study on this text, 1 Peter chapter
2. We didn't get to deal with the text very much. We didn't get to it hardly, but
that's just as well. Rock Barnard used to say, I have some notes
here. He said, I hope I don't have to use them. That's the
way you want it to be in preaching. You want the Spirit of God to
come upon you and fill your heart and your mind. It doesn't always
work that way. Quite often he leaves the preacher
dead and dry, but yet the wind blows where it listed, and quite
often he speaks to the people anyway. And that's just as well. no room for boasting that way. As the article in the bulletin
this morning stated, and the article written by me
on church attendance, people that attend church services like
this one, this is no different. I am confident, though, as I
look out over faces I am confident of there being many true believers
in here. I know you, at least I've been
around you enough to see some evidences of that. But it's stated
in the article this morning that many people do attend services
like this who are only being religious. why they come out of a sense
of, or out of a religious attitude or affectation, affecting
some sense of spirituality. They're different hearers. They're
always in a crowd such as this, Sunday morning especially, and
all places, everywhere, without exception. They're always different
hearers. different types of people who
come for different reasons. And there are the religious like
I said there are people who come. Because they're religious because
it's Sunday morning and that's what they do and they come and
I talked about this Wednesday night. The religion is gain to
them they. Seek to. They seek some sort of gain out
of being religious or being a good Christian, you know, that wins
friends and influences people. And quite often they will land
a fellow a job or land him a girlfriend or whatever or a husband or a
wife. Now, when people come to please
a spouse, people come to please a husband or wife, or please
their parent. You know, people do that quite
often. And then there are people who
come to services like this who are just merely curious. They're
curious. They're religious, but curious.
They come here. Quite often we get visitors here
who never return again, just curious. And I know, though,
that God brought them on a purpose. Curious, but indifferent. There
are people who come out of their indifference. What we do here is so very important. It's vital. God's Word, He said
it will not return void. Whenever the Word of God is preached
or declared or read, it always accomplishes something. And he said it will either bring
a savor of life, or that is it will create spiritual life or
a savor of death, or it will just harden the heart and people
will go away, rather than influenced by it, rather than believe in
it, people will go away condemned by it. And they will be answerable
to what they heard or what they did not hear, what they did not
believe and did not respond to. It makes this serious, doesn't
it? This time. It makes it a time
when we ought to give diligence and ought to, as our Lord said,
watch with him for one hour, because this is not idle time
spent here. But then they're believers. I
think there are many here this morning, believers, they believe
God's word, they love it, they love God's gospel, they believe,
they worship, they come to worship, come here for that reason, for
that purpose, to worship, because they have seen something, something
of God, of Jesus Christ, and that's why we're here. That's
why they're here. Jesus Christ is the reason why
they're here. God is the reason why they're
here. God is the reason why they're
here as I said in that article. Many people like to come and
they have to be in order to be in order to get them to come.
They have to be entertained by various sorts of religious entertainment
such as lots of singing and. And maybe a little clown show
for the kids and puppet show and. Bride or whatever with rewards
and. and have to have fancy surroundings
so people won't fall asleep. And as that old saying says,
it's scarcely possible to get a great crowd if the only attraction
is God. And what we do here, what we
endeavor to do here anyway, is just open God's Word up and study
it. We don't have all the trappings
of religion going on today. for the choir and so forth. As
you can see, there used to be one, but these people have been
instructed. They've come to a knowledge that
what this thing of worship is all about is not being seen.
Do you ever think about that, Stan?
The choir is being seen. as much as heard. As weak as that desire may be,
Lord, I want to worship. And that's why we're here. That's
why you're here, to hear from him, to study, to worship. And
the study of Christ, the worship of Christ, is not something you
do out of habit, you do out of a sense of duty, or do for gain, something that
you can get out of it to please somebody, not even God. Many people come thinking that
God's going to be pleased with their attendance. But if their
heart's not there, God is highly displeased. As a matter of fact,
he says it's an abomination if their heart's not there. And
I quoted that in that article, and we read it. We've read it
before. God says this people draws near
to me with their lips, singing the songs and their presence. Going through the motions and
the act of religion and God said their hearts far from me to think
about something else and he said. God says utterly abominable to
him. Our hearts aren't in it, but
the true believer. His heart's in this thing and
he's not come out of a sense of duty or trying to gain anything
he's come. Because he feels like it's privileged
to high honor. It's a precious thing to do.
