Since God through Jordan leadeth
me, He leadeth me, He leadeth me, By His own hand He leadeth
me. It's faithful power I would be,
for that is handy, leave it be. All right, go to Matthew chapter
4 with me now. Matthew 4. You remember that we said how
that the gospel of Matthew. Could well be summed up or called
the gospel of the kingdom. Because. It is speaks of the
king so very much begins with his genealogy and his birth.
And so long and even The phrase, the gospel of the kingdom, is
mentioned several times, several times. The king, Emmanuel, God
with us, crown prince of glory, he's called, king of kings. As
we noted Wednesday night, oh, I think it was Wednesday, Sunday,
whenever, that he came, he saw, and he conquered. He received
a kingdom unto himself. The gospel of the kingdom concerns
who Christ is and what he did. Now look at it here in Matthew
4, beginning with verse 23. This is where we left off, and
it says, And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their
synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing
all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people. Jesus. We don't call him Jesus. One time he said to his disciples,
you call me Lord and Master and you say well. You say well, for so I am. That's
who I am. Out of respect, fear and respect,
we refer to him by his title. the Lord Jesus Christ. One time a person said to Brother
Todd Nyberg, somebody out in the community, they said, I notice
now that you always refer to Jesus as Christ. And I hope that
is evident, because that's who he is, and that's how we refer
to him. The scriptures, when it says
Jesus, is distinguishing him from God, who is also called
Lord. Understand? Whenever it says
Jesus, it's distinguishing him as the man, the God-man, from the Lord, God, in heaven. OK? But they're one and the same. But here's a good, I read this
by Brother Arthur Pinck, Brother Arthur Pinck said that the Queen
of England, now this was back when he lived in the early 20th
century, there was a king back then, who
was the king back then, early 1900? Louis or Louis? Well anyway George. Anyway the
king's wife. Said the king's wife can call
him George. But the subjects can't. And the
Holy Spirit is the one that's writing it. And the Holy Spirit
is the one who's narrating it. He can call him Jesus. But we
don't. I thought that was as good an
explanation as I've ever heard. All right. But anyway, it says
Jesus went about teaching in their synagogue, preaching and
healing. Jesus. Now, there is great comfort in
thinking about the man named Jesus. He's so much more than
a man, yet he was a man. God became a man. There's great
comfort in the manhood of our Lord and Him becoming a man.
God became a man. I mean a man's man. A true man
in the true sense of the word. A man the way a man ought to
be. There never has been one. There never was one before Him
and there never has been one since. A man. Pilate got it right. When he brought Christ out before
the mob, he said, the man. Pilot had seen quite a few scrapping
fellows stand before him only to cow and and be broken at the
hands of his tormentors and so forth and plead for their lives
and so forth. Not this man. Pilot was amazed
by this man. A man's man. A perfect man, without
fault. Scriptures calls him altogether
lovely. Altogether lovely. That means
everything about him is lovely. I mean, would cause you to love
him. Everything about his character
is lovely, desirable, admirable, honorable, glorious. Altogether. The first man, Adam, was a glorious
man. When God created Adam, he created
all things, and after each thing he created, he said, this is
good. But when he created man, he said, let us create man in
our image. Whose image? God is spirit. But Christ is the fullness of
the Godhead bodily. Christ is the image of God. So Adam was created in the image
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And after God created Adam and
Eve, he said, it's very good. Very good. But Adam fell. And he lost the image of God.
I mean, man does not come close to that original image, not even
close. Man no more resembles God now,
that image, than a candle does the sun. You hear people all
the time talk about man being created in God's image. No, sir. Adam was. You and I are born with Adam's
image, right? Is that clear? That's what people
say, and that's their excuse for saying that man is worth
something now, because he's created in God's image. No, he's not. He's a wonder. He was wonderful,
glorious, first man, but he lost that image. He became full of
sin. Second Adam, the Lord from glory,
far exceeded even that first Adam in every way. The old saying
is, beauty is on the skin deep. Well, you know, the second Adam
was not beautiful on the outside at all. Scripture says that,
doesn't it? In Isaiah 53, when we see him,
there's no beauty that we should desire. He had no form or company. Evidently, he was not beautiful
or handsome on the outside. But now the Scripture says, though,
he was altogether lovely. So, truly, beauty is not outward,
but it's character. It's character. Now, what I'm
trying to say, and why I brought this up was, is I want to show
you that there's great comfort and joy. This is the good news
of the kingdom, the gospel of the kingdom, knowing that we're
under the reign and the rule of a good man. a good man, king
of kings, the Lord Jesus Christ. The best form of government is
a monarchy. That is, to be under a king.
