Now, turn with me to Jeremiah
chapter 6. And we'll begin our message tonight
in verse 18, Jeremiah 6. The title of the message is,
The Refinery of God's Word. The Refinery of God's Word. Now,
we who live in this area, especially we who've been brought up in
this area, We certainly know what a refinery is, don't we?
Because we have many refineries around here. I don't know the
technical aspect, and I'm not going to try to say much about
that because I've never worked in a refinery. But some of you
spend a lot of time in various refineries. But I know this. I know every time that as a boy
going down US 23, we'd go by Armco. what's now AK steel, and
I'd see that big flame, those two, those big flames shooting
out of those, those stacks, and I know that it was pretty hot
over there, and I knew they were burning something, and I figured,
and I think I've been told that that's the, that's what a refinery
is, basically. I know there's more things to
it than that, but that's where they would heat metal, melt it,
burn out the dross, separate it, get it all ready for the
products that they were making. And what we're seeing here is
an analogy in the last part of chapter 6 of Jeremiah because
he's talking about refining the silver. God refining the silver. The silver that's full of dross
and impurities. In the last verse of this, he
calls it in verse 30, reprobate silver. That's an interesting
phrase, isn't it? Reprobate. What does that mean?
That means rejected silver. And I always think, and when
I see the word silver, especially in the Old Testament, I think
about what silver, the metal silver typified. And the metal
silver was a type of the redemptive work of Christ. Even a type you
might say of the blood of Christ. The silver was the medal of redemption.
Gold was the medal of deity. And that's when anytime you saw
gold, that was a picture of the deity of Christ. The deity, God's
nature. His deity. But silver was the
medal of redemption. Well here he calls it reprobate
silver. Why is he called reprobate silver?
Because there's no redemption there. But before we get to that,
let's go back. Now, this whole thing, this chapter
6, is the conclusion of Jeremiah's second message to Jerusalem. And he speaks this message during
the time, and you need to see this context historically. This
message was given during the time of King Josiah. And King
Josiah, you remember, he was a godly king. He was one of the
few godly kings. of the southern kingdom. He's
the one who was on the throne. He came to the throne as a youth
and he pretty much grew up there and he was the one during the
time that Hilkiah, the high priest, was cleaning up and cleaning
out the temple and found the book of God. And that's recorded
over in 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles and how he brought the book of
God, the law books of Moses, the Old Testament, what they
had of it. And he brought the book of God
to the king. And you remember Josiah tore his clothes. He rent
his clothes and he cried out. He said, we need to hear this
book. We need to hear the words of the Lord. And so Josiah began
bringing about reforms in Judah and in Jerusalem. He began removing
the idols and cleansing out the prophets of the groves in Judah
and Jerusalem and the people followed him outwardly. They put on the outward trappings
of true religion but they simply had no heart for it. They were
God's people in name only. They tried to follow the truth
in name only. Remember over here in Jeremiah
chapter 4, I think it's verse 4, he talks about circumcise
yourselves to the Lord and take away the four skins of your heart.
Jeremiah knew that their problem was a heart problem. And that's
the basic problem of all men and women by nature, sin is a
heart problem. It's not just in outward things.
It's not just in actions and what we do or don't do, but it's
in the heart. That's what fallen human nature
is about. We fell in Adam. We're born dead in trespasses
and sins. We have a hard, unconvicted heart,
uncircumcised heart. Later on, Jeremiah talks about
how their ears are uncircumcised. They have ears to hear, but they
don't hear. He mentioned that over in verse 21 of chapter 5.
Hear now this, O foolish people, without understanding, which
have eyes and see not, which have ears and hear not. How many
times have we wondered, Joe and I were talking about this before
it came out tonight, you know, how people can read this book
and just ignore and not believe the things, even the things that
are plain. But what that is, that's the
blindness of the natural man, isn't it? That's the darkness.
That's the hard-heartedness, the stubbornness, the stiff-necked
people. It will not bow. If it doesn't
fit with what I think naturally and what I want to hear and what
makes me feel good and what bears me up and exalts me, then I don't
want it. That's the natural man, isn't
it? But now you come in here and brag about me applaud me,
then I'll be one of your staunchest supporters. Remember, Jeremiah
said that in verse 31 of chapter 5. The prophets prophesy falsely,
the priests bear rule by their means, and my people love to
have it so. Now, why would anybody want to
be lied to? Well, they don't think they're being lied to.
