Good evening, let's all stand
together, we'll sing hymn number 485. 485. 485. We praise Thee, O God, for the
Son of Thy love, For Jesus who died and is now gone above. Alleluia, Thine the glory! Alleluia, Amen! Alleluia, Thine the glory! Revive us again! We praise Thee, O God, for the
Spirit of Light, Who has shown us our Savior and scattered our
night. Alleluia, Lamb of Glory, Alleluia,
Amen. Alleluia, let her glory revive
us again. All glory and praise to the Lamb
that was slain, Who has poured all our sins and has cleansed
every stain. Alleluia, Thine the glory, Alleluia,
Amen. Alleluia, Thine the glory, revive
us again. ♪ Revive us again ♪ Fill each heart
with Thy love ♪ May each soul be rekindled with fire from above
♪ Hallelujah and the glory ♪ Hallelujah, amen ♪ Hallelujah and the glory
♪ Revive us again Be seated, we'll sing hymn number
303. Jesus, Savior, Pilate be, Over
life's tempestuous sea, Unknown ways before being told, Hiding
rocks and treacherous shoals, Shard and compass come from thee,
Jesus, Savior, I love Thee As a mother stills her child Thou
canst touch the ocean while Ostrous waves obey thy will, When thou
say'st to them, Be still, wondrous Sovereign of the sea, Jesus,
Saviour, Pilate be. When at last I near the shore,
And the fearful breakers roar, Twixt me and the peaceful rest,
Then while leaning on thy breast, May I hear thee say to me, Fear
not, I will pilot thee. We're blessed tonight to have
Bruce and Cindy with us, and Bruce is gonna preach for us
tonight, which I am very thankful for
that. But I'm gonna read from 2nd Epistle of John. It's right
before the book of Revelation. 2nd Epistle of John. The elder unto the elect lady
and her children, whom I love in the truth, and not only I,
but also they that have known the truth, For the truth's sake
which dwelleth in us, and shall be with us for ever, grace be
with you, mercy and peace from God the Father, and from the
Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love. I rejoice greatly that I found
thy children walking in truth, as we have received a commandment
from the Father. And now, beseech thee, lady,
not as though I wrote a new commandment unto thee, but that which we
had from the beginning, that we love one another. And this
is love, that we walk after His commandments. This is the commandment
that, as you have heard from the beginning, you should walk
in it. For many deceivers are entered
into the world who confess not that Jesus Christ has come into
flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. Look to yourselves that you lose
not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive
a full reward. Whosoever transgresseth and abideth
not in the doctrine of Christ hath not God. He that abideth
in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the
Son. If there come any unto you, and
bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither
bid him Godspeed. For he that biddeth him Godspeed
is but taker of his evil deeds. Having many things to write unto
you, I would not write with paper and ink, but I trust to come
unto you and speak face to face, that our joy may be full. The
children of thy elect sister greet thee. Amen. Our great, blessed, glorious
God of heaven and earth. Lord, you say the earth is your
footstool and the heaven is your throne. And you ask where's the
house that we could possibly build you to dwell in when the
heaven of heavens can't contain you. You, oh Lord God, that span
the heavens, stretching out as a big tent over these skies that
we see the stars and the sun and the moon in. Lord, you did
all this, and we see it so clearly, so plainly, and we rejoice in
knowing that you are the builder of this universe,
the author of this universe, and that you're the sustainer
of this universe and of everything that's in it. It's you that give
us our life, give us our being, and Lord Jesus, we bless you.
Understand that everything we have comes from you, every good
thing, every trial, everything that comes our way, you send
it, and we bless you for it. And Father, as our dear preached
brothers come to preach for us tonight, preach the gospel of
God, please be with him. God bless him. Lord, liberate
his mind and his heart, liberate our minds and our hearts. And
Lord, we pray for those who have need tonight. I know that folks
in this congregation have needs. Some have grief. Some have troubles
at home. Some have troubles in mind and
heart. But Lord, whatever it may be,
Lord, we know that you God, grace, and grace is always sufficient.
Meet with us tonight. Oh, God, meet with us. Meet with
us for Christ's sake. Lord, we need you. Oh, we need
you. And we ask for your presence.
