460. 460. What a fellowship, what a joy divine, What a bliss it is, what a peace
is mine, Leaning on the everlasting arms, Leaning, leaning, Oh, how sweet to walk in this
pilgrim way Leaning on the everlasting arms Oh, how bright the path
grows from day to day Leaning on the everlasting arms Leaning What have I to dread? What have I to fear? With my Lord so near Leaning
on the everlasting Lord Leaning, leaning Safe and secure of all
alarms Leaning, leaning BC to just a couple pages over,
number 463. 463. Who can cheer the heart
like Jesus? by his presence all divine. True and tender, pure and precious,
oh, how blessed to call him mine. fills my soul is Jesus. He is more than life to me, and
the fairest of ten thousand. Grace of God beyond degree Mercy
higher than the heaven Deeper than the deepest sea ? My soul is Jesus ? He is more
than life to me ? And the fairest of 10,000 ? In
my blessed Lord I sing ? What a wonderful redemption never
can a mortal know. How my sin, though red like crimson,
can be whiter than the snow. All that thrills my soul is Jesus,
? Is more than life to me ? In
the fairest of 10,000 ? In my blessed life I see ? Every need is being supplying
? Good in him I see ? On his strength
divine relying ? He is all and all to me ? All that thrills
my soul is Jesus ? He is more than life to me In the fairest of ten thousand
In my blessed Lord I see By the crystal flowing river With the
ransomed I will see Praise and glorify the King All
that thrills my soul is Jesus He is more than life to me Hope your Bibles if you got them
to Mark chapter 1 Mark chapter 1 Continuing our Going through the book of Mark
I think it's the fifth or sixth message, I don't know. Start at verse 14, read down
through verse 20. Now after that 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 of
men. 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, and they left their father Zebedee
in the ship with the hired servants, and went after him. Oh, our God and our Father, the
God of all grace, the Father of mercies. He whose mercy endures forever. He who's made promises and all
your promises are in your blessed son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And
we, Lord, we look to you today as we said so often, Lord, as
we call on you and that, Lord, we need your presence.
I can go through an outline. I can read the scriptures. But without your power and presence,
Lord, without the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, there'll
be no preaching. There'll be no hearing. There'll
be no blessings. There'll be no edifying. So Lord,
we ask for your blessed presence today. Cause your face to shine
upon us here. Forgive us of everything that's
unlike you. Oh, everything that's so unlike
you. And Lord, we pray now for those among us who are sick in
their body, maybe even heart sick, soul sick, weak or frail. We ask for your great and abundant
mercies to be given to them. We know your grace is sufficient.
And Lord, we ask if you'd be pleased to cause the gospel to
find a lodging in a heart today and bring glory to yourself in
the preaching of the gospel for our Lord Jesus Christ's sake.
Amen. hymn number 145. 145. Hail thou
once despised Jesus, hail thou ? Suffer to release us ? How can
safe salvation bring ? Will Thou recognize, O Savior ? Bearer
of our sin and shame ? By Thy merits we find favor ? Life is
given through Thy name Pastoral land by God appointed All our
sins only were laid By Almighty Love anointed Now has full atonement
made All thy people are forgiven Through the Virgin's womb ? Opened is the gate of heaven
? ? With his patron's thread and gall ? ? Jesus fell enthroned
in glory ? ? There forever to abide ? ? All the heavenly host
adore thee ? There thou dost our place prepare
Ever for us interceding Till in glory we appear Thou art worthy to receive Loudest
praises without ceasing Evening is for us to give Helping bright
angelic spirits Bring your sweetest, noblest praise ? Help to sing
our Savior's spirits ? Help to chant Emmanuel's praise. We'll stand together and sing
the hymn of the day in the bulletin. Okay. In myself I have no merit Nothing
good have I to give That a holy, just, and perfect God could ever
let me live Sin defiles my best performance And my heart breaks in repentance
By God's grace I see the Lamb See the Lamb of God our Savior
Bearing all our sin and shame Jesus died bearing our blame. Bruised and wounded and forsaken,
as our substitute he died. It is finished, sin's forgiven,
justice now is satisfied. Here's my hope and consolation,
Jesus died for sinners' sake. Trust in Him, I have salvation,
and the cup of blessing take. ? All is well, I cannot doubt
it ? God who gave his Son for me ? Rules this world and all
things in it ? For my good eternally ? So I'll trust my God and say He is worthy, worthy ever, that
in me His feet should stand. Faith is such a great redeemer,
glad and soon a blessed come. Christ is near, he's my protector,
he will keep me from all harm. Be seated. Now back here in Mark chapter
1 with me. Talking about fishing for men.
