All right, let's read from Luke chapter
6, Luke's Gospel chapter 6. Luke 6, beginning with verse
20. And Christ lifted up his eyes
on his disciples and said, Blessed be ye poor, for yours is the
kingdom of God. Blessed are ye that hunger now. for you shall be filled. Blessed
are ye that weep now, for ye shall laugh. Blessed are ye when
men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from
their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as
evil. for the Son of Man's sake. Rejoice
ye in that day, and leap for joy. For behold, your reward
is great in heaven. For in the like manner did their
fathers unto the prophets. But woe unto you that are rich,
for you have received your consolation. Woe unto you that are full, for
ye shall hunger. Woe unto you that laugh now,
for ye shall mourn and weep. Woe unto you, when all men shall
speak well of you. For so did their fathers to the
false prophets." Our Heavenly Father, we bow before you, worship and be praised. We bow before your holy word, your pure word, word of truth. And we bow to it. We submit to
it. We believe it. Yea, we believe
Christ who is the Word. We thank you for the written
Word. Thank you for the incarnate Word. Christ who came to reveal the
truth. and reveal Himself to reveal
the Father. We ask You, Lord, that You would
open blind eyes by Your Word, that You would open the deaf
ears by Your Word, that You would break the hard heart by Your
Word, We ask that you take this word
and use it as a hammer, as a fire, as a sword, as your voice. Lord, speak that
your sheep might hear and know you and follow you. You know your sheep. The foundation
of God's standard is to share with the Lord and to know of
them that are And all who are yours, all who
belong to you, will know you as they've been known. And they
know you through this work. We know you through your work. Take it and do to everyone under
the sound of it tonight, do what you have just spoken about. create all these blessings for
them, every person here tonight. It's not a hard thing for you
to save many. It's the same sovereign power,
same shed blood, same spirit. We ask that it be accorded to
your will, the wind might blow in this place tonight. on each heart here. If you do
not reveal yourself completely, then plant the seed in the heart
and cause it to grow later on. We give you the praise and honor
and glory for everything. Salvation is of the Lord. This
is why we call upon you and ask these things. So it is in Christ's name that
we do meet here, worship, give thanks, and ask all these things. Amen. This is commonly called
the Sermon on the Mount. As you know, it's found in another
portion of Scripture. And look at verse 20. It says,
He lifted up His eyes on His disciples. And over in Matthew's gospel,
where this is also recorded, it says that after he said these
things, the whole multitude was astonished at his doctrine. So
this is addressed to everyone. This is addressed to everyone.
I know it says his disciples, but You'll remember that quite
often it says that many believed on him, when in fact they really
didn't. So this is addressed to all who
really are his disciples, all those who just claim to be him. Or at least claim to be him.
All right? And he pronounces, as you notice
when we read, he pronounces blessings upon some. Blessings. and then woe on others. And there's
one thing I want you to keep in mind, though, as we look through
this. It gives characteristics of some
people, of persons, characteristics. And these are not so much what
believers ought to be, although they ought to be. This is what
believers are. If any believer is not, well,
It's an impossibility for a man, for a woman, a young person to
be a believer and not possess these traits. OK? Remember that. Because our Lord
goes on to pronounce woe on those who do not have these characteristics. All right? All right, let's look
at verse 21, 20 and 21. He lifted up his eyes on his
disciples and said, Blessed be ye poor, for yours is the kingdom
of God. Blessed be he poor." He lifted
up his eyes on his disciple. That means he looked them in
the eye. I've often, I've been told that
eye contact is important when you speak. I'm not very good
at it, because when I just I was just so conscious of my shortcomings
in speaking, perfect speaking. And so up and down in my feelings
of Christ, boy, He looked them in the eye. He knew He could
look through the soul. He looked them in the eye. And
He said, and His disciples, and everyone in here, I believe,
professes to at least be interested if you wouldn't be here. Right? You will meet Him. You are Him.