Amen and amen. Him number 117. 117. He was wounded for our transgressions
He bore our sins in His body on the tree For our guilt He
gave us peace From our bondage gave relief And with his stripes, and with
his stripes, and with his stripes, our souls are healed. He was not a burden. in forsaken by his God. As our sacrifice he died, that
the law be satisfied, and all our sin, and all our sin And
all our sin was laid on Him. We have wondered, we all have
wondered, Far from the fold of the shepherd of the sheep But
he sought us where we were On the mountains bleak and bare
And brought us home And brought us home home to God. Who can number His generation? Who shall declare all the triumphs
of His ♪ Will you instead now live again
♪ ♪ Where it's following his train ♪ ♪ Victorious Lord ♪ ♪
Victorious Lord ♪ ♪ Victorious Lord and Godly King ♪ As I said, we're just so thankful
to have Bruce. I don't remember the last time
you preached down here. It was quite a while, yeah. But you come. We're glad to send
these with you. You come bring the Lord's message. Thank you, Donnie. It's good to see everybody, some
friendly faces. It's a joy to be here. Brother
Henry Mahan, first time he came to preach for us, just a handful
of us. I remember him making the statement,
there's no place I'd rather be than right here with the Lord's
people, and I feel that way too. No place I'd rather be than here
with worshiping you folks tonight. If you would and want to turn
with me to my text, I'll be looking in the last book in the Old Testament,
the book of Malachi chapter three. If you want to turn there with
me in Malachi chapter three, And I just want to look at one
verse. I tried to preach on this a few weeks ago, and I was very,
very sick, and I just didn't feel like it did me or anybody
else any good, but God knows. But I've had it on my mind, and
I want to look at it tonight. Malachi chapter 3 and verse 6. The last book of the Old Testament,
chapter 3 and verse 6. For I am the Lord, I change not. Therefore, ye sons of Jacob are
not consumed. And my subject this evening is
the unchangeable God. That God can never change, He's
unchangeable, and He's unchanging. One of the things that you and
I notice as we get older, that we've changed. We change within,
we change without, and everything around us is changing. Change
and decay, all around I see. O thou who changeth not, abide
with me. I want us to see four things
tonight in the text. First of all, I want to see God
identifying Himself. I want to see who's speaking. I am the Lord. And secondly,
The immutability of our Lord, we call it that. We call it the
unchanging God. I am the Lord, I change not.
And then thirdly, I want us to look at who benefits from God's
immutability, you sons of Jacob. And then fourthly, I want us
to see what benefit they derive from that. You're not consumed.
So let's look at this just for a minute. First of all, I want
us to look here at how the Lord identifies Himself. He simply
says, I am the Lord. Now, if you and I want to know
who God is, we really don't have to ask anybody, do we? We don't
have to go to even our pastor. We don't have to go to angels.
We go to God Himself. And he speaks to us from his
infallible word and says, I am the Lord. Now if I represented
myself tonight, I'm sure that I'd give myself the benefit of
the doubt and I'd represent myself in the best of lights. I may
tell you I know I'm a sinner, but if you went into detail about
my sin and begin to name them or want me to name particular
things, I don't think I would. We always set ourselves, and
I hope if somebody asked me who you were, I would represent you
in a good light. We sure don't want the devil
representing God to us. He would represent himself as
the Lord, and he's the liar and the father of it. But if you
and I want to know who the Lord is, go and ask Him in His infallible
Word. every word of God is pure. He's a shield unto those that
trust in Him. So we look here tonight and the
Lord simply says, I am the Lord, and the meaning of this word
here is simply that He's Jehovah. He's eternal. He's the self-existent
God. That's about all the word means. Now, you can go to different
definitions, and they'll enlarge upon that. Those who know something
about the definition, especially of Hebrew words, they tell us
that this means that God is eternally self-existent. He's never wanted
anything. He's never desired anything to
make Him any fuller or more complete than He is already, that He's
a God that fills the heavens and the earth, the Lord, the
self-existent Lord, that if you talk about geographically that
