The nation now I grant, I am
my Lord and He is mine. What I live in, I live in bliss,
and only righteous esteem. Amazing love, how can it be that
Thou, my God, should die for me? Amazing love, how can it
be that Thou, my God, should die for me? Alright, go back with me to Mark's
Gospel, chapter 16. Gospel of Mark, chapter 16. Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother
of James, not James and John, but James and Joseph, a man named
Joseph, and Salome had come to the tomb where our Lord, they
thought He was, dead body, verse 5, says they entered into the
sepulcher and saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed
in a long white garment. They were afraid. And he said
unto them, Be not afraid. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, which
was crucified. He's risen. He's not here. They
hold the place where they laid him. They told him to come in
and look in the tomb, the sepulchre. And then he said to them, these
three poor women, he said, you go your way and tell his disciples
and Peter that he goeth before you into Galilee and there shall
you see him as he said, as he said. was the Word of our Lord
Jesus Christ through a man. It doesn't call Him an angel,
does it? It was. It just says He was a
man. And that's fitting, isn't it? Because the Lord uses men, and
He also calls them angels. Messenger, that's all it means.
Not to worship angels. But we are thankful for them,
minister unto God's people. And the Lord sent this man, who
was an angel, to these three women who came looking for the
Lord. They came looking for the Lord. I hope someone in here
this morning is. Now Mary Magdalene, it says in
verse 9, When the Lord was risen early
the first day of the week, He first appeared to Mary Magdalene,
out of whom He had cast seven devils. She was a harlot. Who did the
Lord come for? Why did the Lord Jesus Christ
come here to this earth? Well, this is a faithful Savior
and worthy of all acceptation. Christ Jesus came into this world
to save sinners. And if there's a sinner in here,
even a harlot, that's who He came for. He said, I didn't come
to call the righteous. And you know, that's the only
person that's going to hear this message this morning. The well don't need a physician,
but the sick. Mary Magdalene, when she heard
this, this was the greatest news she'd ever heard, along with
everything our Lord had said. Mary Magdalene, a mother named
Mary of a boy named Joseph. I know at least one person in here
ought to be listening very carefully. Mary, the mother of a man named
Joseph. The Lord appeared to her. Sent
his angel. Said, I've got great news for
you. And you're not going to believe
it, though a man told you. And he came to Salome. And they were all from Galilee,
all of them. Galilee was the poorest part
of Israel. It was where the working class
people lived. Kind of like Franklin County.
That's where it was like. It was up north, away from Jerusalem,
around the Sea of Galilee, in the mountains, rocky mountains. And it's where the poor people,
fishermen and shepherds and people like that, lived and worked. The nobodies from nowhere. Nazareth
was in Galilee. That's where the Lord grew up.
Elijah was there. Elisha was there. 11 of the 12
apostles, all born and raised there. Everybody but Judas. Everybody but Judas Iscariot.
Now, Galileo. Well, that's who he came for. That's where he came. And verse
1 says in our text that they came to anoint the Lord. They came to And they bought
sweet spices. Now these were poor ladies and
they didn't have much. Like the woman with the alabaster
box. That was very expensive. And she had saved that for when
she might need it, her household. It was very expensive. Three
hundred pence was a lot of money back then. It could have been
sold for. She didn't think a thing about breaking that box and pouring
that ointment on his feet. Would you pour something out
on someone's feet? She did. Because those feet brought
her the glad tidings. Well, they bought these sweets. They had something and they bought
what they could. Sweet spices to come to anoint
Him. They came to bestow this gift
on Him. They came to show their respect
and their love for Him, to do something for Him. And they left
here having something done for them. They came to anoint Him. They left anointed. They came bringing all they could,
and they left having the unsearchable riches of Christ. And so it will
be with every seeking sinner. Very early in the morning, verse
2, they came. Very early in the morning. Scripture
says, those that seek Me early shall find Me. It took some doing. They got
up early, damn. They got up early before the sun was up. Why? They loved Christ. They loved
the Lord Jesus Christ. Everybody walked everywhere they
went back then, especially poor people. They walked everywhere.
