Okay. We were ruined by the fall,
Adam's sin defies us all. By our deeds and by our birth,
we deserve the law's great curse. Helpless, hopeless sinners we,
never can our souls retrieve. But the blessed Son of God Came
as man in flesh and blood He fulfilled the law's demands And
in death stretched out His hands On the cross of Calvary Christ
redeemed and set us free In the time which God had set, the Spirit
came for His elect to regenerate and call from the ruin of the
fall. By His power and by His grace,
we were born for God's own praise. Now your purpose we fulfill,
Saved according to your will. Sing this song of joyful praise,
For the glory of your grace. Blessed, holy, trium God, Hear
our praise through Christ our Lord. This congregation is extremely
blessed with gifted people. I've traveled, as you know, about
the country for a lot of years. I've been in quite a number of
churches. And I'll tell you, there are
very few that have the talent and the gifts and the ability
and the strength of your congregation. Not very many. And it's such a blessing to have
men and women and young people who take a bold stand for the gospel
and have the ability to confess it and put it in words and lead
in prayer and read the scripture and sing and pray and do all
of these other things that you have, God has certainly blessed
you. And I know you know that, and
I know that give him all the glory and the praise for what
he has done for you here. Let's open our Bibles to the
book of Luke. You know, I told you this morning
that I'd be preaching from Luke chapter 7, and I announced that
I'd begin, I think, with verse 19 or 25, but I really want to
go back just a wee bit farther than that. It's like when you
start reading in the Psalms. One of those long ones is, Terry,
there's no place to quit, is there? You've just got to keep
going. And when you read God's Word, there's no place to quit. You've got to keep reaching back
or reaching forward for more. But here in Luke 7, now, the
title of this message, Brother Terry, is The Grace of
God Illustrated. Our Lord sets forth the grace
of God, and then he illustrates it. And this is—this will be
a blessing to you, I believe, if you—if the Lord's pleased
to give me some liberty to preach it. Luke 7, beginning with verse
11, And it came to pass the day after that he—this is the Lord
Jesus Christ—went into a city called Nathan. And many of his
disciples went with him, and much people. Now when he came
nigh unto the gate of the city, behold, there was a dead man
carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow."
Here was a woman whose husband was dead. She had only one son,
and this boy had died. And much people of the city was
with her. And when the Lord, the Lord Jesus
Christ, saw her, he had compassion on her. And he said unto her,
Weep not. And he came and touched the beard,
the coffin. And they that bear him carried
the coffin, stood still. And he said, Young man, I say
unto thee, Arise. And he that was dead sat up.
and began to speak. And the Lord Jesus delivered
him to his mother. Now I want you to notice carefully
this next verse, because it's going to have a great bearing
on this message later on as I read the Scripture. Notice carefully
now what it's saying. And there came a fear on all,
and they glorified God, saying that a great prophet is risen
up among us, and that God hath visited his people." Now, you
know, back in Deuteronomy, Moses told the people, the Lord told
Moses and he told the people, God spake to our fathers with
the prophets. In Deuteronomy, Moses told the
people that God would raise up a prophet, like unto me, from
the midst of the brethren. and him you shall hear. And whosoever
will hearken unto him will be blessed, and those who refuse
him will be judged." And when John the Baptist came along,
that's what they asked him. Are you that prophet? That prophet
of whom Moses spake? No, I'm not that prophet. And
here the Lord Jesus performed this great miracle, and the people
said, A great prophet has risen among us, from among the brethren,
and that God has visited his people, the fulfillment of Moses'
word, this prophet has risen up." Well, they were telling
the truth, but they didn't realize it. But anyway, this rumor started
all over that. And this, verse 17, and this
rumor of him, that he's the prophet, that God has visited his people,
went forward throughout all Judea. and throughout all the regions
round about, and everybody heard it, particularly these Pharisees.
