th th You reckon we'll have anything
to eat? I hate to leave the place hungry. Oh. th th Hey, young lady. Thank you. Good morning. I promised Jan
I would cook for her. I'd love to walk in, but sometimes
my office is not nice. I would rather do that. Yeah. Yeah. I've got this on, but I couldn't
mix it up. Good morning. Let's all stand
together. We'll sing hymn number 475. 475. Redeemed how I love to proclaim
it. Redeemed by the blood of the
Lamb. Redeemed through His infinite
mercy. His childless Redeemed, redeemed, redeemed
by the blood of the Lamb. Redeemed, redeemed, redeemed
by the blood of the Lamb. I am redeemed and so happy in
Jesus. No language my rapture can tell. I know that the light of His
presence Redeemed, redeemed, His child
and forever I am. I think of my blessed Redeemer. I think of Him all the day long. I sing for I cannot be silent. His love is the theme of my song. Redeemed, redeemed. Redeemed by the blood of the
Lamb Redeemed, redeemed His child and forever I am ? I know I shall see in his beauty
? The king in whose law I delight ? Who lovingly guardeth my footsteps
? And giveth me songs in the night ? Redeemed, redeemed Be
seated we're gonna sing hymn number 49 Hymn number 49. I don't think
this is one that we've done as a congregational here. If we
have, it's been quite some time. So Marlene and myself are going
to do just the first verse, just me and her, and then y'all join
in on the rest of it. Jesus, what a friend for sinners. Jesus, lover of my soul. Friends may fail me, foes assail
me. He, my Savior, makes me whole. Hallelujah, what a friend. Saving, helping, keeping, loving
He is with me to the end Jesus, what a strength in weakness! Let me hide myself in Him. Tempted, tried, and sometimes
failing, He my strength, my victory wins. Hallelujah, what a Savior! Hallelujah, what a friend! Saving, helping, keeping, loving,
He is with me to the end. Jesus, what a help in sorrow,
While the billows o'er me roll. Even when my heart is breaking,
He, my comfort, helps my soul. Hallelujah, what a Savior Hallelujah,
what a friend Saving, helping, keeping, loving He is with me
to the end Jesus, what a guide and keeper, While the tempest
still is high. Storms about me night or takes
me, He, my pilot, hears my cry. Hallelujah, what a Savior. Hallelujah, what a friend. Saving, helping, keeping, loving,
He is with me to the end. Jesus, I do now receive him,
more than all in him I find. He hath granted me forgiveness,
He is mine Hallelujah, what a Savior Hallelujah, what a friend Saving,
helping, keeping, loving He is with me to the end Hope your Bible's with me, if
you will, to 1 Peter 1. 1 Peter 1. We'll start reading
at verse 18 to the end of the chapter. Excuse me, verse 17, I'm sorry,
17. And if you call on the Father,
if you call on God, who without respect of persons judgeth every
man according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning
here while you're passing through here, journeying through here,
do it in fear. For as much as you know that
you were not redeemed with such corruptible things as silver
and gold from your vain conversation received by tradition from your
fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb
without blemish and without spot, who verily or truly was ordained
before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these
last times for you, who by him, by Christ, do believe in God,
that raised him up from the dead and gave him glory, that your
faith and hope might be in God. Seeing you have purified your
souls in obeying the truth, obeying the gospel that we just talked
about. Through the Spirit, by the Spirit of God, unto unfeigned
love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure
heart fervently, being born again, not of corruptible seed, but
of incorruptible, by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth
forever. For all flesh is as grass, and
all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withers,
and the flower thereof falleth away. But no matter what goes
through us and what we're doing, the word of the Lord endures
forever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached
unto you. Lord, we just read as we offer
thanks to your holy, blessed name through your son, the Lord
Jesus Christ. who you foreordain before the
foundation of the world, and you give us access by Him, through
Him, because of Him. And Lord, you just told us, if
we call on you, that you have no respect of persons. You regard
no man's person. And Lord, that so, since you
do that, Lord, we want to pass our time going through this world
in fear, knowing that you're God, and you know everything
about us. You knew us before we come into
this world, and you prepared us a place for when we leave
this world, and we bless you for it. And Lord, we thank you
for the time that you've given us to meet today. Lord, it's
such a blessing, such a privilege. Oh God, what a privilege it is,
what a blessing it is. to meet together with people
of like precious faith, of people of the like mind, same desires,
believe the same thing, delight in the same things. Oh, what
a blessing it is. And Lord Jesus, we pray now for
those that don't know you, that you've never yet been saved by
your blessed grace, never had their hearts opened to believe
the gospel, never seen their sinful self, never seen their
self as you see them, don't see themselves as we know them to
be, but Lord, it's in your hands, in your will, and if you are pleased to open their
hearts, if you're pleased not to, if you're pleased to let
them have life in Christ, if you're pleased to let them leave
them in their sins, and let them live without God and without
Christ in this world, and without hope, Lord, it's in your will
to do that. It's my responsibility by your
blessed grace, the priest of the gospel, to honor and glorify
the Lord Jesus Christ, tell sinners the truth. But Lord, salvation
is of you. So let us make people understand
that clearly, plainly, that Lord, all it takes for a person to
be lost and stay lost and perish without you is for you just leave
them alone. Just leave them to themselves.
