Okay, go back to Matthew 3 with
me. Matthew 3. Like the subject passage we dealt
with in the first hour, Sabbath day, there's so much talk today
about being baptized with the Holy Ghost and with fire, isn't
it? So much talk. You don't hear
God's people talking about it so much, but you do hear a lot
of talk about it. And we're going to look at what
that means. But first, and there were several
of you not here on Wednesday, Go back and look at some of these
verses. In verse 1, ìIn those days came John the Baptist preaching
in the wilderness of Judea. He said, ìRepent ye, for the
kingdom of heaven is at hand.î God sent a preacher. It was a
great blessing to Israel. God had been silent for a long
time. God sent a preacher. A great blessing, a gift. And
he preached repentance, is what he preached. That is, toward
God, a holy God, God who is angry with the wicked every day, the
wrath of God, he said. Who hath warned you to flee from
the wrath of God? He preached repentance toward
God, the wrath of God. But, man, he also preached, Behold
the Lamb of God. John chapter 1, Behold the Lamb
of God. That was his message every day.
Behold the Lamb of God. Down in verse 11, John said,
I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance. He said, that's
all I can do. John was quick to tell everyone
that he was nothing, that he could do nothing. He was just
a voice, just a preacher. And he said, I baptize you with
water, and that water can't do a thing for you. And I thought
about that. I thought about how several that
I have personally baptized in that pool are not here anymore.
Obviously, this water doesn't do anything for anybody. But
he said, now, he that cometh after me, he's mightier than
I. He'll baptize you. He said, I'm
not worthy to carry a shoe, untie a shoe. He said, He will baptize
you with the Holy Ghost and fire. Now, Scripture says a lot about
John. The Lord said much about John. John 1. Go over there. John chapter
1. And since Scripture deals much with John, we should too.
We should look at it. John chapter 1. The Lord reveals
who John was. A preacher sent by God. He was called a witness. Verse
6 through 8 of John 1. There was a man, just a man,
but he was sent from God, whose name was John. The same came
for a witness. A witness is someone who tells
what they've seen and heard, isn't it? That person doesn't
come to talk about themselves. No, they come to tell what they've
seen and heard. And John the Apostle said, that which we have seen and heard,
declare we unto you. What, John? We've seen his glory. We've beheld his glory as of
the only begotten of the Father, Christ. John said in verse 8,
he was not that light, but he was sent to bear witness of the
light. Down to verse 15, John, bear witness of Christ, saying,
This was he of whom I spake, he that cometh after me is preferred
before me, for he was before me. John, bear witness of Christ. Look at verse 19. This is the
record of John. The Jews came out and said, Who
art thou? He confessed. He denied not.
He didn't leave any doubt, but he confessed, I am not the Christ.
See, that's how you know this man was from God. Right up front,
he said, don't look to me, I'm not the Christ. I'm nothing,
just a man. He said, well, they said, are
you Elias? Are you some great person? You know, our Lord said
he was. Our Lord said he was. He said,
if you'll receive it, this is Elijah, and it's going to come.
Well, they asked John, he said, are you Elias? That's how you know. He answered,
no. You know, we've got a couple of fellas coming here to preach,
and I think they're two of the best around. Good as they get. I really do. The Lord bless both
these men. One of them, when he first started
preaching, I remember that every time he got up, he would apologize
for being there. He was just so humble, he just
said, I'm not worthy, I'm not fit. He would just spend the
first five minutes saying, I'm a nobody, I'm a nothing. Until
the rest of some of the older fellas said, you don't have to
keep saying that. You don't have to keep saying
that. We appreciate it, but you've got a job to do and God put you
up there, just tell it. But the fact is, Every true man,
he's going to just immediately and constantly deny himself. John said, he must increase. I must decrease. I'm nothing. They asked him,
read on. He said, well, who are you then,
verse 22? What sayest thou of thyself?
Talk about yourself. No. I'm a voice, he said. Just a
voice. If you hear me, and I'm the only
one you hear, you've heard of nobody and nothing. You won't
get anything. You need to hear Him whose voice
makes the hinds give, breaks the cedars and the hard heart.
I'm not worthy, He said. I'm not worthy. John 3, go over
there. John chapter 3, verse 28. He said, I'm not the Christ.
I told you, I'm not the Christ. I'm sent before Him. He that hath the bride is the
bridegroom, a friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him
rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice." This
is my joy to tell you about the bridegroom. He must increase.