So He says to all who hope to be His disciples, all who are,
He says, Blessed be ye poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
Blessed be ye poor. Now, what does this mean? What
does this mean? I want you to think very simply,
very simply, so that the youngest one in here can understand. Now, every believer, every true
child of God is poor and needy. Not materially poor. Not materially
poor. Or in want or need of material
things. As a matter of fact, the very
opposite is true. There are no believers anywhere
who are in want or need of material things. Never have been. You know that? That's what Psalm
37, 25 says. David said, I'm old. I've been
young. I've been young. I'm now old,
26. He said, I've never seen the righteous forsaken. I like
that. Tell the righteous in Christ,
I've never seen them forsaken. Why? Because the righteous one
said, I'll never forsake them. He said, I've never seen, I'm
an old man now, I've never seen the righteous forsaken. I've
never seen one person who truly trusted in God and ashamed in
Him. And he said, I've never seen
God's seed begging bread. Not one time. He said, all my
life. David was probably 70 years old when he wrote that. And he
said, I've never once seen one of God's people begging bread.
Never had any. Never will. Oh, but they do beg bread. Oh, they do. They are poor. They
are needy. But it's not material, the book
of Proverbs 13 with me, Proverbs 13. Proverbs 13, turn over there. Poor. To be poor. Means be poor in spirit. It means to be poor in spirit.
Our Lord said that in Matthew 5, verse 3. Poor in spirit. Now, what is it to be poor? Poor in spirit. What does that
mean? Well, think about this. Poverty. If you're in material
poverty or physical poverty, That means you don't have the
basic necessities, right? If you're in real poverty, there's not very many today really
in real poverty. If you see these fellas standing
up and rolling over with a sign on the street, it's a racket. They've got a little team going
on. The rest of them are over in the weeds hiding, and they
go in shifts. They sure do. So one fellow had
a sign that said traveling and eat food. I went back two weeks
later and he said traveling and eat food. He must be going to go to Hawaii.
He's getting that money saved up. The Lord, you know, one time
they talked about giving to the poor. The Lord said, poor you
have with you always. Because to be really poverty
stricken, poor, means to be without the basic necessity. Now, there's
some people I understand right now, whereas Afghanistan or somewhere
right now, they're truly, in an African country, truly poverty
stricken. They don't have the basic necessity
of life. clothing, food, shelter. That's the basic requirements
to live by. To be really poverty stricken
is to have no one to depend upon. No one influence that you can
appeal to. Without help. And if you're really
poverty stricken and really without, you'll become weak, won't you?
And helpless. Weak. Powerless. And you know, most poverty-stricken
people are uneducated. You know that? Most of them are
uneducated. But all these things apply to
poverty of spirit. When you're poor in spirit, that
means you don't have the basic necessities that God requires
of us to live. Basic requirements. He said,
this do and live. God said, do this and live. Can't
do the least of it. Have no one, nobody and nothing
and no one to depend upon. Weak and powerless, especially
so. Weak and powerless. Can't do
nothing. Uneducated. That means you know nothing.
Can't figure God out. Can't figure out how to get to
heaven. Our Lord said, Blessed are the
poor in spirit. Blessed are the poor, for yours
is the kingdom of God. What is the kingdom of God? Now
hold that Proverbs and turn over to Luke 17 with me. Hold Proverbs. I got ahead of myself when I
told you to turn that. But over in Luke 17, Luke 17,
our Lord said, Blessed are the poor, for yours is the kingdom
of God. What is the kingdom of God? What is the kingdom of God? Heaven?
Well, yes and no, but not really. What is the kingdom of God? Look
at Luke 17 here in verse 20 and 21. When he was demanded of the
Pharisees, Christ was demanded of the Pharisees when the kingdom
of God should come. When's the kingdom going to come?
He answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with
observation. In other words, it's not something
you look for. Verse 21, Neither shall they
say, Lo, here, or, Lo, there. There it is. Here it comes. There
it goes. Now, behold, the kingdom of God is within you. And my Martin says, Among you.