It's life. The worship of God becomes its life. That's the reason, like, prayer
is called the believer's breath. A newborn baby, the first sign
of life is breath and crying. And a believer prays. He doesn't go through the motions
Going through the motions doesn't, it's not prayer necessarily.
Prayer, scripture says, pray without ceasing. Continue to
pray, pray without ceasing. Living a, that's living in a,
in a, living a, in a spirit and attitude of worship to God and
calling on God in everything. Oh Lord, oh Lord. The heart goes
up all the time, like breath. You don't stop and think about
breath, do you? You don't stop and say, I'm going to breathe
now. It's not a mechanical thing. It's a natural thing. So is prayer. And this thing of worship is
a way of life. It's not something you do because
it's Sunday morning. Well, here in the text here,
it says in 1 Peter 2, look at the text. 1 Peter 2, verse 7,
it says, unto you therefore which believe. He is precious, and
you therefore which believe. He is precious. What? It says
those that believe, and I've been talking about those people
this morning, and some of you, which believe. Believers. I call
them believers. And what is it about this, what
we're doing here, that draws you? What is it? Why are you
here? What is it that is, what's this
all about? To the believer, Jesus Christ
is precious. And they hear, this fellow's
going to talk a lot about him. And they're going to go where
the fellow's talking the most about him. Because Jesus Christ
is precious to them. And you, therefore, which believe.
What is, who are these believers? What do they believe? Look back
at chapter one, and this will tell you who these believers
are, who he's talking about. It's those who believe, look
at verse two, it says they're elect according to the foreknowledge
of God the Father, through setting apart of the Holy Spirit unto
obedience, that is, obedience to the faith. Obedient to God's
Word, obedient to the call, and that's all by His grace and by
His Spirit. Sprinkling of the blood, they've
had the blood applied, they have grace and peace under them. Now
that's why they're believers, because God chose them, God called
them, and they've been separated by the Holy Spirit of God, chosen
by the Spirit of God, and the gospel has come under them. And
they've been given faith and the blood of Christ applied to
them and the grace of God. That's why they believe. And
that's also what they believe. Right? You believe. Roberta,
you believe. What do you believe? You believe
God's the God who elects. Right? You believe God's God.
You believe God is God. And he's the God who chooses
who elects who passes by other he's the God of the Bible this
is the God you believe in you believe the Holy Spirit must
set apart you believe the Holy Spirit set you apart or you wouldn't
be here this month you wouldn't believe that. And that's what
you know and that's what you've experienced you believe it's
the blood of Christ. is a reason for this grace and
peace is brought on you. Right? It's the blood of Christ.
It's the selection of God. It's the setting apart of the
Holy Spirit. It's the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Why? The
grace of God and the peace of God is upon you. You see that? That's what and that's why. Right
there. In verse five it says they are
kept, these believers are kept by the power of God. That's how,
that's why they're believers. The power of God came upon them.
The gospel. That's what Peter said there
in verse twenty-five. This is the word, the gospel.
The power of God, that's how they're saved and that's how
they're kept. And that's what they believe
too. That's the what and the why of
it. That's what they believe. They believe in a God who must
keep them or they'll fall. They believe that their salvation
is of the Lord. And even this faith is not of
themselves, it's the gift of God. And read on down, it says
in verse eight, these believers are those who love a person they
haven't seen, whom having not seen you love. Who is a believer? One that believes Jesus came
and died and rose again? No, not necessarily. Not necessarily. Everybody believes that, everybody
believes that. didn't make them believers, didn't
bring salvation. Verse 8 says that they love this
person, whom having not seen, they love, in whom though now
you see him not yet believing. What is a believer? What does
a believer believe? It's not what, it's who. See,
all of our doctrine is based on a person, not vice versa.