One man reigning the rule. That's what God instituted. That's the first form of government
by man, of men, by men, was a monarchy. Before there was ever a king
in Israel, he still had one man reigning, didn't he? Samuel, Moses, and on and on. But the best form of government
is a monarchy, especially if that king is a God-fearing, Christ-like
man. David said in 2 Samuel 23, he
said, He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear
of God. If someone's going to be just,
someone who is going to truly be fair and wise and honest and
do things right, he's got to know God. He's got to fear God. He's got to rule and reign by
the authority of God, by the laws of God. He that ruleth over
men must be just, ruling in the fear of God. Can you imagine
what it was like to live under King David? I would have loved to have lived
back then. I really would have. I would love to have lived in
the kingdom of David. David was a lovely, lovely man,
Christ-like man. God said he's a man after my
own heart. What about Solomon? Wouldn't
you have loved to have lived under the reign of Solomon? The
scripture says about everyone who lived during Solomon's reign
that every single person in Solomon's kingdom sat under his own vine
and fig tree, meaning that everybody had a house. There was no homeless
people, there were no hungry people, there was nobody in need. Nobody. As long as Solomon, good King
Solomon. Well, we have a king. Scripture calls him a greater
than Solomon. David got his heart from our
king. That's where David got his heart,
from our king. That's where Solomon got his
wisdom, from our king, the Lord Jesus Christ. King Jesus. Brother
Barnard used to always call him that, King Jesus. He used to
always say, bow to the claims of King Jesus. That's what this is all about.
He came. The king came. King Jesus came. It says he went
about all Galilee. John Gil, well, he said that
Josephus, the historian back then, said that there were over
two hundred and four cities in the province of Galilee alone.
Two hundred and four cities, towns, and villages. Christ visited
them all. He went into every one of them.
Boy, that's a good king, isn't it? That's a hands-on reign,
is it not? Going about, seeing to the needs
of everyone. No child left behind. That didn't
begin with George W. Our king went about through all
of his kingdom, seeing to his people, calling out his subject
what mercy and what grace it was, what condescension it was
for a king to visit a lowly town. Huh? We looked at that last week,
didn't we? How blessed we are that God Almighty
chose little old Rocky Mountain, of all places, to set up His
kingdom. And that's exactly what He's
done when He put the gospel here. He left, and He says this all
the way through the Old Testament. He said, Israel, He said, you're
not greatest of all the nations, you're the last and the least.
It's not because you're big and mighty, but I chose you. Passed by all these places. He
says, I gave Egypt for your ransom, Ethiopia and Cebu. They're mightier
than thee, but I chose you. Put my name there. How could we take this for granted?
That's inconceivable, isn't it? Our King has visited us and dwells
here. God, in sovereign electing grace,
chose a little town of Rocky Mount, Virginia, to dwell here. He went about all Galilee. There's
so much between every line and there's so much to see. It says
he went about all Galilee teaching in their synagogues and preaching
the gospel of the kingdom and healing all manner of sickness.
Teaching in their synagogues. In their synagogue. You remember
how we saw that God ordained a place. God ordained a place
for the people to meet and an orderly fashion. God is God of order. Not just a haphazard casual any
old way. Anybody sees fit anywhere, anytime. No, no. He and Christ. Christ honored
that order and teaching in their synagogue, he did not go from
house to house. This is important. He taught in their synagogues.
Listen to me. Scripture says false prophets
creep in the houses. That's what it said. God doesn't
go door-to-door begging for an audience. That's what that is,
beggars. Beggars go door-to-door. You won't find that in Scripture. God has his house where God's
people meet, and he brings his sheep to hear the gospel. brings them to hear the gospel. He doesn't need to advertise
or bribe people with this and that and the other, or entertain
them. No sir. Well, he went about teaching
in their synagogues, and there were synagogues in every city.
