Thank you, John Sherry. You can't
grow tired of that hymn. How could you? Did you recognize Isaiah 43 in
that hymn? That's the principal text, I
believe, being quoted by Reginald Heber. Thank the Lord for Reginald
Heber and those others who wrote these great hymns. Matthew 11.
Go back there. Matthew 11, verse 25. At that time, Jesus answered
and said, I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because
Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and has
revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed
good in Thy sight. It says, The Lord answered. Well,
we didn't hear anyone speak out loud. We didn't hear anyone speak
to Him. There was no voice. But it said,
He answered. Or did someone speak? And we
didn't hear it. The Son of God, the Lord Jesus
Christ, in constant communion with His Heavenly Father. Constant,
inseparable communion. He said, I and the Father are
one. He heard His voice. They were
constantly speaking to one another. Scripture tells us, tells the
sons of God to pray without ceasing. We don't. We should, but we don't. He did. He did. Constantly speaking to His Father
and His Father with faith. That's a mark of a good relationship.
I and the Father are one. He was in constant communion
with him. Close, inseparable communion.
One time he was walking along and just blurted out, he said,
Father, glorify Thy name. That's what he said. And then it thundered. Thunder
rolled. They said. Some said it thundered. But Scripture says that God spoke. A voice spoke from heaven and
said, I have both glorified it and I will glorify it again.
Christ heard that. He heard the Father's voice.
We heard it. We hear it. The sons of God. God has spoken once, Scripture
says, twice, but men perceive it not. God speaks clearly two
ways. Psalm 19 says this very clearly,
that God speaks clearly two ways. One, through creation. The heavens
declare his glory. The firmament showeth his handiwork.
Day unto day uttereth speech. Night after night, knowledge. What speech? God is. Behold thy God, thy Creator,
in whose hands thy breath is and all thy way. The God who
made thee. I made thee. We just read that.
I made thee. The Creator. Creations declares
his glory to him. Day after day, everything clearly
tells us that God is. Do you hear it? You hear it? When you hear the
birds sing, what do you hear? I hear, I hear, how great thou
art. I hear, oh, how merciful. I hear,
thank you, Lord. The birds singing. People of
the earth, the world, stop at that. That's just birds singing.
Yeah, you don't know the sound. You don't know the song, do you?
And then another way that God speaks is through His Word. Psalm
19 says, Heavens declares glory, and then God hath wrote a book. It's God's book. Most people
just call it the Bible. We call it the Word of God. It
is the Word of God. Go with me to John chapter 8.
John chapter 8. The sons of God, you see, like
the Lord Jesus Christ, they hear His voice. God has spoken once,
yea, twice, but men perceive it not." Oh, how blessed is the
one who does perceive. Blessed is that man or that woman
or young person that God gives ears to hear His voice, eyes
to see His glory in the things made, to see God in everything.
Not many wise, not many mighty, not many noble are called. The
doctors, the scientists, they don't see God in any of these
things. How can they be so blind? God hath blinded their minds.
That's how. How can a person look at these
things and not see that God is? God hath blinded. God hath hid
these things from the wise and the prudent. Well, why do you
see? You're a nothing and a nobody
from nowhere. Not wise, not mighty, not noble.
Why do you see clearly? God hath revealed these things
unto you. John chapter 8, our Lord was preaching. The Lord
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Word was made flesh, and
the doctors, the lawyers, the priests, the Pharisees, they
came to Him and they were listening to Him, but they didn't hear
what He said. And He said in verse 43, Why do you not understand
My speech? Because you cannot hear My Word.
You cannot. No man can. Except God give him
or her ears to hear. Cannot. Look down at verse 47. But he that is of God, heareth
God's words. Most people read this book, most
people hear it preached, and it's just another book. And it's
just a boring sermon. But bless God, sometimes we hear
it and we hear God speak it. Sometimes we hear just a man
standing up and we hear from God. God bless. Sons of God here, God's voice
is heard in creation, is heard in the Word. He said, My sheep
hear My voice. My sheep hear My voice. When
He calls, they answer. When He calls, they answer. And
they cry. And they call on Him. And they
come. That's how you know they're sheep.
