Good morning, let's all stand
together and sing hymn number 228. 228. My faith has found
a resting place Not in device or creed I trust the ever-living one His
words for me shall plead I need no other argument I need no other
plea It is enough that Jesus died and that he died for me. Enough for me that Jesus saves,
this ends my fear and doubt. A sinful soul, I come to him,
he'll never cast me out. I need no other argument, I need
no other plea. It is enough that Jesus died
and that He died for me. My heart is leaning on the Word,
the written Word of God. Salvation by my Savior's name,
salvation through His blood. I need no other argument. I need no other plea. It is enough that Jesus died
and that he died for me. My great physician heals the
sick A lost he came to save, For me his precious blood he
shed, For me his life he gave. I need no other argument, I need
no other plea. It is enough that Jesus died
and that he died for me. Be seated. We'll sing hymn number
258. 258. A wonderful Savior is Jesus my
Lord, A wonderful Savior to me. He guideth my soul in the left
of the rock, where rivers of pleasure I see. He hideth my soul in the cleft
of the rock that shadows a dry, thirsty land. He hideth my life in the depths
of this love and covers me there with His hand, and covers me
there with His hand. A wonderful Savior is Jesus my
Lord, He taketh my burden away. He holdeth me up, and I shall
not be moved. He giveth me strength as my day. He hideth my soul in the cleft
of the rock that shadows a dry, thirsty land. He hideth my life in the depths
of His love, and covers me there with His hand. And covers me there with His
hand. With numberless blessings each
moment He crowns, And filled with His fullness divine. I sing in my rapture, O glory
to God, for such a Redeemer as mine. He guided my soul in the cleft
of the rock that shadows a dry, thirsty land. He guided my life in the depths
of His love and covers me there with His hand. And covers me there with His
hand. When clothed in His brightness
transported I rise to meet Him in clouds of the sky His perfect
salvation This wonderful love I'll share
with the millions on by. Behind it I soar in the cleft
of the rock, that shatters such a thirsty limb. He hideth my life in the depths
of his love and covers me there with his hand. and covers me there with his
hand. I want you to turn with me to 2
Kings chapter 24 for our scripture reading. Then I'm going to preach out
of 2 Kings 25. But while you're turning, Let me make a couple
announcements. There's been a meal change for
Saturday. Everybody was thinking we was going to have pizza, but
we've changed that. We're not going to have pizza.
We're going to have brisket, smoked chicken, and Boston butts, pulled pork,
and the sides to go with it. I'd much rather have that as
a pizza. But we changed up. Changed up, you know, people
go buy a pizza anytime, but I tell you what, we got so much food,
and got people willing and ready to fix it and bring it. We'll
smoke it all, and... you know, and let me also say
this, bring your sides, that goes with that kind of stuff,
and the sign-up sheet is right back there on the table, on the
table. Our meeting starts Friday night,
no Wednesday night service this week. Bruce Crabtree will open
our meeting and Todd and I will preach second. Saturday morning,
Todd and Caleb Hickman and Todd, and I don't I have to look and
see who's Saturday night, Sunday morning. But turn with me here
to 2 Kings chapter 24. And I want to read the first
15 verses, which will set up my message for today. In his days, Nebuchadnezzar,
king of Babylon, came up in Jehoiakim, became servant three years. Then he turned and rebelled against
him. Now Jehoiakim is king of Judah. And the Lord sent against him
bands of the Chaldees, and bands of the Syrians, and bands of
the Moammites, and bands of the children of Ammon, and sent them
against Judah to destroy it. And listen to this, according
to the word of the Lord which he spake by his servants, the
prophets. the commandment of the Lord came
this upon Judah, to remove them out of his sight for the sins
of Manasseh, according to all that he did. Now Manasseh was
a man that he burned his own children as sacrifices, shed
their own blood for sacrifices. And also in verse 4, And also
for the innocent blood that he shed, Jerusalem with innocent
blood, which the Lord would not pardon. Now the rest of the acts
of Jehoiakim and all that he did are they not written in the
book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? So Jehoiakim
slept with his fathers, and Jehoiakim his son reigned in his stead.
