Through Jordan leadeth me, He
leadeth me, He leadeth me, By His own hand He leadeth me. His faithful follower I would
be, For by His hand He leadeth me. Thank you, Jeanette and John. Go back to Isaiah 42. Mark this
place well. We're going to come back to it.
Isaiah 42. Hope and pray this morning that
the Lord will just enable me to uphold, to lift up His servant,
the Lord Jesus Christ, to hold Him up, set Him forth before
you. And I hope and pray that you will be able to behold Him,
to look unto Him and be saved. All of you. All of you. That's a good desire, isn't it?
Pray for me, would you? And for your children. Pray that
someone will hear this who has never heard it before. Look at
Isaiah 42, verses 1 through 4. Behold, my servant, whom I uphold,
mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth, I have put my spirit upon him.
He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not
cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street.
A bruised reed shall he not break. Smoking flax shall he not quench. He shall bring forth judgment
unto truth. He shall not fail, nor be discouraged,
that he have set judgment in the earth. The isles shall wait
for his law. What I hope, what I pray to do
this morning is for you to see Christ who came, sent by the
Father to be His servant, to serve His cause. And what was
the Father's cause? What did He send the Son to do? To save a people that He chose. What are they like? What kind
of people? Oh, this is a faithful sinner.
and worthy of all acceptation, Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. He didn't come to call the righteous.
Oh, there were a few self-righteous that He did save, merciful and
gracious, but He came to call sinners, broken-hearted, contrite
sinners. And far from like this, I want
to show you today that our Lord came not to quench smoking flacks,
but to ignite it. Not to break broken
wreaths, but to heal them, to deliver the prisoners, to bring
them out. Oh, man, that's us. You read with me how He said,
my people, they're all spoiled. We're spoiled. You know, the Lord literally
came and preached to the poor. He literally fed the poor. That's
the people that needed Him. That's the people that hung on
Him. And I fear for this, our country. There might be some poor and needy
in here this morning. Some bruised reeds and smoking
flax. Look at verse 6. The Lord said,
I gave Him for a covenant of the people. called thee in righteousness,
I will hold thine hand and keep thee, and give thee for a covenant
of the people." The Lord Jesus Christ was a man. God manifested
in a man. Born of a woman, made of a woman,
made under the law to redeem them that were under the law.
Made of the seed of David. but without sin. He became a
man, and that's for the purpose of being our covenant head. In Adam all die, with a second
Adam. We're going to sing that next
Sunday. Second Adam from above. Reinstate
us in thy love. The world's going to prove his
righteousness. My righteous servant. He came
as a man. And I love that. I get great
comfort from this in knowing that our Lord was a man. He knows
our frame because He became a man. But He's a perfect man. He's a strong man. Though He
had flesh, which is weakness, yet He had faith, which is strength. He leaned on His God. He had
to live by faith. He was a man. He was the captain
of our salvation. Look at verse 13. The Lord shall
go forth as a mighty man and stir up jealousy like a man of
war. He's the captain of our salvation. Love the story of David going
out to meet Goliath, don't you? That's Christ. Only a few people
understand that. Most religious people look at
that as a story of the underdog, you know, against the great foe
and how we can defeat our foe. We can defeat our foes like David. No, well, yes, but no. That is a picture of the Lord
Jesus Christ, the Son of David, who came single-handedly, a man
of war. David throughout the Psalms says,
You've taught my fingers to war. Why? To defeat our foes. To put away our sins by the sacrifice
of Himself. He became a man. He had to be
held up by God. He had to be supported. He had
to be strengthened to the task. And He was. I love that. I love that. He labored to the point of exhaustion. In the garden he sweat, as it
were, great drops of blood. And he said, I'm going to die
from there. And the Lord sent someone to minister unto him. He can't fail. We're saved by a man. The captain
of our salvation, God's servant, sent to save his people. He delights
in him. I love that. Brother Tom Hargin
preached one of the best messages I've ever heard. In this pulpit,
on that verse 4, he shall not fail. He shall not fail. We're going to look at several
things he says he shall not do, and some things he shall do,
but several things he shall not do, he cannot do. He cannot fail. He shall not fail. He won't even
be discouraged. I love that. He set his face
like a flint. They told him, Lord, don't go
to Jerusalem. They're trying to kill you. No
man taketh my life from me. Set his face like a flint. Then
when it came time, he knew. Then when it came time, when
it pleased God, God's going to kill him. God's going to bruise him. He
set His faith like a plan. Oh, and as He is, so are we,
people. We're in Him. We're kept by Him.
