This is a powerful. Fortune. I hope you'll follow along. With
me and this is. The word of God Almighty. What we're doing right now is
one of the most important things that a man or woman could possibly
do. Look into the word of God. This is. Worship. The Word of God, we make much
of the Word of God here. Because what I say, or what you
say, or what any man says, makes no difference whatsoever. Matters,
not in the least. Only what God's Word says. Right? So let's look at it. This is
a powerful portion of Scripture. Psalm 50. And after I read this
and lead us in prayer, I'm going to ask Brother Rick and Brother
Stan to receive the loin cloth. The mighty God, even the Lord,
has spoken and called the earth from the rising of the sun unto
the going down thereof. Out of Zion, the perfection of
beauty God has shined. Our God shall come. and shall
not keep silence. A fire shall devour before him,
and it shall be very tempestuous round about him. He shall call to the heavens
from above and to the earth, that he may judge his people. Gather my saints together unto
me. those that have made a covenant
with me by sacrifice. And the heavens shall declare
his righteousness, not the man's, but this God-man. For God is
judge himself." See, though, think about it. Hear, O my people,
and I will speak. No Israel and I will testify
against the. I am God. Even I got. I will not reprove the for the
sacrifices are by burn offerings they've been continually before
me. I'll take no bullock out of the house nor he goes out
of that hole for every beast of the forest in my. and the
cattle upon a thousand hills. I know all the fowls of the mountains,
the wild beasts of the field. They're mine. If I were hungry,
I wouldn't tell you. The world is mine, the fullness
thereof. Will I eat the flesh of bulls
or drink the blood of goats? Offer unto God thanksgiving. That's all we've got. Can't give
God anything. You can't do anything for God. Pay your vows unto the Most High.
Call upon Me in the day of trouble. I will deliver thee, and thou
shalt glorify Me. But unto the wicked, God says, what hast thou to do
to declare My word, My statute? or that thou shouldest take my
covenant gospel in your mouth, seeing thou hatest instruction,
and cast my words behind thee. When thou sawest a thief, and
thou consentest with him, and hast been partaker with adulterers,
He's talking about religion. Now give us that mouth to evil
and that tongue frame of deceit. Said and speak evil against speak
is against that brother slander that on mother's son. These things
have now done and I kept silence. Val. Val. thoughtest that I was altogether
such a one as thyself, but I will reprove thee, and set things
in order before thine eyes. pieces, and there be none to
deliver. Whoso offereth praise glorifieth
me. To him that ordereth his conversation
aright will I show the salvation of God. What do you say? I say. With the utmost authority. From
the word of God himself. With all boldness. Without reservation. that you must absolutely know
something about the Old Testament scriptures in order to know something
about the New. That you must know the God of
the Old Testament, his character and his ways, or else you don't
know anything about God. You must know assuredly that
the same God of the Old Testament scriptures is the same God of
the New Testament, for else you do not know the God of the Bible. Because the scripture says, God
himself says about himself, I am the Lord, I change not. If you believe in a divided Bible,
that is an old Bible and a new Bible. If you believe in a changing
God, that God did things one way in the past and now he does
things differently now. If you believe in salvation in
different ways, that God used to save people one way according
to times and dispensation. And he says to people another
way now, you are altogether ignorant of the God of the Bible and his
salvation. I say that with all authority
based upon the word of God. There are three things. Turn
with me to Isaiah chapter 40. The 40th chapter of Isaiah. There are three things. that
all men and women everywhere must behold, must understand,
must know three basic things which make up all truth. Three things. Three things that
we are to behold from God's Word. We are to behold our God. We are to behold or consider
ourselves. And then we must behold and consider
the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, look here in Isaiah chapter
40, verse 9. He tells me, in Isaiah chapter
40, verse 9, he says this, O Zion, or he says, thou that bring us
good tidings and tell us the good news. The gospel preacher
is who he's talking to. Zion has always been a reference
to the church, God's people. And he says, you that bring good
tidings or preach the gospel to Zion, to the church, he says,
get up into the high mountain. He says, O Jerusalem, are you
that bring good tidings, the gospel preacher to Jerusalem,
to God's people, he says, lift up thy voice. He says, lift it up with all
boldness, with all courage, with all authority based upon the
word of God. Lift it up with strength. Lift it up, don't be afraid,
no matter who's sitting there. Cost what it may. Lift it up,
he says, and say this. You stay under the city that
is everywhere you go, to whoever you speak to, whether it's popular
or not. You tell them, your God, your God. Every message, every
true gospel message ought to start right here. Behold your
God. In other words, he's saying,
you tell them, you tell the people of this world that God is God,
absolute, undeniably, irrefutably, unchangeably, Creator. He's the Creator. We are the
creature. We are in his hands. He's the
ruler. We're the ruled. He's the sovereign
one. We're the subjects, right? He's all-powerful. Not has some
power. All-powerful. Omnipotent. Omniscient. He knows all things.
omnipresent, he's everywhere at the same time. He's God. Tell them all. And any man that's
not proclaiming this God is not proclaiming the God of the Bible.