There was one temple But there was synagogue, all right? And
it says he went about teaching and preaching the kingdom, or
the gospel of the kingdom, the good news, the gospel of the
kingdom, and healing all manner. So here it is, the king, three
things. The king came teaching, preaching, and healing. I was
talking to Brother Nybert this morning. I was telling him the
text, tonight's message, and I said, Basically, it's talking
about Christ teaching, preaching, and healing. And he said, that's
exactly the way I approach that. Well, there's no other way to
approach it. Teaching, preaching, and healing.
Now, there's a difference between teaching and preaching. It's
obvious, isn't it, that the Lord made a difference here because
he designates them differently. Teaching. Teaching is instruction. Teaching is exposition of a text,
expounding the meaning of something. That's teaching. Preaching is
heralding. The very word preach means to
herald. Hey! You almost always think of volume
when you think of heralding, don't you? Well, that's scriptural. He told Isaiah in chapter 40,
lift up your voice, didn't he? When you want to herald something,
and the word preaching also means to call out, hey you, call out. It means to declare, hear ye,
hear ye. Thus saith the king. It means
to publish abroad. They didn't have PA systems back
then. So preaching was heralding, proclaiming. Well, there God gives gifts,
different gifts. Teaching is a gift. There are men who are gifted
to teach, to expound the scriptures, to instruct, very gifted in instructing,
that aren't necessarily preachers. Some ladies are gifted to teach,
teach our children, teach other ladies. Betty Groover teaches
a ladies class down in Mexico has for years. They're not to
teach or usurp authority over men. Scriptures say it very clear
about that. Nevertheless, they can teach
children and the Lord gifts. The Lord has gifted some of our
ladies to teach our children and men. But there's a difference
between teaching and preaching. However, I don't think a man
can be a good preacher if he's not a teacher. I know it's something. Because the essence of preaching
is declaring God's Word, but it's also doing it verse by verse. All right, it says the Lord came
teaching. Teaching. Sat down in the Sermon on the
Mount, the next chapter, verse 2 says, he opened his mouth and
taught them. He sat down. on a rock or something and taught
them. What kind of a teacher do you
think he was? Teacher, to be a teacher is a
good thing. Any of you young people aspire
to be a teacher, it'd be a great thing. It'd be a great thing,
especially if you're a believer and could teach things from the
standpoint of a believer. We need more of them, don't we?
I certainly do. You can influence lives in a
great way by being a teacher. But what a teacher the Lord Jesus
Christ was. Expounding the true meaning of
scriptures, I said teaching is expounding the meaning of something,
instructing as to the meaning of things. The Lord expounded
the scriptures, instructed concerning the meaning of scriptures because
he wrote it. How good a teacher was he? He
wrote it. We preach in part. We teach in
part. We miss the meaning sometimes.
We misconstrue the meaning sometimes. He never. He was always the absolute
truth. He expounded the true meaning
of scriptures because he wrote them. He instructed from the
very law which he was the author of. And he taught in parables. After hearing some fellows preach
in a conference one time, not anybody you know, but some other
fellows who were miserable preachers, all of them, and they worked.
And I got up hoping that, and there were several young men,
and I was hoping that one of them might here, a general word
of instruction, I said, preaching the essence of good preaching.
And if you'll think about the good preachers that you know
and admire, they have this in their preaching. The essence
of good preaching is declaring the truth, the truth, declaring
the truth, setting forth the truth as it is in Christ, the
scriptures, truth, and applying it. to where the people are. It's not just setting forth truths,
declaring truths, doctrine, and so forth and so forth, but taking
that and applying it to where the people are, to their need,
meeting their need. You understand what I'm trying
to say? Our Lord did this, and the best
way to do this is to illustrate the Lord That's a parable is
another word for illustration. The Lord spoke in parables in
teaching the scriptures to the people. He would speak the word
of God and then apply it to where they live. Parable. And it says the common people
heard him gladly and understand what he was talking about. They
could understand because he applied it. Common people. Common people
meaning not the highly educated one. The average ordinary lurk
working class blue-collar person heard him and and heard him gladly. The test of a good teacher is
to be able to teach the most ignorant. Is it not? Doesn't it make a good teacher
if ever My wife and I were talking to one of my daughter's teachers
years ago who was so very tough on all the children and very,
very few of them made a high grade. And she took pride in
the fact that very few of them could make a high grade in their
class. That's no reflection on her ability to teach. It's a
poor reflection. I mean, no good reflection. It's
a poor reflection. Brother Gabe was telling me about
somebody, a teacher, who gave up on a particular student and
told that student, you can't be taught something to that effect. And we both concluded that that's
what teachers are for, not to send them away, but to teach
them, to teach them. And the test of a good teacher
is to take the most ignorant, the simple, the most simple,
and teach them. And the test of a good teacher
is to explain very complex or difficult things simply. Simply. To take high things and bring
them down and make them understandable. And that's what our Lord did.
