I see this concentration of people
here. Turn with me to Colossians chapter
one. Colossians chapter one. The whole book from Genesis to
Revelation, the Bible, is about Jesus Christ. He himself
was called the Word of God. This whole Bible, from first
to last, speaks of Jesus Christ. He is the theme of Scripture.
It is his story. Look at Colossians chapter 1,
verse 19. It pleased the Father, God, that
in Christ should all fulness dwell." Fulness. Everything. Fulness. Dwell. And having made
peace, or that is, Christ making peace between God and men. making peace through the blood
of Christ's cross by him, by Christ, he's reconciled all things
unto himself. By Christ, I say, whether things
in earth, things in heaven, all things. Look at chapter 2, verse
3. In Christ, in Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom. and knowledge, all the treasures.
Verse 8, he says, you need to beware lest any man spoil you
through philosophy, his own thoughts and personal interpretations
and beliefs and so forth, and vain or useless deceit, religious
deceit, after the tradition of men. That is, anything that has
to do with man. and not God's Word. After the
rudiments, the things of the world, and not after Christ.
Are you looking at it with me? Verse 8. Beware lest anybody
spoil you and anybody that doesn't preach Christ. Because, verse
9, in Him, in Christ dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And if you're in Christ, you're
complete in Him. Because he's the head of all. Look now at chapter 3, verse
11. Because in Christ there's no
Greek or Jew, circumcision, uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond, nor
free, because Christ is all. And you know, Christ is all. You see, since Christ is all,
that means everything points to him. Everything. Everything
in his book points. to the Lord Jesus Christ. It's
his story. Everything is answerable to and
in Christ. Now, look over at Luke chapter
24 with me. In a moment we'll be going to
Hebrews 1, but look at Luke chapter 24. Look at this. Christ had died. He had been
crucified and put in the tomb, and he had risen Or that's what
some had said. He had risen. And these two fellows
here in Luke 24 were walking along and they were talking,
they were discussing religion as men are wont to do, you know,
talk about religion. That's what these two fellows
were doing. Could have been a Methodist and a Baptist, these two fellows.
Could have very easily been like somebody today walking along
talking about these things. Look at Luke chapter 24. And
they talked of many things. They talked of a lot of things.
But they didn't know Christ. They talked of many things. If they'd been studying Christ,
if they'd been studying the Scriptures, what the Scriptures said about
Christ, they'd have very clearly seen that it had to happen like
it happened. If they'd have been studying
the Scriptures as it pertained to the Christ, they'd have seen
that he must. Christ said it over and over
again. I'm telling you, I've got to go to to Jerusalem, be
crucified, be lifted up, and then be buried, and then I'm
going to rise again the third. It must be fulfilled in the scriptures. I must do this. If they'd have
been studying the scriptures of right as it pertained to Christ,
they'd have known. They'd have known. But they talked
of a lot of things. Look at verse 17 of Luke 24. Christ came to
them, verse 16. These two fellows were walking
along the road to Emmaus. And Christ came to them, drew
near and went with them, and their eyes, though, verse 16,
were holding they didn't know Him. Now remember, Christ said
in John 17, 3, this is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the
only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent. These fellows
didn't know who Christ was, even though He was right with them.
And Christ said unto them, What are you talking about? What manner
of communications are these that you have one to another? You
walk, and you're sad. Why are you so sad? And one of
them, whose name was Cleophas, answered and said unto him, Are
you a stranger around here? My, so. You a stranger in Jerusalem? This was the God who made Jerusalem. He was a stranger to Jerusalem,
though, wasn't he? Don't you know the things which are come
to pass? Oh, my soul. He brought them to pass. And
Christ said unto him, What things? As if he was playing ignorant.
Verse 19. He was trying them. Verse 19. And the Word tries us. Christ
said unto him, What things? What are you talking about? And
they said unto him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was
a prophet, mighty in deed and word before God and all the people.
See, they talked about this Jesus who was a prophet. Talked about
him as being a good man. A good man. They talked about him as a failure.
