as well. A soul that leaned on
someone for repose. I'll never desert to expose.
That's strikingly similar to what the Lord promised Jacob
in our text. Genesis 28. I want you to mark
Genesis 28. We're going to read one verse
there, and then we'll turn over to John chapter 1. So be finding
that, too. John chapter 1. We will dwell,
we will be dwelling in Genesis 28, but there's one verse in
John 1 I want you to see. OK, you have it? Genesis 28,
let's look at verse 12 again. Genesis 28, 12, And Jacob dreamed,
and behold, a ladder set up on the earth And the top of it reached
to heaven, and behold, the angels of God ascending and descending
on this ladder." The Lord Jesus Christ, who was
a preacher—he was a preacher, that's what he said he came to
do, preach—he preached in parables. He told earthly stories that spoke of heavenly things.
That's what a parable is. He told earthly stories that
spoke of heavenly things. The Scriptures are full. The
Old Testament, in particular, is full of types and pictures. Now, that is, types or pictures
earthly things, earthly, common, everyday, ordinary earthly things
and events and happenings that represent spiritual truths. Are you with me? Earthly things
that represent spiritual truths. Types and pictures of something
spiritual. And all the types. All the types
and pictures of the Old Testament point to or represent the Lord
Jesus Christ in some way. That's what our Lord said. He
said, they are they. The Old Testament. They are they. Those scriptures are they which
testify of me. All the types and pictures and
symbols and everything, it all points to Christ. eyes to see
and understand that we'd see it clearly. All right? Some of you, most of you know
that. Now, what's this ladder here? What is this ladder here
in Jacob's dream? Huh? Well, I just told you. Everything in Scripture points
to the Lord Jesus Christ. This ladder, Jacob's ladder,
is a glorious picture of the Son of God himself. The Lord
tells us that in John 1. Look over John 1. The Lord himself
alludes to this latter. In John 1, verse 51, Christ saith
unto them, Jesus Christ saith unto him, Nathanael, I say unto you, Hereafter you
shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending
upon the Son of Man." Jacob's ladder, we call it that. It's not Jacob's ladder, although
it was. It was the dream that God gave
to him, and Jacob claimed it as his own. He needed this ladder. And sinners will call it their
ladder when this message is over. But it's God's ladder. That's
who it is. But because the world always
refers to it as Jacob's ladder, I will too. So it's easy to remember.
Jacob's ladder is a picture of Jesus Christ. Now, I've spent
much time on a ladder of late, thanks to my good friend Mr. Williams. You see, we've been
building a house, and we have some scaffolding, and we don't
have enough scaffolding to cover the whole side of the house,
so we have to get on a ladder on part of it. And Rick conveniently
jumps on the scaffolding first before I get on it. So I've been
standing precariously on a ladder. for over a week now. That's providential,
Rick. I really believe it is. I've
been on one, and I'm going to preach on one. I'm very acquainted
with it. I'm very familiar with a ladder,
providentially. Much time spent, I've tried and
I've proven a ladder. And it's only fitting I should
dwell on it this morning. All right, three points, if you're
taking notes. Three points, three major headings.
We're going to look at this ladder, and secondly, we'll look at the
purpose of this ladder, and lastly, what it means to climb this ladder. Now, our Lord said in other places,
He called Himself a door. He called Himself a door. He
called Himself the gate. straight gate, narrow way, he
called himself vine, he called himself bread, water, and so
on and so forth. Well, he is this ladder. Our
Lord is this ladder, an extraordinary ladder. Point number one is he's
the living ladder. Ladders, by and large, aren't
living. They don't move. You have to
move them. Christ is the living ladder.