And yet, in His sovereign power and wisdom, the common people,
the average Joe, would hear and understand, yet the high and
mighty couldn't understand. Now, that's true wisdom and that's
amazing. The wise and the prudent didn't
understand, but the babes did. And preaching, talking about
heralding, declaring, has something to do with authority. Lift up
your voice. Any man speak, Scripture says,
let him speak as the oracles of God, as though God did beseech
you by us, Paul said. Preacher is not a beggar, he's
an ambassador of the king sent to declare things, not ask people
anything, but to declare things, to make demands. And preaching, can you imagine? Well, we can't even imagine how
the Lord must have spoke. Can't even imagine. It's a mistake
to try to emulate. It can't be done. Look over at
Matthew 7. Look at the very last verse of Matthew 7, verse 29. It says, well, verse 28, Matthew
7, it came to pass when Jesus had ended these saves, the people
were astonished at his doctrine, amazed, that is, at his teaching,
absolutely dumbfounded at the wisdom and the glory of his doctrine. Four, I like this, four, he taught
them as one having authority. He taught them and spoke as though
everything He said was absolutely so and there was no room whatsoever
to differ with Him at all. There wasn't. He taught as one
who knew it all. He did. And it says He taught
as one having authority, not as the scribes. Not as the scribes. Weak, spineless little fellows,
you know, who don't know. Paul said they don't know what
they believe, and they don't know where they got what they
got. Aspiring, he said, to be teachers of the law, but don't
have a clue in our modern language. Don't have a clue. Oh, our Lord, how he must have
preached. His enemies one time went to
apprehend him in the end. And they came back and the rulers
said, well, where is it? And it's like they woke up out
of a stupor. No man spake like this man. They
were mesmerized, silenced at this man's preaching. Preaching,
proclaiming, declaring, heralding the gospel of the kingdom. The
gospel of the kingdom, go back to Isaiah 40, here's the gospel
of the kingdom, that is the reign and rule of the king. Isaiah
40, the good news, talking about the gospel of the kingdom, the
good news is that thy God reigneth. He says that over and over again,
doesn't he? He says, lift up your voice, say unto the people,
thy God reigneth. Now the world doesn't like to
hear that, but boy, it's good news to God's people. They never
go tired of hearing that. Do you? Never get tired of hearing
that. And the louder you say it, the
more they like it. The more authority you use in
saying that, the more God's people love it. Look at Isaiah 40. Look at that.
Down in version 9. O Zion, thou that bringest good
tidings, get thee up into the high mountain. O Jerusalem, Are
thou that bringest good tidings to Jerusalem? Lift up thy voice
with strength. That means preach. Lift it up.
Don't be afraid. Say unto the cities of Judah,
Behold, your God. Behold, the Lord God will come
with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him. Our God has
hands, and we're in them. Aren't you glad? And his arm shall rule for him. Strong arm. I remember as a young
man used to love to look at my dad's bicep. Every one of you
did, didn't you? Show me your muscle, dad. That
muscle, whenever he showed it to me, I just, it's just a symbol
of my dad's strong. He can whoop anybody. Isn't that
the way you felt? He's the strongest man alive.
He might not have been, but I thought he was. Well, my God, he is.
