I believe there are a great many
people in our generation As has always been the case,
a great many people who are very interested in religious things,
even the Bible. But like the Apostle Paul, I believe that they have a real,
I bear them record, they have a real enthusiasm. A great many
people have a zeal and enthusiasm about what they believe. But
like the Apostle Paul, I believe it's not always according to
knowledge, a true understanding, as it is in this book. It's not
always based upon the pages of this book. If it is, if a man
does have some biblical belief, sometimes, so much of the time,
it's picked out here and there, and it's not cohesive or in context
with the Scripture. But we have a perfect picture
here in Luke chapter 24 of the state, the natural state of man
who is very religious. We have a very clear example
of the state of many today, perhaps somebody in here, and a clear
illustration of how someone is truly saved. or how someone comes
to know God. That is salvation. A clear example
here. Now, let's read in Luke 24, beginning
with verse 1. Now, upon the first day of the
week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre,
bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others
with them. And they found the stone rolled
away from the grave, and they walked in. And they found not
the body of the Lord Jesus. And it came to pass, as they
were much perplexed, thereabouts, behold, two men
stood by them in shining garments. And as they were afraid and bowed
down their faces to the earth, these two men said unto Why are
you seeking the living among the dead? I'm sure they said
it in compassion, kindness. Why are you seeking the living
among the dead? Why do you seek the Lord in a
grave? How can this be? Jesus went there,
yes, but the Lord is living. He is not here, verse 6, but
is risen. Don't you remember what he said
to you? How he spake unto you when he
was yet in Galilee? He said this, verse 7, "'The
Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men
and be crucified.' He must be killed, must offer up his body
as sacrifice unto God, must. And the third day he must rise
again. Because of who he is. Don't you
remember? And they remembered. And they remembered his word. And they returned from the sepulcher
and told all these things unto the eleven and all the rest.
Now, it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and
other women that were with him, which told these things to the
apostles in verse eleven. And their words to the apostles
as idle tales. Now, women, you keep silent. Wild tales. Gossip. And they believe them not. The
mighty apostles. God's chosen. Let me read something
to you. This is very sad. It's unbelievable
the way it is. There was a poll conducted, a
survey conducted among Protestant preachers, clergymen, preachers. Ten thousand preachers were given
this big question. Seven thousand, almost seventy-five
hundred of them replied, and out of seventy-five hundred preachers,
They were asked if they accepted or believed that Jesus actually
rose from the grave, that Jesus Christ actually came
out of the grave, arose, a literal resurrection. Fifty-one percent
of Methodists said no. These are the leaders. These are the blind leaders. How many people are listening
today? I mean, 7,500 preachers. How many people do they have
in their churches? They believe. They're bound to
believe the same thing the preacher does. Thirty-five percent of
Presbyterians said no. Thirty percent of Episcopalians
said no. Thirty-three percent of good
old American Baptists said yes. No, don't believe Jesus Christ
rose from the dead. When asked if they believed in
the virgin birth of Jesus Christ, 60% of Methodists said no, don't
believe it. 44% of Episcopalians, no, 49%
of Presbyterians said no. 34% of Baptists said no, don't
believe Jesus was born of a virgin. When asked if they believed in
demons, 62% said no. 47% said Presbyterian, 33% that. When asked if they believed that
the scriptures are the inspired, inerrant word of God himself,
87% Methodist said no. It's idle tale. You know what
they're saying when they say that this is not the Word of
God? I don't tell you. Ninety-five percent of Episcopalians
said no, don't believe that the Bible is the Word of God. Eighty-two
percent of Presbyterians, sixty-seven percent of Baptists. That's where we are today. And
that's where they were then. Manhood and change. I will tell you, we'll look at
this picture with me. Here's a picture of two of them.
Here's two of them. They're walking down the road.
They're walking down the road talking. I can see them now. They have their long robes on. Look at verse 13. And behold,
two of them, two of these fellows that didn't believe, that thought
this was just an idle tale. Went that same day to a village
called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem, about three score
furlong, two and a half miles approximately. And they talked
together of all these things which had happened. Here's two
religious professors now, claiming to be disciples. Talking of all
things. There's a talk together of all
these things. You know, man's a talker. Anybody
ever come to that conclusion? I am. You are. We all are by
nature. We're big talkers. Big talkers. The other day I was somewhere
in the building inspector's office. Some guy walked in. Big old burly
fella. When the door opened, his mouth
opened. And it didn't close until the door closed. I thought, doesn't
he hear himself? But that's me. I've done it.