He's the living ladder. The scripture says he's a new
and living way. The new and living way. A ladder
is something you use to get from one point to another in it. The
way to somewhere. Christ is this new and living
way. Secondly, Christ is a long ladder. Look at verse 12. It says that
this ladder was set on earth and the top of it reached to
heaven. It's the longest ladder ever,
highest ladder ever, the only one. It sat on earth and yet
it reached to heaven. And there are many things to
be seen right there. First of all, I want you to notice the
two things here. The ladder was on earth and it
was in heaven. These are the two natures of the Lord Jesus
Christ. The Lord of glory, whose spirit
became flesh. He was set on earth. He came. He was sent by God,
sent to earth. His feet stood on this earth. That's his humanity. He was born
of a woman, made in the likeness of sinful flesh. His feet stood
on this earth, yet he never left heaven. He's still God. Very God. of very God. The latter was on earth, yet
still in heaven. Christ was a man, yet God. Now, that's a mystery. That's
as far as I can go with that in understanding that. I'll tell
you why. I need to tell you why Christ
became a man, why it was necessary for God to become a man. We need
to know that to understand the gospel. We need to know why Christ
came. Why did Christ come? Why did
God become a man? Why? The heart of the truth is
right here. God had to become a man in order
to save men because God demands that men live holy lives, righteous. That's what the word
righteous means. God demands that we have a righteousness
or a holiness that's equal to His own. Not almost as good at,
but at equal. Perfect. Holy God. We don't grow tired of hearing
this, do we? I know it's the truth. I know
it's a doctrine. I know, but I'm telling you,
this is why Christ came to do this. This is a work of his,
John. This is a work of his, and he didn't do it for himself.
He did it for John Davis. All right, listen up. This applies.
Not that you weren't. But we can quickly drift when
we start here in Doctrine. Our Lord came, God came, became
a man. Why? Because God said men must
be holy to be accepted by men. No man has ever done that. No
woman has ever lived a holy life that God would accept, but one.
But one. And I'm talking about God doesn't
look at the outside. God doesn't look at us, our outward
morality, and so God looks at the heart. And this man had pure,
absolutely holy thoughts, as well as words and deeds. All
of his life, he never sinned one time, not even in thought.
And above and beyond that, he magnified the law. He went over
and above what was required of him of the law of God. And God
Almighty said, I'm well pleased with this man. And God is only
pleased with those who Christ represented. See, he became a
man for some men and some women. Do you need him to do that for
you? If you want to get to God now, you're going to have to
get through this man. This man. This man did this for
some men and women. Some, not all, some. Do you need
this? I do. I want to get to this holy
God. I know He's holy. I know God's
righteous. I know He will by no means clear the guilty. I
am guilty. What do I need? I need to be
holy. Christ did that for some people. He became a man. He had
to become a man to die. He would have done us no good
whatsoever if He hadn't have died. He lived, yes. God was pleased with Him, yes.
I did that for me, but I, my sins have to be paid for. I have
sinned. God says the soul that sinneth
must die. Now either I'm going to die for
my sins or Jesus Christ is going to do it for me. And when Christ
went to the cross, he said, behold, I and the children, here we are,
kill me in their stead. I have their sins on me. I have
their guilt on me. And the Lord laid on him the
iniquity of the soul, and slew his son. And I died, nevertheless
I live." So Christ became a man to live as a man, to die as a
man for some men, some women. He didn't have to. He's God. Why was he God? Why did he need
to be God? In order to live a holy life.
Man can't do it. Who can do this? Nobody but God. Only God's able to keep His law
like that. Only God knows it. Only God knows the law of the
perfection. Right? He knew it. Written on His heart?
He wrote it. He knew it. And only God could
suffer the eternity of hell in six hours on the cross for His
people. Only God could satisfy justice.
That's the reason hell is eternal. Because it never satisfies the
justice of God. If it did, there'd be an end
to it. But it never satisfies the justice of God against men's
sins, but Christ did. How could he do that? He's God.