And the king of Egypt came not again any more out of his land,
for the king of Babylon had taken from the river Egypt unto the
river of Euphrates all that pertained to the king of Egypt. Jehoiachin
was 18 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem
three months. And his mother's name was Nehushtad,
the daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem. And he did that which was evil
in the sight of the Lord. according to all that his father
had done. At that time, the servants of
Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came up against Jerusalem, and
the city was besieged. And Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon,
came against the city, and his servants did besiege it. And
Jehoiachin, the king of Judah, went out to the king of Babylon,
he and his mother and his servants and his princess and his officers,
Babylon took him in the eighth year of his reign. And he carried
him out thence all the treasures of the house of the Lord, and
the treasures of the king house, and cut in pieces all the vessels
of gold which Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple
of the Lord, as the Lord had said. And he carried away all
Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all the mighty men of valor,
and all Even 10,000 captives and all the craftsmen and smiths,
none remained save the poorest of the people. And he carried
away Jehoiachin to Babylon and the king's mother and the king's
wives and his officers and the mighty of the land, those carried
he into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon. Our great, blessed, glorious
God and Father of our Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ. Father,
we come with thanksgiving in our heart, always with thanksgiving
and praise. Lord, you're worthy to be praised.
You're worthy of our worship. You're worthy of your name to
be honored and magnified. And Lord Jesus, we pray that
you'd be pleased to meet with us here today, that the Holy
Spirit would come and come down and visit us today, that he would
come and visit us in our minds, in our hearts, in our souls,
and take the things of the gospel and make them alive and real
and vital to us. And Lord, show us again our utter
and absolute dependence upon you. And Lord, we pray for those
that don't know you, those who have no interest in you, those,
oh Lord God, who you're pleased to allow to come
to a place where the gospel is preached, where the Lord Jesus
Christ is glorified. We pray you'd be also pleased
to open hearts, take the darkened mind and turn the light on in
it. Cause the light of the glory of God to shine in their hearts. Lord, forgive us of everything
that's unlike you. Bless our meeting that's coming
up this week. Bless my preacher brethren that's
preaching today. God, please bring glory to yourself
in this service. And oh, we pray again for our
lost loved ones, sons and daughters, husbands and wives, children
and grandchildren. Lord, if you don't have mercy
on them, they'll never ever consider you. So we pray in Christ's name,
be with us today. Amen. Let's stand together and sing
the hymn of the day in the bulletin. A refuge for sinners the gospel
makes known. It is found in the merits of
Jesus alone. The weary, the tempted, the burden
of sin, are never excluded from entering in. This refuge for sinners, God's
love, ? Did ordain in Jesus the Lamb ? From eternity slain ?
In Christ the Redeemer ? Who lived and who died God's law
and His justice are now satisfied. Should conscience accuse us,
as often it may, The blood of our Savior has put sin away. In Jesus our surety a sinner
can view a city of refuge and righteousness too. First verse. One more verse.
Our firm foundation, ye saints of the Lord, is laid for your
faith in His excellent Word. What more can he say than to
you he hath said, to you who for refuge to Jesus hath fled? Me say didn't. So I hope you're still in 2 Kings. Now turn to 2 Kings chapter 25. I read that to set my message
up. And now I'll read in 2 Kings
chapter 25. Started verse 27 to the end of
the chapter. 2 Kings 25. And it came to pass in the seventh
and seven and thirtieth year of the captivity of Jehorakim,
king of Judah, in the twelfth month on the seventh, seven and
twentieth day of the month, that evil Meredith, king of Babylon,
in the year that he began to reign, did lift up the head of
Jehorakim, king of Judah, out of prison. And he spake kindly
to him, and he set his throne above the throne of the kings
that were with him in Babylon, and changed his garments, and
he did eat bread continually before him all the days of his
life. And his allowance was a continual
allowance given him of the king a daily rate for every day all
the days of his life." This is the wicked man's salvation. People don't know what wickedness
is. Well, if you've got a heart against
God, you've got a heart against Christ, and you live for this
world and all that's in it, that's wickedness. That's wickedness. That's sin. And we see Joachim's
salvation. You know, God's not mocked. He's
not mocked by anybody, anytime. this world. Everybody's going
to get just exactly what's coming to them. And sin is loathsome. It's such a loathsome, awful,
awful, despicable thing that's against God. And when Paul was
describing sin, all he could say about sin was that sin is
exceeding sinful. Now, most folks don't have any
idea what sin is. They think it's something you
do with the hand. It's something you do with the
heart. And you do what you do with your hand because of what
you got in your heart. You know, Numbers 32 says this. He said, be sure your sin will
find you out. It may not find you out in this
life, but it'll find you out in the next. And we don't need
to be playing games with God or anybody else. And sin brings
to ruin. Sin brings to ruin every nation
and every individual that gives them up to sin's dark, dark dominion. Give yourselves up to it and it'll ruin you. It'll ruin
you. destroy you, destroy your life.