Right? We don't base Salvation on doctrine. We base everything on this person. You get the right God and the
right Christ if you have the right doctrine. He's the God
of the Bible. He must elect. He's the Christ
of the Scripture. His blood must say. It must. And they rejoice with joy and
speak one full of glory in Him. In Him. Verse 18. Look at this.
You know you were not redeemed with corruptible things. What's
a believer? What is a believer? A believer
is one that knows he's not redeemed, he's not saved, he doesn't merit God's approval or God's
favor. He's not going to get to heaven
by corruptible things. That is what he's done, what
she's done, what she's wearing, what she doesn't wear, what he
or she drinks or doesn't drink. or where they go or don't go,
they know those corruptible things, aren't they? They know that we're
not redeemed by corruptible things, such as our vain conversation
or life, which our daddy's daddy and daddy's daddy told us, if
you do these, you'll be saved. No. This is what a believer trusts
and believes. Verse 19, precious blood of Christ. They know and believe that all
of their salvation All of their acceptance with God, all of their
salvation is dependent upon that blood shed for the remission
of their sin. That blood covering their black record. That blood. And verse 21 says,
now that's pretty much the who and the what. And verse 21, this
is why. It says, "...who by him do believe
in God." Why does anybody believe? Why does anybody believe? It's
because God chose them to believe, doesn't it? God chose them to
believe. That's what Ephesians 2 says,
By grace you are saved through faith, and that's not of yourself.
It's the gift of God. It's not of works, lest any man
should boast. It's the gift of God. And every believer hears the
word through the Holy Spirit preaching the gospel like I'm
doing this morning, every single one. And God reveals himself
to them and his son to them. And they see his person and they
become enamored with him and amazed by him and see his glory. And they come to him by faith
and they bow down and they worship him. And that's what they do
from there on out. From there on out, that's why
they come. See, it wasn't the choir that
got them in the notion of feeling good and the preachers' powers
of persuasion and all of this and that that made them make
their decision. That wasn't it at all. It's the
gospel came in power of them declaring who God is who Christ
is and what they are before this God and their desperate need
of Christ, and drawing them and bringing them, and they come
by faith in Christ. And that's what draws them from
that day forward. Under you which believe, he is
precious. Who he is is still the joy and
rejoicing of your heart and what you long to hear. Isn't it, believer? Who He is and what He did, you
never grow tired of it. Like we read in Isaiah 28, line
upon line, precept upon precept, line upon line, precept upon
precept, to the believer, that's fine. The same things are not
grievous. They don't get tired of hearing
about their Lord. Why? Because He's precious to
them. And they keep coming for that reason. That reason. No other. That's it. He is precious. You're not merely religious,
but Jesus Christ is precious to you. All right? I want to
take this word precious, and I'm going to break it down a
few times. It's the original Greek word
there that's used has various other references to it. All right,
the word precious. If you're taking notes, this
will be worth jotting down. These meanings of this word precious
are very good. Excellent. And see if you don't
find this to be your very feelings of who and what Jesus Christ
is to you. All right, believer? This won't
mean a thing to anybody. Won't mean a thing. Now, do you
therefore which believe he is precious? And the word precious,
first of all, means rare. Precious. When something is rare,
it becomes a precious commodity, doesn't it? In a desert place. In a dry place, in a time of
drought, back when we were going through a long period of drought
when there was no rain, what was precious to us then? What
was rare? What was so vital at that time
when there was rain? Right? Rain. Water. In a desert place, water is precious
indeed. It's rare. And I tell you, this
land of religion is a desert place. I wish, I really sometimes wish
that, this is going to sound strange,
but I wish sometimes that you would go somewhere else and just
sit for a while, and you'd come running back here just as fast
as you could, thirsty, dying of thirst. Those of you who've
been in on little things like funerals and And not little,
little necessarily, but you've been in on services like funerals
and weddings or whatever. You've gotten a little taste
of those dry husks and they've left you thirsty. Not much water
being served up throughout the land today. It's a desert land
of religion, real, real preaching. What I just said in In about
fifteen minutes. It's not going to be said. In most pope is ever. The content. The truth. The meat of what's
been said thus far in just the introduction. Of this message. Is not to be found ever in most
most places. It's a dry land. That thorough,
listen to me, thorough biblical exposition like we did this morning
through Genesis, the study and declaration and presentation
of a glorious person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ is a
rare thing. It's a rare thing. You're going
to hear Jesus mentioned every now and then, but the glorious
person, personality and character and the works, who he is and
what he has done It's a rare thing to be heard in our day.