Now, if I quit right now, you've heard it. That's it, isn't it? I never get to the latter. That's
it. But in that sense, he is the
way to God. He's God and he's man. He's the
way to a holy God of Christ. Holy God, the Father, Son, and
Holy Spirit. All right? He's a long ladder. He's a long ladder. He reaches
all the way to heaven, and he'll take all those who come unto
God by him. He'll take them all the way. This is no bridge. This is no
ladder that goes halfway. It goes halfway. It reaches all
the way. And I'll dwell on that a little
bit more in a moment. He's a lasting ladder. He's a lasting ladder. Other
ladders wear out. When I first came here, we had
an old ladder, an old wooden ladder, that I don't see how
or why. Vicki, how? I don't know why
anybody ever get on that thing. It was scary. Wasn't it rickety? Every rung moved when you moved
up it. It was awful. It's an awful place,
now down at my barn. And it may be kindling one of
these days. But letters wear out in time, and they cannot
be trusted. And a workman with any sense
wouldn't get on one. He'd fear falling if he got on
one of these old, worn-out letters. Christ is the Eternal One, the
everlasting righteousness brought in by God Almighty—everlasting. Is righteousness—I tell you,
if you want to try to climb to God according to your own righteousness,
you'll find it a shaky ladder. It won't last, either. I've seen
some mighty, decent, upright people, moral people, turn into
snakes and devils. That righteousness won't last.
Even Adam's righteousness didn't last, did it? Huh? Didn't last.
It wore out. Christ's won't. It's eternal. It's a righteousness you'll stand
on and get the glory, no matter how long you stand on it. Christ
is the everlasting ladder. How long would a ladder last
if everybody you knew borrowed it? What if millions of people—millions
of people—used your ladder? How long would it last? Well, the Scripture says that
Christ is born to heaven. all that come unto God by him. Everyone who has got on this
ladder, who has laid hold on him, has made it. Every single
one. And he says there are people
as the sands of the seashore. That many. How long would your
ladder last if everybody burned? That brings me to my next point.
This ladder is a free ladder to all that want it. a free letter
to all who want to use it. Now, if you ask me for my letter,
I probably wouldn't loan it to you right now. I know I wouldn't. Don't ask. Just don't ask. John, forget it. I'm using it.
I need it. Maybe later. Maybe not. I need it. Don't ask for it. You can't have
it. And I might fear that he might not return it. Right, Stan? Some people borrow letters and
don't return them. Well, they do eventually, eventually,
but a long time goes by. But God Almighty, I'm not trying
to be cute or clever here, but this letter is free. Christ,
God says, Come all ye, that's labor and a heavy labor, all
ye who need to come to God by Christ. Come on. All ye who need
a way to God. Come on. Come on. Use a ladder. And here's the marvelous thing
about it. Once you use it, it's yours.
It's yours. You get to keep it. You get to
keep it. Christ is yours. I am his and
he is mine. And here's my next point. He's
a firm ladder. He's a firm ladder, strong and
steady. Before we started on this house,
one of the first things I did was go down and buy a ladder.
I knew that beyond one. And I bought a long ladder, I
thought. A long ladder, and a firm ladder. I knew you needed a good ladder. I had a ladder before, and it
wasn't a good ladder at all. It wasn't good for what I intended
to do with it, so I bought what I thought was a good ladder,
a firm ladder, until the work got harder. The loads got heavier,
I was carrying up that thing, and the ladder got weaker. and
started shaking. And the higher I went, the shorter
my ladder got, didn't it Rick? I thought it was long. I bought
the longest ladder I thought I needed. And now I stretch it
up on the gable end. Our gable end is thirty-five
feet to the peak. I brought a twenty-eight foot
ladder. And I thought, you know how many times I thought, I wish
I'd have bought at least a 32-foot ladder. It won't reach. And the higher I get—and it's
not strong. The higher I get—and I'm not
being funny or cute here, but literally every time I get on
it and get up there high, I think, Lord, protect me. If you don't
keep me from falling, I'm going to fall off this ladder, because
this ladder ain't much good to me. It ain't much good. Christ is a strong ladder. A
strong ladder. You'll find that the tougher
it gets, the stronger He gets. You'll find the higher you go,
the higher He'll take you. The higher you go, the more solid
this ladder becomes. Who ever heard of such a ladder?
