is unknown. That's fitting. Mark chapter 1 now. Mark 1. There's so very much to be seen
in this chapter as we've already noted. So many things
This took place over a great period of time, I believe, this
one chapter. But the Lord was just in the
home of Simon Andrew and had just healed Simon's Peter. He's not yet renamed. But he
was just in Peter's home, Simon, and had healed his mother-in-law.
who was so grateful for what the Lord had done to her and
for her that she fed and housed all of them. I don't know. There's something
here, what the Lord uses and for whom he uses it on and to
what purpose is his business. But we're not going to bypass
these verses. But anyway, she was so grateful
to the Lord for what he had done for her that he just fed everybody
that came and housed them. She was doing it under the Lord.
You see what I'm getting at here? True love and gratitude to Christ
is the real motive for service. It's really the only motive.
True love and gratitude to Christ for what he's done for you is
the only thing that will motivate anybody to do anything. He who
is forgiven much will love much. to whom the Lord has been greatly
gracious, they will be gracious. The love of Christ constrains
it. And note this, too. This is important. We serve the Lord. There's only
one way we really serve the Lord. See, he's in heaven. He doesn't
need food. He doesn't need raiment. He doesn't need a house. He doesn't
need a car. He doesn't need anything. He
doesn't need money. who does? The Lord's people. The only way we serve the Lord
is by serving his people. You see that? So she did. She
did. Verses 32 and 33, but she got
a whole lot more than she bargained for. It says that evening, when
the sun did set, the sun went down, they brought unto Christ
all that were diseased, and them that were possessed with devils,
and a whole city was together at her door and. The whole town was outside her
door. And I mentioned some of you dear
ladies that are so charitable so hospitable you open your home
to so many. And you they deserve to be mentioned
Sherry Anderson and Barry's and others that just thank you so
much. They wouldn't have that but.
Nevertheless, it can be a bit much at times. It sure can. But the Lord provided for me,
didn't he? I mean, the whole town showed up at her house. And while she might have got
frustrated, she thought, well, he sure had been good to me. What do I have that I have not
received? Verse 34, and the Lord healed
many that were sick of different diseases and cast out many devils. He healed many. Now, if anyone
is ever healed, listen to this, if anyone is ever healed of anything,
God did it. Anyone who has ever been sick
or been in some kind of calamity
and suffered physical injury or whatever, if they are healed,
anyone who has ever been healed, down to the common cold, the
Lord did it. The world scoffs at that, but
that's what he said. Didn't it, Brother Stan, one
of your favorite chapters, Deuteronomy 32, verse 39, he says, I kill,
I make alive, I wound, and I heal. The Lord may use means, he may
use a doctor, he may use a Tylenol. Right? If anybody's healed, the
Lord does. Because there are certain instances
where a person can take all the medicine they can, and go through
all the treatments they can, and see all the doctors in the
world, and they're not healed. And then men attribute that to
God. Well, whether wounded or healed,
it's the Lord. He healed many, because God gets
all the glory. And no matter how small the means,
God still gets the glory. He gave man the mind to create
drug. God still gets the glory. He'll
not share his glory with Johnson & Johnson. God gets all the glory. That's important, is it not?
