Good morning, let's all stand
together and we'll sing hymn number 70. Hymn number 70. Our song shall rise to Thee Holy,
holy, holy Merciful and mighty God in three Persons Blessed
Trinity All the saints adore Thee Casting
down their golden crowns Around the glassy sea Cherubim and seraphim
Falling down before Thee evermore shall be. Holy, holy, holy, Oh, the darkness hide thee. Oh, the eye of sinful man thy
glory may not see. Only thou art holy. There is none beside thee. perfect in power, in love and
purity. Holy, holy, all thy works shall praise thy
name in earth and sky and sea holy holy holy merciful and I can be seated him number 258
258 A wonderful Savior is Jesus my
Lord, He a wonderful Savior to me. He hideth my soul in the cleft
of the rock, 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 His love, And covers me there with His hand. And covers me there with His
hand. The 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. Glory to God, for such a Redeemer
as mine. 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. Clothed in his brightness, transported
I rise To meet him in clouds of the sky His perfect salvation, His wonderful
love, I'll shout with the millions on high. 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. Mark chapter 3. Mark chapter 3. Start reading in verse 7, down through 12. But Jesus withdrew himself with
his disciples to the sea, and a great multitude from Galilee
followed him, and from Judea, and from Jerusalem, from Idumea,
and from beyond Jordan, and they about Tyre and Sidon. great multitude,
and when they had heard what great things he did, came unto
him. And he spake to his disciples
that a small ship should wait on him because of the multitude,
lest they should throng him. For he had healed many insomuch
that they pressed upon him for to touch him, as many as had
plagues. And unclean spirits, when they
saw him, fell down before him and cried, saying, Thou art the
Son of God. And he straightly, straightly
charged them that this should not make him known. Our blessed, blessed Father in
glory, our wonderful Savior, we just sung about you. What
a wonderful Savior, Jesus our Lord. What a wonderful Savior
he is to us. Lord, we bless you for him. Bless
you for his precious blood, for his sufferings on the cross,
for bearing our sins there. and burn them away perfectly
and completely and absolutely, never ever to be charged against
us again, never to be held against us. Oh Lord, to know that our
sins are gone, washed away by the blood, took and cast beyond
the back of God, thrown into the depths of the sea, cast as
far as the east is from the west, blotted out as a thick cloud,
Oh Lord, what comfort it is to know that our sins will never
be used against us. And oh Lord, we know our great
need, and we come because we have a need. And I pray that
you'd be pleased to meet with us here today. Give us of your
abundant mercy and grace. Cause the gospel to run well
here today. Give some liberty, give some
power. And Lord, give people the liberty to hear. and give
them the power to hear. Lord, we're shut up to you and
your absolute sovereignty. Your will be done, but we do
know this about you, that if you don't meet with us, it won't
amount to anything. And oh Lord, please meet with
us. Come in power, come in the Holy Ghost, come and bless the
gospel, bless the word, meet the needs of every home, every
heart, Have mercy upon those and strengthen those who are
not with us today. We ask for you to bring glory
to yourself. Have mercy upon our loved ones.
We ask these things in our Lord Jesus' name. Amen. Hymn number 126. 126. Rock of Ages, cleft for me, let
me hide myself in thee. Let the water and the blood from
thy wounded side Save from wrath and make me pure. Could my tears forever flow? Could my zeal no longer know? Peace for sin could not atone. Thou must save and Thou alone
In my hand no price I bring Simply to Thy cross I cling While I
draw this fleeting breath And my eyes shall close in death
When I rise to worlds unknown And behold thee on thy throne
Rock of ages, cleft for me Let me hide my Let's all stand together and
we'll sing the hymn of the bulletin. Return from Zion's way. I'll ask what numbers do. Meet things I hear my Savior
say. Will Thou forsake me do? The Lord with sudden I feel I must, I shall decline
and prove like them at last Yet Thou alone has power, I know,
to save the wretched. To whom or whither could I go
If I should turn from thee? Beyond a doubt I rest assured
Thou art the Christ of God, who hosts eternal life. Of men and angels joined Could
never reach my gaze Nor can I hope relief to find No voice but Thine can give me
rest, and bid my fears depart. love but thine can make me blest,
and satisfy my heart. What anguish has that If I will also go Yet, Lord,
relying on Thy Word I humbly answer, no Amazing grace, how sweet the
sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now
am found. The scriptures teach us plainly
that Christ is our life. He's not the most important thing
in our life. He is our life. He is our life. And We don't look for it anywhere
else. Don't look for no hope, don't
look for no rest, don't look for no comfort. But nowhere but
in our Lord Jesus Christ. That's why Paul meant when he
said, I have no confidence in the flesh. My flesh, your flesh,
or anybody's flesh. You know why? Because this flesh
can't do nothing but fail us. my flesh, your flesh. All it
does is disappoint us. But Christ never has disappointed
us. Never has failed us. Never discouraged us. Always
gives us a blessed rest and a glorious hope. Don't he? Always does. Well, you see here in these verses
I read that Jesus withdrew himself and with his disciples to the
sea. Now when did this happen? This
after he healed the man with the withered hand, and the Jews
got so upset, the Pharisees and scribes got so upset, says they
were filled with madness. That means they were deranged.