It'll destroy everything about you. And if you'll read Leviticus
chapter 26, God makes sin and all the sins that people commit
obvious and lays down the law. And that's what man's under.
And so here you'll see, and it's fulfillment is found here in
Jehoiachin. He was a sinner. Oh, he was a
wicked man. He's a wicked man. His daddy
was a wicked man. And his daddy was a wicked man.
They were the king of Judah. And the kings came out of the
tribe of Judah. And the king of Babylon, we read
it just a minute ago, about the king of Babylon was the one that
the Lord used and commanded him to use to destroy the kings of
Judah and take them into captivity. their sin and rebellion, sin
and rebellion against God, against Him. So Jehoiakim is taken captive,
and he's kept in Babylonian captivity for 37 long years. Thirty-seven years he is kept
in prison. And there was a new king rose
over Babylon. His name's Evil Meredith. That's
not a very good name, is it? Evil Beredack. But oh my, he
had mercy though. He was a merciful king. He had
mercy on Jehoiachin and wrought a wondrous change in his condition. And I'll tell you here, we have
a blessed, blessed story of the wonder-working grace of God.
Look at the first thing that happens to him here in verse
27. And it came to pass in the 7th
and 30th year, that's what I tell you, 737 years he was in prison. 37 years he was kept a captive.
So he was 18 years old when they took him, and so here he is,
he's been in captivity 37 years. And then the king of Babylon,
in the year that he began to reign, look what he said, he
did lift up the head of Jechoakim out of prison. He'd lift him
up. This was his first necessity.
He couldn't get himself out of prison. He couldn't open the
door. He couldn't undo what he had
done. But there was a merciful king. merciful king, and he,
his first necessity was to be lifted up. He couldn't lift himself
up. He couldn't bring himself up.
He was in prison. And you know that's, you know
what the prison that the people are bound in, they're bound in
the prison of sin. Sin is a prison. Sin has dominion
over people and they cannot lift themselves up from sin. They
can't do it. I know preachers tell you all
the time, you need to quit your sin. You need to start living
better. But you can't do that. If you could put your sin away
and you could lift yourself up from sin, you wouldn't need Christ.
You wouldn't need grace. But oh, they're bound by justice. They're bound by law. And I tell
you, you can't get out of prison. And so what has to happen is
the grace of God must bring salvation. If we're ever lifted up out of
prison, oh, God's got to, in grace, He has to do it. And God
is the only one that has the power, you know, to lift us up
out of prison. Psalm 40 and verse 2 says, He
hath lifted, He brought me. It said, He brought me. He didn't,
you know, He was in a, David said, I was in miry clay, and
I was in a pit, and I couldn't get out of that pit. I couldn't
get my feet out of the miry clay. But the scripture says, He, God,
brought me up. Brought me up. And what did He
do after He brought you up? Set you on a rock. He has to
be the one to bring you up. And that's what He has to do
for you and me. He has to bring us up. I want
you to know you keep II Kings, and I want you to look in Colossians
with me. Colossians chapter 1. We need
to see this. I think this is exactly what
I'm trying to say. You know, when and if God does, lift a
person up, it'll be by grace and because of grace. Most folks
don't know that they're in prison. I heard a fella tell me one time,
you know, when God's taught me the gospel, I was talking to
him, and he had a big camp, you know, and people went to this
camp, and he was a He is an Armenian, to the rankest Armenian. And
we were talking and I was telling him, you know, how desperately
lost men would and couldn't get themselves out of jail. He said,
oh, yes, you can. Your free will will get you out
of any place you are. If you're in prison, your free
will will unlock the door. Tell that to somebody that's
in a jail cell and say, now, your free will will unlock that
door if you'll just do it. Unlock the door, you got the
key to lift yourself up out of prison. You got the key, you've
been in jail 37 years, and you got the key to get out just by
your will? Just by your own power? By lifting
yourself up? Oh, look what else, look what
it said here in Colossians 1.12. Giving thanks unto the Father. which hath made us meet, that
word meet means to made us fit, fit to be partakers of the inheritance
of the saints in light. Listen to this, who hath delivered
us from the power of darkness and hath translated us into the
kingdom of his dear son. You see how that happened? God
delivered us. Over here we're in darkness.
