That's a good hymn. It says, Let our songs abound. That's what we just read there
in Isaiah 42. Sing unto the Lord a new song. And I especially like that third verse, the hill of Zion
yields a thousand sacred sweets. That's talking about the preciousness
of his word and the gospel. When you come, the hill of Zion
is a church where you come to get into the word of God and
you find it sweet to the taste. thousand sacred sweets. A thousand times ten thousand.
All right. Isaiah 40. Turn there. Isaiah chapter 40. Isaiah chapter 40. Now, God has used all types of preaching
down through the years. And it is preaching that the
Lord primarily uses to the saving of souls in revealing the truth to men
and women. It is primarily preaching that
he uses, because it says in the scriptures In 1 Corinthians 121,
in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God. Or that is, by intellect, by reading and studying and this
and that and the other, philosophies and psychologies and wisdom of
man. It says that in the wisdom of
God, the world, by wisdom, knew not God. It says over in chapter
2, it says, The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit
of God, their foolishness unto him, neither can he know them. And let me read that other verse
again to you. Now, after that, in the wisdom
of God, the world, by wisdom, knew not God. There's another
verse over in Job, I believe it is. It says, Can a man by
searching find out God unto perfection? No. God is spirit. Man is flesh. And God says, As
the heavens are higher above the earth, are higher than the
earth, so are my thoughts than your thoughts, and my ways than
your ways." And he said that they must be revealed unto us.
And he gave the illustration. What man knoweth the things of
a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? In other words,
if you want to know what I'm thinking, I must reveal it to
you, right? The same way with God. He says,
if you want to know me, I must reveal myself to you, my word. All right, let me keep reading.
It says, now, pleased God by the foolishness of preaching.
Now, that's not the preaching of foolishness. There's enough
of that going on today, and that doesn't profit anybody. And there's
a whole lot of fellows that are fools. The preaching of fools. He doesn't say the preaching
of fools. Isaiah was no fool, Jeremiah was no fool, Daniel
and so forth, they were not fools, they were wise men. Paul, Peter,
they were not fools. There are enough fools today
and foolish preaching going on. That's not what God has chosen.
But the foolishness of preaching, he says, it pleased God, 1 Corinthians
121, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe, to save them that believe. In other words, he's saying what
the world calls foolishness, what I'm doing right now. It's obvious that the world thinks
this is foolish, because look at, look, look, where are the
overflowing crowds? Well, if some famous movie star
or some famous philosopher or Carl Sagan or somebody was standing
up here tonight, there wouldn't be room enough to hold everybody.
It's just an old preacher standing up, a young preacher standing
up. And the world calls this foolishness.
And they've relegated preaching. I'm going to have to get my text.
This is not my subject. But they've relegated, or that
is, they've put preaching aside. If you'll look at most modern
church programs, Sunday morning bulletins, and their courses
of whatever, their religion. If you look at most religion
today, they have relegated or shoved preaching aside. They
give 45 minutes to an hour to singing, to this and that and
the other, and about 10 or 15 minutes to preaching. That's
what they think of preaching. And that's about all the preaching
that they're doing deserves, anyway. It doesn't deserve that
much, 10 minutes. But it pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching, saith he. Paul the Apostle preached. One
time he preached all night long. All night long. And he started
preaching again. He rested a little while. That's
all the early church did. That's all the early church in
time of the Reformers and so forth did, and so on and so forth. Now, one old fellow years ago
said, he said, the thing that amazes
me the most about the fact that the Church has survived over
the years, he said, the thing that amazes me the most is that
it has survived such bad preaching, so much bad preaching, he said. And God has used all types of
preaching down through the years. Gospel preaching I'm talking
about now. There is no other kind. Paul said, Woe is unto
me if I preach not the gospel. And he went on to say in another
place, there's another gospel, there's another Jesus, and he
defined what the gospel is. But God has used all types of
preachers. and their methods and ways of
preaching. Only one message, right? One
faith. One message. One message. Christ and Him crucified. That's
it. That's the only thing God uses to save souls. And you think,
no, nothing more, nothing less. But all types of preachers. There
was a fellow years ago named Jonathan Edwards, whom the Lord
used mightily in this country, up in the New England states.