What he's saying there is you're looking at it. You look at the
kingdom of God. What the kingdom of God is, is
to be under the dominion of the king. That kingdom, that means dominion
of the king. The kingdom, or dominion of the
king. The kingdom of God is to be under
the dominion of the king, or of his king. Psalm 2, God says,
I've sent my king on my holy hill of Zion. Christ is the king. And all those who are in the
kingdom, or the kingdom of God, is Christ, He Himself. And it's
to be found in Christ. Paul said, Christ in you, the
hope of glory. And to the poor... Now you can
turn it over to Proverbs with me. To the poor, poor in spirit,
Proverbs 13. To the poor in spirit, Christ
is all. Christ is all today. All these
things we talked about, not having in and of ourselves, not having
any ability, Christ is. And He is our ability. Christ
is our goodness. Christ is our righteousness. Christ is our, you say, to the
uneducated? To be poor is to be uneducated.
Do you remember the Ethiopian eunuch that was traveling along
in his chariot and Philip came up alongside him and the eunuch
was reading the Bible? And Philip said, do you understand
what you read? And if you'd asked the average
person that day, they'd say, well, sure I do. Well, you can't
teach me anything, man. Of course I can. I've been through
a five-week Bible study, and I've followed that thing empty
on the TV, and you know what I've been going through. The
eunuch said, how can I? Well, I don't know. I don't understand
this. He said, somebody show me. That's
the man. See, the poor in spirit, that's
the man who's going to have the Word of God revealed to him. Christ becomes their wisdom.
Christ becomes their wisdom. To the weak, cannot do, can't
seem to, you know, do anything that the Scriptures tell us to
do. That's what it means to be poor in spirit. I can't do what
the Scriptures tell me to do. Christ becomes your strength.
See? Look here at Proverbs 13, verse
7. It says, There is he that maketh himself rich, yet hath
nothing. There is he that maketh himself
poor, yet hath great riches. What does that mean? Do you know
what that means? There is he that maketh himself
rich, yet doth not have anything. There is he that maketh himself
poor, yet hath great riches. But I hope you'll know when this
is over with. The poor, Christ said, when he talked about his coming, he
said, the poor. Go tell John. Remember when John
said, are you the one we're looking for, or are we looking for another?
He said, you go tell John that the poor are having the gospel
preached to them. The poor have the gospel preached
to them. Brother John Davis and I were
sitting in the study a while ago, talking about reading some
of the Gattonian hymns, talking about imputed righteousness and
all these blessed gospel truths. And I said, John,
do you ever recall, since you've been listening to religion, do
you ever recall hearing the word imputed? Let me ask you people that. Do
you ever recall, on TV, on radio, hearing the word in Cuban? What's that? You see, the people
don't need it. People aren't poor. They've got
a righteous. Right? They've got one. They
don't need that imputed. Was it John Wesley that called
it imputed nonsense? Was that Wesley that said that? Think about that. They don't
need it. A poor man does. A man who, like Isaiah says,
our righteousness is filthy rag. I try to do my best, I try to
live, and it just... He'll be rising in the Holy God.
They need Him to be righteous. They need Christ to be their
righteous. That's what it means to be poor.
Ah, boy. People aren't poor today. They're
all fixed up. Rich and increased with good,
haven't they? Especially if you do righteousness. And here's the next thing. Turn
over to the text. As with the materially poor,
if you're materially poor, it just naturally follows you'll
be hungry. Right? You won't have anything to eat,
and you'll be hungry. Look at verse 21. It says, Blessed
are ye that hunger. Now, you shall be filled. Blessed are ye that hunger, that
ye shall be filled. Most people hunger for health and wealth
and happiness, you know. Psychologists, everyone admits
that Nearly everyone has some yearning for something that is
a void. They call it a void that they
need to fill. That's what they call hunger.
