Hear ye, hear ye. Hear ye, hear ye. That's what the town crier used
to say when he came before the town with a message from the
king. Hear ye, hear ye. And everybody
would gather around and If it was a message from the king,
it was a mighty important one. And people would give ear, and
the town crier would give his message. Well, the declaration
of God's word is a word from the king. It's the words of the
king. And it's far more important than
a personal message from Bill Clinton. far more important. And those
whom he sends to declare these words from the King, he says
to them, cry aloud, spare not, say, Hear ye, hear ye. That's exactly what it says in
verse 1, doesn't it? Hear ye. Hear ye. You know, that is our
biggest problem. Our, I say it. We've all got
the same spiritual affliction, bad hearing. I've got bad physical hearing,
but we've all got the same physical or spiritual affliction by nature,
bad spiritual hearing. How much does the Word of God
talk about the hearing? How often does Christ talk about
the hearing? How often? Go through sometimes
and look at it. And see how many times our Lord
himself says, having ears, you hear not. And through the Revelation,
he says, you that hath ears. How many times does he say this?
Seven times? You that hath ears, he that hath ears, let him hear
what the Spirit say. Hear ye, hear ye. If I got everybody's
attention, every eye is looking. Hear ye,
hear ye. Hear what? Verse 1, Hear ye,
children, the instruction of a father, and attend, attend
to no understanding. Hear and attend. Hear and attend. One thing to
hear is another thing to attend, another thing to do what you
hear. Scripture talks about that. The fool is he that heareth only,
is not doer. The word has no place in him.
But the wise are they that hear and do the words, that do the
work. Hear ye children, he said, hear
ye children, the instruction of a father. Our Lord said, except
we be converted and become as little children, we'll not enter the kingdom of
heaven. Children, you've got to hear the word of God like
little children, every time. There are some in here who have
heard the things I'm going to say and these very words and
probably read this very chapter many times over. But the scripture
says we're not going to hear, we're not going to understand
unless we hear it every time as little children. The apostles
had walked with the Lord for about three years, and he said
to them, except ye be converted and become as little children. They had reached a point where
they thought they knew something. And he said, except you become
as little children, you're not going to get anything. This word
is not going to mean anything to us except we receive it as
little children. Little children receive young
children. If you sit them down and start
telling them something, of great interest and importance, start
telling them they'll generally hang on every word. They listen
attentively, don't they? They'll attend to what you say. They'll listen carefully to you. If you know something and tell
them something, they'll listen to you until they hit about thirteen.
But before then, as children, they'll listen to you, won't
they? The scripture says that's the way we're going to have to
listen to the word of God. Hear ye, children, the instruction
of a father." This is not this preacher talking, this is not
Solomon talking, this is the God of heaven, the heavenly Father
talking here. The reason it's so wide, the
reason it's so deep, the reason it's so profound, everything
is said here. That Proverbs 8 that we read,
how profound, how glorious, how… yet how clear it speaks of Christ. Only God could write this book.
And God is speaking here. He says, Here are ye children.
If you are his child, you will hear. He said, My sheep will
hear my voice. He said in John 6.45, They shall
all be taught of God. And he's quoting from Isaiah
54 when he says, All thy children shall be taught of thee, and
great shall be their peace. Where does peace come? By hearing
the Word. They'll get peace when they hear
this Word. Hear ye, hear ye! I'm going to say that about every
five minutes in this message, so as to make sure somebody's
listening. This is not my sermon this morning.
This is not Solomon. This is the Word of the living
God. If he's your father, hear him, child. Hear ye, child. Verse 2, I give you good doctrine. Nancy, I've got some good doctrine
for you. A lot of fellas today disdain
that very word, don't they? Don't preach doctrine. Ah, listen
to me, I've got some good doctrine for you this morning. Good doctrine. I like good doctrine.