He's God overall. That's who he is. He's our God. He says, you tell him that, and
he says in verse 12, he says, you tell him that it's he who
hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand. This place
we call earth, which is so vast to us, it's covered with two-thirds
of water, God measured it out in his palm. It's the Atlantic Ocean. There's
the Pacific. And he weeded out heaven with
a span. Heaven, the universe. It says he measured it with his
hand. It says he comprehended the dust
of the earth in a measure, in a scale. He weighed the earth
in a scale. Now, verse 13. Who's going to tell God anything?
This God, I know what the 20th century God, I know what men
say. I told God this morning, I told Him, God, you don't tell
God anything. God tells you. God tells me. Who has directed the Spirit of
the Lord? Me and His counselor taught Him.
Who taught God all this? Nobody. He knows all things. He does all things. He controls
all things. He's God. That's what I'm saying. That's what this book is saying.
That's what the Scripture says. He never learns anything. He
never forgets anything. He's God. He must be eternal
in all things, or else he's not God. He worked up all things,
the Scriptures say, after the counsel of his own perfect will,
and none can say unto him, what are you doing? You've got no
right to do that. Yes, you can. He's God. He never changes his mind because
whatsoever the Lord doeth, the scripture says, is forever. Right? That's what the Bible says. I
like it that way. That means if he wrote my name
in the Lamb's book of life, I'm saved. And I rejoice in that. But he's
so large, look at this, verse 15, he's so large, so vast, so
infinite, look at verse 15, the nations are as a drop of a bucket. They're counted as small dust.
The nations gather all the people together over the face of the
earth, gather them together in front of God. A drop in the bucket. Verse 17, all nations before
him are as nothing. Are you looking? This is not
my word. This is God Almighty's work.
This is God Almighty describing Himself and describing us. He
says all the nations before Him are as nothing. What about United
States of America? Nothing. Nobody. A nothing, nowhere place full
of nobody's. They are counted to him, verse
17, as less than that. Vanity! You know what the word vanity
means? When Solomon said, Behold, I beheld all things, it all is
vanity. That means worthless, of no use,
of no value, no value whatsoever. All the nations, all the people,
all brilliant minds, all moral people, everybody that's ever
lived on the face of the earth and everything in it is of no
value to God Almighty whatsoever. That's what this book is saying.
Because why? Because He's God. He's God! You can't add anything to God.
You can't give anything to God. You can't tell anything to God.
You can't teach anything to God. He's God. He is all things. He holds all things. Everything's
in Him. In Him we live, we move, we have
our being. And then God, you say you don't
believe that. There's some people here that believe that. Well then, God demands of you
and I to tell us what you think about God. Look at it. He says in verse
18, he demands of us, he says, now well, you tell me what you
think about me. Verse 18, then to whom then will
you liken God? If that's not the God of the
Bible, if you don't believe what he just said about us, about
himself, what will you liken God to? Give me your description
of God. Tell me. And men and women from the very
beginning have made up all sorts of imaginations, all sorts of
thoughts, all sorts of definitions about God, not from the Bible,
but from their own imagination. Come up with all sorts of descriptions
of God. He says this. Well, here's what
they say about God. Verse 19. A workman melts a graven image. an idol. The goldsmith spreads
it over with the gold, and the cast of silver is changed, and
if a poor man can't afford that, he hath no oblation, he chooses
a tree, he gets him a tree, and he seeks unto him somebody to
make him a little graven image, and nail it to that tree, and
put it up there, and they say, now this is my God. See that
crucifix there, that graven image, and express rebellion to the
commands of God who said, don't make a graven image of anything,
not of any likeness of anything in heaven or any earth, not a
man, no nothing. Don't make a graven image. But
a tired little man on a tree and hanging up there beside their
bedside and say, that's my Jesus. That's my God. Right? An image of a man, and particularly
in this time of the season. They got their God in a box.