When the disciples, the Lord told them to go to Galilee, they
walked about 50 miles or more, 70 miles. Walk. It wasn't long. It wasn't difficult. It was a labor of love, joy,
a journey of love. And they came early, those that
seek Me early. You're not going to find the
Lord unless you seek Him. When it came the first day of
the week, it said the Sabbath was passed. Every scripture,
every verse is significant. The Sabbath is passed. This was
not Saturday. This is the first day of the
week. The Sabbath is over. Our Lord laid in the tomb, dead
to the law, like us, on the Sabbath. On the first day of the week,
the day the sun rose, That's a new covenant, isn't it? He taketh away the first Sabbath,
establishes a second. He is our Sabbath. We don't worship
a day. Our Lord didn't meet with the
Sabbath day Adventists yesterday. No. He doesn't meet with those
that worship a day. He is our Sabbath. Sabbath's
over. It's past. God's people know
that. He is our rest. And I didn't
mean to stay there. But very early in the morning,
they came at the rising of the sun. You know when you'll come
to Christ? When the day star rises in your
heart. I sure wish the Lord would do that this morning. And the sun of righteousness
arises with healing in His wings in your soul, in your heart,
in your mind. In verse 3, on the way, while they're walking
in the dark, the sun's coming up, they said to themselves,
how are we going to anoint, how are we going to get to Him? How
are we going to anoint His body with this? They didn't think
of that. I guess they didn't think of that. set a watch, a seal, two strong
soldiers, so that nobody could come near that body. And a big stone rolled over the
door with the Roman government sealing that stone. You're not
coming near this man, this body. You're not coming near. But these
women got up early, come and do it. And they didn't think
of that. You know, if you really love
someone, you really need someone, the Lord Jesus Christ, if you
need to hear this gospel, nothing is going to get in your way. No obstacle is too great. No
hour is a bad hour. And they just had to get to Him.
Who is going to roll away this stone from us? You know, the
Lord blesses those that seek Him. Seek me, you'll find me. Those that ask, they're asking. We want to see Him, anoint Him,
but how? They were asking. He said, ask
and you'll receive. Knock, I'll be open. So they came asking. You know,
there's a great stone that keeps us from coming to
our Lord Jesus Christ. It's something called unbelief.
Unbelief. The Lord's got to remove that. You can't do it. These women
could not remove that stone. And this thing of unbelief, our
Lord said, no man can come unto Me. And He said, no, you will
not come unto Me. He said to many, you heard My
Word and you don't believe Me. But when the Lord removes that
unbelief and gives you this faith, you come. But you're still seeking. There's a big stone called the
world that gets in the way. It's in the way. And it cares
of this life. It's a great obstacle. people to come to Christ, all
the cares in this life. You ask, the Lord will remove
it. The Lord will remove it. Flesh gets in the way. I guarantee you, some in here,
if not many in here, are having a hard time hearing this message
right now. Because we don't just wrestle
with flesh and blood. We wrestle with principalities
and powers. This is the gospel's power of
God. is God's Word and a great adversary. We don't see Him in people. He's at work. The flesh. And that's what He uses. The
flesh. And it's a great obstacle to
keep us from hearing the Gospel. But if you ask, how are we going to hear this
message, Lord? How is so-and-so going to hear
this if you don't open their ears? They're not. Ask. Would you please
do this for us? Our sins get in the way of us
believing. Our troubles and sorrows and
fears and doubts and trouble, these things get in the way.
Who shall? Who shall? Who shall remove these
things so that we can see our Lord and hear His voice? Ask
and you will receive. Seek and you will find. Knock
and it shall be opened. And verse 4 says, when they looked, it was rolled away. Who did it? The Lord did it. The Lord did
it. It is a great stone, you see.
Very great. So is our unbelief. So are our
sins. So are our troubles, great troubles. How are we going to see the Lord
and hear His voice? Lord, please remove this barrier. Remove it. Great obstacle. The
Lord alone can and must remove the stony heart. And He will. Verse 5 says, they entered into
the sepulchre. They entered into the sepulchre
and saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a
long white garment. You know, all of God's people
are. You know that? I'm wearing a
long white garment right now. I'm wearing black. I'm black,
like the Shulamite maiden said. That kind of thing. You don't see it. I don't see
yours. But if you're in Christ, you're
robed in white. You're wearing the righteousness
of the saints. of Christ, robed in His righteousness. A young man sat there in white. And I may not be young to many
of you. I am to you, aren't I, Henry?
