Good morning. Let's all stand
together. We'll sing hymn number 314. 314. ? And I know, Lord, I have heard
thy voice ? ? And it told thy love to me ? ? But I long to
rise in the arms of faith ? ? And be closer drawn to thee ? Draw
me nearer, nearer, nearer, blessed Lord, to the cross where Thou
hast died. Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer,
blessed Lord, consecrate me now to thy service,
Lord, by the power of grace divine. Let my soul abound with thy steadfast
love, and I will be lost in ? Show me nearer, nearer, nearer,
blessed Lord ? To the cross where Thou hast died ? Show me nearer,
nearer, nearer, blessed Lord ? To Thy precious bleeding Son O the purity light of a single
hour, that before Thy throne I stand. When I kneel in prayer
and with Thee my God, Thy communest friend will bring. ? Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer,
blessed Lord ? ? To thy cross where thou hast died ? ? Draw
me nearer, nearer, nearer, blessed Lord ? ? Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer,
blessed Lord ? ? To the cross where Thou last died ? ? Draw
me nearer, nearer, nearer, blessed Lord ? ? To Thy precious bleeding
side ? Be seated. We'll sing hymn number
67. Number 67. Oh, Savior, as my eyes behold thee, in glorious flight array the
best creation Thou hast made. ? How can it be ? ? How can it
be ? ? That God should love us so lightly
? ? Oh how can it be ? And gaze upon my thorn-crowned
brow, And view the precious fleeting form By cruel nails so bruised
and torn. How can it be? How can it be? How can it be? That God should love us so? Oh, lord. How can it be? How can it be? How can it be? That God should love us Psalm 86. We'll read the first 13 verses.
Psalm 86. And hope all of you are stowed
for this afternoon. Eat a little lunch. And next Sunday, Cody wasn't
supposed to be here this Sunday, but now next Sunday he's gonna
be back, and I've asked him to preach next Sunday morning. And
so I don't have to preach tonight, which that's a blessing. Preach as long as I have. You
take every chance you get to sit down. And so he's gonna preach
for us next Sunday morning. I'm looking forward to it. Sit
and listen to you preach the gospel to me. Told you I'm the
easiest fellow you'll ever preach the gospel to. Now Bruce was
here the other night, and I tell you what, you know the easiest
people to preach the gospel to is preachers. They really are. They really are. Because you
know why? They know exactly where you're at and what you're doing.
And there's nothing like letting somebody else do it. There's
nothing like it. All right, the first 13 verses,
Psalm 86. Bow down thine ear, O Lord, hear
me. Bow down thine ear. He's talking
to God like he's talking to somebody that's paying attention to him. Somebody that's personally. Bow
down thine ear, O Lord, and hear me. And this is why he wants
him to do it. For I am poor, and I am needy. Preserve my soul, for I am holy,
talking about. And then Margin says, for one
whom thou favorest, show grace to. O thou my God, save thy servant
that trusteth in thee. Be merciful unto me, O Lord.
for I cry unto thee daily. Rejoice the soul of thy servant,
for unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. For thou, Lord, art
good and ready to forgive, plenteous in mercy unto all them that call
upon thee. Give ear, O Lord, unto my prayer,
and attend to the voice of my supplications, In the day of
my trouble I will call upon thee, for thou wilt answer me. Among
the gods there is none like unto thee, O Lord. Neither are there
any works like unto thy works. All nations whom thou hast made
shall come and worship before thee, O Lord, and shall glorify
thy name. For thou art great and dost wondrous
things, Thou art God alone. Teach me Thy way, O Lord. I will walk in Thy truth, unite
my heart to fear Thy name. I will praise Thee, O Lord, my
God, with all my heart. I will glorify Thy name forever. For great is Thy mercy toward
me, and Thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell. Our blessed Father, Lord, as
David said, David prayed, oh Lord, bow down here this morning
and hear us as we cry. For all of us that know you know
we're poor and know we're needy. And those that don't know they're
poor and they're needy. Lord, they are whether they know
it or not. But Lord, bow down here and hear
us. Oh Lord, we trust you, call upon you, look to you. You're
the one that's only one that can do anything for us. And as
the sweet Psalms to visceral said, there's no God like under
thee, no God that can save, no God that can keep, no God that
can give eternal life to no God that can bring us dead soul to
life. Call the dead from the grave.
