Good morning. Let's all stand
together. We'll sing hymn number 442. 442. Praise Him. Praise
Him. Jesus, our blessed Redeemer. I see ever in joyful song grace embrace
? Rock of hope of eternal salvation
? ? Kill him, kill him, Jesus the crucified ? ? Send his praises,
Jesus who bore our sorrows ? ? Love unbounded, love unbounded ? tell of his excellent greatness
grace embrace Jesus our ? Jesus, Savior, reigneth forever
and ever ? ? Crown Him, crown Him, prophet and priest and king
? ? Christ is coming, over the world victorious ? ? High and
low, high and low ? Be seated, we'll sing hymn number
37. Number 37. O Lord, by God, when I in awesome
wonder ? I see the stars ? I hear the
rolling thunder ? My power throughout the universe displayed ? Then
sinks my soul My Saviour God, to Thee have faith, Thou art. to Thee. How great Thou art! How great Thou art! And through the woods and forest
glades I wander And hear the birds sing sweetly in my ear When I look down from lofty mountain
ranges And hear the brook and feel the
gentle breeze ? How great Thou art ? ? How great
Thou art ? ? Then sings my soul ? ? My Savior God to Thee ? How great Thou art. And when I think that God his
Son not sparing, He bled and died to take away
my sin. Then sings my soul, my Savior, When Christ shall come and take me home. The joy shall fill my heart. Sings my soul, I sing unto Thee,
the great Thou. Second Peter chapter 3 for a
scripture reading this morning You know God talks saying about
how great he is and He himself said, there's no God else beside
me. And he is so great and so glorious
that he calls himself a just God and a savior. Now, if you ever learned what
that means, how he can be a just God and a savior at the same
time, you'll know what the gospel is. How I can be just and a savior
at the same time. He did that. In the Ark, He is
a just God when He destroyed the world, but He is a Savior
in the Ark. He was a just God when He destroyed
Sodom and Gomorrah, but He is a Savior when He took Lot out
of there. And He is a just God when He
punished me for my sins, and He's my Savior on the cross. And then He's a Savior by the
same One who bore my sins. See, He's just. That's how great,
that's the greatest glory that God's brought to himself. How
to save a sinner and be God and stay God. Oh, what a gospel, what a gospel.
All right, I'm gonna read the first 13 verses of this, and
we're just delighted to have Cody Henson with us this morning.
He's gonna bring the message, so I'm gonna get to sit and enjoy
this. And let me mention this, too,
before I read. We got lots of ice cream and
lots of toppings left. And so, tonight, we're gonna
have somebody set that ice cream out before we go eat some. and
let it get good and soft so we won't have to cut it with a knife
and set out the toppings and let them, you know, we got all
kinds of them. So we'll have what you call an
ice cream social tonight. So, you know, if you don't ever
really come back on Sunday night, tonight would be a good night
to come. Tonight would be a good night
to come if you like ice cream. and chocolate syrup, nuts, and
everything else you can put on them. So you come. Let me read
these first 13 verses. The second epistle, beloved,
I now write unto you, in which I stir up your pure minds by
way of remembrance. He said that in his other epistle
too. that you may be mindful, that's what I want you to remember,
that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before
by the holy prophets and of the commandment of us, the apostles,
and of the Lord our and Savior, knowing this first, this is the
first thing I want you to remember, that there shall in the last
days come scoffers. walking after their own lust,
and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? Since the fathers
fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning
of the creation. For this they willingly are ignorant
of, because they say, He's promised to come, but He's not got here
yet. You all keep telling us to look
for Him, but everything's going to keep on going. FOR THIS THEY
WILLINGLY ARE IGNORANT OF, THAT BY THE WORD OF GOD THE HEAVENS
WERE OF OLD, AND THE EARTH STANDING OUT OF THE WATER AND IN THE WATER,
talking about the creation, WHEREBY THE WORLD THAT THEN WAS, BEING
OVERFLOWED WITH WATER, PERISHED. BUT THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH,
WHICH ARE NOW BY THE SAME WORD, are kept in store reserved under
fire against the day of judgment and perdition, damnation of ungodly
men. But beloved, be not ignorant
of this one thing. Don't you be ignorant that one
day is with the Lord as a thousand years and a thousand years as
a day. God don't count time like we
do. He don't count time like we do. Yeah, I tell you what
he told us about our time. Our life is but a vapor, a hand's
breath as a weaver's shuttle. But a day to him is as a thousand
years, a thousand years as a day. Time don't mean nothing to him.