I must decrease. Verse 34, he said, He of Christ,
he's the one that speaks the words of God. God giveth not
the Spirit by measure unto him. You know, our Lord said John
had the Holy Spirit from his mother's womb in him. That's what he said. And John,
you never heard John say, I'm a spirit-filled, born-again,
tongue-talking Christian, did you? Never. Why is so much space reserved
talking about John? And our Lord, in another chapter,
commended John, didn't He? He said, who did you go out to
hear? The Prophet? He knew more than that. Why? Why does he do that? Because
there are so many false prophets going out into the world. Our
Lord said that. Many false prophets. And they're
getting worse and worse. Evil men and seducers wax worse
and worse, deceiving and being deceived. And it's dangerous
to listen to a man if God didn't send him. It's dangerous. You ladies with children, when
you were looking for a pediatrician for your child, You just go to
the yellow pages and say, ah, you didn't mean to remind him
of it. Here it is, AAA Pediatrician, the first one. Go to him. Not
look into him, not care what he, huh? It's more important
who your child sits under the preaching than your pediatrician. That's right. It's more dangerous
to send them to a quack preacher than a quack doctor. It really
is. And how they're known. John was
sent by God. How do you know? He said, I'm
unworthy. Paul said, I'm less than the least. I'm not fit to
be called a disciple. Our Lord said, you let a man
come in his own name and you'll receive him. And John wouldn't
tell his name. Wouldn't even tell his name. He said, I'm a nothing. Paul
said this, I plant, I water, I'm nothing. I'm just a messenger,
just an under-shepherd. I'm leading someone else's sheep.
I'm leading someone else's sheep out to pasture. That's all I'm
doing. They would ask him, are you a reverend? No. Holden Reverend
is his name. Are you a doctor? No. He's the
great physician. Brother Terry Worthing once said,
I'm not even a good practical nurse. Are you a master? No, I'm a slave. You see, that's what a witness
does. A witness tells of the one he's bearing witness of.
That's how you know. When we say we preach Christ,
we preach not ourselves, but Christ and Him crucified. You'll
know. You'll know. John spoke not of
himself. Now, here's rather who he bore
witness of. He said in our text, go back
there, Matthew chapter 3, John said, I baptize with water and
that's all I can do. But he that cometh after me,
him, now he's going to talk about him. He that cometh after me, in John
3 he said, but he was before me. He's above me. But he that cometh after me is
mightier than I. John said, I'm nothing, but oh,
he's mighty. Who is he? He's the mighty God. Over in Isaiah 63, it says this,
Who is this that cometh from Edom with dyed garments from
Basra? This that is glorious in his
apparel, traveling in the greatness of his strength. And then he
speaks, I that speak in righteousness, mighty to say. Why are your garments
red?" He said, I've trodden the wild grass alone. Mighty, the
mighty God. Isaiah said, call his name, wonderful,
counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince
of Peace, the Prince, the mighty Lord. Who is this? John said,
he's mightier than I. He made the universe. Master
of the universe. Master. He's the master of the
sea. Billows his will. Obey. Disciples saw him hush that raging
ocean one day, didn't they? And they said, what manner of
man is this? I'll tell you. The mighty God-man. The mighty God. Master of everything. The mighty man. Mighty man. Mighty in holiness. Mighty and holy. You know, we
live in this world and we are corrupted by it. It's a corrupt world. And we
live in it. We can't be in it any time at
all until we start acting like it, becoming dirty in it. Our Lord lived here 33 years
without one sin. Tempted at all points, like as
we are. You're talking about mighty.
We can't resist one temptation. Not one. Unless He enables it. He resisted for 33 years. Not one sin. Not one. After a
lifetime on this earth. Mighty in holiness. He's mighty
in mercy. He said, My mercy is higher than
the heavens are the earth. And as we noted, that last display
of his mercy, the worst man you could think of, he showed mercy
to. In fact, he showed mercy to the
very ones that were killing him. Mighty in mercy, mighty in love. Greater loveth no man than this."