And so Lord, we bless your holy name. You have saved us. And Lord, you saved us from the
lowest place we could possibly be. We were so low. And Lord, we pray that you keep
us low. Lord, keep us in the dust. Keep
us, oh Lord, down before you. Keep us low before you. Let us
never exalt ourselves or lift ourselves up before you, not
even before other men. And O Lord, forgive us of everything
that's unlike it. Meet with us here today. Come
down in the presence of the Holy Ghost and be among us. And Lord,
cause the gospel to run well here today. And Lord, save your
people, save your sheep in this place. Please be merciful to
our lost loved ones. Create a need in them. Be with
us this afternoon. Enable me to speak this morning.
We ask these things in our blessed Savior's name. Amen. Amen. We'll all stand together as we
sing the hymn of the day in the Bulletin. Oh, what shall we do, our Savior
to praise? So faithful and true, abounding
in praise, so strong to hear. How happy the man whose heart
is set free The people who care may join you in thee Their joy
is to walk in they shall is is Be seated. How tedious and tasteless the
hours when Jesus I no longer see. Sweet prospects, sweet birds,
and sweet flowers have all lost their sweetness to me. The midsummer sun shines but
dim. The fields strive in vain to
look gay. But when I am happy in Eden,
December's as pleasant as May. His name yields the richest perfume,
And sweeter than music his voice. His presence disperses like gloom,
And makes all within me rejoice. I should, were he always this
kind, have something to wish or to fear. No more or less happy as I, my
summer would last all the year. Content to be bold in his face,
mighty all to his pleasure resign. No changes of season or place
would make any change in my mind. While blessed with the sense
of His love, a palace of joy would appear. All prisons would palaces prove
if Jesus would dwell with me there. Dear Lord, if indeed I am Thine,
if Thou art my Son and my song, say, why do I languish and pine,
and why are my winters so long? Oh, drive these dark clouds from
the sky, thy soul-cheering presence restore. Oh, Lord, take me to
thee upon high, where winter and clouds are no more. More. Amen. All right, now let's look together
here together in Mark chapter one. Mark chapter one. And look here in verse 32 with
me. Three verses. Mark 1.32, And that evening, when the sun
did set, they brought unto him all that were diseased, and them
that were possessed with devils, and all the city was gathered
together at the door. And He healed many that were
sick of divers diseases, and cast out many devils, and suffered
not the devils to speak, because they knew Him." Look there and it says in verse
32, they brought unto Him all that were diseased. The only way these people could
get to the Lord Jesus Christ was somebody to bring them, that's
how sad shape they was in. What a sorry, sorry state, wretched
state they were in that they had to be brought to the Lord
Jesus Christ. And this is recorded also in
Matthew and in Luke, but that's the way people are whether they
know it or not. THAT THEY HAVE TO BE BROUGHT
TO THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. WE EXHORT PEOPLE ALL THE TIME
TO COME TO CHRIST, TO COME TO THE LORD JESUS, TO COME TO HIM,
AND YET THEY CAN'T COME UNLESS THE HOLY SPIRIT BRINGS THEM.
SOMEBODY'S GOTTA BRING THEM. SOMEBODY'S GOTTA BRING THEM.
AND THESE FOLKS WERE IN SUCH, THEY WERE IN SUCH A SAD, SAD,
WRETCHED, WRETCHED STATE that other people had to bring them,
had to bring them. And they were gathered, it says
here they were gathered at the door. They were gathered at the
door, there in verse 33, they were gathered at the door. What
door? The door of Simon Peter's house, that's where he was. He
had just raised Simon Peter's mother up from a great fever,
and they were gathered at the door of Peter's house. They found
out where he was, They were in Capernaum, and they went to Simon
Peter's house, and it says there in verse 33, And all the city
was gathered together at the door. Oh, my! Everybody that was sick, when
it talks about all the city, all those that were diseased,
ain't that what it says? Those that were diseased, sick
of different diseases, possessed with devils, and He healed the
sick. You know what the word sick means?
