Seventeen now. Chapter seventeen. Someone once said. It is difficult. to get a crowd where the only
attraction is God. That's another one of those anonymous
statements. I think sometimes those are the
best and the truest. Nobody gets glory for them, but
let me repeat that. It is difficult. to get a crowd
where the only attraction is God. And I can see that clearly in our
day. Clearly, very clearly. I tried to briefly count heads
this morning. There may be about forty people
here, I don't know. Because all we have here is this
right here. This is it. We're going to open
the Word again and we're going to read it and we're going to
study it together. That's all we're going to do. No entertainment. Our society is so fast-paced
and so materialistic so entertainment-oriented that it's difficult to find anybody
who's just interested in the eternal things, interested in
the Word of God, isn't it? And the sad thing is I really
see it. I see it. Sometimes I see it
in the church. I see it. I see it here. If we were having a service tonight,
we'd see it. You see, we have so much. We are rich. It's what the Lord said to the
church. In one place, he said, we are
rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing. And
knowest not that you're poor and miserable, blind and naked. We have so much, and we are so busy trying to
pay for and maintain what we do have that we don't have time
to properly thank God who gave us everything. So is it. It's pitiful. We're
a sad lot. So few people who take the time
to worship, study, meditate, thank God properly. That's why
we're here. That's the primary reason we're
here, is to thank God. Thank God. There's so very few worshipers,
really. Thank you, faithful. David said it in Psalms 12, verse
1. He said, Help, Lord. The godly man seeth, and the
faithful fail from among the children of men. Help, Lord. The godly man seeth, and the
faithful are failing from among the children of men. There's signs of apostasy everywhere,
signs of apostasy abound even in this place. I would not
be a faithful watchman if I did not take note and warn. Signs of apostasy abound. It scares me. It scares me. This is a sermon with three parts,
and these things are contained in this sermon, three parts.
Number one, men ought to worship God. Thank God. That's what worship
is, just thanking God. Men ought to thank God. They
ought to worship God. Number two, men ought to seek
God. Men ought to seek God. Number
three, men ought to call on God. Number one, men ought to worship.
Look at our text here in Luke 17. Men ought to worship. Look
at verse 11 and 12. It came to pass as he went to
Jerusalem that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee,
and as he entered into a certain village—and I'm still struck by that. passed through it. The Lord of
glory passed through this planet, walked through this planet. He passed through it and he stopped
in certain places. He stopped for certain people,
as a little fellow up a tree, as an infamous woman at a well,
an old ragged blind man by the road, certain places, certain
villages for certain people. And he stopped for certain people
in here. The Lord of Glory, who could have passed you by, stopped
for you. Men ought to worship. Well, he
passed through, and he stopped in a certain village. Why? Because
there was a certain fellow there. from one of these tents. And
there were lepers there, it says. There met him ten men that were
lepers who stood afar off. Leprous men who stood afar off. And the Lord came where they
were. More of that in the picture of
salvation. Lepers. We are lepers. We're lepers. You know that?
The leprosy of sin is within us. Rotting. making everything we touch unclean. Our very breath, unclean. Right? Leprous. Sin. Spiritual leprosy. Unclean. Defiled. Dying. Leprosy is always faith. Dying. Far off. By nature, we're far off from
God, aren't we? At one time, you who were strangers, we were
far off. You who were far off, keep us
here. Where you were, you leper, he came by where you were and
healed you. Once far off from God by nature,
without hope, without God, lepers, but he came and healed you. You know, everybody's a
leper, but there's some people that are just religious lepers.
They've got the outside cleaned up. Look at it here. We'll see
it here. Verse 13, it says, And they, every one of them, lifted
up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. Every one of these ten lepers
lifted up their voice and said, Jesus. One of the brethren was talking,
you were talking the other day, saying how everybody's religious.