He's our covenant head. In Christ all be made alive. Well, where am I? Verse 7 says, He came to open
blind eyes. Oh, we read that, didn't we,
in Isaiah 29? The great work of our God is
to open blind eyes, bring prisoners out of prison. You ever been
in prison? I'm ashamed to admit that I have.
But all of us have been. All of us have been held captive. Scripture says that. People don't
believe this. They don't even believe there's
a devil. They think that's old, you know, mountain lore. No,
our Lord said that. Our Lord's the one that spoke
more of our adversary than anybody would. And we're so captive by
it, we don't know it. Paul told young Timothy, maybe,
peradventure, he preached to them, Timothy, peradventure God
will give them deliverance, that they may recover themselves out
of the captivity of Satan. They're held captive by Him at
His will. Our Lord came to deliver the
captives. If He did not, we'd be captive still to this world
and things of it. Look at verse 13. They came to travail, like a
travailing woman. Our Lord came to give birth to
a people. All right, go to Matthew. Matthew's
Gospel, Chapter 11 with me. You know, these verses are quoted
right after our Lord did some things here in Matthew's Gospel.
What made me think of this was, well, something happened. A friend,
a brother broke something on my desk. And everything's a sermon. Spurgeon said the whole world's
a sermon. And you remember the little sheet I told you about
where on my desk, little black-faced sheet? And I had been there a
long time, and I just threw it in the trash can. You remember
that? And it was robbing, wasn't it? Found it in the trash can,
put it back on the desk. And I came and said, there it
is. I threw that thing away. I casted out a sheep. I thought, you can't cast out
one little sheep. So by God's grace, it's going
to stay on my desk forever. Well, I have a figurine on my
desk that I put there years ago to remind me of my job. It's
a figurine of a dog, a watchdog, a Scottish Border Collie, watching
over three little lambs. Three little lambs. He's got
his ears pricked for. He's got his nose, he's got his
eyes set like that. He's looking for the wolf. He's
watching over. He's guarding. He's protecting
these three little lambs. Well, lo and behold, someone
was cleaning my dad and knocked it open. And one of those little sheep
was completely severed from the watchman. And another was broken
to pieces. Ear broke off, leg broken. And I thought, I can't throw that away. I got
to fix it. I got to restore it. This came to mind. These verses
came to mind. Bruised wreaths, smoking flags,
brokenhearted, he will not despise. He won't cast away one sin. This
is why he came. This is who he came for. He didn't
come for the whole. He said the whole don't need
a position. He said, I came for the broken. Am I broken in here
this morning? This is why Christ came. Behold
my servant. And in all these verses here
in Matthew 11, this is why he came. In chapter 9, it says,
verse 35, that he went throughout the cities and villages, teaching
in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom and
healing every sickness. He healed every disease among
the people. In the villages, he went into
the remote places, little places. He stayed in one place called
Capernaum, where this is quoted. Capernaum was a little seaside
village. Remember, we just looked at that.
He came down to this place called Capernaum. And he stayed there
a long time. He found a few of his disciples
there. But he healed everybody that needed it. That's why he
came. That's why he came. to heal the sick, raise the dead,
cast out devils, every sickness, every disease, to forgive every
sin by every single sinner that comes to Him. Matthew 11. Now this is where he's in Capernaum,
verse 23. Now he's been there a long time
preaching, and he warns them, as he warns us, this little village,
Rocky Mountain, and other little villages all over, Fairmont,
little places. Thou Capernaum art exalted unto
heaven, thou be brought down to hell. If the mighty works
which have been done in thee had been done in Sodom, it would
have remained until this day. I say unto you, it would be more
tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for
thee." And at that time, here's what
we quoted earlier, at that time the Lord answered, as He's always
speaking to His Father. and said, I thank thee, O Father,
Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from
the wise and the prudent, and revealed them unto me. Even so,
Father, it seemed good in thy sight. Then he said to whoever
was around him, All things are delivered unto me of my Father.