It means infirm, having a great infirmity. It means to be without
strength. It means to be powerless. It means to be impotent. And
when you look at this word disease, it carries the idea of an evil
sickness, evil sickness. And you know sin and sickness
cannot be separated. I know that fundamentalism and
legalism teaches, and works religion teaches, that if you lived right
and you prayed enough, that if you got sick or anything was
wrong with you, it's because you didn't have the faith or
you had committed some kind of a sin that caused that to happen
to you. But no, we was born under a curse, we'll live under a curse. And if Christ hadn't redeemed
us from the curse, as long as we got sin dwelling in this mortal
body, this mortal body's gonna suffer. This mortal body's gonna
get sick. This mortal body's gonna be broken.
This mortal body's gonna have things wrong with it. And I tell
you what, as long as sin's in this body, we're gonna have something
wrong with this body. Now that's just the way it is.
And I tell you, sin and sickness, you try to separate sin and sickness,
you can't do it. Separate sin from death and you
can't do it. We're gonna die physically because
of sin. Our bodies are failing because
of sin. We have sickness because of sin. And I tell you, sin is a disease. Where'd it start at? It started
in the blood. It started in the blood through
our father Adam, through our father Adam. And then it talked
about those that were demon-possessed, cast out many devils. They were
demon-possessed. That means they're controlled
by evil spirits. And it says here, you know, when
it talks about demon-possessed being controlled by evil spirits,
That means they were disabled in thought. They didn't have
the ability to think for themselves. It's like the Gadarene Maniac,
they can't think. And even that's why those that
was demon possessed, they had to bring them. They didn't have
sense enough to come themselves. Their minds didn't work like
anybody else's does. A demon possessed man's mind,
you know, people say, well, I've never seen a demon possessed
mind. Go to Nashville and walk on the streets. Go into a homeless encampment,
you'll find plenty of people. demon-possessed. You find people
talking to themselves, walking down the street talking to themselves,
throwing up in the air and things like that. There's still plenty
of people demon-possessed. I've met a few of them. There's
an old gal, she used to say all the time, when she'd get upset
with somebody and they'd act ugly, she'd say, he got a demon
in him big as a barn. That's a big demon. But I tell you what, control,
you know, not even able to function, to function. What a wretched
sight. Do you imagine all these people?
They brought all these people to Christ. They brought the sick.
powerless, impotent, without strength, no abilities. They
brought the diseased, those that were so diseased and had so many
different diseases, the demon possessed. They brought them
unable to function. What a wretched sight. If you
were standing outside that door and you looked at all them people
and said, boy, that's a, oh, what an awful looking group of
people. They look awful. This look awful,
but all these people that they brought to Christ, all these
people that they brought unto him, they all had one thing in
common. They all had a need, and they
didn't have sense enough to know the need themselves, somebody
else had to bring them. Now that's pretty sad, ain't
it? What a wretched sight. They did not have sense enough
to know they had to need themselves. Somebody else had to bring them.
Had to bring them. Oh, but they all had one thing
in common. They needed Christ. They needed
to be brought to Christ. Our Lord said this, they that
are whole, they that don't have any sickness at all, Those that
are well, they're whole in their mind, whole in their body, whole
in their heart, whole in their thoughts. They that are whole,
they don't need a doctor. They don't need a physician.