The Lord used that man to create a very large interest in the
gate. It wasn't nearly as large as
they say it was. Not at all. All of that stuff is greatly
inflated. Nevertheless, that man was greatly used of God,
and he preached a message years ago entitled, Sinners in the
Hands of an Angry God. Now, he wouldn't get—I don't
know, there were thousands of people, supposedly, who heard that. It
wouldn't be five who come to hear that today if he announced
that as his title, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. But he preached that message—the
legend has it that he preached that message by candlelight,
holding a candle, looking at a manuscript. He had written
it out word for word. and preached it in a fairly monotone
voice. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
And the story has it that men and women were absolutely stricken,
fallen down, a conviction of sin, crying out to God, Lord,
be merciful and save us. He never raised his voice. Ralph
Barnard now, a few years later, he never lowered his voice. Have
you heard his take? And the Lord used that man back
in the fifties mightily, mightily, and then he never lowered his
voice. He screamed incessantly. I'm talking screaming. And young preachers who heard
him and were converted under his ministry, they tried to pattern
themselves, and they all said, And this is what the thought
of the day, they thought, if you weren't hoarse after you
got through preaching, you hadn't done any preaching. If you weren't hoarse, you didn't
come out and probably talk like this. Well, Isaiah 40, look at what
this says. Now, there's a happy medium. There's some wisdom to be used.
Look at Isaiah 40. It says here in verse 1, Comfort
ye, comfort ye, my people, saith your God. This is the instructions
of God, the command of God to a preacher. Speak ye comfortably
to Jerusalem. If you have a marginal reference,
and I advise you to get a Bible that has these references, It
says, speak ye comfortably. That word means to the heart.
Speak, speak to the heart. Speak, not yell at the face and
the head. I was telling one of the, Brother
Nyberg the other day, I said, you know, preachers ought to
get the word you out of their vocabulary. They ought to quit
saying that from the pulpit. You, if you don't do it, it ought
to be we. Right? What he says applies to
him as well as anybody else. You don't preach at people. You
don't yell at them. You're not going to convince
anybody by screaming at them, are you? But the Lord overrules
sometimes. Speak ye comfortably, or that
it is to the heart, to Jerusalem, and cry, that means lift up your
voice, unto her, not at her, unto her. And here's the mess
her warfare is accomplished. There's a brother Scott says
stack your arms stack your guns. Quit fighting being you reconciled
to God and. You reconcile warfare is accomplished
nothing for you to do the fights not yours the battles not your
salvation not in your hands it's in Christ's name. And it's accomplished
in Christ's name. Her iniquities pardoned. How? Christ put it away by the sacrifice
of himself. And she, Jerusalem, spiritual
Jerusalem, hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her
sins. Now, this is not my text, and we can sure go into that,
couldn't we? Read on down. It says down in
verse 6, cry. Again, he's instructing the preacher,
cry. And he said, what shall I cry? Isaiah said, what shall I cry?
And the Lord says, all flesh is grass. Here's the twofold
message of the evangelist. Not today, not today's. These televangelists are not
evangelists because they're not preaching this twofold message.
Isaiah was an evangelist. That is, going out with a message
from God. That's what an evangelist is,
one who travels here and there with a message from God. Do the
work of an evangelist, Paul told Timothy. What's the message?
What's to come out of the evangelist's mouth? Huh? Here it is, verse
6. Cry? What shall I cry? Say, all
flesh is grass. Will that get a crowd? Maybe
not, but God's sheep will hear it. But people aren't going to like
that. Who cares, God says. Who cares? You cry it anyway.