Don't you? Huh? I like good doctrine. I just like to hear, like to
preach it. I like to read about good doctrine. And the context
here, good, it's good for you, but it's able to make you wise
unto salvation. That's what this doctrine will
do. Doctrine is nothing more than teaching. That's what the
word means, teaching. I give you some good teaching.
It's able to make you wise unto salvation. Verse 2, forsake it
not. Listen, as Paul said in Hebrew,
don't let it slip. Don't let it slip. Listen, verse
3. Now, I was my father's son. I
was my father's son, tender and only beloved in the sight of
my mother. Tender and only beloved, my father's
son. And verse 4, he taught me, he
taught me also, and he said unto me, he said, Let your heart So
let your heart retain my words. Keep my commandments and live. This is what my father taught
me. This is what my father, my earthly father, taught me by
God's grace. He did. He taught me these very
things in the ways of my God, but more specifically, This is
what the Heavenly Father teaches all his children. He teaches
all his children good doctrine. Good doctrine. And 2 John, verse
9, says this. Listen. What is this good doctrine
that God the Father teaches all his children? They shall all
be taught. What is this good doctrine? 2
John 9 says this. He that transgresseth," or sins, that's everybody. Well, but he
that transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ
is not a heathen. Here's good doctrine, the doctrine
of Christ. Good news, another word for good
news, good doctrine, the doctrine of Christ. all concerning Christ. That's what the Heavenly Father
teaches all His children. That's the shepherd's voice,
is the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's what all the sheep hear
and receive and believe and are saved through here. Good doctrine. And it's not just a man getting
up and preaching doctrine. It's a man preaching Christ.
It's not just preaching a sermonette. a good sermon, a good thing.
It's preaching Christ. And this is who and what the
sheep must hear to be saved. I give you good doctrine. This
is what my Heavenly Father taught me. This is what he teaches all
his children. He teaches them Christ. That's what Christ said
there in that very verse I was quoting, John 6. He said, They
shall all be taught of God, and every man that hath heard and
learned of the Father This is exactly what God teaches
everybody he saved, who Jesus Christ is. Read on. Verse 5. So get wisdom. Get wise. Wise up, would you? He said. Wise up. Be wise. Oh, that they
were wise. Be wise. But more importantly
here, who's this talking about? Get wisdom. I gave it away while ago in Proverbs
8. Who is wisdom? Christ. That's so clear. Was that clear
to you as we were reading Proverbs 8? Oh, if it was, blessed are
your eye. Blessed are you, John bar Sheasley. Flesh and blood didn't reveal
that to you, and neither did John Sheasley I. But your Heavenly
Father, your Father which is in heaven. you as you read Proverbs
8, you saw Christ just jumped out at you, right? And many people
out there having eyes, they don't see. They can read that and see
it as just some kind of philosophy of wisdom. Having ears, they
don't hear. They don't hear the shepherd's
voice. You read it, you saw Christ in it, didn't you? Blessed are
you. Flesh and blood didn't reveal
that to you, but your Father which is in heaven revealed Christ
to you. Get Christ. That's what he's
saying here. Get Christ. Get Christ, who is
wisdom personified, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom
and knowledge. Get him. Whom to know wisdom. Whom to know is to have eternal
life. Get him. Get Christ. He said, Get Christ. How do you
get Christ? Huh? Look at verse 4 again. See if you notice something here.
He says, He taught me also and said unto me, Let thine heart
retain my words. Verse 5. get wisdom, get understanding,
forget it not, neither decline from the words of my mouth."
How do you get cry? How does one receive cry, get
cry? It's the Word, what I'm doing
right now. God, it pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching. Preaching anything? No, preaching
the Word, preaching Christ, preaching Christ from the Word. Christ
is the Word, and the Word is Christ. And Peter said, This
is the Word which by the gospel which preached unto you. This
is the Word, and this is how we get acquainted with Christ.