You'd be young to Methuselah. My mother keeps talking about
her and Dad, how old they are. Noah would laugh at you. Old? That young buck. A young man clothed
in white. The Lord sent this man, a young
man. What was he widely sending? To
tell a message. They entered into the sepulcher,
saw this young man clothed in a long white garment, and the
Lord sent this young man with a message. They entered into
the sepulcher. Why don't you see this? They
entered into this sepulchre to hear this message. They got in
the tomb. That's where they heard this
message. And, you know, every seeking sinner must enter the
Lord's sepulchre. Let me see if I can make you
understand what this is talking about. The Lord came into this
world. He was born. of a woman, he lived
here and he died here. His tomb was literally in this
world, and he died here. This is, as it were, his sepulcher,
this world. And so shall we. We're born here,
we're made of clay, dust, and we're going to go back to it.
We're going to go back to our earth. We're born in this world,
and you know, this world is our tomb. It's a place of captivity,
and it's our tomb, and we're going to go back to the dust. And we need to see this place
not as a place to live, the land of the living, not a wonderful
place that we're going to stay, and where we just love to dwell,
but as it were, a tomb. A tomb. That popular saying, life
is good, life is good, I hate that. The Lord is good. The Lord calls, and the Lord
is good. If you have anything good in
this life, it's not life, it's the Lord. See, men will give
credit to and praise and thanks to anything and everyone but
God. We need to acknowledge who is
good to us. It's not just life is good. It's
the Lord is good. And He giveth us richly all things
to enjoy. But this world is a dead and
dying place. The Lord says it's this The Lord
calls this world, this present evil world. And we're dying, and everybody
and everything in it is dying. This is a tomb. This is a sepulcher. We need to consider this place
as a dead and dying place. There is a world where no one
dies. There is a land of the living. When our sister Mary left, She
didn't leave the land of the living to go to the land of the
dead. Men got it all wrong. Judgment is backward. We leave
the land of the dead and go to the land of the living. Life
more abundant. And those, the only ones that
have life in this life are those that have the Son. He that hath
the Son hath life. We must enter this tomb. And we must be crucified with
our Lord and buried with Him. Buried with the Lord Jesus Christ
in order to rise with Him, like baptism. Baptism is a symbol
of that. When we're baptized, we're saying
just that, that I was crucified with Christ, I deserved hell
that he got in my place. He's my substitute. And he was
buried dead to this world and rose and ascended back to glory
forever. Never coming back here except
to get his people. And that's me. That's what we're
saying in baptism. Illustration. Noah. When Noah and his family got
in that ark, Why'd they get in it? Somebody
put them in it. And if you're in Christ, God
put you there. Alright? The Lord said, come.
And they came into that ark. And it says, The Lord God shut
them in. Closed that door, sealed it on
the outside with pitch and shut them in. They're closed off from
the world. separated from the world, dead
to the world. And you know the world was walking
by saying, laughing, scoffing, mocking, saying, oh Noah and
his family have gone into their grave. They're going to die in
there. They're going to die in that
ark. No, people, you're going to die. They're going to live. They're going to a new world.
And only those in that ark are going. Only those in Christ are alive. Everybody else dies. They were dead to the world,
and the world was dead to them. Forget them. And Paul said, in Christ I'm
crucified to the world, and the world to me. You've got to go
into the tomb to hear this message. God sends His angel to show you.
Crucified to the world. And the church, you know, the
church is mostly made up of little places. You know that tabernacle
in the wilderness, that tent? It was a little brown. I never
thought about this, but this is why. They had a tabernacle
and they had a temple. The tabernacle was a plain, ordinary
brown tent. Not on the inside. And it was a mobile thing. And
it went through the wilderness. It was ugly. I said it. It was ugly. No beauty about
it. Just a plain plain. Why? Because
that's not what it was about. The beauty was on the inside,
where the true worship of God was. Then God had Solomon build
a permanent, humanly speaking, temple, glorious inside and out. What's that? New heaven, new
earth. The church is a little, it's
like a sepulcher. The average person would go by
this place, and it's not elaborate, go by Fairmont, West Virginia,
Katie Baptist Church. What? Yeah, Katie Baptist Church. Kingsport, Sovereign Grace, a
little renovated home in a poor section of town. The average
person that attended First Baptist Church of, you know, whatever,
would go by there and say, that's a dead place. That's a dead place, isn't it? is full of life. See, they were
in the sepulcher when they were hearing from this angel. The
world was asleep. Everybody else was out there
asleep in darkness. You ever notice that Peter went
in the tomb in another version? These ladies went in the tomb
that never said any of them brought a light with them. Didn't say that they brought
a candle in there or brought a lamp in there. Didn't need
one. Didn't need one. The light of the glory of God
lit that place. Didn't need natural light. Man
made light. And that angel, the angel of
His presence, like Moses, I'm sure that man's face shone brightly. A man came here one time. And
I know for a fact that he attended, we're here in Franklin Heights,
this big mega place. And I remember distinctly watching
him as he looked around at his time to start. And I remember
him watching, I watched him and he looked around as if to say,
is that it? This is it. Let them laugh. Let them laugh. Let me be in a little room with
ten other true disciples. And this man was sent to allay
their fears. Look at verse 6. He said, Be
not affrighted. Now, he struck fear. This angel,
two angels, another, struck fear in those men that were guarding
that place. You remember that story? It says
that he came and rolled back that door, and the keepers of
the door lay on the ground like dead men with fear in them. The Lord doesn't send His preacher
to allay the fears of the world. The Lord doesn't send His preacher
to tell everybody everywhere, don't be afraid, God loves you. No, sir. No, sir. Let me read to you from
Jeremiah. See, the fear of the Lord is
the beginning of wisdom. These ladies were afraid. They
feared the Lord first. And listen to Jeremiah 5. It says, the Lord says, "...Hear
now this, O foolish people, without understanding, which have eyes
and see not, which have ears and hear not. Fear ye not Me?