A little baby in a box. That's my God, because he does
what I let him. Ain't he cute? Now I am, I'm purposely making
fun of all this, because it's blasphemy to God Almighty. There's nothing anywhere in the
scriptures that tells us to commemorate the birth of Christ. There's
no further mention in the scriptures after the angels heralded his
birth to say, now you celebrate the birth of Christ. It does
say, though, you better be taken up with, wholly taken up with
this crucified Christ, this risen Christ. You better serve and
better be thinking about the Lord sitting on the throne now,
not a baby in a manger that you can do with as you will, but
a Lord, a sovereign, omnipotent, ruling Lord in whose hands you're
very And you best be bound, because
every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess that that's
Lord, not Jesus. That, Jesus, is Lord. Well, look at verse 21. He says, haven't you known? And
let me say this in all compassion. I don't mean to sound mean or
cruel at all. I just want to be bold and zealous
for the glory of this God. Everybody everywhere is taken
up with man's rights and man's will. I'm here to glorify God. Everybody here is on this earth
to glorify God. We're not here just to enjoy
ourselves. We've been created for the glory
of God. And He says, though all have
sinned and come short of this glory. How do you come short
of the glory of God? By not acknowledging Him as God.
Read Romans 1. He says here, have you not known?
And everybody in here that's reading this scripture this morning
knows now. After we read this right now,
you're going to be responsible. I'm going to be responsible for
everything I've read this morning. Verse 21, don't you know? Have
you not heard? Yes, Paul said, the sound has
gone throughout the world. It's heard it everywhere. This
Bible is a lot older than you and me, a lot older than our
fathers and grandfathers. It's been around from time and
eternity, in the very mind of God. The Word of God, yes, they've
known. It's been told from the beginning.
Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth,
verse 22, it's He. Who's God? He's He, and He's
sitting on the earth. The planet, that's how big and
how powerful this great God is on this planet. Are you going
to let God do something? Are we going to prevent God from
doing anything? God wants to and can't because you won't let
him. He's sitting on the earth. And it says here, look at verse
22 again, the inhabitants thereof are as insects. Is that not what, are you reading
the same Bible I'm reading? Yeah, but God's different. No,
no, no, that's where I started this thing out. Malachi 3, 6
says, I'm the Lord, I change not. Now, did he mean that or
was he just kidding? It's impossible for God to lie.
He said, I'm the Lord. I don't change. Jesus Christ
is the same yesterday, today and forever. He doesn't change. Same God. Men are the same too. It's the same God. Same God sitting
on the same planet as he was when he wrote this. Insects. Insects. I don't believe that. I just don't, I don't believe
that. It's not, I don't have, it's, you know, the reason, it's not that people can't understand
what is written in the Bible. It's not that people don't see
it. It's right there. If you've got a copy of the Bible,
you've got it in front of you and you're reading the same book
I'm reading. You have the opportunity, the ability. capability in your
mind, your eyes, and this and that. If you read the same book
I'm reading. It's not that men don't understand it or don't
see it. It's just that men won't have that. I don't, I want that.
I will not have a God like that. Yes, we will. Because we've got
a God like that. Well, he goes on then. Look at
verse 25. He says, okay, then you tell me again. You tell me
who are you locking me to? Describe me. Who shall I be equal,
saith the Lord? Who? Come on, tell me. And man,
here's man's clever clichés of God Almighty. God is like Coke. He's the real thing. God is like a bottle of Coke. God is like a hallmark cards.
He cared enough to send the very best. God is like a postcard. Hath not God made foolish the
wisdom of this world? God is my co-pilot. I run the
show. I drive the ship. God takes over
when I can't handle rough waters. God, who reigns and rules among
the armies of heaven and inhabitants of earth, and none can stay His...
He's my co-pilot. God is all love. He loves everyone
so very much, but they just don't love God. Folks, the Bible speaks
more about the holiness of God than it does the love of God.
And the love of God is only seen in the holiness of God. God loves
righteousness. God loves righteous people. And
the only people God loves are those that have been made righteous
and placed in the righteous Lord, the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Those are the people that God
loves. He says he hates all workers of iniquity, says he's angry
with the wicked every day, says the wrath of God abides upon
the ungodly. That's God's word. God is holy. Well, well, well, there's man's
little decision, or little description of God. Look at verse 26. But
he says unto us, lift up your eyes. Just look about you. If men and
women would just look around, if they'd just look in the mirror,
they'd see that somebody all-powerful and omnipotent and omniscient
had to make all this. Right? Says the stars, that he
called them all by name. Oh no. Look over, I've got to
hurry, look over with me in chapter 44 of Isaiah. I've got to hurry,
verse 6. Isaiah 44, verse 6. He says,
the Lord says, I'm the first and I'm the last. This same God
and this same word will be around a long time after I'm gone. And there's no God with me. I
don't care what men say. God says there's no other God.