That means if they had that kind of madness, they would have been
put in a mental hospital, should have been, but they were filled
with madness toward the Lord Jesus Christ and went to find
ways to take Him, destroy Him. They didn't say just take Him,
but destroy Him. We don't want to just do anything
to Him. We want Him destroyed. We don't want to have Him around
anymore. And because of this, our Lord withdrew Himself with
His disciples. Now, He hadn t called the twelve
yet. There s John and James, Simon Peter, and his brother
Andrew, and Matthew. Those were the only ones that
were with Him at this time. A great multitude followed him
from Judea, from Jerusalem, from Idumea, from beyond Jordan, and
thereabout Tyre and Sidon. A great multitude, and listen
to this, when they had heard what great things he did, came
unto him." If you ever hear what great things
he did, he did. You'll come to him too. You can't help yourself, can
you? and all my great multitude, and this says two places here
that a great multitude, a great multitude, in verse 7 and also
verse 8, great multitude. Now I don t know what, and they
came from every place, they come from beyond Jordan, that s where
certain people lived over there, way on the other side of Jordan.
They come from down at Tyre and Sidon, that's where the Phoenicians
were from. And they came from all over,
all over. Everybody came from all over,
a great multitude came from every part of Israel, came from outside
of Israel to the Lord Jesus Christ. And I'll tell you what, a great
multitude followed Him. And look what it says here in
verse 8. And from Jerusalem, from Idumea,
and from beyond Jordan, and thereabout Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude."
Now listen to this, when they had heard, heard what great things
He did. What in the world does that tell
us? That you gotta hear. You can't be saved without hearing.
You'll not come to Christ without hearing. When they heard, Who told them? Somebody went
and said, this Jesus in Nazareth, he's doing great things. And
not only is he doing great things, but he's doing great things for
some awful people. He's doing great things for some
people that's in a great, great need. And you know, when they
heard, here's the thing about it. Faith cometh by hearing. You can't get faith any other
way than by hearing. And when you're talking about
hearing, you can't get faith but by hearing the word of God.
And now you can't hear without a preacher. And that's what the
scriptures tells us. And when they heard, and that's
the thing about it. When you got to hear, you got
to hear. And that's why we pray, God,
give people ears. Give them ears. Our Lord Jesus
Christ, look over with me in Matthew 13. Keep this now. I want you to see something in
Matthew 13. I want you to look with me in Matthew 13. I want
you to see something with me over here. And when they heard,
when they heard, and you know, I was talking to a fella the
other day, and we got talking about church and the gospel and the
word of God, and after we got to talking, I asked him where
he went to service, because they was gonna have a Bible study
in their home at night. And I said, well, where do you
go to church? And he told me where they went.
And he said, where do you go? And I said, well, I said, I'm
a pastor. I said, I pastor at Lantana Grace Church out on Lantana
Road. Been there for years and years.
He said, I know exactly where it's at, and I know your doctrine.
I know your doctrine. He said, you believe in God's
sovereignty, don't you? I said, I do. He said, you believe
in election, don't you? And I said, I do. He said, you
believe that God has to do a work in you before He has to give
you a new heart, and if God don't come upon you and do something
for you, it won't get done. Well, I said, yeah. He said,
I believe same thing. Him and I talked forever. And
you know what their Bible study is gonna be on that night? On
the sovereignty of God. On the sovereignty of God. and
he'd come visit me one time. I certainly don't remember it.
