Good morning, let's all stand
together and we'll sing hymn number 268. 268. Hymn number
268. ? How firm a foundation ? ? Ye
saints of the Lord ? ? He is laid for your faith ? ? In his
excellent word ? ? What more can I say ? have said to you who for refuge
to Jesus have fled. Fear not, I am with thee. Oh, be not dismayed. ? And still give thee aid ? ? I'll
strengthen thee, hail ? ? Thee and cause thee to stand ? ? Upheld
by my gracious son ? ? In through the deep waters ?
? I call thee to go ? ? The rivers of love ? ? Shall not be overflowed
? ? For I will be with thee ? The island troubles to bless and
sanctify Wind through fiery trials, thy
pathway shall I, thy praise also fill. The flame shall not burn thee,
I only desire thy trust to consume and thy gold to refine. A soul that on Jesus hath leaned
for repose, I will not, I will not desert to his foes. That soul, though all hell should
endeavor to shake, Be seated. We'll sing hymn number
227. Verse 2 will say, instead of I rise, we'll say I seek. ? Now I see the cleansing wave
? The fountain deep and wide ? Jesus, my Lord, mighty to save
? Rise to His wounded side ? The cleansing stream, I see, I see,
I see ? Oh, it cleanseth me ? Oh, praise
the Lord ? It cleanseth me ? It cleanseth me, yes, cleanseth
me ? I seek to walk in heaven's own light ? Above the world and
sin ? Made pure and garments white ? ? And Christ enthroned
within ? ? A cleansing stream I see, I see ? ? I plunge and
oh, it cleanseth me ? ? Oh, praise the Lord, it cleanseth me, it
cleanseth me ? me Jesus my Jesus Crucifixion Mark chapter 1 Mark chapter 1 I'll start reading again in verse
14, read down to verse 39. Now after John was put in prison,
Jesus came into Galilee preaching the gospel of the kingdom of
God, and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of
God is at hand. Repent ye, and believe the gospel. Now as he walked by the Sea of
Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew, his brother, casting a net into
the sea, for they were fishers. And Jesus said unto them, Come
ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men.
And straightway they forsook their nets, and followed him.
And when he had gone a little farther thence, he saw James
the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who also were in
the ship, mending their nets. And straightway he called them.
They left their father Zebedee in the ship with the hired servants,
and went after him. And they went into Capernaum."
This is a little town and village in Galilee. And straightway on
the Sabbath day, he entered into the synagogue and taught. And
they were astonished at his doctrine, for he taught them as one that
had authority and not as the scribes. And there was in their
synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, and he cried out, saying,
Let us alone, what have we to do with thee? Thou Jesus of Nazareth,
art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the
Holy One of God." Now, I want you to know that this devil was
in the synagogue. He was in the synagogue itself.
He was in there with everybody else. I said, you know, there
was a man in the synagogue. Devil goes to church too. And
when the Lord was there, he knew the Lord. And that's what he's
telling us. He was, he was right in the middle
with all of them. Nobody knew who he was or what
he was or what he was like. Didn't know he had a demon in
him. Didn't know he was unclean. that he didn't know God, didn't
know Christ, didn't know the Bible, and didn't know anything
about Him until Christ came. Christ is the one that exposes
us, that's who we really are. And so anyway, it said there
in verse 25, And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace,
and come out of him. And when the unclean spirit had
torn him and cried with a loud voice, he came out. And I tell
you what, they were all amazed because they're sitting in the
services now. They're in the services. They're sitting in
there in the synagogue, and our Lord had been teaching. They
were astonished first at His doctrine, and then they seen
this fellow that was unclean, and all of a sudden something
happened to him, and they were all amazed. I'd be amazed, too! And they began to question among
themselves, saying, What thing is this? We didn't know this
fellow was like this, and then here comes along this man, what
thing is this? What new doctrine is this? For
with authority he commandeth even the unclean spirits, and
they do obey him. And immediately his fame spread
abroad throughout all the region about Galilee. And forthwith,
when they were come out of the synagogue, they entered into
the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. But Simon's
wife's mother lay sick of a fever, and at once they tell him of
her. And he came and took her by the hand, lifted her up, and
immediately the fever left her, and she ministered unto them.