That's how you know them. My sheep hear my voice. He that
is of God heareth God's Word. If they don't hear it, they're
not from God. They're not of God. You see, while he upbraided those
that heard and didn't dance or didn't mourn, kept hearing it
over and over again, no effect on them. That's what he did. It says, at that time, verse
25, at that time. See that? At that time, Jesus
answered. After what he just said. After
those came and just heard it again and didn't hear it. After
they heard the joyful sound and didn't rejoice. After they heard
the mournful sound and didn't weep. At that time. After that time. admonished the critical, rebuked
the curious. We were sitting there singing
those hymns, standing and singing those hymns. And I looked out
and I saw some that were not singing. And then I saw some who were
singing, but almost with embarrassment. And then I saw some singing with
complete indifference. And it made me sad. And it made
me fearful. And it made me pray. Lord, give us ears to hear. But then
it made me think of myself. Why aren't you singing that from
the top of your lungs? From the bottom of your heart?
Don't worry about them. What's wrong with you? Oh my, at that time, after he
said all that, time and again, he spoke the same thing as he
does to us. And after denouncing these others, after upbraiding,
condemning the towns in which he had done so much and they
didn't repent, rebuking the critical, admonishing the curious, reproaching
the unresponsive. After that, at that time then,
and Luke's gospel has this same story. It says in Luke's gospel
he rejoiced. All of a sudden it says, after
he rejoiced, and apparently he looked heavenward and he said,
I thank Thee, Father. He looked out and looked at a
multitude of people. And he looked out and he saw
the indifferent. He looked out and he saw the unmoved. He looked
out and he saw the curious. He looked out and he saw the
dead. He looked out and saw them. And then he looked out and he
saw Simon Peter. Then he looked out and he saw
Luke. Or he saw Thomas. Or he saw you. He saw his people. whom he foresaw. And it says
he rejoiced in spirit. One of the only times it says
he rejoiced in spirit. You cannot rejoice and not smile. You cannot rejoice and not laugh. Thank you, Father. I thank you,
Father. What was he thankful for? What
was he thanking the Father for? Being thankful is a mark of the
Son of God. Our Lord didn't have much. He
didn't have anywhere to lay His head. He lived day to day from hand
to mouth. God's hand to His mouth. He didn't
have much. He didn't have the things that
we have so much in abundance. Yet He was happy. The word blessed
means happy. It means content. We look for
happiness. And we look for it in the wrong places. We look
for it in things and places. And it's not in things and places.
It's in a person. And it's what I was just saying.
The Lord was in perfect, constant communion with God. He didn't
need anything else. He didn't need anybody else.
If we could be in communion with Him like that, if we could be
in perfect tune with the Word of God, if we could hear perfectly
what God's Word is saying to us, we would completely be without
care, without worry, without fear. Nothing and no one would
bother us. We'd be happy. We'd be so blessed. Hearing these words, we'd be
soaking it in like a sponge, and we wouldn't have need of
anybody or anything. This would be our necessary food.
happiness, our joy. He said, I thank Thee, Father.
He called Him the Lord of heaven and earth. Lord of heaven and
earth. He knew who God was. Lord of heaven and earth. God
in whose hands His breath was, in all His way. The God over
all, forever blessed. The God who worketh all things.
The God of all grace. He depended on the Father's grace
at that time. As a man, He depended on the
Father's grace at that time. Yes, he didn't provide for himself. The Father provided for him.
He didn't work a job. Up until 30 he did, but then
after that, he went on the road and he depended totally on the
Father. Did he feed him? Oh, why? He knew the God of all grace.
He knew the God who deserves all praise, honor, and glory
and thanks. And he said, I thank you, O Father.
This is how you know the people of God from the mere pretenders. The irreligious are unthankful. Romans 1 says, after all that
God does for them, they're not thankful. They're not thankful,
rather the opposite, even demanding, even boastful, proud, thinking
that they did what they did, that they got what they got,
that they earned what they had, and they deserve the praise and
honor and glory for it. The opposite of thankful. Most
people are proud and boastful and murmuring and complaining.
They think it's their right to have these things. When they
don't have them, they start cussing God and cursing heaven. Don't
they? Most people are like that. Most
people, if the least little thing goes wrong, they cuss God, don't
they? If one of their two cars breaks
down. If their mansion springs a leak.
Or what a terrible crisis, the computer go bad. Man, oh man,
what a wretched generation this is. Unthankful. Unholy. Unthankful. And the religious
are no better. Religious people go through the
motions of religion. an amusement park with Isabella
and Sophie and Gabe and Hannah. But we sat down to eat. And you know what goes on in
an amusement park. You're there for amusement. Fun and games,
you know. Laughter and all this stuff.
You sit down and it's just madness. Just madness. Loud, crazy. We
sat there and ate. And I'm thankful. I know I am
thankful. I know I am. By the grace of
God, I am thankful. I do give thanks. But our Lord
plainly said, don't do it to be seen of men. Don't do that.