I know him and his wife came, and I don't remember it. But
anyway, that's what they heard. When people find out, how do
they hear what you know? And how do they hear what the
Lord Jesus Christ did? Somebody came after Christ had
done something for them and said, you know what he did for me? Do you know what he did for me? And I tell you what, that amazing
grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once
was lost, but now I'm found, was blind, but now I see. Oh
my, and when you hear that, when you hear what he did, the great
things he did, and when they heard, look what it says here
now in Matthew 16, 13, excuse me, 13 and verse 15. Now here's the difference. Here's
where Christ makes the difference. For this people's heart is wax
gross, and I tell you, listen to this, and their ears are dull
of hearing, and their eyes, they close them, lest they at any
time should see with their eyes, hear with their ears, and should
understand with their hearts, and be converted, and I should
heal them. But now look what he says about
God's people. Blessed, blessed are your eyes
for they see, your ears for they hear. And truly I say unto you
that many prophets and righteous men desire to see what you're
looking at right now and what you see in Christ now. And to
hear the things that you hear and have not heard. Well, here's
some folks that heard. Oh my, here's some people that
heard. And I'll tell you, blessed are your eyes for they see, and
your ears for they hear. If you hear about Christ and
believe Him, and see Christ by faith, you have been blessed
of God. Simon Bar-Jonah, who do men say
that I am? Well, some say you're Jeremiah,
some say you're one of the other prophets, some say you're Elijah.
Who you say that I am? Thou art the Christ, the Son
of the living God. Oh, you're blessed, Simon Barger. Who blessed you? Oh, flesh and
blood can't make you know that. My Father, which is in heaven,
revealed it to you, made you know it. And that's the only
way you're going to hear, that's the only way you're going to
see. And oh my, you know, those that are blessed to hear and
see are God's elect. I don't have no problem saying
that. God's elect. God's gonna see to it that they
hear. God's gonna see to it that they
see. God's gonna see to it that they believe. And when they heard
the great things He did, and I tell you what, that's exactly
the same thing I did and you did. When we heard, and then
what it says, they came to Him. him. Oh my, everything our Lord
did was great. Everything he did was great.
You know, when, when Gabriel told Mary, he said, he's going
to be called the son of the highest and he shall be great, shall
be great. That's the first thing. That's
what he told her. And then look what our Lord said
now in verse nine, And he spake to his disciples that a small
ship should wait on him because of the multitude, lest they should
throng him. And then down in verse 10, that
they pressed upon him, they rushed upon him. And oh my, why did
he wanna have a boat ready? Why did he wanna have a boat
ready? A small boat said, keep a small ship ready here for us. Why did he have a boat? He said,
now you guys have a boat ready out here for me. Why? Because of the multitude. He
s down by the sea, and this multitude is coming from every place, and
I mean MULTITUDES. I don t know if it s hundreds
or thousands, but there they are, they re coming to Him and
they re PRESSING Him. They re getting so, you know
what this says? It says in verse 10, They pressed
upon Him for to touch Him. And everybody there, everybody
there from the person that s closest to Him to the person farthest
away, they wanted to touch Him! And everybody s pressing on Him,
everybody s coming, and everybody at the same time wants to touch
Him. They want to touch Him. And so you know what He said?
Give me a boat. These fellows, they throw me.
I have to get out in the water. I have to get in that boat so
I can priest to these people. Oh my, they crowded Him. And let me tell you, that shows
us two things about our Savior in this chapter so far. And it's
about our Lord's humanity. First of all, he looked around
about those Pharisees and them and grieved at them and angry
for their hardness of heart. That shows that our Lord had
emotions. He cried. He got angry. He had compassion. He was grieved. He actually whipped
people out of a temple one time. So our Lord has emotions. That
shows His humanity. And that's why He identifies
with us and He can be touched with the feelings of our infirmity.
Every tear we shed, He shed tears. Every grief we bore, He already
bore it. Every heartache we have, He had
it. I mean, He was a man and He got angry. He had emotions
just like we do. And here's another thing that
he said in his humanity, lest they crush me. They crush me. They could crush me to death.