And that evening, when the sun did set, they brought unto him
all that were diseased, and all them that were possessed with
devils. And all the city was gathered together at the door,
at the door of Simon Peter's house. And he healed many that
were sick of diverse diseases, and cast out many devils, and
suffered not the devils to speak, because they knew him. Now this
is where I'm going to start preaching from here this morning. And in
the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out
and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed. And
Simon and they that were with him followed after him. And when they had found him,
they said unto him, All seek for thee. And he said unto them,
Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also.
For therefore came I forth, and he preached in their synagogues
throughout all Galilee, and cast out devils." Oh, Lord our God. Oh, Lord our
God. You said that you're God and
there is none else. And, O Lord, you said you had
a people on this earth, a seed, a blessed seed, trees of righteousness
planted by the Lord. And, O Lord, we bless you and
praise you that the work is yours, the work belongs to you, salvation
belongs unto you, grace is yours to give, Salvation is yours to
give. Forgiveness is yours to give.
Repentance is yours to give. So Lord, we look unto you who
give all things, and you give all spiritual blessings in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, we thank you for what you've
done for us in Him. And Lord, we've gathered here
this morning, as we always do when we gather together, to worship
you, hear the gospel, hear about our Lord Jesus Christ and his
precious person at work. And our Father, we pray for your
presence today. Oh Lord, we need your presence.
We need the presence of the Holy Ghost. Lord, my mind would not
function. My words would not stumble over
them if it wasn't for you. And Lord, I would do it anyway
unless you give me the grace. Who's sufficient for these things?
Who's able to stand? So Lord, we look to you. I look
to you and I know every saint in here does too. And Lord, I
pray that the gospel would find a lodging, the seed would find
a lodging in a heart this morning, that it would find a place and
fall into good ground, ground prepared by the Lord, bring forth
fruit to the glory of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. God, bring
glory to yourself. Have mercy, mercy, mercy, mercy
upon our lost loved ones, our children, our grandchildren,
and our great-grandchildren. Oh, God, there's no hope, no
hope for them at all apart from you. And we ask for your mercies
and your grace given to us today. For Christ's sake, amen. Hymn number 235. 235. Pass me
not, O gentle Savior, do not Savior Savior Hear my humble cry While on others Thou art calling,
Do not pass me by. ? Find a sweet relief ? ? Living
there in deep country ? hear my Do not pass me by. ? My Mary ? ? For I seek Thy face
? ? Fill my wounds, O give space ? you. Others how I'm calling Do not
pass me by Bring of all my comfort, more than life to me. On earth as it is in heaven. Savior, Savior Let's stand together as we sing the
hymn of the day in the bulletin. Christ bears the name of all
his saints, deep on his heart embraced, that he did in me ? Perfection shine ? ? And wisdom grace ? ? And glory
meet ? ? As Savior all divine ? ? Blood which as a priest he bears
? ? For sinners is his own ? ? He is his own ? if he Be seated. Mark 1.35. Mark 1.35. My title this morning is The
Prayer and Preaching of Christ. Our Lord's Prayer and His Preaching. Our Lord had had a very, very
busy day. Very busy day. Called His disciples,
went in the synagogue and taught. cast out a devil, and then he went into Simon Peter's
house, stayed there and healed his mother, mother-in-law, and
then later that evening a whole crowd of people gathered around
Simon Peter's door, a bunch of sick people, all kinds of diseases and many
devils, and our Lord worked He worked all day, done incredible
work, incredible work, and I tell you, He healed a multitude of
people, and then in the evening, after the sun set, and He done
all that, He's still in Simon Peter's house, and evidently
He spent the night there, and starting there in verse 35, and
in the morning, in the morning, starting a new day, and in the
morning, rising up a great while before
day, most likely still dark, he went out, nobody in the house
knew he was leaving, didn't bother anybody, didn't disturb anybody,
and departed unto a solitary place and there prayed. There
prayed. Our Lord Jesus Christ It says several things about
him here when he went to pray. Our Lord was a man of prayer. You find so many times where
He prayed, and lots and lots of times where He gave thanks
unto His Father. And you know He even said, Father,
I thank Thee. I thank You that You've hid these
things from the wise and prudent, for so it seemed good in Your
sight. When He was at Lazarus' tomb, getting ready to lay his
razzles from the dead. He lifted up his voice and he
prayed, and he said, Father, I know you hear me always, but
I'm calling on you not for my sake, but for those that hear,
those that are right here, right now. I'm praying so these people
can hear me calling on you and what you're gonna do. And so
our Lord prayed, and then John 17 1, It said Jesus lifted up
His eyes and He said, Father, the hour has come. You know,
when our Lord lifted up His eyes and looked in toward the heavens,
He could see God there. He could see. He sees things
you and I can't see. He could see the Father. He could
see all the way into glory. All we can see, everything we
see, we see by faith. Everything we know, we know by
faith. And so everything we have is by faith. And so our Lord
Jesus Christ, He went to pray. He went to pray. Our Lord honored
prayer, esteemed prayer, magnified prayer. And look what it says
about in the morning. He got up in the morning. In
the morning. That's a good time. That ought
to be one of the first things we do is seek the Lord in the
morning. Oh, very early in the morning.