You're not going to find it. You're not going to find it.
It's such a shame we grow too accustomed to it, isn't it? It's
a rare thing. Those that come in, who found
believers that come to hear, you know,
these things are all new and precious and sweet to them at
first. Why? Because they didn't hear
it before, and now they hear it, and it's a rare thing, and
they're thoroughly enjoying it. They've been thirsty for so long.
And then, in a famine, turn over with me to the book of Amos.
A little book of Amos. I'll give you time to find it.
Daniel, Hosea, Amos. Daniel, Hosea, Amos is where you'll find it.
Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Amos. Look at the book of Amos chapter
eight. Amos chapter eight. If we lived
in one of these African countries where the drought went on for
a long time, not only would there be a lack of water, which would
be a very precious commodity, a very rare thing, but there's
a lack of bread. There's no food. Those are the
two things staying necessary for life. food and water, food
and water. And here in the book of Amos,
it says here in verse 11, that day is come, saith the Lord,
that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread,
nor a thirst for water, but of the hearing of the words of the
Lord. That's now. It's another reason
why I believe this is the last day. These are the last days.
The days come. It's here. There is a famine
now of this worm. A famine. A clear, as I said, a
clear, consistent exposition of Scripture is a rare thing
in our day. A rare thing. Here in this place,
bread is bountifully served. As I said so many times I insist
on bread being served with every meal I just have to have it.
Well are you going to feast. Is there going to be a feast
before God is it going to be a worship service without this. Are you going to eat without
bread. Man does not live by bread alone, outward bread, physical
bread, but he sure lives by this bread, and he's got to have it
at every meal, or else he hasn't eaten bread. And here the bread of God is
bountifully served up with every meal, along with other things. I said meat, milk, wine, honey,
all pictures of the word of God. It's a precious thing. Christ
is that word, isn't it? Christ is the scripture. Christ is. It all speaks of him.
You feed on him. And to you, therefore, which
believe. And in our day of famine, Christ,
the preaching of Christ, continual serving up of a meal of the Lord
Jesus Christ, is a rare thing. It's a rare thing. And as I said
before, I take my wife's homemade bread for granted. Why? I get
it all the time. People come in, they eat that
and say, wow, ooh, wow. And I eat it and say, that's
good, honey. I take it for granted, don't
I, Henry? And we do the same thing in the gospel of God. There's a famine of the hearing
of God's Word. In a time of prosperity, I want
you to look at this, Luke 17, Luke chapter 17. You don't have to go through
a drought or a famine necessarily for these things to be precious. You can go through a time of
prosperity, and the Word of God, the preaching of Christ, the
worship of Christ be a rare thing. Prosperity will do it every time.