They said here, the chief priests and the rulers delivered him,
condemned him to death and crucified him. But we trusted that he was
the one. Verse 21. He tried to save us
and we wouldn't let him. You know what they're saying
there? We tried and he couldn't. Or
he tried and he couldn't. Poor Jesus. We thought he should
have redeemed Israel. We thought he was a Savior, but
he couldn't save. He's dead. And beside all this, today is
the third day since these things were done. And certain women,
somebody told us that he, they went to the sepulcher, verse
23, when they found not his body, they came saying they saw a vision.
We saw a vision. They talked about visions, they
talked about Jesus the prophet, a good man, talked about works
and so forth. And look at Christ's answer,
verse 25. He said unto them, Oh, you fool. Oh, fools. And listen to this. Fools and
slow of heart to believe what the prophets said. He hadn't been reading your Bible,
he said. And that's my answer to this
religious generation who calls Jesus a failure. who wants to
talk about this and that, everything, but him, who doesn't know it,
you hadn't been reading your Bible, because it speaks of him. That's what he said, verse 26.
And beginning at Moses, and all the prophets, that's the law,
that's the Pentateuch, that's the first file, and all the way
through the prophets, and the Psalms, said down in verse 44,
in the Psalms, he expounded unto these fellows all the Scriptures,
the things concerning Him. Him. Ah, boy. Do you know anything
of the person and the work of Christ? That's what he was asking.
Oh, don't you know anything about the person and the work of Christ?
No, they didn't. They didn't. And so he revealed
the Scriptures concerning Him and all the Bible. This is what
I'm saying right now. All the Bible, old and new. Some people won't have anything
to do with the Old Testament now. They think it's done away with. My
soul! What did the New Testament believers
have? All they had was the Old Testament Scripture. And he says,
in Christ, every time Christ does say it in the Scriptures,
and every time the Apostle Paul says it's written in the Scriptures,
or Peter, it's written in the Scriptures, they talk about the
Old Testament. But it's one book, and it speaks of one person,
the Lord Jesus Christ. It tells the same story. It tells
the same story. And like these men, we cannot
know, understand, or perceive anything at all unless he tells
us, unless he reveals it to us. It said down there, it says that
after he opened their eyes and their understanding the Scriptures,
it said, wow. One looked at the other
and said, didn't your heart burn within you? They heard old Mephibosheth
for the first time. Wouldn't you like to hear Christ
preach that? They heard the Ark. They heard Noah's Ark for the
first time as being Christ. They heard all these stories,
stories of Joseph in Egypt. Oh, what they heard, did they?
Oh, my! We never knew it. We just never
knew it. And we won't know unless God
reveals it to us. That's what John 1.18 says. Anyone who says they've seen
God's a liar, because the only person who's seen God is Christ,
and the only people who know Christ, or God, is the one that
Christ reveals Him to. Now, look over at Hebrews chapter
1. Hebrews chapter 1. God Almighty used to speak audibly
from heaven until this book was completed. You remember Peter
said, now, we saw a lot of things. Peter, who saw Christ transfigured
on that mountain, turned into a being of light. Peter, the
apostles who saw the miracles and the wonders and signs and
so forth, heard the very word from the mouth of Christ himself.
He said, we saw a lot of things. But he says, now, after this
Bible has been completed and you have a copy of it, you've
got a more sure word of prophecy, whereunto you do well, take heed.
Because God's not going to speak any more from heaven. God's not
going to speak any more from heaven. Look at it. God now speaks
in son language, the language of his word. What I started this
thing out by saying, start talking about how all the Bible speaks
of Christ. And unless you understand that,
unless you understand that all the Bible is a story of Jesus
Christ, a story of salvation through a Redeemer. The Old Testament
talks about the Redeemer's coming. The the the gospel say he's here
in the New Testament epistles say he's coming again it all
telling the same story about the same one unless you understand
and can rightly divide this word of truth is the truth Christ
is true you have no understanding concerning the scripture. People
think he pointed to those Pharisees one day Christ and he said now
you search the scripture and they did. Pharisees read description
and a lot of religious people out there today reading the Bible.