And our Lord went into a solitary place. He went into a place by
Himself. And that tells us that, you know,
that we all, you know, our Lord said, if you got something to
say, enter into your closet. Go get along with God. And that's
the best thing that any of, you know, we all pray here. And we
have public prayer. And we men will get up here tonight
and they'll read some scriptures and they'll pray. But when you
get along with God, Jacob was left alone with God. And when
he was left alone with God, God did something for Jacob. And
it's the most wonderful thing in the world to get along with
God. He went into a solitary place. He went someplace where he wouldn't
be bothered, where he wouldn't be interrupted. He wanted to
be alone with his father. And He often, so many times when
you hear our Lord praying, He always gave thanks. But here
He is, He's talking to His Father. No doubt He's talking to His
Father. And you know how familiar He was with His Father? He was
very familiar. In fact, the scriptures tells
us He was daily the delight of His Father. He was the only man
that the Father said He is well pleased in. But he talked to
his father. He was familiar with his father. Very familiar with his father.
And yet, he was so lowly. Here's one who was God himself
manifest in the flesh, and yet he got down. He was so lowly. Familiar with his father, but
he took the lowest place. So lowly before his father. And
he went into this solitary place. Let me say you something that
I read from Mr. Spurgeon about secret prayer. He went into this solitary place.
Mr. Spurgeon said, secret prayer
is the secret of prayer. Secret prayer is the soul of
prayer. Secret prayer is the strength
of prayer. It's when you're alone with God. You can open your heart. You
can speak things to Him. And I sometimes pray aloud and
sometimes I don't. And that's left up to you. Sometimes
you pray aloud, and I'm sure, and sometimes you don't. But
it's the fact is of being alone with God. And he went into a
solitary place. Our Lord was a man of prayer.
And let me tell you some things about else he did. He no doubt
prayed for himself. He no doubt prayed for himself.
He was a man, he got weary, he got tired. He was pressed on
every side by people. He prayed for himself. He was
a man. He needed the strength that the
Father would give him. He needed to speak to his God. He needed to speak to his Father.
He needed to talk to Him. He needed to have a conversation
with Him. And not only did he pray for himself, And you know,
when we pray for ourself, I think the greatest thing we can do
for ourselves is ask God, first of all, give thanks and say,
Oh God, we need grace, we need strength, and we need you just
to keep us going, just to keep us going. And so he prayed for
himself, and I'll tell you who else he prayed for. He prayed
for sinners. He prayed for sinners. He prayed
for those men that were given to Him. He prayed for those people
that He would be confronted with. He prayed for the sinners that
He would come in contact with. He prayed for sinners. In John
17, He said, Father, I pray for them. I don't pray for the world.
I pray for them that You've given me out of the world. So He was
praying for sinners. And I tell you what, it s a wonderful
thing that Christ would pray for sinners, and I tell you,
and you know, you know the last prayer our Lord prayed while
He was on this earth? Two last prayers. He went into
Gethsemane alone. And it says in John 17, as his
want was to be, he went across to the Brook Sedron where he
often prayed. And he went into the Garden of
Gethsemane, and you know the prayer he prayed then. He prayed
so intensely that his sweat became as great drops of blood. He prayed,
Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless,
nevertheless, I'll take it, I'll take it. And oh, listen, Simon
Peter knowed, I mean, Judah knowed where he was and went and betrayed
him. And the last thing our Savior, last prayer he prayed before
he said it is finished, he prayed, Father, while he was on the cross,
Father, forgive them. They don't know what they're
doing. Huh? Oh, he prayed to take that cup,
then when he took the cup, He prayed, said, Father, forgive
him. Oh, our Lord was a man of prayer. And then look what it
says here in verse 36. Oh, he departed, went out a great
while before day, early in the morning, rising up great while
before day. And Simon and they that were
with him, they no doubt got up and they followed after him.