Saith the Lord, will ye not tremble at My presence, which have placed
the sand as a bound for the sea by perpetual decree, that it
cannot pass it? It keeps coming, that powerful
ocean. Though the waves roar and toss thereof, they cannot
prevail, they cannot roar. Why? God says, this is as far
as you go. This people, He said, hath a
revolting and rebellious heart. They revolted and are gone. Neither
say they in their heart. None of them say, let's now fear
the Lord our God that giveth rain, both the former and the
latter, in His season. Let's fear God. We live by rain. And all he has to do is stop
it. No fear. The Lord doesn't come to allay
the fears of the world. He doesn't send His preacher
to do that, but the fears of His people. He said to these
poor women seeking the Lord, don't be afraid. He could say to them, smile.
Christ loves you. And he did. David wrote this
in Psalm 9, put them in fear, O Lord, that the nations may
know themselves to be but men. But to those who fear, he says,
fear not. And he said to them in verse
6, you seek Jesus of Nazareth which was crucified. They came
seeking The Lord Jesus Christ and Him crucified. They came
seeking Jesus and Him crucified. The Lord knows them that are
His. He knows why they come. They come to seek Him. Because
He chose them. Because He called them. Because
He said, seek ye my face. And they said, thy face will
I seek. For whom Christ died, my sheep,
he said, are going to hear my voice through a man. They're
going to hear my voice because they're his sheep. Oh, I hope. But the Lord sent a man, an angel,
a messenger with this one message. And this is how you know he sent
from God. He preaches one message. What's
that? Jesus Christ and Him crucified. You seek, who are you looking
for? Why are you here? I know why you're here. You're a seeker, a lover, a follower,
a believer of the Lord Jesus Christ and Him crucified. You're substitutes. There is
no gospel without Christ and Him crucified. Your substitute, your sin offering. Oh, preacher, this is what the
world and modern religion would say, don't talk about that bloody
religion anymore. There is no salvation apart from
the blood. God said this to our forefathers
way back there, when I see the blood, I'll pass over you. If
we want this place to be God's place, Blood is going to have
to cover everything. When Moses told the high priest
to shed the Lamb's blood, and in Hebrews it said, everything
was covered with blood. Everything was covered with blood. From the songs we sing, to the
prayers we pray, to the messages we preach. Huh? Or there is no
gospel. This is the gospel. Paul said,
I'm determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and
Him crucified. This is the message. This is
the good news. This is the sinner's salvation.
It's the blood that maketh atonement for the soul. When I see the
blood, I'll pass over you." Because the blood was shed, He obtained
eternal redemption for us. Yes, He was crucified. You seek Jesus who was crucified. He's not hanging on a cross anymore. And He's not in a tomb. And He's
not laying in Mary's arms. He's seated on the throne. He's
living. He's not in your hands. You're
in His. Now, that's good news to a helpless
sinner. That's good news to a poor sinner.
He's risen. That's what they said. He said.
