what I'm saying
now? Yes, He sovereignly wrought salvation on the cross and in
the tomb and His resurrection proved that God was satisfied
with it because God took Him right on to His right hand and
set Him down there. Yes, He reigns there, but He
reigns down in here. Now you say, but I don't see
that a lot preacher. You probably see it less than
what you're even trying to admit to right now. It ain't about
whether you see it or not. It's about whether it's true
or not. Who reigned over Pharaoh, even
when he's standing or sitting, I should say, on his throne and
say, I will not let Israel go. Who do you think was reigning?
God was raining. And God had already told Moses,
it's not going to take 10 whacks. I'm going to whack him 10 times.
Do you understand what I'm saying? He wasn't telling Moses, it'll
take 10 efforts. He's saying, I'm going to bring
10 judgments upon him. And the 10th one, he will let
you go. He'll tell you, get out. And
here, take some gold with you when you go. Take some silver
with you when you go. Isn't it amazing? Where did they
get all that gold and silver to build that tabernacle and
all those fine things for the worship of God? The Egyptians. Where did the money that you
all got to build this building, pay the light bill, keep the
heat going, keep the... Where's that money come from?
This world. This world, they may shut you
down tomorrow, but God Almighty is still in absolute sovereign
control of it. They've tried to stop us for
almost 2,000 years now. Oh, no, wait a minute, at least
6,000 years now. They can't do it. They may stop
me. They may stop you, but they cannot stop our God. Now, when the boot comes down,
will I still talk that way? I hope to God I will. I hope that's still my heart's
delight if they knock on my door one night and say, this is it,
you Christians, especially you free grace people. But you think
they, they, this world hates the Armenians. How much do you
think they really hate you if they knew what you really believed?
How many people where you work really know what you believe?
How many of you think, really though, you think they hate the
Jerry Falwells and the Swaggers and all that? They do. This world
doesn't like it. This world in general doesn't like it. But
they're all part of the same lot, folks. They hate our God. Why? Because our God reigns. And that was the cry of the Jews. Our Lord's own words said, this
is what they're gonna say, we will not have this man to reign
over us. But he did. Even when they cried
crucify Him, they were but doing what He had sovereignly decreed
to take place. That's what I call reigning,
isn't it to you? Think about it. Christ reigns
in right and in might. Not just judicially at Calvary,
but practically in our everyday lives. Even, no, especially when
we don't even see it. He's right there working everything
after His own purpose and His own will. Think it, just turn
to Colossians and I will try to wind up with this. Just give
you a few insights, if you could call it that. A few statements
concerning Jesus Christ reigning in the hearts and minds of His
people. Judicially, yes, but also practically,
in real time. In other words, it's got shoe
leather on it. It's got a belt on it that will
hold your pants up where they ought to be. Christ reigns in
right and might, not just judicially, but practically. In other words,
according to Paul, Christ reigns in what we perceive and understand
in everyday life. Colossians chapter 2 verse 3,
In whom are hid, not hid to us, it's hid to others. In whom are
hid, all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Do you see it?
Hear it! Hear it! Paul goes on to say
that Christ reigns in the very arrangement and establishment
of our lives. Look at verse 5. For though I
be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit, joying
and beholding your order. That's arrangement. And what? And steadfastness. That is the
establishment of your lives. He's right there in the midst
of it all. He goes on to say that Christ
reigns in our very way of life. Look at verse 6. As you therefore
have received Christ Jesus the Lord, how did you receive Him?
You were just a glass sitting there and God Almighty poured
Him the water into you. That's how you received Him.