He healed many. He did, that were sick with disease,
and cast out many devils. But you know, physical healing
is not our real need. We can live a healthy life, live
for many years, but what does it really profit us? Because
we're going to die. We're going to die. Every one of these persons
our Lord healed died. So what's really the one thing
we need? What is it we really need? Not
physical healing, but spiritual healing. And I'm not talking
about this silly stuff that's going on today with spiritual
healing. He needs to go to a meditation
seminar and get your spiritual healing. I'm talking about salvation,
Bible salvation. All right, let's go on. And he
cast out many devils, verse 34. He cast out many devils. And
it says he, and we looked at that Wednesday night. We're all
beset behind and before with demons, and I'll not go into
that any more. But he cast out many, and it
says he suffered not the devils. Look at this, verse 34. He suffered
not or allowed not the devils to speak because they knew him. Now, this is significant. Quite often, it is written. that the Lord told someone not
to make him known. You remember reading places like
that? It was a leper, maybe in the next,
yes, the next story in it, I believe. He said, don't make me known,
don't go out, go to the priest, show yourself. Often he said
that. He told the devils, don't go
out telling everyone. Why? Very significant. Because the
Lord is not trying to get anybody to believe in him. The Lord doesn't need men or
devils to make himself known. He's not trying to get the world
to believe in him. That's the reason Isaiah 42 says,
my servant, my servant, He shall not cry or lift up his voice
in the streets." Christ did not preach on a street corner. He didn't go from house to house. There were a few times where
he did go somewhere in a boat or up on a hill, and the people
came to him. Why did they come to him? Because
my sheep, they come to me, he said. All the Father gives shall
come to me. Our Lord is not looking for an
audience. God doesn't go begging for a hearing. The Lord was not trying to get
people to believe him or accept him, and so he's not telling
everyone who he is. You understand that? That's significant. He said, My sheep hear my voice.
I know them, and they'll hear my voice. They'll hear the gospel.
I know them. I'll supernaturally bring them
to hear the gospel. I know them, and they'll follow
me. Because for whom he did foreknow, he did predestinate. Whom he
did predestinate, he called. Everyone he chose, predestined,
he's going to call them by the gospel. And whoever he calls, he justifies.
They're going to believe. They're going to believe, and
he's justified by faith. And whoever is justified, glorified. So you see, our Lord is not trying
to get anybody to believe on it. Neither are his preachers
now. You hear me? We're not encompassing
sea and land to see how many people we can get to believe
on Jesus. Brother Ralph Barnard, an old
preacher from Winston-Salem, North Carolina, years ago, he
made this statement. He said, I'm not trying to get
people saved. I'm trying to get them lost. Now, learn what that means. There
is a true preacher. Verse 35, it's written, Now in
the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out.
He left Peter's house early in the morning before sun came up. A great while. What time it was
is not important. And he departed into a solitary
place, and there he prayed long before the sun came up. He went
out into a solitary place to pray. Now, this is significant. This is the Son of God. He doesn't
have to wake up at all. He doesn't have to get up early.
He's with the father, always. He doesn't have to pray, does
he? He doesn't have to ask for anything,
just say it. He doesn't have any needs, is
he? I mean, essentially, the son
of God, this is God manifest in the flesh, but he got up early
and went out. Not to do this, not to do that,
but to pray. Now, is that not significant?
What I'm trying to show us is, what about us who are the needy
ones, who can do nothing, who know
nothing, who make a step and it's a wrong one, who think a
thought and it's a wrong one? who know not what to do, where
to go, what to think, how to do it, who to do it with, and
all that, and everything about us is wrong, who without him
we can do nothing. What does this tell us, Nancy?
What does this tell us? He who need not really pray,
yet so fervently, constantly, without ceasing. What about us? Is that not a word of rebuke
and proof? It is to me. I'm convinced, and just in passing
here, this is written not just to impress us with how early
the Lord got up, no, but to tell us if God did this, who really
didn't, he could have slept all day and
it wouldn't have been sinful. I'm convinced that our spiritual
deficiencies have a great deal to do with our prayer deficiency. Without Him, we can do nothing.
But with Christ, all things. Ask. He says, ask. Pray without ceasing. My, my.
Is that not significant? Now, we're getting into it. And
Simon and David were with him, followed after him about nine
o'clock, I suppose, or at least eight or seven or, you know,
sometime later. They woke up and went looking
for him. They knew where to find him.
Apparently, he went there often. And when they found him, verse
37, they found him, they said unto him, Everybody's looking
for you. All men seek, everybody's looking,
everybody's been looking for you. Where are you being? I heard
that before, thirty years, eighteen years before that, he was twelve
years old. And he was in the temple. Want
to find the Lord? That's where you'll find him,
in his temple with his people. a solitary place, not in the
maddening crowd, far from it, not in the camp of religion,
outside of it. You want to find the Lord? That's where he is.
