Thank you, Sherry and John. We'll go back to Isaiah 11 now. I know what Brother Clay preached. I spoke with him briefly. I know what Brother Marvin preached. I know what Brother Mark Daniel
preached. And those of you who were in
Kingsport know what David preached and what Mike preached. They
preached, all of them preached Christ. That's not just a saying,
is it? We really do preach Christ. Christ said, they, the scripture,
are they which testify of me. To him give all the prophets
witness. That's Moses, that's Samuel,
that's Elijah, that's Isaiah, that's Jeremiah, that's all.
That's the whole Old Testament. God the Father bore witness of
him from heaven. He said, this is my beloved Son
in whom I am well pleased. And he told them to hear him. Hear him, the Spirit of God. He's declared to be the Son of
God by the Spirit of holiness. The Spirit of God bears witness
of Him. Prophets, the apostles, evangelists,
pastors, true ones sent by God, teachers, all preach Christ because
He's the message of Scripture. God demands it. Sinners who don't know Him need
to know Him. Those who don't know Christ need
to meet Him. And this is how He reveals Himself,
through the preaching of His Gospel. Those who do know Christ
need to know Him better, need to see Him and believe Him more
fully. So, we really do preach Christ. This chapter, you read it with
me. Who can that be speaking of but
the Lord Jesus Christ? Look at verses 1 and 2. There
shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch
shall grow out of his roots. And the Spirit of the Lord, the
Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him. The Spirit of wisdom
and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit
of knowledge, the Spirit of the Lord. It begins with an and, doesn't
it? And. Go back to chapter 10. This is
not a good place for a chapter to start. Chapter 10, verse 24,
the Lord said, the Lord opposed, O my people that dwellest in
Zion. He's talking to his church, his
people. Be not afraid of the Assyrian. He shall smite thee
with a rod. He shall lift up his staff against
thee after the manner of Egypt, or like Pharaoh did to my people
in Egypt. But this is of the Lord. This
Assyrian king all through Scripture has always represented Satan,
the God of this world. The king of Assyria back then
was the most powerful foe on earth. And he always represents
Satan. So he says to his people, to
us now, he says, don't be afraid of him. Don't be afraid of him. Verse 25. Just a little while,
and the indignation shall cease. My anger in their destruction. A little while. The Lord says
of Satan in the Revelation, he knows he has a short time. He knows. It says a little season
in chapter 19. A little season. But verse 26,
the Lord of hosts shall stir up a scourge for him, As his
rod, you see that, was upon the sea, so shall he lift it up after
the manner of Egypt." In other words, his people are coming
out. His people that are held captive by Satan, and all of
them are until the Lord comes through His Word and delivers
them. He said they're coming out with his rod. We just read
about that rod, didn't we? The rod of Jesse. They're coming
out with his rod. He's going to part the Red Sea,
and they're going to come over dry shot. Verse 27, I will take
away, he said, in that day this burden shall be taken off of
my shoulder, his yoke from off thy neck. He's going to lead
captivity captive. Our captor will be led and paraded
for us to see. He's enchained. Our Lord even said that, didn't
He? Verse 33, Behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts, shall lock
the bow with terror, and the high ones hewn down. The haughty
shall be humbled. He shall cut down the thickets
of the forest with iron, and Lebanon shall fall by a mighty
one, a powerful one, and... So that's why it begins with
and. Chapter 11. A mighty one. Who might that be? Psalm 89 says, the Lord says,
I have laid help on one that is mighty. I have exalted one
chosen from among the people. Who is this that cometh from
Basra with garments dyed red, red in his apparel? I that speak
in righteousness, mighty to say. The Lord Jesus Christ. I have
laid help. on one that is mighty to save,
able to save the uttermost. And he shall come forth a rod
out of the stem of Jesse, a branch shall grow out of his root. You
know, Isaiah 53 says, He shall grow up before God as a root
out of dry ground. This rod means, first of all,
a twig. A seemingly small and weak thing,
like a baby. A baby. Have you thought about
this? Even as an infant in arms, he
had the whole world up in arms. Didn't he? Herod was worried about a child. Oh, this child. His name. His wonderful Counselor, the
Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, Government, no end. Such a lowly
and humble and poor beginning of our Lord, wasn't it? Root
out of dry ground. No form or comeness. Such low
and humble and poor beginnings, but such a high and lofty and
glorious end. From a manger to a throne. Or the stump of Jesse. That's
what stem means. The rod of the stump of Jesse. The family, the lineage of Jesse
was just about gone. Do you know that? The family
of Jesse was just about gone. It was just a limb, like a stump,
like you cut off a family tree. This is where we get this term,
I believe, family tree. A rod, a branch. And Jesse's
family was just about gone. It doesn't say David, does it? He doesn't say a rod or a root
out of David. He does say that in another place,
but not here. To show us his lowly beginnings, how he came
from an insignificant family. You know who Jesse's great-grandmother
was? Harlot, named Rahab. Would you claim your great-grandmother
for that? No one famous in his line until
David. I have been messing around with
my family tree the last few months looking for nobility. And I found
some. I did. Some Scottish lards of
castles over in Scotland. They probably ran around in skirts. But even a chief of some kind
of Indian tribe of all things. But not Jesse. Not Jesse. Our Lord, you see, was numbered
with the transgressors. People like Tamar were in his
line. An incestuous woman. And you know why, don't you?