They don't need to go to the doctor. If they are whole, I
mean their mind's whole, their heart's whole, their eyes are,
everything about them's right, they don't need a doctor. But
everything about these people, nothing was right. They needed
a doctor, they needed healing. They need it here. It's like
the church. I'll tell you some people that don't need, have
a need of Christ that will never be brought to Christ. Our Lord
Jesus said, he told the church aloud to say, I know you, I know
you, I know your works. I know your works. I know you're
neither hot and I know you're neither cold. You're just, I
would that you were hot, or I would that you were cold. Just either
get in Christ or get out, one or the other. He said, hot or
cold. He said, but because you're lukewarm,
I'm gonna spew you out of my mouth. Because you say, this
is what they say, we're rich. Oh, we're so rich. We're so rich. We're increased with goods. And
you know what they said? We have need of nothing. And you know what our Lord said
about them? Don't you know, don't you know this about yourself?
That you're wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. But they didn't know it. They
didn't know it. Oh my. And Luke 9-11 says that
they brought unto Him all that had need of healing. And I tell
you what, if anybody has, you know who comes to Christ? Who
comes to Christ? I'm gonna tell you who comes
to Christ. I'm gonna tell you who's coming to Christ today. I can
tell you exactly who's coming to the Lord Jesus this morning,
right here, right now. I can tell you who's coming.
Those who have a need. That's who's coming to Christ
right this minute. Oh my, no one comes to Christ until they
have a need. And when you have a need, you'll
have that need until the day you leave this world. And sometimes
that need gets so great, so great, that you just absolutely cannot
seem to get enough of Christ, you need. How tedious and tasteless
the hours when Christ our Lord is not near. Oh my, there's two
things I know about myself. Two things I know about myself.
And I know this, first of all, because what God says. Outside
myself, I know this. God says that I'm a sinner. God
says that I'm sick. God says that I have a disease.
God says that about me, that I'm a sinner. From the top of
my head to the sole of my feet, from the inside of my heart to
the outside of my skin, I'm a sinner. And I'll tell you something,
the second thing I know about myself, that I know subjectively,
I've experienced being a sinner. I know what it is to be a sinner.
I've experienced it. I know what it is. I know what
sin is because I've experienced being a sinner. Well, what do
I mean about being a sinner? Well, sin is a transgression
of the law. That's what the scripture says.
Sin is a transgression of the law. What law is he talking about?
Oh my. Thou shalt have no God before
me. No God before me. None. Don, I want you to ever, ever
have a God before me. And no idols, no idolatry, no
idols. Steve was telling me the other
day that he went to do some work in a lady's house, and she is
a Baptist, and she went to a Baptist church, and she had a Buddha
in her house. He said, well, what is that Buddha
doing here if you're a Baptist? She said, oh, I think it's pretty.
That's an idol. Put a cross on your wall, that's
an idol. Put a cross on your lapel, that's
an idol. Had no idolatry. Oh my, he said,
and I'll tell you something else. Don't you dare take my name in
vain. Don't use the Lord's name any
way but in the high, when you speak the Lord's name, you speak
of it in the highest possible way you can. You honor him, you
glorify him, you praise him. Don't you never, ever use his
name in a vain way. Don't do it. And he said, oh,
remember this, the Sabbath, the Sabbath, I'll tell you what,
you keep that Sabbath and you keep it holy. You keep it holy
unto me, unto me. And he said, I'll tell you what,
don't you ever kill anybody. Don't you ever kill anybody.
Don't kill them with your thoughts. Don't kill them with your attitude.
Don't kill them with your nature. Don't kill them with your words.
Don't kill them. And whatever you do, don't you
dare commit adultery. Don't you commit adultery now.
And don't steal. Don't you dare take something
that don't belong to you. Don't never do it. Don't never
do it. And don't never lie. Don't never,
ever say a falsehood. Don't never say a falsehood.
And whatever you do, don't covet anything that anybody else has
got. Don't covet anything. Paul said, you know how he became
a sinner and how he knew he was a sinner? He said, thou shalt
not covet. What do you think the apostle
Paul, before God saved him, coveted? He coveted praise. He covered
his own righteousness. He covered being approved by
the law. He covered being approved by
his peers. That's why he said, I seedingly
say it's among many my fathers. Now, let me ask you, have you broken any of those?