there's no place that you can go to in this universe that He's
not. David said, If I go into heaven,
He's there, but if I make my bed in hell, He's there. If I
take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts
of the earth, He's there. In other words, He FILLS the
heavens and the earth. He's the LORD, the self-existent
LORD. But you know, even more than
that, they tell us this word implies that He FILLS ETERNITY. Now, that's a concept that I
cannot get a hold of in my mind, that if you go back in eternity,
if you could go back before the foundation of the world, or go
to the foundation of the world and sail back into eternity,
and sail and sail by the eye of faith, by the heart of faith,
as far back as you can go, there's God. But when you sail back as
far as you can go, He's past that. He s there, but THEN if
you go the OTHER way and sail out into eternity to come, He
s there. But here s what they tell us
about this. While He s back there in eternity
past, He s also in eternity future. He FILLS eternity with Himself. I AM THE LORD. Well, there s none like Him,
is there? In the trinity of His sacred person, He is the Lord,
and isn't He eternally different than we are? I think one of the
things that makes Him different from the rest of us is His eternality. What He is today, He was in eternity,
and what He is today, He will always be. In His eternal attributes,
He is the Lord, He is the eternal Lord. He s different from all
His creatures, even the most mighty of His creatures, He s
different. We see those holy angels around
His throne. and they're worshiping Him as
they fly as lightning around His throne, saying, Holy, holy,
holy is the Lord of hosts. But who are THEY compared to
the one that they worship? I love to get up in the morning
and watch the sun rise, especially on a morning where it s misty
and you see the mighty light rise out of the east and it begins
to send its warmth and its light and burns off the mist of the
morning. That s a mighty ball of fire,
but who s that compared to the one who created it? And the mightiest
of men that s ever lived upon this earth, cannot be compared
to the one who made them and the one who upholds them. Our
breath is in our nostrils, isn't it? And we're just one step from
the grave. What are we? A lump of clay compared
to him who calls himself the Lord. I am the Lord. Sometimes at your leisure, and
most of you have read all of these, I jotted some of these
down because this is what the Lord says about Himself, and
I like this because it's contained in three chapters, beginning
in Isaiah 43 through Isaiah 46, and let me just read some of
the things He says about Himself. Listen to how the Lord identifies
Himself. To whom will you liken me, and
make me equal, or compare me that we may be like? You are
my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen,
that you may know and believe me, and understand that I am
he. Before me there was no God formed,
neither shall there be after me. Thus saith the Lord the King
of Israel, and his Redeemer the Lord of hosts, and notice he
keeps identifying himself as the Lord. I am the Lord. I am the first, and I am the
last, and besides me there is no God. I am the Lord, and there
is none else, there is no God besides me. I girded thee, though
thou hast not known me, that they may know from the rising
of the sun, and from the west, that there is none besides me. I am the Lord, and there is none
else. tell ye, and bring them near.
Yea, let all of them take counsel together, who have declared this
from ancient time, who have told it from that time. Have not I
the Lord, and there is no God else besides me, a just God and
a Savior? There is none besides me. Look
unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth. For I
am God, and there is none else. Remember the former things of
old, for I am God, and there is none like me." That's the
way He identifies Himself. The MIGHTIEST of creatures or
the SMALLEST of creatures are not to be compared with Him who
calls Himself the Lord. I AM the Lord. Amazing, isn't it? And all we
have to do is go to the Word of God and say, Lord, show me
who you are. Send your blessed Holy Spirit
to my heart. Open your word to me and let
me see who you are. Identify yourself to me. Reveal
yourself to me. Isn't that what we need today?
of all the preaching and all the religion that s going on
today, we re IGNORANT in this country of WHO God IS! He s the Lord. He is the Lord. And what He was, He still is. And what He is, He forever will
be. I am the Lord, I change not. And that's our second point.