And that's why we're, you know, he said in Revelation, time will
be no more. All right, let me go on now.
The Lord in verse 9, The Lord is not slack concerning His promise,
as some men count slackness, but as longsuffering to usward,
not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will
come as a thief in the night, in the which the heavens shall
pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with
fervent heat, THE EARTH ALSO AND THE WORKS THEREIN SHALL BE
BURNED UP, SEEING THEN THAT ALL THESE THINGS SHALL BE DISSOLVED.
WHAT MANNER OF PERSONS OUGHT YOU TO BE IN ALL HOLY MANNER
OF LIFE AND GODLINESS? LOOKING FOR AND HASTING UNTO
THE COMING OF THE DAY OF GOD, WHEN THE HEAVENS BEING ON FIRE
SHALL BE DISSOLVED, AND THE ELEMENTS SHALL MELT WITH FERVENT HEAT.
NEVERTHELESS, AFTER THIS HAPPENS, knowing this is going to happen.
Nevertheless, we, according to his promise, look for new heavens
and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. Amen. Our great, glorious, and blessed
God of heaven and earth, Lord, you that created this world,
And this same world that you destroyed by the flood, now by
that same word that you created the world, by the same word you
holding this world up, keeping this world in store until the
day of your coming, until the day when this world and all that's
in it shall be destroyed, be burnt up. And oh Lord, in the
day of judgment, that oh God, you gave us a promise. You gave
your saved people, those elect, those that you redeemed with
your precious blood. You made us a promise that you
was going to create a new heavens. You're going to create new earth.
And everything there will be righteous. Everyone there will
be righteous. Everyone there will be righteous.
Oh, God, what a blessed day we got to look forward to. What
a blessed hope we have in the Lord Jesus Christ. And we thank
you, Lord, that you enabled us to come to worship you this morning,
to come to hear the gospel of the free grace of God in Christ
preached, to come to hear Christ exalted, sinners saved, saints
exhorted and edified. God bless our dear preachers,
he comes. And Lord, save you people in
this place. Open hearts, open understandings.
Lord, as you command the light to shine out of darkness, you
shined in our hearts. And Lord, we pray that you'd
do that today to some soul, that you'd command the light to shine
in the darkness of their heart and dispel that darkness, dispel
that despair, dispel the sin. Oh God, do it for Christ's sake.
And Lord, meet with us. Oh God, please meet with us.
And we pray for those who are not with us through sickness
and weakness of body. And Lord, meet with us again
as I pray today. Savior people and Lord Jesus,
please be mindful and merciful to our loved ones who ask these
things in our Lord Jesus name. Amen and amen. Page 28 in our course books. Page 28 in the course book. I once was lost, but now am found. I was blind, but now I see. I was brave. How precious did that grace appear? I first believed. Through many dangers, toils,
and snares I have already come. Grace filling me whole The Lord has promised good to
me His Word as long as life endures. Yea, when this flesh and heart
shall fail, ? Lord of light, shepherd of light
? of joy and peace. The world shall soon dissolve
like snow. But God, you called me here before,
shall live forevermore with me. thousand years, bright shining
as the sun, we've no less days Let's stand together as we sing
the hymn of the day in the bulletin. of witnesses who hold fast that
form of sound doctrine dear. Sovereign, free, grace in Christ
the Lord Jesus, ? That cast out our fear ? My God
told me ? Contending for the faith ? The gospel of free grace
is preached today ? His glory, his grace ? ? And
particular attention his way ? ? The Spirit reveals that we are
sinners ? The cross delivers. By his merits they're accepted
and free. The Lord Jesus is all my salvation. He's all my desire, my Lord and
my God. My only hope, He is God's beloved
Son. Be seated. Well, he's no stranger to this
congregation. We love him and he's preached
here many times and God willing, will preach here many more times.