Leave them to their own will. Leave them to their own understanding.
Leave them to their perception of their own selves. And Lord,
they'll perish. But oh God, don't do that if
it would please you. Open hearts. Open hearts. Open understandings. Bring glory
to yourself in the salvation of sinners here. Please come
down among us. and be merciful, be gracious,
and be pitiful towards those that we love and those that are
not with us today through affliction. We bless you and praise you in
Christ's holy name. Amen and amen. Hymn number 199. 199. Sinners Jesus will receive. Sound this word of grace to all
who the heavenly pathway lead. All who linger, all who fall,
sing it o'er. ? O'er and o'er again ? Christ
receiveth sinful men ? Make the message clear and plain ? Christ
receiveth sinful men Come, and He will give you rest. Trust Him, for His word is plain. He will take the sinful rest. Christ received the sinful men. Sing it over and over again Christ,
receive the sinful man Make the message clear and plain Christ,
receive the sinful man Now my heart condemns me not,
Here before the law I stand, He who cleansed me from all spot,
Satisfied its last demand Sing it o'er and o'er again Christ,
receive a sinful man Make the message clear and plain,
Christ receiving. Christ received the sinful men,
even me with all my sin. Heard from every spot and stain,
and with Him I enter in. Sing it o'er and o'er again Christ,
receive a simple thing Make the message clear and plain Christ,
receive a simple thing We'll stand together and sing
the hymn of the day in the bulletin. My flesh tells me I'm in the
wrong The devil says I'll pay for that
I feel so low I lost my soul when I Recall Christ paid for
that. Christ shed his blood, paid for
my sin. In Him there's no condemnation. Why should I worry? From within he made me a new
creation. Why art thou cast down, O my
soul? Your hope is in the living Lord,
the Lamb, God who made thee, O praise Him, the earth and you,
my God. My precious Lord doth mediate
when I confess All I can do He owes. Surely my Advocate He has
already seen. This is true. Be seated. Now I'd like you to look with
me in the book of Mark, chapter 1. I told you I was going to
start preaching through the book of Mark. This is my second message
from it. The first one last week dealt
with verse 1, the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the
Son of God. And you know it really. Who is He that overcometh the
world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God. And when Philip asked the Ethiopian
eunuch, When he asked him, he said, Here is water, what doeth
hinder me to be baptized? And he said, If thou believest
with all your heart. And he said, I believe that Jesus
Christ is the Son of God. Now when you say He is the Son
of God, that means that you believe that there is one God. And He
had a Son. And that Son was God Himself,
Father and Son. The Father sent His Son before
the foundation of the world, and that Man that came into this
world, Christ Jesus, the Man, was God Himself manifest in the
flesh. That's what it means to believe
that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. They hated Him for it,
despised Him for it. And here in verse 2 and 3, I
want to deal with this today. as it is written in the prophets. Behold, I send my messenger before
thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. The voice of one crying in the
wilderness prepare you the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Here we have a messenger and
we have a voice. The messenger has a voice, and
we talked about the gospel of the beginning of Jesus Christ. And then the next thing he says,
it is written. It is written. Where is it written
at? In the prophets. That's what he's saying. He said
it's written in the prophets. And this particular place that
he's talking about written in the prophets, he's talking about
Malachi and he's talking about Isaiah. But here's the thing
that I want to ask you. is what I'm saying according
to what it is written. That's what he says, according
to what is written. Is my message, is my gospel,
is the things that I'm preaching, is it according to what is written? That's a good question, ain't
it? That's a question I have to ask myself. Is what I'm preaching,
can I say, it is written? Can I go to someplace in the
scriptures and say, there it is. There's what it says. That's what I'm preaching. Our
Lord Jesus Christ, that's what He did. He started in Moses,
the Psalms, and the Prophets concerning the sayings written
of Himself. So that's the question. Is the
Gospel that I'm preaching and what I'm saying according to
what is written? And here Mark quotes two Old