No man knoweth the Son, but the Father. Neither knoweth any man
the Father, save the Son. He to whomsoever the Son will
reveal Him. Come unto me." After those words
of warning, Yet he says this, Come unto me, all you that labor
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon
you, and learn of me. I am meek and lowly in heart.
You shall find rest unto your soul. My yoke is easy, and my
burden is light." Our Lord is the faithful righteous
one that he is, warned, lest we presume, and yet he gave blessed
promises, lest we despair. Come unto me. Come unto me, all ye that labour
and are heavy laden. Then, look at verse 12. See,
Isaiah is quoted after all of this. Then the Lord went through,
on the Sabbath day, through the corn. His disciples were hungry,
And they began to pluck the ears of the corn and to eat. We preached on this years ago. I remember Brother Cody and I
were talking about it. It was such a blessing, such
a blessing. The Pharisees didn't like it.
That's not lawful. You can't walk through this corn
field on a Sabbath day. And he said, have you not read
verse 3, what David did when he was hungered and those that
were with him? to the house of God and did eat the shelled bread
that was not lawful for them to eat, nor them that were with
him, only for the priest? Have you not read?" I said, you can't do this. Well,
they did it anyway. You can't. You say, who is this? Malachi said, The Lord whom ye
shall seek shall suddenly come to his temple. Who? The Lord.
Psalm 24, that David said, The earth is the Lord's and the fullness
thereof, the world and they that dwell therein. Here he came walking
on his earth. His earth. This is his earth.
He walks where he will. Saves whom he will. That was
his field. That field didn't belong to anybody.
It belonged to Him. We don't own anything. We borrow
it. It all belongs to the Lord. What's
it for? His people. For His glory. Those are His disciples He's
chosen. And He brought them... I thought about that farmer. You know, it could be that his
field prospered that year and nobody else's did. Could it? Could be. Some of you, Amy, you
gave us a bunch of tomatoes this year, didn't you? Gave us a bunch
of tomatoes. You know, my garden didn't produce one tomato. Not
one! Why did this farmer's field flourish
with all this corn? The Lord needed it that day for
Himself and for His disciples. He came walking through there.
And that's in Deuteronomy, by the way. It says that whoever's
hungry may walk through whoever's field. It doesn't matter whoever's
field it is. You're supposed to let them walk through and
pluck it. Don't get baskets out and store it, but pluck it. You
see, He gives us every day our daily bread. He has caused this
country to prosper. Why? For your sake. I gave Egypt
for you, Ethiopia and Sabaeth for thy ransom, since you were
precious in my sight." Feed the world, but yet it's
principally to feed his people. He came walking through his earth,
through his field with his disciples, and this was on the Sabbath.
They said, you can't do that on this day. This is my day. They didn't have a
clue what the Sabbath was about. He is the Sabbath. How many people
know that, Brother John? You know that, don't you? So
many people are worshiping a day. Paul said that. They worship
a day. They don't know the Lord of Sabbath.
So many people worship Saturday. Some people worship Sunday. What's
your Sabbath? What does Sabbath mean? It means
rest. What are you resting in? He said, I'm their Sabbath. I'm
the Lord of the Sabbath. I own this field. I own these people. I own this
day. I own it all. I'm the Lord. They'll do whatever I tell them
to do. Whatever I let them do. They can have whatever I say
they can have. These are mine. I've made this
place for them. He kept saying to them throughout
this chapter, you're not mine. John said, you're not mine. Mine,
all mine, are thine and thine are mine." He said, if you had
known that, verse 7, I will have mercy. See, he came to have mercy,
not sacrifice. These people draw them here with
their lips through ceremonies and sacrifices. Oh, he said,
the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath day, verse 8. He departed
thence. He went into their synagogue,
verse 9. He went into their synagogue. The Lord, oh my, I read to you
how He went throughout the villages, cities and villages, big cities,
little cities, villages, and He would bind in their synagogue.
Bless the Lord, oh my soul, and all that is within me, bless
His holy name. Christ in you, Christ in your
midst is the hope of glory. He's entered this blessed little
synagogue. Thank God. Thank God. Thank God. Thank God. That's what Isaiah 42 says. Sing.
Sing. Sing, ye blind. Sing, ye deaf. Sing. Why? Christ is in the midst
of you. Right now, this day, Christ is
being preached. I went into their synagogue. Behold, there was a man, verse
10. It all goes together. There was a man with a withered
hand. They saw this. They saw it coming.