I wonder how many times a day we
do that. How many times a day? That's
what sin is, it's a transgression of that law. You reckon you've
stepped over that line? And if you ever step over it,
and you break one of them, you can't go back. You can't go back. You can't undo it. You can't mend it. You can't
fix it. You can't undo it. Oh my, I know one thing about
me. I continually, continually break
all these commandments. So I have to confess, confess
I'm a sinner. Not was a sinner, not will be
a sinner. But right now, right now, right
this moment, what in the world can I do about
it? What in the world can I do about it? Oh, Holy Spirit, oh,
Holy Spirit, bring me to Christ. I've got no place else to go.
I'm like these people. Where else am I going to go? Oh, I'm going to go to Christ.
Why am I going to go to Christ? Because I need him. I need him. Oh, how I need him. You know,
when I start, you know, a man don't become a sinner when he
starts sinning. No, David said I was shaping
in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me. We was born
in sin. And oh, listen, if God don't
come, and somebody don't, and the Holy Spirit don't come and
bring us to Christ, and I come to Christ because I need, oh,
God, how I need Him. Oh, Lord, how I need Him. I mean,
I need Him. I need Him. Oh, my. Oh, before
you and before others, all of us, all of us can put on a good
front. Oh, we can put on a good front.
Oh man, we can make ourselves look really, really good if we
want to. I can put on a good front before you and you before
me, but not before God. No, no, not before God. We're like Paul when he said,
I know that in me, in me, in my flesh dwells no good thing. What are you talking about no
good thing? In my flesh, in this body, in my own nature, there's
nothing at all whatsoever that good dwells in me any place,
any time that you look at me. And God looks at nothing. No,
no good thing. Me and Brad was talking about
this Wednesday night. People say, well, I made a mistake.
No, no, no. We are failures. We fail. Mistakes can be corrected. You
know, and I'll be writing out my notes, and I've got this stuff
in a bottle. I shake it up, and I go in there
and I white it out. and I'll wait for it to dry and
then I can go over it again. That's, but oh boy, we don't
make mistakes, we fail. Have we failed? How often have we failed? Failed
God. Failed in the grace of God. Didn't
act like gracious people. Didn't act like forgiving people.
Didn't act like loving people. Didn't act like kind people.
Didn't act like generous people. Is those mistakes? Oh my. And I tell you, we're
just like these people that were brought to him. We're just as
sick, we're just as diseased, just as impotent, just as helpless
as they are. Oh, how we need Christ, oh. You know, look with me over here
in Mark, chapter five. Look in Mark, chapter five, in
verse 24. Oh, it's like this woman with
the issue of blood. Talk about people coming to Christ,
having a need of Christ. He said, they brought them unto
him. Oh, that word, you see. And you know Jesus had just went
in and saved that Jairus' daughter, raised her up. And verse 24,
And Jesus went with him, and much people followed him, and
thronged him. A big crowd was just pressing
on him. And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve
years, And listen to this, and hath suffered many things of
physicians, many physicians. Doctors took her money, and glad
to take it. Oh, how much you gonna charge
me for this visit? How much you got? Well, ain't
this all I got left. Well, I'll take it. She went
to these doctors till they took every dime they could take away
from her, and look what she spent, all that she had. Them old doctors
just kept taking and taking. Every time she went in, give
me some more, give me some more. And you know what? It says that
she spent all she had and them doctors never done a thing for
her. Nothing was better. But she got worse. She got worse. Huh? Got worse. And listen to
this now. And when she heard of Jesus,
where'd she hear of him at? It don't make any difference
as long as she heard. I don't care who told her, she
heard, that's all that matters, she heard, and listen to this,
and came in the press behind him. She pushed her way through
that crowd, and pressed in behind him, and listen to this, and
touched his garment, just his garment, and she said, Oh, she
had such an awful need. Now she had been sick 12 years.
12 years. That's a long time to be sick.
That's a long time to be ill. And look what she said. If I
can just touch his clothes, I don't have to touch him, just his clothes.