Do you want to know Christ? How do you know him? He's not
going out and communing with the trees and the stars. Uh-uh. to the Word. This is how we know
Christ. This is how we become acquainted
with Christ. Oh, but I might know Him. How do you know Him?
Through the Word. You're preaching the Word. Get
to know Him through the Word. That's what he's saying here.
Get Christ. Get to know Christ through the Word. Faith. Getting
Christ, or laying hold on Christ, getting Christ, laying hold on
Christ, is just another word for faith, isn't it? Laying hold
on Him by faith. How do you lay hold by faith?
Well, how does faith come? By hearing, and hearing by the
Word. It's also joined together, you
understand. It's also interconnected. Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the Word of God. Look at verse 5. Don't decline
from the words of my mouth. What is it to decline from the
words of his mouth? It's not to attend it. It's not
to be about it. It's not to be where it is. It's
like somebody says, I've got something to eat here, and you
say, I decline. That's what it means to decline
from the Word of God. If you're hungry, everybody that's
hungry now, I'm already hungry. You hear my stomach growling?
I hope you don't. That's the bad thing about this
microphone right here, you know? I've had people on tape say,
what was that? But I'm hungry. You know why I want to be right
after this service? Right down there eating. Well, I tell you,
if somebody's spiritually hungry, they won't decline from this
table until they get filled up. And even then, it's so good,
they've got to come back for seconds, and some of you, thirds. That's what it means to decline.
Back over in chapter 8, did you notice that? Verse 34, look over
there. We've got to be under the sound
of the word, people. We've got to have our children
under the sound of the word. Nobody is saved apart from the
preaching of the gospel. We must be under the sound of
the word. Nobody grows apart from the preaching
of the gospel. Nobody has faith apart from hearing
the preaching of the gospel. Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the word of God. And this is the word which by
the gospel, Peter said, is preached unto you. Proverbs 8 verse 34, he says,
Blessed is the man that heareth me. You can't hear him unless
you're in His presence, can you? Watching daily at my gates, waiting
at the post of my door. Where are his gates and where
are his doors? It's a church. It's a church. Watching daily,
waiting. Don't decline from the words
of my mouth, he said. The words of Christ. When gospel
is preached, Christ is speaking. Now, why does he start with us? You think about that? I did,
and John, when I read down through here, I think, why is he saying
to me, get wisdom, don't forsake, forsake her not, this and that? Why does he start with us? Well, it is our responsibility
to hear, to believe. It is true. Listen, it is true. Nobody preaches this more than
I do. It is true that none will hear
and none will believe and none will come to Christ unless God
calls them, unless God chooses, unless God elects, unless God
brings them in. But that's his business. That's his business, right? What's
my business? My business is to hear, and to
attend, and to seek. He said, seeking me, you shall
find me when you search. Right now, we know nobody's going
to search, nobody's going to seek, nobody's going to call,
except T-Dub, but that's his business, isn't it? That's God's
business. What's your business? To seek. You shall find when you search
with all your heart. Your heart. Whosoever shall call
on the name of the Lord shall be saved." Now, we know, Charles,
we know that nobody's going to call unless he first calls. We
know that number. That gives God all the glory
when we say that. But that's his business. What's
your business, Charles? Call. Call on him. Call on him. Believe. Believe. That's our business, isn't it?
Believe on the Lord. I can't believe unless the Lord
gets me. Believe. Come to Christ, he said. Come
unto the Lord. I can't come. You better. You better come. So am I struggling with that?
Well, I'll just come when God is sovereignly willing to bring
me to God. That's true, but you'd better get there. You just better
get there now. How? Don't ask me, just do it. I'm not writing a book on how
to. This doesn't either. It just says come, doesn't it?