And he laid down his life for his friend. Well, he laid down
his life for his enemy. Mighty to love. Having loved
his own, he loved them to the end. Mighty to save. A mighty
redeemer. Able and willing to buy back
all that was lost, like Boaz. Remember the story of Boaz? Naomi
said to Ruth, she said, this man, the man, she called him
the man. The man will not rest until he
had finished the thing this day. He's mighty. He's going to get
the job done. Mighty to redeem. Mighty to save. He's called the captain of our
salvation. Mighty. He who has been through
all deep waters. Good captain. Been through deep
waters himself. And he's able to bring his people
through. He's able. To bring every one
of them through without harm. To bring them to their desired
end. He's able to save to the uttermost. Able to bring everyone through
every stormy wind that blows and every swelling tide of woe. Yes, there is a calm, a sure,
a mighty retreat. It's found while sitting at His
feet. The Mighty One, Jesus Christ,
the Almighty. Notice here in this chapter,
it says in verse, John says of him in verse 11 and 12, what
he will do, what he shall do. He says, he that cometh after
me is mightier than I. He shall baptize you with the
Holy Ghost. whose hand is in his hand, and
he will throughly purge his floor and gather his wheat into the
garner, but he will burn up the child. No ifs, ands, or maybes
about it, buts. But he will, he shall. He's mighty. How mighty? Almighty. Almighty. All power, he said, is given
unto me in heaven and earth. Scripture says John was filled
with the Spirit from his mother's womb. Isaiah 61 says he has the
Spirit without measure. Well, what is
this baptism of the Holy Spirit and fire? Well, John was filled
with the Spirit. Who did he speak of? John was filled with the Holy
Spirit from his mother's womb. It says when Mary came, Mary
was expecting. And Elizabeth was nine, a few
months before that, wasn't it? Well, no, Mary wasn't expecting
yet, but Elizabeth what? Remember, John was in her womb.
The Lord had announced to her. I believe she had conceived,
but the Lord announced that and she conceived. And she came to
Elizabeth. And John, while in his mother's
womb, When Mary came, Elizabeth said, the baby leaped. He delighted in Christ from his
womb, from his mother's womb, and spoke of him. That's why
he lived out in the wilderness and did what he did and ate what
he ate and all of that. He was totally, completely, 100%
sold out to be the messenger of the Lord Jesus Christ. He
was a messenger of Christ. And when John spoke, who was
filled with the Spirit, he did not speak of himself. He spoke
of Christ. Go with me to John 14. And this
is what it means to be filled with the Spirit. Baptism of the
Holy Spirit. John 14. John 14. As I said, he didn't tell anybody
he was a Spirit-filled believer. Not at all. No spirit-led person,
spirit-filled person will ever talk about themselves or even
talk about the Holy Spirit in such a way. They won't do it.
John 14, our Lord spoke of the Holy Spirit. He who sends the
Holy Spirit and baptizes with the Holy Spirit. John 14, he
said in verse 16, I will pray the Father and he shall give
you another comforter that he may abide with you forever, even
the spirits What is truth? Christ said, I'm the truth. Well,
he's the spirit of truth. That means he's the spirit of
Christ. Verse 26, the comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom
the Father will send in my name. He shall teach you all things
and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have
said unto you." He's the great remembrancer. Brings to remember. Reminds God's people of what
Christ said. Look at chapter 16. Chapter 16. And Christ is the one that sends
him. The Holy Spirit. He said that. I'll send you the
comforter. When He has come, the Holy Spirit, He will reprove
or convince the world of sin. Not every person in the world,
mind you, but His people that are in the world, out of every
tribe, kindred, tongue in the world. He will convince them.
Here's the Holy Spirit's work. He'll convince them of sin, righteousness,
and of judgment. Now notice with me. Of sin, because
they believe not on Me. I rejected Christ. I didn't have
any interest in Christ whatsoever. I despised and rejected the Lord
Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit convicts a person
of that sin because they believe not only He's God, He's salvation. People in religion don't believe
on Him. And God saves some of those people.
He sends the Holy Spirit through preaching to tell them You've
been trusting your words. You've been thinking you've been
keeping the law. You didn't believe on Him. And He convinces them
of that. Doesn't He? Doesn't He? You were
baptized alright, but you didn't confess crime. Did you? That's
why He convinces them. Verse 10, "...of righteousness,
because I go to my Father, and you see me no more." Of righteousness.
What's that? You're convinced of righteousness.
That is, you don't have any. and that he's made unto us. This
is what the Holy Spirit will do. He'll show you, you don't
have any, and all you have is filthy rags. But he now, Jesus
Christ, is made unto his people wisdom and righteousness. David
said in Psalm 71, he said this about four or five times, he
said, deliver me in thy righteousness. He said, I will make mention
of thy righteousness and thine only. Who convinced him of that? The
Holy Spirit. You say, well, the Holy Spirit
wasn't given. Yes, he was. David said, take
not thy Holy Spirit from me. Didn't convince. And of judgment. See that? Verse 11, of judgment.