You know why? We know why he became flesh and
poorest of the poor. For his glory. Our Lord's greatest
glory was how he condescended he who was rich, yet for our
sakes became poor. That's his greatest glory. The
king left glory for who? To come down and save who? This
is his greatest glory, his condescension. That God would come to earth,
not for Good people, not for the righteous people, but for
the chief of sinners. That's His greatest glory. And
He did this for His glory, His condescension for His glory,
and He did it for sinners. I will never tire of quoting
this verse, and I hope you'll never tire of hearing it. If
you're a sinner, you won't. This is a faithful sinner. It's
true. It really is true that Christ
Jesus came into the world. To save whom? Sinners. Sinners. He was numbered with
them. He was born among them. He lived for them. He ate and drank with them. This man received sinners. He's
a friend of sinners. Publicans and sinners. Aren't
you glad? This man eateth and drinketh
with sinners. He lived for them. He died for
them. He was crucified between two
thieves. He had a thief hung on the cross
right beside him to save him. That was his day. And he ever
lives, Scripture says, to make intercession for them. All right,
verse 2 describes him. It says, the Spirit of the Lord,
and there should be a capital S there. It is in the original.
I don't know why. I don't know why they missed
that, but it's in the original. The Holy Spirit of the Lord shall
rest upon him. Come to rest. You don't have
to turn, but John 1. John 1, and this is recorded
in all four Gospels. Some things are recorded in one
or two Gospels, some three. When something is recorded in
all four, it is greatly significant, vitally important. Listen to
this. John, Brer Record, saying, I
saw the spirits descending from above, from heaven, like a dove,
and it abode upon him, or upon Jesus of Nazareth. He said, I
knew him not, and we don't know him either until we see the Holy
Spirit, what we're going to see tonight, the Spirit anointing
him, resting on him. We don't know him until the Holy
Spirit makes him known to us. John said, I bear record, and
I saw him descend and abode on Christ, and I knew him not, but
he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me.
And he says this to us. Upon whom thou shalt see the
Spirit descending and remaining on him, the same is he. The same is he. That's him. Which
baptizes with the Holy Ghost. And John said, I saw the Spirit. And bear record, this is the
Son of God. And this is how we know him,
folks. Verse 2. The Spirit of the Lord shall
rest upon him. Come and abide upon him. Now,
this is not just having the Spirit. We have the Spirit in measure. He has the Spirit without measure.
We have the Spirit given to us. That's what our Lord said. When
I leave, I'll send my Holy Spirit that He may abide with you and
be in you. Okay? But this is more than just
having the Spirit, Christ is God. And this is Him being anointed
by the Holy Spirit. This is the Holy Spirit coming
and bearing witness of Him and hovering and resting on Him,
saying, as it were, to all who's looking for the Christ, if you're
looking for the Christ, this is Him. You don't need to look
any further. In Isaiah 61, I do want you to
turn there, because the word, the name Christ, do you know
what it means? It means anointed one. Anointed
one. Isaiah wrote this. He was not
speaking of himself any more than he was in Isaiah 53, was
he? David, in Psalm, we heard Brother Mike preach from Psalm
22, the Psalm of the Cross. David was not speaking of himself.