Our God is. Our God, their rock's not like
our rock. They can have their puny little
rock that rolls with them. Our God is unmovable, unshakable,
a sure foundation, a rock solid God. Our God reigns. Our God
rules. Theirs just wants to. Our God
does. Their God can only do what they
let Him. Our God, we only do what He lets us do. Huh? Their God moves and sways with
the wind, not our God. He stands resolute. Their God changes His mind. Ours
doesn't. Why should He? What is decreed
is perfect. Thy God reigneth. Behold your
God. The right hand, the strong arm
of the Lord, had gotten his salvation from him. Verse 10 says, His
reward is with him. That is, he is the reward of
his people. Like old Mephibosheth. When he finally came to where
David was, his reward was to just be with David. Just be with
David. And his work before him. Read
on. He shall feed his flock like a shepherd. He shall gather the
lambs with his arms, all of them. He can carry them all in his
arms and carry them in his bosom. But he's such a great, you know,
greatness of a man is to be both strong and gentle. Both strong
and gentle. Able to subdue and able to succor. And that says he shall gently
lead. The gentleman our Lord is truly the only gentleman. Whoever. So this is the good
news that we are under the reign and rule of so great a king. The gospel of the absolute reign
and rule of the king of kings is wonderful dominion and control
over all his subjects. If you're one of his you're under
his absolute. Reign and rule. And then the Lord showed. And then the Lord showed who
he was, he revealed it. It says that he came healing
all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.
He came healing all manner of sickness and all manner, you
name something, no matter what it was, he healed among the people. As many people as there were,
were as many diseases and so forth. Now, in verse 24, it says
different diseases, diverse diseases and torments. Those that were
possessed with devils and lunatics and so forth. The gospel. Now,
here's what we're talking about. The gospel, it says, he came
teaching and preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing. The
gospel is the power of God unto salvation. And that doesn't just
mean your soul. Sorry Savior he would be if he
just leave you in the same state he found you in and just make
sure you didn't go to hell in the end. Huh? If there was not
truly a radical change, what kind of a change is it? Well,
we're going to go back to Ezekiel in a second and see. Life from
the dead. It says he truly, that he healed
all manner of diseases. He truly healed. All men of blindness. You remember he told John and
he said, you go back and tell John what things you've heard
and seen. How the blind received their sight. I mean people who
were stone blind. And it's that way spiritually. The lame, those who cannot walk
in paths of righteousness, cannot do one thing. He sets their feet
in paths of righteousness. Now that's literally Those who are full of the leprosy
of sin, that their minds, their bodies, everything about them
is full of this loathsome disease, yet he fills them with his grace. Verse twenty-four, and everything
that's written is on purpose, if we only knew why it was written. But it says his fame went throughout all Syria. Why
does it mention Syria? When I first read that, I thought,
why did it say that? It just said that out of the
blue. And I began to look at the map, and Syria was not the
Syria that you and I think of, but it was north of Galilee. It took in a lot of places, but
one place in particular, where that was found in the province
of Syria, the nation of Syria, was Tarsus. Now, you caught that, Mary, didn't
you? Now, our Lord is teaching and
preaching, and news spreads all the way up through Syria, the
town of Tarsus. And there's a young ruler up
there, a young man, Who hears that? Everything's written on purpose.
All right. So anyway, it's like remember
Lydia, who's from Bithynia and yet was in Macedonia
on business, Philippi. And Paul wanted to go to Bithynia
and the Spirit said, no, you go to Macedonia because she's
not there. One of my sheep, she'll be waiting
on you over there. And young Saul of Tarsus is going
to hear about this. The rich young ruler is going
to hear about this. Gee, everybody did. All right. So that's just
a little footnote. His fame went throughout all
Syria. And it says they brought unto him all sick people that
were taken with diverse diseases and torments. those which were
possessed with devils. You know, our Lord healed people. The miracle that he performed
more than any other, if you look it up, what he did more than
any other miracle was cast out devils. And you and I think of, because
of Hollywood and all that crap that we see, That demon possession
is to make, just make a person like the Gatoran demoniac, you
know, or lunatic. Lunatic means moon gazers. That's what that means. Crazy
when the moon comes out full of lunatic. But anyway, we think
of demon possession as people being, running hog wild and so
forth and sprouting horns and so forth. Not necessarily. Not necessarily. Our Lord said about those Pharisees,
He said, You're of your father the devil. They were demon possessed. You're either possessed by one
spirit or the other. Isn't that right? You're either possessed by the
spirit of God or the spirit of the demon. Isn't that right? and demon possession can take
many forms. All sorts of things. And it says that they brought
them to him. Our Lord is Jehovah-Rapha. If anybody's healed, it's the
Lord that heals them. Jehovah-Rapha, the Lord our healer. And by the. It's a large. And by these even. It goes along. And you know anybody needs even.