I do it. We'll still do it. Talkers. Talk,
talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk. And we need to be still
and be quiet. Scripture says a fool's voice
is known by most to the words done. Big talkers. Like to talk of everything, too.
Everything. Talk about this. Talk about that. You want to
talk? We'll talk about it. We'll talk about it. I know something about
it, too. It fascinates me. Everything but vital things,
that is. They enjoy discussing politics, even religion, but
don't talk about death and eternity and judgment and salvation. Well, look at this, verse 15.
It came to pass that while they talked, while they communed together
and reasoned, they reasoned, Jesus himself drew near. Oh, this is such a clear picture.
"...and went with them." And it says, "...their eyes were
blinded, hoping that they should not know him." They were blind. The Lord of glory was in their
midst, and they didn't know him. Didn't. They thought they knew
something. And they may have knew some things, but they didn't
know anything as they ought to know. Why? Because he who is
the wisdom and the power of God was in their midst, and they
didn't know him whom they ought to know. Him whom to know is
to know everything. Right? They didn't know him.
But Scripture says there's none really bound by nature that understandeth. We read that in 1 Corinthians
too. There's none that understandeth. by nature seeks after God. So
they're reasoned. Men and women like to reason
of many things, even the Bible. But true spiritual understanding,
true salvation is not with reason. It doesn't come with this mind.
It doesn't come by us sitting down and calculating, cold and
calculating things. Salvation doesn't come that way. We'll see this here in a minute.
They thought they understood. Look at verse 21. They said,
But we trusted. We thought. We thought. That's us, isn't it? That's everybody
by nature. I think. That's what I think. They thought they understood,
but they didn't. It's a sad commentary of many today. The scripture
says this, that the light that is envy, that is, you think you
have some understanding, that light that is envy be darkness.
How gray is that darkness? In other words, if a man thinks
he understands the truth and yet he's holding to error, I
mean, zealously holding on to error, boy, he's blind, on top
of blind, isn't he? Say this, I hope, with pity, but this generation is
holding the truth in error. Paul said it there
in Romans chapter one. They hold the truth, but it's
in error. They have the truth. It's concerning the sovereignty
of God. It's so clear from the Scriptures.
that God reigns and rules, so clear. Men don't believe that. They don't believe that. Concerning our utter inability
and depravity and sinfulness before this God, our helplessness
before, our utter condemnation before this God, so clear. It's
so clear, isn't it, from the Scripture. They don't believe
that. Men don't believe that. You see
what I'm saying? They hold the truth, but they're holding on
to a lie. God's way of salvation. Now,
he must choose a people. It's so clear. It's from Genesis
1 to Revelation 22. Well, all these things are clearly
seen when somebody meets Christ, when they meet the sovereign
Lord. They see these things, you see? That's what we're going
to see here in a minute. These men were religious men.
They even followed someone named Jesus for a long time, but they
didn't evidently know him. That's the way it was. They weren't just perplexed by
what had happened. They just didn't believe. Look
at verse 16. It says, "...their eyes were
holding that they should not know him." They probably knew some facts.
They probably, by this time, could quote some scriptures.
And many professed Christ, professed to be believers, Christians,
but they don't know him. They didn't even know him when
he was talking to them, did they? They didn't know he was evident
by this fact. Look at verse 17. He said unto
them, Christ said unto these two men, What manner of communication
are these? What are you talking about? What's
wrong? What are you saying that you
have, what have you said one to another as you walk and are
sad? What are you sad about? Now listen, if these men would
have known and believed everything that Christ said, what would
they have been sad about? When they heard these ladies
come up and say, he's risen, that's what he said he was going
to do. And they would have been skipping on the road, wouldn't
they? He's a resident. They were sad. Their Christ was
in the grave. He couldn't do what he set out
to do. Huh? Jesus was in the tomb. The cross was a sad defeat. They
didn't know him. They didn't see why he came. He said that to this hour I've
come. This is why I came. It's my moment
of glory. And this is most religion today.