We don't know it. So God comes over here and gets
us. Picks us up out of that darkness. Takes us over here. Puts him
in the kingdom of his son. That's nothing but light and
life. God has to do that. And I'll tell you something else.
It was royal authority that lifted him up. It was a king that lifted
up a king. It was the royal authority that
lifted him up into liberty. And as the king of Judah was
lifted up by the exercise of this other king, this royal authority,
so nobody's going to be lifted up without the royal authority
of our king, the Lord Jesus Christ. God hath given him power over
all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou
hast given him. Life is in the hands of Christ,
and not only in him, only in him. And I tell you, look at
the next thing that happened to him. He was lifted up. He
had to lift him up. He lifted him up. Oh, we need,
people need to be lifted up. Oh, my. And then he was comforted.
Look what it said here again in verse 27. Not only did he
lift up the head of the king of Judah out of prison, and look
what it says, and he spake kindly to him. He spoke good things to him.
He spoke kindly to him. Oh, my. Let me tell you something. Law and works has no comfort
to speak. Oh, it cannot give you any comfort.
Law and works cannot give you any comfort. But grace, grace,
that's what we need. Grace has words of comfort to
us. Oh, yes, it does. The law of
sin, the law of death, the law of God who must, listen to me
now, the law of God and the law of sin and death and the law
of God who must by his very nature be against sin. And he has no
comfort to speak to anybody. He has no comfort to speak to
anybody. He says this, he says, you know,
there's no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus who
walk not after the flesh. For all that's in the flesh,
and he says this, for what the law could not do in that it was
weak through this flesh. God sent his own son as a sacrifice
for sin and put sin away by that sacrifice. And oh, God Himself,
I tell you, and Romans 323 says this, All have sinned and come
short of the glory of God. But the next verse says this,
being justified freely. You've all sinned and come short,
but the next verse says this, being justified freely. freely
by the grace that's in Christ Jesus. Almighty. And I tell you where
we get comfort. I love this comfort. We have
the comfort of God's Word, His promise in the Lord. Now, you
keep 2 Kings again because I want you to go over here to John chapter
14. Go to John chapter 14. Look with me in John chapter
14 and verse 16, we're talking about comfort. Comfort. You know, folks will come to
our house or something, you'll say, make yourself comfortable,
make yourself at home. Well, without grace, you sure
can't be comfortable. Not in the grace, not in religion,
you can't be comfortable. Oh, you can't, but look what
he said here in first, in John chapter 14, verse 16, talking
about comfort now. This man was comforted, speak
kindly to him. And our Lord said in verse 16,
John 14, and I will pray the father and he shall give you
another comforter. You see how that's capitalized?
That's a person. That's a person he's talking
about, comfort, that he may abide with you forever. the Spirit
of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him
not, neither knoweth him, but you know him, for he dwelleth
with you and in you. And I will not, listen, I love
what our Master said, I will not leave you comfortless. I
will come to you. How's he gonna come to us? By
the Holy Ghost, by the Holy Spirit. Now look over here in chapter
16. Now, excuse me, look down verse 26, John 14 first. Let me show you this. But the
Comforter, the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name,
listen to what He'll do for you now. He'll teach you all things. He'll teach you all things and
bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I've said to you.
Now don't that, how many times has that happened? That you know
you'll be thinking about something and the Holy Ghost will bring
something to your memory just like that. Now look over in chapter 16 with
me. Verse seven. Our Lord says, nevertheless,
I tell you the truth. It's expedient for me, for you,
it's expedient for you, it's profitable for you that I go
away. For I go not away, the Comforter
will not come unto you. But if I depart, I will send
him unto you. Look what he said down in verse
13, John 16. Howbeit when he, now this is
how you know whether you know God or not. When he, the Spirit
of truth, is come, look what he says, he will guide you into
all truth. Not part of it, all of it. For
he shall not speak of himself. When you go somewhere where everybody's
making a big deal out of the Holy Ghost and healing and miracles
and all that stuff, they're not sin of God. They're telling lies
because there's what he says here. He shall not speak of himself. What's he going to talk about?
Whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak. And he'll show
you things to come. And he'll glorify me. He'll glorify
me. And oh my, we have comfort. He
come and spake kindly to him. Back over in our text again.