You know, Barbara, men and women are feeding on husks. Really,
there's no meat or anything in this world. It's not lasting.
It won't last. Well, it goes out in the grass,
and you keep feeding more, and you're hungry. It's never satisfying. So most men and women, and even
young people, that's the reason young kids get on drugs and things,
they have a yearning, a void of happiness over fulfillment. They want fulfillment, all right? Not realizing that there's one
thing that will really fulfill. In Him who dwelleth all the fullness. And Christ is the desire. Your
salvation is when God Almighty makes you hunger and thirst.
After what? What does Matthew say? Righteous. That's right. Christ. hunger for him. He's the desire
of every believer. He calls himself the bread of
life. Christ said, I'm the bread. He
said, Moses gave you that. Moses didn't give you that bread.
My father gave you that bread. He said, that bread, that won't,
that won't suffice and neither will the water. Talking to that
woman that's married how many times? And she's still trying
to find the perfect man. Well, he ain't out there. Oh,
he did. He came to her, the perfect man. And when she finally saw him,
she realized that she married him. And she went running to
tell her friends to come. I met the man of my dreams. Didn't
you? I finally met him, the man of
all gold. Now, we've heard that before,
woman. I have. It's Christ. The bread of life. Christ said,
you'll never hunger. That's a paradox really. This is a paradox really. When
you partake of Christ, he fills you with the one thing needful. And in your content in whatever
state, you have a little, you have a lot, you have Christ,
you have all. You have all full. Okay? In lack, you don't want, but
you have Christ. In fullness, you have Christ. Well, but it's a paradigm. It's really a paradigm. You'd never hunger again when
you partake of Christ, when you trust Christ, when you believe
Christ comes to Christ. You'll never hunger again. That
is, you'll never be totally, have an insatiable desire for
anything else. You'll find your contentment
in Him. All right? But here's the paradox. You hunger more than ever. You hunger more than ever, but
not for these things, for Him. And the more you need of Him,
the more hungry you are for Him. You become more hungry. You have
an insatiable desire for Christ and the Gospel. And they're one
and the same, Christ, the Gospel, Gospel, Christ. And this is one
of the surest signs of life to me. If you would ask me, Someone that the Lord has truly
dealt with someone revealed himself to them. You ask me for the surest
evidence that God has spoken to someone and worked on somebody,
I'd say it's in their response to the customer. Now, you know, not every time,
but we have our ups and downs, but majority of the time, God's
people have a hunger and a thirst for Christ. This is what it says
here. It's a present tense. You see
that? Blessed are ye that hunger now. That do hunger and thirst after
right now. It's a present tense. And he
says, you shall be filled, you shall be filled by faith. Wine
on the leaves, the scripture says. Believers grow in grace
and in knowledge, they grow fast, spiritually. The world, physically,
is growing that way. The vast majority, and I don't
mean to offend anyone, but it's just said like the scripture
says. The vast majority of people are just of ample girth. That's
what that's likely, of ample girth. Have, you know, all that they
could want, but their souls are lean. Leanness, cleanness of
teeth, Scripture says, spiritual teeth, haven't been eaten in
time. Well, but believers, they may
be lean somewhat lean materially, but they're fat. Their souls
are fat. And he says you'll be filled.
It's like good food. You find yourself, is this a,
is this, you, the more you eat, the more good food you eat, the
more you want of that good food, and the quicker you want. I don't
know if anybody else is like me, but it seems like when I
just gorge myself on good food, it's no time at all that I'm
hungry again. I can't explain it. Is anybody
like that? You'd think, boy, that would
last me forever. Thanksgiving. Let me give you a little straightener.
I guarantee every one of you can enter into this. Thanksgiving. There was 142 courses on that
day, or the clubs. You know how it is. And we just
gorged ourselves. Everybody was sitting there.