The Jewish rulers, the Sanhedrin, and all these fellow scribes
and lawyers and Pharisees, they heard it. And the disciples of
John—now John the Baptist was in prison. You remember he was
in prison at this time. And the disciples of John showed
him of all these things. They went to John and told him
about what Jesus had done and the rumor concerning him, that
prophet. Now, what's this? And John calling
unto him in prison in those days, you could visit. You could visit
those who were in prison many times. Let me show you something
in the last chapter of the book of Acts. I believe that I can
find this, the last chapter in the book of Acts, verse 30 and
31. Now, Paul was in prison. In Acts
chapter 31, or Acts, the last chapter of Acts, whatever that
is, chapter 28, verse 30. And Paul dwelt two whole years
in his own hired house. He was in prison, he was a prisoner.
And received all that came to him, preaching the kingdom of
God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus
Christ with all confidence, no man forbidden him. He was in
prison. And yet he had his own house
there, and they came to him, his own in confinement. And John the Baptist was in prison,
and these disciples came to him and told him what was going on,
the rumor and so forth concerning the Lord Jesus. Now watch verse
19 of Luke 7. And the disciples of John showed
him all these things. And John, calling unto him two
of his disciples, sent them to Jesus, saying, Art thou he that
should come, or look we for another? Now, if you're not careful, all
of us in reading the Word. We'll put the wrong, the wrong
meaning here. John never doubted Christ. I'm sure of that. You see, John
the Baptist was filled with the Holy Ghost from his mother's
womb. And John the Baptist preached the kingdom of God. John the
Baptist was a prophet sent of God. And John the Baptist had
a revelation of who Christ is. You remember when he baptized
the Lord Jesus, and the dove came down, and the voice from
heaven said, This is my beloved Son. And John said, I bear record
that this is the Son of God. And he said to his disciples
one day in John 1 verse 29, Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away
the sin of the world. And what John is doing is asking
this question for the benefit of those men and also for a revelation
from the lips of Christ. You see, you go through the Bible
and you have questions. Our Lord—and these questions
are not for information all the time. Our Lord said to Cain,
where's your brother? Well, he didn't know where his
brother was. He wanted to hear it from Cain's mouth. When Adam
sinned and hid, he said, Adam, where art thou? Is God asking
Adam where he is? Let's hear it from you, Adam.
When the rich young ruler came to Christ and said, What good
thing shall I do to inherit the eternal life? One of the rich
men, the Lord said, What saith the law? What does the law say? Let's hear it from you, you see.
Let's hear what the law says from you. And so here John is
sending these men to Christ for the purpose of hearing from Christ
what he has to say to this question. Are you he that should come?
Define it clearly, declare it clearly. Are you he that should
come, or do we look for another? All right. So verse 20, when
the men were come to him, they said, John the Baptist has sent
us unto thee, saying," not asking, saying, "'Art thou he that should
come, or look we for another?' And in that same hour the Lord
Jesus cured many of their infirmities," you remember I said this this
morning, about him when he healed the blind and the deaf, and the
lame and raised the dead. It was pictures of redemption,
pictures and types of salvation. So in that very hour he cured
many of their infirmities and plagues and of evil spirits,
and unto many that were blind he gave sight. There's no more
beautiful picture of redemption in the Bible than giving a blind
man sight. Blessed are your eyes, they see.
God has given us sight. We see the sun. He that seeth
the sun believeth on him that's light. All right, read on. Then
Jesus answering said to them, You go your way, and tell John,
and tell everybody else, and tell the whole world what things
you've seen and heard, how the blind see, the lame walk, the
lepers acclaims, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to the poor,
the gospel is preached. You see, every one of those things
is an affliction, is an infirmity, is a handicap, is a needy person. Listen. The blind, the lame,
the lepers, the dead, the dead, the poor, all needy creatures. helpless, needy creatures. Now remember that. And while
you're doing it, turn to Isaiah 35. Now this is the Old Testament,
and the Lord Jesus Christ is the Messiah, prophesied, pictured,
promised in the Old Testament Scripture. And He came and He
died for our sins according to the Old Testament Scriptures.