All they know is that when I go... I've heard people say this, and
you probably have too. I said, all I know is when I
go to church there, I feel good. I had a lady tell me one time,
she says, you never have anything good to say about anybody. And
I said, well, I've got a lot of good to say about Christ,
and He's the only somebody we need to hear about. But that's
it, you know, they want to go where they feel good, and that's
what He's talking about. But He says there in verse 31,
and what will you do in the end thereof? Now, when judgment comes,
when death comes, when judgment comes, what are you going to
do then? Because I tell you, if you stand before a holy God
without Christ, I guarantee you're not going to feel good. You're
not going to hear things that will scratch the itching ear.
You're not going to be lied to. But the people of Jeremiah's
day were like the Pharisees of old. Remember, we won't turn
over there because I don't have time to go through all this,
but you remember in Matthew chapter 23 how Christ pronounced all
the woes on the Pharisees. and it was their hypocrisy how
they were so meticulous and so determined to clean up the outside
of the cup but inwardly he said you look like whited sepulchers
outside but inwardly it's death that's what it is like a beautiful
sepulcher in a graveyard but if you go down into the center
of it where the dead corrupting body is that's what he said you're
like People of Jeremiah's day were the same way, inwardly. And he said, you do indeed appear
righteous unto men. You have a show of it. That's
why he said, except your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the
scribes and the Pharisees, you shall in no wise enter the kingdom
of heaven. And then when Jeremiah came and warned them of the problem,
told them of their problem, sin, the heart, They didn't believe
the truth. They didn't see the glory of
the law, which is to point sinners away from themselves, to show
us our sin, their sin, and to point them to Christ for salvation,
for all forgiveness. His blood alone, His righteousness
imputed for the justification of our persons before a holy
God. Christ alone for eternal life, spiritual life and glory.
When Jeremiah warned them of the coming wrath and judgment
of God and the only remedy, what did they say? Well, look at verse
16 again. Yes, verse 16. Now, he told them, he said, Thus
saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, ask for the old
paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and you shall
find rest to your souls. But what did they say? But they
said, We will not walk therein. There's man's will right there.
We will not do it. Verse 17, I set watchmen over
you. Now Jeremiah was the watchman.
Like in a tower or in a city. And he's looking out over the
landscape and he's trying to foresee or see afar off when
danger is coming. Maybe a storm off in the distance. Maybe an enemy army coming. And he would blow the trumpet.
And he says, hearken to the sound of the trumpet, the warning trumpet.
Danger is coming. But look at it, but they said,
we will not hearken. That's man's will. And so, beginning
here in verse 18, here's what he says. Therefore, look at it. Hear, ye nations, and know, O
congregation, what is among them. Look at Judah. Look at Jerusalem. That's what he's saying. Now,
who's he talking to here? The nations are the Gentiles.
And he's going to be talking about judgment coming. God's
judgment against their sin. Judgment that's going to be open
for everybody to see. Judah and Jerusalem are going
to be made a spectacle before the whole world. That's what
he's saying. Therefore hear ye nations and know. Now you look
what's happening here. And what this does, it serves
as a warning to the Gentiles to flee to Christ for salvation. and be safe from the wrath of
God. Can't you see what's going on
here? He says, O congregation, look what's among these people
who claim to be the people of God. And then look at verse 19. Listen to this. He says, Hear,
O earth. This is a message for the whole
earth, not just for one people. God has a people out of every
tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation. He says, Behold, I will bring
evil upon this people. What's he talking about? That's
the wrath of God against their sin. It's not God doing something
evil. But this is the way people see
it. Now, you know what that comes from? Accusing God of evil? Well, it's like the person who
makes a statement like this. He says, well, I'm not perfect,
but I've never done anything to deserve hell. What is a person saying when
they say that? They're saying that God would
not be right to send me to hell. They're accusing God of evil.
And that's the way these people saw the wrath of God coming upon
them. But look at verse 19 again. O
hear, O earth! Behold, I will bring evil upon
this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they
have not hearkened unto my words, nor to my law, but rejected it. The fruit of their thoughts.