Satan's not God. He's not doing what he wants
to. He's doing what I let him. Man's not God, and he's not doing
what he wants to. The lot is cast in the lap, but
the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord, the scripture says.
God's God. I'm God. He said, I appointed,
verse 70, I appointed the ancient people. I choose whom I will. Thank God, because if he had
never chosen me, I'd have never chosen him. I appoint the ancient
people and things that are coming. I've chosen that too. I predestinated
that too. And it shall come. Now show that
unto them. You tell people that. And I am. I'm telling you this morning.
That's my commission. And that's every man that calls
himself a gospel preacher. That's his commission. You go
tell them what I'm saying right here. You go tell them. Don't
be afraid. But they're not going to like
this. I don't care. Tell them. If they had any sense about him
at all, they'd bow to this God, because he is God. And they'd
believe and come and beg him for mercy. And that's the first
step in salvation, begging for mercy. Not accepting Jesus. That's not in the Bible anyway. All right. Now, he says we need
to behold something else. Now that's our God. It would
take sermon after sermon after sermon to exalt and extol this
God as he should be. But that's our God. That's the
God of the Bible. That's your God. That's my God. That's our
God, whether we like it or not. That is our God. That is our
God. I love him that way. I love him that way. I'm in his
hands. I don't have to worry about anything. I'm in his hands. And he, in Christ, he accepts
me. I don't have to worry about what
men think about me. Who is he that condemneth? All
right, he says now you need to behold yourselves. Look back
at chapter 41 with me. We need to behold ourselves.
We've beheld God from the scripture. Now let's look and see what he
says about us. I said a little bit. He says we're insects. Well,
that's not nice. It's a whole lot nicer than He
says about us in some places, read Isaiah chapter 1 sometime. He says here in Isaiah chapter
41 verse 21, he says, now, produce your cause. Let's hear what you
have to say about yourself. We've heard what you've said
about God. We've heard your silly little cliches and little religious
rhymes. Isn't it something how men put their clever little sayings
on their church billboards instead of the Word of God? That reveals
their ignorance, doesn't it? The Word of God. Hundreds of
thousands of verses in it. And yet they put their clever
little clichés out there. They said, OK, let's hear what
you have to say about yourself here. Verse 21. Produce your
cause, saith the Lord. Bring forth your strong reasons. Tell us. Well, I think. No, he
said. He said, Doth Artist. You remember
we read it in Psalm 50 a while ago? Well, here's what I think. Oh, wait a minute. God says,
thou thoughtest I was altogether such as one of yourself, but
I'm going to tell you different. Well, I think, he says, my thoughts
are not your thoughts. The way I see it is, he said,
my ways are not your ways. Well, it's the way that I think
it is. There's a way that seems right
unto a man, but he says the end thereof is death and destruction. Let's hear it. You've got to
say, it depends on yourself. Well, let's try this then. Show
us what will happen. If there are any prophets out
there, show us what will happen. And you all, we've all heard
the predictions, haven't we? In 1984, the world will be no
more. In 1985, God's going to burn
us alive. In 1988, all will know their
fate. I've heard those rhymes from
preachers. They might as well be saying,
one, two, buckle my shoe. Three, four. They don't know.
No man knows. When it's all said and done,
nobody knows. Right? Let's hear it, he says. Tell us what's going to happen,
verse 22, as we say it, that we may consider it and know the
latter end of things. Declare us things to come. Show
us things that will come, that we may know your gods, your clever
little fellas, little prophets. Come on, Pat Robertson, tell
us, do you live? Tell us, tell us what's going
to happen, tell us when Christ's going to come, even though the
scripture says... As soon as I tell you what, let's
try this, verse 23. Do good. Do something really
good. I mean for one minute. One minute, try to be good. Try
to do something without a purely selfish, money-oriented, will-oriented
motive. for the glory and the love and
the exaltation of God. Something in thought, word, and
deed. Just one minute. Try to do something absolutely
in perfect attitude, mind, will, heart, soul, strength, for the
glory of God and nothing else. Try it. One minute. Can't do it? Why not? Well, God says in verse 24, Behold,
you're nothing. And He says your work, everything
you do, is nothing. Say, what's this, Terry? That's
what it says right there. Verse 29, Behold, They're all vanity, useless.