He was speaking of the Lord. And no man can say, the Spirit
of the Lord is upon me. He has anointed me. Oh, no. Oh, no. But Christ did. The first
message he preached was this right here. When he came to his
hometown, to Nazareth, and they said, speak. And the first thing
he said to everyone, his first public message was, the Spirit
of the Lord God. is upon me. Read it. Because the Lord hath
anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek. He hath sent me
to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captive. Oh, I need this. And I need to
hear the gospel, don't you? I need Christ to preach it. The real man, yes, but I need
to hear him. And the opening of the prison to them that are
bound, captives and chained to proclaim the acceptable year
of the Lord, that is, the Lord's accepting application for mercy. All that come unto God by him,
he's accepting. This is the acceptable year,
the day of vengeance of our God. He's going to avenge us of our
adversary, to comfort all that mourn. Anybody mourning? Christ
said, I am he. Comforter, to appoint unto them
that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes." Oh, He's
going to change these vile bodies. "...the oil of joy for mourning,
the garment of praise, the spirit of heaviness." Oh, we're so weighed
down with heaviness, aren't we? From sin and trials. Oh, He's
going to give us a garment of praise. "...that we might be
called the trees of righteousness, planting of the Lord." Why? Why
did He do all this? that he might be glorified. So,
in our text, the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Christ,
and He did. And here's how we know Him. Here's
what the Spirit of the Lord bears witness of Him to our spirit. Here's what He does. Listen to
it. Listen to it. Listen. Watch this
now. Because we say, the Scripture
says, Christ is all. That means He's all we need. He's made unto us all things
that we need. Christ is made or declared, preached
to us, given to us, supplied to us, all that we need. We need
wisdom. We don't have any. Christ is
our wisdom. We need righteousness. We don't
have any. Christ is our righteousness. We need sanctification, holiness.
We don't have any. Christ made that. Redemption,
might, power, all these things. All that we need, Christ has
made for us. He came to be these things for
us. All that we are not, He is for
us. Okay? All right, here it says,
the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, abide on him,
the Spirit of wisdom. Go back to Proverbs 8. Spirit
of wisdom. Now, we have acted foolishly,
haven't we? All of us have played the fool. And we've suffered fools gladly.
We have been a fool, we will be a fool, we will always act
foolishly. Even David said, I was a fool until I came into the sanctuary.
But Christ is our wisdom, he said. We have been fooled, and
we will be fooled. We will fool ourselves. That's
how fooled we are. Christ is made unto us. You can't
fool him. Proverbs 8, verse 1. I heard
Brother Marvin preach two messages from this. Old messages. Be worth
listening to. Doth not wisdom cry and understanding
put forth her voice? Yes, he did. Wisdom came and
cried and spoke unto us. Verse 4 and 5. Unto you, O men,
I call. My voice is to the sons of men.
Oh, ye simple. Who needs wisdom? If any man
lacked wisdom, James said, let him ask. The Lord will give it. Liberally. Give what? It's not a thing. It's a person. The Lord has your wisdom. Oh,
you simple, understand wisdom, you fools. Do you have an understanding
heart? Verse 8 and 9. All the words
of my mouth are in righteousness. There's nothing forward or perverse
in them. It's hard to find anyone today speaking, and a lot of
people are speaking. A lot of voices aren't there.
It's hard to find anybody saying anything that's not perverse
in it, and forward, or double tongue in it. Oh, all the words of my mouth.
There's nothing forward, wreathed. or hidden and perverse in them.
They're all plain in the understanding. I like that. I've always liked
that verse. Truth's plain if the Lord gives you understanding.
And writes to them that find knowledge. Receive my instruction.
Verse 20. Go down there. I lead in the
way of righteousness. This is Christ in the midst of
the path of judgment. I want to walk in paths of righteousness. Don't you? Well, Christ said,
I live there. No one else does. Verse 34. And I have about a dozen messages
to bring to you. And this is one of them right
here. Verse 34. Blessed is the man, the woman
that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the post
of my door. Oh, how blessed to hear, to watch,
and to wait. Whoever finds me finds life.