Because the prince of this world is judged. God shall judge the
world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained, Jesus
Christ. And if that man didn't come down
here and face my adversary for me and resist every temptation,
Satan himself, if he did not go before me and face my adversary,
I'm a goner. But he did. We're going to see
that in the next chapter. He did. And he said, now, when
he went to the cross, now is the prince of this God of this
world judged. Crush his head. I'm going to
crush his head on a calvary tray. He had no power over you. None. Judgment. Oh, that's why Paul
said, oh, that I might be found in him at the judgment. I might
be found in Christ at the judgment. Not having my own righteousness.
of love, but being found in Christ. Oh, that I might hide behind
Him when my adversaries speak. Baptism. Baptism. Go back to the text. Baptism
is where you put somebody under water. That's what it is. When
you put somebody under water, they come up soaking wet, don't
they? Like a drowned rat. Soaking wet through and through.
If you sprinkle it on somebody, they're not wet. But if you dump
them down under water, they're going to come up soaking wet,
aren't they? Through and through. Wet through
and through. Say a little skinny fellow, he don't wear a hundred
pounds, soaking wet, you know. Well, it says the Lord shall
baptize with the Holy Spirit. The Spirit used that word, baptized. What does that mean? That means
when Jesus Christ sends the Holy Spirit to someone, they're going
to be filled with the Holy Spirit through and through. Meaning,
they will be full of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, period. They will be full of faith. Faithful. They that are with Him are called,
chosen, and faithful. Meaning, primarily, they are
full of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. That Christ will be all in all
to them. A person comes up soaking wet
through and through, you touch them, you'll get wet. They're
wet. They've been baptized. A person
filled with the Spirit, Christ is all their salvation. Ask them.
Ask them. Whatever comes out of their mouth
will be Christ. Ask them. He's their conversation. He's
their testimony. What have you got to say about
yourself? Nothing. But let me tell you about Him. Through and through. His glory,
His honor, His praise, His strength. He it is. Here it is, unto Him
that loved us and washed us and kept us and saved us and redeemed
us. And unto Him, sanctified Him. It's all about Him. Like Noah. Here's an illustration. Noah
worked 123 years on that ark. Reckon that was his life. I remember back building the
house, it took me about a year or so If you spoke to me on any
given day, you know, I'd probably say something about building
that house. Something you're involved with. 120 years. And he had to pitch the ark all
over that side and all over inside. Anybody ever spread tar on the
foundation of your house? Have you? Anybody? Did any on
you? What if you spread it for 20
years? What if every day for 20 years
you were spreading tar? You'd have it all over you. Anybody
came around you, they'd get it on them. They'd see you. Is this a good illustration?
To be baptized with the Holy Spirit, soaking wet as it were,
pitched, In Christ, Christ in you, He's all in all. He's all your talk. He's all
your conversation. He's all your testimony, all
your glory. Who are you glorying? Not me, Him. He's all your desire. Oh, don't you want this? Don't you want that? Well, that
would be all right, but I want Him. All your admiration? You won't hear God's people talking
with great admiration about any human being. You won't do it.
I don't want to cry. Scripture says when he has come
to be admired by all them that believe. Christ is all. To baptize the
Holy Spirit is to mean Christ is all and in all. He's all.
All your salvation. All your testimony.
There's a fellow His name was that some church was considering
him in their membership, and they asked him many theological
questions that he could not answer. What do you think about superlapsarianism
as opposed to infralapsarianism? He said, I don't know. All I
know is that I'm just a poor sinner and nothing at all, but
Jesus Christ is my all in all. Well, what do you think about
the millennium? Are you a post-millennialist? Are you an a-millennialist? Are
you a pre-millennialist? He said, I don't even know what
those things mean. But I do know this, I'm just
a poor sinner and nothing at all. And Jesus Christ is my all
in all. Is that enough? That's what you'll get out of
the person baptized with the Holy Spirit. It says he baptized with the
Holy Spirit and fire. I didn't show you John 16, but
don't go there. Most of you know it. Scripture
says when he is come, he will not speak of himself. The Holy
Spirit won't speak of himself. He'll take the things of mine
and show it to you. And so it is with those baptized or filled
with the Holy Spirit. They don't speak of themselves,
and they don't even speak of the Holy Spirit. They don't go
around telling people, I'm filled with the Spirit. No sir. They fear that name too much
to talk about that. They don't even talk about their
love to God and love to Christ. They don't talk about themselves.