Brother Cody Henson, he goes to Kingsport Sovereign Grace
Church. Gabe Stoniker is his pastor.
Cody, you come bring the Lord's message. Good morning. If you will turn with me in your
Bibles to Luke chapter 16. Luke chapter 16. Brethren in Kingsport send their
love and greetings and I'm honored to be here as always and pray
the Lord might bless us. Luke chapter 16, and look with
me at verse 19. Luke 16 verse 19 says, there
was a certain rich man which was clothed in purple and fine
linen and fared sumptuously every day. And there was a certain
beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate full of sores,
and desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich
man's table. Moreover, the dogs came and licked
his sores. And it came to pass that the
beggar died and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom.
The rich man also died and was buried. And in hell he lift up
his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off and
Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father
Abraham, have mercy on me. And said Lazarus, that he may
dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for
I am tormented in this flame. But Abraham said, son, remember
that thou in thy lifetime receivest thy good things, and likewise
Lazarus evil things. But now he is comforted and thou
art tormented. And beside all this, between
us and you, There is a great goal fixed, so that they which
would pass from hence to you cannot, neither can they pass
to us that would come from thence." Spiritually, we're represented
by one of these two men. We're either rich or poor. We're
either well or sick. We either have need of nothing
or we're beggars. It's one or the other. Oh, that
we might cry out unto him that filleth the hungry soul with
his goodness. We see right here the end of
all men, the death of this body, the end of life as we know it.
Praise God, this poor man, this beggar, Lazarus, was carried
up into glory, into eternal peace and rest. But what a heartbreaking,
gut-wrenching reality set in for the rich man. You saw it. It said, in hell,
verse 23, he lift up his eyes being in torments. And then verse 26 told us that
there's a great gulf fixed. It means he's stuck there forever. He just told us where time is
no more, stuck forever. No end. I can hardly stomach
the thought, especially when considering my lost loved ones. Many of us have children. I was
thinking about them. It occurred to me, looking at
this again, that this rich man, he was once his parents' precious
little baby. I can enter into that because
I have two. We just read he was this rich old man. But he was
once the apple of his parents' eye. We didn't hear that, can
we? He grew, he learned, he lived
just like we all have and are. Obviously, he became a very successful
man. I'm certain his parents were
mighty proud of him. Again, can you relate to this?
But consider his end. then come at the end. Consider
his end. What was it? Emptiness? Torture? That's what torments
means, torture, never-ending torture. Is this not all that matters? Honestly, may this put things
in perspective for us. Here's my prayer for us, okay?
I want success for us and our children, but not at the expense
of our eternal soul. What shall it profit a man to
gain the whole world, lose his soul? That's what happened right
here. Gained the whole world, lost his soul. This night thy
soul shall be required of thee. Then who shall those things be?
Everything you got, you're tearing down your barns, building bigger.
Where's it gonna go? Solomon told us where it went.
Read Ecclesiastes. Pass it on to somebody else,
they'll pass it on to somebody else. It's empty. Vanity. If
we die, not knowing God, if we die not seeing the Lord Jesus
Christ by faith, if we die without a sin covering, if we die without
a righteousness, if we die without Christ, if we die in our sins,
what are our successes? What's everything we gained here
then? This man fared sumptuously every day. Every day. And yet he stood before God empty. According to God's Word, there
is just one thing needful, and success in this life and in this
world is not it. May God have mercy on our souls,
and on our children, and on our loved ones, on our friends, on
our co-workers, For Christ's sake, that's the one thing needful.