Fishing for men. Our Lord's message starts after
John is put in prison and all these Four Gospels except John
don't deal with this. But here he is. Things are given different places
in the Scriptures, in the Gospels. But it says here he came into
Galilee preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom
of God. And this is what he said about
the time is fulfilled. TIME IS FULFILLED. WHAT TIME? WHEN THE FULLNESS OF TIME WAS
COME, GOD SENT FORTH HIS SON, MADE OF A WOMAN, MADE UNDER THE
LAW, TO REDEEM THEM THAT WERE UNDER THE LAW. TIME IS FULFILLED. IT'S TIME. I BET THE THINGS CONCERNING
ME HAVE BEEN FULFILLED. I'VE COME. MY FATHER SENT ME. I HAVE A WORK TO DO. AND HE SAID,
THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS AT HAND. Now, what is the kingdom of God?
Well, if you've got a kingdom, you've got to have a king. You
can't have a kingdom without a king. And the kingdom of God
is the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the kingdom. And He says
the kingdom of God right now is here present in me. When you see me, you see God's
kingdom. When you see me, you see God's
rule. You see me, you see God's authority. You see me, you see God's Word
manifest in the flesh. So that's what he's saying. And
the kingdom of God's at hand, and then he says, repent. You
better have a change of mind. May God change your mind. And
then the gospel, and repent and believe the gospel. Believe the
gospel. And so here he comes, he's walking
by the Sea of Galilee. Walking by the Sea of Galilee.
And that's where he's You know, he lived in Galilee. He's called
a Galilean. That's what he called him. Jesus of Nazareth, where he's
raised up, and then he lives in Galilee. And he walked by
the Sea of Galilee, out walking, and he saw, and he saw Simon and Andrew, his brother,
casting a net into the sea, for they were fishers. And then he
said to them, FOLLOW ME, AND I'LL MAKE YOU COME AFTER ME,
AND I'LL MAKE YOU TO BECOME FISHERS OF MEN. And what our Lord's doing,
we said, do you know, He said, YOU COME AFTER ME, COME AFTER
ME, FOLLOW ME, AND I'LL MAKE YOU FISHERS OF MEN. Now most
preachers, when they deal with that, They start chiding people
because they're not out knocking on doors and begging people to
get saved and going through all the rigmarole, making people
to make a profession. But that's not what he's talking
about here. So there's ways that you're doing. And if we're coming
after Christ, And following Him, He'll make us to become fishers
of men. And what that means to me and
what I hope it means to you is that we in our heart and soul
and in our prayers and in our preaching and in our witnesses,
we want men and women to be saved by the grace of God. We want
men and women to come after Christ, to follow Christ. We want men
and women to hear the command, come, come after me. And the only thing that will
cause people to come after Christ and follow Christ is the gospel,
and the gospel. And when He says that I'll make
you fishers of men, we'll be throwing out the gospel net,
and that's what He said. And He says there that He saw,
as He walked by the Sea of Galilee in verse 16, He saw. He always
sees. He always sees. You think there's
anything he doesn't see? He saw. He saw. He sees me and he sees you. And
he saw. And then he goes down here in
verse 19, he goes just a little farther in verse 19, and he saw. He saw. So who's he seeing here? He's seeing his elect. He's seeing
people that belong to Him. He's seeing people that He's
going to call to Himself. And when He says, Come after
Me, He says, Come after Me in verse 16, and down there He told
them to come after Him. Now, I want you to know this
is not an invitation. It's not an invitation. Christ
never gave an invitation. And a preacher of the gospel
never gives an invitation. Our Lord says, come, that's what
He means, come. Come and follow me. That's a
commandment, not an invitation. It's not Jesus standing there,
please come, please come, please come. That's not what's happening
here. No, no, He called them and that's what He's doing. And
then their reaction. And to show you that's not an
invitation, look at their reaction. And verse 18, straightway they
forsook their nets, and followed him. Down to verse 20, straightway
he called them, and they left their father, their father Zebedee,
and the ship, and the hired servants, and went after him. Now what's
our Lord saying? They left their father, they
followed him. And our Lord told us, If any man come after me,
let him deny himself. Self is the hardest person in
the world that you have to deal with. Self is the hardest person
in the world you have to deny. Self-righteousness, self-confidence,
pride, traditions, false message, all the things that we have to
deny to follow Him, to follow Him. And come after me, that's
a command. When our Lord Jesus Christ said
in Matthew 11, 28, ye that are burdened, heavy laden,
come unto me. Now when He gives a come, that
means that you come to Him. And I tell you, it's not only
burden and heavy laden over your own sin, but it's also as you
become believers and follow Him, you'll have heavy hearts. You'll
be carrying lots of loads on your back. You'll be carrying
problems and pain and sorrow and grief and depression and
despair. You'll be going through lots