It's getting popular. Remember saying that? Rick, you
remember saying that to me? It's getting popular. Everybody,
there's no—even the vilest construction worker, even the—no matter who—everybody's
religious. Everybody believes on Jesus.
Everybody. It's popular now. It's vogue. Is that the word? I don't know
if it is. But it's popular. Jesus, you
know, everybody gets in trouble at one time. Everybody calls
on God. And many make a profession, join
a church, and believe on Jesus, don't they? And they all sing
the Psalms. Oh, how I love Jesus, you know?
Jesus, Savior, Pilate, they all sing the songs, don't we? What
a friend we have in Jesus. Just as I am. Amazing grace. Everybody sings the songs. They
all sing it. Jesus, Jesus. Something about
that name. Go through the motions of religion.
Our Lord says, you call me master. And you say, well, Because I
am. You know, he's not master to
everybody. He's not Lord. Some call him Lord and Lord with
their lips, and their hearts fire up and believe in that.
Aren't they? Verse 14 says that when
he saw them, he said, Go show yourselves unto the priest. Everybody
goes to church. Sunday morning, everybody's in the synagogue
of their choice. You seen these bumper stickers? They say, go
to church on Sunday. You seen that? Truck drivers
have them on the back, don't they, Joe? A lot of church. Attend the church of your choice. Eat the poison of your choice. Everybody goes to church. Everybody. Few men come to Christ. Everybody's going to church,
God, and God relieves people out of their troubles. Quite
often, doesn't He? Look at it, verse 14. He said,
Go, show yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass
that as they went, they were all cleansed. Every one of them
were cleansed. Everybody gets in a spot, Nick,
and they call on God, and then generally they get out of it,
don't they? God's merciful. His rain falls on the just and
the unjust. Send rain, the crops are dry,
and God sends rain. Does that mean that He heard
their prayer? No. No. He's just merciful to the unjust
as well as the just. And He brings people out of there
to enter their condemnation is what He's doing. Right? I told a fellow on his deathbed,
you know, that lived all his life for himself and never came
to worship, never thanked God. I said, Bud, I said, this thing
of seeking God is when you're alive, not when you're dying.
Seeking God is a full-time thing. Thank God when you're well. That's
when you ought to thank Him the most. Call on Him the most when
you're well, not when you're sick. Everybody does that. Everybody wants to have a mess,
don't they? Well, look at it. Verse 15 says,
one of them, one out of ten, One of them, when he saw that
he was healed, no, nine of them, ten of them were cleansed,
outwardly, got their outward leprosy. One was healed. There's
a difference. One was healed. This is a type
of true conversion. This man, this is a man who had
his spiritual leprosy healed, his sins washed away by the blood
of Christ. his sins forgiven. He was one
who had a need of his sins removed. Call on the Lord evidently out
of his heart, and the Lord saved his soul. Not only cleansed his
body, but saved his soul. Real healing. He heals everybody
that has a need of healing. Quite often he heals, cleanses
those that have need of cleansing. But he heals everybody that needs
healing. I need my sins put away, Lord.
He'll do it. Go home. Said, done. Asked, received. And it says
that he was healed, look at it, and turned back. He turned back. Ten fellows,
they're heading off, they saw the priest, went to church, stand,
and down to the church, yeah, and ten of them were cleansed
and one of them was healed. Till I've heard the same message,
what I've heard." What'd he do? Turn back. Where'd he turn? To Christ. He turned to Christ. Those other fellows went their
way. He turned to Christ. Turn back. That's repentance.
That's another word for repentance. To turn. He repented, he says,
with a loud voice, glorified God. This is a real leper, who
really calls, and who really saved, and he comes and he really
worships. Not what a friend he is. What a saint! Not the great physician
he is. I mean, he sang a song, didn't
he? The great physician! He was the
seat. He sat with a loud voice, glorified
God. Why did he come back? What did
he do? Here's three things he did. Look at it. Three things.