They could kill me. And that's what he said. He said,
I've got to have a way to get away. And that shows our Lord's
humanity. And it also shows us that He
gave us common sense to not put ourselves in a position where
we could get hurt. And our Lord said, I'm not going
to let these people trample me. Now, you know, let me tell you
something. Let me show you something here. When that mob, over 500
people, came after Christ with sticks and staves, and they come
after Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane. He walked up to him
and said, Who are you looking for? And he said, Jesus of Nazareth. He said, I am. They all fell
back. You think he couldn't have done
the same thing to this crowd? But there was a different reason
for them being there. They come to take him, to crucify
him and mistreat him. These people came to him because
they had a need. He won't keep you away if you
got a need. Oh, he said, I'm not gonna get
crushed by this crowd. I'm not gonna do it. And look
at verse 20, excuse me, verse 10. And oh my, look what it says. And he had healed many. He had
healed many. You know, our Lord Jesus Christ, Most of the
miracles, of his miracles, were miracles of healing. And oh, when people were healed,
oh, how many people did he heal? You know, I've often thought
about this. I've known a lot of sick people
in my time. I know some that's real sick
right now. Couple of people that was one
day real strong, and now they're relatively young women. Now they're
down at both, two people I know of's in wheelchairs that I've
known over the years. And I've often thought, if I
lived in Christ's day, and I had somebody that was sick, really,
really sick, dying sick, I would have been in this crowd right
here. I'd have been right there. I said, Lord, I'm gonna bring
my sick person, I'm gonna bring that soul that I love, I'm gonna
bring that person, and I'm gonna bring them to you, and I'm not
gonna quit till I touch the hem of your garment. I'm not gonna
do it. Would everyone done that? Huh? Every single one of us would
have done that. Wouldn't we? But oh, our Lord
healed so many people. You know, people that was born
blind receive sight. born blind, and received their
sight. Lepers, filthy, rotten lepers,
corrupt lepers, flesh corrupt, rottening flesh, lepers were
cleansed. People that couldn't walk, couldn't
walk, laid in a bed almost all their days and had to be picked
up and carried everywhere they went. Lame was made to walk. People that couldn't hear, and
since they couldn't hear, they couldn't talk. Ah, the deaf and
the mute, both was made to hear and to speak. Oh, listen, he
healed many. Oh, my. I tell you, the paralyzed
people, you remember where they lifted the roof off there to
get that man who was paralyzed down in there in the presence
of Christ? Oh, that man took up his bed and walked back to
his house. Oh my, maimed, people that were
maimed in many, many ways were made whole. Fevers left people. And this man's withered hand
was restored and demons were cast out. How, you reckon our
Lord was ever unsuccessful? Our Lord was never unsuccessful. You know what you are? You're
a success of the power and work of Christ. If God saved you by
His grace, you're a success story of the power of Christ and His
ability to do something for you. You don't feel like a success
story, do you? You feel like these fellas said,
I gotta touch Him. I'm in need, I gotta touch Him.
That's the way we feel. He did only what God could do.
Nobody could do what He did but God Almighty. He controlled the
weather. Who can control the weather?
These people going on and on about climate change. Yeah, of
course the climate change. It changed from winter to summer
to spring and fall. It's going to do that as long
as the world lives. God said it would. I remember
when they said the bugs was gonna take over the earth. I remember
when they said we're gonna have an ice age. And then I remember
said the world's gonna turn into a desert. And I tell you, they're
fighting a losing battle. God can make it hotter than hell
on the earth and he can make it snow till you can't get out
of your door. And I tell you, that's what,
he controls the weather. Oh my, he controls the wind. He said the wind blows where
it lifts you. And I tell you what, he controlled
the wind. Told it to stop. And if he wants
it to blow, it'll blow. And I tell you, when God tells
the Holy Spirit to blow on somebody, watch out, because here it comes. Oh my. He brought matter into
existence that was never there before. Those fellas out fishing one
night, they all went back fishing. And they looked and there was
a fire and fish on a fire. Roasting. And where'd the fire
come from? Where'd the fish come from? Our
Lord didn't throw a line out there and catch it. Our Lord
didn't, you know, strike some matches, some flint together
to build a fire. Let there be fire. And there
was a fire. Let there be fish, and there's
fish. Oh, listen, there's nobody like
our Lord. Nobody like Him. Oh, my. He suspended the law of physics.