They followed after him. Who's the others? James and John,
and probably Andrew, his brother, but there was others, they were
all in this house together, you remember? And so they went out
to look for him. You know, they probably had an
idea where he was, but anyway, and when they found him, I love
that right there, they found him. Oh, listen, they was looking
for him. They was following, trying to
find out where in the world he was. And they went to looking
for him and they found him. If you ever go looking for him,
has there ever been a time you looked for him but you couldn't
find him? Ever been a time you went after him and went to follow
him and not find him? Anytime you said, where are you,
Lord? Start following Him and you'll find Him and they found
Him. Oh my. Jeremiah said, God said, seek
me with all your heart. And when you seek me with all
your heart, you know what He said you'll do? You'll find me.
You'll find me. You'll find me. And oh my. And then look what it says, not
only after they found Him, oh my. And they said unto him, they started talking to him.
Now, whether he interrupted their prayer or not, his prayer or
not, I don't know, but they found him and they started talking
to him. And he said, all seek for thee. He says, you know, just like
last night when they was all gathered around the door, he
said, Everybody got up this morning here at Capernaum looking for
you. They want to know where you are.
There's a whole group of people, all the folks in Capernaum, all
these people down here, they're looking for you and they're waiting
for you and want you to come back! They're looking for you! You'd think our Lord would've
jumped up and went back down off that mountain and off that
solitary place and run out there and said, oh, these folks, these
folks looking for me and these folks seeking for me, so I'm
gonna run down there and do something for them. That's what you would've
thought He'd have done. But look what our Savior says.
He said unto them, let's go into the next towns. that these folks, you know, these
folks will be all right. Let's go into the next towns.
Let's go into the next towns. Let me tell you something, our
Lord's not gonna be told by anybody where he ought to go. Everybody
in town's looking for you. I got someplace else to go. Everybody
who's seeking for you, I got to go seek some other people.
I got, you know, he's not gonna let the apostles tell him where
he needs to be. He's not gonna let anybody tell
him where he needs to be. And he said, even though these
people are seeking me, he said, let us go into other towns, other
towns. Oh my, and this is what I like
about it. Let us go. Let's go. He said, I want you fellas to
go, you all looking for me and you found me. He said, let us
go. Let's get up and go. And oh my, and here's what he
said. that I may preach. He just got
up from praying, was found, and the next thing he said, let's
go into the other towns that I may preach there also. And
listen to what he said. This is the reason I came to
preach, to preach. He went from praying to preaching. And this is where he said, therefore
came I forth. He said he came to preach. He
came to preach. Our Lord was a preacher. Everybody
talks about Charles Spurgeon being the prince of preachers.
No, he's not. This is the prince of preachers.
This is the preacher of all preachers. If there's a preacher preaching
anywhere, it's because Christ is the preacher that blesses
him. And he came to preach. Our Lord was a preacher. You
know, it says God chose by the foolishness of preaching to save
them that believe. And I tell you, preaching is
foolishness when you think about it. The SUBJECT telling men that
they're sinners, oh, that's a dangerous thing to tell men they're ungodly,
that they're without strength, that they have no power, no ability,
that Christ does not have to come to where they are, He goes
where He wills. And oh my, He come preaching,
and He manifested His Word through preaching. Look over at Keep
Mark and look with me in Romans chapter 10. I guess four questions
over here, four questions, and our Lord was a preacher. Oh,
what a preacher! You know, His Word is manifested
through preaching, and it says there in verse 13, And this is true, this is a universal
message. For whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord shall be saved. That's a fact, that's
true. But then he asked, there's a
first question right here. How then shall they call on Him
in whom they have not believed? If you don't believe Christ,
why would you call on Him? Why would you call? I don't call
on strangers. And if He's a stranger to you,
why would you call on Him? If you don't believe on Him,
why would you call on Him? And listen to this, you've not
believed Him, you don't know who He is, and then how shall
they believe in Him if they've never heard about Him? How are you going to believe
on somebody that you don't know nothing about? And that's one of the reasons
why I really began to seek the Lord. When I first started preaching
down here, I had all kinds of people make professions of faith.
Oh my goodness, they cried and carried on and all that stuff,
and they made all kinds of professions of faith. The average person
that made a profession of faith under my preaching in those days
didn't last six months. and there's back out in the world.