That's wisdom. Christ has made unto us wisdom.
Go back to the text. Spirit of wisdom is upon him.
Understanding. Understanding. We don't really
understand anything. You know that? We don't fully
understand anything. I think about Job and his friends. They sat and talked for days,
maybe weeks. And the Lord said Job spoke right
about him. But now Job said, after it was
all over, he said, I've spoken things too wonderful for me,
things I didn't understand, things too high for me. Our Lord said
to his disciples, he said, I have many things to say to you, but
you're not able to bear them right now. You don't understand.
It takes a lifetime, I believe, to get any kind of understanding. We really don't understand much
of anything, do we? Man's understanding, Scripture
says, is dark, naturally. And the only way we have any
understanding is through Christ. He's made unto us understanding.
He has perfect understanding. We don't fully understand God's
ways, do we? God's decree. I don't understand
why. Brother Charles lies there in the state that he's in. Do
you? No, we don't. There's so many things we don't
understand. So many things. But Christ did, and He does. He understands God. He understands
man. And He understands me. I don't understand
me. Do you understand you? No, you
don't. And Job said this, why am I thus? Do you ever say that? You think, finally, I've arrived.
Finally, I've made some progress. Finally, I've gotten over this
or gotten over that. And then you do the most childish
thing. You act like a complete unbeliever
and you say, why did I do that? Why did I think that? Why did
I act like that? Why am I thus? I don't understand
me. God, Christ does. He understands. He knows our frame. He knows
you're nothing but and never will be anything but flesh. And He has pity. Aren't you glad? He understands. We don't understand
each other. That's why we get mad at each
other. He never gets mad. He's slow to anger because He
understands us. He understands us. Look at the next thing. He has
a spirit of counsel. I need counsel. Don't you? I need someone wise, someone
who knows. I need someone who's been there
to tell me what to do. The older I get, the more I realize
I don't know. I need a counselor. And I'm telling
you what, There's only one. Really. His name shall be called. And this is actually two words.
These two go together, don't they, Ed? Wonderful counselor. Oh, his testimony, his words.
David said, I bid my counselors to vote. Oh, Lord, speak to me. Oh, Lord, lead me. Oh, Lord,
guide me. Oh, Lord, teach me. Oh, Lord, instruct me. Please
be my counselor. I can't find any wise counselors
today. Only fools. Might. Spirit of might. Power. We just don't know. And I'm going
to try to say something about it. But this word is force. Might is force. It's a military
term. Armed forces, okay? Powerful forces. We don't wrestle
with flesh and blood, but with principalities and powers or
forces. Rulers of the darkness of this
world. Spiritual wickedness, unseen. Spiritual unseen wickedness in
high places. Enemies that are too strong for
us. And we're surrounded by them. We don't see them, thank the
Lord, or we would be in utter terror. I think about this nation,
how we've dwelled in such safety for so long. Really, it's not
been that long. It's not been that long. But
it just seems like it to us, because we've lived in relative
safety and security, haven't we? That won't last. We might see it in our generation.
Every generation up to us has lived under terrible wars and deprivations
and so forth. It may be coming our way. It
may be. Forces all around us, though,
of evil around us and working in us. Against us, we need someone
higher than the President of the United States. He's like
Pharaoh. He has no power at all. He's
like Herod. He has no power at all except
it be given him on the bed. We need someone who's mighty.
Someone who's able to say, mighty to say. Someone stronger than
our adversaries. Someone stronger than me and
you. We need someone with not just
some might, but with all might. We need an almighty God. That's why he said, call me.
This is the name you're going to call me. And this is what
I refer to him as. Brother Marvin always calls him
this way. God almighty. Not might, just mighty, but almighty. Didn't Christ say, All power
is given unto me and coming to me. You afraid? We need one with
all might, all power, force, able to force the issue. Brother, which one? Mike. He preached
the song of the shepherd and he talked about our Lord the
shepherd being out in front of his sheep when they came to take
him in the garden, remember? And Pink, he got this from Pink.
Pink said the Lord didn't wait for them to come to him. He took
the battle to them. He didn't wait for them to come.