Sammy made an absolute fool of himself. He ate with my parents,
and they said, would you like some dessert? He said, yeah,
I'll take three of each. Think I'm kidding, don't you,
Joe? No, I'm not. Act like you didn't
have any raisin whatsoever, like you haven't eaten in weeks. Of
course, I did, too. Poor reflection on whatever. Poor reflection on my wife. But
we ate and ate and ate and ate. Well, it wasn't two hours later.
See what I'm telling the truth? Two hours later, everybody's
in the kitchen. You'd think we wouldn't eat anything
for a week. Not you, Sheriff. You didn't. Everybody in here,
same thing happened to us. That's strange, isn't it? That's
the way it is with the gospel. You get filled up and you think,
I can't take any more. I can't take any more. I'm ready
to go. Well, it's not the next day. You're hungry. That's what
these Wednesday night services are for. Midweek service. You think, I can go, I can go
and strengthen this meat for a week, seven days, or whatever.
No, you get hungry real fast. Don't you? Real fast. Well, he said, you'll be filled.
We'll look at the next time. Verse 21. He said, Blessed are
ye that weep now. Blessed are ye that weep now. You should laugh. Turn over to
Luke 7, just a page or two. You know, everybody weeps at
some time, don't they? Everybody goes through sorrow. Everybody waits. You live long
enough, well, you don't have to live very long. You know,
children go through times of sorrow and sadness and pain and
so on, suffering. What does it mean, then, blessed
are they? We... Now, we always say, blessed are
they of core. I think it's core and spirit.
I don't... Lord, I am nothing, I have nothing,
I can't do anything. If you help me, you see, I'll
do it all. Blessed are they that are hungry,
they'll be filled. It means they're hungry and thirsty
for Christ. Christ says, I'm the bread, I'm the water. What
is this to weep? Look at Luke 7, verse 36 through
38. It says here, one of the Pharisees
desired him that he would eat with them. And he went in to
the Pharisee's house and sat down to meet. And behold, a woman
in the city, which was a sinner, I don't have to tell you what
kind of woman this was, do I? Everybody in here knows. She
was a sinner, a godless sinner. And she knew that Jesus sat at
meat in the Pharisee's house and brought an alabaster box
of ointment and stood at his feet behind him and weeped in it. Oh, she weeped in it. She's
poor and destitute, not materially. She had this costly... I think this woman was fairly
well-to-do. She had this costly container
full of this precious ointment that one of the designers said
was worth a lot of money. She's weeping. She's poor, all
right. Weeping, began to wash his feet
with tears and then wiped them. That's weeping, isn't it? Weeping
so hard that it was washing Christ's feet with her tears. David one time said, I
watered my bed with my tears. Read on. Began to kiss his feet. Kiss his feet. Well, look on
down in verse 47. The Lord said, I say unto thee, Her sins, which
are many, are forgiven." Oh, she was weeping over her sins. Her sins. For she loved much,
but to whom little is forgiven, the same love is little. Those who have few sins don't
weep much. Thy sins are forgiven." And David
sat at knee and said, Oh, who is this that forgives the sins
of sinners? Oh, who is this? The only one who can. Now every
believer, our Lord talked about, called it mourning over in Matthew
5. Blessed are those who mourn. He called it weeping. When you
really mourn, when you really mourn Him, you can't keep to
it back then. You know, he's everyone's son.
But have you done it over the sins? Only those who have are allowed. A believer, every believer mourns
over his or her sin. Until they do, they're not going
to be in his or her lap. And every believer never ceases
to mourn, never ceases to mourn. And you notice this, it's all
present tense, isn't it? Blessed are they that mourn,
they that weep now. You see that? Now. They never cease to mourn, except
when they stop to laugh. Oh, the scripture says, weeping
endures for a night. And you can quote the rest of
it. Maybe you've done a little weeping. If you can quote the
rest of that, maybe you've done a little weeping through the night over
your own sinfulness. But joy comes in the morning. Ye shall last. Oh, my favorite
song. Sing my favorite song. It's Psalm
126. I've quoted it, but I want you
to look at it. Psalm 126. It says this, When
the Lord turned again, if you're with me, you've turned. When
the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that
dreamed. We turned our captivity. We were like them that dreamed.