He came and spake kindly to him. We have the comfort of God's
word. Oh, what comfort the word of
God gives us. We have comfort of his promises. We have comfort in our Lord Jesus
Christ himself. We have comfort of the Holy Spirit. And our Lord speaks kindly to
us. You know what he said in Isaiah
40? Comfort you, this is what preachers supposed to do. Comfort
you, comfort you, thy people, saith the Lord. And you know
what the next line says? Tell them their warfare is accomplished. What warfare? I war against sin,
I war against death, I war against God, I war with our flesh, everything. He said, your warfare is accomplished. Everything that was against you,
I whipped it. I destroyed it. I put it down. Sin's against you, I put it away.
Death is gonna get you, I destroyed the power of death. Law's gonna
get you, I fulfilled it. Wrath that God gonna get you,
I'd bore it. Oh, comfort, comfort, comfort.
Our Lord speaks kindly to us. But oh, man's the natural man's
religion. The religion of man attempts to speak comfortably
to people. They try to speak comfortably
to people, men that's in prison of sin. They cry, peace, peace,
when there is no peace. They'll tell you, you just decide
and you'll be free. You just decide and you'll be
free. You make the decision, you make the choice that you're
gonna get up today and you're gonna be free. Exercise your free will and set
yourselves free. God loves you so much, he wants
you to be free. God's salvation by grace first
saves, then they comfort. The blood cleanses before peace
will ever come into the heart. There's an empty, and God's got
to empty a soul. He's got to empty them of self-righteousness. He's got to empty them of self-confidence. He's got to empty them of self-pride. He's got to empty them of self-confidence.
He's got to empty them of all hope of salvation in themselves. And God's got to empty them of
their flesh. He's got to empty them of everything
that's against God. He's got to empty you. He's got
to, you know, said, Somebody said the other day, you know,
said, I heard a fella say, and I've got to, I've got to correct
him. I've done correct him so many times, I'm almost embarrassed
to try and correct him again. But, but he talks about letting
people into your heart. He said, you know, pray for Jesus
to come into your heart. If you could find that in the
Bible, I would preach it myself. If you could ever find in the
Bible where it says, let Jesus into your heart. Jesus, would
you come into my heart? God says that a man's heart is
as a nether millstone. The heart's deceitful and desperately
wicked. Who can know it? But he also
says that I'll give you a new heart and I'll give you a new
spirit and I'll give a right spirit unto you. So that heart
that you want Jesus to come into, he can't come into it. He will
not come into it. What he'll do, he'll take out
that stony heart. That's what emptying is. He got
to take out that stony heart, and then he got to put it in
a heart that he can touch, that he can move. A heart that's broken
over sin, a heart that's broken over his rebellion against God,
a heart that's broken against God. A heart that's broken over
your sin. A heart that's broken over all
the life that you've lived. Broken! And oh my, there's an emptying
before filling. And I tell you, when we give
face to God, we say we're going to rejoice and give Him thanks
for all of His kindness that He showed toward us through our
Lord Jesus Christ. So He comforted him. He spake
kindly to him. Look what else happened over
in our day. Verse 28, he spake kindly to
him, and listen to this, and he set his throne above the thrones
of the kings with him in Babylon. Oh, there's lots and lots of
kings that were in prison in Babylon. But what he did was
he took Jehoiakim and set him above all those other kings,
set him above all others. preeminence of other kings who
were held captive or captive in Babylon. And our Lord is exalted
above all. And when He was lifted up, we
were lifted up in Him. When Christ was raised from the
dead, we were raised with Him. When Christ arose to sit at the
right hand of God, we were lifted up and sat together with Him
in heavenly places. We are God's people in this world.
We've been lifted up out of it. We've been exalted above it in
Christ. The law entered that the offense,
the sin, might abound. But where sin abounded, you know
what it says next? Grace did much more abound. Grace sets us, sets us up here. Out of the world sets us up here.