He wasn't waiting in a defensive posture, no. He went out in front
of them and said, who are you looking for? Like Moses came in to Pharaoh
and said, let my people go. What a cow down. The Lord came
out there, mighty, powerful, almighty. Oh, he says the gates
of hell shall not prevail. Gates don't fight you. Gates
don't fight. You storm them. You and I don't. He did. He did. He's the one that came. to crush
the serpent's head. We don't do that. He did that. He said, now is the God of this
world, the Prince of this world, cast out. When he was about to
hang on the cross. The Kingdom of Heaven suffered
violence. And the violent one, who's that?
Jesus Christ takes it by force. By force. We need someone, not
who offers us salvation, but commands it. No way. Thou hast
given commandment to save me. David preached on, and this is
fitting, Mephibosheth. David, the greatest king on earth,
sent that command to that man who couldn't come if he wanted
to, who wouldn't come because he's an enemy. He sent that command
and said, fetch him. Is he coming or what? We need someone with all might,
and we have him. All might, the spirit of might,
the power of force. I need someone who preached on
this. Might, the good shepherd, maketh
me to lie down and drink the pasture. I need him to make me
lie down. If not, I'll run. I need him
to lay hold of me like old Jacob, don't you? This is Jacob's God,
Matt, and this is my God, who comes to all his people and wrestles
them with force, Kelly. Gets them down on the ground
and say, cry out. Force, I need someone to force
me to come, don't you? This is not, this is good. Because no man can come unto
the Father. You will not come unto me that
you might have life, Christ said. But Christ comes and says, I
have the power to make them all come. The shepherd has the power. He has the voice. He has the
power to make every single one of them come. And they do. They
come. I need someone to force me to
lie down in green pasture. I need someone to ride this wild
ass's coat. I don't need a horse whisperer.
I need a horse breaker. Don't you? Ride me. Lay hold of my enemy. I need
someone to lay hold of my enemy. Me. Lay hold of me. Someone to bring me. Someone
to make me willing. Someone to teach me, lead me,
guide me, keep me, constrain me, restrain me. Don't you? Spirit
of might. Sit on here. That's why Jacob said, Knowing me, Jacob said, knowing
me, if I'm leaving, going into a foreign country, and if you
keep me in all my ways and provide for me, if I don't blow it, and
you deliver me from all my enemies, and you bring me all the way
back home and preserve everything, you're my God. That's my God. That's God. Spirit of might and
knowledge. Spirit of knowledge and fear
of the Lord. They go together. Fear of the
Lord, to know the Lord, to know the Lord, to fear the Lord. Spirit
of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. By His knowledge, Isaiah wrote in chapter 53, by
His knowledge shall my righteous servant justify me. Our Lord
Jesus Christ knows God. We don't know much about Him.
He knows the law. He knows every jot, every tittle,
every precept, every command, every requirement of the law.
And it must be perfect to be accepted. Our Lord said this
to John, it behooves us to fulfill all righteousness. Us? Don't you know John will say,
Us? I broke his law, but there's such a union there that what
he fulfilled, John, I fulfilled. What he did, I did. His works
are my works. He works in us by his knowledge. By his knowledge. He has knowledge
of God, of man, of me, of the law. He has knowledge. He knows
me. Oh my, what a blessed thought.
Both a fearful thought and a blessed thought. And of the fear of the
Lord. Fear, this fear, and I've been trying to preach on it a
good while. I've heard others preach. My pastor preached the
best message I've ever heard on it. But I'm not sure I really understand
it. I tell you this, I know I don't fear Him like I should. Or I
wouldn't sin like I did. You know that? He said, there
is forgiveness for thee. Psalm 1. There is forgiveness
for thee that thou mayest be feared. Do you understand that? That our Lord feared. Now, I
don't understand that. But the Lord Jesus Christ has
said He was heard in that reverence, devotion to His name, His fear, not glorifying Him, fearing reproach. I don't know. But knowing God's
holiness, our Lord Jesus Christ, knowing God's holiness, knowing
His wrath against sin. We don't know that. The Lord
hides it from us, pretty much. He cried. Now here's what he
did. The Lord hanging on the tree, the first words, the words
that pierced my broken, my hard heart years ago. These are the
words. By his knowledge and the fear of the Lord, hanging on
the cross, the first thing he said on my behalf was, Father,
forgive him. He doesn't know what he's doing. He doesn't know what he's doing
in the face of the Holy God. And I still don't. But he does. Do you see why we need an advocate?