That's the message he said. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, which
was crucified. He's risen. If Christ hadn't
risen from the grave, He's an imposter. But He did. He is risen. He's not here, they
said. Another angel said, why do you
seek the living among the dead? He's not here. Behold the place
where they laid Him. He's not here. He went to the
Father. He went to the mercy seat, the Holy of Holies, to
pour out His precious blood on that mercy seat. He's not here. He's not in this place. They
had to come in there to hear it. You know, God doesn't dwell
in buildings made with hands. This building is not some sanctified
place at all. It's just a building. It's just
wood. It's just stubble. It's going to be stubble. But
He dwells where His people are. He dwells where His people are.
And He brought them inside to look, and they went inside, and
they did. They saw. He says, come in here
and look, behold the place where they laid Him. And they came
in, they saw. What did they see? They saw an empty tomb. A risen Christ. That tomb was
empty. And this world, we see it as
an empty place. He's not here. He's not here. He's with His people, but He's
not here. He's seated in the heavenlies. And they came in, another gospel
says, they beheld the clothes, his vesture folded up. And he's
going to fold this world up like a vesture. And they beheld the
napkin that covered his head, grave clothes as it were. They
held it by itself. Next time they see him, boy,
they're not going to see through it. A veil of flesh. Veil. You'll see clearly. You'll see
His face. And as I said, they were in a
dark cave, yeah, but they had plenty of light. They could see. Verse 7, so here's what the angel
said to these ladies, Go your way. Go your way and tell His
disciples and Peter that He goeth before you into Galilee. There
you shall see Him as He sat under you. This was the greatest message,
the greatest news ever told, and it was being told by an angel
of God to these three poor women. And they were hearing it in the
cleft of the rock while the world outside slept and didn't care
and thought he was dead. No, he's not dead. Oh, my. Three sincere seeking sinners
heard the gospel. And they were sent, as all God's
people are. He said to them, tell His disciples. There were eleven more disciples,
poor sinners, all from Galilee, fishermen, publicans, a bunch
of nobodies from nowhere. And He told these ladies to go
tell them that He goeth before you into Galilee. He goeth before you into Galilee.
The Lord always walked before them in life. He walked before
God. He walked before man as a man.
He walked before us. We have the account in Scriptures
of Him walking before us. He walked as a man, holy, righteous, perfect, our covenant head, our
Lord, our righteous, the captain of our salvation. I love thinking
about it. just sit there a little while
after thinking about the Lord walking before them. He was always
out in front of them. That's what captains do, you
know. And I love the sight of our Lord walking out in front
of them. You know, he carried himself
with great majesty and regal and royal bearing and his countenance. Scripture says he set his face
like a flint toward Jerusalem. He had a good posture and a firm
and resolute stride and determined. And right behind him, just a
bunch of stragglers. Black sheep. Here comes, and
I know who was the closest to him, Mary Magdalene. Just hanging
on. She didn't want to get far from
him. She didn't ever want to get far from him. She knew if
I get away from him, this world will get a hold of me. And I
can't stand to be away from him. Follow Him. Follow Him. God had
it. I want to go where He goes. Like
Ruth said to Naomi, I'll die where you die. See, I'm all following
Him. Are you? Get in line. Get in line. It always went out
before His disciples. He faced their foe. He faced
Satan for us. Our Lord Jesus Christ faced our
great adversary. You and I don't face Him. No,
no. Some demons that the Lord allowed,
but no, no, no, no, no, no. Satan desires it. It can't happen. No, no, no. The Lord's got a
hedge about it. He's got 60 strong men with swords,
expert in war. You know what Satan did to Adam
and Eve, don't you? No, he can't touch us. Don't
you like that? Huh? He always went before them,
faced their foes. He faced our enemy. He faced
the law. He faced our accused. He faced
the Pharisees. He went to the cross. That's
where we deserve to go. He went there. He went to the
grave before us. Went to the grave. We fear that.
No, we fear death. The Lord came out and said, fear
not. I've removed the fear of it.
Like this tomb. It's not a dark place. You remember
the story of Joshua and the people passing over the Jordan? You
remember that? They had to go pretty much single file. And
that ark was going before them on the shoulders of the priests.
And every single person that stepped in that Jordan, every
single person, it's solid as a rock. They all
feared it's all that water. It's going to kill us all. No,
it's not either. And every single one that stepped
in could holler back and say, it's okay. It's just like the
Lord said. And they all passed clean over. The
Lord went to the grave. He said, you need not fear. This
man said, fear not. He went into the grave. He sanctified
this place. He lightened our darkness. He
brought light and immortality to light. Christ crucified, buried,
but He didn't stay buried. Neither will you. He's risen. He's with the Father. But I can't see Him. That's what
the disciples later said. Show us the Father. He said,
I am. What about the resurrection?