He rose again according to the Scriptures. Now here's the Messiah,
Isaiah 35, verse 3. Strengthen ye the weak hands,
confirm the feeble knees, say to them that are of a fearful
heart, Be strong, fear not, behold your Lord, your God will come.
with vengeance, even God with a recompense, he will come and
say to you, Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened. When
he comes, when the Messiah comes to the temple, the eyes of the
blind will be opened, the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.
Then shall the lame leap as a hyatt, and the tongue of the dumb shall
sing, And in the wilderness shall waters break out with streams
in the desert. Dry, parched ground shall become
a pool, thirsty land springs of water, habitation of dragons. That's what we talked about this
morning, evil spirits and demons. Where each lane shall be grass
with reeds and rushes, and a highway shall be there, and a way, and
it shall be called the way of holiness. Oh boy. See, that's what he told these
disciples. Go tell John. The blind see,
the lame walk, the dead are raised, the deaf hear, the dumb sing,
and the poor become rich. All needy now. Now remember that. It's important here. All right,
next verse. And blessed. This is our Lord
speaking. He continues. And blessed is that person, whosoever
shall not be offended in me, in the Savior of sinners." Now
let me tell you something. Blessed is that man and that
woman who's not offended by this gospel of grace to sinners. That's what he's saying. Every
one of these people that he ministered to, none of them could help themselves. Poor, miserable, blind, crippled,
and dead. And he came in his power and
grace and love and blood and righteousness, and lifted the
beggar from the dumb hill, and the poor man from the slums,
and the blind man from his darkness, and the captive from his captivity. And blessed, happy is that person
who knows where he is, and who bested him in his shame, and
sin, and inability, and is not offended. See, he offended these
religious fellows. The old Pharisee said, I'm not
like other men. It's offense. He said, they said,
we be not sinners. Oh, the offense of the cross.
You know, turn to Galatians, just a moment, chapter 4, verse
11. This is what Paul said. In Galatians
4, 11, he called the gospel of grace the offense of the cross.
The offense. Look at Galatians 4, 11, and that's not it. It's Galatians
4, 511. 511. All right. And our brethren, if I yet preach
circumcision, decisionism, baptism, legalism, circumcision, why do
I suffer persecution? If I preach those things, the
appearance of the cross is ceased. You see, I preach the cross that
saves. You see, the gospel that addresses
all people as helpless, hopeless sinners is offensive. It offends
man's dignity. And that gospel that addresses
everybody as blind and dumb and deaf offends man's wisdom. He thinks he sees, he thinks
he hears, he thinks he knows. And that gospel that addresses
us as helpless sinners, for whom the blood of Christ is the sole
and only redemptive measure, offends man's pride. He wants
to have a part in it. That's right. Just a little part.
I know Jesus did a part. Now a part, you know, sin left
for criminals to stain, and me and Jesus washed it white as
snow. But I had a part. No, not a part. And that's offensive. And that
lordship of Christ, he saves whom he will, offends their love
of self. I deserve it. It's offensive.