It's doing it now. That's another reason I believe
we're in the last day. Luke 17, time of prosperity. Worshippers are rare, and the
preaching of Christ is rare. Why? Ain't no sinners. Ain't
no sinners out there. Everybody's rich and increased
with goods and have need of nothing. They sure don't need us. Well,
look at Luke 17, verse 12. It says, He entered into a certain
village, and there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood
afar off. They lifted up their voices and
said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. And when he saw them,
he said unto them, Go show yourselves unto the priests. And it came
to pass that as they went they were cleansed. And one of them,
when he saw that he was healed, turned back." What did he do
when he was blessed and healed? He turned back with a loud voice,
glorified God. He fell down on his face. Where
did he glorify God at? Where did he worship? At Christ's
feet. You see that? Giving him thanks,
glorifying God through Christ, falling out of his face at his
feet, giving him thanks, and he was a Samaritan. He's just
an old sinner. And Jesus answers, he says, where
are the nine? Where are the nine? They are
not found that return to give glory to God save this stranger. And he said unto him, Go thy
way. You're really whole now. And God is blessing this nation
truly with prosperity, and people are being blessed, being blessed. Where are the men who come merely
out of a heart of thanksgiving and prayer to worship And he
is rare. Christ is rare. The worship of
him is rare, and Christ is rare. Something rare is something that's
one-of-a-kind, isn't it? Huh? Something one-of-a-kind.
Christ is the only begotten, well-beloved Son of God. The
man without spot and blemish has never been such a one, such
a thing, such a holy thing as this. Christ is the only man
without spot or blemish. He's the only Savior. A rare
thing, Christ, the Scripture says, I am the way, the truth,
and the life. No man comes unto the Father
but by me. That makes him rare, doesn't
it? Only one. One Savior. A precious commodity. A precious commodity. He is precious.
Secondly, do you therefore which believe he is precious? The word
precious means honorable. Honorable. Turn over to Ephesians
1, Ephesians chapter 1, with me. The word precious means an
honor, a high honor. The knowledge of the Lord Jesus
Christ and faith in him is a high honor bestowed upon a chosen
few. A high honor bestowed upon a
chosen few. Ephesians 1, look at verse 8.
He says, wherein God hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence. Didn't have to, but he did. Why? Because he chose to. He pleased
him to do so toward us in all, yes, us, this little group here,
in all wisdom and prudence, having made known unto us the mystery
of his will. Opened up his mind and his will
and his eternal purpose, the purpose in Christ before the
world began, to let the likes of us know about it, and sent
his angel down here to tell it to us." Who's us? Us! Nothing's
a nobody. According to his good pleasure,
just because he was pleased to do so, which he purposed in himself. Verse 10, here it is. In other words, a high honor
has been bestowed upon some wiggling maggots by the God... The God of the universe stopped
what He was doing to declare the gospel to the likes of us.
Like the Lord of Glory, when He was passing through and some
woman Some insignificant woman reached up and touched his garment.
Now, the Lord of Glory, in whom, by whom, through whom,
to whom, are all things who the purpose of God depended upon,
around whom time itself revolves, Every jot and tittle of God's
holy law had to be fulfilled. Every step he took had to be
in the direction of fulfilling God's purpose. He had some things
to do. Didn't he? He had a work to do. He had some things to do. He
was on his way to a particular place to do a particular thing.
He's busy. In other words, he's a busy man. The purpose of God he was walking
through and some little insignificant. So to speak, woman touched his
garish style. And maybe the disciples said,
come on, come on, come on, we got to go. He stopped, said somebody
touched me. And he stopped what he did and
he dealt with that woman. Another time he was headed someplace
and some little old blind fellow. Wrapped in rags over the side
of the road. Called him. What does he need with that fella?
An old dirty blind man. What does he need with him sitting
in a rag over the side of the road? What does he need with
him? He has places to go and things to do. And people to see. That's one of them. He stopped
just because somebody called me. Somebody called me and the
Lord of Glory did the same thing for a few of us Bartimaeuses.