They faithfully going through and reading the Bible aren't
they? You did before Christ met you and revealed the truth to
you. And Christ said now you do such a scripture and in them
you think you have life. You think this is telling you
how to live. Well it is, but not like you
think. It's not telling you how to live,
that is, how to work your way to God, how to get right with
God. It's not telling you that at
all. It's telling you about Him who is life itself. Telling about
the one that must come down to give life. That's what it's telling
about. Not telling about what you must
do to get to God. It's telling about what God had
to do to get you to God. And unless you understand this,
this is the language the Bible is talking about the Christ who
has come back. That's what this book is about.
Every page about the Christ who had to come to us. That's what
it's about. And unless you understand this
language of the Son who was given, you don't understand the Bible.
All right? Hebrews chapter 1. Hebrews chapter
1. God. All understanding, all truth,
every true gospel message starts right here, doesn't it? God, like everything, everything
starts with God. Creation started with God, salvation
starts with God, and it ends with God. He's the author and
finisher of the faith. Creation started with Him. All
things were started by Him. He planned, He purposed, He wills
all things. Why? Because He is God. Genesis 1, 1, In the beginning,
God. And man's religion today's got
it backwards, don't it? The scripture says, In the beginning,
God did something for man. Man's religion says, Now, man,
you must do something for God. No, no, no, no. That's not where
truth starts. That's not where the Bible starts.
Not where the gospel starts. Salvation started with God. He thought it, he planned it,
he purposed it, and he'll carry it through. God. God. And it
says here, look at it. God at sundry times, at His different
times, and in different ways, by different means, different
manners, He spoke in times past unto the fathers, that is our
generation, or our heritage, our posterity, or our relatives. He spoke in times past unto the
fathers by the prophets, by the prophets. God at one time spoke
to men by prophets. Abraham, Moses, Samuel, David,
Isaiah, Ezekiel, prophets. God Almighty spoke to men at
one time through these prophets. And the men wrote down these
books that we have. And the men went to all the people
and told them what God said. Okay? God spoke to these men. And every one of these men heard
the same thing. They all heard the same story
from God. And you've got to have discernment,
you've got to have, you've got to understand, you've got to
have perfect pitch to understand the tune. It's a tune in the
key of C. This song, they were all singing
the same song. Song of Solomon, whatever song,
whatever book, it's telling the same story. Telling about the
Christ. Listen, see if you've got this
perfect pitch. Abraham said, here's what Abraham
said, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering,
a sacrament. Ever heard that? You know what
that's talking about? You know who that's talking about? Moses said this, God will raise
up a prophet, that prophet, and everybody's going to hear him. You hear it? Samuel said, God
has a king after his own heart. God has a king. We make our little
king, God has a king. David spoke over and over throughout
the Psalms of the Holy One of Israel. Thy righteousness, the
Holy One of Israel. You hear in the tune? Huh? Is the note striking? Isaiah
said, a child is born, Son is given. See, they all told the
same story. They all told about Christ. Every
one of those verses of Scripture about Christ, they all spoke
of Christ. They all spoke the only way to God, the only way
of salvation, the only way to know God is through this coming
One. Coming One. And the apostles
said, the only way to know God is this One who's here. And through
the epistles they said, the only way to know and come to God is
by that one who has come and who's coming again. They all
spoke, now these prophets, he said they spoke in times past
unto the fathers by the prophets. They all spoke, all these prophets
spoke, now listen to me, they spoke symbolically. They talked
of ceremonies and pictures like this ark that we're going through.
traditions and laws and symbols and so forth, but they were all
just pictures, types of the coming cross, types of cross. But finally, God at one time, in different
times, different eras, in different manners, by various methods,
by different men, He spoke in time past under the fathers by
the prophets. But one day, God used to speak
through these men, but one day, Finally, actually, God himself
came. He had these messengers before.
He says, you tell the people. You tell the people. You tell
the people. Moses, you tell the people. Abraham,
you tell the people. Isaiah, you tell the people.