People don't walk on water, but He did. I can't even float. If I get in water and don't do
something, I'm going down. And I tell you, he walked on
the water. And then he took a bunch of water, six great big water
pots with gallons in them, and they went out there and dipped
their cup in it, tasted it, said, boy, that's the best wine I ever
drunk in my life. That's really good wine. He turned
six big water pots, turned water into wine. Huh? And three instances, three instances,
he raised the dead. He raised the dead. Oh my. You reckon he did great things?
You reckon he did? Oh, no wonder, no wonder these
people were thronging our Lord Jesus Christ. No longer did they
press upon our Lord Jesus Christ. And all these things that I said
that he did, the apostles, they'd done so many wonderful things,
wonderful miracles. And we talked about Paul Wednesday
night, and that just things from his body would heal people and
cast out demons. Just a piece of article would
do that. But all these things ceased. God done these things, and Christ
really did these things. And after Christ and the apostles,
he gave them the gifts. But you know what now? Gifts
that we desire? What gifts we need more than
anything else? You know what he said? Now abideth
faith, hope, and charity. Would you rather have the gifts
of healing or faith? Uh-huh. Would you rather have
hope and love? Our Lord said, those
things gonna live forever. Ain't gonna be no more miracles
except the miracle of salvation. And that happens every time God
saves a man. Ain't that right? Oh my. But when you are sick, and like
I said, if you were sick, and you was hurt and you had a bad,
bad disease, healing came from just touching him. Just touching
him. It's like that woman with the
issue of blood. That was a crowd around Christ. She got on her
hands and knees and pressed her way, crawled her way through
that crowd around Him, crawled her way She crawled her way. She was a penniless woman. She
had done, spent everything she had. She got worse and worse
and worse. She got on her hands and knees
and started crawling through that crowd and started crawling
through people's legs, started crawling. And well, when she
got close enough, she rushed out and touched the hem of his
garment. Our Lord knowed the minute she touched him. He looked round about, who touched
me? Lord, what are you talking about? Everybody around you is
touching you. No, no, I got a touch and virtue
went out of me. There was somebody here that
really, really was in bad shape. That woman stood up and she said,
Lord, it's me. And the scripture said, she told
him all the truth. That's what happens when you
touch him. You'll end up telling him all
the truth. He knows when you touch him. He knows when you
touch him. And there in verse 10, excuse
me, verse 10, yes. Those he healed many, insomuch
that they pressed upon him for to touch him. As many as had
plagues. Those who pressed upon him to
touch him, they're identified. They're identified. And look
what it says. As many as had plagues. You know what the word
plague means? It means to be scourged. Scourged. It means to have a
disease and suffer with that disease greatly. It means to
be under calamity. And so these people, they were
identified, people who had plagues, plagues. Oh my. You know, he's the great physician,
great, great physician. Luke 9, 11 says this, and I may
preach on that again here pretty soon. He healed as many as had
need of healing. Did you hear that? He healed
as many as needed healing. He healed as many as had need.
And that's the difference between religion and what God does for
a man. We have a need, we have a need. And our Lord Jesus Christ said
in Mark Matthew 14, it says, as many as touched him were made
perfectly whole. not partly whole, may get sick
again later, but were made perfectly whole. You know, you ever know
the doctor that had 100% success rate, healing rate? His great physician had 100%
success rate. Everybody he treated was healed. Next time you go to a doctor,
say, I've got a doctor. I know a doctor that's had 100%
success rate. Who is he? Jesus Christ, the
Son of God. Oh my. And listen, don't miss
this phrase there in verse 10. upon him to touch him, as many
as," I ve already talked about that twice, as many as touched
him were made perfectly clear. Every one in that particular
group that was there that had plagues and had need of healing,
every single one of them, every single one of them Most, not
most all, but all who had plagues pressed upon him. You know, there's
a verse of scripture talking about plagues. 1 Kings 8.38 says this, every
man shall know the plague of his own heart. Every man shall
know the plague of his own heart. That's where our plagues at,
right here. Huh? Right here. Jeremiah said, the
heart's deceitful above, desperately wicked. Who can know it? And
I know this, that that man who knows the plague of his own heart,
that man knows the deceitful in his own heart. You know what
he says? I must, I must, I must, I must,
I must touch Christ. How you gonna get rid of that
plague in your heart? You got to touch Christ. How
can I get rid of this deceitful heart? You've got to touch Christ.