Some of us. God chose some people to be his
children. That in itself is the highest
honor that could be bestowed upon a man. Not to be President
of the United States. There was a missionary in some
foreign country years ago and he had a son. His son grew up
came of years up in his thirties. His father was a missionary and
the son also felt the call to be a missionary and he labored
on the field for a little while. And after a while the United
States, the President of the United States called that young
man to and appointed him to the to the office of ambassador to
that country that he had been a missionary to. Ambassador. And he came back to his father
at the meeting with the president, and he came to his father and
told him of his promotion. And the father said, Oh, my son,
it's a demotion. A demotion. To go from being
an ambassador of the living God to an ambassador of worms. That's a demotion. And to be
called the son of the Most High God is the highest honor bestowed
upon mankind. People are very proud of their
associations, aren't they? People are proud of who they
know and rubbing shoulders with the rich and famous, aren't they?
I wonder who it would take for you to become all googly-eyed
and all silly and silly-dilly around. If some famous personage
were to come around where you were. I wonder who it would take
for you to become all... Who would it take? Somebody like...
You know, this is Winston Cup territory. What if Dale Earnhardt
were to walk in here? I know one fellow that would
try to run him out. But what if he did? What if Rusty Wallace? How would
we act? How would you act? Who is Rusty Waltz? Oh, he drives a race car. He
does what? Oh, he drives a race car. He
does what? What if, you young people, what
if something, what if Michael Jordan walked in here this morning?
How would you react? Who is Michael Jordan? Well, he plays basketball. He
does what? He plays. He plays all day long. That's all he does is play. And
I'm supposed to fall at his feet? Jesus Christ, the Son of the
Most High God, said where two or three are gathered,
I am there. And the highest honor bestowed
upon a people is for him to be with them. To be a son of the
king is the highest honor conferred upon man, to be called a Christian. Who do you know? Well, I shook
hands with the president the other day. Well, good. I met with the Lord Jesus Christ
this morning. What an honor. What an honor. And this thing of being precious,
he's a high honor to you which believe he is precious. The word means privilege, too.
OK, just a couple more things here. The word means privilege. It's a privilege. You know, if
you ever met somebody. Whom after getting to know that
person. And you have become friends with
them. You have this person as a friend.
After getting to know them. being around them while you so
much admire and respect them you consider it a real privilege
to be called their friend. Have you a real privilege to
know this person I know I can name some names right now I feel
that way about many of you but I have some in particular. One man I'm thinking of in particular
another another another another. whom I consider it, that I've
been blessed by God Almighty to be the acquaintance of this
person, that my life has been enriched by this person, that
it is a great privilege to know this person, and especially a
high privilege to have them as my friend, that they call me
friend. the likes of me, who am a nothing
and a nobody, this fellow, whom I esteem so highly, calls me
his friend, and calls on me, and does things for me." What
a privilege! Well, we're talking about now
the Son of the Most High God. Under you, therefore, which believe,
He is a privilege After you've gotten to know him, Barbara,
you think, what? Why? He says he's your friend. It says he's not ashamed to call
old Charles Ross there, he says he's not ashamed to call him
brethren. A brother. Have you done anything to merit,
to deserve the Son of the Most High God calling you His brother,
or His, your friend, His friend? And the more you get to know
Him, the more incredible it seems that He would have anything to
do with the likes of you. What about, you reckon old Mephibosheth
thought, He was privileged to be with David. Oh, my. What a privilege. That's what
he said, too. That's real worship. Moment of
privilege. Who am I? What am I? That you should look
upon such a dead dog with favor and a privilege to know him To
be around his people, to be here this morning to hear a fellow
talk about him is a real privilege. And for me to hear men and women
talk today about salvation being a right that man has a right
to be saved or God ought to, you know, God must, that's not
worship. This thing is not a right, it's
a privilege. It's a privilege. a blessed privilege conferred
upon a chosen few, and his mercies are privileged, his graces are
privileged, his loves are privileged, his salvations are privileged.
We're privileged characters is what we are, just a bunch of
privileged characters. And to worship him, like I've
been trying to say already, to come in here right now, for you
to have heard what I've said this morning already, for Talking
about the Lord Jesus Christ, who he is and what he's done.