Do you see why we need a mediator? Do you see why we need someone
that fears God for us? I love this verse and I think
about it often as a supposed leader, someone who's supposed
to lead. trying to, I think of this verse
David said, He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the
fear of the Lord. Knowing who you answer to. Knowing whose people you rule
over. Christ knew that. He knew that. That's why the next verse says,
He'll be quick This fear will make him a quick understanding,
keen understanding, keen understanding, quick. He noticed the margin
says smell or scent. I got to hurry. I'm going to
skip this. But it says, let's just read
on. He will not judge after the sight
of his eyes, neither approve after the hearing of his ear.
And I'm so thankful. And he said that. Our Lord Jesus
Christ said that. I don't judge by my sight or
hearing. I judge righteous judgment. And
I'm so thankful. We don't have this. We don't
have this righteous judgment. We often exercise very poor,
unrighteous judgment. And we judge wrongly. We judge why? How? What we see. and what we hear,
or supposed to hear. And that's so fallible. Me? My hearing's bad. You don't
want me judging you on what I heard you say. That's for sure. Sites? The judge of all the earth,
though, does right. He judges right. We judge others
wrongly, and we are judged wrongly, aren't we? Aren't you glad that
our Lord is our judge? Aren't you glad that we stand
or fall before our Lord Jesus Christ who judges us? Aren't
you? There was a time when Noah was lying drunk. And if you'd have seen him, you'd
have thought, there ain't no way he's a child of God. Or Abraham,
a coward, not once but twice. You would have said by the sight
of your eyes and the hearing of your ears, There ain't no
way he's a child of God. Lot had to be dragged out of
Sodom. Well, if you love Sodom, Lot,
there ain't no way he's a child of God. And then a little bit
later, after a great deliverance, no, Lot's no child of God. There
ain't no way. I saw him do this. I heard him
say that. David scratching on the door. and slobber
running down his face. And you don't think you played
the fool? David did. That's why he wrote Psalm 36
right after that. This poor man, this poor excuse
for a believer cried and the Lord heard him. This fool. He
acted like a fool. Aren't you glad? He knows us better than we know
ourselves. Aren't you glad? He doesn't judge by what we say
or what we do, because our mouths constantly condemn us. Our actions
constantly condemn us before God and before others. But there
is therefore now no condemnation. To what? To who? Those that walk
right? Those that are in Christ. How am I? I have laid help. on one that's mighty. Do you
hear me? Oh, the girdle of his loins.
He says he'll smite the earth with a rod of his mouth. I don't
know hardly what to say to people. Often a coward he was. I love thinking about those disciples
hiding behind him while he faced the Pharisees. I love that, don't
you? Righteousness, a girdle of His
law, and faithfulness, a girdle of His reigns. Girdle is what
holds everything together, holds everything up, everything from
falling apart. We use belt now. Some of you
can't get one of those on you. You have to use suspenders, galluses,
you know, but they used to wear a girdle much wider than our
belts. And this is what everything held his armor together and swords
and everything hung on this. Everything hangs on the Lord
Jesus Christ. Everything is held together by
what? His faithfulness. His righteousness. Everything. That's his girdle,
his loins, his very inner being. Now look at this. I wanted to
get to this. Here's the results. of his reign
and his rule and his kingdom being set up here on earth and
in his church and in the hearts of his people. The wolf shall
dwell with the lamb. The leopard shall lie down with
the kid. The calf and the young lion and
the fatling, they'll be together. And the little child shall lead
them. The cow and the bear shall feed together. The young one
shall lie down together. A lion shall eat straw like an
ox. The sucking child play on the
hole of the air. The weaned child put his hand
on a snake's den. What's all that say? Well, it's
saying that those who are of the meanest and the most violent, full of enmity, And hatred by
their wicked works, he's able to subdue. And he only is able
to make a wolf lie down with a lamb. A lion not devour a kid. Here's an example. Saul, Tarsus,
says he went around breathing out threatening and slaughter. going about from house to house,
devouring people, hailing of men and women and young people. Saul of Tarsus, what happened
to him? A little while later, you hear
the story, because Jesus Christ, this mighty One to save, came
to Saul and said, Saul, and that mighty opponent hit the dust. And he turned him into a lamb.