They knew He healed everybody that was broken. Everybody that
needed healing, they saw Him do it. He didn't heal them. They
weren't broken. Those Pharisees and scribes,
they weren't sinners. But they watched Him heal everybody
that had need of healing. And He'll do that today. You need healing every time you
hear the gospel. You know that? You need blind eyes open. You
need your deaf ears open. You need your lame feet to walk
again. You need a broken heart. Yes,
you do. And I'm preaching to you the
balm of Gilead. I'm preaching, behold the Lamb. They didn't need it. They were watching Him and they
said, it's not lawful. Is it lawful to heal on a Sabbath
day? They're going to accuse Him. Verse 12. Verse 11, he said,
what man shall it be among you that hath one sheep? One sheep if it fall into a pit.
You know, our Lord doesn't have one single sheep that hasn't
fallen into a pit. In fact, every one of them were
in a pit when he found them. And fall in again. And again,
don't they? And they cry with David, deliver
us from going down into the pits. He said, remember the pit from
which you were digged. Christ came to deliver them that
fall into a pit. Snares and pits and traps and
snares of the devil would fall into it. What man having one sheep? What
he's saying is, is this man with a withered hand is one of my
sheep. I came all the way to this place for this one sheep. What good is it? He's got a withered
hand. What good is it to me? To Christ. He's going to bring glory to
Christ by healing it. He said, I tell you, if he fall
into a pit on the Sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it and
lift it out? He lifteth it out of the deep miry clay. sitteth
my feet in a straight and narrow way, lifteth me out, up to a
heavenly place, O praise his dear name, lifteth me up." Now,
verse 12, how much then is a man better than a sheep? Wherefore
it is lawful to do well on the Sabbath day. Then saith he to
the man, stretch forth thine hand. Now, President, a withered hand. You've seen people with withered
hands. They can't work, can they? They can't do anything. They
can't even really dress themselves. They can't really feed themselves. They can't provide for themselves,
right? Well, that's us spiritually speaking. You know that? All
our faculties in Adam withered. When he came to that pool of
Bethesda, it says there was a great multitude of people, blind, haught,
lame, withered. And that's us by nature. Our
minds are withered. You're struggling right now to
listen to the Word of Life. You're struggling right now.
Whereas you sit and listen to the most vain and ridiculous
and useless things on earth and you sit there riveted to it.
Who's that? Satan. That's captivity. That's spoiled. He's spoiled. We can't sit this as Words of
Life. Pay attention! Pay attention! What's wrong with us? Withered! Our hearts, our feet, find a
hard walking by faith. Our hands, serve ourselves. Pull in a withered hand, that
means bring it into yourself. Scripture says to stretch out
our hand. A withered hand. The Lord came for this man with
a withered hand and all like him. Anybody? Did I describe
anybody in here? All like him. The Pharisees wanted
to accuse him. They were religious hypocrites.
They weren't poor and needy. They were rich and self-sufficient.
They were critics. They were fault-finders. They
were righteous. They weren't sinners. They were finding fault
with what he was saying and doing, as some do with what I say and
do. But all sinners that are withered. Behold, my servants. And he says, Stretch out your hand. Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. Believe. Come unto death. You can't. You
said they can't. They do. They're lame, but they
do. How? He fetches them. Oh, stretch
forth thine hand. And he did. Those who couldn't, those who
wouldn't, they did. He did. Then, verse 14, they held counsel
how to destroy him. And the Lord knew, and he withdrew
himself from them. He withdrew himself. Great multitudes
followed him. Yes, and he healed them all.
He charged them that they should not make him known, that it might
be fulfilled, which was spoken of by Isaiah the prophet, saying,
Behold my servants. And he went on to quote that.
All of this was to show us who it is that came and why it came,
to fulfill the Scriptures, to fulfill God's Word, who is Christ,
fulfilled by the prophets. Now go back to Isaiah 42. Go
back there. Let's just look for a few more
minutes at who this is and why he came and who he came for.
Okay? This is written of all the prophets. Our Lord said, they are they
which testify of me. Me. Moses wrote of me. To him give all the prophets
witness. Isaiah is speaking not of himself here, but another.