You want to find his people? That's where they are. His parents came back when he
was 12 years old looking for him. Where you been, son? Why
is it that you seek me, he said. I wished you not, that I must
be about my father's business. You know where to find me. What a message that is, huh?
And it's set. Everybody's speaking to you.
And I thought about this. Yes, it seems like the whole
world is going after him, but most of them for food and raiment.
Most of them to get their bellies filled and their arthritis cleared
up. Everybody's looking for you.
Well, look at what he said. Now, this emphasizes what we
just said, that the Lord's not trying to get anybody. Everybody's
looking for you. Now, come, Jesus, come. Oh, no. You don't tell him where to go.
He doesn't tell him. So-and-so's looking for you.
Let him look. Your mother wants to see you.
Who's my mother? He's not at men's beckoning call.
Do you see that? He's not at men's beckoning call.
Come with me. Marvin's the one, I think, said
this. And now it's the Holy Spirit revival meeting. How do they
know? How do they know that? Come Wednesday
night at seven-thirty, what are you talking about, man? The windblowers
weren't listening. He goes where he decides to go.
You can't tell a sound thereof. Are you ordering the Spirit? Oh,
you may order your little pinhead Spirit, but the Holy Spirit orders
you. If you want to slay the Lord
willing, We want to meet Wednesday, and we sure hope the Holy Spirit
shows up. Now, that's different. Everybody's
looking for you. Well, I'm not coming to everybody.
You see that? I'm not come to call the righteous. I'm not looking for the world.
I'm not even praying for the world. I'm praying for my own.
And what he says in the next verse is, let's go. We're leaving
here. Oh, I think back to the times
when he healed, like the man who was blind and the man who
was deaf, there in Mark 8, I believe, 7 and 8. It says that he was
there with all the people and all that, and the Lord healed
him and grabbed him by the hand. The Lord grabbed him by the hand
and said, Let's get out of town. The Lord laid hold on that fellow
and said, Let's get out of here. Get away from that preacher.
Get away from that soul winner. All these people are going to
get the credit for you. Let's get out of here, you and
me. You and me are going to do business.
I'm going to do the business, and you're going to stand there.
And then the other man, same way, took him out of the midst
of it. God is not in this mass of religion
today, people. He's just not. He's in a little
tabernacle in the wilderness. He's in a little ark floating
on the water. Well, verse 38, it says that
now, he said, Let us go into the next towns. We're leaving
here, we're going into the next towns. Now, look at this. That we may, that I may preach
there also, for therefore came I forth. He said, let's go into the next
towns that I may preach there also. So he preached where he
was, and now he says, let's go into the next town that I may
preach there also, for therefore, this is why I came. You see that? Therefore, I came. Came I forth to preach. And it says in verse 39, and
he preached in their synagogues. Synagogues throughout all Galilee,
various places he preached and cast out devils. And people, the Lord has preached in our
little synagogue here. I know he has. And others. And he's cast out devils. You see, this is what he uses
to cast out devils. Preaching of the gospel. preaching of the gospel. And
our Lord said, this is why I came. Now, that's something to think about, isn't
it? You ask someone, why did Christ come? And you get many
different answers. But he said, I came to preach.
Now, that must make preaching very important, doesn't it? All
right, and he says, I came to preach. And it says he preached
and cast out devils. This is what happens. This is
what God used us to cast out devils. Preaching of the gospel. All right? What did our Lord
preach? I want you to turn with me now
to Isaiah 61. Isaiah 61. Now, this is, this was recorded by Luke. We
studied the gospel of Luke, and it says in Luke's gospel that
this took place in Nazareth. And it says he—you remember the
story where he got—it was his turn to read, thirty years old,
and it's his turn to read, and they delivered him the book,
and he turned to the book of Isaiah and began to read, and
he read this chapter, Isaiah 61. And it says after he read
it, he closed the book and sat down and says every eye was fixed
on him. They were amazed at the gracious
words that came out of his mouth, and nobody spoke like this man. And he said, this day are these
words fulfilled in your ear. All right, our Lord said, I came
to preach, what did he preach, what did he come to preach? And
he sends preachers to preach, what do they preach? Here in
Isaiah 61 is the message, all right? This is the glad tiding.