of things in this world. And that's why He says, come
after me. Where else you gonna go? When his disciples turned
and walked away from him, after he says, no man can come unto
me except my father which sent me drawing. And the flesh won't
profit you nothing. There was a multitude turned
and walked away from him. He looked at the 12. You also
gonna go away? You know what he said? You know
what they said? Said, Lord, to whom shall we
go? You've got the words. You've
got the words of eternal life. And when our Lord said, come
unto me, Come to me, that's a command. That's a command. And then our
Lord said to him, he said, come you blessed of my father. Inherit
the kingdom prepared for you before the foundation of the
world. You're not gonna come to that kingdom. You're not gonna
come. You've already been blessed to
the Father, He said. You've already been blessed.
What are you blessed with? Christ. He's all in all. What are you blessed with? Salvation. What are you blessed with? Mercy.
What are you blessed with? Grace. Well, listen, you've already
been blessed. I've got a kingdom prepared for
you, and it was built and prepared before you was ever born, before
the foundation of the world. You reckon anybody ain't gonna
go? And oh my, look who he called. Back here, you know, look who
he called. He called fishermen. Fishermen. Fishermen. Not wise men. Not religious men. Not mighty
men. Not powerful men. Not rich men. Not intelligent men. He didn't
care about any of those things. He says, you come out, He called
working men. He called men of, that was nobody,
nobody. How many people you reckon was
in Israel at that time? How many people in Galilee that
was fishermen at that time? And our Lord calls these men,
just fishermen. They're not wise men. They're
not wealthy men. They're not powerful men. They've
got no authority anywhere. They don't impress anybody doing
anything. They got up every morning, got
ready and went fishing. And He called them. You know
why He called them? Because they were His elect.
You know, every blessing that we get from God is because of
His electing love. All because of His electing love.
He chose us in Christ because He loved us. And here He called
them because they were His elect. And He started His public ministry
with just four men. Four men. Four men. And our Lord teaches us how to
become fishers of men. And I want you to turn with me
now to Matthew chapter 13. You know, He teaches us how to
become fishers of men. And like I said, you know, if
we're going to be fishers of men, we've got to do it HIS way,
not OUR way, not OUR way, not OUR way at all. But look
what He said here in Matthew 13, 47. He said, Again, the kingdom of heaven
is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered
of every kind. Which when it was full, they
drew to shore, and set down, and gathered the good into vessels,
but cast the bad away. So shall it be at the end of
the world, the angel shall come forth and sever the wicked from
the just, and shall cast him into the furnace of fire, there
shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth." Now when he says,
you know, The kingdom of heaven's like a net cast into the sea.
You know, the net's the gospel, the gospel. You cast the net,
now you don't know where it's gonna go. You don't know what
fish you're gonna catch. And I'll tell you, I've watched
lots of people fish with nets. I've watched lots of people fish
with nets. I've seen them, especially, you know, you go some places
and they'll throw a big net out. And they'll either do it to catch
bait, or they'll do it to catch big fish. And so they say, our
Lord says, the kingdom of heaven's like a net. And you throw that
net out. And you cast that net out. You
can't see where the net's going. You can't see who the net's gonna
catch. And it's not up to me to drag
it to land. I don't drag it to land. I can't
drag it to land. But I throw the net every time
I preach the gospel. Every time I preach the gospel,
I throw that net. And I don't know who in the world's
gonna get in it. I don't know. But I tell you
what, when you crash that gospel net, you know what the gospel
means? Good news. Good news. You know what's good
news? Paul said, that which I delivered unto you, I also told you how
that Christ died for our sins How? According to the scriptures. How that he was buried and that
he was raised again according to the scriptures. And so this
is what we're talking about. We gotta preach the gospel that's
according to the scriptures. And I'll tell you something,
beloved, there's no, no salvation, no salvation apart from hearing
and believing the gospel. There's no salvation apart from
that. And I mean, I'm talking about the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ. I remember one time I was preaching
in a foreign country on an island, and there was this fella preaching,
and he taught preaching and theology at Duke University. Smart fella. He got up, and he preached from
Matthew. 28, where He, you know, our Lord
said, Go into the kingdom of, go into the world and preach
the gospel to every creature. And He used that, He said, and
He got through preaching, and I told Him at the end of His
message, I said, You didn't come a spitting distance of the gospel.