Ezekiel, you tell the people. But one day, God says, I'm going
to go tell the people. Look at it, verse 2. God in these
last days spoke unto us by his Son. He sent his Son. His Son. Christ said this. God was in Christ reconciling
the world. We just read that. Christ said
unto us, the words I speak unto you. Now listen, I'm just going
to read you what I've got written down. You'll get a blessing if you
hear the word of God. Christ said, the words I speak unto
you, I'm not speaking of myself, but the Father dwells in me.
He said to Philip, Philip, he that has seen me has seen
God. He said, the Father loves the
Son. He said the Father, as the Father
raises up the dead and quickens them, even so the Son quickeneth
or gives life to them. He said the Father has committed
all judgment to the Son. In other words, what he's saying,
when this man walked this earth, this man named Jesus, that everybody
is blaspheming and talking about how he tried and he can't and
want to and didn't. And poor, pitiful, this Jesus
that they're all talking about, what he said, what the Bible
says, and what Jesus said when he was here is, in other words,
I'm God. You best be listening to what
I'm saying. God speaking. This man, and the
good thing ain't about that. This man walking the earth would
look maybe not much different than me. I could pass for a Arab
or a Jew with that dark hair and brown eyes. This man who
looked like a man, no difference in him than any other man, outwardly. They said, when you see him,
there's nothing different you see about him. He walked around
saying, you best be listening to me. I'm God. Do you see the mystery of godliness
that he was believed on? Huh? Now, who's going to believe
that? Everybody he really speaks to. Everybody. The Son of God. He said, I'm
the Lord. That's what he said. Some fool
like Robert Schumer said Christ never said he was God. Oh, yes,
he did. Oh, yes, he did. My soul. He said, I and the Father are
one. He that has seen me has seen God." Didn't he say that? He said, I'm the Lord. I'm in
charge, is what he said. Everything and everybody now
answers to me. You know how the sun, coming
through this window here, the sun rises over this planet And
everything all over the earth by it has its life or lives and
moves and has its being according to this sun law. You remove the
sun and everything would die on this planet, right? Everything
exists in relation to that sun. Everything. All life exists in
relation to that sun. Even so, the Son of God, God
hath ordained that the Son of God reigns over all. And in Him
we live and move and have our being. It's because of Him, because
the sun is shining, that this thing is still standing. Once the sun is removed, death
and destruction. All the universe, everything,
lives or dies according to the light they get from the sun.
And your salvation, the salvation of your soul, depends upon the
light you have from the sun. All right? God, in his last day,
spoke unto us, he hung the sun. God hung the sun up in the heaven. If I be lifted up, I'll shine. The light of the glory of God
will shine on us. In his last day, he's spoken
unto us by sun. You see that verse, that he is
in italics? It means it wasn't there. It
was added for ease of understanding, but in this case it didn't ease
it, it confused it. It'll work though, but he says
that God spoke unto us by sign. Now listen, we've got some friends
in Sylacauga right now. Brother Danny Blair is the pastor. They can't hear to what you call
deaf, hearing impaired. They can hear deaf. Danny has
a lady while he's preaching. He has a lady down front. She's speaking. She's not saying
a word. They're hearing. They're not
hearing a word. She's speaking in sign language. And unless you hear sun language,
unless you hear the language of Scripture that speaks of God's
sun in everything, You're hearing what you're not hearing. Right? You're not hearing the Word.
The Scripture's called the Word of God. Christ is called the
Word of God. The Word of Truth. The Son of God. The Son of God
has come. And in His last days, God speaks
unto us in this language. Gospel language. All right. By whom? Look at verse 2. whom
he appointed heir of all things." Christ being the Son of God,
being the rightful heir to the throne, God made him Lord. He
said because he did all these things, became obedient to death
and so forth, God gave him a name which is above every name. What
name did God give Christ? Unto the Son, he says, thy throne,
O God. He called him God. Christ, who
thought it not robbery to be equal with the Father. God said,
you are God. You're me. Heir of all things. He's Lord. He's sovereign King.