Sin reaches the heart. Their thoughts. We could spend a lot of time
going through the Bible talking about how important it is that our thinking be right. Think about it. Their thoughts, that means their
motives. That means their goals. That means their plans. What
drives them? When the Bible talks about the
reins, He said, I'll get them by the reins. That's their thoughts. That's their heart. It's the
same thing. What is He saying? They're reaping
what they sowed. What did Christ teach about that?
In Matthew 15 and verse 19, He said, How the heart proceed evil,
what? Thoughts. Murders. adulteries, fornications, thefts,
false witness, blasphemies. What's he talking about? He's
talking about our thoughts. He said in Matthew chapter 5 that
it's not only a sin to commit the act of murder, but it's a
sin to think it. That's basically what he was
saying. To count somebody not worth living, not worth our love
and our care and our time. But all these things that he's
talking about, murder, adultery, fornication, that's the thoughts.
It begins in the thought. It begins in the heart. That's
the mind, the affections, the will. We read it over in Hebrews
chapter 4 and verse 12. The Word of God is quick and
powerful. It's a living Word. It's a powerful
word. It's the dynamite of God. It's
sharper than any two-edged sword, cuts two ways, piercing even
to the dividing asunder of the soul and the spirit and of the
joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of
the heart. Think about these questions here.
What do we think of God? Now, I know where we're sitting.
I know where I'm standing. Well, what are we thinking? And
I've said this before, and I know, and I've had preachers say it
to me, and it's true. I mean, you know, where we're sitting
here, would you like somebody just to flash your thoughts up for everybody
to see them? Well, no. What are we thinking? Well, God knows, doesn't he?
God sees us. In Isaiah chapter 55 and verse
8 he said, For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are
your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are
higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways,
and my thoughts than your thoughts. You want to see the mind of God?
If somebody were to tell you that tonight we're going to meet
and I'm going to show you the mind of God, what would you be
thinking? Well, do you know every time
you open this book right here, you're seeing the mind of God.
That's why we study the Scriptures. Somebody said, I want to know
God's thoughts. Well, here they are. Right here in this book,
this is the revelation of God, His truth. In Psalm 50 and verse
21, listen to this. This is man by nature. He said,
these things hast thou done and I kept silence. Thou thoughtest
that I was all together such in one as I said, that's what
man naturally thinks. Now, how are we going to know
how God thinks? Look into his word. He said, I will reprove
thee and set them in order before thine eyes. I'll tell you the
truth. God said, what do we think of God? He's holy. He's sovereign. He's the judge of all the earth
and he'll do right. He judges according to, yes,
he is merciful. Yes, he is good and kind. Yes, he is loving and gracious,
but not without holiness. I tell you, if we ever get a
hold of that, we'll begin to have right thoughts about God.
He is a just God and a Savior. Look unto me and be ye saved.
All the ends are there. Look unto who? A just God and
a Savior. A righteous judge and a loving
Father. Where can we find one like that?
Only, only in the grace of God in Christ. Only in the face of
Jesus Christ. For in Him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead body. Here is another question. What
do we think of ourselves? Christ told them. And Paul told
him through, Christ told him through Paul. He said, be careful. He's talking to all of us now.
He was talking to the church at Corinth. He's talking to all
of us and he says, don't think too highly of yourself. Because
we have a tendency to do that, don't we? The psalmist wrote,
search me, O God, and know my heart. Test me and know my thoughts. Paul wrote to the Corinthians,
he said, wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed
lest he fall. These people here in Jeremiah's
day, they thought they stood. In other words, they thought
they stood in right standing with God. Jeremiah's saying,
oh no. Why did they think that? Look
over at Jeremiah 17. We read this verse all the time.
Listen to this. Verse 9. Here's why they thought
they had a right standing with God. This was their thoughts.