There'd be some more come in, six months, there's back out
in the world. I said, Lord, what in the world is wrong? There
has to be something wrong with my preaching. These folks are
not getting saved. God's not doing anything for
them because they go back to the world. What in the world
is wrong with me? And God began to open my eyes
and my heart and my understanding to the scriptures. and he opened
my heart, and then you know the verse of scripture he used to
teach me the gospel, I've told it to you so many times, and
this was it, I said, Lord, I've got to know whether salvation,
what it's about, how can people be saved and not go back? God who has saved us, that's
the first thing he taught me, God saved us, God saved us. Not according to our works. Our
works had nothing to do with it. But according to His own
purpose. God done things on purpose. And He gave us grace in Christ
before the world ever began. And I knew right then and there
two things. Salvation was of the Lord and
I had nothing to do with it. When God taught me those two
things, I never worried about when anybody would go back. You
reckon you'll go back? Where are we going to go, Lord?
Where are we going to go? But anyway, that's what He said.
How are they going to believe in Him who they have not heard?
And you've got to tell the right information about Christ. That's
the thing about it. You've got to give the right
information. If you don't give somebody the right information,
they'll trust to Christ that they don't, if you don't give
them the right information, how in the world are they gonna trust
in Him if they don't know exactly who He is? If you give false
information about Christ, what's false information? He loves everybody.
He's easy to believe in. He died for everybody, that's
no problem. He's not got no power to save
you unless you let Him into your heart. And if you let him into his heart,
you know, that's misinformation. Everybody's talking about misinformation,
misinformation. Well, that's misinformation.
We're talking about a Savior. We're talking about God. We're
talking about omnipotent Savior, got power in heaven and earth,
power over all flesh that he should give eternal life to as
many as thou hast given him. We're talking about a successful
Savior, a powerful Savior, a glorious Savior. And they're all listening. And then here goes, and then
we go back to this preaching then. Well, how in the world
are they gonna hear without a preacher? Somebody's gotta give you the
information. Somebody's gotta give you the
right information. Who's that gonna be? A preacher. And then listen to this, and
how in the world shall they preach unless God sends them? Oh my,
I tell you what, God's gotta call a man. And oh listen, so
that's what they gotta, they can't hear without a preacher.
Paul said, God sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel. And look what our Lord said over
here now back in Mark, Look what he said in verse 14 here. Mark
1, 14. Jesus came into Galilee preaching
the gospel of the kingdom of God. He preached the gospel of
the kingdom of God. Now what in the world is, why
would he preach the gospel of the kingdom of God? What's that
about, the kingdom of God? Well, our Lord told Nicodemus,
When our Nicodemus came to him, talked to him, he said, Nicodemus,
I'm gonna tell you something. He says, you know, you can't,
he said, except a man be born again, he can't see, can't even
see the kingdom of God. Secondly, he said, except to
be born again, a man cannot enter into that kingdom. You can't
see it, and then, unless you be born again, you can't enter
into it. You can't see it or can't get
in it. Well, how in the world do you get in this kingdom? Look
what he says in verse 15. You gotta have a new birth, you're
gonna get in God's kingdom. And listen, this is spiritual
kingdom, that's what we're talking about. And he said now, saying
the time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God's right here,
right now. Where's it at? In Christ. It's
in the king. Christ got a kingdom on this
earth, a spiritual kingdom. That's why we, this world is
not our home. We got a king and we're in a
kingdom. We're in a wonderful, wonderful kingdom, spiritual
kingdom, a blessed kingdom. And look what he goes on to say.
And the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand.
Repent ye and believe the gospel. First of all, he says the kingdom
of God. He comes preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God.
Preachers like to say they like to divide the kingdom up for
this certain people and that certain people. You know, Pilate asked him, he said, Lord,
he said, if you got a kingdom, you see, you're a king. He said,
you say that. He said, well, where's all your
kingdom? And he said, if my kingdom was of this world, everybody
that's in my kingdom would come right now and fight. But my kingdom's
not of this world. My kingdom's a spiritual kingdom.