He ain't little Jesus, baby, in a manger or hanging still
on a cross. He's no longer the little Jesus. Oh, I wish this pagan generation
could see this. He's on the throne. area of all things. He said,
in Psalm 2, he said, Now you sit down, son. You've done your
job, until I make your enemies your footstool. All those who
don't bow to you are going to someday. You'll have your foot
on their neck. All those who would not have
this man to reign, sovereign rule over them, are going to
be made to someday. God help us to do it. You say, it's the same thing
I've heard over and over. I've gotten there's no other message. There's
no other message of Scripture. It's about this sovereign one
who came. It says, God made him heir of
all things. By whom, verse 2, by whom he
also made the worlds. You remember when it said there
in Genesis, it said, let us make man. You children know that,
Hannah. You remember that? Remember when
God said in Genesis 1, let us, let us make this, let us make
that. Who's he talking about? Who was around? God was the only
one around. Let us. Not talking about the
angels. They can't do anything like that.
Let us! Who's this? In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God. Who's the Word? You know the
language? Sign language? In the beginning
was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The
same was in the beginning with God. Without Him was not anything
made which was made. God consulted His Son in making. Let us make man. Christ said,
all right, let's do it. By whom He made the world, let
us make man. Let us. That was Christ with
the Father. By whom He made the world, by
Christ. See, the whole theme of the book
of Hebrews is Christ His Lord and Sovereign King. He's better.
He's overall. He's superior. Verse 3, By Christ
he made the worlds, and Christ was the brightness of his glory. Stay with me. Christ was the
brightness of the glory of the Father. He, in Christ, was the
very character, the ways, the very exact attributes of God
Almighty. I'm describing the Lord Jesus
Christ here. If you see Him, don't take it for granted you
know Him already. He was the very brightness and glory and
exact, expressed character and attributes of God. while he was
on this earth. The attributes of God, all His
holiness, His sovereignty, His justice, His mercy, His kindness,
His love, His righteousness, His grace, all these things were
in Christ to perfection. All of them seen in the person
of Christ. The brightness of God, the glory
of God, but men didn't see it. Why? Why didn't they see that
He was God? Why? Go down to the cemetery. Go down here to Franklin Memorial
Park. And start talking to somebody. One of those tombstones. Hey
man! Wake up! They won't hear you with it.
Why not? You could wear, I could wear
my finest gloves, you know, down there. Put my sweetest smelling
stinkum on. And walk through there and nobody
pay any attention to me. You can let a beautiful woman
run naked, if you will, through there, and nobody know it, or
see it, or care. Why? Dead. They're dead. Then why did Christ come? Nobody
knew who He was. He came to give life! Men were dead. But Christ came
walking along like that little child in the pool of blood out
there in Ezekiel's field. He said, And he says that to dead sinners. Look at me! Believe. Okay, I believe. It's even walking
along like dead men, like zombies through this world, just grunting
and like pigs wallowing in the mire and the mud, you know. Dead
to God, no thoughts of God. God who? You ought to know God. Who? What? Walking along drunk
and screaming down the highway, you know, dead to God. Every
now and then they make a little pretense of religion, you know.
But dead to God. Very much alive to the world,
but dead to God. Till one day God comes. The sun shines. Through the gospel,
what I'm doing this morning, through the preaching of the
gospel, shines! You hear? God! You see, Christ,
you see, sin, power, Christ, take me to God. That's why he came. It says he
upholds all things by the word of his power. Look at this. We're
talking about, this is the reason I get so, I just burn when I
think about this silly Jesus stuff today. People got his name on their
bumper stickers and saying that name which is above every name.
Didn't they? Men are just spilling out like
a curse word. They do curse word, don't they? This is describing who this is,
the brightness of his glory. My soul, if I could speak in
heavenly language. The Holy Spirit, the brightness of the glory of
God. And through this Jesus I see it. I don't even like to utter
the name, except it's, oh, stop. God will not hold him guiltless
who takes his name in vain. Know what the Scripture says? Whoever takes his name or uses
it uselessly, in a sense of failure, or flippantly, or carelessly,
or not in awe, and reverence, and esteem, and respect, and
honor, and glory, whoever even takes that name on their lips,
God said, I'll not hold them guiltless. Because He's magnified
His name. And what is that name? Jesus
Christ. That's through this tragedy.