My people will hear it. They'll be convicted of their
sin. They'll see their grass. Read on. Because the Spirit,
look at it, all the goodliness thereof, though that is the goodliness
of flesh, is as the flower of the field. How's that, Lord? Verse 7. The grass is withereth,
the flower fadeth. because the Spirit of the Lord
bloweth upon it." That's the first thing. Isn't that what
I said Sunday? Isn't that what we always say? That the first
thing the Holy Spirit does, the first thing He reveals to the
heart of someone He's going to save is that they are sinner
before God, a holy God, in His hands, condemned, unrighteous, Good for nothing. What's good?
Do you save your grass clippings? Anybody? You save them? What
do you do with them? You cast them off. You discard
them. You don't need them. All flesh
is grass. The Lord's going to destroy all
flesh someday. The grass withereth, the flower
fadeth, the goodliness of the flesh. It's like the flower,
it faded. The word of our God shall stand
forever. All right, here's the second
thing he says to say. Verse 9, O Zion, or the margin says, O
thou that tellest good tidings to Zion. That's the gospel preacher.
Get up into the high mountain, O Jerusalem, or that is, O thou
that tellest good tidings to Jerusalem. Lift up your voice
with strength, or that is, with courage. Lift it up. Be not afraid, and just lift
it up in order that everybody might hear you. That's the only
purpose for lifting up your voice. Lift it up. Don't say it meekly
or timidly. Don't say it apologetically.
But say it unabashedly, dogmatically, authoritatively. If any man speak, let him speak
as God himself, the oracles of God. Say this, verse 9, Behold
your God. All flesh is grass, behold your
God. Verse 10, the Lord God, behold,
the Lord God will come with strong hand. Well, they say he has no
hands. A true evangelist doesn't. He
says he's got a hand, and you're in it. Right? Strong hand, and he can
crush you or he can exalt you. Right? I love that. I can never go tired of hearing
a man say that. Behold your God. Then he goes
on to say, and here's the third part of that message, Behold,
the Lord God will come, his arms shall rule over him, his reward
is with him, his work before him. Oh, let's camp here a while. Verse 11, He shall feed his flock
like a shepherd. The Lord, our shepherd, has come. Jesus Christ is his name. All
right, now turn over to chapter 42. Chapter 42. Chapter 42, and
he says here in verse 42, or verse 1, I mean, of chapter 42,
that he's going to be talking about
the Lord Jesus Christ. And he says here now, Behold,
you're grass. This is the message of the event.
You're grass. And your goodness is like grass. Behold, you're
God. He's God. You're in his hand.
Now he says, now that you've seen your utter unworthiness
and helplessness and nothingness, and you've seen God, his holiness
and his sovereignty Who he is, he said, now you need to behold
somebody else. Verse one, he said, now behold
my servant, whom I uphold, mine elect, in whom my soul delighted. Who's he talking about? Jesus
Christ, God's only servant, true servant, the suffering servant,
God's only elect. You see, God elected one man,
Christ. He said, I've exalted one, what
Nancy? Chosen from among the people. One man approved of God. One man, whoever lived, that
God Almighty approved of the life that he lived. And he said,
this is my elect. And everybody else is elected
in him. Chosen in him. He's God's choice, he said. His
choice servant. And everybody else is chosen
or elected in him. And he goes on to describe him.
He says, I'll put my spirit upon him and without measure. Not
like John, but without measure. He shall bring forth judgment,
or that is justice. He shall justify. Gentile. Oh, I'd like to stay there a
while. Verse 2. Now here it is. Here's what Jesus
said. Verse 2. He shall not cry. lift up or raise his voice in
the street. Jesus Christ was a preacher.
That's what he said over Mark 7, I believe it is. He said,
I came, he said, let's go into other towns that I may preach
for them. This is why I came, to preach. Sermon on the Mount
says that he went up into the mountain and sat down and taught,
taught spoke loud enough in order for everyone to hear him. He came. It says he shall not
raise his voice. You see, this is great. The Lord didn't come to try to
get people to believe on him. No, he knew his sheep. He knew them all, where they
were, And he went to where they were. He passed by countless
thousands of people. Didn't say anything to them.