He said that's what Pharisees do. They do it to be seen of
men. They love to be seen praying so people know how religious
they are. And lo and behold, there was
a family there and they joined hands and bowed their head in
the midst of all that confusion and all that. The religious like
to do that, you see. Most are not sincere about that. Most are doing it so you'll see
that they're religious, so that they will get praise from you
to be seen of men. That's right. Some of you are
in that and you know it's so, don't you? How can you lift up
your heart to God in the midst of all that merriment and all
that confusion? How can you? I can't do that. But I did inwardly. Thank you, Lord, for this food.
Thank you for my family. Thank you. But God makes His people thankful,
most thankful for one thing. This is what our Lord said. This
is what He gave thanks for, and this is what I give thanks for,
and this is what I hope you give thanks for. This is what I pray
for, and this is the thing I want everybody in here, our youth
and whoever, to finally learn. This is the greatest gift of
all. This is that unspeakable gift.
Lord, please reveal this undue abate today. Please reveal this
unspeakable gift and make them proud and sing these songs with
thanksgiving. He said, I thank you, Father
in Heaven. You've hid these things from the wise and the prudent. What things? We just talked about it. That
God is. He's as clear as the sun that
shines at noonday, isn't it? In fact, that's why He created
the sun. And that's why He named His Son,
the Son. That's no coincidence. Every
day, day under day, we quoted that scripture. The sun comes
up. The sun comes up. This great
ball of consuming fire that you can't get too close to or it
will consume you. You can't get too close to it
or you'll burn up, can't get too far or you'll freeze to death.
You'll die. Cold. This sun that sustains
life on planet Earth. I'm getting into Wednesday night's
message. This is our message, the sun. All life on earth depends
on it. And God hung it in space 6 or
7,000 years ago. Not 7 billion, 6 or 7,000 years
ago. These fools don't believe God
hung it out there. I don't know what they believe
about the sun, where did it come from? This big burning ball of
hydrogen. that sustains life on this planet.
You know why He created a son? To show us His Son. Day under
day that utterance speaks that God is, that Christ is the Son
of Righteousness, that all flesh depends upon Him. All life comes
through Him. And men and women wake up every
day to that same Son. Just take it for granted and
never give God one word of thanks for it. Water, rain comes down
from the sky. This is the only planet where
it rains. The only planet where there's water. The only one,
it's the only one where Jesus Christ set foot on. And He said,
I am the water of life. Scripture says, He shall come
down like rain on my bed. Life, water of life. Why did
God create water? Why do we need water? To show
us we need Christ. That Christ is the water of life.
Without Him, we'll die. Oh, he said, I thank you, Father,
Lord of heaven and earth, that you've hid these things from
the wise and the prudent. You know, there's no one wise.
There's no one wise. There is no wisdom set from above.
All people can make things. People can create computers,
and people can do things that seem wonderful and glorious,
but they're not wise. God said the fool has said there's
no God. How can somebody be wise when
they can look at what a man creates, such as a computer? And we're
in a generation which has more inventions than any other, right?
It's not smarter than those several thousand years ago who created
things that we still need. It's not smarter. But anyway, let's just use this
as an illustration. The computer. It gets more amazing
all the time, the computer, the amount of information that it
can produce, the things that it can do. Computers make things
and do things. It's just amazing what the computer
does. Well, men did that. Men made those amazing inventions. It just boggles my mind. Didn't you? Did a computer just
evolve? Could you possibly believe, Davis,
that a computer was floating out in space one day, keys and
little and all that, and there's a big explosion that took place,
and all of a sudden you've got a computer. That's foolish, isn't
it? That's ridiculous, isn't it?
It was a brilliant mind that made that computer. Man has a
brilliant thing. It's a bowl of grey jelly in
his head. It's grey jelly! And yet full
of it are these ideas and theories and artistic abilities and all,
and he makes a computer. Well, who made that? Oh, that, now that, just, there
was an explosion, you see. Boom! I'll tell you what the
boom was. God's voice. They said it thundered. They say a big boom happened.