I am the Lord, I change not. Now, we can't begin to get our
minds around this, can we? All you and I can do is believe
this and bow and worship in the knowledge of this. I change not. God is the same in His, we call
it essence, don t we? We get that from the old, I guess
the old Puritans. They say, What is God in His
essence, they say. And one man simply said, That
s the stuff that He s made out of, the eternal essence of God,
and whatever He is in His very essence He can never change in
that. He's an eternal, holy spirit. He's eternally holy in the trinity
of His sacred persons. He's everlasting in His essence
as God the Father is everlasting, God the Son is everlasting, and
God the Holy Spirit is everlasting. They are one, and in their essence
they cannot change. What they were in eternity, they
are now, and what they are now, they will forever be. I CANNOT,
I WILL NOT change, saith the Lord. Man, we change, don't we? I hear all the time, human love. We see people fall in love and
they fall out of love, and somebody said they never loved them to
start with. Oh, I imagine they did, but that's
what humanity does. We change, don't we? We have
these feelings. We live on our feelings, and
we're so mutable and changeable, and therefore we just can't relate
to this Lord that's unchangeable. I am the Lord, I change not."
When the Lord took our humanity to Himself and was made flesh,
you know in His deity He never changed. He took something to
Himself that He never had before, but He never laid aside what
He was and what He had before. He was born of a woman, they
washed Him in clothing, they had to feed Him, He was utterly
dependent upon His mother to feed Him and care for Him and
protect Him, and yet He WAS what He WAS BEFORE He ever came into
this world. He was tempted, He hungered,
He thirsted, He was crucified in weakness, and with our sins
in His own body, He suffered upon the cross, but He never
ceased to be what He was before He came. There he laid in the
tomb, his body was lifeless, and yet he was the eternal God
in his essence. I love to say this. I heard Todd
Nyberg say this one time, and I just echo what he said. He
said, I love to say, Jesus Christ is God. Jesus Christ is God. And from the time He was conceived
in His mother's womb to right now sitting upon the throne,
He IS the Eternal God in His very essence. Think of this, brothers and sisters,
this triune God cannot change in His attributes. He cannot
change in His power. Boy, it's come to the point in
my life, If I got a grandchild for an hour, I'm wore out. I
got to find my way to the recliner and rest of all. If I work four
hours anymore, it wears me out. I'm past the whatever you call
it in your life where you're going downhill. I'm on the other
side of the hill going down. I just wore out so quickly. Some
of us got together the other day working on the church door.
And I said, ìItís going to take us probably a couple of hours,î
and somebody said, ìA couple of days with you old men working
on it.î And we just stood and started each other, and we didnít
know what to do. But you know something? Our Lord
retains the power of His youth. He is eternal youth. Boy, when
He made the heavens and the earth, He just spoke everything that
we see and things that we don't see into existence by the word
of His power, and He upholds all things by the word of His
power. They tell us now that we have
a billion galaxies. They used to think they could
see at the end of the universe, but now they realize they cannot. They say there's BILLIONS of
universes now, like this one, that Milky Way galaxy that we
live in, there's BILLIONS of galaxies, and each galaxy has
BILLIONS of stars. And our Lord not only MADE all
of those things, but He UPHOLDS all of those things by the Word
of His power, and they never collide, they never get out of
order. If this Earth stands a million years, they know the exact moment
the sun s going to come up and go down. Why IS that? He has not DECREASED in His power,
and He never SHALL decrease in His power. The Lord spoke to
Abraham in Genesis chapter 17 and said, Abraham, I am the Almighty! walk before me, and be thou perfect."
Just before the Holy Spirit closed the last book of this Bible,
He s talking about heaven, and He said there s no temple there.
The Lord God Almighty is the temple thereof! If you find Him
in Genesis and you find Him in Revelation, He s the Almighty
God! He s never grown weary, has He?
He s never got tired, He never goes weary in bending His ear
to hear the prayer of His people. He never gets eyesore and eyestrain
by watching every step that they make. Oh, He s the Almighty,
and His attribute of power, He is still the Eternal Almighty
God. Has He changed in His wisdom?
He never has, has He? No, He's never changed in His
wisdom. Look at the wisdom of God in coming up with a whole
scheme, if you could say this, coming up with a whole scheme
of salvation. Isn't that amazing in itself? Before the world ever was, before
there was time, that He came up with this scheme of WHO He
was going to save, and HOW He was going to save them, WHEN
He was going to save them, WHY He was going to save them. and
then have them the wisdom to bring all that to pass, then
AFTER He saves them, to know how to KEEP them through a world
of devils, through their weak flesh, and not only KEEP them
in this world, but bring them up to the Father's house. Can
you imagine the wisdom in that? Oh, the depths of the riches,
both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are
His judgments! in his ways by his finding out.