The Lord Jesus Christ, that's what we need. Now, for our message
today, I want to look at the remainder of this text, verse
27 to 31. Look at verse 27 with me. Then he said, the rich man said,
I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to
my father's house, for I have five brethren. that he may testify
unto them, lest they also come to this place of torment." Here
we see his plea for his brothers. He's gravely concerned for his
five brothers. Again, we can enter into this,
can't we? I have four siblings myself.
I know I'm not the only one. And this rich man tells us right
here, I know they're not far behind me. They're just following
in my footsteps. They're going to be here real
soon. And he knew this. He was forced to acknowledge,
I can't do anything for them. And I'm here to tell you today,
I can't do anything for you. I can't save myself. I can't
save my children. But I'm here to tell you about
the one who can. Saint Lazarus. I tell you this,
the rich man knew they need somebody to testify to them. What did he want Lazarus to testify
to them? Everything he'd learned too late. I'll list you a few things. The
brevity of life, sober, but a vapor like you just mentioned. The
vanity of riches, the emptiness of them, and honor, it's all
gonna perish. The danger of a life of ease.
Oh, how many people get caught away with the love of riches,
the love of this world. We're warned about that in 1
John chapter two. Love not the world, neither the
things in it. This rich man learned far too late the holiness of
God, how that he must punish sin, all sin. He learned that
there truly is a real place called hell where many people go, that
broad way which leads to destruction. He found himself there, and he's
still there. And he learned this, our desperate
need of God's mercy. Pray to Abraham, have mercy on
him. Do we understand what awaits
us? I'm telling you, I pray God would give us a reality check
today. We need it. I need it. We're born into this
world, not not simply bruised, but dead, dead. We're born dead. It doesn't make
sense, does it? We're born dead, spiritually
dead in our sin. It's what God says in his word
in Ephesians. It's impossible for us to save ourselves, utterly
impossible. Like this man that went to hell,
we're too rich. What are we rich in? Pride, self-righteousness,
everything God hates. We're rich in everything God
hates. You think about that. We must
learn by God's grace how poor and how empty we are before a
holy, just God. And we must learn this. Unless
God be merciful unto us, and that's what it's gonna take,
unless God be merciful unto us, we're all gonna perish just like
this rich man and his brothers too. Verse 27 again, then he
said, I pray thee therefore, Father, that thou wouldest send
him to my father's house, for I have five brethren, that he
may testify unto them, lest they also come to this place of torment. Abraham saith unto him, They
have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them. And he said,
Nay, father Abraham, but if one went unto them from the dead,
they will repent. And he said unto him, If they
hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded,
though one rose from the dead. What a response. Abraham told them, he said, they
have the word of God. They have it. They just need
to hear it. But this wasn't enough for the
rich man. Oh, there's got to be something more. But we see
the response. Nate, that won't do any good.
Won't do any good. Lazarus coming back is not going
to save them. It's not going to save them.
You know, had Lazarus gone back, I guarantee you what would have
happened. His brothers would have ignored him just like he
did. Just let him sit there and pay no attention to him. What's
he know? We must hear. Do we realize how
privileged we are to have this book? The answer is no, we don't. May God teach us. You know, some
of you may be big readers. I think reading's a great hobby.