Then was our mouth filled with laughter. Our tongue was singing. Then said they among the heathen,
The Lord hath done great things for them. The Lord hath done
great things for us. We're glad. Oh, we're glad. Our
mouths were filled with laughter. We were like them that dreamed.
Every believer, when he hears the gospel, He was a soldier with a blaster. You remember me telling you about
that old man, Henry Breedlove, who used to laugh, you know,
when the gospel was preached? You remember me telling you that?
You remember that, Andrew? I was about your age, well, even
younger. And I'd go to the Bible conferences
down in Birmingham, Alabama, Sylacauga, where he'd go to all
of us. Ashland, wherever it seemed like
he was there, wherever I could hear his laughter. I knew when
Henry was there because he'd laugh. I'd hear him laugh. I
remember thinking, you know, if a preacher would say something,
this old man would laugh. He wasn't old. He was probably in
his forties then. I thought he was old. But he'd
laugh, you know, if a preacher would say something. I remember
thinking, I just didn't, I failed to see the humor here. I didn't
listen to it. I'm laughing now. I know the
gospel, he knew it. He's gone and revealed the Lord
now, and he's got a perpetual smile on his face. Laughter. Greatness is laughter
in heaven. Guaranteed. You're going to hear
John's laugh again someday. Ah, boy, I like it. John Mill
calls it getting happy. Well, these things are characteristics,
see, of every believer. It's not we ought to be, although
we ought to be, but it is. Believers are poor. They have
nothing, and nobody from nowhere, and no one has nothing Christ-like.
Only those will Christ be. Before they come, can they be
Christ? And they weep over their sinfulness,
not like they ought to, but they do. And they don't do it in public
so people can see it. As a matter of fact, they're
ashamed when they don't like to be seen. Right? They don't like to be seen. They're
not trying to do anything to be seen. But they weep over their
sinfulness before when the gospel comes. No hunger, no life. Wouldn't
you say that? I don't care, you know, keep
personal life support. It's not, they're not alive either. If you have to pump food into
them, they're not alive. I got an artificial, that's exactly
what's going on with religion today. Preachers are, you know,
pumping, feeding people intravenous. They make them this, make them
a speaking, make them a Sunday school, make them no life there,
but trying to pump them, pump something in them, you know,
pump them up. We'll have this tonight, we'll have this next
Sunday, you know, pump them up. No life there. If they're hungry,
if they're hungry, if there's life there, they're hungry. If
there's life there, they'll mourn, they'll weep over it. Christ
one time said, we've mourned and you haven't wept, we've piped
and you haven't danced. Some people. And then every believer, without
exception, every single believer suffers persecution. Every single believer suffers
persecution for who they believe. I didn't say what, but who, they declared. Look
at it, verse 22. It said, Blessed are ye when
men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from
their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as
evil, for the doctrines of grace say. It doesn't read that way, does it?
For the Son of Man say, for a person. This is a lesson to us to go
around declaring who God is, not so much doctrine. I believe
in election. No, no, don't do that. I believe
God is sovereign. I believe the sovereignty of
God. No, don't say that. Say, I believe God reigns. That's
more spiritual. God reigns. Say unto the heathen,
you're God reigns. I believe in particular religion.
I do, but that's not the way to put it. Right? I believe Christ
died for his sheep. He didn't die for goats. Every
one of his sheep he died for. There's that. Because he's saved. You know what redeemer means? It means one who redeems. I believe
Christ is redeemer. That's a better way to put it,
isn't it? Huh? Well, you'll be hated for who
you declare. You declare that God is God.
If God chooses whom He will, God
does what He will, with whom He will, flying with Him, according
to His will. Out of Him are willing. It's
a God-showed emotion. Just say that. Just declare God
to be God. You don't want it to happen. You don't want people there.