Now once He poured the water into you, you said, ah, it's
great to have this water in me. You receive it. And look, look. as you therefore receive Christ
Jesus the Lord in the same way. So, so walk ye in him. My walk is no different than
my beginning. My end is no different than my
beginning and my walk. It's all by God given faith. That's what it's all. The just
shall live by faith from beginning to end. Do you lay it down and
your body rots in the ground? Faith. But it's not just any
kind of faith. It's a God-given faith. And a
God-given faith looks to its source, Jesus Christ. Look! Rooted and built up In
other words, it goes down that far, as far as it goes up that
way, as far as it goes down that way, it's all in Christ. It's
all about Him and established in the faith as you've been taught,
abounding there in the thanksgiving. Now, because this is true, Christ
reigns as opposed to everything else. See it in verse 8. Beware, lest any man spoil you
through philosophy and vain deceit after the tradition of men, after
the rudiments of the Lord. Isn't it amazing that even Hollywood
believes in free will? Huh? That ought to throw the thing
of suspect to start with. Isn't it amazing that every nut
at the Super Bowl can hold up a sign, God loves you, and they
put the cameras right on it? Right? But you let them hold
up a verse in Romans chapter 9 and see how long the cameras
will zero in on it. Let them put up, Jacob have I
loved, Esau have I hated. But I dare you to do that sometime,
next time you go to the Super Bowl, you hold up that sign,
I'll be looking for you, see if they can put you on TV for
a while. If they do, you'll be the pariah of the tale. Beware
lest any man spoil you through philosophy, vain deceit, after
the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world. And here's
why. Because all of those things are designed by the adversary
to get you away from Jesus Christ. And not after Christ. For in Him dwelleth all the fullness. of the Godhead. Think about this,
folks. Oh, God help us to just start
to think about it. In Him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. In other words, everything that
God is. One day, even if not, if I could see Him with my physical
eyes, I have seen all that God ever is, will be, shall be. You
see what I mean? All the fullness of the Godhead
dwells in Him bodily. And ye, are complete in him. How can you ask more
than God himself? And yet oftentimes we do. We're
enticed by this little thing. It's all right to confess it,
brothers. We begin in the dust. We're going to die in the dust.
Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief. Whenever someone says, well,
that man, he's a workaholic. And we don't really even mean
sometimes to throw off on it unless maybe he's abandoned his
family. But he goes out and provides for his family. He makes a great
living. They really don't have a lot to worry about because
he just pours himself into his work and maybe even into his
family. And what do we say? That's his
life. Don't we? A man gives himself
to sports. What do we say? That's his life.
Right? What does that mean? That thing
reigns over you. Right? Whether it's your job,
whether it's your family, whatever, the pleasures of this world,
whatever you give yourself to, whatever your life is, that's
what reigns over you. Correct? Now, if you got any
sense, you know that's the truth. If not, you probably need to
go out to the funny farm and they give you some medicine.
You can relax for a while. give your life to something it
reigns over you and then look at what Paul sums it up in chapter
3 if you then be risen with Christ seek those things which are above
where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God set your affection
on things above not on things of the earth for you're dead
and your life is hid with Christ in God when Christ who is our
life this is what I'm talking yes he gave me life sovereignly
But He also is my life's sovereign. I can't help it. I'm glad I can't
help it. I'm caught up with Jesus Christ. I am. And that's not bragging
on me, because I certainly didn't want that to begin with. I despised
it. I tried to run from it. I mocked
it. I blasphemed it. And God said,
no, I reign over you. And now I'm glad He does. I'm
caught up with Him. You know what? If I go to hell,
let me go to hell being caught up with Jesus Christ. If I go to hell looking at what
I am by nature, God would be right. Oh, but folks, if He made
peace for me, If He delivered me, if I'm one of His Zion, I'm
okay. And I'm okay with that. I like
it that way. I want it to be that way. I worked with a fellow one time. Please don't misunderstand.
I'm not throwing off on sports or anything. He loved the Super
Bowl. You know, and I like the Super
Bowl. I've watched the Super Bowl many times. I think I'd
rather watch it from TV at home rather than being there. I've
been to a big football game that was really great, but I couldn't
even keep up with what the ball was. On TV, they showed me where the
ball was at. But this fellow, he was caught up with football.
When the Super Bowl came along, he invited over family and friends,
spent hundreds of dollars. They sat around and played football
on Xbox or whatever it was. The night before, all the way
into the next day, leading up to the Super Bowl, they played
football so they could watch football. That's what you call,
this is my life. Oh God, let me be caught up with
Jesus Christ like that. And that's what I told him. I
said, the way you felt about football, I said, I understand
that. I can relate to that. There's been things in my life,
I can relate to that. But oh, I want Christ to be that
to me. The way you love football, I
want to love Christ that way and much, much more. Oh God, teach us these great,
precious truths. If need be, Lord, stomp our hearts
in the dirt. and then raise us by the grace
of your son. May he receive all the honor
and glory. Amen.