It's based upon emotion. Don't you please accept Jesus
into your heart as your personal Savior? He wants to save you,
and you won't let Him. Please do that. Don't you feel
sorry for Him? Isn't that religion today? Few people see any real purpose
in the cross. Few people. Everybody that knows
him sees it. Everybody that's met him sees
it, the real purpose, the real glory of God being in the cross,
the real need for an atonement. Evidently, these men didn't see
how Christ was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
He had to come. He had to lay down himself. as
an offering, as a sacrifice to God, with our sins upon him,
a scapegoat in the wilderness, forsaken by God Almighty with
our sins, and us being made his righteousness. Christ explained
these things to them. They didn't believe it, though,
did they? They didn't believe it. But the cross was sad. They didn't see that it required
a drastic sacrifice. But they had more than just mistakes,
faults, errors. They had this thing in them called
sin. Sin, this awful principle that
abides in every human being upon the face of the earth. Sin and
rules and reigns in us. Sin. And a mighty conqueror had
to come and conquer sin in us. They didn't see that. They didn't
see that. And most men don't see it today.
Thank God by his mercy and grace on you, some of you do. They were only concerned about
prophecy and miracles. Look at it, verse 17. Let's read
through here. Christ said, Why are you sad?
Verse 18. One of them, whose name was Cleopas,
answered and said unto him, Are you a stranger in Jerusalem? Yes, he is, isn't he? Yes, he is. God is a stranger
in the land, isn't he? Paul said it. To whom you ignorantly
worship this strange, unknown God, I want to declare him unto
you. Are you a stranger in Jerusalem and have not known the things
which are come to pass here in these days? Verse 19, And Christ
said unto them, What things? trying their faith. They said unto him, Well, concerning
Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet, mighty indeed in word
before God and all the people, and how the chief priests and
our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death and have crucified
him. But we trusted that it had been
he which would have redeemed Israel. And beside all this,
today is the third day since these things were done, and certain
women of our company made us astonished. They just surprised
us with stories. They were earlier at the sepulcher,
and they found not his body, and they came saying to us that
they'd seen a vision, and said that he was alive. Strange things are happening.
You see, they were only taken up with prophecies. Look at it,
verse 19. They only thought of Christ as
being a prophet. We thought concerning Jesus of
Nazareth, which was a prophet, they didn't see. Evidently they thought he was
just a prophet like anybody else, just another prophet come down
the line. Who do men say that I am? I, the son of Mary. Well,
some say that you're a prophet. These were two intimate disciples,
evidently. Concerning Jesus, having heard Jesus of Nazareth,
he's a mighty prophet. They didn't know he was that
prophet, God's prophet, that prophet, which should come and
reveal the very mind of God himself, the Word, the prophecy of all
of Scripture, that prophet, who should come and revealed God
himself, just a prophet, a prophet. Mighty in word and mighty in
deed, he did many wonderful works. And some great things went on.
Verse 21, But we trusted that it had been he which should have
redeemed Israel. They were taken up with prophecy.
They were only concerned with an earthly kingdom. We thought
he was going to come and get us out of this mess. We thought
he was going to set up his earthly kingdom here and an established
rule here, and that all of us were going to reign and rule
with him. And to a great degree, that's
all men and women are interested in now. Armageddon. I had a man
at work one time come up to me out of the blue, a professing
Christian. He said, What do you think that white
horse is in Revelation chapter 8? Oh, I wish somebody, don't you
wish somebody would come up to you and say, what do you think
of this Isaiah 53? Who's this talking about? Is
he talking about himself or is he talking about somebody else?
How is a man saved? I want to know if I'm really
saved. What do you have to say about
it? What do you think about the white horse? When do you think
these things will take place? When do you think the Lord is
coming? Apostles. They were taken up
with phenomenon and visions. Look at verse twenty-three. It
says, These ladies found not his body, and they came saying
that they had seen a vision. They had seen a vision of something.
Look over at John chapter 2, just a few pages over. John chapter
2. John chapter 2, verse 18. You know, our Lord repeated over
and over again, he said, a wicked and adulterous generation seeks
after sin, didn't he? Over and over again he said that.
Look at verse 18. Then the Jews said unto him,
our Lord just drove out the money changers from the temple, and
the Jews said unto him, What sign showest thou unto us, seeing
that thou doest these things?" And Jesus answered and said unto
them, You destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise
it up. And then said to the Jews, Forty and six years was this
temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days?