Bring them to the law. You might not be able to physically
bring them or force them but you sure can do it in prayer. That's what that meant. I can
do the law in prayer be like the import to that with. who
would not. Who would not leave. To the Lord
answer her prayer. And. As he's the only one that
can heal he really is. Men in all their purported wisdom
and scientific knowledge and medical knowledge can give maybe
some temporary relief or treat the symptoms but they can't take
care of the disease. The disease is called sin no
matter what problem is it's sin is at the root of it. And there's
only one who can take away sin. That's the Lord Jesus Christ.
Bring them to him. Bring them to him. Continually. Constantly. Over in the book of James, and
you can look this up for yourself and think about it yourself,
but it says if there's any sick among you, then call for the
elderly. And I've rarely heard of that
in my lifetime. A few times I've heard. Scripture is not silent about
this. bring him to him. Our Lord healed people. I don't
just mean, that's what he's talking about. Different diseases and
torments. Brother Todd Nyberg was healed.
Brother Don Fortner was healed. Cancer. And many others. Different diseases. The worst of diseases. And torments. You see that? Torments. That can be anything torment
many things for me. Now for me and I saw you have
anything to torment you. Says he healed. And. He healed him off. He healed
him. Did he halfway heal him? Huh? Did he halfway heal him? Go back to Ezekiel thirty six
and let's see what he says about that. It says the false prophets
healed the daughter of my people slightly. They healed a herd of my people
slightly. Jesus Christ never did anything
slightly. God doesn't do anything halfway.
Look at Ezekiel, back in our text, in Ezekiel 36. It says
in verse 24, I will take you from among the heathen. But when
God separates his people, sanctifies them, he takes them out from
among the heathen, and they don't want to go back. They're different. Yes, sir,
they're different. And they're fish out of water,
if they're among people of this world. He's not
a friend of the world. He's an enemy of God, scripture
says. I'll take you from among the
heathen. Gather you out of all countries, bring you into your
own land. That is, you'll have your own family, your own people,
brand new friends, new family. That's a fact, and that's exactly
what happens to these people. Then will I sprinkle clean water
upon you. What's that? Right here, the Word of God.
I'll sprinkle clean Word of God. The commandment, Nancy, is what?
Clean water upon you, and you shall be clean from all your
filthiness, from all your idols. Does it ever occur to you one
time to worship anybody but Jesus Christ? Idols, I'll cleanse you from
all your idols. Will I cleanse you? He keeps
emphatically saying that. Look at it. Look at it with me.
Verse twenty says, A new heart also will I give you. I will
give you a new heart. That passage in Jeremiah says
that the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.
That's the heart of an unbeliever. That's not the heart of God's
people. Their heart is not deceitful. He gives them a new heart. He
said, this is a new covenant I'll make with him. I'll write
my laws in their hearts. Their hearts are not deceitful
and desperately wicked. They were. The heart is deceitful and desperately
wicked. Who can know it? The world doesn't know that they're
wicked. God's people do. He makes them
know that. by this new heart, new conscience,
new spirit that he puts within, new life. A new spirit will I
put within you. You're not going to be led by
the devil. You're not going to be doing his bidding under his
rule and dominion. You'll be under my Holy Spirit.
There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. It doesn't stop there. You are
led by my Spirit. Everybody in Christ, Christ sends
the Comforter to lead them and guide them. He doesn't leave
them alone. He said, I won't leave you comfortless. I won't leave
you without a guide. I'll put my Spirit within you.
I'll take away the stony hearted out of your flesh. There was
a time as a young man that nobody could get through to me. And
I see it now in young people. Young people in our midst can't
get through to them. Hard hearted. I know who can and I know who
does. There was a time when God Almighty by His sovereign power
took away the stony heart and gave a heart of flesh. There
was a time when nothing moved me and nothing touched me and
then there was a time when everything moved me and everything touched
me. There was a time when nothing
the preacher could say would have any effect on me, and then
there came a time when everything he said had a profound effect
on me. This is what I'm talking about.
This is what the Son of God actually does. It's salvation. Real, true,
literal salvation. Literal salvation. I'll give
you some examples, all right? Let's witness Mary Magdalene.
Seven devils that woman was pulled out. The Lord cast them all out.