You never dealt with Christ at all. You never mentioned Christ
dying for sinners. You never mentioned Christ being
a substitute for sinners. You never mentioned Christ putting
sin away. He said, well, that wasn't my
message. He said, I was preaching the great commission. Well, what
in the world is a great commission if it ain't to preach the gospel?
Our Lord said the kingdom, he'd come preaching the gospel, said
the kingdom of God's here. Not way out yonder somewhere,
it's here right now. The kingdom of God's right here
right now. It's not coming, it's here. That's
what he told Nicodemus. He said, except you be born again,
you can't see the kingdom of God. And you can't enter into
the kingdom of God unless you're born again. And oh my, let me
show you something. You keep Matthew 13. I want you
to look in II Thessalonians with me. You go over Thessalonians
with me, and I want you to see something over
here. 2 Thessalonians 2. You know, I just said no salvation
apart from hearing the gospel. No one's saved by a false message,
not ever, ever, ever. Now look what he said here in
2 Thessalonians 2.13. But we are bound to give thanks
always to God for you, brethren. You're beloved of the Lord. God
loves you. And how do you know God loves
you? Because God has from the beginning chosen you to salvation. Well, how did he do it? Through
sanctification of the Spirit and believing the truth. You
can't be saved by a lie. You can't be saved by a false
message. You can't be saved by a yea and nay gospel. You can't. I heard a fellow say one time,
he says, you know, sovereignty is right and free will's right.
It can't both be right. Can't both be right. Either God's
sovereign salvations of the Lord or salvations by man. There's
no middle ground. No middle ground. And I tell
you, the next throne You throw that net, and when you do it,
you know what it gets? It gets fish. It gets men. It gets souls. And they're gathered
into that net. And then when it was full, look
what it said in verse 48 here, back over in our text. And oh, they gathered it out
of every kind, every kind. And when it was full, When it was full, drew it to
shore, and they set out, no hurry, gathered the good, put in the
vessel, cast the bad, cast them away. Oh my, and then look what he
goes on to say. So shall it be at the end of
the world, the angels shall come forth and sever the wicked from
the just. Oh, my, cast the bought away.
And you know what Naughty's talking about here? This is the visible
church, good and bad, good and bad, wicked and just. Men fall in
one or two of those categories, either just or you're wicked,
either in Christ or out of Christ, and there's no middle ground
there either. You know, here's the visible church. Always, always
been a mixed assembly. And I'll tell you something else.
Let me show you something. I'm gonna show you something.
Keep Matthew 13. I want you to go over here and look with me
in Luke. Luke chapter five. You know, our Lord knows where
the fish are. Our Lord knows where the fish are. Three times our Lord knew where
the fish was. Three times. He knows exactly
where the fish are. And he's the only one who knows
how to separate them. Look what he says now. They guy, the Lord
was in a ship, and in verse four it said, when he had left speaking,
he said unto Simon, Luke chapter five and verse four, launch out
into the deep, go out into the deeper water now, and let down
your nets for a draft. And Simon answering said unto
him, master, Didn't call him Lord, called him Master. We have
told all the night, and we have taken nothing. We
didn't make no money last night, worked all night, didn't do any
good at all. But he says, nevertheless at
thy word, I'll let down the net. And when they had thus done,
they enclosed a great multitude of fishes. and their net break,
and they begged unto their partners, which were in the other ship,
Come and help us. And they came, and they filled
both ships, so that they began to sea. That s the first time
that our Lord knew where the fish was. Second time He says,
Listen, go over to the sea, Cast in, and you'll catch a fish.
When they was talking about paying taxes, and he said, you catch
that fish, and there'll be a coin in his mouth, and you take that
coin and go pay your taxes. Second time, our Lord. He said,
I know exactly where to get your taxes at. Where at? In a fish.