And I tell you, our folks, you know the thing that God uses
to fight with, and He never used nothing else, never ever, and
never did He use anything else than His Word. Never anything
else. He calls it the sword of the
Spirit. That's how important the Word of God is. That's how
important the gospel is. And He said, repent and believe
the gospel. Now when I told you that repentance
means a change of mind, it means a change of mind. And when the
Kingdom of God, and you had the new birth, you talkin' about
a change of mind. What does it mean to change your
mind? You agree with God with everything God says about you
and about Himself. God said, I'm sovereign. Yes,
you are. God says, you're a sinner. Yes, I am. Christ says, I'm the
only Savior. Yes, you are. Everything God
says, you said, I agree with that. YOU TURN ON YOURSELF, AND YOU
AGREE WITH EVERYTHING GOD SAYS ABOUT YOURSELF. DON'T YOU? DON'T YOU DO THAT? HAS YOUR MIND
BEEN CHANGED TO BELIEVE WHO GOD IS AND WHAT HE USED TO BE? I
REMEMBER ONE TIME PREACHING, AND I SAID, DOES THE JESUS YOU
BELIEVED THEN, IS THE JESUS AND THE CHRIST THAT YOU CONFESSED,
IS THAT THE SAME CHRIST AND THE SAME JESUS THAT YOU BELIEVE NOW?
and several people just, no, no it's not. And if you trusted
Jesus, that way back yonder, and it's not the one you're hearing
now, which one are you gonna trust? That one way back yonder
or the one now? Oh my, I'll tell you what, when
you believe the gospel, You talk about changing your mind, I mean,
it'll really change your mind. It really will. Oh, some preachers
say, and I'll tell you, and I know some preachers that say this
stuff, but listen. Some preachers say, repent of your sins and
believe the gospel. There's nowhere in God's Bible
does it say, repent of your sins and believe the gospel. All it
says is repent. And no place does it say, REPENT
OF YOUR SINS. REPENT AND BELIEVE THE GOSPEL.
EXCEPT YOU REPENT, YOU SHALL ALWAYS WASH PARENTS. No where
does it say, REPENT OF YOUR SINS AND THEN BELIEVE THE GOSPEL.
You know what that means? That you can't believe until
you repent of your sins. But you can't repent of your
sins until you believe. They happen at the same time.
It's like shooting a gun through a piece of paper. Which comes
first, the bullet or the hole? They both at the same time. And
that's the way it is with the gospel. The minute you believe
the gospel, you start, oh Lord, oh Lord. You actually see who
you are. And I tell you what, and then
they'll say, do something about your sins. Do something about
your sins. Turn from them. Don't return
to them. Then you can believe. Believe
what? To believe that salvation's of
you? Your repentance? Turning from your sins? How you
turn from your sins? If I knowed I'd do that, I'd
have done it years and years and years and years ago, if I'd
know what it was to turn from your sins. Huh? Oh my. Where in the world do
you find that out in the scriptures? And if your understanding's that
way, or anybody else you know that understands that way, What
you're doing, you're adding something to Christ and what He did. If you add anything to Christ
other than what He tells you, you've missed it. I'm telling
you, you've missed it. A little leaven leavens the whole lump.
He says, Repent and believe the gospel. Our Lord Jesus Christ,
He said, Thou shalt call His name Jesus. Why? For He shall save His people
from their sins. There's three things he saves
them from. He saves them from the penalty of sin. He bore our sins, he paid for
the penalty of our sin. He saves us from the power of
sin. Sin no longer has dominion over
us. We're under grace, we're not
under the law. And He said not only that, but
He saves us from the presence of sin. You say, well, I don't
feel like I'm saved from the presence of sin, still with me.
I'll tell you where we're saved from sin, in the presence of
God Almighty, where it really counts. We're saved in God's
sight from the presence. God said there's sins and iniquities,
well, I will remember no more. In God's sight, I have no sin.
In His presence, I have no sin. There's therefore no condemnation
to them that are in Christ. He said he has perfected, perfected
forever them that are sanctified. Oh my. Look with me in Luke chapter
four. Let's look at some of the things
our Savior preached about his gospel. Luke chapter four about
his gospel. Oh, he started out praying early
in the morning, then he took off preaching, took off preaching. And oh, he had a, you know, when
he preached, he preached to a certain type of person, a certain demographic. He didn't preach indiscriminately
to people. Listen to what it said here in
Luke chapter four. Now our Lord had sat down, he
was standing in the synagogue, and he was preaching, And Luke
4, 18, and it says, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me because
he hath anointed me. Listen to this, God anointed
him. That's why he said, I came forth to do this, to preach the
gospel. Who's he going to preach the
gospel to? People that absolutely have nothing. They can't bring
nothing to the table. You ain't got, you know, you're
poor. You ain't got nothing to give.
