Good evening, let's all stand
together. We'll sing hymn number 489. Down at the cross where my Savior
died, Down where for flinging from sin I cried, There to my
heart was the blood applied. pouring to His pain, pouring
to His pain, pouring to His pain. There to my heart was the blood
of Christ, Glory to His name. I am so wondrously saved from
sin, Jesus so sweetly abides within There at the cross where
he took me in Glory to his name Glory to his name Glory to His
name There to my heart was a blood applied Glory to His name O precious
fountain that saves from sin, I am so glad I have entered in. One year it just saves me and
keeps me clean. Glory to His name. Glory to His name Glory to His
name There to my heart was the blood applied Glory to His name
Come to this mountain so rich and sweet Cast thy poor soul
at the Savior's feet Plunge into day and be made complete Glory
to His Name Glory to His Name Glory to His Name There to my
heart was the blood applied. Glory to his name. Be seated. We'll sing hymn number
176. 176. Break thou the bread of life,
dear Lord, to me, As thou didst break the loaves beside the sea. Beyond the sacred page, I seek
Thee, Lord. My spirit pans for Thee, O living
Word. Bless thou the truth, dear Lord,
to me, to me, as thou didst bless the bread by Galilee. Then shall all bondage cease,
all fetters walk, And I shall find my peace, my all in all. Thou art the bread of life, O
Lord, to me. Thy holy word, the truth that
saveth me. Give me to eat and live with
Thee above. Teach me to love Thy truth, for
Thou art love. O send Thy Spirit, Lord, now
unto me. That He may touch my eyes and
make me see. Show me the truth, conceal within
Thy Word. Acts chapter 18 Acts chapter
18 Read these first 12 verses, and
we'll preach a little more than this, but I'll deal with them
as we get to them. And after these things, Paul
departed from Athens and came to Corinth, and found a certain
Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, lately come from Italy, and his
wife Priscilla, because that Claudius had commanded all Jews
to depart from Rome, and came unto them. And because he was
of the same craft, he abode with them and wrought, for by their
occupation they were tentmakers. And he reasoned in the synagogue
every Sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks. And
when Silas and Timotheus were come from Macedonia, Paul was
pressed in the spirit, and testified to the Jews that Jesus is the
Christ. And when they opposed themselves
and blasphemed, he shook his raiment and said unto them, Your
blood be upon your own heads, I am clean. From henceforth I
will go unto the Gentiles. And he departed thence, and entered
into a certain man's house, named Justice, one that worshipped
God, whose house joined hard to the synagogue. And Crispus,
the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all
his house, and many of the Corinthians believed and were baptized. Then
spake the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision. Be not afraid,
but speak, and hold not thy peace. For I am with thee, and no man
shall set on thee to hurt thee. For I have much people in this
city. And he continued there a year
and six months, teaching the word of God among them. Our blessed Father, Our great
and glorious God, we come into your presence once again, grateful
that we can. And Lord, we often just come
and say, Lord, have mercy. Lord, help me. And so I say that
tonight. Lord, have mercy on us here tonight.
Lord, help us here tonight. We need your presence. We need
your power. We don't want to go through the
motions. We don't want to dishonor our
Lord Jesus Christ by the energy of the flesh. We want to be able to exalt and
honor him as we just sung to him that I and thy book might
see the Lord revealed. May you be revealed to us tonight,
Lord Jesus. May you bring honor to yourself.