And it says he upholds all things by the word of his power. You
remember when God, what did God do to create things? You know,
it took me two and a half hours to hang these two light fixtures.
Two and a half hours. God. God one day said, let there be
light. He didn't have to do anything.
It didn't take him two and a half hours. Stonk. That's what it says about this
man who walked this earth. Walking along. Has a man been
a cripple for thirty-eight years? Pick up your bed! Walk! Oh, you got to shake the bones
and you got to put him in traction. No, I don't! Word of power. And these puny, little, impotent,
little, imbecile, peanut-butting preachers are talking about the
Word of Power. Touch them in the mouth. Robert
Tilton and all these fools talking about speak the Word of Power.
You ain't got no Word of Power. He upholds things by the Word
of His Power. Right? When this Christ walked the earth,
He said to a dead girl, And she got up, said to a crippled man,
walk! Said to a blind man, see! Said
to a deaf man, hear! Why? He's gone. And the same
word of power comes to you and me through this very gospel and
says, now you hear who he is. And you bow. And bless God we
do something whom he really speaks to. Everybody he speaks to is
going to hear his voice. He said, my sheep are going to
hear my voice. Yeah, they will. He said to those religious Pharisees,
he said, you didn't hear me. You didn't believe me. Now, you
heard what I was saying, but you didn't hear me and didn't
believe me because I wasn't speaking to you. You're not my sheep. Selection. I'm sorry if no one
agrees with that, but you best be agreeing with God. That's
the way he does things. He chooses. Christ came down here. He didn't
come just to heal and to feed people. He didn't come down here
just to show us the way to live. He didn't come down here to be
an example. He came, He said, I have come
that they might have life. Life. And we're dead in trespasses
and sin. Now, He doesn't. We're all rebels.
We're all in the condemnation and wrath of God Almighty for
our sin. We're all sin. All of sin comes
short of the glory of God. And we're all under this condemnation
of God because of sin. God hates sin. Why? He's holy. He's spotless. I can't
describe Him. The Bible does, but I can't.
And He hates sin, and He won't have anything to do with sin.
He can't have anything that has any tint of sin in His perfect
presence. Okay? But we're sin. Now, why does He do anything
for anybody? He doesn't need this pile of
corruption. People talk about being offended
because we're grasshoppers. That's what we are. We're insects. Gravitate? No, we're lovers of
darkness rather than light, as Scripture says. The Scripture
very graphically described mankind. There'd be worms and maggots
and grasshoppers and vanity and nothing. They'd just go all the
way through the Scripture, open sores. That's the language of
Scripture, isn't it? Now, why would God? He doesn't
need anybody. He doesn't have to do anything
for anybody. So God in election, this is what
election's all about. Don't get mad at it, get glad
at it. God says one day, they don't,
none of them deserve this, what I'm about today. None of them.
Look at them. You ever have compassion on a
pile of maggots? You ever go down your garbage
can and open the lid and say, hey, I think I'll make a putt
out of one of you? Despicable to us, isn't it? That's
because we're so much higher than they are. They look despicable
to us. We don't want them in our houses.
We want them in the garbage. This is the difference between
God and man. You say, I don't believe that.
That's what this book says, isn't it? So God one day says, and this
is mercy. He said, I want to show you my
glory. I want to show you what I'm like. God up in one day says, I'm going to choose some maggots.
Well, an angel thought, what do you want with them? Wait and
see. And God chose, he said, his affection
on maggots. Behold what manner of love. Here
in this love, love for maggots, now that's condescending love,
isn't it? He set his affection, his love on some worms and said,
I'm going to transform you into living human beings, into sons
of God. Someday, you see, we don't even
know what we're going to be. Someday we're going to look back
at these bodies of what we were and just say, from what we were and what we
have become, when we look at one another, we're going to see them. We'll
know them. We're gonna know then just what we were. Worms. Wiggling around on the earth. Wiggling around. But God, He
made us. He showed us. Some worms. Picked
them up. Washed them. In blood. His Son, better yet, what is
man that thou mindfull of him, a worm? Better yet, he visited
him. God became a worm. To do for worms, to do as a worm
what worms could not do, but what God demanded of worms. That
is, to live a perfect life. God says, you worms, you going
to be with me? You got to live like God. It's not possible. Worms can't do that, can they?