Here's where it comes from. Verse 9 of Jeremiah 17. The heart is deceitful above
all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? That's where
it comes from. Any sinner's claim of peace,
of blessedness, of salvation, or a right standing with God
that is separated from Christ and Him crucified, that is not
founded upon His blood and His righteousness alone, is speaking
out, issuing His thoughts and speaking out of this deceived
heart. So what's the remedy? Look at verse 10. I, the Lord,
search the heart. I try the rains. There's that
word rains. Even to give every man according
to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings. He mentions
fruit there. Back over here in Jeremiah 6,
he talked about the fruit of their thoughts. You remember
the story of Naaman the leper? Old Naaman, it's over in 2 Kings
5, you don't have to turn there. He was a powerful man. He was
a well-respected man in his homeland. And Elisha the prophet came to
him. He said, you come down to the
river Jordan. And you get down in that river
and you wash. Remember what Naaman said in
verse 11 of 2 Kings 5, let me read it to you. But Naaman was
wroth, means he was angry, at Elisha the prophet, God's prophet.
And he went away and he said, Behold, I thought. Here's what
I thought, Naaman said. Surely he will come out to me,
I'm Naaman, look who I am. Who do you think I am? Surely
he'll come out to me, this prophet, this Elisha, and stand and call
on the name of the Lord his God and strike his hand over the
place and recover the leper. He's going to do something big
and impressive for me. That's what I thought, Naaman
said. And he said in verse 12, Are not Abana and far par rivers
of damascus better than all the waters of israel why didn't he
come to me and in damascus because we got rivers better than the
you know jordan that muddy dirty george he said may i not wash in them
and be claimed that's what i thought so he would turn and went away
in a rage that's what he thought And his servants came near, and
spoke to him, and said, My father, if the prophet had bid thee do
some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? How much rather
then, when he saith to thee, Wash, and be clean? And then
the Lord turned O Naaman, and the next verse says this, Then
he went down. He went down. Now that's where
we all need to go. We need to go down. And he said,
he dipped himself seven times in Jordan, according to the saying
of the man of God, and his flesh came again like unto the flesh
of a little child, and he was clean. My thoughts are not your
thoughts, God said. What do we think of ourselves?
But here's the question of all questions. What do we think of
Christ? Christ himself asked that question.
Those who are trying to trap Him with their religious matters. Matthew 22 and 42, He said, What
think ye of Christ? Whose son is He? That's the issue,
isn't it? Because I'm going to tell you
something. If you have right thoughts of God and right thoughts of
yourself, you will be brought by the power of God to have right
thoughts of Christ. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness. Every thought, every imagination,
Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 10, will be brought into subjection
to the righteousness of God in Christ. He told the Pharisees,
the Lord did, you search the Scriptures, for in them you think
you have eternal life. They thought they did. He said,
well, they are they which testify of me. Your thoughts aren't right
on the Scriptures until you see the glory of Christ, the glory
of His person, The glory of His finished work. And all the fruit
of their doings. Look back here at Jeremiah 6.
All the fruit of their doings or their thoughts. What is it?
It's dead works. That's the fruit of their thoughts.
They don't know God. They don't know themselves. They
don't know Christ. It's religion without grace,
religion without truth, religion without Christ. It's dead, empty
works. Look, they rejected the Word
of God. God's way, God's will, His revealed
will by way of commandment. Revealed in His Word. And so
He says in verse 20, To what purpose cometh thee to me incense
from Sheba? Now you know what that means
is they were very diligent to get the best incense they could
get. They are not going to bring second-rate stuff to God. they're
going to bring the best. And sweet Cain from a far country,
they'd go far to get what they were going to offer to God. You
see, just like Cain, you know, he brought the best that he had
to offer. That's what man by nature does.
He says, your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor your
sacrifice is sweet unto me. You see, the issue here is truth
and motive and goal. To what purpose, he says, are
these things? Remember Isaiah? Turn back to
Isaiah 1. Remember, he brought this out
too in his day. Look at verse 10 of Isaiah 1. He says, Hear the word of the
Lord, you rulers of Sodom. Give ear unto the law of our
God, ye people of Gomorrah. What a statement to make to the
people of Jerusalem. You are no better off than Sodom
and Gomorrah. You are religious. You appear
outwardly righteous. But you are full of dead men's
bones. You don't know Christ. You don't know God. You don't
know yourself. He says, to what purpose is the
multitude of your sacrifices unto me, saith the Lord? I'm
full, fed up of the burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed beasts,
and I delight not in the blood of bullocks or of lambs or of
he-goats. I can remember a time when the
Lord told Moses and the children of the Hebrew children in Egypt,
He said, when I see the blood, I'll pass over you. Didn't He
say that? Here he says, I'm tired of the
blood of bullocks and of lambs and of he-goats. Why? It goes
back to that question. To what purpose are they? He
says, verse 12, look at it. When you come to appear before
me, who hath required this at your hand to tread in my courts?