God said, I spoke. Let there be light. Boom! The sun. I spoke and said, let
there be man. Boom! He's made like unto God. Look at that creature. I am God. There is none else. Day unto
day I doeth this speech. But men, the wise and the crooked,
they're so wise, aren't they? Wise. Professing themselves to be wise,
he said, they become fools. The more educated we get, the
more foolish we become. A bunch of blooming idiots, as
Brother Donald said. A bunch of idiots. Ain't none of them got a lick
of sense. Not a lick of sense. They can make skyscrapers and
computers, but don't know God. Can't see. Why? God hid these
things. How could it be hidden unless
God hid it? It can't be hidden unless God hides it. It's too
clear. It's clearly revealed. Romans 1. But then he rejoices and says,
You've revealed these things to babies. You've revealed these things
to babes. What things? The things of God. The things of God. You've revealed
these things to babes. Look at what thing? Look at verse
27. Look at it. Christ said, All things are delivered
unto me of my Father. And no man knoweth the Son, but
the Father. Neither know any man the Father
save the Son. And he to whomsoever the Son
will reveal it. All things. God hath hid these
things from the wise and prudent, the things of God. the things
concerning Christ, the things of salvation, the Word of God,
the wisdom of God, the righteousness of God, the truth of God, the
way to God. He's hid these things, but He's
revealed these things unto babies. His baby. His babies. His little children. My little
children of God revealed these things unto them." What things? The things of God that is His
marvelous person and power and glory. I looked into the face
that is trying to declare something of who God is in the face of
some of you and they were joshing over it. You know who God is.
You rejoice that God is. You rejoice in God your Savior.
His marvelous person and power, His holiness. How many people
know anything about the holiness of God? I saw this guy at that amusement
park, and he had a t-shirt on. And he had in the middle of that
shirt the name God. And if he knew God at all, he
wouldn't have had that on there. Anybody that puts God's name
on their shirt like that doesn't know God. Malachi 4 again says, those that
fear My name. His name is too glorious. His
name is too high. God is too fearful. They fear
His name. You wouldn't have it on your
shirt like you would Dale Earnhardt's name. But he's had God on there,
and had all sorts of descriptions of God around him. He's love,
he's this and that and the other. I didn't see holiness on there. I didn't have time. We were going
through a line. You know how those lines are. And we were
waiting 45 minutes and I finally started moving. And I wanted
to say something to him and he whizzed by me. I wanted to say,
do you know who the God who is a consuming fire is? That's what
I wanted to say to him. But I didn't get the chance.
He's gone. Holy, holy, holy. We sang that
hymn. Most people don't sing it anymore.
It's too old fashioned. Holy. God is holy. We know something
about the holiness of God. Just a little bit, don't we?
That's what regulates our worship. That's what makes us do what
we do in fear. That's what makes us choose these
songs that we choose. Do what we do. Not have any idol. Not do all this stuff that religion
is doing today. We know God is holy. And since God is holy, we know
there's only one way to approach this God. How? You've got to
have a mediator. You've got to have an intercessor.
We've got to have blood. We're sinful. These things, God
has revealed these things unto us. He's holy. We're not. We're
altogether undone. That's what He revealed to Isaiah,
wasn't it? Woe is me, I'm a man of unclean
lips. That's what He revealed to John,
didn't He? I'm undone. My beauty corrupted in me, Daniel
said. He reveals His holiness. He reveals
our unholiness. He reveals His mercy and our
guilt. He reveals His sovereignty and
our weakness. We're nothing. We're nobodies
from nowhere. That's what He said. He said,
you're in My hand in Isaiah 43. You're Mine. You're the One.
I'm the One that does all things for you. He reveals unto us His
Word, the wisdom of it, the glory of it, the message of it, the
truth of it. He reveals unto us His Son, the
Lord Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh. Most just saw Him as Jesus. Isn't that what He said there?
He said, No man knoweth the Son, but the Father. Neither knoweth
any man that the Father saved the Son, and he to whomsoever
the Son shall reveal him." Nobody knows. You know why people still
call him Jesus? That's what they called him then.
He walked this planet. There's a man named Jesus. And
they called him Jesus. We know who thou art, Jesus.
That's the carpenter's son. They still call him that. People
still say that. I saw a man with a bumper sticker
on his truck, a carpenter, a worker. It said, a Jewish carpenter is
my boss. Well, that may sound clever to
most, but that tells me he doesn't know Jesus Christ. He's not a
carpenter. Christ was a carpenter until
he was 30 years old. He's a creator. He's not the
carpenter. He's not your carpenter. God is my co-pilot. They don't
know God. Look, he said, I've revealed
to you who I am. Who is this Jesus? He said that
to his disciple one day. He said, whom do men say that
I am? They said, well, Elijah, John the Baptist, great men,
even Moses maybe, great men. They don't know him. He said to Simon, Peter and Thomas,
he said, who do you say that I am? You're the Christ. That means
you're God. He's looking at a 30-year-old
man. He says, you're God. How? He can't be God. He's a
man. He is. He is. He's revealed these
things Himself unto His people. He's revealed who He is. He's
revealed that He is our covenant head. Our Messiah, our Lord,
our Savior, all things are delivered unto me of my Father." He said,
all people, the whole world, they that are in it, all souls
are mine, the souls of my people. The law was given to me to fulfill. God's people, His sheep were
given to me to save. The covenant is given to me to
keep. I'm the one, He said. And all His people know that.