And may the word be a blessing to those gathered out here and
to those that are not here because of frailty and afflictions and
weakness in their body. Forgive us of everything that's
unlike you. And so, Lord, we come to you
asking to meet with us and do it for Christ's sake. Amen. Page 16 in our course books. Page 16 in our course books. Jesus has a table spread, where
the saints of God are fed. He invites his chosen people,
come and dine. With his manna he doth feed,
and supplies our every need. O, tis sweet to sup with Jesus
all the time. Come and dine, the Master calleth,
come and dine. You may feast at Jesus' table
all the time. He who fed the multitude, Turned
the water into wine, To the hungry calleth now, Come and dine. The disciples came to land, Thus
obeying Christ's command, For the Master called to them, O
come and dine. There they found their heart's
desire Bread and fish upon the fire Thus He satisfies the hungry
every time Come and dine, the Master calleth, come and dine
You may feast at Jesus' table all the time. He who fed the multitude turned
the water into wine. To the hungry call it now, come
and dine. Soon the Lamb will take His pride,
to be ever at His side, all the hosts of heaven will assemble
big. Hope will be a glorious sight,
all the saints in spotless white, and with Jesus they will feast
eternally. Come and dine, the Master calleth,
come and dine. You may feast at Jesus' table
all the time. He who fed the multitude turned
the water into wine. To the hungry call it now, come
and dine. I think we have it wrote in in
the hymnal, but not in our course books. On that first verse where
it says, he invites, let's put in there, he commands. The title of our message this
evening is MUCH PEOPLE IN THIS CITY. MUCH PEOPLE IN THIS CITY. The first verse tells us after
these things Paul departed from Athens and came to Corinth. Now
Corinth is in Greece too, it's 40 miles from Athens down there,
and you remember He had just got through preaching in Mars
Hill. He had been there preaching, and they said, ìOh, what was
this babbler going to say?î And then when He preached unto them,
ìJesus and the resurrection,î they said, ìHe brings strange
things to our ears.î And some folks adhered to Him and cleaved
to Him, and they went with Him when He left Athens. The Jews
would come down there and stirred Him up again. And so it was 40
miles. And Paul at this time stayed
longer in Corinth than he did anywhere else at this particular
time. He ends up staying at Ephesus
for two years, but here he stayed a year and a half. And Corinth
was a busy, busy city, a well-placed city. It had two ports where
ships could come in and unload or take goods away, two big ports. So they had lots of trade in
that place, very prosperous city, and no matter where you go, you're
going to find religion. They had lots of religion. Lots
of temples, lots of temples. The most famous temple that they
had there was the Temple of Aphrodite, or the Temple of Venus, which
is supposed to be the goddess of love, and that's what their
main temple was. But I wanted to show you some
things about this apostle after he got into Corinth. And he said
when he came into Corinth he found a certain Jew named Aquila,
he was a Jew, born in Pontus. Paul Priest and Pontus went through
there twice. Lately came from Italy, they
just came from Italy, and here s wife Priscilla. And the reason
they came from Italy is because Claudius, the Roman Emperor at
that time, commanded all the Jews to get out of Rome, and
so they came to Corinth. And oh, listen to what it says
now, And because he was of the same craft, had the same kind
of work. He abode with them, and worked,
or wrought, for by their occupation they were tentmakers." Here it
tells us that Paul provided for his own living, his own living. You know, these folks will be
found, you ll find Paul, Aquila, and Priscilla mentioned several
times throughout the Scriptures after this. But Paul was a tentmaker,
That's what his occupation was, that's what his trade was. And
he was confident enough in Christ, confident enough in the Gospel
that he would stand and he faced all those philosophers and all
those intelligent men and all those people who thought they
had the answers and looking for answers for all the reasons for
life in their philosophy. Well, Paul preached to them the
Gospel and they said, Oh my, he said four strange things to
our ears. But he was fearless there, and
he was fearless about preaching the gospel. And he could go up
there on Mars Hill, and yet he turns around here, humble enough
to work, to make his own living, and to continue to preach. And
he stayed with Aquila and Priscilla, and he abode with them at the
same craft. And you know, when you go over
to I Corinthians, Paul says, I've done this. He said, I've
made my own living. I've done my own living, I've
made things my own, so that I would not be chargeable to any man.
He said, I'll not have anybody saying that I've done this for
Paul, or I felt like I owed this for Paul, that I didn't come
here asking you to do anything for me. I didn't ask you to spend
for me. He said, it's my responsibility
to be spent for you. And he said, I didn't want to
be chargeable to anybody. And then he told them over at
Ephesus, he said, I was not, I never coveted any one of y'all's
money, not one of you. And he said, I didn't ask any
of you, I didn't covet any of your clothes, any of your suits,
anything that you had, I didn't covet it. I didn't even, only
thing I was interested in is the gospel, and you believe in
the gospel, and hearing the gospel. It's the only thing he was interested
in. I mean, when he said, I determined not to know nothing but Christ
and Him crucified, that was more than a cliche. That was more
than the preacher getting up and just popping off about it.
It was serious business to him, and it should be serious business
to anybody that preaches the gospel and anybody that believes
the gospel. And then look what he did here
in verse 4. I love this. He said this so many times, and
he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath and persuaded the
Jews and the Greeks. Now, back over here in chapter
17 and verse 2, look what it says, the same thing. And Paul, as his manner was,
went in unto them three Sabbath days, reasoned with them out
of the Now, what does it mean to reason with them out of the
scriptures? That's the same thing I do, and scripture interprets
scripture. It's the same thing I do when
I'll present an argument or give you a point, and I'll turn and
I'll show you and I'll reason with you out of the Scriptures
so you can see what it says and what it's dealing with and how
they all tie together. Well, that's what Paul did, and
when he would go into these Jews and these Greeks, he would take
the Bible, he would take the Old Testament, and there's no
telling how many times he would teach them out of Isaiah 53.