This is what our Lord preached. This is it. Verse 1. And this
is really our text. He said, The Spirit of the Lord
God is upon me. Stop right there. Where is the Holy Spirit of God?
upon Christ. Without measure, he is declared
to be the Son of God by the Spirit of holiness and by the resurrection
from the dead. He was justified in the Spirit,
that he is borne witness by the Spirit, by that dove that came
down at his baptism. This is the Son of God. Here's
the point. Wherever the Holy Spirit is,
Christ is preached. Boy, if this isn't important
today. Wherever the Holy Spirit really is, is where Christ is
preached. Where Christ, the things of Christ,
are declared. Where the people are rejoicing
in Christ, worshiping God in the Spirit, and have no confidence,
they're not using flesh. They're not using these outward
things. Where the Holy Spirit is is where
Christ is preached, the things of Christ. It says, "...he hath anointed
me," look at it, verse 1, "...because the Lord hath anointed me." He's
called the Anointed One, is he not? He is the Anointed One. That's what Christos means. Christ,
the Immersed One. And what the Holy Spirit does
now is to bear witness of Christ, to take the things of Christ
and show them to his people, not the things of the Spirit. You understand? And certainly
not what they're calling the gifts of the Spirit. There's
bogus miracles. What the Holy Spirit does is
takes the things of Christ. The anointing is to make you
know the anointed one. This is so important. Everybody's
not hearing it. You are. It's not given unto
them, but it's given unto you to know the mystery. The mystery
of the Spirit is the anointing of the Holy Spirit is to make
you know Christ. make you fall in love with Christ,
to take the things of Christ, his wisdom, his righteousness,
his sanctification, his redemption, which not one in a thousand have
ever heard that scripture. But you know it by heart. First
Corinthians 130. You know it by heart, wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, redemption. He hath anointed
me, Christ said. The Spirit of the Lord is upon
me. He hath anointed me. And if you're anointed, he'll
anoint you with him. Not tongues and miracles and
signs and wonders. Mark it down, people. True anointed
preaching and true anointed preachers and true anointed church and
people are those who are taken up with the Lord Jesus Christ.
Those who are wholly taken up with Christ. Those who have grounded
and settled in the truth as it is in Christ. Those who are freed
from all this stuff, who know the truth. Listen, now listen to this. This
just struck me in preparing this message. Listen very carefully,
all right? And this will answer all this
stuff you're seeing and hearing today. John, John, the last of
the prophets. John, the baptizer. John, okay? It says that John
had the Spirit from his mother's womb, didn't it? Did it? He was
filled with the Spirit from his mother's womb. John never performed
one miracle, ever. John never spoke in another language
one time, ever. It's not recorded that John ever
spoke, and it's not even recorded that the Lord Jesus Christ spoke
in tongues. Well, he must not have the Spirit.
Do you see that? Filled with the Spirit is to
be filled with Christ, a knowledge of him. Not signs and wonders. He said an evil, he called it
like it is, he said an evil and adulterous generation seeketh
after a sign. He said no sign will be given
but the sign of the prophet Jonas. What's that? Christ crucified. And this is the sign, this is
what all of his people see. That it's not an apparition,
it's not a vision, it's not a dream, it's not a miracle, it's not
of tongues. It's the gospel. And they see him, Christ crucified
in all his glory. They're anointed. That's anointed
services, that's anointed preaching. It's to talk about the anointed
one. It's not the door where we're talking about the tongues.
When the people left Pentecost, they forgot the tongues. At first
they said, how do these men learn these languages? Everybody here
is hearing the gospel in their own language. But when they left
that place, all they could think about was this Lord sitting on
the throne. Not the fire, not the tongues. He's anointed me. To do what? To do what? To do what? This is the power of God unto
salvation. This is the fire of God. Those
cloven tongues over in Acts chapter 2 were not, was not some vision,
some fire licking things up. No, no, no. They were two fellows named James
and John. They were called Sons of Thunder.