A person is filled with the Spirit. Anybody that talks about themselves
and all the time talking about the Spirit and so forth, they
have another spirit. It says he'll baptize with the
Holy Ghost and fire, with fire. What does that mean? Christ shall
baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire. Well, our God is a
consuming fire. God is holy. Holy God. We said it before, wrath abideth
upon the ungodly. He that believeth not, the wrath
of God abides on him. God is fire, not to be played
with. Fear of the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom. And God puts the fear, His fear
in His people. Fire is not a thing to be played
with. It's dangerous in them. It'll consume you. It'll consume
you. God's people have this fear in
them, and they never lose it. They never lose it. But I tell
you this, you know the only thing that fire won't consume? Fire. Itself. That struck me when I thought
about it. The only thing that fire won't consume is itself.
If you're in Christ, you're not going to be consumed.
It all goes together. I've told you. Now ask you a
question. What is this fire? What is the
Holy Spirit doing? One answer to somebody. I'm it.
He said, I'm the truth. Fire, is it something in addition
to Christ? This baptism of the Holy Spirit
and this is what they're saying. Men say this, haven't they? They
said it to you and they said it to other men. We found something
else. I remember a man saying that
who said he was a grace preacher. Didn't he, Mom? You remember
this? You know who I'm talking about. He said, yes, we preach
Christ, but brethren, there's something else. What it was is that man got Pentecostal,
you know. Some kind of baptism of the Spirit,
all right. Not the Spirit of Christ. We've
already established that, haven't we? What does the Spirit of Christ
do to a person? Fills them with Christ. All they
can talk about is Christ. What is this fire? Well, cloven tongues of fire
came on the preachers at Pentecost. What did they preach? Christ! They were on fire for
Christ, weren't they? If you're in Christ, you'll not
be consumed. It's the only way. It's like
those three men in the furnace. Remember that? Three men in the
furnace. They were not consumed. Why?
Because there was a fourth man in there with them. What does it mean to baptize
with fire? It means to be put in Christ
who is God. You'll not be consumed. Does
that make sense? It's the only thing it does.
Back in the old days of horse-drawn wagons, pioneers, there was a
family traveling out west. Kansas, big prairies, had grass
fires. They would come and just go through
there. Fifty miles an hour, just consume
everything in its path. This little family was traveling
out through there, and they saw in the distance smoke. Oh, and
the children and everybody were greatly afraid that this prairie
fire was going to come. So what the Father did, what
the Father did was went out and set some of that grass on fire. Set some of that grass on fire.
Controlled the fire. Controlled burn. and burned out
a big old area in the middle of that grass and then put it
out. And then he pulled his wagon
and his family inside that burned out area. And so they sat there
and waited. And the fires started coming
and the kids were scared. And they were crying out, The
fire is going to get us." And he said, children, it can't. We're standing on bark ground. Bark ground. If you're in Christ,
He's the burning bush. He's the burning bush that was
not consumed. And you won't be either. That's
the sacrifice. You know, every sacrifice of
God was sacrificed with fire, wasn't it? Every single Old Testament
was a lamb, a bullock, a goat, a dove, or whatever it is. Remember
when Abraham and Isaac were going up the mountain, and Isaac said,
Father, here's the fire, the wood. We're going to burn a fire. Now, what's the purpose of it? Why are they taking fire up there?
To burn and sacrifice, a burnt offering. He said, where's the
lamb? What's the purpose of fire? To
burn a man. To offer a sacrifice. That's
the whole purpose. The Spirit, the Holy Spirit baptized
with this fire tells us about Christ, the burnt offering. That's
the purpose of this fire. To show us Christ, the burnt
offering. You remember Elijah up on Mount
Carmel? He said, the God that answers
by fire. He's God. Fire on what? What did the fire
fall on? That sacrifice. It wasn't just fire and air and
fire in the sky. It was fire and the sacrifice.
It burnt the sacrifice and everything else. What about Manoah? Remember Samson's dad and mom?
Manoah and his wife? Huh? Remember, the angel of the
Lord came to appear to them? What did he do? What did he do?