Huh? The higher you go, the more it
feels like you're standing on solid ground. We came down after working real
high. We came down a couple of bucks on the scaffold, and we
thought—and we were still about twenty feet up—and we thought
we were standing on solid ground. You know, we could have done
somersaults and not be afraid. You know, the more you come down—well,
the higher you go, the more firm you feel. Solid ground. And I tell you,
my ladder, it won't hold me. I hold it. When I'm walking out,
I'm holding it. And really, that's no good, because
it's just kind of hanging there. It won't hold me. I'm holding
it. I'm telling you, Christ, the ladder holds you. You'll
find when you're on Him, yes, you're holding all, you'll find
you hold not the ladder, the ladder's holding you. That's
that old song, I hold not the rock, but the rock holds me. That's what makes Him a living
ladder. And as I said, my little ladder, what I used to think
was a big ladder, is a little ladder to me now. It's a little
ladder. It's just not strong enough and
just not long enough. It can't reach as high as I need
to go. That's a picture of man's righteousness,
isn't it? Our little ladder. Like the Tower
of Babel, isn't it? Our little ladder, this little
ladder of mine, poof, is candlelight. Our little ladder of righteousness
is not lofty enough. It won't go high enough. It won't
keep me from falling, and it won't take me to God. But Christ
will. Christ does. God has provided
righteousness. What about that? What if a painter—you
know, I was working up real high like that, and a painter who
does this all the time. does it for a living, who depends,
his life depends on good ladders. If he came by and said, here,
let me give you a real ladder. Let me loan you a real ladder.
I've got one that's fifty-five feet long. Takes three men to
lift it. It'll get you there. It won't
shake a bit when you crawl in. I'll take it. That man knows he depends on
ladders. Christ is God's provided righteousness. He said, I'm telling you. You
can't get to me but by Christ. Don't climb any other way, you'll
be a thief and a robber. Only by the righteousness of
Christ, it's the only one that'll reach all the way to me. The
rest of them, you'll find, they don't get there. They don't get
there. They'll leave you hanging. Leave
you hanging. He is able, Christ is able to
save us and keep us from falling. He is alone is able. Point number
two, Sherry. Sherry is a diligent note-taker,
and that's good. The purpose of this ladder. What's
the purpose of this ladder? Look at verse twelve again. It says that Jacob dreamed, behold,
a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to
heaven. Reached to heaven. And behold, Angels of God ascending
and descending. It reached to heaven, and that's
what I've been saying. A ladder is something you use
to get from one place to another. Now, most of the time, how do
you climb on a ladder? Up. You are low, and you want
to get high. You want to go high. Well, I'm
flesh, God's Spirit. That which is flesh is flesh.
God is spirit. I can't attain unto it. It's
too high, he said. How am I going to get there?
God was made flesh and dwelt among us. Still God, yet still
but flesh. And he says, come on, I'll take
you there. I'll take you there. On me, on
Christ the solid ladder I climb. A ladder is used to get from
one place to another, and that usually low to high. And Christ
is our way to God in heaven. He alone. Christ alone must bring
us to God. Christ alone must bring us to
God. Are there no more ladders than
one? The papists Catholic, say that there are
many, that you can get to God upon the prayers and so forth.
And they say that that's what this means, that angels are descending
and descending, that's the saints, the prayers of the saints and
so forth. Dead saints, they say you can get there by praying
to Mary or praying to Saint Jude or Saint whoever, Saint Christopher
and so forth. Is there another way to heaven?