Blurred in the G's was their name. Fiery-tongued preacher. When the disciples on the road
to Emmaus, after they heard Christ preach, they felt fire. Fire
fell. They didn't see it. They felt it. Did not our hearts
burn? Our God is a consuming fire.
out of his mouth to go with the fire. Now, look at this. Now, he's
sent me to preach nothing more and nothing less than to preach
good tidings, the gospel. All right, who's it preached
to? Verse 1. He sent me to preach good tidings
unto the meek, unto the meek. The gospel is
for Helpless sinners. It's not for the righteous. It's
not for the moral. It's not for good Christians.
Gospels are not for good Christians. Gospels for the chief of sinners.
For the meek. A person who considers himself
a good Christian is not meek. A person who considers himself for heaven as if they're already
there is not like Paul. Paul said, I haven't arrived
yet. Meek is not like Paul, who said, I'm less than the least.
I'm not fit to be called a disciple. I'm the chief of sinners, he
said. Now, that's meek. That's who the gospel's for. That's who the gospel's for.
The gospel is election by the Father. Who needs election by
the Father? prodigal sons. The gospel, election by the Father,
is for prodigal sons. Now did you hear it? For prodigal
sons, once a son, always a son. Election by the Father is mighty
good news to a prodigal son. The gospel is imputed righteousness. The gospel is a perfect pristine
holiness and righteousness, freely, fully, completely, effectually
imputed and charged to God's people so that they're without
one single sin before a holy and just God, who by no means
can clear the guilty. The gospel is imputed righteousness
by the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Who's it for? Guilty sinners who have no righteousness. And they never get tired of hearing
about Christ in beauty and rightness. The gospel is glad tidings. That
makes me glad. The gospel is a full, free, final
justification. Who for? Guilty. Guilty as charged. Death row
prisoner. Look at the next thing. He says,
He sent me to preach the good tidings unto the meek. And he
hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted." Now, the whole world goes through
some kind of heartbreak over loss or over death or sickness
or whatever. This is not the heartbreak he's
talking about, although he does much of that
binding, binding up. He sure does. What does it, though? I mean, it's the same thing.
Breaks the heart, binds it up. The same thing that wounds also
heals. I kill, I make alive. I wound, I make sick, it's the
Lord. I heal. I raise her up, I cast her out.
The broken heart here is a heart broken over sin. A heart broken
over sin. Christ said, he has sent me to
bind the broken heart. Ezekiel 36, he said, a new heart
I'll give him. I broke the old one, the old
hard one, stony heart. I removed it. Give him a heart
of flesh, a broken heart, a malleable heart, a needy heart, not a proud
heart, but a broken heart. He sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
those brokenhearted over sin, to proclaim liberty to the captive. Liberty to the captive, freedom
from sin, freedom from Satan, freedom from the law. We sing
at Him, free from the law, O happy condition. And most of us in
here really don't know what that means. Bondage to the law. Most
of us weren't in religion long enough to really... Don't have to say so many Hail
Marys. You just have to say one. Lord help. You could ask Martin Luther.
He'd tell you what freedom means. He could tell you. From bondage. the glorious liberty of the sons
of God. Liberty. Religion is a prison house. It really is. The reason we don't
really fully appreciate the liberty we have in Christ is because
most of us have been free for a long time now. Yes. But you just need to get out
of here for a little while and go back into religion and see
what's required of you. I've been there. I've gone to
these meetings and I've heard these men of bondage who love
to inflict, who love to lay heavy burdens on people. I've been
there, and I went back to my motel room just absolutely beaten down, only to go back again and hear
an old man stand up and preach Christ. And I'm lifted up again,
free. He says, opening of the prison
to them that are bound to proclaim, verse 2, the acceptable year
of the Lord. Listen to this. Today, are these
words fulfilled in your ears? This is the acceptable year of
the Lord. I'm not asking anybody in here to accept the Lord. Never
ask anyone that, ever. No true preacher does. Would
you accept Jesus? No sir. Well, I am here to tell
you that anyone who comes to Christ is accepted. This is the acceptable year.
Yes, anyone who comes to Christ, no matter where they've been
or who they are or what they've done or what they're doing now,
you're accepted in the blood. This is the acceptable year.