You can't bring nothing to the table whatsoever. He didn't. You know, those who have nothing
to bring, poor, poor. Christ came to save sinners. Oh, bless his name. I just, I
love that verse of scripture. This is a faithful saying worthy
of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to
save sinners. Oh, I'm so thankful he did. I'm
not asking you, are you saved? I'm not asking you if you're
a Calvinist. I'm not asking you if you're a church member. I'm
not asking you even if you're faithful. The question is, are
you saved? If you are, if you're a sinner,
a genuine sinner, then Christ died for you. Christ came to
save you. Will He fail when who comes to
save? Oh, Jack the Huckster said, I'm
a poor sinner, nothing at all. Jesus Christ is my all in all.
And then it says he heals the brokenhearted. Oh, our hearts
broke over sin, our hearts broken over, our heart, heart, our hearts
are broken because they're so hard. And I tell you, preaching
to the captive, held captive by sin, held captive by the devil,
held captive. Paul said, I sold under sin.
Sin brought me into captivity. But he said, Oh, wretched man
that I am, who's going to save me then from this body of death?
Who's going to save me? And oh my. And then he brought
sight to the blind. You know, if a blind man came into this
building this morning and said here, He can see things by faith if
God does something for him. But he could not see you, he
couldn't see this light in this building, everything's dark to
him. Now how in the world is he ever gonna see the light?
How's he ever gonna see anybody else? How's he ever gonna see
Christ? He's blind. He got to have a miracle done
for him. And that's what God does for us. He gives us the
miracle of sight. And the best sight He ever gave
us, the most glorious sight He ever gave us, was the sight of
the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior, as our Redeemer, as the
One who lived and died for us. That's the most glorious sight
He ever gave ME! Huh? And then look what it says,
Preach the acceptable year of the Lord. Now, what's the acceptable
year of the Lord? That's the year of Jubilee. Let me tell you about the year
of Jubilee, you can find it over in Leviticus chapter 25, it's
called the year of Jubilee. And on the 50th year, 50th year,
on the year of Jubilee, all debts were cancelled. Oh, everybody's dead, everybody
owed money or anything, owed anybody anything. Debt was wiped
clean. And not only that, but anything
that you lost, it was restored to you. If you lost your land,
you got it back. Lost your house, you got it back.
And that's what, you know, you're talking about the gospel. Our
debts put away. You're talking about lost, restored
everything we lost. Christ restored, He returned
that, restored that which He took not away. And then not only
that, but the slaves were set free. If you're a servant and
a slave, you get to go free in the year of Jubilee. Huh? And then he said, the land, you
give the land rest for one year, the land don't do nothing for
a year. Oh my, and I tell you, he preached
the acceptable year of the Lord. You believe he could save all
these kind of people? The poor, the captive, the blind. You believe he could save them?
All these things for this type of person? You think he could
save them? I believe He can. Now I want
you to see Psalm 40 and then I'm going to try to wind this
thing up. Psalm 40 with me. Talking about
Christ preaching now. Talking about our Lord as a preacher
and what He preaches. What He preaches. I'm glad He
preaches to the poor. I'm glad He preaches to the captive. I'm glad He preaches the year
of Jubilee. And I tell you what, HE'S ABLE
TO SAVE ALL EVER KIND OF TYPE OF SINNER THAT'S IN HIS PRESENCE. LOOK WHAT HE SAID HERE IN PSALM
40 AND VERSE 7. THEN SAID I, LO, I COME, IN THE
VOLUME OF THE BOOK IT'S WRITTEN TO ME. I DELIGHT TO DO THY WILL,
O GOD, YEA, THY LAW IS WITHIN MY HEART. NOW HERE'S HIS PREACHING. HERE'S HIS MESSAGE. Here's another
part of it. He describes his own preaching.
I have preached righteousness in the great congregation. Christ
came preaching righteousness. I've preached righteousness.
What righteousness? The righteousness of God. How
God could be just and save sinners. The righteousness of God in Christ. Christ, the end of the law for
righteousness to everyone that believe. He preached this righteous
character. HE PREACHED RIGHTEOUSNESS IN
MY CONDEMNATION. HE PREACHED RIGHTEOUSNESS IN
MY SALVATION. AND HE PREACHED IT TO THE GREAT
CONGREGATION. WHO'S THAT? EVERYBODY THAT CHRIST DIED FOR
IS THE GREAT CONGREGATION. AND LOOK WHAT OUR LORD SAID,
AND I'VE NOT REFRAINED MY LIPS. OH, I DIDN'T HOLD BACK ANYTHING.