He's never changed in his wisdom, has he? He is just as sharp in
his understanding today as he ever has been. I can hardly read
a sentence and retain it, but he is wise. He is wise. He cannot change in his justice. We sing it, don't we? Just and
holy is his name. He's a just God, and he's a savior. Boy, we see our justice system
breaking down right before our eyes, don't we? And I'm telling
you, it's a dangerous thing for our country when your justice
system breaks down. It is dangerous. We got corrupt
judges, we got corrupt prosecutors, we got corrupt lawyers. Our justice
system is being corrupted by corrupt men, but God will never
change. He only, before He would let
justice be compromised, He hanged His Son on a cross and punished
Him for our sins. Why? That He might be just and
the justifier of them which believe in Jesus. Oh, He's a just God. He's eternally just, and He'll
never change in His justice. What about His love? Has He ever
changed in His love? No. I tell you, He set His heart,
as it were, upon a people before the foundation of the world,
and He LOVED them, and they FAILED. Did His love
change? Did He say, I could love them
before they failed? I could love them the way I created
them when I made them upright, but now they're fallen, I can't
love them? No, He cannot change in His love. Having loved His
own which were in the world, He loves them until the end. I have loved you! That's one
of the most amazing passages of Scripture that I can think
about. The Lord Himself looks at us and says, I have loved
you! He says that to each individual
child that He has loved from all eternity. I have loved you! That's amazing, isn't it? The
world's going around telling each other, God loves you, and
everybody's happy about that, and we as poor children of God
have a DIFFICULT TIME BELIEVING that He could love us. But there
it is. I have loved you, but that's
not all, He says, with an everlasting love. You remember the story
about Charles Spurgeon asking the old lady in his congregation,
Do you believe God loved you before you were born? And she
said, oh, Brother Spurgeon, if he didn't love me before I was
born, he could never love me after I was born. He loved us
before we were born, he loves us now, and listen, his love
will never diminish. Never diminish. You know why? Because it's not conditioned
upon what he sees in his people. It's from his own heart. I love
you because I love you. It's found in Him. The cause
is found in Him, isn't it? God will never change in His
grace. He'll never change in His mercy. He'll never change
in His faithfulness. He'll never change in His compassion. It is of the Lord's mercies that
we're not consumed because His compassions fail not. THEY ARE NEW EVERY MORNING, GREAT
IS THY FAITHFULNESS. IF WE BELIEVE NOT, HE ABIDES
FAITHFULLY. HE CANNOT DENY HIMSELF. HAS HE CHANGED IN HIS PURPOSES?
NO, NOT ONE PURPOSE WILL EVER FAIL. I HAVE PURPOSED IT, I WILL
ALSO DO IT, SAITH THE LORD. Will he fail in his promises?
Has his promise ever changed? Has his promise ever failed?
Not a one. Solomon was dedicating the temple. He was down on his knees before
the people. He got up off of his knees and
spread his hands out towards that huge congregation of Jews,
and this is what he said, Blessed be the Lord, that hath given
rest unto his people Israel, according to all that he promised.
THERE HATH NOT FAILED ONE WORD OF ALL HIS GOOD PROMISES, WHICH
HE PROMISED BY THE HANDS OF MOSES." Isn't that amazing? Not one word?
Not one single promise? A little promise? A big promise?
Not one word has failed. Not one promise has changed or
failed. LET YOUR CONVERSATION BE WITHOUT
COVETOUSNESS, AND BE CONTENT WITH SUCH THINGS AS YOU HAVE,
FOR HE HAS PROMISED, I WILL NEVER LEAVE YOU, I WILL NEVER FORSAKE
YOU." Lord, not for a moment, not for a moment, not for a blinking
of an eye, not for a blinking of an eye. You believe He s with
you? Oh, but you say, I can t comprehend
He s with me, I can t feel His presence. Does that change it?