There's no telling how many times that he went to, well you read
the other night in Ezekiel 37 about Israel being a valley of
dry bones, and that God would raise them up and that God would
make David to be king over them and rule over them, that they'd
be the only shepherd that they'd ever have, talking about Christ.
And he no doubt started in Genesis because he himself said later,
I mean this is a man who knew the scripture, he said later,
he said, As God commanded the light to shine out of darkness,
He hath shined in our hearts to give us the light, to give
us the understanding of the gospel to give us how God, He shined
it in our hearts to give us the understanding of God s glory.
So I mean He would take the scriptures and He would take the scriptures
and show them and reason with them and say, Now, this is what
it says, this is what it meant, this is what it means, and you
need to see this and understand this. It was like when Philip
joined himself to that Ethiopian eunuch. He was sitting there
reading a scroll out of Isaiah. And Philip looked up to him and
said, do you understand what you're reading? He said, no,
I don't. I don't understand it at all. He said, how can I except
some men guide me? And that's what he got up in
there and guided him through the scripture. And he preached
unto him Christ. And here's exactly what Paul
done. He reasoned with them. Take scriptures
and show this scripture means this. That's scripture. And look
how that ties in over here. Look how that goes over here.
And then he comes to the conclusion that Jesus is the Christ. He started out wanting them to
understand who Christ was, wanting to understand what Christ did,
understanding why He did it, and where He is now. He no doubt,
NO DOUBT, told them how in the world could God be JUST and SAVE
US! Peter, like he said on that first
church council, he said, We believe that we shall be saved by the
grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, even as God saved them Gentiles.
He said we gotta be saved by grace. So I mean he reasoned
with them out of the scriptures. And I tell you, he wasn't, I'm
gonna tell you something he wasn't trying to do. He wasn't trying to persuade
them to change religious affiliation. He wasn't trying to become from
a free will to a grace believer and make them think that they
just had a deeper, just instead of having a conversion, they
just got into something just a little deeper. Oh, no, he wasn't
trying to get them to think like HE did! He wasn't trying to get
them to leave THEIR religious camp and come over to THEIR religious
camp! He wasn't trying to get a Southern
Baptist to become a gracer, as they say, and so many people,
and you know, This is a thing that troubles me, it has for
years, that people honestly think that they was converted way back
there, and then when they learn a little bit of something about
grace, they just got different in it, they just got a little
deeper in it, got a little bit more understanding of the scripture,
but they ain't gonna give up that old profession. And Paul
said, I tell you what, I gave up my old profession. I was a
Pharisee until God saved me. I was self-righteous till God
saved me. I was full of myself till God
saved me. I was full of pride and oh, I
was full of everything but until God saved me and put me down
on Damascus Road. Oh, listen, if God ever teaches
you grace, I'll bet you a dollar and a half to a cow and a calf. that you ll end up giving up
your hope that you had before you come to Christ. No. He used the Scriptures to reason
with them, and He used the Scriptures to reason with them concerning
the mind of God in salvation, the will of God concerning His
Scriptures, and all God s purpose and everything God ever purposed
to do in this world, He purposed to do it through His Son, the
Lord Jesus Christ. I'll tell you, when they said
the reason out of the scriptures, we just take that as a point
blank. But I'm telling you, he would get up and I mean he would
teach them people. He would actually teach them
people something worth believing. Worth believing. And oh my, many
instead of reasoning out of the scriptures, leave the scriptures
to reason. And boy, if you ever leave the
scriptures and try to figure it out on your own, you're in
trouble. You'll get in trouble real quick, real quick. All right, and then look what
it says in verse five. And when Silas and Timotheus
were come from Macedonia, that's where he left them, remember?
Paul was pressed in the Spirit and testified to the Jews that
Jesus is the Christ. This is what he testified. You
know, when you testify something, you testify to something that's
true. God's the testimony of God. Paul
talked about the testimony of God in I Corinthians chapter
1. HE TALKED ABOUT GOD'S TESTIMONY, AND OVER IN I JOHN HOW MANY TIMES
DO YOU SAY GOD TESTIFIED? THIS IS THE TESTIMONY OF GOD,
THIS IS GOD'S RECORD, AND PAUL SAID HE TESTIFIED, TOLD THEM, FOLKS, THAT JESUS
IS THE CHRIST, HE PROVED IT FROM THE SCRIPTURES THAT JESUS IS
THE CHRIST. AND YOU KNOW, I TELL YOU WHAT,
IT SAYS HE WAS PRESSED IN THE SPIRIT, YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS?