Believe me. Verse 6, he says, Forsake her
not, forsake Christ not. forsake him not, he shall preserve
thee." I'm substituting Christ for—he is the substitute for
wisdom, and every mention of wisdom is in the feminine tense
here. Forsake him not, he shall preserve
thee. Forsake him not. Now listen,
people. I don't want to give anybody
the impression that And surely no one does who
has heard preaching from this pulpit more than twice. I'm not
giving anybody the impression that this thing has anything
to do with us. All right? Me forsaking him, and he'll preserve
me. If I don't forsake him, he won't.
He'll preserve me. Now, my salvation and your salvation
and all salvation depends upon Jesus Christ preserving us and
not forsaking us. That's what he said in Hebrews
13. He says, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. That's what my salvation depends
upon. There have been times when I,
like Peter, and there will be other times when I, like Peter,
forsake him. And my salvation depends upon
his promise. He said, I'll never leave thee,
nor forsake thee. Hear ye, hear ye! Isn't that
good? Isn't that good doctrine? Isn't
that good doctrine? Charles is smiling. Hear ye,
hear ye. He said, I'll never leave you,
nor forsake you. That's where your salvation depends. But he
says right here, he says, don't forsake him and he'll preserve
you. Well, you know, I don't want
to forsake Him either. I don't like it when I forsake
Him. There's a verse, I wrote it down, Jonah 2, verse 8. He says, He that observeth lying
vanities forsaketh his own mercy. I do that all the time. What's
lying vanities? Anything. Vanity of vanities,
as Christians says, all is vanity. It's all a lie. It's all a lie. Here's a good thing, here's enjoyment,
I'm going to get some peace, some contentment out of this,
poof! Soap bubble. Like a child, you know, don't
cry, it's lying vanity, don't observe that. Oh, the Word endureth forever.
Christ is eternal life. Don't forsake him, he'll preserve
thee. in time for everything else is
gone. You shall preserve this, and hold it," and here's the
sin, "...and hold it on to Christ." And I like old brother Maurice,
sweet old fellow, well, if he doesn't hear that, I want to
tell you, sweet young fellow that Maurice is, he always says,
"...hug up to Christ." You know, if you hear him say that, just
hug up to him. in that southern, southwestern
Kentucky. Well, if you hug up to Christ,
you'll find that He's hugging up to you. He's holding on to
you. You'll find that all along. You
sure will. He shall preserve thee. Verse
7, Love him, and he'll keep thee. love him, he'll keep thee." That's
what the Father of Greats said. He said, I love all them that
love me. 1 Corinthians 16, I believe it is, verse 22, I think it is,
Paul says, If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, he's going
to go to hell. Let him be a curse. Do you love him? Peter, do you love me? Oh, Lord,
I don't know. I'm not sure. Yeah, Lord. But
you for certain, I know that. You know I love you. Love him. Do you love him? Huh? If you do, it's because
he first loved you. But you do love him, don't you? Don't you? Why is he use the feminine tense
here throughout all this. You ask yourself that question?
She. What is she for wisdom? Well, I believe it's because
a she is like a mother, or the feminine tense of mother is one
that gives birth. Let's see, Martha is one that
gives birth. And by Christ, Christ is the one, by his Word, we are
born again. And all things, when we're born
again, we're made new creatures in Christ or from Christ, from
his side or from his womb, all things become new. Wisdom. Enlightenment. All right, so
in that sense, that's the reason it's used, feminine ten. He shall
keep thee. And I can't help but think of
1 Thessalonians 2 where he said, Some do not receive the love
of the truth. The love of the truth. Well,
I do. Do you? I do. I love the truth. The truth, I tell you, has set
me free. It's set me from every wind of
doctrine that comes and goes. I'm not tossed to and fro, set
me free from all these false prophets and preachers that come
and go. The truth has set me free. The truth has kept me, is keeping
me. What is the truth? Pilate asked
that, didn't he? What is truth? Christ said it
in John 14.6, I am the truth. I am the truth. He keeps me.