And here he says, oh, let me tell you something, happy, blessed
is that man, highly favored, twice blessed, that's not offended
in me, the Savior of sinners. All right, so read on. And when
the messengers of John were departed, He began to speak to the people
concerning John the Baptist. What went he out in the wilderness
to see? You know, he asked that question
three times. Here in verse 24, what went she out in the wilderness
to see? Verse 25, what went she out to
see? Verse 26, what went she out to
see? Oh, this is interesting. I want
you to listen to this now. This is what our Lord had to
say about his preacher. John, in particular, about his
servant. He asked those people. He said,
now, you went to hear John. They did. They went out in the
wilderness to hear John. He said, what did you go out
to see? Now, let's look at verse 24. Did you go out to see a reed
shaken with the wind? What is a reed? It's a hollow
piece of grass, and it's weak, and it stands But when the wind
blows, it goes that way. And the wind blows this way,
it goes that way. And the wind blows this way, it goes that
way. And that's not God's servant. He doesn't lean the way people
want him to lean, you see. He doesn't lean. He's a tree
planted by the rivers of water. Every tree that my father didn't
plant will be plucked up by the roots. He's a tree that stands
sturdy. He cannot compromise the gospel
no matter who it offends. Secondly, when did you go out
to sea? Verse 25, a man clothed in soft raiment. A lady said
to me one time, I don't know where I was, but she said, you
don't look like a preacher. I said, what's a preacher supposed
to look like? That's a good question, isn't
it? But he said, did you go out to sea a fellow in soft clothes
and fine raiment? gorgeously apparel, living delicately,
living above the people, wealthy, preying upon people. You know
what you would say? Folks like that are in king's
courts, not in the service of God. God's mean of plain people,
plain spoken, plain living, plain people with a plain message. All right, he asked him again,
what went you out to see, a prophet? What's a prophet? A preacher.
Did you go to hear a preacher? Woods are full of them. This
town's full of preachers. We got a steel mill in Ashland,
Kentucky, and there's about 150 or 200 working the steel mill. Preachers, there are preachers
everywhere. Get the Yellow Pages and look how many preachers there
are. Almost as many preachers there are lawyers and doctors. Woods are full of them. Did you
just go out to hear a preacher? Listen, I'll tell you more than
just a preacher. Remember what he said, verse
20? More than just a preacher. John the Baptist was not just
a preacher, and God's preacher is not just a preacher. Look
at verse 27. I'll tell you who he is. This
is he of whom it's written, Behold, I sent him. He's my preacher. I sent Him. If Mama didn't send
Him, the church didn't send Him, He didn't volunteer to go, I
sent Him. That's the first thing. I sent
Him. Listen. I sent Him before my face to
bear my message. I sent Him to prepare thy way
before thee. That's what God said of John
the Baptist and Christ. I sent Him to prepare the way
for you. I tell you, go through this Word.
Almost every time a man or woman is converted, he's heard the
message from one of God's preachers. Isn't that right? God sent Peter
to Cornelius. God sent Philip to the Union.
God sent Paul to the Philippian jailer. God sent Paul to Lydia. Just go through the Word, and
God sent Ananias to Paul. But they come bearing the message.
How shall they call on Him in whom they've not believed? How
shall they believe in Him in whom they've not heard? How shall
they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach? What? Except they be sinned. There's
the difference. What did you go out to see? A
fellow that just leans with whatever direction people want him to
go. What did you go out to see? A man fancy and gorgeously appareled
and delicately livid. What did you go out to see? A
preacher? I'll tell you this, he's more than just a preacher.
He's my preacher. And I send him with my message
to bear witness to me. That's God's preacher. All right. And I'm sending you. Look, our
Lord's still speaking, verse 28. Among those that are born
of women, there's not a greater preacher than John the Baptist."