It's like, it's like, it's like, it's like Jonah. Great fish swallowed Jonah. Our Lord knows how to get him
out, and He knows where to put him, and He knows where that
fish was and where the taxes need to be paid. Go down there
and get that fish, take that coin out, and go pay your taxes.
And the third time that he told where fish was, you remember
when those fellas went back fishing after our Lord had been crucified,
he'd raised from the dead, and he'd come out to them, it was
all out in the, John and James and Simon and them was out fishing,
and our Lord stood on the seashore and said, children, have you
caught anything? Nothing, nothing. He said, I'll
tell you what you do, cast your net on the right side. and they caught so many fish,
said they caught 53 of them, and it took all of them to drag
them to shore. And then when they got there, our Lord already
had fish cooked for them. So you see, I don't know where
the fish are, but I know how to catch them, and that's the
gospel's what catches them. The gospel's the only thing that'll
catch them. The only thing that'll catch them. And that's the way
our Lord knows about back over in our text in Matthew 13. So
we cast that gospel net, casting it out. Casting it out. I'm casting it this morning.
I'll cast it tonight. I'll cast it Wednesday night.
And then I want you to look here with me in Matthew 13 and verse
24. Here's another way that God makes
us fishers of men. Look down here in verse 24. Another
parable he put forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven
is like unto a man which sowed good seed in his field. Good seed, good seed. But while men slept, His enemy
came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. But when the blade was sprung
up and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares. So the service
of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou
sow good seed in thy field? From whence then hath it tares?
He said unto them, And the enemy hath done this. The servant said
unto him, will thou then that we go and gather them up, want
us to get them up? But he said, no, no, no, no,
no. Lest while you gather up the tares, you root up the wheat
also. Let both grow together until
the harvest, and in the time of harvest, I will say to the
reapers, gather you first the tares and bind them in bundles
to burn them, but gather the wheat into the barn. Oh my. And here's what's happening here.
Every time we, I'm sowing seed, I'm sowing seed. The gospel is
a seed. And I tell you when a seed is
sown, when a seed is sown and there's, and, and, and, and the
gospel being born again, not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible
by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. And this
gospel, and while we're preaching the gospel, the enemy comes along
and he puts some tares among them. And tares look just exactly
like wheat, but it don't have any fruit. Wheat has fruit. Wheat brings forth bread. Wheat
has some purpose to it, but tares have no purpose. And we don't
know, and we say, well, And sometimes preachers do this, they do this,
but it's not my responsibility or your responsibility to start
pulling up tares. I think some people are tares,
I believe they're tares, but I don't know, I really don't
know. But I certainly ain't gonna pull them up. I'm not going to
go out here and start harping on people and where they go and
what they do, what they don't do and what they should do and
where they should go and what they don't. I'm not going to
do that. I'm sowing good seed. If a devil comes along and sows
some bad seed, and again, that's the visible church. Now, how
in the world are we going to separate them? I can't separate
them. I don't know who God's elect are. I don't know who believes
the gospel. But I tell you, He does. And
you know when they're gonna be separated? At the harvest. Just like those good fish and
bad fish. And he said, I'll tell you what you do, I'm gonna send
them and you gather all them tares. He said, I know where
every one of them is. He said, you go and he said,
when I send the harvest, he said, I'm gonna have them gather every
one of them tares. And we're going to tie them up
in bundles, and we're going to do just exactly like they did
over there when they separated the wicked from the just. And
he said, we're going to throw them in the fire. And over there about the good
seed, I mean, about the net, he says, they'll be thrown into
where there's burning and weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth.
Oh my. Who does this? The angels do
this. The harvesters do this. Oh my. How do they sever the wicked
from the just? Oh my. And all men are one of
these two groups. But who's just? Who is just? How do you get to be one of the
just? How'd he become one of those
that's justified? How'd he become one of those
that when they come to separate, God will say, that's mine. How can you say you're just?
There's only one person that can justifies. Christ, here's
what happened. Our Lord Jesus Christ was delivered
up. Who delivered him up? God delivered
up Christ. God laid on him the iniquity
of his Christ was WOUNDED for our transgressions. He was DELIVERED for our offenses,
but then He was BURIED, and the Scripture said He rose again.