And I do know this, I know this about him. If I can just touch
him, I'll be whole. I'll be whole. And straightway,
the fountain of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her
body, in her body she felt it, that she was healed of that plague.
Now listen to what happens now. And our Lord immediately, knowing
in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned about him
in the press and said, who touched my clothes? Said in another place,
who touched me? SOMEBODY TOUCHED ME. WHO TOUCHED
ME, HE SAID. I TELL YOU WHAT, IF YOU EVER
TOUCH HIM, YOU'LL KNOW IT AND HE'LL KNOW IT. THAT'S WHAT'S
WONDERFUL ABOUT IT. WE BOTH WILL KNOW IT. AND LOOK WHAT HE SAID, AND HIS
DISCIPLES SAID UNTO HIM, LORD, THOU SEE THE MULTITUDES THRONGING
THEE, AND SAYEST THOU, WHO TOUCHED ME? And he looked round about,
and listen to this now, to see her. He knew her. To see her. He turned around to see her that
had done this thing. He knew exactly who it was. He
knew when she, he, she turned around to see her. Oh my. And oh my, but the woman
fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her, came and
fell down before him, and listen to this, told him all the truth. She told him everything that
happened to her. She said, Lord, I've been so sick for 12 years,
and I heard about you, and I said, Lord, if I could just, I know
that if I could just touch your garments, I'd be healed, and
Lord, I am. She told him all the truth. I
tell you, that's what we'll do. Tell him all the truth. So like
Bartimaeus, we're talking about having people coming to Christ.
And then there's Bartimaeus. Everybody knows about Bartimaeus.
Here's a poor man. He was a beggar, a beggar, sitting
by the side of the road begging. Sorry, sorry, begging man. clothes
was old, probably stunk, and he heard about the Lord Jesus
Christ and he said, Oh, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. And you know what the scripture
said? Jesus stood still. You cry out for mercy and Jesus
stood still. That cry of mercy stopped him. The cry of a sinner crying for
mercy stopped him. And you know what? The next thing
you said, commanded him, bring him over here. Bring him to me. They went over and got him by
the hand, he's blind. They had to take him by the hand,
they brought him to Christ. He said, what do you want? Said,
I might be able to see. That's all I want. But the fact of what I'm telling
you is that only people that call on Christ, only people come
to Christ, and that Bartimaeus had to be brought too. Had to
be brought. And the leper, the leper, three
of them come down from the mountainside and said, Lord, and they came
down and worshiped him and said, Lord, if you will, if it's your
will, if it's in your, if it's in your will, if it could possibly
be your will, would you cleanse me? For you
can make me clean, would you? And you know what our Lord said?
I will, I will. But see, every one of these people
had something wrong with them. That's people's problems. They
ain't got nothing wrong with them. They ain't got nothing
wrong with them. Oh my. All these people had a
need, and they went to the only one who could meet that need. I need Him. Do you need Him? I need Him to be my Savior, to
be my Savior right now, to be my Savior, to be my Savior. And
Luke's gospel has said He laid hands on them. He laid hands
on them. Luke chapter four said He laid
hands on them and healed them. And you know where the first
time it mentions laying on of hands, in Leviticus, the first
mention of laying on of hands, was in Leviticus. And you know
when it was? On the day of atonement. When
they brought two goats, brought two goats, and the priest laid
his hand on one of the goats, and when they lay their hands
on that, what that means is, you're transferring the sins
of Israel onto the head of that goat. Now that goat there is
gonna die. He's going to die, they're going
to slit his throat and shed his blood and put him on the altar. And then the high priest is going
to bring another goat and he's called the scapegoat and he puts
his hands on him and he confesses and transfers all the sin of
Israel onto the head of that goat. And then a fit man takes
that goat and walks off into the wilderness with that goat.