And God says through Isaiah, Behold my servant whom I uphold,
mine elect, and whom my soul delighteth. God from heaven said
this about his Son twice, didn't he? This is my beloved Son and
whom I'm well pleased. Well pleased. Look at verse 21. The Lord is well pleased. for
his righteousness sake, he will magnify the law and make it honorable."
Well, please, a man approved of God. Well, please, for his
righteousness sake. And the Lord God sent him to
be our righteousness. Can I say this again? Shall I
say this again? Oh, dare I not. Because you see, this is what
sinners need. This is what broken-hearted sinners
that mourn over their sin and pour. This is what they say. This is what he said in Isaiah
45, Surely shall one say, In the Lord have I righteousness. And they say with Isaiah in chapter
64, All my righteousness is a filthy rag. I try to be good. I try. I can't do it. Behold, my servant, God said,
he's your righteousness. That's his name. He came to be
made under you. Wisdom. Saving wisdom. Righteousness. He's well pleased
for his righteousness sake. That's good news. Good news. Well, please, He'll magnify the
law. You broke it. He'll magnify. He'll make it
honorable. You dishonored it. He'll make it honorable. He did
it for you. That's why He came. Lawbreakers, He came to keep
it. His righteousness, He shall. Look at verse 1. It says, I put
my Spirit upon Him. That means the Christ, the Anointed
One. He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. That's us. That's us. Romans 1 talks about
the Gentiles. Romans 2 talks about the unsaved
Jews. Romans 3 says they're any different.
No, they're all unsaved. None good. None right. None understand. None of them know the way of
peace. Nobody fears God. They hate God. None of them,
by nature, Jews or Gentiles. None of them. But Christ came
to save Jews and Gentiles. He's so merciful, He said, go
to the Jews first. The ones that killed me. The
ones that spit in my face. That's who I came for. That's
why I came. Behold what a servant he is.
And the Gentiles. Far away places. Verse 4 says
that isles shall wait for his love. What isles? What isles? There's a set of islands in the
North Atlantic off of Europe. He used to call the islands of
the ocean, and it began to be called the British Islands. They're going to wait for his
law. The law works all the way from
that little place over there in the middle of the Middle East.
How's it going to get there? We don't have internet. Persecution of the church. Seeking his sheep all the way
over the isles. Oh my, what the Lord did over
there. And you know where we get it?
We're Gentiles! We're a bunch of Gentiles! Anglo-Saxon
Gentiles! Heathen, that's heathen. Gentiles
are heathen. People, my origin is the Celtic
people, Irish. We were naked, running around
naked. Mad men, wild men. They don't
have any understanding. They're without understanding.
That's what he said. Gentiles don't have a clue. Don't know
who God is. Worship the sun, worship the
stars, worship God's, not God's. He said, I'm going to give them
an understanding that they might know me. But I'm God. There is none else.
Judgment. Not reprobate. Judgment. Give
them understanding. And justice, this man. Justice
to the Gentiles by being their just one and justifier. Look
at verse 2. He shall cry, not cry. He shall
not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the
street. This tells us who Christ is and
why He came and who He came for, right here. He shall not cry,
nor lift up His voice. The Lord didn't go around the
streets of Jerusalem and Galilee crying out, Somebody come, please. Will somebody believe me? Never.
Never. Never. He stood and cried a few times,
I'll tell you in a minute. But he didn't cry. He did not cry. He shall not
cry, because he came without fanfare. He came quietly, born
in a stable. He wasn't born in Jerusalem.
He was born in a stable. Oh, there came a multitude of
heavenly hosts, all right, to cry out aloud. Who'd they tell? Who'd they tell? Who heard it? Three shepherds
on the hillside. The Lord sent the whole multitude
of heavenly hosts to shout out, and nobody in the world heard
it but a few shepherds. What does that tell you? It came
from out on. They're going to hear it. But
it came with quiet and a stable. He worked quietly for 30 years
and nobody was hidden. Sealed up. Working quietly, walking around,
working in his shop like David. Remember, keeping the Father's
sheep. What's he doing all those 30 years? He's keeping sheep.