Change His promise, but our feelings, it'll never happen. All that
He's promised, let us hold fast the profession of our faith,
for He is faithful, that promise. I think sometimes when I study
like this and consider these things and the attributes of
our Lord, I think sometimes if I had a thousand souls, I could
trust Him with every one That's how faithful he is. I am the Lord. I change not. When we see everything around
us changing, waxing old and decaying, there is one, brothers and sisters,
who knows no change, who cannot be changed, and that is our faithful,
unchanging, everlasting Lord. And you know something? This should concern those who
live in their rebellion against the Lord, live in their unbelief
against Him. They won't bow to Him. They won't
believe Him. They say, We won't have this
man to reign over us. This should be concerning to
them, too, because He won't change in His threatenings. He that
believeth not shall be damned, and there's no escaping that.
If a man is not brought to repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ,
he WILL be damned if God don't change. And when he goes to hell,
there will be this word over his head, He that believeth not
shall be damned. But you say, Bruce, he's damned
already, and he SHALL be damned. When ten billion years have passed,
it'll still be over his head. You SHALL be damned, and he SHALL
be. because God is faithful in His
threatenings. He CANNOT change, can He? He
CANNOT change. I am the Lord, I change not. And here's the third point. Who
benefits from this immutability of our God? And He says here,
Therefore ye are sons of Jacob. Who are these sons of Jacob?
Well, they're the sons of God's election, or His elect. Jacob have I loved, and Esau
have I hated. And that simply means Jacob I
have chosen, I have put his name down in the Lamb's Book of Life,
I'm going to redeem him, I'm going to call him, I'm going
to regenerate him, I'm going to keep him, and I'm going to
bring him up to heaven at last. Jacob is my elect soul. Esau have I hated. Esau I've
passed by. I've left Him out of my electing
grace. I've not CONSIDERED Him. I'm
leaving Him to Himself, and I KNOW what He'll do. He'll sell His
birthright. He'll be an ungodly man, a fornicator. But Jacob
I've chosen, Jacob I've elected, and the sons of Jacob are those
whom God has chosen in Jesus Christ before the foundation
of the world. THE CHILDREN BEING NOT YET BORN,
NEITHER HAVING DONE ANY GOOD OR EVIL, THAT THE PURPOSE OF
GOD ACCORDING TO ELECTION MIGHT STAND. IT WAS SAID TO THE MOTHER,
THE ELDER SHALL SERVE THE YOUNGER, AS IT IS WRITTEN, JACOB HAVE
I LOVED, BUT ESAU HAVE I HATED." You know God did not choose Jacob
because He saw any good in him, and He didn't pass by Esau because
He saw any bad in him. It had nothing to do with who
they were or what they were. It was according to God's purpose
and election. And if He's chosen you in Christ
and He's brought you to Christ, you KNOW that you're one of His,
and you can say, I'm the son of Jacob. The sons of Jacob are the sons
of God's election who through sovereign grace believe. and
by eternal destination, grace and glory they receive." That's
who the sons of Jacob are. But it's more than that, too,
isn't it? Jacob was a man who was given a new name. Remember
the night the Lord changed his name? He was Jacob, the old supplanter,
the old deceiver, and the Lord changed his name to Israel, a
prince with God. And sometimes in the scriptures,
even in the New Testament, but especially in the Old Testament,
you see him going by the name of Jacob. And then sometimes
he goes by Israel. Sometimes he goes by that old
sinner. And sometimes Israel, the Prince of God. Are you a
son of Jacob? If you are, you've got two names
and you've got two natures. You've got this old sinful nature
that you were born with, that old deceitful nature that you'll
never lay aside until you leave this world. But you've got a
new nature. You've got an old name, you're
a sinner, and you've got a new name. And you know what it is?