Bring no more vain oblations, vain offerings. Incense is an
abomination to me. The new moons and sabbaths, the
calling of assemblies, I cannot away with. It's iniquity. It
doesn't measure up. He said, even the solemn meeting.
What's the problem? Again, it's just empty, self-righteous,
hypocritical, vain religion without any truth, without any grace,
without Christ, without heart. That's what it is. The heart's
not in it. Look back at Jeremiah 6. So he
says in verse 21, Therefore thus saith the Lord, behold, I will
lay stumbling blocks before this people and the fathers and the
sons together shall fall upon them. The neighbor and his friend
shall perish. What are those stumbling blocks?
He's talking about God's judgments. Why are they stumbling blocks?
Because the people thought that they would be blessed for their
religious exercise. They thought they'd be. accepted
with God, just like Cain. Cain fully expected to be accepted
with God based on the best he had to offer. He didn't know
God, he didn't know himself, he didn't know Christ. Abel came,
he knew the holiness and the justice of God against his sin,
and he knew his own depravity. He knew, Abel knew that by deeds
of law shall no flesh be justified, and he knew Christ. He brought
the blood of the Lamb, and he knew that it pictured the Lamb
of God. He knew he was in need of a righteousness he could not
produce. And so he brought that substitute,
that surety, His sins charged to that substitute. That's the
picture. And the righteousness of that
surety charged to Him. But it was a stumbling block
that came. What's a stumbling block to these people? That's
why Christ is called a stumbling block to those who trust in their
own works. Remember in Romans 9 and 1 Peter 2, that's what
he said. He was a stone of stumbling,
a rock of offense, He is to those who are trying to establish a
righteousness of their own because He is the only righteousness
that God will accept. He said, I've rejected it. It's not acceptable. Why? Because
the only way that a sinner can be accepted before God is to
be accepted in the beloved. Ephesians chapter 1, 6 and 7. And so look at verse 22. So this
judgment of God is earned and deserved. He says thus saith
the Lord behold a people cometh from the north country. That's
Babylon great nation shall be raised from the sides of the
earth. They shall lay hold on bow and spear their crew have
no mercy. See there's no mercy without
Christ. God's not going to show mercy
apart from the mercy seat. There's no mercy without righteousness
being established, no mercy without Christ. Their voice roars like
the sea. They ride upon horses, set in array as men for war against
thee, O daughter of Zion. We've heard the fame thereof.
Our hands wax or grow feeble, weak. Anguish hath taken hold
of us, and pain as of a woman in travail. Think about the anguish
of just waiting for this to happen. Go not forth into the field,
nor walk by the way, for the sword of the enemy and fear is
on every side." There's no place to hide. There's no place to
hide from God's wrath without Christ. And so now from verse
26 to the end, he brings out the issue of the refinery of
destruction. The refinery of destruction. And look at verse 26. Now, first
of all, he says, O daughter of my people, gird thee with sackcloth,
and wallow thyself in ashes, make thee mourning, as for an
only son, most bitter lamentation, sorrow, and the spoiler shall
suddenly come upon us. Now, they had been deceived into
a false sense of peace and security and happiness. What Jeremiah
says in this verse, he says, you better get prepared to mourn. It's coming. Prepare to mourn
in sorrow. This is a picture of sinners
facing a holy God without a substitute, without a surety, without the
blood, without Christ, without a righteousness that answers
the demands of God's justice. That's what that's a picture
of. It's a mourning here, a lamentation, most bitter because there's no
relief. You see, there's only one place of relief, one place
of peace and safety and security in God's salvation and that's
Christ and Him crucified and risen. And so it's not there. You see, it's just not acceptable.