That's a high compliment from our Master Edmund. But, here's an important word. Our Lord says, but. He's great,
He's God's servant, God sent Him, but. He's not Mr. Big in the kingdom of God. He's
not more loved or more important or more belonging or more part
of the kingdom than the smallest woman. I say unto you, but he
that's least in the kingdom of God is greater than thee. That's
right. You know, when folks come to
you preaching this rewards business, just Just don't pay attention. Don't argue with them. Just ignore
them. Ignore them. Nowhere in this book is the word
rewards, plural, used in reference to God's children. There's a
word singular, reward, and you know who that is? I am thy exceeding
great reward. That's right. And there's not
a person in the kingdom of God, be it John the Baptist or Job
or Moses or Paul or anybody else, that's more loved and more precious
to God and more blessed than the weakest believer in his kingdom. That's exactly right. And that's
what the Scripture teaches. And I tell you, a person who
knows something about grace knows that, because everything he is,
has, knows, or will be is by the grace of God. God gave it
to him. And when I say, you fellas sing,
that's talent. Everybody can't do that, but
God gave you the talent. You're playing the piano and
singing. God gave you that talent. If you read and pray and preside
your work, God gave it to you. If you can give an offering to
help the kingdom of God, He made you, He prospered you so you
could. So we don't Nothing originates
with us but sin. The only thing original about
me is sin, original sin. That started here. God didn't
give that. That came right here. That was
born in us. And that's the only thing original about us is our
sin. Everything else we got. A man can receive nothing except
it be given him from above. So why do we boast? Why, you
know, the thing that is absolutely incompatible with grace is permanent. It is incompatible with grace. It cannot abide where grace abides. Can't do it. You cannot be high
and mighty and lifted up and proud and have the grace of God
in our hearts. You cannot do it. Cannot. Well, let's move on. I say in
the end, and then he said, In verse 29, all the people that
heard him, heard who? Heard John. He's talking about
John. And all the people who heard John, that heard him, a
lot of people listened to him, some people heard him. You know,
I had the old Milson, I think I told you, we were up somewhere
preaching, and I was preaching, he was translating, and he preached,
and some fella came to him after the service and said to him in
Spanish something, and when he got through, I asked Milton,
I said, what did that fella say? Milton said, he said, I've heard
you fellas many times. Tonight, I heard you. And some
people heard John. They really heard him. And listen,
what happened. Those that heard him justified
God. Now how do you justify God? The word justified is vindicated. Vindicated. The people that heard
him, they said, God was right. God is right. We are sinners.
God is right. We ought to die. God is true. You remember David? Let me show
you over in Psalm 51. David justified God. Psalm 51. Turn over there a minute. In
this great prayer of repentance, Listen to what David said in
verse 3, Psalm 51. You need to see this. These people
justified God. Listen. Psalm 51, 3, I acknowledge
my transgressions, my sin as ever before me. Against thee
and thee only have I sinned. I've done this evil in your sight,
that you might be justified when you speak and clear when you
judge. See what I'm saying? And these
publicans and sinners came to John and said, baptize us. He was preaching the baptism
of repentance. They said, baptize us. We're
dead. We ought to die. We ought to
be buried out of sight to enable us to rise by his power to new
life. We're dead. We're nothing. Let's
be buried. Let's put us out of sight and
God will give us new life. That's what baptism was saying,
isn't it? Bearing with Him in baptism, writhing with Him in
newness of life. And that's what they said. Everyone
that came to John came to the baptism of repentance. And they
said, God, His law, His charge against us, His righteousness,
His judgment, if He sends us all to hell, He's a just God. But, now listen, Listen. But the Pharisees and the loggers
rejected John's message. Yeah, but that's not what they
rejected. They rejected what John said about them. They rejected
the counsel of God against them. That's what this world rejects.
That's what we were talking about, I believe, this morning. John,
people say, how does Ken understand the Bible? Oh, yes, they do.
They understand it. It ain't that hard to understand.
What they don't like is what they're reading. They don't—it's
not that they don't understand it, they don't believe it. When
God said, all is sin and come short of the glory of God, that's
not hard to understand, is it? All we like's sheep have gone
astray, we've turned everyone to his own way, that's not hard
to understand, is it? There's not a just man on the
earth that doeth good and sinneth not. Is that hard to understand?
In the flesh no man can please God. Is that hard to understand?
He was wounded by our transgressions. He was bruised by our iniquities.
The chastisement of our peace was upon Him. By His stripes
we're healed. He died the just for the unjust
to bring us to God. Is that hard to understand? No! They understand it. They don't
like it. They don't believe it. And these
Pharisees, they rejected it. God chose a people in Christ
before the foundation of the world. That's not hard to understand.