It says, with a loud voice he glorified God. Glorified God
is number one. First thing he did in his thing
of worship is he glorified God. Secondly, it says verse 16, he
tore down his faith. Where? At Jesus Christ's feet. You can't
worship and glorify God except through Christ. He came to Christ. That's God with us. That's who
Christ is. He's God. No man knoweth the
Father save the Son. No man worshipeth the Father
save whom he worshipeth the Son. He fell down at the Son's feet,
at Christ's feet, and worshiped him. He knew that by him, through
him, to him, are all things. Christ was all. He was all his
healing, all his cleansing. And he fell down at Christ's
feet. That's humility, isn't it? Humility. And look at it. It says, giving
him thanks. There he is again. Giving thanks. What was this worship all about?
This is what this fellow was doing, wasn't it? Wasn't he worshiping?
Do you remember that other story of another leper coming down
from the mountain that says he fell at Christ's feet and worshiped
him? Remember that? The Lord said, what will I do
unto you? He said, Lord, that I might be healed. That's worship. Worship's falling
at Christ's feet, worshiping Him, and giving Him thanks for
all things. Giving Him thanks. Worship. Three
things this man did. He worshipped. He worshipped. And he worshipped. He glorified God. That's worship.
He fell at His feet. That's worship. And he gave thanks.
That's worship. That's why we're here this morning.
You need a better reason? John need a better reason? You
want me to tap dance? I'll put on a silly robe and
I'll hold my hands up and throw water in your face. Will that
draw you? Well, I'll play the guitar. I'll
do that. I'll do that. Will that draw you? Why are we
here? To God be the glory. Great things
he hath done. We're here to thank God. That's
why we're here. No other reason. And to thank
God through His Son, through Christ. That's why we're here. No other reason. Right? No other reason. Men ought to
worship God, shouldn't they? Look at verse 17. Jesus answered
him and said, were there not ten clans? Where are the nine? There's not a Sunday night or
a Wednesday night. It goes by that I don't ask that
question. There'll be about nine people. I said, where are there not ten
believers in here Sunday morning? Where are the nine? Just one came back to glorify
God. One. You know, Listen to this. Just listen as I read. You don't
have to turn. Listen to this. It says, nevertheless,
talking about the children of Israel, it provoked him. The
first verse in Psalm 106 says, Praise the Lord. Oh, give thanks
unto the Lord. He's as good as mercy endureth
forever. Praise the Lord! Why do you hear
it? To praise the Lord! Oh, give thanks unto the Lord.
Why are we here? Give thanks that He's good. He's
good to you. His mercy endures forever. It
says, verse 8, He saved them for His name's sake, to make
His mighty power to be known. He saved them. It says, verse
12, They believed His words and sang His praise. Verse 13 says,
They soon forgot His words. And He gave them their requests.
Are you listening to me? Listen to the Word of God, please.
It says that they soon forgot His works. Forgot it. A rich
increase was good. That's the best way you can forget
God. Keep me from riches, lest I what? What did Solomon pray? Keep me from riches, lest I what?
Forget me. When the barns are full, and
when the children are fat, and when the bills are paid, beware,
he said, you don't forget your God that fell on the lines, and
fattened your kids, and did all this for you. Listen, people. They soon forgot this worship,
and lusted in the wilderness, tempted God, and gave Him their
request, but sentenced into their souls. Why are we here, isn't it? To
give thanks to God. For everything, in everything,
give thanks. Everything. Psalm 107 says, Oh, give thanks
unto the Lord. He's good. His mercy endureth
forever. Thank you, Santa. Psalm 107,
verse 1. Give thanks unto the Lord. He's
good. God been good to you, Mexicans?
Oh, man, I can see it. Yes, the three of your children,
your grandbabies are here, and your husband's living. You ought to be singing the loudest.
Oh, give thanks unto the Lord. He's good. He is mercy endures
forever. That's everybody in here. Let
the redeemed of the Lord say so. The Lord redeemed you? Where
did he brought you from? How far down did he get you?