THAT MEANS THAT HE WAS ON FIRE. That means that his heart was
so pressed, his mind was so pressed, he was so engaged. It's like Jeremiah, he said,
you know, God called him and he sent him out to preach to
a bunch of people and they'd stick their fingers in their
ears and he'd say, I'm not never gonna preach in God's name again,
I'm never gonna preach. Go about two or three chapters
later and he said, oh, thy word was like a Fire in my bones. It's like wine busting out of
my belly. He said I had to speak. And that's
what Paul was in. Here's his situation. I have
to preach. I've got to deal with these issues.
He was pressed in his spirit. It was like a fire shut up in
him. And I'll tell you something else. He could tell it from experience.
He can tell from his own experience that Jesus is the Christ. He
said, I was on my way to Damascus to punish Christians, believers,
people of this way. And he said, there's a light
above the brightness of the sun that come on me and blinded me.
And I heard a voice from heaven, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting
me? And he said, who are you? I'm
Jesus who you persecute. And I tell you, he could tell
from experience what Christ done for him. He could tell from experience
how God met him on the Damascus road. He could tell from experience
what God done in his heart, in his mind, and in his soul. Oh,
my. Listen, you know, Jesus of Nazareth,
when he testified that Jesus is the Christ, He had to testify
that our Lord Jesus Christ was crucified in Jerusalem, put in
a tomb, raised again the third day, and ascended to the right
hand of God. I mean, when you testify that
Jesus is the Christ, you've got to testify who He is and what
He did, who He did it for. And then look what happens. This
is another thing that just really, really, it's hard to grasp people
that do this, but they do it all over the world, they do this.
Jesus died for you anyway. That's what they'd say. Oh, I
know you don't like it, but Jesus loves you anyway. God loves you
anyway. I know you don't like it, but
God loves you anyway. He loves you whether you like
it or not. You reckon them fellas would say that? No, no, no, no. But oh my, look what it says,
he shook his clothes. You know what that meant? That
meant, I'm done with you fellas. You all are just a bunch of rebels. He said, he just shakes his clothes. It's like shaking dirt off of
you, shaking stuff off your clothes. He said, I wanna shake off everything
that you all are against. I'm just gonna shake it off.
Then look what it goes on to say, and oh, my, your blood be
upon your own heads. You know, Ezekiel talked about
if you warn a man, his blood will be on HIM, but if you don
t, it ll be on your hands. And if a man turns from it, you
know it won t be on your blood or his, either one. But he said,
Your blood, Your responsibility, everything that makes you you,
be on your heads. I'm clean, I'm clean. I don't
owe you fellas another thing. I'm clean, I've told you the
truth. I've tried my best to preach the gospel to you, and
you reject it. Listen, they were willfully,
willfully blinded. And when God gives up on somebody,
that's bad. and God gave up on these people.
When God gives up on you, you know, if I give up on you, that
don't mean deadly, that don't mean nothing. But when God gives
up on you, when God says, listen, I'm gonna let you stay blinded,
I'm gonna let you believe your own lies, I'm gonna leave you
in your delusion, I'm gonna leave you in the condition you're in,
and I'm gonna walk off and leave. When Paul left, God left with
him. That's what happened right here.
And he said, your blood be among your own head. I want you to
look with me over here in Matthew 27. Look in Matthew 27. I want you to see something over
here about blood. Matthew 27 and verse 25. Oh my, they were willfully, they
willfully did what they did. And oh, my, look what it said
here. We've got to start in verse 22 to get the context. Pilate
said unto them, What shall I do then with Jesus which is called
Christ? They all say unto him, Let him
be crucified. And the governor said, Why? What
evil hath he done? But they cried out the more,
saying, Let him be crucified. And when Pilate saw that he could
prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water,
washed his hands before the innocent, for the multitude said, Now listen
to this, I am innocent of the blood of this just person. You
see to it. Now listen to what they said
here. Oh my. Then answered all the people,
said, His blood be on us and on our children. What He's saying
is, let it be our judgment. If He's not who He says He is,
then His blood be on us. Instead of for salvation, be
for judgment. Instead of salvation and worship
from your sins, condemnation and guilt. You wanted Him dead? Now answer for His blood. You
wanted Him dead? And you cried out, crucified?