How am I going to get rid of this hard heart? You've got to
touch Christ. How am I going to get rid of
being dead? You've got to touch Christ. Huh? Oh my. As many as. You know how many times it says
as many as in the scriptures? As many as I love. As many as
I love. He said, you know what I do to
them? I rebuke them. I rebuke them. You say, oh my. I rebuke them. Do you ever need
rebuke by the Lord? Now, God forbid that I rebuke
you if it's Christians don't do it. But he said, as many as
I love, I rebuke. Not only do I rebuke them, but
I chasten them. I discipline them. I don't let
them get by with anything. People can get by with anything,
it's because Christ don't love them and He don't chasten them.
Now I tell you what, I know I've been rebuked by Him, and I know
I've been chastened by Him. He'll keep you awake some nights.
He'll make your conscience smite you so much that you just say,
oh God, have mercy on me. How could I be such a hypocrite?
How could I be such a liar? How could I be so, how could
I be such, how could I be the way I am and know Christ? We
sung that song, it lasts so many turns from Zion's way. Am I gonna
do it too? No, if Christ don't hold me,
I will. I know me. I know me. And all my, and then not only
that, but as many as were ordained, predestinated unto eternal life. You know what they did? They
believed. As many as were ordained to eternal
life. Bless his heart. Bless our Lord's
name. As many as were ordained to eternal
life. What'd they do? They believed. You know why you believe? He's
predestinated to it, ordained to it. I don't know when that day was.
Me and Shirley was talking about the other day. A lot of folks
can go back and listen. There's so many people that want
to go back to an old experience to say, I was saved way back
there and then I learned the doctrines of grace later. No,
no, no, no, no, no, no. No, I tell you, as many as were
ordained, predestinated to eternal life, God said they are gonna
believe. Huh? They're gonna believe. They're
gonna deny everything until the time they believe. Now, when
was I saved? I don't know. And I don't care. Thing is, is
right now I know Christ. And right now I'm coming to Christ.
And right now I need Christ. And tomorrow, if God let me live,
I'll get up and start it all over again. Huh? It don't make any difference.
The fact is, is Christ did the work. Sometimes it's like putting
out, like putting out your garden. You put a little, you put a grain
of corn down in the ground and that thing lays there. Next thing
you know, there's a little bitty tiny blade sticks. Now that thing's got as much
life as it's gonna have, but now it's gonna grow a little
more, gonna grow a little more, and then it'll be the whole stalk,
and it'll have grain on it. And that's the way our life is.
A little bit of sprout comes up. God starts blessing it, and
watering it, and preaching to it, and taking care of it, and
next thing you know, you've got somebody that's grown. Our Lord does His work in such
a mysterious way. I don't have to go way back yonder
to find out. All I know is that I need Christ
every day of every moment. Oh my. And I tell you, He healed
many. Oh, my, the Scriptures tell us
as many as received Him, to THEM gave He the power to become the
sons of God, which believed on Him, which were born, not of
blood, not of the will of man, nor of flesh, but born of God. Huh? Oh my. Our Lord Jesus said
in John 17 and two, he said, Father, thou hast given him power
over all flesh that he should give eternal life to as many
as thou hast given him. Huh? I wonder how many, as many
as are in this building this morning. as many as. I'm more than many
as. I believe I am. And then look what we go on down
here, see what he says here. He healed them as many as had
plagues. Oh my, if you got a plague, come
on, come on, come on. And then he goes on to say there
in verse 11, and when this crowd got around him, there was unclean
spirits. When they saw him, now it didn't
say they heard of him like these other people did, it came to
him, and they had great needs. But unclean spirits, when they
saw him, fell down before him and cried, saying, thou art the
Son of God. And he straightly or strictly
charged them that they should not make him known. Unclean spirits,
what's an unclean spirit? It means morally, spiritually,
Filthy, filthy, evil in themselves. And the people that they possessed
wanted them to do evil things. But our Lord strictly charged
them, charged them, commanded them, said, don't make me known,
shut up. I don't wanna hear a thing you
got to say. Why in the world would He forbid these demons
and these unclean spirits? Why would He forbid them to not
acknowledge Him to be who He is? Well, first of all, because
our Lord's person, our Lord's person, His person is so holy
and so glorious and so mighty and so precious and has such
virtue in it. And in His work, you look at
His work, all the work that we've already talked about that he'd
done. His person in his work is so holy and so exalted, it's