This is truly the only book worth reading. This book holds the
keys to eternal life. We don't need our loved ones
who've gone before us to come back and speak to us. It's absolutely
critical, though, that we hear what God has to say to us in
his word. This is life or death. Verse
29 again says, Abraham saith unto him, they have Moses and
the prophets. Let them hear them. Moses. They have Moses. Who was Moses? We've all heard of Moses, haven't
we? Do you know Moses was a murderer? I hope somebody here didn't know
that. Exodus 2, verse 12, he slew an Egyptian man, buried
him in the sand. He looked, make sure nobody's
looking. Do we know God sees everything? And not only that,
some people saw him and confronted him. Pharaoh found out. And yet, though Moses was a murderer,
the scriptures tell us time and time again that Moses was a man
of God. Well, how could that be? I'll
tell you how. God saved Moses. We read that
God revealed himself to Moses in a burning bush. God revealed
to him his name. He said, I am. I am. He was a man chosen of God. Specifically,
he was chosen to lead Israel through the wilderness, across
the Red Sea. God showed Moses his glory, and
here's how he did it. He said, I will make all my goodness
pass before you. And if God's going to save us,
that's exactly what he's going to do. He's going to cause Christ
to pass before us. We're going to see Christ. And
he said, I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious. I will
have mercy on whom I'll have mercy, compassion on whom I will. Moses was a sinner just like
you and me, but he was saved by the free sovereign grace of
God. Now, The referral to Moses here I believe is speaking about
God's holy law. You recall God gave his law to
Moses. Had Moses write it on the tables
of stone and then Moses gave it to the people, the people
of Israel. Moses represents God's holy law. Not because he was
an upstanding man, no. God was pleased to reveal it
through Moses. Simple as that. And it's called
all throughout the scriptures, the law of Moses. Based on our
text here, they have Moses. We must hear Moses, okay? Moses
represents the law. We must hear the law, all right?
Now, what does the law say? What does it say? We've all heard
the Ten Commandments, haven't we? Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not steal. Love thy
father and mother. Honor them. Have no other god
before. We've heard these, but that doesn't
mean we've heard the law. Everybody's heard that. People
think they're going to be saved. People think they're going to
wind up in heaven because of how diligently they kept the
law. Anybody that is hoping in that,
hoping in themselves and what they're doing and not doing,
has never heard God's law. Paul said this in Galatians 4.21,
Tell me ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear
the law? goes on to tell us about being the child of the bondwoman
or the free. Let me read you this. Turn to
Romans chapter 3. I think this puts it very clearly. Romans
chapter 3. And know this about God's law.
God's law is holy, and God's law is to be kept and honored.
But here's what we're about to read. We can't keep it. We're
not going to be saved by our doing of keeping it. Look here,
Romans 3, verse 19. Now we know that what things
soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law,
that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become
guilty before God. And that means subject to the
judgment of God. Verse 20, therefore by the deeds
of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for
by the law is the knowledge of sin. If we ever hear the law, Here's
what we're going to see. We're going to see our sin. We're
going to see our guilt, and we're going to see our shame and our
nakedness and our wretchedness before God Almighty. I like this. Galatians 3.24 tells us that
the law was our schoolmaster unto Christ, that we might be
justified by faith. Here's the purpose of God's holy
law, to show us we can't keep it, but Christ did. The purpose of the law is to
cause us to look away from self and to Him who kept it and honored
it perfectly. Says God's people established
the law in Him, only in Him. He did it all. I like this too.
John 1 17 says, The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth
came by Jesus Christ. May God enable us to hear the
law and look to Christ. Look only to Christ. All right,
that's Moses. Now what about the prophets?
Moses and the prophets, let them hear them. Many prophets we'll
find in the Old Testament, and the last prophet, I believe,
was John the Baptist. I thought of Nathan, confronted
David over his sin. Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, Jeremiah,
many prophets. Well, what was a prophet? I find
the best description that I can find is found in Jeremiah 1.
tells us that a prophet was a man ordained of God, sent by God
to declare God's message, to declare what things soever God
commands him to speak. I was reading it just a minute
ago. He said, I've put my word in your mouth. He said, I will
hasten my word to perform. It wasn't dependent on the prophet.
Jonah was a prophet. Well, good thing it wasn't dependent
on Jonah. We see who worked through Jonah, don't we? despite what
Jonah wanted. Prophets declared God's message.
Now, what do they declare? What do the prophets declare?