Christ is the truth. Verse 7. Wisdom, or Christ, is
the principle of all. He's the principle. I know back
in school you had a principle, didn't you? Things are so messed
up now. In my daughter's school, there
are a couple or three principles. There are. If you've got one
principle, here in this school, I'm principal of this school,
and he got a principal of the principals. You know, so he told the kid,
go see the principal. He said, well, where? Where do I go? There
used to be one principal in the school I went to. Man, I'm glad
my daughter didn't have him. And maybe I don't. Maybe I'm
not. But they still did that back then. He is the principal. Christ is the principal. He's
the head. In other words, he was the boss. The principal one is the boss. He's the head. He's the principal
one. Everybody answers to him. He
makes all the rules. He gives out the judgment. He's
the principal. Christ is the principal one.
He is the preeminent one. Christ is his Lord. That's what
he is. He is the principal one. Christ
is all. In Him are all principalities
and power. In Him, Christ is all. All foolishness,
all wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, redemption, all salvation, all
acceptance. He's the principal one. Need
something? See Him. Go to the principal.
Go to Him. Principal. He's the one. Therefore, he says, get Christ,
verse 7. Get him. Get him, you got a law. With all thy getting, he said.
Therefore, get Christ, with all thy getting, get an understanding
of him. With all thy heart. Excuse me. With all thy getting. With all
thy getting, with all thy heart. Not a double-minded, Scripture
says a double-minded man is unstable in all his way. Now, I believe
everybody in here even knows they want Christ or they don't. God sure does. Scripture says, God is not mocked. He knows. Double-minded man or
woman is unstable in all their way. One day they're real interested
in the gospel, the next day they're not. The Scripture says here,
Get him with all thy getting. My son, give me your heart. With
the heart are the issues of life. In the heart, give me thy heart.
How much of it? All of it. With the whole heart. All thy
getting. Get Christ. Verse 8. Verse 8. Exalt him, exalt Christ,
and he shall promote you. Isn't that great? Exalt Christ,
and he shall promote thee. Worship Christ, and he'll promote
you. Exalt Christ, praise him, and
God will give unto you eternal life. Turn over to John 12, John
chapter 12, and see what he says himself about it. John 12. This
is the greatest promotion of all, people. You waiting for
a promotion down at the plant? It'll only be a quarter on the
hour. Or would you like to have unsearchable
riches? John 12. From death to life,
would you like to go from rags to riches? Huh? From a sinner to a son of God
himself? John 12, look at verse 26. Our
Lord himself says, Amen, serve me, let him follow me, and where
I am, Where is he? At the right hand of the majesty
on high. Where is that picture? I don't
know. I haven't heard. Ear heard, neither have entered
into the heart of man the things God has prepared for him. For
them that love him. That's where he is. And there
shall my servant be also, if any man serve me, him will my
Father honor with eternal life and eternal blessings, unsearchable."
Hear ye? Hear ye? Anybody? Hear ye? Hear ye? Exalt him. Worship He'll promote you. Hear ye, hear ye. I'm just preaching Christ. Christ now. Right now. Right where I'm talking
to you. Don't worry about a thing else.
Ain't nothing on the top side of this earth worth worrying
about or of any significance. Virgie Jones sat right there
one Sunday. and good health. About 36 hours later, she was
dead. Oh, that they were wise. Get
wisdom. Wise up. You listen to what I'm
saying. I ain't preaching a sermon. I'm
preaching your life. This is a matter of life and
death. And it comes right here. The first nine says he'll give
you an ornament of grace. He's the one that has it. He's
the only one that has this grace to give. You want an ornament
of grace? You ladies, I don't know what
you want out of your husbands. You want a diamond ring? You
want a necklace? Married? You want Steve to buy
you? What do you want him to buy you? You want him, don't you? What
do you want from God? What do you want from Christ?
What do you want out of life? What do you want? You pretty much
ask God and he'll give it to you. That's right. You know, God gives
people pretty much what they want. Yes, he does. Yes, he does. The world says
we want the world, and they get the world. A believer says, I've got to have Christ. I want
Christ. I want to know him, be found
in him. Lord, you know I pursue these
other things, but you know I love you, and you know what I want.