And this is worthy of all acceptation. Accepted in the beloved. Read
on. Look at this. He persecuted. The day of vengeance of our God.
The day of vengeance. Our Lord said, Vengeance is mine.
I will repay. I will repay. Believers go through
tribulation. It's in the world, yes, but it
can even be at home. It can be a man's very enemies
can be those of his own household, or a woman, that man she lives
with. Yes, sir. To a worker who's oppressed by
an unreasonable employer, a woman with an abusive husband, vengeance
is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord. I'm here to tell you,
payday someday. It's not going to last long.
It's not going to last long. I'm here to tell you, tell those
who are oppressed, tell those servants who are oppressed, tell
them that very shortly you're going to have an inheritance
with the Son. They're going to have nothing, you're going to
have everything. Tell them that. Tell that abused wife who suffers
at the hands of that abusive husband, tell her that if she
has a husband and right shortly she's going to experience Vengeance is mine, I will repay,
saith the Lord." It's going to be over shortly. This is a day
of vengeance. It's right here. Tell her, just
hang on. See, the gospel is not only comfort
to God's people, but it's absolute warning. He that being often
reproved and hardened at his neck shall be suddenly cut off,
and that without Tell her vengeance is mine, I
will repay. Don't take matters in your own
hand, don't do it. The day of vengeance is here. I will avenge
your adversary. I will avenge you of your adversary,
though you cry unto me daily. I will avenge you, and that writes
speedily. It's going to be like that in a moment. In the twinkling
of an eye, you'll be done with sin, Satan, self, the world. It's all going to be over, all
your troubles. Trust me. This is good news. Is this not
good news? Hang on. Wait, I say. Wait on the Lord. Wait, I say. Wait on the Lord, and you'll
see the goodness of the Lord, even in the land of the living. The day of vengeance of our God.
Read on. To comfort all that mourn. To
comfort all that mourn. Verse 3, I got to hurry, "...to
appoint unto them that mourn in Zion." That is, mourn over
their sins. Who mourns? Who will truly mourn? Our Lord
said, "...blessed are they that mourn, and they shall be comforted."
Mourn over sin. Mourn over the evil within and
without. Who is it that mourns? Verse 3 said, "...them that mourn
in Zion." In Zion. Only God's people really
mourn over their sin. To appoint unto them doesn't
say what is appointed. Yeah, it has a place. He said
it, I go to prepare a place. There's an appointed place. It's
appointed unto men once to die, that's their judgment, but it's
appointed to us a place for those that mourn in Zion. There's a
place. a place of eternal rest and joy
and happiness. It's appointed, it's ordained
unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for
ashes, beauty for ashes. These bodies are fading like
the leaf, aren't they? Get up, all of you over forty,
know what I'm talking about. You get up, or some of you close
to it, and you look like you're over forty. Get up and you look at yourself
in the mirror and you think, oh, you know, before the makeup
and before the shower and all that, you think, I'm getting
old. Skin sagging. The hair is going and gone. The
body is sagging. This old man is dying daily. It's corruption. It's fading
like the leaf, isn't it? A leaf gets old, wrinkled, brown
spots. it withers up, it's turning to
what? Dust. Dust thou art, and to dust
thou shalt return. But he says, I won't give you
beauty for ashes. These bodies get old and wrinkled,
and some of them are scarred and all that. Just wait. Your
youth is going to be renewed like the flesh of a baby with
the mind of a man. I love that story of Christiana
and her friend, Faithful, in Pilgrim's Progress. Christiana and Faithful, it says
they went over the river of death and were in the city celestial,
and they were looking at one another, just gazing at one another. These were old buddies back in
the other life, you know, or death. They were looking at one
another. And Christians say, you look
so beautiful. And faithful say, oh, but you look so beautiful. They knew one another, but the
change was tremendous. Beauty for ashes. Beauty for
ashes. It can only truly be said of
the believer, you're not getting older, you're getting better. He will
be just like Christ. In a moment, the twinkling of
an eye will be changed into his glorious image. Beauty for ashes, a new creature
in Christ. Look at this, read on. He said,
I have appointed this, yes I have, ordained them to be like Christ,
predestinated to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for
mourning, the oil of joy for mourning. Holy Spirit is that anointing
oil, that balm he gives for the morning sin. The garment of praise
for the spirit of heaviness. Your sins weigh you down, don't
they? Religion can weigh you down.