And he spake of the temple of his body, though. Verse 22, look
at this, when therefore he was risen from the dead. His disciples
remembered what he said. They remembered his word, you
see? And they believed the scripture and the word. Christ said again
and again, no sign is going to be given. And we, by nature,
natural man, looking for signs, looking for miracles, looking
for glorious signs, you know. I said, no sign is going to be
given, isn't it? But yes. And the disciples said,
after he was buried and rose again, they believed the scripture
and the word which Jesus said unto them. Look at verse 23. Now, when he was in Jerusalem
at the Passover, in the feast day, many believed in his name. When they saw the miracles But
Jesus did not commit, did not commune, did not reveal Himself
unto them because He knew them. And He needed not that any should
testify of man. But He knew what was in man.
And over in John chapter 6, John chapter 6, it says, look at it
here, John chapter 6 verse 22. John 6 verse 22. The day following, Christ just
walked on the water, and he got in the boat with the disciples
and went over to the other side, and these people were following
him everywhere. And the day following, the people
stood on the other side of the sea, saw there was no other boat
there save the one the disciples entered, and Christ went not
with his disciples into that boat, but the disciples had left
alone. Look down at verse 24. When the
people therefore saw that Christ was Not there, neither his disciples.
They went looking for him. And verse 25, when they found
him on the other side, they said, How did you get here? Oh, this
is great. How did you get here? Christ
answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, you seek me not
because you saw the miracle, necessarily, some did, because
you got your family And then he went on to explain,
he went on to talk of many things here in John chapter 6. He talked
about God's electing grace, God's effectual call. He said, All
the Father giveth me shall come to me. And he talked about perseverance,
absolute salvation. This is the Father's will which
is sent me that of all which he hath given me I should lose
nothing. Then he talked about man's inability to come to God.
No man can come to me except the Father which has sent me
draw him. And then he talked about, he said, I'm God. He said,
Verily, verily, I say unto you, he believes on me, hath everlasting
life. I am. He talked about justification
by faith. He that believeth shall be saved. And then down in verse
60, look at it, verse 60. Many, therefore, of his disciples, when they heard these things,
verse 60, They said, this is hard. These things, this doctrine's
hard. Who can hear this? And when Jesus
knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said, does
this offend you? What and if you shall see the
Son of Man ascend up where he was before? It's a spiritual
quickening. It's a flesh process nothing.
He talks about a new birth here. The words that I speak unto you,
they are spirit, and they are life." Verse sixty-six. From
that time, many of his disciples went back and walked no more
with him. They were taken up with many
things, but they didn't believe his word. They didn't believe
him. They didn't know him. Well, look back at the text.
Christ must reveal himself. Look back at Luke 24. He must
reveal himself in order for somebody to know him. And how does he
reveal himself? First of all, this is the first
way. This is the fundamental way that God reveals himself
to every believer. This is it right here. Look at
it. Look at it with me. Verse 25. Then said Cross unto them, O
fool," he called him a fool, "'O fool,
and slow of heart to believe you, unbelieving fool!' Now he
said this in compassion, yes, but the word is there. the way
that God first revealed himself. He said, O fool and slow of heart
to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Do you remember
the rich man in hell that lifted up his eyes and said, Father
Abraham, send Lazarus to dip his finger and quench my tongue?
And he said, and have him go talk to my brothers. What did
he say? He said, they're not going to believe.
Abraham said, they're not going to believe if one rose from the
dead. They have what? They got the Word. They got the
same thing you have. You didn't believe it. The Word
of God. And the first way that God comes
to us in revealing himself is in conviction of sin. He tells
us we're fools, we're unbelievers, we're sinful wretches. That's
what he says. You are from beneath, I am from
above. You are of this world, I am not
of this world. You are fools, I am wisdom. You are sin, I am
holy. You are darkness, I am light.
Right? That's the way God first reveals
himself to us. I am sovereign, you are dead. That's the way he reveals himself?
Lazarus, come forth. Lazarus, you were dead because
I came. You're alive. That's how he reveals
himself, first of all, to anybody. And look at verse 26. And then,
see, he convicts us of sin, Derek, doesn't he? Repentance. By the
goodness of God, he leads us to repentance, first of all.
You see, just behold God. and myself. That's the first
step. When I saw, I heard of you, now
I see you. Oh, I hate myself. That's the first step. And then
verse 26, and then he goes on to reveal himself much clearer. Verse 26, he says, Oh, I'd like
to have been here. Wouldn't you like to have been
here and heard this? This sermon? It's bound to be the greatest
sermon ever preached. The Lord himself. Oh boy, the one who
was that subject, the object of all the types, is about to
preach on the types. Wouldn't you like to hear that,
Rick? He said, he sat down with them. Maybe they sat on a rock
on their way to Emmaus. And he said, boys, ought not
Christ have suffered these things? They need His glory. Let me tell
you about it. He didn't need a Bible either.