I DIDN'T HOLD BACK ANYTHING. Oh, I preached righteousness!
Oh, I preached righteousness! Oh, Lord, You know I didn't hold
back ANYTHING at all! I've not hid Your righteousness!
Look what He said in verse 10, I've not hid Your righteousness
within my heart! He said, Oh, I've got this righteousness!
Yes, I didn't hide it! I declared it! I preached it! And then look what else He said,
I declared Thy faithfulness! Oh, God, I declared how faithful
you are, that you ve never failed in anything that you ve ever
purposed to do. You re not a failure. I ve declared
you re faithful, and listen to this, I ve declared your salvation! I ve declared salvation! And I didn t conceal your love
and kindness and your truth from the great congregation. Oh, our
Lord, He preached righteousness, preached God s faithfulness,
preached the salvation, preached where everything is at and how
you get it and where you get it, and the only righteousness
there is, is the righteousness of Christ. Well, let me ask you,
is preaching important? Our Lord was a preacher and I
ve told you everything that He preached. He preached, He s a
preacher, He went preaching. He went and said, Let's go to
the other towns, I've got to preach. Is preaching important? Let me
let you in on a little secret. The man who brings you the message
is just as sinful and needy as you are. No difference. The only difference
is I'm called to preach. But I need the same Savior, I
need everything everybody else needs. You gotta have the same
thing. Oh my. I'm gonna show you one other
thing in Isaiah 52, and I'm done. I'm done. Oh my. Oh, he preached righteousness. Look what he said here in verse, he said in verse six, therefore
my people shall know my name. Who's gonna know his name, my
people? Oh my, in the day that I speak,
they're gonna know it's me, it's I. And he said, and this is what
I'm going to do, how beautiful, how beautiful upon the mountains,
oh my, are the feet of him that brings good news, good news,
good tidings. Christ brought us good news.
If you know Christ is the Savior, if you know salvation's by grace,
if you know the salvation's of the Lord, if you know Christ
is your only righteousness, that's good news. That's good news. And then look what else he says
here. Then he come publishing peace. Publishing peace. He published peace. He is our
peace. He published peace. He published
salvation, ain't that what it is? Good tidings and publishes
salvation. Oh, He published salvation. Look
unto Me, all ye the earth, and be ye saved. Oh, He went and
sought the sheep. And then listen to what He says.
Here's the last thing He says in His message. Then He says
unto Zion, Your God reigns. He said, God's sovereign! I've
come to tell you good news! I've come to tell you about peace! I've come to publish salvation! I've come to publish peace! And
you know what? When you understand, thy God
reigneth! Now boy, I tell you what, that
brings peace to me! Huh? SALVATION TO THE LORD, THAT
BRINGS PEACE TO ME. CHRIST DIED FOR SINNERS, THAT
BRINGS PEACE TO ME. Oh, our Lord, oh, wow, He went to
pray, and I tell you what, I wouldn't get up and preach at all unless
God had mercy on me. Prayer, gotta have it. But oh,
thank God that He's a preacher, too. He's a preacher. Oh, Lord, how we bless you, how
we thank you, how we praise you for such a gospel, that you preach
the gospel, you taught us the gospel, you brought us the gospel,
you brought us salvation, you brought us peace. Oh, Lord, you
did it all, all to you we owe. Blessed be your holy name. Thank
you for your gospel. Thank you for the word. Thank
you for meeting the needs of our heart. And Lord, save sinners
in this place. Save sinners in this place for
Christ's sake. Amen. All right, 125 in the end. We'll stand saying that and then
you'll be at liberty to go. 125. Everybody ought to know this
one by heart. I hear the Savior say, my strength
indeed is small. miswatch and pray Jesus made
it all, all to Him I owe. Sin hath left a crimson stain
He wore, Jesus made it all, all to Him
I owe. and left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow. This is it. For nothing good
ever were by thy grace to claim. I'll wash my garments white in
the blood of Calvary's Lamb. and left a crimson stain, He
washed it white as snow. And when before the throne I
stand in Him complete, Jesus died my soul to save. My lips shall still repeat Jesus
paid it all All to Him I owe Sin had left a crimson stain
He washed it white as snow See you tonight, six o'clock, God
willing.