Where did he bring you from? Do you remember the pit from
which you were dug? Oh, forget that. Why do we forget
to get fast? Why do we go cold? We forgot
the pit. We forgot where God got us from.
We forgot what we once were. Don't we? So we got all polished
and cleaned up with somebody. Peter did, didn't he? An old
stone-bite fisherman off the side of the wharf, you know.
Got all licked up with pride. Thought he was somebody. He didn't
know anything but knew he was a first-order duty. Ah, Peter, remember where our
budget's on. Man ought to worship God. Wouldn't
there be a better reason to be here this morning? Are you a
clever soul? Children? Fatness? Oh, man, we didn't have better
reason to be here this morning. I said it four times this morning,
I said, Oh, that man would praise the Lord for his goodness. I
said, Preacher, I don't have to be here to praise the Lord.
You're right. You're right. How much praise is going on at
home? You know, heaven is going to
be a congregation of people of those that are what, doing what?
What are we going to do throughout eternity? What are we going to
do? Praise the Lord. Just thank Him. That's why heaven,
that's what heaven is all about, what it's for. That's why we're
going to be there. Well, start now and I'll be there.
I'm going to be there. Look at Luke 17 now. Men ought
to praise the Lord. Men ought to worship, shouldn't
they? Only good men would praise the Lord. For his wonderful works to the
children of men. Where are the nine? Where are
the nine? Look at Luke 17. It says, and
here's my second poem, men ought to see God. We ought to seek
God. Look at verse 20. When he was
demanded of the Pharisees, we make a lot of demands on God,
don't we? Don't we? We make a lot of demands
on God. We expect God to do what he does
for us. We expect him to. We expect that
sun to come up tomorrow morning, don't we? We expect that water
to be there. We expect that air there to be
as brief. Don't we? We make a lot of demands on God.
How many demands does He make on us? What does He demand of
us? What does God command us to do?
What one thing does He demand of us? Just one thing. Be ye
thankful. Right? God commandeth men everywhere
to repent, believe Christ, be ye thankful, worship Him. Worship
Him. That's all. Enjoy it. God gives you all things richly
to enjoy, John. Worship me for it. Thank me for
it. Right? That's it. That's it. He said my commandments are not
grievous. God's been running it together to worship. Oh, no.
Oh, yes. I was glad when they said unto
me, let's go worship. Why? Why do I have to worship
for? Oh, my, it has to be that soul
of the Lord who's made for me an everlasting covenant, ordering
all things, and curing all my hope. I'm going to go worship.
How aim me, boy, on thy tabernacles, O Lord, of hope. How good and how pleasant it
is for brethren to dwell together in unity. It's like the oil that
flows down the head of Aaron, down on his beard, on his garments.
Sweet, it's pleasant. I found your word, he said it
was like gold. I found gold, just what I needed.
Milk, I would say, honey, water, that's the first thing. I found
sweet fellowship and all it was a balm of Gilead. Me and all the worship partner, me and all the sweet God. It
says they demanded something of him. Look at it, verse 20. It says they demanded of him
when the kingdom of God should come. I really ought to preach this
message in three parts, but I want to get through it. They demanded
of him when the kingdom of God should come, and he answered
them and said, The kingdom of God doesn't come with observation
or outward show. outward show. Show us a sign. Show us a sign. Our Lord said
an evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign. There's a religious crusade on
TV Fellas, his name is Rodney Brown,
Rodney Howard Brown, and his, the name of his crusade that
he takes from town to town is? Signs and Wonders Crusade. I laugh at the ignorance of men,
that's what I'm laughing at. You know, if men are ignorant
of the scriptures, they'll do exactly what it says they'll do. Won't
they? An evil and adulterous generation
seeketh after signs. Signs and wonders crusade. Show
us, we'll believe. Where's the promise of his coming?