The world weighs heavily upon you. You come to Christ naked,
and he clothes you in his righteousness. He gives you a garment. The prodigal
is the best illustration of this, isn't it? The particle came back
in rags. He came back in rags, weighed
down with his guilt and his sin, his need, shame, came back. The father saw him when he was
far off, and the father ran to him. He was running to him, and
he was running to him. And the father fell on his neck
and kissed him. The father did all this, And
the son tried to get out his little confession. You know,
he had it all rehearsed. He was going to tell his father what
all he wanted. How bad he was and all. He didn't even know
half of it. But the father knew him. And the first thing the
father said was, bring the best robe. He's wearing rags. Take them off of him. Put the
best robe on him. Ah, the gospel fits good. It's
not a heavy garment. It's not a heavy garment. It's
not one It doesn't fit. It fits just right. The shoes
wear well. I got a pair of shoes on right
now that I bought. I paid a lot of money for them. They're made by Bostonian. Charles Boston. Chuck Barber
sold shoes for 103 years. Didn't you? At Leggings. Yeah,
you did. I bought 103 pair from him. Anyway, Barbara, I bought some
Bostonians. You know what they cost. I decided, finally, I'm
going to buy them some good shoes. I'm tired of buying them at Frenchies
down in Crossville. Have you ever been there? They
sell used shoes. Brother Don says they've got
a deal with funeral parlors. That's where they get the shoes. Well, I bought about 12 pairs
of shoes down there at Frenchy's. I'm tired of it. I said, I'm
going to buy me some good shoes, brand new shoes, Bostonian. That
was how long ago was that? About two months ago. They still
hurt my feet. They do. When are they ever going
to fit? Here's the point. God put shoes
on the Israelites' feet, and it said they never wore out.
Like an old pair of shoes that gets more and more comfortable.
Paul said in Ephesians 6, we're shod with the preparation of
the gospel of peace. The gospel wears well, the gospel
walks well, the gospel gets more and more of a comfort to you.
The longer you walk with Christ, walk under the sound of this
word, the longer you sit under the sound of the word, just the
better it gets, doesn't it? Huh? I've heard some of you say
it doesn't get any better than that. It will next Sunday. And
then Sunday after that, until finally, when we're done with
this trying, then the Lord himself is going to preach to us, and
he'll say, It just got better. And truly, it cannot get any
better than this. The gospel wears well, like a
good pair of old shoes. Well, he says, read on, he says,
The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, that they
might be called. You see why we read Psalm 1?
They're going to be called trees of righteousness. The planting
of the Lord. Blessed is the man. Blessed is
the woman who the Lord has planted by the rivers of water. What is that? You're sitting
by it. Some of you have been planted
right here for years. And you're not about to move.
He shall not be moved. to whom shall we go? Thou hast
to where's the river of life? See, I live on a farm now,
and we have good well water. And I go back home to go back
to Kentucky. And those poor people up there, in that town, they drink city
water. Whoo! Chlorinated, hyphenated, amalgamated,
You know what it is, chemically treated. I don't want to go back. I do not want to go back to city
water. If I ever have to live in town,
I think I'll just buy a bottle of water somewhere. Here's the point. Whenever you've
really tasted the sovereign grace of God, whenever you've tasted
this Have you sat by the rivers of water? Have you lain down in these green
pastures, and you've gotten rest for your soul and liberty? You don't want to go back to
jail. Do you? You don't want to go
back to city water. Oh, no. To whom shall we go?
This is life. This is life. All right. Well,
John, come and lead us, if you will. Number five. One hundred and twenty seven
one hundred. Versus one two and. Three. All day one hundred and. Twenty seven one point seven. verses 1, 2, and 3, and I found
it myself.