NOW what are you going to do with that blood? blood be on
our, and not only on us, but on our children. Then look what he said. He said
again, verse 6, right now I'm going to leave you fellows and
I'm going to go to the Gentiles. You remember over in Acts, I
think it was 13 when he says, you know, and he said, He preached
to the Gentiles, and when they heard this, the word of the Lord,
THEY WERE GLAD! THEY WERE GLAD! And that's what
happened here. And he departed thence, and he
went into a man's house named Justice, and this man worshipped
God. And when it says, Joined hard
to the synagogue, that means it was joined to it. He'd get out of his house and
walk into the synagogue. Get out and just walk into the
synagogue. And so Amini's house joined the synagogue. And then
look what happens now. And Crispus, Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue,
believed on the Lord with all his house, everybody in his family.
And many of the Corinthians, hearing, believed and were baptized.
Oh, many hearing. Oh, faith cometh by hearing,
hearing by the word of God. And he said, oh my, we're gonna
turn from the Jews, we're gonna turn to the Gentiles. Gonna turn
to them. I'm not going back, I'm not gonna
fool with you Jews anymore. I'm done with you. I'm done with
you. Then God gave Paul a vision. Christ gave Paul a vision. Listen
to this now. In verse nine. Then spake the
Lord to Paul in the night by a vision. Be not afraid, but
speak, and hold not thy peace. For I am with thee, and no man
shall set on thee to hurt thee, for I have much people in this
city." Why would Christ come and give him this vision? I think
because he was really, really troubled because he had to turn
from the Jews, the Jews' rejection of the Lord Jesus Christ. It
bothered him, it hurt him, it troubled him. He said, I could
count myself accursed from Christ for my brethren, according to
the flesh, that they might win Christ, might know Christ. He
said, I could cut myself off if God would save all these Jews.
That's what he said. That's what he said. And oh,
he was troubled, turning from the Jews, their rejection of
Christ, their blasphemy about the Lord Jesus Christ. And Christ
loved the apostle like he loves all of his people. And he came
to comfort him. And look what the first word
he said to him, be not afraid. Oh, what a word of cheer. Don't
be afraid. Don't be afraid. And you'll see
in a minute what's going to happen to him before he said, don't
be afraid. Then he gave him a word of command. He said, but speak and hold not
your peace. He said, you get up and speak,
you preach, don't you hold your peace, you just go ahead and
do it. Whatever you got to say, say it. And then look what he
had, a word of assurance. Look what he says, for I am with
thee. I'm with you, Paul, I'm with
you. I'm with you. I'm with you here in Corinth.
I was with you wherever you were. I was with you. You remember
when I separated you from your mother's womb and called you
by his grace? He said, oh yeah. And oh my,
then look what a word of promise. He says, no man shall sit on
thee to hurt thee. He said, ain't nobody gonna lay
a hand on you. And then a word of encouragement,
a warp of hope. Listen to this. For I have much
people in this city. Paul didn't know who all it was,
but he knowed the average. And God did. This is the same
thing as many as were ordained to eternal life believe. There
was a bunch here ordained to eternal life, and they're gonna
believe. They're gonna believe. They're
gonna believe. Oh my. What a blessed thing! And what He did while He was
in there, it says here in verse 11, and He continued there, He continued there a year and
six months, and what did He do in that year and six months?
Teaching the Word of God among them. Teaching the Word, just
like what I'm doing here tonight, verse by verse, teaching, teaching
the Word of God. Break thou to me the bread of
life. Break it to me, Lord. And then
look what starts happening here in verse 12 down through verse
17. Look what he says. And when Galileo
was the deputy of Achaia, the Jews made insurrection I mean,
boy, they started an uproar. They went up against all the
powers that be with one accord against Paul, just against one
man, and brought him to the judgment seat, saying, This man, this fellow,
persuadeth men to worship God contrary to the law. And when
Paul was now about to open his mouth, Galileo said unto the
Jews, If it were a matter of something wrong, or some wicked
lewdness, O you Jews, I would bear with you, I'd put up with
you, I'd listen to what you had to say. But if it's a question
about words and names, about Christ and the law and about
all the things that you Jews do. He said, Of your own law,
you deal with it. I'll not judge of such matters.