And what he does is he's telling all those, one's died for him
and another one's gonna carry the sins away where they won't
be seen. And so a fit man carries that goat way, way out into the
wilderness and they keep going away and away and away and away
until nobody can see them anymore. And after a while, he turns around
and comes back and he ain't got that goat with him. Sins are
gone by the sacrifice and sins are gone off into the depths
where nobody can see them. And you know the only one, When
I, Lord, laid hands on those sinners and laid hands on those
people, you know what happened? Sin was transferred. Transferred
to who? The Lord Jesus Christ. God made
him, made him to be sin, who knew no sin, had no sin, never
committed any sin. And I'll tell you what, all our
sins were just transferred to Christ. Oh my. And this is the glory of the
gospel. You see, God is just. My sin cannot just go away. No, no. The glory of the gospel
is that God took my sin, placed them on the body of his blessed,
blessed holy son, And God said, the scripture said, he was delivered,
delivered. God said, you got to have something
done with your sin. Something's got to be done with
your sin. And so God said, here, here, I'll give my son up. I'll
give my son up. He'll deliver him up. Here, take my son. Take him. What do you want us to do with
him? Put your sin on him. Lay them
all on him. Bring them all to him. And He
has delivered for our offenses, all our sin, all our offenses
were laid on Him. But then the scripture said,
but He was raised again. What for? For our justification. Where's our sins go? With our
Lord Jesus Christ. He was the fit man that carried
them away. He is the one that put them away by the sacrifice
of Himself and they'll never be found again. God said, I won't
even remember them again. Oh, my. Oh, what a gospel we have. I
want you to look with me over here in Matthew chapter 8. Oh,
what a gospel we have. What a gospel we have. Look here in Matthew 8, 16. Look
what it says. In verse 16, And when the evening was come,
they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils, and
he cast out the spirit, listen to this, with his word, and healed
all that was sick, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken
by Isaiah the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities
and bare our sicknesses. But do you see here He said He
cast out devils with His Word? Huh? And look what it says there
in the last part of that verse, and healed all, healed all that
were sick. What does that mean? That means that our Lord is successful. That means our Lord cannot fail. Oh, the power of his word. He
just said, listen, said his word. Oh, the power of it healed all
that were sick. Our Lord, His atonement, His
death, His sacrifice, His Word is successful. I mean, our Lord
is not a failure. Isaiah said this, He shall not
fail nor be discouraged. Oh, my. If He died for all people
that were already in hell or will go to hell, then he's not
successful. But if he died for anybody's
sin, Noah was the sixth from Adam,
he found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Listen, let me tell
you something. His scriptures tells this, this
man by the sacrifice of himself put away sin once and for all,
and he hath perfected. Did you hear what I just said?
He hath PERFECTED. He hath PERFECTED. Who? Them He sanctified. Now, in Christ, when God looks
at me, bless His holy name, when God looks at me, He sees nothing
but perfection. So I've tried my best not to
look at myself and look to Christ. I'm not successful all the time,
but I thank God that Christ is successful. Yeah, it's not my
success, it's His success. It's His success. And in preaching
the gospel, preaching who the Lord Jesus Christ is, they brought
Him unto Him. Who He is? He's God come down
in the presence of His blessed Son. Oh, and then what He did? He lived a life we could not
live. He died a death we could not
die. He put away sin we could not put away. He fulfilled that
law that we break continually. He fulfilled it. He bore its
curse. And all preaching the cross of
Christ, You see, it's not the cross itself, it was who was
on the cross. You know, a fella called me the
other day and they got a bunch of crosses in the place where
he preaches. They got crosses on me, man,
they got crosses like you wouldn't believe. And he called me and
said, what do you, you know, I told him, I said, man, you
have to deal with them crosses. You have to deal with them. I
said, the only way you can do that is to preach what the cross
of Christ really is. When Paul said, God forbid that
I glory save in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, he wasn't
talking about glorying in a tree or glorying in a wooden cross.