A son of God. What love the Father hath bestowed
upon us that we should be called the sons of God. And sometimes,
you see old Jacob, And he's a wretched deceiver, ain't he? And he makes
you cry out, oh, wretched man that I am. And the other time,
you see yourself for who you really are and what God has made
you. I'm a child of God. Two names and two natures. You're
a sinner and you're a son. Jacob was a man of peculiar manifestations. Man, he saw some things, didn't
he? Remember the night he was sleeping, and he used a stone
for his pillow, and he dreamed a dream, and he saw this ladder,
and it was set upon the earth, and it reached all the way to
heaven. And the Lord stood at the top of that ladder and said,
I am the Lord. And He gave Him all the land
of Canaan, promised Him all the land of Canaan. And Jacob woke
up out of his dream, and he said, What a dreadful place is this! This is the house of God, and
this is the gate of heaven. You know what he found out there?
Who Jesus Christ was. Because John chapter 1 tells
us that this ladder was Christ himself. Angels going up and
down on this ladder. Going up and receiving messages
and grace and bringing it down to us. And Jacob said, I see
the way from earth to heaven. And not only that, but I see
the gate to get into heaven when you're up there. And who was
it? The Lord Jesus Christ. Christ was revealed to him. Has
Christ been revealed to you? You know the way to heaven, don't
you? You know the door to heaven. I am the door. By me, if any
man enter in, he shall be saved. Yes, you knew the same Christ
that Jacob knew. Christ has been revealed to you.
You've denied every other way. And you say, here is the only
place that grace comes and mercy comes and salvation comes. It's
this ladder. Here's the way to God. Here's
the way to heaven. One night he was at that place
by the name of Peniel. Jacob wrestled with the Lord
all night. He said, I won't let you go until you bless me. And
the Lord blessed him. And you know what he said? I've
seen God. I've seen him face to face. You have too, haven't
you? You've seen God in the face of
Jesus Christ. You've had Him to preach to your
heart, and you've seen the face of God. You've seen the face
of God when you look into this Word, and you see Jesus Christ,
His Son. He's God, redeeming God. You've seen Him. And what about this one? Behold, I am with thee, and I
will keep thee in all places whither you go. I'll bring you
again to this land, for I will not leave thee until I have done
all that I have spoken to thee of." Oh, hasn't God encouraged
you and sealed your heart and your spirit with His promise? And the greatest promise is this,
that I'm going to be with you. I'm never going to leave you.
Wherever you go, whatever circumstances you find yourself in, I'm going
to be with you and I'm going to bring you up to my house. Isn't that wonderful? Oh, brothers
and sisters, if the Lord ain't sealed his promises to your heart,
then don't let him go till he does. You don't want to get old
and face dying and death and say, no, I've never laid hold
of a single promise. Oh, Jacob was a man that had
experiences with the Lord. He experienced these promises. Something else about this man,
boy, he was a man of peculiar trials. The sons of Jacob go
through trials. I'm looking at some folks tonight
and I'm 375 miles away from here, but I know what some of you go
through. Your dear pastor tells me some of you have gone through
the fire bud. but you've not been burned. Some
of you went through some deep water, but you've walked out
on the other side, haven't you? Deep, deep trials. I don't know that there's any
man, even including Job, that was tried like this man Jacob. Listen to this. He fled from
his father's house because Esau, his brother, was going to kill
him. He stayed with Laban, his mother's relatives, and Laban
cheated him out of his wife, cheated him out of his wages,
cheated him out of his flock. Jacob had to flee back to Canaan
from Laban. Esau met him with four hundred
men, and Jacob prayed all night for the Lord to deliver him.
His son Joseph was sold into Egypt as a slave. Then he lost
his dear wife Rachel. Jacob's daughter Diana was led
astray, living in fornication. Jacob's two sons committed mass
murder, remember that? His son Judah committed incest
with his daughter-in-law. His son Reuben lay with Jacob's
concubines. A seven-year famine came on all
the land, they almost starved to death. Jacob's son Simon is
kept down in Egypt as a would-be slave. Benjamin is held captive
in Egypt, and poor old Jacob cries out with a broken heart
to Pharaoh, or to his children, Joseph is not, Simon is not,
and you'll take Benjamin and bring down my gray hairs to the
grave. And when Joseph introduced him
to Pharaoh, he said, few in evil have been my days, a broken hearted
man. You know anything about trials?