Oh, if we ever learn this, it's not a what, but a whom. Whom
did the prophets declare? I jotted a few things from the
Old Testament here. They declared the tender plant. the root of
Jesse, the root out of a dry ground, the righteous branch,
the Messiah, the Prince, the prophet, priest, and King that
shall reign and prosper, the servant who shall not fail, the
mighty Savior who will save. David's son and David's Lord. Moses and the prophets declared
the Lord Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Turn to Luke chapter
9. Luke chapter 9. This is one of my favorite accounts
in all the Word. Luke chapter 9 verse 28. Luke 9, 28. And it came to pass,
about an eight days after these sayings, he took, that's our
Lord, took Peter and John and James and went up into a mountain
to pray. And as he prayed, the fashion
of his countenance was altered and his raiment was white and
glistening. And behold, there talked with
him two men, which were Moses and Elias, Elijah, Moses and
the prophets. who appeared in glory and spake
of his decease, which he should accomplish at Jerusalem." Peter, James, and John, they
saw this, and they heard this. Moses and Elijah, well, I thought
they were long gone. No, no, they were right there
with their Lord. And when they were privy to this
conversation that Moses and Elijah had with our Lord, what was the
great subject? Had to be a great subject, right?
And our Lord purposed for them to hear this and to see this.
And they talked about this. Our Lord's death at the cross,
which he should, notice the wording, accomplish. I mean, something
marvelous, miraculous, successful is going to take place. I mentioned
our mighty Savior who will save. That's what they heard about.
That's what Moses and the prophets declared. Don't you love that? It's no wonder that our brother
Paul was determined not to know anything save Jesus Christ and
Him crucified. Here's why. Because it's all
about Him. From start to finish, it's all
about Him. The Lord told some Pharisees
in John 5 verse 46, who trusted in Moses. That means they trusted
in the law and their keeping of it. Here's what he said to
them. He said, had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed
me. And here's why. Because Moses
wrote of me. Well, we're trusting in Moses. You didn't know Moses' message.
You didn't know Moses' God, Moses' Savior. Don't look to the law
keeping that you think you can do. Look to Christ who kept it
fully. He didn't leave any for us to
finish or add to. He kept it fully. Look to Him.
Rest in Him and Him alone. We're here in Luke. Look at chapter
24. Luke 24. Our Lord had risen and he joined
himself to a couple of his disciples walking on the road to Emmaus.
We'll start in verse 25. This is too good. They didn't
understand. They didn't understand that Christ had come and died
for the sins of his people. They just didn't understand.
Look here at verse 25. Then the Lord said unto them,
O fools and slow of heart, to believe all that the prophets
have spoken. Ought not Christ to have suffered
these things and to enter into his glory? Now look at this.
And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto
them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. in all the Scriptures, the things
concerning himself. How many times did he tell his
disciples the things that he must suffer, how that he must
suffer and be risen again the third day, and they just went
right over? Listen, that tells me God must reveal this to us.
Tell us plainly. He told them all the Scriptures. I love how it says that. All
the Scriptures. They all declared the things
concerning him. Look down to verse 44. And he said unto them, These
are the words which I spake unto you while I was yet with you,
that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law
of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the Psalms concerning
me. And how glorious is this? Verse
45 says, Then opened he their understanding, that they might
understand the scriptures. Listen, if God doesn't open our
understanding that we might understand the scriptures, we just won't
see him. I can stand here and tell you,
Donnie can stand here and tell you, tell me, we're not gonna
see him. May God open our understanding. I love the song, open my eyes
that I may see glimpses of truth thou hast for me. Place in my
hand the wonderful key that shall unclasp and set me free. Open
my ears that I might hear. open my mouth that I might bear
the truth. May God witness to us the truth.
May God speak Christ to us. I love this in Isaiah 45, I believe
verse 22 says, look unto me and be ye saved all the ends of the
earth for I am God and there's none else. That's my prayer for
us. That's my prayer for our children.
Lord, enable us to look unto you. Let me look nowhere else.