I am. He that liveth and believeth
in me. He said, go into Galilee, and
I closed. That's where He first found them. There you shall see Him. That's
where He first found them. That's where they all gathered
together. That's where they constantly resorted to. The Lord did 25
out of 33 miracles in Galilee. 11 of the 12 apostles were born
there. The Lord was transfigured there. He walked about There,
he walked on the sea there. He was there. What a picture
this is of the church. Galilee. A poor place, despised
by the world, but that's where Christ is. That's where Christ
is. He says, you go there. You go
there. You go there seeking me. And they had to walk. It was
not convenient. And he said, I'll be waiting
on you. I'll be there when you get there.
Like that woman at the well. He was waiting on her. Waiting
to be gracious. You go. Put forth some efforts. And I told Mandy this morning,
it was a pretty long walk. And why did he do that? Well,
they were in Jerusalem where he first appeared to. They were
scared to death. Matthew Henry said, The Lord
told him to go there, but they were still in Jerusalem. And
He told him, go there and I'll see you. But he went to where
they were, hiding for fear. And Matthew Henry said, he couldn't
wait that long to see them. And isn't that the song of Solomon?
He was skipping like a roe. Walked right through the door.
They're all weeping. That's what he said, they're
weeping. Don't weep. It's me. In his eye. I told you. Now, let's go. Out of this place. Out of this
broad road. Go unto him without the camp.
Marry in his reproach. To Galilee. where the church
meets together. He'll be there. He'll be waiting
on you. Waiting to be gracious. And go tell my disciples, I said.
Go tell His disciples. They're the ones that'll hear
it. They're the ones that'll love it. They're the ones that
need it. They're the ones that love me.
They're the ones that believe me. They're the ones that Weeping,
sorrowful, the world rejoicing while they're weeping. Remember,
He said, you're weeping. We'll be for a night. But, oh
joy, we'll come in the morning. While the world laughs and thinks
it's all over, He's dead. Ain't nothing to this. And His
disciples were weeping. Boy, in the morning when the
sun arose, Now who's laughing? Now who's laughing? Oh, the man said, go tell his disciples, and he
told me to specifically make sure that you tell Simon Peter. Don't forget, you go to Simon
Peter and tell him, Peter, you denied me, and I'll never
deny you. They all left him, but Peter
thought he was the worst. Peter denied Him. Remember, Peter
reverted right back to being an old cussing satyr. Cuss, denied
Him. I don't know that man. How many
times, people, how many times have we done that? Two of the
sweetest words you'll ever hear. Go tell my disciples and John
Davis and Stan Edison. And Sherry. Because she feels
like she's the worst sinner on earth. She feels forsaken of
the Lord. Simon Peter feels like everybody
else is a believer but me. And you be sure to tell Simon,
I love him. And if he goes to Galilee, he'll
see me. And boy, he did, didn't he? And
they ran. It says they ran and went out
quickly. I think it's Matthew's Gospel.
It says they ran with fear and rejoicing. Fear and rejoicing. Only God's people know that.
Worship the Lord with fear and rejoicing. Psalm 2. They ran
for fear and joy. Do you know who? Now, somebody
had to go tell them this news. These three ladies. And the angel
said, and Peter, make sure you tell Peter. He needs to hear
it worse than anybody. And I know who outran the other
ones. I know who ran the quickest.
Mary said, I want to tell Simon. I want to tell him. Let me tell you, he thinks he's
the worst, but I'm here to tell you that I'm the worst. And the Lord
came to me first. Did you hear this message, Mary? That's who He came to first. Does the Lord love sinners? Oh my, does He ever. What about those that fall and
forsake Him? You know, He can't deny Himself. Whoever He died for, He sends
His angel with a gospel to tell them, Christ died for you. He paid for you. If you're a
seeking sinner, if you're a follower, a believer of the Lord Jesus
Christ, I've got wonderful news for you. He's right now reigning
and ruling and a majesty on high and in heaven itself, and He
died to put away your sins, and they're gone. You can go looking
for them, you won't find them. He took them with Him and deposited
them as far as the east is from the west. The blood has been
shed for remission of your sin, and Christ now lives, ever lives
to make intercession for you. But that's what he came for. Mary, Simon, Peter, John. Number 67. Soft band, number six and seven. Verses one and three.