He was, he is the Bible. And it says, beginning at Moses
and all the prophets. He began over at Moses. He went
over there, first of all, to Genesis 3, 15, didn't he? Now,
I know y'all heard of the woman seed. Y'all heard that, didn't
you? That is speaking of God's Son
who is to come, that's speaking of me, who is to come down here
and take upon that serpent and crush his power, crush his head,
which is sin itself, by becoming sin. You see, that serpent is
going to bruise, would bruise the Son of God's heel, his body,
his humanity, but he would crush his head. The seed of woman,
born of a virgin. would come and crush Satan's
power. Then he went over maybe to Abel and Cain. There were
two fellows offered up two sacrifices. He began to describe works and
grace. He said, you see, God had favored
Abel's sacrifice, not Abel's person, Abel's sacrifice. That
reveals Christ who was to come, given by God, freely provided
by God. Not what a man does, but what
God sends, who God sends, to Christ. Then Noah's ark. All of these types picture death
and burial and resurrection, all of them. And that's what
Christ said. He said, the sign's not going to be given except
the prophet Jonah. As Jonah was in the belly of the whale three
days and three nights, so will the Son of Man be. He talked
about Noah's ark, Noah being buried in the floods but safe
in the ark and then rising on dry land. He talked about Abraham
offering Isaac upon that altar. Wouldn't you love to have heard
that? He talked about the serpent lifted up on the pole. He said,
if I be lifted up, I'll draw all men unto me. He talked about
the cities of refuge, how the law is chasing us, condemning
us. If we get to the city, we'll
be safe, and a sacrifice is offered in the city for us. Ruth, the
kinsman-redeemer, wouldn't you like to hear him preach that?
Boaz. He said, I'm Boaz. I'm Boaz. David's mercy to Mephibosheth. I bet he made that real to him,
Mephibosheth. Isaiah's man of sorrows, chapter
53. How about that? Oh, he preached
that with power. And he went over there and showed
them. It says, "...and all the prophets he expounded unto them,
and all the scriptures, things concerning himself." He went
over there to Micah, chapter 5, and showed how he comes from
Bethlehem. How he would be born of a virgin
there in Isaiah, chapter 7. And how he would be taken to
Egypt in Hosea, chapter 11. how he would grow up in Nazareth,
just like the Scripture said in Judges 13, and all of his
miracles that he'd performed in the book of Isaiah 61. Now,
his crucifixion, his suffering, his miracles, his resurrection
in Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53, he went all through the Scripture
showing them these things. And then look at verse 30, or
verse 28, "...they drew nigh unto the village, whither they
went, and he made as though he was going to go on." And he'll
wait, and he'll stay, and keep preaching. Keep preaching. They said, Abide with us. Come
on in here and tell us some more. He said, Toward evening, the
day was far spent, and he went in to tarry with them. Verse
30, And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it,
and broke it, and gave it to them. And verse
31, "...and their eyes were opened." And many of us have been through
this very same thing. Finally, one day, your eyes were
opened. It says, "...their eyes were
opened and they knew Him." One day. You know, you broke this
bread over and over again, didn't you? You went through it. Many
of you were raised in religion. You went all the way through
the Old Testament, seeing these stories, Noah's Ark, and so forth. You didn't see Christ, did you?
You didn't see Christ in these things? But then a man, God sends
a man, a gospel preacher, to show you these things, show you.
And finally, one day, in the breaking of this bread, I see! This is talking about
Christ, isn't it? I never saw that before. This
is Christ! Salvation is of the Lord, isn't
it? Yeah, it is. And it says he vanished
out of their sight. Amen. Christ is the bread of
life. He said, except you eat my flesh
and drink my blood, you have no life in me. He was revealed to them in the
revelation of the Word, the preaching of the Word is how he was revealed
to them. And in close communion, he came to them personally, Roberta,
them personally. and broke bread with them and
gave it to them, each one of them, didn't he? He said, eat
me. And that's what he says to each
one of us. He comes to us personally. Vicki,
Christ had to come to you personally, personally, and show you himself,
reveal himself to you personally in close communion. This is the
reason I keep pressing for this thing of a personal relationship
with the living Lord, not being just an understanding of facts.