What for? For our justification to justify
us before God. How could He do that? He put
our sins away. HE PUT OUR SINS AWAY! HE BORE
OUR SINS IN HIS OWN BODY! AND WHEN WE COME TO CHRIST AND
WE BELIEVE ON CHRIST, GOD HIMSELF SAYS YOU ARE A JUST PERSON BEFORE
ME! What's my justification that
I don't have any sin? Christ. What's my justification
that I'll spend eternity with Christ? Christ. What's my justification
that I'm accepted of God? Christ. What's my justification
that I'll be saved eternally? Christ. Most fellas, they want to look
back and say, I'm saved because I did this way back yonder. I
was saved when I made a profession when I was 12. I got saved when
I was 10. They gotta go back to somewhere.
Listen, I'm going to Christ today, I went yesterday, I'm going today,
I'm going this afternoon, I'm going tonight, and I'm gonna
get up in the morning, I'm gonna come to Christ. I've got nobody else to go to,
I got nobody else that'll clear me of all my guilt, my shame.
He done it all, I'm telling you. He did it all. Forget your doing,
look to what He did. Doing's a deadly thing. Deadly
thing. But all coming to Christ is life,
life, life, life, life. Huh? Oh my. I'll tell you what
religious people do. They reduce the gospel to formulas
and cliches. They've got the ABCs of salvation. They got the seven easy steps. They've got the Romans Road.
They've got, I'm trusting in the finished work of Christ. Trusting in the finished work
of Christ is not enough. You got to trust in Christ to
finish the work. There's a big, big difference
in that. Big difference. And I'll tell you what, the only
people that Christ has ever saved, had been people like old Simon
and Andrew and John and James, old fishermen, old hard man,
old tough man, being that was nobodies, nobodies. And you know
when God will save a man? When he's nobody. When he's nothing. And you know how he becomes nobody
and how he becomes nothing? God makes him that way. Huh? Has God ever made you to be nobody?
God ever made you to be nothing? Oh, my. The gospel is Christ
died for our sins. And I tell you, we're unable,
we're unable to sever anybody from anybody. And he told them,
said, take the things that offend. Our Lord said there, down in
verse 30, He said, take the things that offend, take the things
that offend, cast them into a furnace. You know, I don't like to talk
about hell. I don't like to preach hell.
I don't. I just don't. But hell's a real place. And
real people are sent there. Real people are sent there. And you know, it says over here
in He said, we'll shine like the
Father. Look back over here then in Matthew
14. I mean, excuse me, Matthew 13. Look in verse 40 with me
for a moment. 36, excuse me. Then Jesus sent the multitude
away and went into the house. And his disciples came unto him
and saying, declare unto us this parable of the tares in the field.
He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed
is the Son of Man. The field is the world. The good
seed are the children of the kingdom, but the tares are the
children of the wicked one. The enemy that sowed them is
the devil. The harvest is the end of the
world. The reapers are the angels. As therefore the tares are gathered
and burned in the fire, so shall it be at the end of the world.
The Son of Man shall send forth his angels, we don't have the
ability to do this now, and they shall gather out of his kingdom
all things that offend, that offend God, offend Christ, offend
the holiness and righteousness of God, and them which do iniquity,
and cast them into a furnace of fire, There shall be wailing
and gnashing of teeth. Now look at the difference, where
we go. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the
kingdom of their father. They're over here, God's getting
rid of them. We're going up there and shine
just like the sun. Big difference, ain't it? Oh
my, oh my. Our Lord, He called them. And
I tell you what, His call's irresistible. He says, come out, come! And
when He calls a man, He's coming. It's an irresistible call. Absolutely
irresistible grace. Irresistible call. You reckon
those fellas said, nope, I'm not going. I'm not going, I'm
gonna stay right here and some more fish the rest of my life. Boy, they left, they just dropped
what they was doing. Dropped it right then. And they
started following the Lord Jesus Christ. They followed him down
there when he called John and James. Andrew and Simon were
standing there when he called John and James. And those fellas
knew one another. And he called them and they said,
Daddy? He called us. I hate to, you
know, I'm sorry, but we gotta go. I'll leave the ship with
you and you all take care of it. I'm gonna follow him. I'm
gonna follow him. Oh my. How do you follow someone? How in the world do you follow
someone? Well, you got to keep your eye on them. You don't look
at your feet. You look at the person you're
following. You know, our Lord says, looking
unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. And you know, if
you're going to follow somebody, you got to keep your eye on them. Oh, you don't look at your feet.