He was on the trail of his sheep. The good shepherd had come looking
for his lost sheep. He left the ninety and nine,
the innumerable hosts in heaven looking for the one lost sheep.
And he didn't come to try to get people to believe on him.
No, he knew his sheep. He knew where they were. He went
to where they were and he called them. Calmly, deliberately, he
called them. And they followed him. He was
walking by one day, down around Galilee, and there was a fellow
there collecting money. He said, Matthew, follow me. And that fellow dropped his money.
Now, buddy, that's, it took fire to understand. He left his wallet
and followed Christ. He didn't raise his voice. He
didn't do anything to Matthew. He followed him. And he followed
him. Walking down by the sea of Galilee,
I believe it was, two fellas in a boat, Peter, Andrew, come
on, you too. They followed him. Walking down
the shore a little bit, James and John. James, John, come on. And explained. Didn't raise it. Follow me. Walking
along, a little fellow up a tree. He's like this. Come on down.
Go into your house. He came down. Married. Married. And on and on the story goes.
He didn't raise it, but. There are some rare occasions
in Scripture where it says that he did raise his voice. Rare
occasions. Not in the street. He didn't
get on the street corner because, like I said, he wasn't trying
to get anybody to believe him. Not in the street. All right?
This is what I want to show you. This may take—I originally had
it planned for two parts. It looks like it's going to be
three. Every one of these sayings, every one of these verses ought
to have a message by itself. It's ought to be a seven-part
message, because it's seven times it's recorded where the Lord
cried out, raised his voice. Now, if he says anything, it's
worth sitting up and paying attention to, if he hollers. All right, John chapter seven,
and this is the title of the message tonight. Sunday morning
and whenever. When Christ cried out loud. John chapter 7 is the first recorded
time and it says that he raised his voice. Now, men and women
cry aloud for many reasons, don't they? Many reasons. Anger. Anger generally makes
somebody raise their voice, doesn't it? The madder you get, the more
you raise your voice. Fear, I know preacher, or nervousness,
I know preachers who are just as calm, cool, and collected,
nice, and sweet, and meek, and humble out of the pulpit. When
they get up there, nerves take over, and man, the volume starts. It's just nerves is what that
is. Men and women, they can't help it. Urgency, a sense of
urgency will make you holler out on it. Hey, hey, hey! It'll
make you raise your voice. Or if you want to be heard, if
you really want somebody to hear you, did you hear that? Rebecca,
hey, and loud enough to be heard, you'll raise your voice. Joy,
whoopee, you know, and Donnie Bell will let out every now and
then, whoop, real loud or something. Joy will do that. He calls it
getting happy. Don't let that out to the Pentecostals
around. But it will, you know, joy will
make you holler out every now and then. I remember as a young
believer one time, as a young believer, I was sitting
on the front row of a Bible conference, and a fellow was preaching, and
I was getting so blessed. I was beside myself. I know I
was sitting six inches off that pew. But he said something, and
I just blurted it out. Praise the Lord! Out loud. Now, what have I done? What have I done? I looked around,
you know, big deal, you know. I wish that were a little more
spontaneous. Now, today and all that's just
wildfire. Wildfire without truth is dangerous. It's dangerous. All this that's
going on today is just a bunch of wildfire. There's no gospel.
There's nothing worth saying praise the Lord over. But truth
without a little emotion now, dead. dead, dry doctrine in it. At any rate, joy will make you
holler out every now and then. But our Lord never hollered,
never cried out out of fear or nerves, something like that. I have to believe that when he
cried out, it was with authority. He raised his voice. The Scripture
says his voice is as the sound of many waters, and I wouldn't
dare try to imitate that. We're going to hear it someday,
and we're going to describe it. It's going to sound like the
ocean, many waters roaring. It's not unpleasant, is it? The
ocean roaring, the waves crashing, it's not unpleasant. If it's
turbulent, it's deafening, yet it's something about it, isn't
it? It's glorious. Thunder, just
thunder. I love to hear thunder, don't
you? It doesn't scare me. It's power, isn't it? It's loud, but oh, it's power.