That's what they ask Peter. Show us, we'll believe. Faith cometh by hearing. Hearing
by the word of God. God is showing his people some
things. Huh? Have you been showing some things
this morning? I have. God is showing some things
to his people. Very clearly. Where is it? Where are they getting it from?
Well, there are signs. No. Right here. Open mine eyes,
David said in Psalm 119, 18. Open mine eyes that I might behold
wondrous things out of thy law. See, God's giving his people
truth. and set them free from superstition,
tradition, from men that would have them in bondage to? I don't
have you in bondage to me. If I tried to bring you, you
can see right through me. You see things clearly. Why?
You got your glasses on. Well, see if you reply us, then
we will see. In the truth, you're getting
truth. God's people are getting truth. God's people are getting
what they need. Truth. Rock solid, getting ground,
getting settled in the truth. Faith in Christ. It's gonna save
their soul. Faith in Christ. Nothing and
nobody else. Christ alone. It's gonna save
your soul, buddy. It's gonna save your soul, buddy. Faith in Christ alone. Don't
take my word for it. God said it. You believe my son? He that cometh to Christ, I will
in no wise cast out. You can take that all the way
to heaven. Not just the bank. He's giving his people what they
need. Christ feeding them. Christ. He's making them lie
down in the green pasture. and still water, feeding them
the Word, feeding them the Word, giving them what they need and
what they want. What do you want? I want the Word. One of the men
said to me the other night, he said, last Sunday morning, he
called me up and said, are we going to have service this day,
honey? And to hear Christ preach, he said, you got what you need.
Colossians 3, 11, Christ is all. He got what he asked for. And he's giving unbelievers what
they want. Isn't it? Signs and wonders. Isn't it, Joe? Says God's sending
them what he wants. Signs and wonders. Show us the
signs we'll believe. So he sends them strong delusions.
And they believe a lie. Believe a lie. Reject the gospel.
But boy, they're seeing some things, Sam. They're seeing some
things. You're seeing some things with the spiritual eye, buddy.
Can't believe these eyes. You can believe God. Now I don't believe some of the
things I'm seeing. That's for sure. Do you? I can't believe
some of the things I'm seeing. People are. Aren't they? What scares me though is these
things are so close that if it were possible it would deceive
the very man. That's what bothers me. All right, look, read on down.
He said in verse 20, he said, The kingdom of God doesn't come
with an outward show. Verse 21, Neither shall they
say, Lo, here, or lo, there. Behold, the kingdom of God is
among you. The kingdom of God. If you'll
break down the word kingdom, dominion of the king, king's
dominion. Where is the kingdom? The king's
dominion. Who's the king? Christ. Where's his dominion? He reigns
in the hearts of his people. Christ said, my kingdoms know
this world. Don't be so taken up with it. Eat my six and eight. I said, yeah, I'm going to die. I sure am. You know what I'm doing? That's what he said. Don't
take no for an answer, you tell me. What's worse than what he
is? What'd he say? Well, I said to him, if that's
that, be temperate, but don't be the
next. Right got this is saying everybody
in here on the dog made it necessary. To allow you a stand by a car. When you say let's go to the.
Come on I'm serious I'm serious I'm poking fun here. But he said,
take no thought what you shall eat, or what you shall drink,
or what we shall wear. The doctor said you go to one
extreme, we might go to the other. It doesn't matter what you wear.
Everything matters. Be temperate. Be moderate. Don't be so taken up with this
world, Christ said. My kingdom is not the kingdom
of heaven. It's not in meat and drink. What's in what? Righteousness! We've got to know Him, not how
many fats there are. This is the knowledge we need.
We've got to eat Him. We've got to feed on Him. We've
got to get fat in Him. I tell you, we're
all, we're just trying to get off on tangents on things, don't
we? Huh? There's a middle of the
road about everything. Moderation, temperance. How did I get so
excited about that? That's because the Lord said,
my kingdom is not of this world. You've got to save the planet. Why? Don't scream, Patrick. Somebody's
sleeping in here. I need to wake them up. Why save
this planet? I'm all for, you know, the green
movement and all that. We shouldn't pollute the air
and all that, but why be taking up with it? God's going to destroy
it. After we save it, God's going
to wipe it out. Think of what you want. Get a
little green, clean, modern. What? Burn it out. Right? My kingdom is not of this world. Don't you mean like the world?