Oh yeah. He's keeping Israel. Then he came to a wedding. Remember,
his first appearance, he came to a wedding. He might turn that
water into wine. You know what that meant. You
were here. You know what that meant. He shows that to his servants,
like the ones at the wedding. His disciples, not everybody,
what that water to wine is. That's the Word turned to blood,
the Word of Christ to Him crucified. Everybody didn't see it. He's
not trying to get everybody to see it. He's not trying to get people
to believe on him. He didn't stand out in the street with
somebody, please come to me. No, no, no, no, no. He said,
all that the Father giveth me shall come to me. And he went
looking for them. He went looking for them and
found them up a tree on purpose. He found them by the well, so
come unto me. Found them in a boat, come unto me, follow me. This
is the And this is what I'm saying, if He's come to you, and if you
come to Him, bless His name, bless Him, you must be one of
His servants, one of His elect. Oh my, bless His holy name. Come
for you. He won't cry. I lift up His voice
in the street. But now He did cry. He did cry when He was hanging
on that cross. Finally. He cried so heaven, earth, and
hell could hear him. My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? A loud voice, it says, a loud
voice that shook heaven and earth. Earth did quake. What's going
on here? This is why He came. This is
my servant. What is this? Behold the Lamb
of God. John stood up. His disciples
stood up. His prophets stood up. The Lord
told them in Isaiah 40, Lift up your voice. Cry aloud. Spare not. What? Behold the Lamb. You know, you cry when you want
to be heard. That's what we do. Christ could do it with a still,
small voice, didn't He? But on the cross, God shut Him out. He'd become
us. He'd become our substitute. He
became sin. He cried out, this is hell. God
won't hear you. This is hell. Forsaken by God. He cried with a loud voice. My
God, isn't it significant? Isn't it coincident that you
hear the world saying this collectively? Oh my God, huh? Is that coincident? Do we hear what we're saying?
But you, and you, and you, do you know why Christ cried that
out loud? He was you. My servant, He's come to be you. Covenant He is. And He cried
out. God spared not His own Son, but
delivered Him up for us all. And then the last thing He said
was with a loud voice. Do you know what it was? He cried
with a loud voice, do you know what it was? This is the gospel. This is your salvation. This
is it. He said, it is finished. Salvation accomplished. Sins
pardoned. Satan vanquished. The judgment
of this God of this world. My people brought in an everlasting
righteousness. I'm the one who came to do this
for my people, and I finished the work." And he bowed his head
and gave up the ghost, and heaven erupted. Am I certain? And look at this. It said he
came for bruised wreaths and smoking black. He said, a bruised
reed shall he not break. Stay with me a few more minutes,
would you please? I don't know how long. This is good. Okay? This is good. If you're a bruised reed or smoking
flack, you're going to love this. He said, a bruised reed shall
he not break. Smoking flack shall he not quench,
till he brings forth judgment, justice unto truth. The truth,
the gospel. You shall not think, no. A bruised
reed, what is that? A reed is a little, weak, frail,
feeble, slender, tender plant. A little tender plant. Those
of you who plant garden, you know, you plant little plants
or seed. And these little plants grow
up, real little tender, young, either young or just slender
stalks, don't they? The Lord said every plant that
my Heavenly Father doesn't plant will be rooted out. But every
plant that He plants will never be rooted out. I planted a garden,
I told you, my tomatoes, I think it was year before last, I planted
six or eight of those heirloom tomatoes. And I was really looking
forward to it. I came out, and they were all
growing pretty good, but somehow or another, it was kind of broken. It was bent. It was falling over. And my first thoughts were, hey,
I'll pull it up. So I had to prompt it up, prompt
it up. It came out again, you know,
weeks later, and all the other ones were full of tomatoes. Not
last year, the year before. All of them were full of tomatoes.
But this one, it's about that big around, it had one, one little
green tomato that big. Pull it up. No, sir. That's food. That's proof. That tomato is
as alive as this. So you know what I did to that
one? I left the others alone. Oh, I just dunged it and I nurtured
it and all that. And you know what? It ripens
and I got one tomato. What's my point? You say, I don't have much faith.