When Christ We lived in him. When Christ was on the cross,
we died in him. When Christ went to the tomb,
we was buried with him. When Christ rose again, we were
risen with him. And when he ascended to heaven,
we sat together with him in heavenly places. That's what the scripture
said. God exalted him. And I tell you
what, man's fall through sin is great. but the lifting up
of God's grace in Christ is greater. I wanna show you something. Look
over, go to your left and find 1 Samuel. Go over in 1 Samuel,
chapter two. I wanna show you what the Lord
does for his people. Oh my. Man's fall through sin
is great, but his lifting up by God's grace in Christ is much,
much greater. 1 Samuel, chapter two. Look in verse 6. People say, God don't do things
like this, but look what he says here, what God said. 1 Samuel
chapter 2 and verse 6, the Lord kills and the Lord makes alive. He bringeth down to the grave
and he bringeth up. The Lord maketh men poor and
he maketh men rich. He brings low and he lifts up.
And listen to who he lifts up. He raises up the poor out of
the dust, lifts the beggar from the dunghill. Who's he set him
among? Among princes. And then he makes
them to inherit the throne of glory. You know, the only people that
he lifts up is poor in spirit and beggars. That's the only
two kind of people he lifts up. Poor, he lifts up the poor out
of the dust, and beggars, only beggars. That's all he lifts up. He don't
lift no other kind of people up. Beggars, oh boy, beggars. You
know how many beggars in the New Testament God sent something
for? Bartimaeus was a beggar. The man at the temple was a beggar. Oh, so many beggars. Oh, I wouldn't
beg for nothing. I tell you, I'm no beggar. I
beg God. Oh, my goodness. Oh, I beg God.
I got an empty bowl, and oh, God only can be the one to fill
it. You know, I... I'm a beggar, I'm a beggar, and
I'm not ashamed of it. There was one man, you know,
he was so proud of himself, he prayed thus with himself, I thank
you, oh Lord, that I'm not like that man over there. I don't
commit adultery, I don't commit extortion, I pay tithes of everything
I possess, I keep the law, And I've done all these things. I
do, I do, I do. And then he said, I'm not like
that man over there. And you know what that fellow
over there did? He was a publican. You know what he did? He begged. Lord, be merciful to me. And you know what he said? The
sinner. Be merciful to me. Ah, listen
to people say, well, I wouldn't beg, I wouldn't go, you know. You know, people will stand on
the street or stand at a freeway, stand on some place and they'll
hold up a sign. You know, hold up a sign. Homeless
vet, homeless, would you help me, would you help me? But listen,
I hold up a sign, sinner. How am I gonna be saved by grace? Who's gonna save me? The Lord
Jesus Christ. What's he gonna do? He gonna
make me a beggar. I'm gonna beg him. I'm a mercy
beggar. Mercy beggar, mercy beggar. Oh my. Tell you he lifts up the beggar
all to grace how great a debtor daily i'm constrained to be oh
My now look, what he did back over here in our text again i
hope i'm not taking too long but Look, what it says in verse
29 He lifted him up first of all he lifted him up Couldn't
lift himself up somebody the royal authority had to lift him
up We can't lift ourselves up, Christ has to lift us up. Then
he spake kindly. Our Lord speaks kindly to us,
so kindly and gracious to us. Then he set his throne above
the kings, exalted him. God exalted our Lord Jesus Christ
above everyone. He's above everything. God exalted
his son, and he exalted us and set us with him. in heavenly
places. Then look what else it says.
He changed his prison clothes. Changed his prison garments. You know, prison garments, you
know, they speak of guilt. They speak of defeat. They speak of shame and bondage.
And now they're gone. Now they're gone. Our Lord said,
I'll give you garments of beauty, ashes for beauty, beauty for
ashes, and oil of joy for mourning. And you know, I remember when
I was a boy out in North Carolina, they used to have chain gangs
over there. They'd be on the road and they'd be chained to
one another. And a guy on an old tractor or something, he'd
be following along with them on the side of the road, and
they'd be cleaning out the road. But those guys, even with chains
on them, they had to have a particular outfit on so that you'd know
that they were prisoners. If one of them got loose, you
could look at his garments and say, now he's a prisoner. He's a prisoner. And you know
that the sheriff takes these prisoners out of jail, take these
people out of jail, and they go out and clean the side of
the roads, and they go out and clean things up. But you know,
they don't let them wear civilian clothes out. You know what? When
you see them, they got them striped suits on. You know why? Say they're in prison. They're
in jail. Now, when you get out of jail,
you change clothes. And when he lifted up He said,
listen, the prison garments, they look awful. They smell. Oh my goodness. Listen, you're
not guilty anymore. You're not been defeated anymore.