I believe the Lord raised His voice to add force to what He
was saying. Perhaps. I don't know fully. But here's the first time. It
says in John 7, verse—this may go seven messages. I keep dragging
my feet. John 7, verse 25. It said, Then said some of them
of Jerusalem, This is the story when the Lord stayed back and
didn't go up to the feast, the last great day of the feast,
and he stayed behind. They went on up and he came in
privately, secretly, and went into the temple. And then finally,
verse 25, some of them said, they said, Is not this he whom
they seek to kill? Is it just that Jesus fellow
that the leaders are trying to kill? Well, lo, verse 26, lo,
he speaketh boldly, and they're not saying anything to him. Do
the rulers know indeed, and they're saying this very sarcastically,
do they know indeed that this is the very Christ? Are the rulers
fooled too? Do they think this is the very
Christ? That's what they're saying. That's how they're saying this. These fellows were Methodists
and Presbyterians and Episcopalians. Same thing. Some big united people
of all faiths, Terry, were gathered at this feast. All faiths. Any but one faith. Anytime you
hear somebody say that, there are many people of different
faiths. They're all a bunch of heretics then. Right? Does Ephesians 4 say it's one
faith? Well, these were these people
of many faiths. Do they, the rulers, think he's the very Christ?
Verse 27, how be it? We know this fellow, this man,
whence he, we know where he's from. When Christ cometh, no
man knoweth where he's from or when he's going to come to be. It says, cried Jesus. Oh, I'd like to have heard that. He cried. He lifted his voice,
and it must have left these fellows shaking in their boots. He cried
in the temple as he talked, saying, and I wouldn't dare try to say
it like he said it, but he said, You both know me. Now, he said
this loud, people, loud. And what he's saying here, he's
saying it sarcastically to them. He says, Do you know me? For
you both know me and you know whence I am, or do you know me?
You think you know where I'm from. That's what he's saying. Do you now? Do you know where
I'm from? Oh, Jesus of Nazareth, you think
I'm just Jesus of Nazareth? born of Joseph and Mary. And
he's saying this loud, Joe. Loud. You know me, and you know
which I am. But, and I am not come. I am not come of myself. That is, by myself. I'm no mere
solitary man. I'm not. He that sent me. is true whom you know not. He that sent me is true whom
you know not. Read on. But I know him. I am
from him. He hath sent me. He is true. He hath sent me. What's he saying,
Terry? He said in John 17, 3, this is
eternal life, that they might know something. What? The true
God. The only true God and Jesus Christ
whom he has sent. True God and the sent one. This is eternal life. And it's
what he's saying to them, you don't know anything. You don't
have life, you don't know me. You don't know me. 1 John 4,
2 says every spirit that So he answered powerfully, loudly,
to these know-it-alls. What do you know? You think you
know me. And all these people today, I
say the same thing about all these Jesus lovers. Do you know
him? Oh, you don't know him unless
you know him. We don't know him unless we know
him as God Almighty. God manifest in the flesh. Immanuel. That's what the angel
said to Colin, didn't he? Call his name Immanuel. Why? It means God is in the flesh. God is manifest in the flesh.
And all these Jesus lovers today say, I know Jesus. I love Jesus.
Do you now? Do you now? Where's he from?