They know. If anybody puts their trust in
anything or anyone, they don't know it. Christ is all. He said, all power is given unto
me in heaven and earth. All authority. Ruling over angels,
devils, and men. And all our salvation. Now, I
want to quit with this. Look at Revelation 5. Go over
there with me. Revelation 5. And this is what they're saying
in glory right now. This is what the people who know
him, whom he revealed himself to, are saying in glory. And this is what they're saying
on earth right now. All whom he reveals himself to.
Look at it. Revelation 5. Have it. Verse
11. He said, I beheld and heard the
voice of many angels round about the throne, and beasts, and the
elders, and a number of them was ten thousand times ten thousands
and thousands of thousands. And they said with a loud voice,
here's what they're singing, a ratherhood. Worthy is the Lamb
that was slain to receive, from us that is, worship of, the song
of, the praise of power. He has all power. Riches, all
riches. Wisdom, He has made unto us wisdom,
strength, honor, all honor. None belongs to anybody but Him.
Glory? It is all to the praise of His
glory. Blessing? It is all in Him. Every creature,
read on, which is in heaven, on the earth, under the earth,
And such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I
say, that's the birds, that's the bees, that's the trees, that's
the fish. They're saying, Blessing and
honor and glory and power be unto him that sitteth upon the
throne and of the Lamb forever and ever. And they all fell down
and worshiped him." Well, the Lord said He's hid
these things from the wise and the prudent. He said, no man
knows unless revealed by the Father. And if you know, he said,
blessed are you. Flesh and blood didn't reveal
it to you, but my Father. And you can rejoice, too, that
He's revealed these things unto you. This morning, let me ask
you a question. And I want you to be honest with
me. What are you most thankful for? What are you most thankful for? You who say that you're thankful,
what is it that you're absolute from the bottom of your heart,
what are you most thankful for? I was looking out the window this
morning. I was over here. The sun was
shining. I was thankful. It's a beautiful
day. Beautiful day. Had a lot of rain. And I'm thankful
for the rain. Look how green it is. God ought to dry it up, you know.
We're so unthankful. Is it too much? Too much? No,
it's just right. Everything is green. Everything
is a beautiful day. I spent the weekend with Just
some girls that are just, boy, are they precious to me. My,
my, have I had fun. I was happier than a hog in water.
Last night I was sitting at the table with three out of four,
out of five of my favorite girls. And I was just, oh, Lord, thank
You. Thank You. Thank You. I'm in
good health. I have just enjoyed really good
help all my day. I'm just so thankful. I started
thinking about this church. I was sitting there at that nice
desk and thinking, thankful that I can come and sit and study
God's Word, doing what I'm doing. So thankful. I started thinking
about you. Thankful. Thankful. Just was thankful for
everything. But I believe I can say this
from my heart. I know I can. that I'm thankful my soul is
not in hell this morning. I'm thankful that God didn't
leave me alone, leave me as a teenager who didn't give a flip for God,
who could care less if there was a God, who heard this message
over and over again and thought, I'll be glad when this is over.
And he played the prodigal and ran down to Florida to waste
his substance and riotous living. I am so thankful God didn't leave
me to myself. But in great sovereign mercy,
sovereign mercy, he didn't have to do it, but he did. Undeserved
favor, God called me by his breath. In his providence, worked all
things together, some really hard things, in order to bring
me back and sit me down under the Word and have a man stand
up and preach that Word. And one day, he opened my ears. He opened my eyes to see myself,
to see Him, to see Christ. He opened my ears to hear this
message. You need Christ. You don't have
Him. You're going to perish if you don't. He opened my heart
to cry on me. Oh, wretched man that I am! And
then hear the Gospel that said, Yes, you are, and I have made
sin for you. So hear the gospel that all your
sins are put away in me. Now rejoice. I just believe, I just know that
that's the thing I'm most thankful for, these things. There's one
thing that I could have gone on, he could have left me to
myself, and I could have gone on and no telling what I would
have been, in prison, or I don't know where it would be, may be
successful in this world, may be having
the finest of everything, not give God a thought. Not give
God a thought and die without Him. Oh my, this is the greatest
blessing of all. May God be pleased to reveal
Himself to us. and our children. This is my
prayer.