We eat, we drink, what are we going to do? We've got to do
this, we've got to do... You've got to know Christ. You've got
to worship Christ. You've got to be... You know,
the only thing we ought to be fanatical about is Christ. The
only thing we ought to be overly enthused about is Christ. Right? The only thing we ought to be
totally taken up with and diligently look into and follow after Trinity
is Christ's words. Right? I speak the truth in Christ,
I lie not. My kingdom is not of this world.
It's not a material kingdom. It's a spiritual kingdom. And you know, we run the danger.
Here's the danger we run into when we get into all these tangents
and all that. We're running into some kind of mysticism that melds
into all this world religion of some kind of unity between
the body and the spirit. No. No, no, no, no, no, no. That which is flesh is flesh.
That which is spirit is spirit. That's Hinduism, that's Buddhism,
that's Taoism, that's all these other isms. Ain't no connection
between this body and this spirit. That which is flesh, does he
say that? And that which is spirit is spirit. He can't meld the
two. See, that's a holistic movement
and all that crap. Crap! Christ is all in it all. Don't abuse. Use this word, but
don't abuse it. And that can work both ways.
You can abuse it by being overly taken up with it, or abuse your
body and so forth. But that ain't our message. It's
to preach what we're supposed to do with
these bodies. What they give Christ. That's it. Well, you
know, the sense that the world You know, Christ says, they,
they're my sheep, will hear my voice, and they'll be coming
to Christ. They'll be coming. They'll believe, feed, grow,
resting, lying down in Him. When the Son of God walked the
planet, when Christ walked the planet, the world followed after
Him. So He said the whole world's
gone after Him. He worked many signs and wonders, didn't He?
How many worshiped Him? When it came down to His glory,
when it came down to His glory, Stan, his glory, his finest hour,
he said, my hour has come, my hour, my crowning hour, the crucifixion. Who was with him? Zero. Zero. He worked signs and wonders. That won't do it. He said the
kingdom of God is not without observation. And these things,
when you see what it says down here, they ate and drank, and
he's not condemning that, is he? You know, Paul said it in
1 Timothy chapter 4, he said, In the latter days, some shall
depart from the faith, forbidding to marry, abstaining from meats,
and so forth and so on. That's who's saying that she's
not supposed to eat and drink and all that. That's who's saying
it. False prophets and preachers and so forth. Christ didn't say
that here. He just said things are going to continue like always.
Right? He's not condemning marriage
and giving marriage and building and eating and all that. He just
said, as it was back then. And what is the point here? The
point is, look at verse 26 and 27, or verse 25. Verse 25 says,
First Christ must suffer. Before he comes, he must suffer
many things and be rejected of this generation. First rejected,
and suffered of you. Blasphemy, all this apostasy
and all this that's going on in our day, all this false religion.
You know what characterizes it? The next few verses. As it was. Look at it. Are you with me?
What characterized the rejection of Christ, apostasy and all that,
is an evasive Noah, eating, drinking, materialism. Materialism. That's what it is. That's what
characterized him rejecting Christ. That's what proved it. And all
the abuse materialized. Christ said, what will a man
give in exchange for his soul? Anything. Anything. A man will give anything. Job? Home? Family? Ticket to the Super
Bowl? Anything. Phony. A boat on the lake? Anything. It doesn't matter. Six mudlots? Morning. What will he do in exchange
for his soul? Anything. Doesn't matter how
ridiculous. Who's the best picker he ever was? Anything, won't
do. In exchange for his soul. Look at verse 34. Look at it. I say, I tell you, Christ said,
in that night there shall be two men in one bed, and one will
be taken, and the other left. What does that mean? That reminded
me of election. What's that, dead? Election. Two in the bed and
one taken. Oh my God, this is all really
good. It's gracious, this election. Praise God who chose you from
the beginning. Two in one bed, one taken. Election.