Oh, Nazareth. Oh, is he now? He's the great
I Am. That's who he is. So he answered
loudly and powerfully to these know-it-alls. And Proverbs 26,
4 and 5 says this. Listen to this. You might want
to jot it down. It says, Answer not a fool according
to his folly, lest you become like him. In other words, you
hear a fool spouting off his foolishness. It's time we just
all just shut up. Just leave him alone. He's a
fool and everybody knows it. He's opened his mouth and he's
revealed, he's left no doubt that he's a fool. Fool's known
by a multitude of words. But then the very next verse
says, Proverbs 26, 5 says, answer a fool according to his father. There's a time when you don't
answer your fellow because he's a fool. Just leave him alone,
he's a fool, he's talking like a fool. There's a time to answer
these fools and this was the time. The Lord said, I'm going
to answer these fools. I'm going to answer them. You know me? You think you know
me? You don't know me. You don't
know God. That's what he said. Here's the
second one, and I'll quit with this one. Here's the second one. John 7, and Brother Nyberg preached
on me. I may quit with him. I may not.
John 7, verse 37. It says, Well, in that last day,
that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, or spoke
loudly, saying, If any man thirsts, ho, every one that thirsts." One of the brothers and I were
just rejoicing in the study a while ago about how the Lord said in
Isaiah, He said, I have chosen you that you may know Me. That I am He. And then, one time they asked
Jesus Christ, they said, Who are you? The Pharisees, you remember?
Then they said, Who are you? If thou be the Christ, tell us
plainly. Who are you? He said, I'm the... They said, Who are you? He said,
Even the same I said unto you from the beginning. From the
beginning it went. from the beginning of time. Back
in Isaiah 55, he said this before. He had already cried this out.
Isaiah 55-1, he said, "'Ho!' everyone that thirsteth." And
he came back years later and said, "'Ho!' in the flesh, everyone
that thirsteth." Our God has spoken once, yea, twice, the same thing. Isn't that mercy? Mercy, Terry,
says it the first time. Anybody thirsty? Come, buy wine
and milk without money, without pride. Salvation's free. He came back to earth and said
it again. Any man thirsty? That's mercy, isn't it? Double
mercy. That's mercy and grace. If any
man thirsty. You see, there's a great crowd
of people here at this feast. We can't imagine how this place
was thronged. Jerusalem was a huge crowd. Literally thousands of people.
Thousands of people. A great crowd of people. Many
thousands. And our Lord cried aloud. Why? To be heard by everybody. Everybody. Everybody there heard Him holler. Now wait a minute. Everybody
didn't hear. Everybody had ears to hear, but
not everybody heard. They all heard. Paul said, Have they not
heard? Yea, verily, they have heard.
They all heard, dear. Look at verse 40. It says in
John 7, verse 40, Many of the people, therefore, when they
heard this, said, Well, of a truth, this is the prophet. Others who
heard him holler said, This is the Christ. But some said, Shall
Christ come out of Galilee? Hath not the Scripture said that
Christ cometh of the seed of David out of the town of Bethlehem,
and so forth? There was a division among the people because of him.
So you see there it says that some heard and they said, well,
this is the prophet. This is the prophet. Everybody
didn't hear, but some did. Verse 41 says, some said, now
here it is, here's the key. Some said, this is the Christ. This is the Christ. 1 John 5
says, Everyone that confesseth that Jesus is the Christ is born
of God. Some heard it. He hollered loudly
so everybody would hear, but evidently he had some sheep on
the back row, Nancy. On the back row. And they needed
to hear. And they heard. And they said,
This is the Christ. Everyone that thirsteth, come
unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the
scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living
water. This he spake, of the spirit
which they that believe on him should receive. For the Holy
Ghost was not yet given, because Christ was not yet glorified. Some said, others said, This
is the Christ. They heard his voice. Some sheep
heard the shepherd's voice, and they followed him. from that
day forward. You have to believe. One more, all right? One more.