Is there another way to get the ear of God? Is there another
way to get to God Almighty? Christ said, No man, no man cometh
unto the Father, but by man. No man, no woman cometh unto
the Father by man. Know what? Only by Christ can
we come to God Almighty, only by His righteousness, only by
His shed blood. He is the only ladder or way
to God that there is. No other way but Christ. No man, he said, cometh but by
me. No man cometh. Acts 4.12 says,
Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none
other. That means none other. All means
all, and none other means none other. Christ is all. That means nothing else. Anything
else is nothing at all. He says there's none other. That
means there's none other. There's none other name under
heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. Must. Not ought to be. Must be saved. Only way. There is one God, 1
Timothy 2, 5, and one mediator. One God and one mediator between
God and men. The man, Christ Jesus. Not a
woman, not married. The man, Christ Jesus. One. That's one mediator. And like
I said, we can't get there on our own. I couldn't run no matter
how high I jumped. I couldn't get there to the peak
of that roof. I need a ladder. And there's
only one that will get us to God, and that's Christ. All right,
here's the purpose of this. Another purpose of this ladder.
Another purpose. You climb a ladder in order to
get from low to high. All right? From low to high.
Flesh, spirit. Man to God. Christ is the way
to bring us to God. A ladder is also the way you
take things up. Anybody have a ladder that reaches
up to your attic? You pull down ladders, you get
on it, you go up, you take things up, and you also bring things
down, don't you? Well, look at the text again.
It says here that verse 12, it says the angels of God are ascending
this ladder. Ascending first. Ascending this
ladder. The angels of God. Now that's the prayers of the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's what that is. As angels
of mercy, angels of grace, angels of love, ministering spirits
unto That's the prayers of our great high priest while he was
on this earth, praying for us. There's an incense of the great
high priest going upward to God, taking things for us, precious
things, needed things, petitions and so forth. That's the prayers
of Christ himself. Also, the prayers of the saints
go up to God. How? How do we pray? How do our prayers reach God?
As I said, there's only one way to reach God. These angels were
going up that ladder. There's only one way to get to
God Almighty, and that's through Christ. Through Christ. Praying is more than just saying
it by word only. In the name of Jesus. If you
ask anything according to my name, my will, he said. Sincerely. From the heart. God hears us. It's our prayer going up by faith
in Christ. Everything we do, our works,
Nothing is acceptable. Nothing will get to God apart
from Christ. Anything that's not of faith
is sin. Scripture says. Anything that
goes to God that's not through Christ, with an eye to Christ,
with faith in Christ, will not get there. God won't accept it.
Only by faith in Christ. Anything that goes up has got
to be through Christ. Right? It's got to go through
me, he said. By me, because of me. Apart from
Christ. Whatsoever is not of faith is
sin. What about descending things? Descending things. Well, James
said, every good and perfect gift cometh how? Down. Down from God Almighty. All the blessings of God, or
all the blessings we have, come from God, don't they? Come down
by the grace of God or gift of God. I am what I am. I have what
I have. Don't they? They come down. How?
Why does God bless you? Why are you blessed? Well, because
I've lived a good life. No! That's not the way. That's not why God blesses you.
Through Christ. Through Christ. All the blessings
of God come through and because of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now,
lastly. Lastly. Hang with me, all right? No pun intended. Hang with me. Climbing this ladder. What does
it mean to climb? Now, the ladder is of no use
whatsoever if you don't get on it. If you don't get on it. I want
to get to the top of my house, John. I go out and buy me a ladder. I say, well, I need a ladder.
And I see a good ladder and I get it and I bring it up and bring
it home and lean up against the wall and stand back and say,
boy, I sure wish I could get up to that roof. Oh well. There's a ladder. What am I going to have to do,
John? I'm going to have to climb it. I'm going to have to get
on that ladder. Christ is the ladder. Faith climbs
the ladder. Faith is the hand and the foot. Faith is the hand that lays hold
on Christ. He's the hand that lays hold
on Christ. The foot is the ladder that walks
by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Ladders are no good use unless
you walk on them, like anything. Water? It's water. I'm thirsty
right now. I am thirsty. It looks like pretty
good water. It's clear. Yeah, I've heard
that it's good water. Other people have slaked their
thirst by that water. It'll probably work, and I'm
thirsty. It's true. Christ is the way
to God. I want to get to God. There's
no other way but Him. How am I going to get there?