Worms can't live like God. God can become a worm and live
like God. He did, because we said in Psalm 22, I'm a worm.
Here I am, talking to the Father. Christ was down here. He became
a worm. He looked up here. I'm a worm! I did what you sent
me to do! This is the reason he was a man
of sorrows and acquainted with grief from his youth up. He was
a worm! God became a worm. I'm a worm. And he let worms
kill him. Because God determined it. Because
worms have to die. God can't have worms. They've
got to be died. They've got to be dead. They've
got to be planted like a grain of corn in the ground and watered
by the Holy Spirit and grow up a new life, a new creature, a
new creature made like Christ. Christ came down here and lived
as a worm. And look at it. This is what
it said. I mean, go on. He upholds all things by the word of his
power. And when he came down here to become a worm, to live
as a worm, and to live like God demanded of worms perfectly,
he got the job done. And then he went to the cross
and bore the punishment that worms deserve—the death, the
condemnation, the annihilation. Worms need to be destroyed. The
only way you can make—the only way you can get rid of worms
is to kill them. And through the process of degeneration
and all, and composition and all, they grow up into something
else. Worms cultivate the ground, don't they? Oh, there's so much
wisdom in Christ when he talked about a corn of wheat falling
into the ground. But when Christ died as a worm under the punishment
and the wrath of God against these worms, against sin, against
sin, Then he arose from the grave one day. He arose victorious
over the grave, and it says he went back to the Father and sat
down at the right hand of the Father. It says he had by himself
purged our sins. You see there, verse 3, by himself. The worms didn't do anything.
He did it all. He went to them. God came to
us. Christ came to us. We don't go
to Him. Don't say in your heart, who shall ascend into heaven,
but he came down. Salvation is not us going to
God. Salvation is God coming to us. Do you see that? By himself. I've always said this, if you
want something done right, do it yourself. Christ, because
we're dead and forlorn and a power of massacre, God himself had
to come down and do for us what we couldn't do for ourselves. And it says he had by himself,
he's not going to leave this thing of salvation up to a puny
man. Salvation, we're talking about
a soul here. Something as difficult and as
costly as salvation of a human soul wasn't going to be left
in the hands of man to help out with. I've got a job to do. If
I've got an intricate job to do around my house or somewhere,
you think I'm going a little child. If I've got to rebuild
a motor on my automobile, Steve, you're going to rebuild your
next automobile. Are you going to ask Joseph to
help you out? No. You do it by yourself. You know how it needs to be done.
You've got the wisdom. You've got the understanding. You know
how it needs to be done. You buy the costly parts. There's
too much involved to make a mistake. Here, Joe, you try it. Here's
the main bearings. You set the main bearings for
me, Joseph. It never runs. To begin with,
you wouldn't get them in there right the first... You think
God's going to consult us? And I'll take the first step,
and you meet me halfway. Oh, but wait a minute. That first
step... That first step is from earth
to heaven, isn't it? Huh? It's ridiculous. It's so ridiculous, it's funny.
How are we going to take the first step? You know, with that
man, I'll go down to the cemetery and I'll just convince that man
laying in that grave, he'll just take the first step out of that
grave. I'll help him the rest of the way. Just wipe that one cloud of dirt
out of your face and I'll remove the rest of it. He can't. By himself, it says, he came
down here. By himself and purged our sins. You see, in the hands of a fit
man, a fit man, God gave people to Christ, and he came down here
and he did the work, and it says he by himself purged. You see
that? Verse 3, just a little bit longer. By himself he purged our sin. That means he got rid of them.
Now, all these fools that say that Christ died for everybody.