Do you have any? Do you believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ? I don't have much fruit. I don't
have much love or joy or peace or gentleness or goodness or
faith or meekness or temperance or longsuffering. I don't have
any fruit. I can't even see any fruit. Do you love the Lord? Do you love His people? That's
what the Lord said. Do you enjoy in the gospel? Do
you rejoice in the gospel? Anybody, are you getting anything
out of this? Do you find any peace in the
gospel? Do you find any peace when you hear about Christ coming
for peace? Do you find any peace? You say, but I don't have much
peace. As soon as I leave here, I leave my book. Do you find any? Any? A little bit? That's life! That's faith. It's faith. A reed is also a small, slender
device or piece used in a musical instrument. Jeanette will tell you, she plays
the clarinet and other woodwind instruments that need this little
slender reed, a little slender, it's a very small thing, a tender
wood, made out of wood, and you put it in a musical instrument
and you blow on it. And what it's for is to resonate
through that instrument to bring forth sounds of music and pleasure
and, you know, to make a joyful noise. But if you've got a broken
reed, what's it going to sound like? It's supposed to be in key. It's not in key. It's supposed
to be joyful silence. It's just hurting my ears. Throw
it out! No. Anybody murmur? Complain? You know, some people, that's
all they do. You know, we're supposed to make
a joyful noise. We're supposed to contribute to this heavenly
choir. We're supposed to be, you know, for His glory and honor.
But we find ourselves, oh, woe is me. Oh, poor me. Poor me. Me, me, me, me, me. Somebody
help me. We're supposed to be for the
sound of the bell. I'm like broken reeds, aren't
I? I'm a broken record. It's constantly, constantly,
woe is me. Anybody? You know what the Lord
ought to do? We're all here to praise Him,
aren't we? No, no, no. You know it's quenching the spirit
when you come in here in a bad spirit. I've done it. Haven't you? It's grieving the Spirit. Other
people are happy and you're not happy. It's grieving the Spirit.
Bringing people down. Anybody? The Lord ought to cast
us out, shouldn't He? He ought to cast us out. No?
He said no? Any mercy? No? Okay. I'm going to work on that read
until it brings forth some praise. Brings forth some honor, some
glory unto me. Kept by the power of God. Then
there's that smoking flax. If you read the margin, it says,
a dimly burning fire. Candle, that's what it is. Flax
is a candle, a wick of a candle. Candle. This is a dimly burning
candle is what it is. We're supposed to be the light
of the world. You and I, aren't we? Are you? I wrote an article last Sunday
asking, who have you talked to about the gospel? Who have you
brought to hear the gospel? Anybody? How much light are we? Well, I'll cast this out. Hear
the light of the world. Dimly. No light that anybody
can see. Smoking. A stench in the nostril. You know,
a smoking candle, a smoking fire, We go camping and, oh, how many
hates a fire that smokes. She'd rather not have any fire
than one that's just smoking. Get it in her nose. And it is
obnoxious. But I'll never let it go out.
I keep, I'm going to get some fire out of this thing. I'm going to make this thing
burn. I lit it for our enjoyment. I lit it. That's why God saved
His people. Here's some reasons why black
smokes are a fire. A young and tender believer,
like a newly lit candle, doesn't produce much. Doesn't produce
much. A young candle just doesn't produce
much. But, given time, given grace
by the Lord, it'll catch fire. And then there's those that are
real old. The candles burned way down. I got one on my desk. It burned
way down. The little wax was almost gone.
It just started smoking. It's still burning. And old people
think this, that I have no use. There's no use for me. What can
I do? Still burning. And then there's things in the
world that dampen that fire, that flame, that enthusiasm.
If you have no love, if you have no joy, if you have no peace
from this gospel, it could be and probably is that the world
is the cause. It generally always is. It deadens. It quenches. It quenches that
fire. Yet the Lord in mercy says, I
won't quench it. And then there are strong winds
that blow and blow out the flame, don't they? And it just sits
there in smoke. Trials and afflictions and fierce winds and temptations
and the light seems to go out and the Lord says, it's not out. It's not out. There's a flame there. There's
light there, and I will not quench it. I will not cast it out, under
no circumstances, by no means will I put it out. I'm going
to blow on that. I'm going to blow. When that
fire goes out and starts smoking, you know what I do? I get down
there. Don't you? Come, oh, north wind, and blow,
oh, south. And blow on thy garden, these
bruised reeds, that the spices, the fruit, might come
out. Come, Holy Spirit, heavenly dove,
come. And come, you sinners. Poor and
wretched. Weak and wounded. Sick and sore.
The Lord Jesus ready stands to save you. Full of pity, joined
with power. He's able. He's able. And He's
willing. Doubt no more. A bruised wreath.
A smoking flat. He won't put it down. Alright. Brother John, come and
lead us. What number? 323. 323. 323. That's all stands.