What kind of woman was she from there on? At the feet of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Always. At all times. She's there
now. The Gadarene demoniac, that fellow. Was it an evident change in that
man? God not only saved his soul, was there an evident change in
his outward life? What about the blind man? Everybody
that knew him before said, well, he looks like him, but it's not
him. It can't be. He's too different. This is what God did. Saul of
Tarsus. What about Saul of Tarsus? And
on and on we could go. And I look out amongst people
whom God has saved to the uttermost. Now, I love old John Newton's
poem, and you do too. He said, I am not what I want
to be. He said, I am not what I'm going
to be. I am not yet what I ought to
be," he said. He said, but thanks be to God,
I am not what I used to be. I am not what I used to be. That's all to the praise
of God's sovereign grace. And over, I was going to have
you turn, but I'll not do it, but go back to the text, Matthew
four, but over in first Corinthians six, it mentions all sorts of
sin that people said these people won't inherit the kingdom of
God, all manner of sin, he said, and such were some of you. Such
were. Some of you. But you're washed. You're washed. Well, here it says, and here's
the greatest evidence of the king of kings and his sovereign
salvation and his effectual salvation. It says in verse 24, And there
followed him great multitudes of people, from Galilee, from
Decapolis, from Jerusalem, Judea, from beyond Jordan, from all
over, from every tribe, kindred, nation, they followed him. It's a sad fact about the people
of this world is that they follow fools. Blind leaders. Blind leaders of the blind. And
they follow just, people just follow any old fool, won't they?
Doesn't matter who they are, they'll follow. And so did we. And, uh, but when God Almighty gives the command and the great
shepherd comes calling his son. They follow him from there on
out that. They follow him. And they face
there's a suspect or they are. What's the word I'm looking for
their wary of everybody else. Everything and anything. But
Christ, they follow him implicitly, they trust him implicitly. Anything
or everything that doesn't appear to be like what Christ
has said, they wear him, as they should be, because all men are
liars. But not this man. And they follow him, a great
multitude follow him. And here's the point, only he
can make a wild animal follow him. He's the only one. Oh, brother. Brother Charles Pennington told
the story, a good dog story, maybe even better than my dog
story. But he said he was out in the woods hunting one time.
And you may remember this was in
our bulletin. He said he was out in the woods hunting one
time and he heard the awfulest moaning and wailing and he came
around the corner and there was a dog with his foot in a trap,
caught in some kind of animal trap. And, oh, it was wailing,
caught in a trap. And Brother Charles says he reached
down to get the dog out of the trap and the dog snapped at him.
It snarled and bit him. Brother Kelly, he tried to save
his life. He's trapped. He's going to die.
If he stays there, he's going to die. And Brother Charles,
he doesn't need that dog. That dog needs him. It doesn't
know him. And tried to bite the hand that saved him. Until finally, he says he got
a big stick and held the dog's head down and unleashed that
trap from his leg. And then step back and let it
go, you know. And the dog kind of scampered off, you know. Brother Charles said he turned
around and started walking off. He said a little while later,
he heard something behind him. It was that dog. He was following him. It went
from biting him to following him. And he said, he kept going,
that dog followed him all the way, and finally he took him
in, took him home, and he was his dog from then on. And only the Lord Jesus Christ
can make a wild animal that bites the hand that feeds it, the only
Savior, and make them follow him. That's me. I wasn't a follower,
I was a leader, a ringleader of a bad crowd. My mom and dad thought I was,
a lot of people thought I was a fine young man. I sure had
them fooled, like most young teenage boys do. But God, rich in mercy, for His great
love were with He loved me, quickened me by His grace. If I'd have
died at seventeen, I'd have split hell wide open. It's old enough
to sin willfully, it's old enough to die for it. But God, our hope, the hope of
everyone, is but God. If anybody needs healing, bring
them to the Lord. Alright, stand with me. Our sovereign God, Lord, King
of kings, we thank you that thou art God and beside thee there's
none else. We're so thankful that you've
made yourself known unto us. We're so thankful that you have
made us willing in the day of your power. We're so thankful
that your arrows are sharp in the hearts of your enemy. You've
brought us to your feet. Lord, continue to do so as we
still feel the At times, we still feel the wanderings and the proneness
to sin and leave the God we love. Lord, perfect that which you've
begun. You said you would. You said
you would. The Lord will perfect that which
concerneth them. The Lord will finish that which
he has begun. You're the author and finisher
of the faith. We ask that you would for your
glory and honor. Keep dunging these trees until
they bring forth fruit for your glory. It's in Christ's name
we've met here tonight for his glory. Amen. You're dismissed.