You know, I'm trying to keep it tight. And say it. We need
to learn to say these things so it's sound like that. I mean,
I'm talking to myself here. We need to learn to say these
things, not with a crown like you dumb arm men in you, not
like that, but say, hey, don't you believe me? Don't you believe
God? Well, you ain't got something
in you. They can hate you. Declare to
your sovereign, your God, who is sovereign with a smile on
your face? No, they got, they are taken, aren't they? Declare Christ to be who He is. Love Him and save Him, don't
you? He's the Savior. That's what He came to do. God
gave Him a job to do. But He did it. God gave him a
people in that glory, and God elected and chose the people.
He did not choose the Father. But bless God and His sovereign
mercy that He chose so many, lots of people. And gave them their son, and
now he can come down here and save them. Christ came down here,
and he's bloody a saint, because he's a saint. All power is given
unto him, nevertheless. And he shed his precious blood,
not one. precious blessed drop of that
blood was shed in vain, and it was anointed to every one of
God's people, and but it took away every one of their sin,
and they're saved for eternity." Isn't that wonderful? Don't you
believe that? He didn't die for everybody or everybody
else. Everybody's the same. Don't you see that? Because He's
powering His blood. Isn't that wonderful? That is Christ you believe in,
and what do you think they give you that? They're weak. Sad, sad, sad. The reason I'm
saying that is because I think maybe too often, and I know it
is in my case, that I make the gospel unlovely. It's my own bad attitude. I'm a rotten
nature coming out. I'm not adorning for God. Right? Well, you confess, you declare man
to be what he is, helpless, hopeless, damned, doomed to death, unless
God comes and saves him. Just like he did last year. Unless
God comes and calls him, he'll not be saved. Declare it, and
they'll hate you. They'll hate you. They'll separate
you. They might not be able to do
it actually, but you'll feel it. Have you felt it, that alienation? Everybody in here, if you're
a believer, have you felt it? Do you feel it when you get with
religious people? You just can't, you just can't,
you can't walk together unless there's a bigger attempt. You can't, you know, you try,
but you can't, and they don't want you. Once they find out. And he'll be reproached. Well,
look at what our Lord said to them. He said, leap. One time he gives us a license
and liberty to leap. Of all times, he says to Luke. Now, huh? Charismatic. Look at
it. Let's read it. I've already read
it, haven't I? He says, Rejoice in that day, verse twenty-three,
and leap for joy. Charismatics and all these people
get all excited over these religious pep rallies and all that, don't
they? And they have healings and all, they talk about the
Spirit and it's like a ball game, you know. They're doing the wave
and all that, and they're leaping up and down, and Christ said
to His people, now, here's the time to leave. Now, buddy, when people hate
you, And I'm not turning to it, but
there's an illustration, there's a story of that with the disciples.
When the disciples, Peter and some of them were standing before
the Pharisees, and the Pharisees kept threatening them and said,
if you preach in that name one more time. And they beat them. They beat them. Beat them up. And said, now don't you preach
in that name to me. And they said, hey, we've got to. We can't
help. Speak the things we've seen and
heard. And what they do, they left that place, since they'd
left, full of joy. First place they went was right
to the synagogue and started preaching again. Oh, my. I'd like to know a little
more about that. Right? Because of consolation,
Christ's presence, He's very close. He's very close in times
like that. He bears witness with his people
like he did. Remember, here's a good one. Stephen, they were throwing stones
at him. He wasn't making commercials. His face, his countenance was
like an angel. And he was looking toward heaven,
and I can guarantee he had a smile on his face. He said, I see the
Son of God standing at the right hand of the Father. And they passed his money down
to him. Well, here's the believer's reward, and he says, Your reward
is great in heaven. For in like manner did their
fathers unto the Father. What is the believer's reward? Well, listen to me now, listen
carefully, and I won't quit. What the kingdom is to someone proves whether they're a believer
or not. What the kingdom is to someone So they're looking for them.