I want you. I want you. Well, he'll give it, an ornament
of grace. Hey, look at it, verse 9. Yeah,
a crown of glory shall he deliver to you. Deliver it, hand deliver
it, crown of glory. What's that mean? salvation itself. And when we
die, trusting Christ, believing Christ, that he's going to meet
us personally and give us that helmet of salvation, that crown
of glory. Enter in, my beloved. Enter in. And that which I have prepared
for you for the foundation of the world. Enter in. Hear ye, hear ye. Here, O my son, my daughter. Here, Jennifer, Andrew, children,
young people, Catherine. Here, O my son, my daughter. Here. Did you hear all that? Did you hear anything I said
this morning? Did you hear anything he said this morning? Preaching
Christ. Oh, my son, receive these things. Would you receive these things?
He that receiveth, to him giveth he the right and the power and
the privilege to become sons of God, which were born, not
of blood, not of flesh, nor the will of man, but of God. But as many as receive. Hear,
and receive my saying, the years of thy life shall be many. I've
taught you, verse 11, I've taught thee in the way of wisdom this
morning in telling you about Christ. Christ, I've led you
in right paths, right path. I'm trying to tell you about
the path of righteousness which we must have, which Christ alone
can lead us into. You've got to have it. You've got to be righteous to
be with God. Brother Fred Wood called this
morning and said, What are you preaching on, Fred? He said,
Righteousness. I said, That's good. He speaks about that more
than 500 times in the Bible. And we've talked for about 15
minutes about righteousness. You've got to have it. Right
paths. Righteousness. Paths of righteousness.
You've got to be in it. You've got to be in this way.
John, we've got to be in this path of righteousness. Is that
right living? It's right believing. It's Christ. He is our righteousness. He is our righteousness. I've
taught you in the way of Christ. Christ is the way, lead thee
in the right path. I'm pointing you to Christ. All
you need to know to make you wise unto salvation. I'm not
telling you what to do this morning. One of our young ladies, a friend
of hers, was getting tired of going to church where he was
going to church, because he said, All they do
is tell you what to do down there. All they do, all a preacher knows
is get up and say, You ought to do this, you ought to do that,
or tell them, You ought not to do this, you ought not to do
that. You can't do that and be a Christian. And I'm not sitting up here telling
you what to do except trust Christ. Is that a hard thing? Believe
Christ. I'm not telling you how to walk
to be righteous. I'm pointing you to Christ, who is the way
of righteous. I'm telling you, just believe
him. Just trust him. The way of acceptance with
God, the way of remission from sins by his blood, don't have
to come to Christ. I'm saying, like Scott would
say, come to Christ right now. Don't move a muscle, no. Don't
come down here where you don't have the morning's bent. We don't have an altar down here. But we do have an altar, which
they that minister about the sanctuary have no part in. We
have an altar that's a spiritual one. It's Jesus Christ. You come
to the altar, you come to the morning's bench, and that's Christ. But you don't have to move a
muscle to come to Christ. Right now in your heart. It sounds
like some invitation. It is. Surprise! I'm given the invitation. But not like they say, don't
come to me, don't come to me. I'm telling you, come to Christ.