So he shed his blood for everybody. They haven't read Hebrews 1 through
8. They don't understand son language. The language of the son is successful
by the word of his power, the brightness of his glory, up in
old and all things. The son language, John says,
he did it. Call his name Jesus. Why? He shall save. his people from their sin. And
when he came down and shed his blood, he wasn't making a down
payment of the deposit. He was making a full payment. Payment in full! When he went
back to the Father, when he went back, having by himself done
the job, he poured the blood on the mercy seat and says, There's
the payment! Blood. A whole less bottle of
precious blood. emptied every drop for every
single believer that he shed it for, and every single one
of them going to be saved. It's sins of God. Sins of God,
by himself. And it says he sat down. He's not walking the floor over
you. He's not looking over the banister
of heaven to see how things are going. Oh, my, my, I wish, I
wish, I wish that so and so would believe on me. No, no, no, no,
no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, This great high priest, forever,
after the order of Melchizedek, he came to make an atonement. I mean an atonement. A payment. A final payment. He paid it,
went back to the Father, sat down. What are you doing seated? He doesn't got more to do. No,
no, neither. He's done. Mission's accomplished. Wipe
the dust of this earth off of his hands and his feet. Sat down. I'll save it. You say, what about faith
and repentance? What about it? No, you've got
to repent. How are you going to? I read somewhere it says, the goodness
of God leads us to repentance. No man is going to repent unless
God says so. But what about faith? You've got to have faith. You've
got to believe. How are you going to do that? Tell me. How is a
dead man going to believe? I read somewhere where it says
that faith is the gift of God. God gives faith. It sounds like
it's all of Him. By Himself. Is that it? He says,
Thy people shall be made willing in the day of His power. What's
that power? The gospel. It's the power of God. What I'm
preaching to you this morning, if your ears are open, you're
understanding to see this is the God of the Bible. This is
the Christ of the Scripture. This is how He's saying. You'll be made willing to believe
it. Say, I'll never believe it. Yeah, you will. There's a lot
of people in here who said that. I don't ever believe that. You
do, don't you, Henry? Henry was died in the war of
baptism or whatever you were. I don't know what you were. Doesn't
matter if you make a difference. That's what you were. He said, I don't ever believe
that election stuff. You believe it now, Henry? Oh, my soul. Do you read that quote in the
bulletin by Spurgeon? Spurgeon said, I know God had
to choose me. I never chose him. He said, I
know he hadn't done it before I was born, because he never
would have done it after I was born. Right? Right. Repentance and faith. Repentance. Did you hear what I said this
morning about Christ? Did you hear what I said about
this glorious person whom we're about to enter into? Repent. All I want to ask you is to forgive
you. You want to know what repentance
is? Ask Him to forgive you. Bow down. Lord, forgive me. Forgive me for rebelling against
this gospel. Lord, forgive me for my sin.
Lord, to help. Help! Help! That's repentance.
Help! Faith. What about faith? You believe what I say. You believe
it. Say, I don't know. Now, to believe it now, you cut
that out. Believe it! I don't know if I should. I've
been honest and truthful to you from God's Word here. Didn't
we read over there in 1 Thessalonians? Paul said that we're not using
cunning words and deceit. We're sure not using flattering
words. There's nothing flattering about
calling you a liar. That's the way God's Word speaks.
Believe it. Believe it. Christ is your only
hope. Believe it. He came to save sinners. Read that article when you go
home. Good people. God doesn't say good people.
No, no. He doesn't say good people. He
says, I'm a rotten witch. Oh, I'm so glad. I'm not glad
you're sinning, but I'm sure glad you feel that way about
yourself. That's the only people God saves. That's the only people
he saves. I feel so feeble in an attempt
to, gracious sakes, talk about the Son of God, the brightness
of His glory, express image of God Almighty, purging our sins,
sitting down at the right hand of God. Who's sufficient for
this day? Babbling, vain babbling. But this word is enough word
in this message right there to save you. It's enough word in
what I've said, the word of God anyway, to convict your heart,
prick your conscience, show you who God is, show you who Christ
is, what he did, and compel you to come to him by faith. I hope, that's what I pray. Uh, boy. Uh, really, I don't
have anything to gain by you believing. Boy, you got everything
to gain. You got everything. Soul. Soul. Life. Stand with me and I'll
dismiss this in prayer. you you.