Nobody is of any value or worth to God Almighty before God, nobody. And their molten images, their
little gods, their little Jesuses, are wind and confusion. He says, I beheld, and there
was no man, verse 28 and 29, he says, I beheld and there was
no man, no man that could answer. And I venture to say there's
nobody in here. And Paul said it in Romans 1 Corinthians 1,
he said, where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is
the disputer of this world, Carl Sagan, whoever they may be? Where
is the wise? Let them come forth and stand
before this book right here and bring out their strong reasonings
and reputations and so forth. Let's hear it. Hath not God made
foolish the wisdom of this world? When all these so-called wise
men in the world are gone, God's Word will still be around. He
was around a long time before they were here. He'll be around
a long time after they're gone. All the mockers and the scoffers
say, where's the promise of His coming? God's long-suffering
to us. He's not slack concerning His
promise that some men can't slacken. He's coming. He just doesn't
have to come when you think He does. Right? He doesn't have
to do things when we think He does. He's going to do things.
If we stick around long enough, we're going to see it. Whether
we stick around or not, we are going to see it. And he says
to us, behold yourselves. Behold. And then finally, in
light of all that, beholding who God is and who Christ, or
who we are, look at chapter 42, verse 1, and I'll quit. I've described this holy God,
this holy, sovereign God in whose hands we are. before whom, and
I've described us, before whom we are absolutely nothing. I
mean worthless. I mean, I'm talking about me,
too. I'm not talking about just you. I'm not preaching at you.
I'm talking about me. I'm talking about every preacher
or so-called man of God who ever lived. Altogether vanity and
useless and worthless to this holy God. Sinful, wretched. Look at Isaiah chapter 1 sometime.
Look at it. There's no soundness in us, altogether
ungodly, sinful, the scripture says. Now in light of this holy
God, and in light of what we are before
this God, nothing. How can this God, why would this
God, or how could this God have anything to do with us? Why would
he? How can this holy God have anything
to do with sinful man? How can he have us in his presence? He says he dwells in light, no
man can approach unto him. He said he will by no means clear
the guilty. The scripture says all the world is guilty before
God. But then how? How? You want to know? You want to know? This is the
gospel question. You want to know? Do you believe this? Do
you believe this, God? Do you believe this about yourself,
what the scripture says? Do you believe it? How then?
I want to know. My servant, behold, my son, whom
I have chosen, whom I uphold, my son, the only man ever to
live on the face of the planet, whom God said, I approve of that
man. There's a man who really is good,
a good man, a righteous man, a just man, because he did stand. He lived every moment of every
hour of every week of every day. every month of every year of
his life, thirty-three and a half years, perfectly. Never thought
evil, never did evil, never spoke evil, went about doing righteousness
as a man. And God says, now there you go! That's the way I demand it of
every man. That's my boy! That's my son! I'm well pleased with him." Every man that came before got
rejected. Rejected. Not good enough. Rejected.
That man comes along and says, Accepted! Say, what's that got
to do with me? Well, it says he'll bring forth
judgment to the Gentiles, verse 1. See that? It says he'll bring
forth justice to us. We're Gentiles. You and I are
Gentiles. We're not Jews, we're Gentiles. He says he'll bring forth justice.
He'll bring forth this righteousness the way that God can be just
and holy and yet justify or declare sinful, wretched creatures like
we are acceptable. Come on up. Why? I'm still the
same man. Come on up. Why? You're covered
in blood. You got a garment on you. You
got a white robe of righteousness on you that my son, you see,
Christ took that life that he lived as a man, that life, somehow,
how he did it, I don't know, because he's God, he's supernatural.
But he took that life he lived, like a garment, like a robe,
and took it off. And took every one of God's people,
this perfect robe of righteousness. This is what the Scripture says.
and wrapped it around them all, covered them up, all God's people,
covered them up. And God looks down at you and
me, if you're in Christ, as I say, this Christ. And he says, you
look good. But I'm a sinner. You look good
to me. And then, you see, I had a robe
on, my morality, my religion, my good works. I think I'm something. Like I said about that hospital
gown, it's like a hospital gown. It looks pretty good up front
to most people. Turn around and it's full of holes. But I had that on, you see. Hey,
like old blind Bartimaeus with his, that blanket, you know.