It starts there, yes, but it's got to come down to a personal
knowledge and revelation, and he does that in here. It's inexplainable. I can't explain it. You just
have to experience it. Yes, it is an experience. It's not a
vision, it's not a sign, it's not some wild erasing of the
hands or rolling in the aisle. That ain't it at all. It's just
up, and one day he opens your eyes to see him, and you embrace
him by faith. That's what it said. opened their
eyes and they knew Him, who He was, and they bound to have known
themselves, who they were and who Christ is. And look at this,
look at the results. I've got to hurry. And their eyes were opened, verse
31, and He vanished out of their sight, and they slid one to another.
They looked at one another. Terry, and you and I have looked
at one another like this before, haven't we? Wasn't that great? Did you hear that? Didn't your
heart burn? Didn't your heart just rejoice
within you while he talked with us, by the way, and opened his
scriptures to you? You ever got this heartburn,
spiritual heartburn, when somebody preaches a gospel? Oh, you feeling
what I'm feeling? Yeah, you know, and you can't
explain it until you have it. This work is a heart work. That's
what I'm trying to say. Salvation is a heart work. Spiritual
heart burn is what it is. With the heart man believeth
unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made.
And Christ said that that peace I give unto you, this thing that
I put in your hearts, no man is going to take that away from
you. You see, a mere head knowledge of doctrine and so forth of Christ's
work, that won't Mere intellect won't save you, because if you're
just convinced in your head, somebody else may be able to
convince you out of it. Christ said, My peace. When I
give you My peace to know Me from My Word, nobody's going
to take that from you. Why? Because He is peace. He
dwells within. He does. Not just a concept,
not just a doctrine. He dwells. A new heart is there
to stay. You ever have this heartburn? Boy, this is something you don't
want to get rid of. This is the kind of heartburn
you don't want to get rid of. You know, if you get a physical
heartburn every now and then, boy, you pop R-O-L-A-I-D-S as
fast as you can. And there are some ways to get
rid of this spiritual heartburn. R-E-L-I-G-I-O-N. That'll do it. Works, law, that'll do it. That'll get rid of this heartburn.
Go to Dr. Law, Dr. Good Works, Dr. Jonah
Church. They'll successfully extinguish
this heartburn for Christ. But we need to go to the great
physicians. and say, you keep that there. You keep it burning.
Keep her burning. He'll say, I'll just tell you
how to keep her burning. You hear plenty of true gospel
preaching. You tune your ear to gospel preaching, to preaching
Christ. That'll keep that flame of burning.
Keep that heart burner going. And you worship with people of
like faith as often as possible. As often as possible. You go
down there and the Holy Spirit is going to throw a little oil
on that fire and make her burn. And then you read the Word. You take it with plenty of reading
and personal studying and prayer and so forth. And above all else,
you call on me, the Great Physician. We'll look at it, and then I'll
quit. Verse 33, And they rose up the same hour, and returned
to Jerusalem, and found the others gathered together. Then they
were with him, and they said, The Lord is risen indeed. This was the result of this whole
thing. They got a witnessing spirit.
He's risen indeed. Ah, you can't help but tell the
things you've seen and heard. And he's appeared to Simon, and
they told what things were done in the way and how he was known
of them and breaking bread. If ever, I've said this before,
if ever the Lord really saves a man or a woman, everybody will
know it. Everybody will know it. I used to know a preacher
who was Chuck Harris. You may know him. He said that
he was such a notorious fellow in his early days that when the
Lord saved him, they put it on the headlines of the hometown
paper. Everybody knew it. Something's
happened to old Henry. Something's happened to old Rick.
Everybody will know it, even the old hound dog. Quit kicking
your coon dogs, anyway. Even the old hound dog will know
it. He that hath received mercy shall have mercy to his bees,
Steve. Well, have you ever had this? Have you had this hard
work done to you? I hope so. If not, I hope the
Lord will do it to you. Stand with me and I'll dismiss
this in prayer. Our Lord, we thank you for such
a clear picture of what we are, what we were
by nature, and what you've done for us. How we thank you. We praise your holy name for
coming. You didn't have to, but you came
and you revealed yourself to us. And we ask that you do this
very same thing for some that you may not have revealed yourself
to yet. We don't know. I believe they
know. Lord, help us. May we win Christ
and be found in Him. In His name we pray. Amen.