Well, gotta watch where my feet go. No, you keep your eyes on
him and your feet will go in the right place. They'll stand
in the right place every time. Won't they? I'm gonna close with
one little thing over here in Luke 5. Look in Luke 5 with me. I wanna go through a few things
over here and I'll quit. I'll quit. Oh, how merciful,
how merciful, how merciful is our Father. Our Lord Jesus Christ. If you're going to follow somebody,
keep your eye on them. And here, starting in verse 1,
And it came to pass, that as the people pressed upon him to
hear the word of God, you notice they wanted to hear what God
had to say. What God had to say. He stood by the lake of Gennesaret,
and saw two ships. Now this is a different, this
is another instance where Christ calls Simon. This shows a different
way of doing it. And he entered into the ships,
one of the ships, which was Simon's, and prayed him that we thrust
out a little from the land. He sat down, and he sat down
in that ship, and he taught the people. Everybody got down there,
right down to the edge of the shore, you know, got right down
by the water. Our Lord just out a little bit, and he sits down
there, and he starts teaching these people. He started teaching
them. And I'll tell you, when he had
left speaking, he got through teaching the people. He said
unto Simon, launch out into the deep. Leave this place here and
go out in the deep water. Let down your nets for a draft. And Simon answering said, oh,
master. See, he didn't call him Lord
yet. Hadn't called him Lord yet. We've told all night. And that's
what most folks want to do. They want to tell the Lord how
much they've worked. Oh, I've worked for you, Lord. I've been
faithful for you, Lord. I've done so many wonderful things
for you, Lord. And we toiled all night, and
we have absolutely taken nothing. Without Christ, you can't catch
anything. That's for sure. Nevertheless,
at thy word, I tell you what I'll do. since it's your word."
I heard everything he said when he was teaching her. It's your
word, and that's what we do. We have nothing to trust but
his word. Nevertheless, it's thy word.
I'm going to do it. I'm going to let down the net.
And when they had this done, they enclosed a great multitude
of fishes. When you do what Christ says,
He's going to make you fruitful. He can do exceeding abundantly
what we think or ask. And then look what it did, and
they said, John, you and James, all these other fellows, come
over here, help us! We got fish, and they was throwing
fish in this boat and that boat, throwing fish as ever were, and
they came and filled both ships, and they got laid down low in
the water. And you know what happens when
you see what Christ can do, when you pay attention to Christ s
Word, when you obey Christ at His Word? You know what He said?
This is what you see about yourself. When Simon Peter saw it, Christ
still sitting in that ship, he fell down at Jesus' knees. And
he said, Lord, Lord, I'm such a sorry, I'm such a
sinful man. I'm such a sinful man, Lord,
just depart from me. I'm not worthy of you looking
at me. I'm not worthy of you doing anything
for me. I'm a sinful man, oh Lord. And
that's the first thing you'll do when you see Christ and his
power and his glory and his authority. And then, oh, and this is what
it said, for he was astonished, astonished, and all that were
with him at the drought of fishes which they had taken. And so
was also James and John, the sons of Zebedee. They were partners
with Simon. And you know what our Lord said
unto them? Fear not, for henceforth thou
shalt catch men. And when they had brought their
ships to land, look what it says, they forsook all and followed
him. Oh my. The whole gist of this message
is there ain't but one gospel. Christ knows where the fish are,
knows how to catch them. I sowed the seed, I throwed the
net. We'll see what happens when this
thing winds up. Our blessed Savior. Bless your holy name. You're
so gracious. You're so pitiful. You're so
kind. You're so tender towards us.
And I'm thankful for it, Lord. Oh, how I'm thankful. Oh, Lord, your ways are past finding out.
I'm so thankful, so thankful. It's not up to me. It's not up to me to save people,
to talk them into anything. Just preach the gospel to them,
preach Christ to them. And Lord, I remember the day
you told me, come unto you and I followed you. And I'm sure
others here follow you. And once we start following you,
we follow you all the way till we enter into glory. And there
we'll see as you are, we'll be just like you. Blessed be your
holy name. Thank you for the gospel. Thank
you for your people. Lord, bring glory to yourself
through this gospel, through this body of believers, for Christ's
sake. Amen. Amen. Oh, how merciful, how merciful. Blessed Lord, how merciful thou
art to me. Oh, how merciful, How merciful,
blessed Lord, how merciful thou art to me. See you tonight, six
o'clock, God willing.