How did he reveal himself? Fire. He told him what to do. This
angel told him what to do. He said, get this sacrifice together,
this lamp, put it on an altar. And he says, a fire came down
and that angel ascended up in the flame. That's Christ. Manoah said, oh, we're going
to die, we're going to die, we're going to die. We've seen God.
His wife said, no, we're not. We've seen the fire. God consumed
the sacrifice. He's not going to say, why? What does fire do? He'll baptize
with the fire. That means, show us Christ and
Him crucified. He'll baptize with fire. What
does that mean? He'll burn off the dross. What does fire do?
It burns off the dross. It purifies gold and silver.
Anything that's not gold, it'll burn it off. That's what it's
for. And this fire, what is it? It's
the Word of God. It's trials sent by God. Fire,
He said, is not My Word as a fire. Fire to burn up all thoughts,
but Christ, all thoughts of man's will, man's worth, man's works,
burn it up. When the Holy Spirit comes, He'll
bring every thought into captivity to Christ. All it leaves is pure faith.
You know, God's people have pure faith. It's been burned by fire. The fire of His Word. And it
comes out pure gold. What? Christ. Fiery trials. Peter said, the
trial of your faith, though it is more precious than gold that
perishes, though it be tried with fire, fiery trials, though
it be tried with fire, hurtful trials, consuming trials, sorrow
and affliction and pain and so forth, what it will do, is to
be found. This faith, tried with this fiery
trial, will be found unto praise, honor, and glory in whom? Jesus Christ, at His appearing. Fiery trial. Again, can I bring
up Hannah, Azariah, and Machiel again? That's those three in
the first. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
And I keep saying that because that's the name God gave them.
Ananias, Azariah, Mashiach, Azariah. That's their Hebrew name. It
meant something. It has God's name in it. Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego, Chaldean names don't mean a thing. Don't
mean a thing. At any rate, those three fellows
that were in the furnace, they were about to be thrown in the
furnace, that is. And here's what they said. Here's their
testimony. They said, all of them, like
it was one voice, they said, Our God, whom we serve, is able
to deliver us from the burning, fiery furnace, and he will deliver
us out of thy hand, O King. Well, did he? Yes, he did. Yes,
he did. Their faith was completely, 100%
in their God. Who is their God? Well, look
in the furnace. There he is. There he is. And it says, they
came out. The fire had no power over them.
No hair of their head was seen. Their coats were unchanged. They were thrown in with their
coats. Like Peter dived in with his
coat. Didn't drown. They were thrown
in with their coats, and when they came out, their coats were
unchanged. What were their coats? You know. One answer. No smell
of fire on them or smoke on them. Why? Say it again. Because there's
somebody in there with them. That's right. That's right. And
then there's this fire, being baptized with the fire, there's
fire in the heart. Fire in the heart. And I'll show
you this, Luke 24, in closing. Most everyone has seen it, but
I want you to see it if you haven't. Luke chapter 24. When the Holy
Spirit comes through the preaching of the gospel, and He comes to
every person God chose and every person Christ died for, the Holy
Spirit comes through the preaching of the gospel of Christ, convinces
them of sin, righteous judgment, gives them faith in Christ, repentance
and faith, and gives them a new heart born of God, born of His
Spirit, washed in His blood, And I'll tell you what he puts
in their heart. Fire. Fire. Like love that consumes
a person. You remember, don't you? When
you first fell in love with your loved one, you were burning with
desire. You were consumed. All your thoughts,
your head and your heart was on fire. As it was, as it were. Well, when Christ is revealed
through the preaching of the gospel, look at it. In Luke 24,
it says, Well, verse 29, the Lord was
preaching to them. They didn't even know it was
Him. They just thought it was a preacher. But He was preaching
Christ, wasn't He? From Genesis to Malachi. And
they just didn't want Him to quit. And they constrained Him
and said, Abide with us, it's for the evening. Hadn't you had
enough preaching? No! They're on fire now. It came to pass, verse 30, As
He sat to meet with them, He took bread and blessed it and
gave it to them. Their eyes were opened. They
knew Him. And He vanished out of their
sight. And then they said one to another, you feel it? Yeah, I feel it. Did not our hearts burn within
us? When? While he talked with us
by the way, while he opened to us the Scriptures. What Scriptures?
Those are they, they are they which testify of me. How do you
know somebody loves Christ? Preaching. You'll see. You'll
see. That's the ax will get to the
root. This is the fire that burned everything else up but Christ. Well, okay. Come on. Alright, let's all stand and
turn to number 46.