Has this been a...this is a privilege. A privilege to worship him. It's
not a duty, it's a privilege to come and thank our God. Like
I said, men ought to be shot for thanking people for coming
to church. Oh my, this is a privilege. privilege. Men ought to be shot
for not coming, and they will. They will. Not teaching their
children to worship. They will be. And how small a
return this is for his abundant supply, right? Lastly, let me
say this. The word precious means this,
that under you therefore which believe, he is precious. The word precious means dear. Precious. Precious. And while you're turning to the
Song of Solomon, let me say this, and I'll quit with this. Song
of Solomon. Turn over there. Song of Solomon. To a mother, a child is perhaps,
probably, one of the most precious things of all. A child. When you talk about something
precious or something dear unto you, you're talking about something
or someone you love. I mean, you really love that
person. You're talking about a treasure which you hold on to. You're
not willing to depart with for anything else. It's a pearl.
It's a treasure. It's the apple. When you talk
about something dear or precious, you're talking about the apple
of your eye. You're talking about your calls for laughter and rejoicing
and happiness and a very reason for living. Putting up with this and that
and the other. Talk to a mother. If you ask a mother, if you ask
a mother, to describe her little one to you. And she'll say some things, but
she'll really be at a loss for words. And she'll be at a loss
for enough pleasant adjectives to describe that little one,
that loved one of her. And this is probably the word
that she would use to describe her innermost heartfelt, to wrap
it all up. her feelings for this lovely
child. You would say, what does that
child mean to you? What is that child to you? She'd
say, she's precious. Oh, she's precious. She's dear
to me. She's precious. What is your
beloved more than others? What is your Christ more than
others? Look at, this is what the believer says. It's all in
Solomon chapter 5 verse 9. And only a believer can say this.
What is your Beloved more than another Beloved? O thou fairest
among women, or blest among women who know him. What is thy Beloved
more than another Beloved? Verse ten. My Beloved's wife. He's holy, and he's ruddy, and
he's red with blood. He's the chiefest among ten thousand. Oh, there's some fine men out
there. Fine men. He's the fairest. He's the chief. There are many
stars in heaven, right? But he's the brightest morning
star. Many fine men, but he's the chief among ten thousand.
He's worth more than ten thousand. Verse eleven, his head is as
the most fine. You admire the head of that little
child? loved one all his head on his
head is a crown of gold. He's the king his locks are bushy
black as a raven his eyes are the eyes of the he looked at
me with them and it was love at first sight washed with milk
fitly set thirteen his cheeks are as a bed of spices he has
a sweet savor to me. as sweet flowers, the rose of
Sharon. His lips are like lilies, the
lily of the valley, dropping sweet-smelling myrrh. His lips—grace
pours from his lips. His hands—oh, his hands are as
gold rings. He has scars in them set with
the barrier. His belly is as bright ivory
overlaid with sapphire. There's a scar there, too. And
it's my salvation. Verse fifteen. His legs are as
pillars of marble. Oh, he holds me up by those.
Set upon sockets of fine gold. His countenance. Oh, his face. Oh, it's just the sun that shineth
in its strength. Excellent as the cedars. He's
that tree of life. His mouth is most sweet. His
palate, his words is most sweet to me. He is, what's he like? He's altogether lovely. What is your Christ like to you,
believer? Well, he's, he's, what's the
gospel worth to you? Well, it's, it's, well, what is the word
of God to you? Oh, it's, well, let me, It's
precious. It's precious. It's rare. It's a high honor. It's an inestimable
privilege. It's dear to me. Here's the world. Give that to me in exchange.
Here's what, oh no. Teresa, we'll give you 100,000
babies for that woman. She's precious. And unto you,
therefore, which believe this gospel, and these people, and this Christ,
and what we do here is a precious thing. It's a rare thing, a high
honor. Well, I'll trade you for this
and that and the other. Won't take it. I just won't take
it. This is my dwelling. All right,
let's sing in closing. Oh, what about Sixty Cent? All right. Here in number sixty,
it says, How can it