Christ says, come unto me. Come unto me. Come unto me. You say, I can't. Phooey on that. Right? What if the man, listen
to me, And now listen now, talk about hands and feet. Faith are
the hands and the feet that lay hold on Christ. Where'd you get
your hands and feet? Did you start one day growing?
No, you ain't no tadpole. God gave them to you, right?
And faith's a gift of God to you. It says in Ephesians 2,
8, that faith, that's not of yourself. By faith. By grace
you say through faith. By Christ you say through believing
on Him. But that's not of yourself. Faith
is the gift of God. Your hands and feet, God gave
them to you. When you were born, you were born with them. You
were born with them. Well, God must give faith. But
once it's given, you use it, don't you? Huh? It's
a mystery, really. I can't really describe it. It's
the best I can do. We've got to lay hold on Christ.
We must walk by faith. Christ says, come unto me. I
hear people say, I don't know what it means to come to Christ.
Fully on that, you don't need to come to Him yet. If you need
to come to Him, you'd already been there. Right? I'm a sick man. I need to go
to the doctor. I'd already been there, Joe.
I'm sick enough. Say, where's Paul? He's at the
doctor. Why? He's sick. And he knew it. That's where he went. Had to
get there. His car broke down. He walked.
He's sick. Somebody says, I want to come
to God. Don't know how. Fool on that. Christ says, come unto me all
ye that labor and heavy labor. And buddy, people that had labor
and heavy labor, they came, didn't they? Come unto me all ye that
thirst. What'd they do? They came. They
were thirsty. And with the command, now, now
this is a command, Christ, it's an effectual call, Stan, it's
a command. When Christ says, come, really
that's the only time you're going to come, when he says, come.
Not when the preacher says it, not when someone's soul winner,
but when Christ says, come. It's a command, really. Not an
invite so much as a command. With the command comes the power
to do it. With the command comes the power
to do it. What about that man with a withered
hand? Wouldn't it have been terribly
cruel of Christ for Christ to say, and this man was born with
polio and his hand was shriveled up, and Christ said unto him,
Stretch out your hand. Wouldn't it have been cruel if
Christ had told him to do something he couldn't do? Huh? But I can't. He said, I can't. Try. I can't. Christ says, stretch
out your hand. What'd he do? Whew! Christ says,
come unto me. And everybody that says that
needs Christ, they come. They come. And I tell people
constantly, come to Christ. Come to Christ. Believe Christ. Profess Him in believer's baptism.
Who's going to do it? people that need him, they're
going to come to me and say, baptize me, please. I believe
this Christ. I believe. And you don't have
to pigeonhole them. You don't have to beg and plead
and promise and cajole and bribe and so forth. God, the Holy Spirit,
makes them willing the day of his power. And he says, on the
day of his gospel power, he says, come, and they come. That's this
old This preacher's comfort in preaching. Come unto me. Climb,
sinner. Lay hold on Christ. OK? It's a long way. Yeah, you must,
through much tribulation, enter the kingdom of heaven. But climb. Climb. Lay hold on Christ. And
you'll find, like I said, as you climb, the ladder holds you. Stronger he appears, the higher
you get. You're getting close. Huh? You're getting close. You
need Christ now more than ever, don't you? As a young woman in
complete good health and so forth, you might not have needed Christ
so much, but boy, you do now, don't you? He appears strong. To the weak, He appears strong. There's some rungs on this ladder.
Every ladder has rungs, and these rungs Now, many of you could
probably tell me what these various rungs are on the ladder. Those
are the infinite facets of Christ's character. That's the person
and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. All these rungs on this
ladder that go into making up Christ. who gets us to heaven,
the wisdom, the righteousness, the sanctification, the redemption,
His mediation, His substitution, His providence, He's the light,
He's the food, He's the water, He's the way, He's the truth,
He's the life, and on and on you go. You can't count the wrongs
on this life. And I want you to notice this.