Hey, I look pretty good, don't I? I'm Christian! Religious. Christ said, you better give
that to me. He said, no, he didn't do that
either. He got it off of me. Give me
that. And he put that old rag on himself,
that old filthy garment, my sins, on himself. And God looked at
him and said, there you are, you rebel, you wretch, you ungodly,
you God-hater, there you are, and killed him. Because he said,
the soul that sinneth, it must surely die. Why did Christ come
and die? Unless men are telling you what
I just told you, they're not telling you the gospel. Christ
had to die, because that's what I deserve. That's what justice
demands. That's the only way this holy
God can accept me. And now God sees me as Christ,
and he saw Christ as me, and he killed me right there on that
cross. But he didn't stay dead, he rose from the grave. Now,
I don't have to fear death. Now, he went back to the right hand
of the Father, and he's seated right there with God. A man. Never has been before a man sitting
right beside God. But there he is now. The God-man. The God-man. And you're seated. If you believe this, what I've
been preaching this morning, you're seated with Him. This
is the only God that the Bible speaks of. It tells us very clearly
what we are before him, and this is the only Christ that saves.
See, he did all that. He got it done. He didn't try
to. If men would let him, he did
it. He did it. He said, all that the Father
hath given me shall come to me by faith. If you are one of God's
people, in all boldness I can say, you're going to believe
this. I will never believe that. Yeah, you will. I said the same
thing. Everybody in here, Brother John,
this morning, is coming to confess this Christ. Is that the God, this the God
you worship, John? Do you believe what the Bible
says about you in that? Is that the Christ that you're
resting in and hoping in? Christ, this one that did it
all? It's finished and there's nothing left for you to do. You
don't have to be a real religious. You don't have to work your way
to heaven now. You don't have to fear being rejected by God
Almighty. That you're seated with Christ.
You're resting in Him. You've got peace and joy and
comfort in Him. Full and free eternal forgiveness
and acceptance with this Christ. Is that the Christ you're worshiping? Brother John's coming this morning.
I'm going to get in that pool. Well, that doesn't save anybody.
But all he's doing is doing what Christ told us to do. He said,
now, if you believe this, if you believe this God and what
God says about you and what he says about me, about Christ,
you follow me in believer's baptism. This is a type, a symbol of being
buried with Christ. That is, if John Davis is dead,
dead, Paul Mahan's dead, buried with him, But risen, come
out of that water. But the one that came out is
a new creature. Not now, but in Christ. And we're living in Christ. Christ
in me is my hope of glory. And we're seated with him. And
it's just merely a confession of that, of him. It's just merely
telling everybody, that's what I believe. That's the one I'm
trusting. That's the Christ. Is that the
Christ? Is that the gospel? That's the
gospel. And so many of us went through
this same thing. We got religion. Most, if not
everybody, most, most everybody in here, our people anyway, remember,
went through this. Didn't Henry? He went through
it. Roberta, uh, Mindy, Violet, Jenny, Joe, eh? We all went through it. And we
got religion, went down to the revival meeting or whatever,
went to church, whatever, and got, had a, an emotional experience,
and the preacher, they played 142 verses of Just As I Am, and
he got so tired and so worn out, so psychologically manipulated,
and everybody was looking at you, and you thought, I better
go down there. And you went down front and made your profession
a faith. You believed on some, somebody named Jesus, you know.
And you got baptized, and the preacher said, you're saved!
Yeah. All right. What about that? And got real
zealous. We all did it. Or most of us.
Got real zealous. Witnessing this and that and
the other. But you really didn't even know the one you were witnessing
about. But then one day, a faithful man. Not me. I haven't been around
very long. A faithful man got up and just
said, now this is what God's Word says. I'm not telling you
what I think about you. I'm going to tell you what God's
Word says. And he said the very same thing that I said this morning
to you. And you said, I never knew that guy before.
That's the guy with the Bible in him. I never knew that guy
before. I ain't religious. I'm a sinner.
And Christ, that's not the Jesus I accepted. That's the Lord. And you came confessing this
one. Now, the first time you were
in that water, you weren't baptized. You got wet. You took a bath. But you weren't confessing Christ.
But when you came back and confessed this Christ, then you confessed
Christ. That's what you're doing this
morning, isn't it? Have I said it like you feel it? That's what was on there. Okay, Joe, come up and lead us
in a couple of hymns. And John, you come back and prepare.