He's the one that said that. Come. Come. Get him. Get him. Tell you, if there's
anything in this life that we want, If there's anything in this life
that I want, what do I do? What do you do? Say, if there's
something you want, what do you do? You go get it, don't you,
buddy? You don't even ask for the little
life. You go get it, right? Get Christ. I want him. I don't know about
you. I'm going to have him. If somebody's there, somebody
wants him, they can have him. They got it. But the problem
is, they don't want it. You can't blame God. Verse 12. When you go, if you do, and I
taught you in the way of wisdom, I led you in right paths, he
says, when you go, if you go to Christ, if you come to Christ,
when you go, your steps won't be straightened. Straightened
means like in a hard place, difficult walking. No, no, no, no. Oh, his ways are easy. His yoke
is easy. I was watching, went up to a
horse show up in Lexington, and a big old percher on, about 18
hands high, about one ton, 2,000 pounds. His name was Pete. Pete. And old Pete, they were
trying to put that yoke on Pete, and he was rearing up. Boy, the
crowd was rearing back. A ton of horse flesh now. Somebody
hollered out, oh for Pete's sake. He's big. They're just trying
to put the yoke on him. He had it on before. Finally
they got that yoke on him and he settled right down. But that
yoke wasn't hard. Old Pete, I'd let it run through
his mouth. I'd had that on before. That's
not hard. Padded, it's not. It's all right.
I'll wear it. get in line with the rest of
these people. There's nothing hard about that. It's a foolish
wagon. Christ says, my yoke is easy,
my burden is light. Well, I don't want to be that. It's easy. It's the easy way. You know, the scripture says
the way of the transgressor is hard. Andrew, if you seek and
come to know Christ now, if you don't, If you seek the world
and go the way of the world, it's a hard road, buddy. It's
a hard road. It's a hard road to hoe. Trying
to keep up with all your cronies and all your peers, it's hard. The way of this world is hard,
isn't it? If you had been that way, it's
a hard way. It will harden you, too. You come to Christ now. Remember
thy Creator in the days that I used. When you run, as Paul said in
Romans 12, let us run the race set before. When you run, you
won't stumble. Run to Christ, straight to Christ, as fast as
you can. You won't stumble. You won't
stumble. You won't fall. That's what the
word means. You won't fall. How? He said that looking unto him.
Keep your eyes on him, he won't fall. In verse 25 and 6, it says,
look at it, let your eyes look right on. Look right on. Here
he is, here he is. Hey, sir! Joseph! Look right
on. Don't look down, don't look in,
don't look at your steps. I'm not making too much progress.
Look on! Christ is come. But I'm, but
I'm, don't look down, look out. Look on. Right on. Let your eyelids
look straight before thee. Straight before thee. Isn't that
wonderful? Hear you, hear you. Verse 26, ponder the path of
your feet, where you're headed, let your ways be established,
find out which direction you want to go, decide on it. Verse 27, turn right or left,
look right on, and get to Christ. Oh, somebody hear me this morning.
Hear me. Hear him. Verse 13, I'll quit. Take fast
hold of instruction. Fast hold. You're taking fast
hold of something. That means hold on hard. Hannah,
when she was a little girl, now she's getting so old, it's hard
to get her to hug me at all. That's breaking my heart. There's
nothing breaking my heart more than that. getting independent,
you know. Ain't got time to hug Maddy. Used to, though, when I'd pick
her up in my arms, she'd squeeze her like that, and her breath
was not going out of her mouth. But I didn't mind. Didn't mind. Loved her every minute of it. Choking me. Loved her. She'd
taken fast hold. Fast hold. You know, you can
also say take hold fast Today is the day of salvation. Today. Let him not go. Keep him. He's
your life. He's your life. And as I said
in the beginning, this is—Christ is the gospel. Christ is the
gospel. The gospel is Christ. Lay hold on Christ and the gospel.
Don't forsake this gospel. Don't let it go. Keep it. Christ said, He that keepeth
my words, him it is that loveth me, and I will love him, and
my Father will come unto him, and we will make our abode with
him. What's that? The gospel! No separating Christ from his
gospel. Keep it! It's not everywhere
to be found. Very hard to find. If you find
it, let it not go. It's your life. Christ is life. His words are words of life,
words of wisdom. Now, I gave you good doctrine
this morning. Save him, not hear ye, hear ye. Hear ye, hear ye. Get Christ. Get Christ. Thanks for this food, and then
thanks for the food downstairs as well. Everybody come on down.