You have nothing to be ashamed of anymore. And what did he do? Oh, he took them off. He took
them off. Changed his garments. That's
what he said. He took off the prison and changed his prison
garments. Oh my. Oh, those who are saved by grace
are new creatures and they got new clothes. God got to close
us. God got to close us. Our old
things, our old garments speak of failure, degradation, and
our bondage has been put off. We're made new creatures in Christ.
We got new clothes. God in grace put new garments
on us. What's that garment? The righteousness
of Christ. The righteousness of Christ.
And all these righteousness of these garments that God put on
us tells of glory and honor, immortality and eternal life.
When that prodigal son returned home, you know what the father
said? Bring forth the best robe and put it on him. God has to
put the garment on us. He don't tell us to put it on
ourselves. He puts it on us. And he said, bring forth the
best robe. Then I want you to put shoes
on his feet. He got to have new shoes. And
he got to have a ring on his fingers to show the relationship
he has with me. And that's exactly what happened
to him. Oh, when God sets a man free, It'll be evident very soon,
whom the Son sets free is free indeed. And when God sets a man
free, it'll be evident very free. God sets us free from the law
of sin, the law of death. And he takes off these filthy,
filthy rags of self-righteousness and replaces them with this blessed
garment of righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, he does. But then look what else happened
to him. Look what else happened to him. And it said, he did eat
bread continually before him all the days of his life. He
was honored. He was honored. He did eat bread
continually before him, continually before this king, continually
before the man that set him free. He had the privilege. of having
fellowship with him who had delivered him from prison. And we have
the privilege. God, the prisoner, now is the
constant companion of his Savior. And God set us free, whom the
Son sets free, and he honored us. And, oh my, now we're a constant
companion of our Savior. God's grace not only saves us,
but transforms us and brings us into communion with our Lord
Jesus Christ and abiding fellowship with Him. Our fellowship was
with the Father and with the Son, with Him and Him alone. And you know, that's what God
did for Mephibosheth. Mephibosheth came in before David, and David had to change his garment. And the Scripture says that he
ate continually at the king's table. Ate continually at the
king's table. And we eat continually. We're
sitting at the king's table this morning. I don't know how well
you're getting fed. I don't have any idea. Maybe
you are, maybe you ain't. I don't know. But the food's
on the table. You know, I don't know how many
people's told me, said, you know, they'll, you know, if they don't
get to make a service, they'll watch it on Facebook or watch
it someplace else. But they say it's not like being
in the service. It's not even close to being
in the service. You know why it's not? Because
you're reacting. You're sitting there, you're
getting your food fresh. You're not getting it second
hand. I heard a fellow say one time, he said, I hope I've got
some fresh bread out of the oven to bring here tonight. But you
know, you don't know. You just don't know. But oh my,
like Mephibosheth, he come to David. David said, is there anybody
I can show mercy to in the house of Jonathan? And oh my, and he brought
it in there and he said, now I want Mephibosheth to sit right
here. And you know, as long as his
feet was under that king's table, you couldn't see his infirmity.
You couldn't see how bad his legs were. said at the king's
table with all of our infirmities, and Christ our Lord has took
care of every infirmity we've had, and we sat at the king's
table, and God, we sat there and ate on the king's food, and
not one thing wrong with us in the sight of the king. Ha-ha-ha. Ha-ha-ha. Ha-ha-ha. Oh, Bephibosheth, I'll set him
at my table. And that's what this king said
here. You set him at my table. I want this man that I brought
out of prison, this man that I spake kindly to and graciously
to, I want this man that I gave comfort to, I want this man who
I made him above all the other kings, like Christ exalted said,
I want him, this man, not only to do that, but I want him to
sit at my table and eat what I eat, have what I have. Oh, my. God said, you know, He
preferred a feast. And, oh, we'd gladly go in, sit
down, and eat. And then look what else it said
about Him here in verse 30. He ate bread continually before
Him all the days of His life. And we eat bread before our King,
before our Lord Jesus Christ. And His allowance was a continual
allowance given Him of the King. Daily rate for every day all
the days of his life Then you see what it says here His allowance
was given unto him at every single day. He got up And he has some
brand-new given to him He didn't have to eat leftovers It's like the manna that came
down from heaven every morning and They got up and they had
fresh bread, fresh heaven food, heavenly angels food. God sent
down manna every day. And you can only get, eat, eat
what you can eat that day. If you left it over, it ate worms,
ate it. And oh, that's what we get. We
get allowance by the day. And I want you to every day,
the king gave him a daily rate every day, all the days of his
life. And I want you to notice it was allowance. It wasn't a
reward. He didn't reward him here. He
didn't have no reward coming. It was allowance. It was not
a reward or something given as raises. It was given as a provision
of grace. And oh, how much, how much has
God given us in Christ our Lord. Oh, how wealthy, how all the
allowance that God gives us, all the unsearchable riches of
Christ that God gives us. Oh, my. Listen to what else it
says. It was a daily allowance. A daily
rate for the day. Every morning he got up, there's
something new. You know what Jeremiah said?