Then you're a son of Jacob. God tries us. He tries the faith
that he gives us. He chastens us sore. He puts
us through the fire and through the water. Trials, trials, trials,
trials. Man that's born to woman is a
few days and full of troubles. You know that, don't you? Boy,
when the Lord first saved me, I went for a few months on cloud
nine. Then I come down and I had no
idea what had happened to me. Where in the world I'm at and
what I'm in. I went to an old deacon friend
of mine and he said, well, you're beginning to show some evidence
that you're a child of God. He's brought you into trouble
and he'll bring you out and make a Christian out of you. That's
what he told me. I tell people up home, if you ain't never had
any trouble, come to Christ. You'll have trouble then, bud.
If you're a son of Jacob, you will. And I'll tell you the last thing
about the sons of Jacob is this. They'll be just like their father
Jacob. They'll be victorious at last. And I mean FULLY victorious. I mean going to heaven victorious.
The Lord Jesus said there's going to be people coming from the
north, south, east, and west and set out. with Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. You mean Jacob's in heaven? Yes,
he is. And I tell you this, all his sons will be there too. Not
a one of them will be missing. That's encouraging, isn't it? Lastly is this, what benefit
do the sons of Jacob derive from this? Therefore, your sons of
Jacob are not consumed. Not consumed. You know, there's
more than one way to be consumed. When we think about being consumed,
we think about just going to hell, don't we, in Persian? But
look how many people we've seen consumed by money. Eat up with finances. Give their whole life, their
will to it. Live for it. Consume by it. We've got a generation today
that's been consumed with drugs, haven't we? Drunkenness, lust, power. There's more than one way to
be consumed. and you would have been consumed.
Something would have consumed each one of us if our Lord had
been a changing Lord. He had purpose to save us just
like He did Jacob, and He never changed in His purpose. Therefore,
He preserved us from being consumed until the day He called us. Before
the Lord saved me, I was almost drowned. done sucked water into
my lungs. I was in two car wrecks, it was
absolutely total. I was almost crushed to death
under snow. And you know the reason I wasn't?
You know the reason I didn't die? You sons of Jacob are not
consumed because I don't change. Not a one child that God has
chosen in His Son has ever been consumed and never will be consumed. That's wonderful, isn't it? He
calls them, He washes them, He justifies them, He guards them
in the midst of all the trials and tribulation. He walks every
step with them or carries them until He brings them to the Father's
house. They will never be consumed. Oh, that's wonderful, isn't it?
Oh, how precious. Father, thank You for Your Word.
Thank you for our Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you for God, our
Father, and God, the Son, and God, the Holy Spirit. In the
trinity of your sacred person, we bow before you to worship
you, to give you the honor and the glory that you do your name.
And Lord, we know so little of you. So little we know of you. Oh, let us know you better. Open
our hearts. When we go home tonight, open
our hearts. Oh Lord, open your word to us
that we may know you. Our desire is, our need is to
know you better. Our hearts would be one. We would
walk in the fear of the Lord all the day long. We would walk
in love and surely we could serve you better if we knew you better.
Bless this dear congregation. Bless their dear pastor and surely
Bless them, Lord, as they seek to serve you and as Brother Donnie
preaches to this dear people. Oh, Lord, keep your hand upon
him and bless him for your glory and for your honor. We ask these
things. Amen. It's good to see you. The Lord bless you. Brother Donnie. Thank you, Bruce. Lord, oh, bless
me. Oh, and bless my heart. That
did. The 51, let's stand together
saying 51, then you'll be at liberty to go. And Joe, Bruce
can go back there and everybody can tell him how much they love
him and appreciate him. 51, praise the Savior. Praise the Savior, ye who know
Him, who can tell how much we owe Him. Gladly let us render
to Him all we are and have. Jesus is the name that charms
us. He, for conflict, fits and arms
us. Nothing moves and nothing harms. while we trust in Him. Trust in Him, ye saints, forever. He is faithful, changing never. Neither force nor power can sever
those he loves from here. Keep us, Lord, oh, keep us believing. ♪ To thyself and still believing
♪ ♪ Till the hour of thy receiving ♪ ♪ Promise joys with thee ♪
♪ Then we shall be where we would be ♪ ♪ Then we shall be what
we should be ♪ ♪ Things that are not found near thee ♪ Oh, what a place.