Verse 35, two women shall be grinding together, one taken,
the other left. One hears the gospel, the other
Two in the bed, one hears the gospel, gets up, comes to Christ,
the other one keeps sleeping. Two women working, one believes,
and the other just stays religious. Verse 37, they said, Where, Lord,
where? Where'd they go, Lord? Look at it. I bet you've never
seen this. Where, Lord, where are they going? They're taken,
where'd they go? Christ said, where the body is. That's where you'll find these.
The chickens where the. Person that. Where are they going
to go where this fellow where so and so seems that the ground. We said we were working back
to the ground. Where's Sosa? She's at the ground, and he's
at the ground. Where's Sosa? Where the body
is. Where's the man? Where's Sosa? Where the body is. That's where
they used to be gathered. He said, I'll lift you up on
the eight wings of acres. From a turkey to an acre. Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, all
could I have gathered thee as a mother hen to gather her brood.
But she would not. Would not. And lastly, men ought to call
on God. It says in chapter 18, it says there was in a city a
judge who feared not God and who regarded man as a widow that
kept crying unto him. And the judge says, I'm going
to avenge her lest she continually come to me and weary me. And
the Lord said, verse 6, don't you hear what this unjust judge
saith? Listen a little longer. Shall not God avenge his own
elect which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long
with them, though he might not answer them immediately? Will
he hear them? Will he answer them? Will he
save them? Will he? I tell you, verse 8, I tell you,
he will avenge them. Nevertheless. And this nevertheless is what
scares me, people. It scares me. It scares me for
my... You are who I preach to. I'm
not preaching this for the tape's sake, so that somebody will hear
it somewhere, some preacher. I don't do that. That's one reason
I wish it wasn't taped. You are who I preach to. You are who I have been to set
a watchman over the house. Son of man, I have set thee as
a watchman over so-and-so house. And this is what scares me. Nevertheless,
that nevertheless scares me to some people. When the Son of
Man comes, is He going to find faith on the earth? What kind of faith? Faith like
this woman. kept calling on it. Kept calling
on it. That's what scares me. They ought
to be worshipers. They ought to be thankful. They
ought to be seeking. They ought to be calling. They ought to
be waiting. They ought to be. And God's people are. They are. But there is a bar between. Many
are called. Few are chosen. But the Word of God is filled
with promises, lest we despair. Filled with promises, lest we
despair. Filled with warnings, lest we
presume. For every one person I've seen
that has remained a faithful believer and grown up and actually
borne witness and evidence They are a true child of God. For
every one, I've seen another that got gospel-hardened. Just heard a message that just
got gospel-hardened. Father, don't let it be so, here,
in anybody. Give us a few that have the earth
to hear. Let it be here, let it say. Man ought to worship.
Ought to be here. Not asking, you know, It's our
privilege. It's our honor. It's a high honor. It's food that people and children
are gathered around the table to eat. Come and dine if you
need it. I need it. You know, I worship
men. I ought to seek God. I ought
to seek Him. But not with trappings of religion. It's a heart. It's
a spiritual thing. You know, we call on God. Keep
calling. Keep calling. He'll hear you. Keep calling.
Keep calling. That goes right back to the first
point, doesn't it? Call him, thank him, worship him. All goes
hand in hand. All together. Where the body
is, where the eagles are gathered. Are you an eagle? Huh? Shall we gather at the river,
where bright angels' feats have trod, and into which things the
angels desire to look into? Oh, that God would give us a
desire. Glowing by the throne of God.
Yes, we'll gather at the river. That's where the body is. Beautiful,
beautiful river. Gather with the saints at the
river and take a big drink. Let's stand.