He said, God's compassions fail not. His mercies are new every
morning. Every morning we get up, brand
new mercies. We don't need yesterday's mercy,
we need today's mercy. As thy days be, so shall thy
strength be. Our Lord says, don't take no
thought for tomorrow. Today's got enough things to
deal with, just today. You know, we make ourselves miserable
sometimes, worried about what we're going to do. How are we
going to get this done? How are we going to get there?
How are we going to accomplish this? And that, listen, today
will take care of itself. Our Lord says, every day you
get up, there'll be a brand new mercy for you. A daily rate for the day is like
manna. It's new every morning. And that's
why our Lord said, my grace is sufficient for you. And you know
tomorrow's allowance, what are we going to do tomorrow? We're
going to take whatever God gives us. Whatever He gives us. I heard
them kids, you know, make their wedding vows. You know, I commit
to you, you commit to me and that, you know. But listen, I'll
tell you something. God's done given Himself to us.
And He said every day. Every single day, I'm going to
give you something new. I'm going to give you new grace
every day. You'll have new grace. Today's grace won't do. I'm going
to give you grace every day. I'm going to give you new mercies
every morning. And every day, whatever strength
you need for that day, you're going to have it. God said that. Oh, my. And listen, who gave it to him?
The king did. The king did. It was out of the
king's fullness that he received. And it's in God's graciousness
that saves us, and we receive out of his fullness. You know,
John 117 said, of his fullness have we received. Out of his
blessed son's fullness, In Him dwells the fullness of the Godhead
bodily, and we're complete in Him. And look what it says. He said, It was at last given
him of the king a daily rate for every day. For how long?
As long as he lived. You know, that very last day
you live, the very last day you live, And I've seen a lot of people
with their last day, God gives them grace, gives them strength,
and gives them the allowance to leave this world full. Huh? And when you leave this life,
you don't need a daily around anymore, you don't need it. All our brothers and sisters
going on, they don't need it. We're the ones need it. And you know what? I've got my
allowance today. I hope you've got yours. I know you have if you're God's
child. I know you have. But oh my, lift it up. God lifts
us up. Speak kindly to him. God speaks
so kindly and graciously to us. And then he exalted him. God
exalted Christ and us with him. Set us with him in his own right
hand. Then he gave him a daily allowance. He changed his garments, and
Christ changed our garments. Took off his old filthy rags
of self-righteousness, put on a shining garment of grace, Shining
Carmen of Righteousness. And then, listen, I'm gonna feed
you. You know, you ain't gonna have
to provide for yourself at all. I'm gonna provide for you. Oh
my. Been in prison 37 years, getting
a daily allowance. Going from way down yonder to
way up here. And the best is yet to come.
All right. Our Father, blessed name of our
Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, thank you for your mercies. Thank
you for your kindness. Thank you for taking care of
us. Oh, Lord, you came where we were
and lifted us up, changed these old prison garments,
put on glorious garments. You give us our daily allowance,
and you'll give it to us all the days of our life, and have
for so many years. There's never been a day that
you haven't met our needs, that you gave us what was, you ordered
for us for that day. You gave us our daily allowance.
And Lord, it's been so abundant, it's been so full, and it's been
so free, and it's been so enjoyable. Lord, thank you for the fullness
of your grace that we've received in our Lord Jesus Christ. Bless
this message to hearts if it would please you. But more than
anything, I pray that by your grace, we brought glory to your
name, that we told the truth, that we honored you, and we spoke
the truth in love. And forgive us of everything
that's unlike you. We pray these things in Christ
our Lord's name. Amen. He's the savior of my soul. Jesus, my Jesus. He's the Savior of my soul. He's the Savior of my soul. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, He's
the Savior of my soul. He's the Savior of my soul. See you tonight,
6 o'clock, God willing.