Why? Because it didn't honor God. It didn't honor God. And it also
expresses the attitude they should have had over their sin. Their
attitude of mourning here, Jeremiah is saying, prepare to mourn and
sorrow and lament because you're going to be destroyed. That's the attitude we should
have over our sin under conviction that drives us to Christ for
relief. That's why Christ said, blessed
are they that mourn for they shall be comforted. mourn over
sin. And then look at verse 27. He
said, I have set thee for a tower and a fortress among my people
that thou mayest know and try or test their way. Now that word
tower is a word that really means an assayer, an assayer. Now an assayer is one who tests
metals to find impurities, to find impurities and determine
their value. That's what an assayer is. And
it's something like this, what he's saying here is this, he's
saying to Jeremiah the prophet, he said, I have set you, Jeremiah,
as an assayer and a prover of ore, metal ore, among my people
that you may know and test their doings and be like a watchtower. Now, how are you going to do
that? Well, by preaching God's Word. God's Word is like a hammer
that breaks the rock in pieces. God's Word is like a fire that
melts the hard heart, that melts the metal. And Jeremiah would
put their hearts and their ways to the test by preaching God's
Word. But they wouldn't receive it.
Isaiah did the same thing. He said in Isaiah 8.20, To the
law and to the testimony, if they speak not according to this
word, there's no light in them. The Apostle John said, Test the
preachers. Here's the point. Under God's
Word, under the fire, the refinery of God's Word, when that fire
of God's Word comes, whatever our hope is, whatever our foundation
is, whatever our safety and peace and relief is, will it stand
the test of that fire? That's the key. And I'll tell
you what, if it stands the test of God's fiery word in that refinery,
here's what it'll do. It'll burn away everything we
hope in and trust in and have peace in except Christ and Him
crucified and risen again. Everything else will be burned
away. But if not, then what'll happen? Then we'll be burned away. Jeremiah
as the assayer is like a man with the measuring rod. In Ezekiel,
in Zechariah, in Revelation, he comes measuring the temple,
measuring the church, preaching the gospel of Christ with which
to measure out the people of God. Do you believe in the Lord
Jesus Christ? Philip asked the Ethiopian eunuch
there. And the eunuch said, What hinders me to be baptized? He
said, Do you believe? Believe what? What Isaiah 53
reveals. that Christ, the God-man, is
my only hope of righteousness, of salvation, of forgiveness
and eternal life. Is this preaching of Christ, is it the power of God and the
wisdom of God unto salvation to me and to you? Is it the savor
of life unto life or death unto death? Is it a burden to me? Something that I have to do to
keep up appearances or is it my life? When the Lord turned
to the disciples and said, Will you go away also? Peter said,
To whom shall we go? You have the words of life. This
is my life. I'm feeding upon these words. I live by these words. This is
eternal life, he said, because it leads us to Christ who is
our life. Well, look at verse 28. He said,
They are all grievous, revolters, walking with slanders. They are
brass and iron. That's base metals, not valuable
metals like gold and silver, but they're all brass or some
say copper, some translations, copper and iron. They are all
corruptors. What's happened here? They failed
the test. They were brought through the
refinery of God's Word, which leads a sinner to have no hope
of salvation, of righteousness, of forgiveness, of peace, except
in Christ, and they failed that test. Corrupt and impure, not gold
and silver, not the glory of God in redemption. Look at verse
29, the bellows are burned, the lead is consumed of the fire, You see, the founder melteth
in vain, for the wicked are not plucked away. They're not plucked
away. And here's what he calls them.
Here's the conclusion, verse 30. Reprobate rejected silver
shall men call them, because the Lord hath rejected them. This reprobate silver speaks
of hypocrisy, It speaks of impurity. And something about reprobate
silver that you need to know, you can clean it up on the outside,
you can make it appear shiny and bright, but it's full of
draws, full of impurities, just like we're full of sin, depravity. Well, what is our only hope?
Our only hope is to find the silver and the gold. that is
Christ and Him alone, the God-man, who by His precious blood redeems
us from our sins and brings us to Himself in power, giving us
life eternal, making us righteous before a holy God, knowing God,
changing our thinking to right thoughts towards God, It doesn't
mean we know everything, but we have right thoughts towards
God and right thoughts towards ourselves. Brother Mahan, you
say you can't preach God too high or man too low. And right
thoughts of Christ and the salvation that God freely and fully provides
for His people in and by Him. Alright.