Let me have a single eye focused on you. This book, is the great
hymn book, capital H, capital I, capital M. It's all about
hymn. Listen, there is so much for
us to learn in this book. But here's the one thing we need
to learn in this book. We need to learn Christ. Our Lord said
this, but they have not so learned Christ. That's the one thing
we need to learn. He's the one we need to see.
He's the one we must hear. The dead shall hear the voice
of the Son of God, then they shall live. Oh, may we hear Him. Back in our text, Luke 16. Verse 31. And He said unto him, Now let's
heed this warning, okay? Let's see how serious this is.
Here's the reality of the matter. If we don't hear Christ in the
Word, if Christ is not revealed to us through the Word and the
preaching of it, we're not going to be persuaded. And that's what
we must be. His brothers had to be persuaded. We desperately need to be persuaded
of what? Hell is a terrible place and
I don't want to go there? No, more than that. I'd hate to wind up in his state.
No, more than that. We're already persuaded of that. We need to
be persuaded who God is. Here's the only place we're going
to learn who God is, in God's Word. We're never going to be
persuaded of what we are, the vile sinners we are, that we
can't get ourselves out of being. It's what we are. We can't change
what we are. How are we going to learn what
we are? Moses and the prophets. We must
hear them. If we're ever going to be persuaded
who God is, who we are, and how in the world we could possibly
stand accepted in his sight, we must hear Moses and the prophets. We must. We must. If we don't
hear Christ in the word, we won't be persuaded and we won't be
saved. Must be persuaded to believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. In him alone, without faith,
God says it's impossible to please him. How does he tell us faith
comes? By hearing, and hearing by the
word of God. May God be pleased to enable
us to hear him. When we hear Moses, you read
the first five books of the Bible, that's Moses. That's what Moses
wrote, by inspiration of God. You just read it in 2 Peter 3.
The word spoken before by the holy prophets. If all we hear
is Elijah, if all we hear is Jeremiah, we've missed it. May
God enable us to hear him. May we hear his voice today.
May God enable us to look away from our vain, empty selves and
look to our Lord and Savior and Jesus Christ and Him alone for
all our hope of standing before God. All right. Amen. Let's have a word of prayer. Our gracious Heavenly Father,
how we tremble reading such an account as this. to know the
sad, sad state of many who die in their sins. Lord, you're a God who delights
to show mercy. That's what Moses and the prophets
declare. That's what your word has to
say to us, but not at the expense of your holiness. We thank you
so much for being a just God and a savior. And we beg you
for ourselves, for our children, for our loved ones, Lord, please
have mercy on us. That's our only hope to stand
in your sight. And Lord, we desire, by your
grace, to be with you. We desire to awaken your likeness.
Lord, what true eternal satisfaction that is, to be with you. Would
you enable us to hear what you've had to say to us today? Lord, don't let these dear people
walk out these doors having only heard my voice. May we all have
heard your voice. Bless it to our hearts and pierce
our hearts with your word, if you'd be willing. We do pray
for your will to be done in all things. And as the gospels preach,
we're so totally dependent on you to speak to us. Would you
bless these dear saints, direct us to Christ first and foremost.
Keep us, save us by your grace, I pray. Please don't let us stray
from Jesus Christ and Him crucified. The only message there is, bless
it to us and keep us fixed on Him. It's in His most precious,
precious name we pray. Amen. Oh, I was greatly, greatly blessed by that
message. Oh, that was such a blessing. Such a blessing. I thank the
Lord for you. Thank the Lord for what he's taught you. What
a blessing it is to me. So good. So very good. Don't
forget, we're going to have a little ice cream this evening. And... Turn your eyes upon Jesus full
in His wonderful face. And the things of earth will
grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace. He's talking about the Scriptures
being so big. I've been passing this church
since March of 1979, 44 years, a little over 44 years,
and I ain't even come close to finishing
it. You know, you read scriptures
and I think, man, when am I gonna preach that? How am I gonna deal
with that? Well, Lord bless you. We'll see you tonight. Go back
there at the door and let folks talk to you. We'll see you all
tonight, God willing. Six o'clock.