John 11. Here's the third time the Lord
raised his voice. The third time. John 11. Look
at this. And you know this story. John
11. He was at the grave of a friend,
one whom he loved, was sick. and had died. And he was at the
grave, and he came, and they were weeping. People he loved
were mourning, very, very sorrowful. People he had eaten and drunk
with many times, Martha and Mary and Lazarus and others. And he loved them greatly, and
they were greatly grieved and sorrowful over the loss of this
dear brother. And verse 41, he came Now, it
says, verse 41, that they took away the stone. He came and he
said, take away the stone from the grave. And they objected,
Lord, he's been dead four days, he stinks. I said, take away
the stone. They rolled the stone back. And verse 41, they took
away the stone from the place where the dead was laid, and
Jesus lifted up his eye. Now he starts praying. I don't
know how loud he said this. I don't know if he said it out
loud or not. The Holy Spirit recorded it. And he said, Father,
I thank you. I thank thee that thou hast heard
me. And I knew that thou hearest me always. But because of the
people which stand in by, I said that they may believe that thou
hast sent me. And knowing the outcome of all
this, You know, before he ever came there, before he came, the
disciples were quitting and said, Lord, come, Lazarus is sick.
He said, Lazarus is not sick. He's not under death. He's not under death. He's sleeping. They said, well, if he's sleeping,
he'll be all right. He said, no, Lazarus is dead. But he said, but this sickness
is not under death. He said, it's unto the glory
of God. I know he smiled when he said that. Sickness is not
unto death. For the glory of God. I bet he
was smiling when he said that. Father, I know you hear me. And because of them that are
standing around here, that they may believe that you sent me. And knowing the outcome of this
whole scene, knowing the wonder and amazement and the joy and
the rejoicing that was soon going to come. the reunion that they
were going to have. He said he cried with a loud
voice. Oh my. Verse 43. When he had
thus spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come on out of
there. And he said, Dad, stand with
a smile on his face. I know he did. Oh boy, you imagine the scene.
Just imagine the scene. The joy and rejoicing that was
going on when this fellow came walking out of that grave. Christ turned around. Oh my, there's some voices. I
said, you raise your voice when out of joy? He raised his voice so that everybody
would know he was the one that called him. Lazarus come forth. There's no doubt who raised that
man from the dead. Right? Somebody said the reason
he called Lazarus' name, because if he just said, come forth,
every dead man would have risen. He did that quite often. Well,
every time he attended a funeral, the person raised. Every funeral
of the Lord. He can't stay dead in the presence
of life, can he? Can't do it. And he raised his
voice, and oh, imagine that scene of joy and rejoicing. What a
reunion! Mary, Martha, Lazarus, and the
Lord, one more time. They were shouting. That's shouting
ground. We're going to do a little shouting.
Scripture says, we're going to raise our voices in heaven, a
shout of acclamation. All right, let's stand and read
this miracle. Our Lord, we thank you for your Word. We
thank you for speaking to us. You've spoken to us in many ways,
still, small voice. You've spoken to us through the
reading of your Word. You've spoken to us through the
preaching of your Word. You've spoken to us very really. We know it. We know it. We've experienced it. shepherd's
voice, just as real as when you called Matthew and the rest. And we know what we've experienced,
Lord. We're not deceived. We don't
believe we're deceived at all. We've heard your voice. The reason
we know it is because it's been through your Word. It's been
through your Word. We dare not trust anything else
other than your Word. Your Word is sure. And all those
who hear you speak through your word, they have heard you speak. And Lord, we have heard you speak
very powerfully, very powerfully with authority. We have heard
you speak as no man speaks, spoken to our hearts. You revealed yourself
to us. You have chosen us that we may
know and understand that thou art, that you are the great I
am, that I am he. We thank you, Lord, for revealing
yourself to us. We thank you for speaking to
us. You said the sheep will know the shepherd's voice, and they'll
follow him. Dear Lord, we want to continue
to follow you by your grace. This is your voice, and this
is what we need. We need to hear from you time
and again. As we're led, all we like sheep have gone astray,
and we're led here and there, we thank you for that promise
that another voice will not follow, a stranger we will not hear or
follow. We only know the shepherd's voice.
Speak to us time and again through your word until that great day
when you do break your audible silence, when you do break that
silence and you speak from heaven one more time. And we will shout,
there will be a shout of the trumpet and a shout of the saints
below the bridegroom coming. We look forward to that day.
In Christ's name we pray. Let us be waiting in His name.
Amen.