What are they looking for? What's the kingdom to them that
they keep looking for proves whether they're a believer or
not. What heaven is to someone, their idea of heaven proves whether
or not they're a believer or not. Their idea. What the reward is. What the believer wants, the
reward, and it didn't say rewards, did it? The reward. What is it
that the believer desires? The reward. The re-reward. In other words,
they get it once and they get it twice. Not yet. Kingdom's not yet. Heaven's not
yet. Not a place. Not a place or a thing. What's
that leave? David said, Who have I in heaven
but Thee? And He said, There's none on
earth like Thee. You'll be worshipped. You'll
be worshipped. And listen to what I'm just saying.
Who the person finds their joy in man, or what? Who? Who will preach your preachers,
or what, proves whether or not he knows, right? What do people, what people get
excited over, proves whether or not, huh? Angels, signs, wonders,
or a person, huh? Those who get excited over a
person, they're going to see him, as he is. And he closes with these words,
he said, Woe unto you that are rich, for you have received your
consolation. Woe unto you that are full, for
you shall hunger. Woe unto you that laugh now,
for you shall mourn and weep. Woe unto you when all men speak
well of you, for so did their fathers to the false prophet.
And let me read this to you. I know he, because he speaks
later on. Revelation 3, same one, same
person who spoke then, fits in the end. He said, and I'm talking
about those who are necessarily rich for this world's goods,
although that does apply. Now, how hard it is for they
to have riches, and the kingdom of heaven. It's a lot of money.
But principally, he's speaking about this right here. He writes
this in Revelation 3. It says, Because you say, I am
rich and increased in goods and have needed nothing. That means
spiritually. I'm saved, sure for heaven and
earth. I'm fixed up. I have a profession
here to go. I know all that. I don't think
that God can say. And no, it's not. He said, you
don't know that you're wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. Now, bless God, do you know that
you're wretched? Do you know that you're wretched,
miserable, poor, blind, and naked? I said, I used to be. Now what? No, no, no. Blessed are the poor
now. Are you wretched? Miserable? Poor? Blind? You know, I got my eyes fixed.
Did you know something? When they first fixed them, they
were 20-20. And right now, they've digressed a little bit to 20-25. If he'd just fixed them in 2025,
after they were 2200, I'd have thought, well, I see perfectly. You understand what I'm saying?
If he'd have fixed it, but they were 2020, you know, I saw through
it and then I digressed. I'm blind. You understand? I'm 2025, but I'm blind. Because
I got to 2020. So I went through the day and
said, I want 2020 back. I want to see clearly. You understand what I'm saying?
If you fix them to where they are right now, I think, ah, I
see well. I see fine. I see great. Never saw this clearly
before. Seen men walk in the trees. But I'm glad. I want to see clearly. I don't see. I see. You see? But I don't see. You see? Huh? Oh, I'm rich. Christ's unsearchable riches
have been given, inherited, but I'm poor. I need it. Oh, I just get so full here when
the Lord speaks to me in this gospel, but I'm poor. And I have a covenant. That's
a paradox, isn't it? That only believers know. Only believers know something
like that. Blessed are you if you do. Woe is unto you. You will someday realize your
problems. Someday you'll realize how miserable, sinful, and so
forth. All right, stand with me. Our Heavenly Father, we ask you
to take your Word and use it as long as you can. Everyone
in here, believer or non-believer, use it, promise. Lord, forgive
us, every one of us. Forgive us for lack of hunger
and thirst. Forgive us for lack of weakness. We ask that You would instill these things of
grace in us. That You would show us our desperate
need of You daily. He calls us to hunger and thirst.
Show us our poverty taken care of. Show us His fullness. And He asks these things for
all who fear Him. He asks once again that you will
use it on every person in this world. It's not difficult, it
is good. Our great sovereign God. He asks
these things in Christ's name. Amen. Oh, wow.