That lion. And it says after that, before
he was injurious and a persecutor and a blasphemer, and the breathing
out slaughters and threatening, it says he was with them, with the
church, going and coming. A follower. He's a follower. A little child should lead them.
Jeremiah said, Lord, I'm a child. Jeremiah was about 24 years old.
Spurgeon was 19. Nineteen! How would you like
to have a 19-year-old pastor? How are you going to get 70-year-old
people to follow a 19-year-old? You won't. He won't. God will. God will. They'll lie down together. The Lord gives a new nature. Lion eating sheep food. Here's
a better illustration. The Ark. Christ's Ark. The Ark of Christ. The Ark that Noah built. Inside
that Ark were animals of all sorts, weren't there? Lions,
tigers, bears, and lambs, and kids, and goats, and were they fighting? Were they
devouring one another? Peace. How? How did that happen? Well, everybody in the ark is
at peace with one another. I don't think there were doors
on their stalls. Tell me, I don't think there
were doors on their stalls. They didn't want to go anywhere. Like
an old wild horse that's been out, now he's found shelter and
food and water and all he could possibly eat. Keep the door open. Oh my, a little child will play
with a snake. That's not handling snakes, you
know that. But meaning that nothing shall harm them. Poison of asps
won't harm us. It's on everybody's lips. They
shall not hurt, verse 9, nor destroy in all my holy mountain,
any or all. They will not hurt. The earth
will be full of the knowledge of the Lord. This is the only
thing that will keep us from harm, the knowledge of the Lord
Jesus Christ. You see, after all these years,
and I quit, after all these years, and this is a sad fact, but it's
true, even in our modern society, so-called modern civilized society,
blacks and whites do not dwell together. Do they? Indians, Mexicans, blacks, Mexicans,
nope. They have a hatred for one another.
Isn't that so? People of various races cannot
and do not and will not, I know there are some exceptions by
the grace of God, but very few, they cannot, they do not truly
dwell together in harmony. The only way, the only way. See, all men are equal. That's
true. Equally bad. Equally evil and corrupt. Equally
depraved. And we hate one another by nature.
Children of wrath. But this is the only way Gentiles... You know how much Jews hate Gentiles? They hate them. And vice versa. But in Christ, there's no Jew,
no Gentile, no male, no female, no red, no blue, no black, no
white, no color. They're all equal. The only thing
that equalizes is the sovereign grace of God. The only thing
that will cause us to dwell together. Down in Franklin, Tennessee,
there's a church by the name of Chris Cunningham. He's a pastor.
Your family goes there. One black man. One. Been there a long time,
hasn't he? A long time. One. Let me ask you, if you're the
only white person in here, what can keep you? The grace of God. The gospel of God. He can't find
it anywhere else. He stays right there. But they
don't look at him as a black man. He's a brother. We're all
a bunch of sinners. You see that? The Spirit of the
Lord. He's the only one who can do
this. He must do this. All right, stand with me. Our Lord and our God, we thank
you for your Word. Oh, how we thank you. It is our
wisdom, knowledge, understanding, making us The fear of the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom. Knowledge of the Holy is understanding. Oh, Lord, these
are not just doctrines, concepts, theology. This is Christ. It's all Him we see. Dimly we preach, in part, oh,
how we thank you for that we do know and do understand Him. Oh, Lord, increase our understanding. our knowledge of Him. May we
see Him as all in all. Seeing Him, His wisdom, all the
so-called wisdom of this world, such foolishness, such utter
foolishness. Oh, that which people call foolishness,
this preaching of the Gospel, we esteem highly as the wisdom
and power of our God, the power of our Christ, the Mighty One.
Keep us here. Keep us hearing. How blessed
is the man or the woman who hears you, watches daily at your gates,
waiting at the post of your door. Bring us back this Lord's Day
to hear your Word again. In Christ's name, amen. Thank you very much.