One more thing, all right? Look at verse 12 again. Look
at verse 12. And he dreamed, and behold, a
ladder. He dreamed, and it says, Behold,
a ladder. Behold, a ladder. Verse 12 says,
And behold, the angels of God. Verse 13, Behold, the Lord. And verse 15, Behold, I am with
thee. 4522 says, Look unto me. John said, Behold the Lamb of
God, who has taken away the sin of the world. Now, have you ever beheld Christ, the beauty of Christ?
Have you ever looked on Christ in admiration, beholding His
beauty and His glory? He says, Behold. Would you look
at that? Would you look at Him? Look at
Him. I'll just be honest with you.
Now, you know, now after using my little ladder, I go up to Lowe's and various
places, and I go to the ladder section stand, and I stand there
beholding Those big, strong ladders. I bet you nobody in here who's
ever needed a ladder thinks a thing about ladders, and you don't
go in the ladder section when you go in the hardware store.
I do. I do. And I stand back, and I behold
the beauties of big ladders. I see my necessity of a good
ladder, and I stand back. You women think I'm crazy, don't
you? Y'all go in T.J. Maggard, wherever you shop, and
you behold a dress. Don't you? You say, it's beauty,
I need that. You don't need that. But you
say, I need that. And you behold the beauty of
it. I look at ladders. And most people don't see any
beauty about the Lord Jesus Christ. The Scripture says when we see
Him, there's no beauty that we should desire Him. Most people
pass by the latter section with no thought of it at all. They
pass by. It's nothing to them. But I need
a letter. And I go by looking there and
say, that looks like a good letter. I'd like to have that letter.
Christ. All those who need Christ, behold
Him. His glory, His beauty, His sufficiency.
Their need of Him. They see the beauty of Christ,
the glory of Christ. and their need of him. And all
who do, that ladder is purchased for them. They receive it. They receive it. All who want
to get to God see their need of Christ. All those who desire
to be a spiritual house built by God, they receive Christ. All those who need, who want
to be a dwelling place, a habitation for his Spirit, receive Christ. All those who want to be built
on that most holy faith receive Christ, see their need of Christ,
their ladder. You see the wisdom of God in
using these common, ordinary things? I hadn't even begun to exhaust
a ladder. We could deal with each rung
of the ladder, couldn't we? the wisdom of God in using common,
ordinary symbol. Preaching in parables. Our Lord
preached in parables. And the Pharisees said, what?
That sounds awfully simple. Doesn't he have anything higher
than that? A letter! Ain't nothing higher,
is there? You see the wisdom of God in
using these symbols. Common, ordinary things. You
know who uses common, ordinary things? Joe, you know who uses
common things? Common people. Working men need
ladders. Common, ordinary old Joes need
ladders every day for something. They need them. Those that work
and are heavy laden, they need ladders. And that's what Christ
said. The common people heard him gladly.
And he told these simple stories. The Pharisees were offended.
Don't you know, Lord, they were offended that you didn't preach
an adage to Jesus on the super-laboratorianism view as opposed to the extra-infra-laboratorian
view as opposed to whatever. Dispensationalism. They were
offended. And he says, I don't care. These
people want to get to God. And then you don't stand when
I'm saying, I think the father that does he'd be saying from
the wise and prudent and revealed them on the baby. Besides, I
think Christ the latter is pretty lofty. Don't you? A lofty ladder. Take us all the way to God. And
I can understand that kind of preaching. You tell me there's
a ladder, only one, there's only one way to get up, and I need
to get up. And the ladder's on the way, there's only one ladder,
and you say, get on it, and I'm going to get on that ladder.
How? I'm just going to do it. Just
going to do it. By God's grace. All right, Joe,
you have a hymn picked out? 252. 252. I only trust her. Come on up,
Joe, if you will, and lead us in singing however many verses.