I'll deal with the Greek law, I'll deal with the law, but I'm
not going to deal with you and your religious fantasies up here. and oh my, and he drove them
from the judgment seat. Then all the Greeks took Sosthenes,
the chief ruler of the synagogue, beat him before the judgment
seat. Galileo cared for none of these things. So here Paul
again, like I said, he either has revival or a riot. Most of
the time it's both of them. But he was despised. They hated
the gospel, but they loved the law. They hated free grace, but
they loved their works. And I tell you what, they made
insurrection with one accord against one man. One man. One man. And oh, they made an
accusation there at the judgment seat. And look what they accused
him of. Persuaded men to worship God
contrary to the law. Well, he did do that. He said, You that desire to be
under the law, don't you hear the law? Cursed is every one
that contineth not in the law to do them. But what they were
saying is that if people believe him, they'll leave the law, they'll
leave our synagogues, they'll quit coming and worshiping with
us. Oh my, young couple told me Sunday morning about their
family, and they're all Jehovah's Witnesses, and they're all the
time trying to convert them. And I told them, and I gave them
that verse of scripture, if any man bring not the doctrine of
Christ, to receive him not into your
house, neither bid him Godspeed, because if you say, God bless
you, then you're a partaker of him and his evil deeds. That, oh my. But that's what
he said, listen, and Paul preached grace. You think he was a contradictor? You think he's going to teach
the grace of God? In fact, we said in Acts 13,
38 or somewhere in there, he said he persuaded them to continue
in the grace of God. So you think he's going to change
his message over here and they say, Oh, he wants to keep part
of the law and don't want us to keep it. No, no. No, no, he
preached salvation. I tell you what he did that they
didn't like. He preached salvation free. He preached salvation without
works, without merit, without anything to you to contribute
to it. Christ did it all, and they didn't like that. That'd
tear their little old playhouse down, don't you see? And then
Paul, he was just getting ready to, look what he says. Verse
14, Paul was about to open his mouth. Galileo said, stop, I
ain't got nothing to, I don't want to listen to nothing you
all got to say. I'd love to hear what Paul's
defense would have been. But you know, you know, Galileo,
he was the mayor there. He was the fellow that did control
and run everything. He said, listen, If you fellas,
now if you brought somebody here that done some lewd thing, some
wicked thing, broken the Grecian law, committed some crime or
something, I'd listen to you. But here you are, you're talking
about your law, you're talking about names of Jesus Christ and
Paul and all these things that you're talking about. You're
talking about your law and your rituals and your ceremonies.
I DON'T WANT TO HEAR IT! I DON'T KNOW NOTHING ABOUT IT! He said, I'd have listened to
you, I'd have put up with you. But oh my, and look what happens
now. And he drove them, he said, get
out of here, get away from this place. I want you out of here.
He drove them out. And then what happens? Then the Greeks, This is Greeks
now, the Jews had the Greeks stirred up, the Gentiles. Took
Sothenes, the chief ruler of the synagogue, they had so much
hatred and so much meanness in them, they had to let that come
out. And what did they do? They got
him and beat him, stomped on him, beat him before the judgment
seat. And you know what, that fellow sat there and watched
what they was doing there? He didn't care. He didn't care. He didn't care that they beat
that man in front of him. He didn't care a thing in the
world about it. There's some callous people in this world,
but thank God there's some preachers, and thank God there's some people
know the gospel, and there's some people like Paul that he'll
stand up for it and he'll preach it. Oh my, so many men that I've
known over the years that the Lord's called them on. Oh my. Faithful, faithful for year after
year after year, Sunday after Sunday, Wednesday after Wednesday.
Preach the gospel. And then to have this blessed
book and turn from the gospel. Oh, it'd be awful. Be awful. Our blessed Savior, thank you,
Lord. I ask you to help us, ask you for your mercies. And Lord,
you gave me both. You gave us both. You gave us
your help. You gave us your mercies. You
enabled us to preach the gospel, enabled us to believe it. Lord,
we thank you for your word. Oh, Lord, thank you for it. How
much it teaches us, how much it instructs us, how much light
it gives us in this old dark world. God bless these dear saints. Keep them as they go home and
keep them when they go down, keep them when they get up. Preserve
your dear people. And preserve those that are not
with us tonight because of providence or because of the frailty of
the flesh. We ask for your great and abundant mercy be given to
them for Christ's sake. Amen and amen. Oh, how merciful. How merciful,
blessed Lord, how merciful Thou art to me. Oh, how merciful, how merciful. Blessed Lord, how merciful thou
art to me. See you Sunday, God willing.