He was talking about glorying in who was on that cross, what
was accomplished on that cross, the salvation on that cross,
and who it was on that cross. And I've said this so many times
before, it's not What happened on the cross, it was who was
on that cross. Not how much blood shedding it
was, it was whose blood do we shed. It's not how long he was
on the cross, but it's who was on the cross. And the cross has
something to do, not with this a wooden cross, but what was
accomplished at the cross. And when Christ was on a cross,
God made His soul an offering for sin. God made his soul, and
Christ poured out his soul unto death. And when he cried out
and said, it is finished, that means, beloved, that he finished
everything God gave him to do, and to prove it, that God gave
him everything to do, and he finished it all, Christ, on the
third morning, raised from the dead, and like he said, he moved
the stone himself and come out of that grave. And he said, listen,
I'm here, I've got all power! And everything I did while I
was on this earth, I did for the glory of God and for the
good of my elect. And I'm telling you what, that's
what we're talking about. When we preach the gospel, preach
the cross, His death, His resurrection, His ascension. And I tell you
what, that gospel, it meets the needs of a heart, don't it? Does
it meet the need of your heart? Does it meet the need of your
soul? Oh my. And I'm gonna close with a couple
statements. And if you ain't heard anything
else I say, hear this. How you hear the gospel will
be according to your need. How you hear the gospel will
be according to your need. Theology, Calvinism, they won't
meet your need. But the gospel. Christ will meet
your need. How you hear the doctrine of
God's grace, how you hear the doctrine of God's grace will
be according to your need. How much grace do you need? When
do you need it? How often do you need it? Let me tell you, boy, you need
faith, He's got it. You need forgiveness, He does
it. You need life, it's in Him. Do you need Him? Do you need
Him? Lord, bring us to Christ. And once, let me tell you, everybody
that come to Him, They leave whole. They leave whole. What a blessed gospel. Our blessed, blessed, blessed,
blessed Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ. How glorious, how blessed,
how precious is your gospel. Oh, nothing like it in this world.
Nothing meets the needs of our hearts and our souls like the
gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, I'm so thankful. Oh, Holy
Spirit, I'm so thankful that you brought me to Christ one
day, that you brought me sick and he made me well, brought
me diseased and he healed it. Oh, deemed controlled by the
devil, and Lord, you set me free. Oh, bless your holy name. Bless
your holy name. Thank you, Lord. God, cause this
gospel to find a lodging in hearts this day. Cause this glorious
savior to be real in the hearts and minds of those gathered out
here today. Lord, please cause that gospel
seed to bring forth fruit in hearts and lives here. Oh God,
if I had the ability to bring them, I'd bring them, but I don't.
But oh Holy Spirit, oh Holy Ghost, you got the power to bring sinners
to Christ. And I pray in your sovereign
mercy you'll bring sinners to Christ. We ask these things in
his blessed name. Amen, amen. Let's sing that come you sinners.
Come you sinners. Let's see if I can find it in
here. Come you sinners. It's in here. How much? 26. 26.
Let's stand together and sing this. And when they get ready
for us to come and eat, they said there's stuff out there
you could probably snack on if you wanted to. Let's stand together
and sing this. And you know, if the Lord's done
something for you, if the Lord's done something for you, I would
sure love to hear it. I know the rest of the congregation
would, but if you're not one of those people that can say
it out publicly, you come to me privately. Come ye sinners poor and needy,
weak and wounded, sick and sure. Jesus ready stands to save you,
full of pity, love, and prayer. Come ye thirsty, come and welcome. ? God's free bounty glorify ?
True belief and true repentance ? Every grace that brings you
nigh ? Let not conscience make you linger, nor of fitness fall
leave. The fitness he requireth is to
fill your need of him. Come ye weary, heavy laden, lost
and ruined by the fall. If you tarry till you're better,
you will never come at all. I WILL ARISE AND GO TO JESUS
HE WILL EMBRACE ME IN HIS ARMS IN THE ARMS OF MY DEAR SAVIOR
Oh, there are 10,000 churches. All right, they're gonna, I reckon
when they open the door, you can go back there. Lord willing,
I'll see you Wednesday.