not right, it's not fit that filthy, corrupt demons to proclaim
him. Now, people that know him, they
want to proclaim him, but this, our Lord said, you keep your
mouth shut. And there's a second reason why. He was the Messiah. He's the Christ. And He come
into this world to live as our representative, to die as our
substitute, to die in our room instead and put our sins away
by the sacrifice of Himself. And He was not ready yet to manifest
His purpose to suffer and die for His people. He wasn't ready
for that to be manifested yet. So He shut up, He said. And look
what it says down here in verse 22 of Mark chapter 3. And the scribes which came down
from Jerusalem said, He hath Baalzebub, and by the prince
of the devils he cast out devils. Now, they accused Him of having
devils Himself, and the scribes were telling people that Christ
and demons were allies. And if our Lord allowed himself
to be recognized by demons and by devils, he'd have to say,
well, them scribes are right about me. But he's not, huh? Oh my. But I tell you, that's
why he said devils don't acknowledge who I am. You just keep your
mouth shut. You know, let me mention this
and I'll wind this thing up. Do you remember and in the book
of Acts, two things happened. You know, there was this woman, she followed Paul and Silas around,
hollering, Oh, these are the great men of God who SHOW US
the way of salvation! Now first of all, she didn t
need to be talking and hollering out all the time. Women s not
supposed to do that. But she was doing that and following
them around, and all she was doing was she was MOCKING them!
And finally Paul got tired of it and he said, come out of her.
And those fellows got mad at Paul and run him out of town
because they was making their living off of this woman here
running around soothsaying. And they got mad and said, well,
we've lost all our money, this woman. So they got rid, and listen,
and then I said, where's tonight? There was seven men, seven men,
They decided they was a bunch of Jews, and their father was
one of the chief priests. They all got together, and they
said, We're going to cast out demons. We're going to cast out
devils. And they got this one man, and they told this man,
We adjure thee, we command thee, by Jesus whom Paul preacheth. And you know what that man told
them? Paul I know, and Jesus I know, but who are you? And
you know what happened? That man and that demon whipped
all seven of those men and sent them out of there naked and wounded.
Huh? God gets no glory out of somebody
doing something in an evil way. And he's not gonna have demons
praising him. The devils believe and they tremble,
But they don't love Christ, they don't believe Christ, they don't
trust Christ. And that's why He won't let them acknowledge
Him. But He did great things, remember, as they pressed upon
Him, pressed upon Him. And I tell you what, you know
how many people press upon Him today? Let me tell you something,
just to give you an idea of how great and glorious Christ is.
If all of us right here in this building pressed upon Him right
now, Not one of us would get in the way of one another. And
every one of us could touch Christ at the same time. And you know how many other congregations
and how many other people all over the world are pressing upon
Christ and every one of them get to him and nobody gets in
one another's way. And he'll have to get in a boat
to get away from us. That's how, oh, what a wonderful
Savior is Jesus our Lord. Huh? No, but ah. He is the most exalted, most
glorious, most precious, most blessed. We can't describe him
high enough. We can't exalt him high enough.
We can't attribute enough glory to him, enough praise to him.
We can't do it. Can't. Just can't. But just cause
I can't, that don't mean I ain't gonna keep, I'm gonna keep on
trying. Ain't you? I'm gonna keep on trying. Our blessed, blessed Master,
our Savior, we thank you. Oh, how we thank you for being
with us, meeting with us. Oh, Lord, we thank you that we
can press upon you. We can come to you. We can touch
you. When we're discouraged, we can touch you. When we are
depressed, we can touch you. When we're anxious, we can touch
you. When we're afraid for our family and troubled over our
family, we can touch you. When we grieve over our lost
loved ones, we can touch you. And when we're fearful, we can
touch you. When we got sickness that we
don't know how we're gonna make it, Lord, we can touch you. And
Lord, we all come to touch you today. And we're thankful that
we were able to touch you. And we certainly bless you that
you touched us, touched us by the gospel, touched us by your
word. God, bring glory to yourself through us here. God bless you,
dear people, wherever they may be. We ask these things in our
Lord Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Turn your eyes upon
Jesus. Look full in His wonder. And the things of earth will
grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace. Everything got dim except him
today, didn't it? Huh? See you tonight.