Testament passages, two Old Testament scriptures. and they're about
John the Baptist, the forerunner of our Lord Jesus Christ. You
know, when Elizabeth got pregnant, she is an old woman, and God
blessed her to have a child. And that child was three months
older than the Lord Jesus Christ. And when Mary went up and told
Elizabeth that she was gonna have a child, John the Baptist
in his mother's womb, rejoiced in his mother's womb and received
the Holy Ghost in his mother's womb. So this is the forerunner
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And you know, our Lord said of
all the prophets, there's nobody, nobody born of a woman greater
than the prophet John the Baptist. Call him a prophet. And He was
the last of the Old Testament prophets. The prophets spoke
of His coming. I read it to you tonight, this
morning, excuse me, where He says, you know, being born again,
not a corruptible seed, but incorruptible by the Word of God. And that's
what the gospel does. It gives a new heart, being born
again. It begets life in a person. And
I'll tell you, that's what the Holy Ghost did in John when he's
in the mother's womb. The gospel begets life. It's
a seed that's sown. The gospel is what produces life
in a person's heart and a person's soul. That's what does it. And
I'll tell you, this is what, and I want you to look over then
with me in Malachi chapter three. Malachi is right before the book
of Matthew. You know, and He spake of the
prophets, and He spake of His coming, of John the Baptist coming,
and of Christ coming. And this is what's preached when
we look at the gospel, and the gospel preached it because it
begets life. Look what this is, this is, you
know, this is what He referred to here in Mark chapter 1 when
He says, Behold, I'll prepare my messenger. And look what he
said here. This is one of the Old Testament
scriptures he used when he talks about the prophets. Behold, I
will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before
me, the Lord. And when he says he shall prepare
the way before me, he's talking about preparing the way before
the Lord Jesus Christ himself. And he's the messenger. He's
a messenger. and he shall prepare the way
before me, and the Lord, listen to this, and the Lord whom you
seek, the Lord whom he seeks. You see, John the Baptist came
to announce the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that s
what he said. Also, he said when John appeared,
when the Lord Jesus Christ appeared, here was his testimony. There
s the Lamb of God! There He is! That s the one that
the prophets talked about. I m the one here to tell you
when He gets here and deport you to Him and prepare the way
before Him and say that He s coming after me is worth more than I
am. He is before me and I m not even
worthy to unloose the latching of His shoe. And that s what
He said. He said He s come to prepare
the way before me. And when the Lord whom you seek
shall suddenly come to His temple, You know, when our Lord Jesus
told him about the temple, and he looked at, they all look at
that temple, and they said, oh, what a beautiful temple. Our
Lord said, destroy this temple, and in three days, I'll raise
it up again. And he wasn't talking about that
temple that they bragged about, he's talking about his own body,
his own body being raised again. So he prepares the way of the
Lord. And I tell you, then look what else he goes on to say here
about. He says this, He says, and even the messenger of the
covenant, the Lord whom you seek shall, and you know the Jews
were looking for the Messiah to come. even the messenger of
the covenant, whom you delight in. Behold, he shall come, saith
the Lord of hosts. And he shall come as the messenger
of the covenant." When Christ comes, and when John the Baptist
prepares a way before Him, and the Lord Jesus comes, He s the
messenger of the covenant of what? Of grace, of grace. You know, I didn t know they
talk about the covenant of works and the covenant of the law.
That was a curse. There was a curse, but our Lord
comes and He comes to the temple, and when He comes, He comes with
a message. He comes with a covenant of grace,
a message about the grace of God. And let me tell you something
about the covenant of grace. God never made a covenant with
us. He never made a covenant with
us. He's never made a covenant with man. He made one covenant
with man, and that was in the Garden of Eden. And he told that
man, said, I'll tell you what, if you're gonna have fellowship
with me, there's one thing you can't do, and that's that don't
you dare go to that tree of the fruit of good and evil and eat
of it. Everything else, you're welcome to it. But that's the
only covenant, and Adam immediately broke that covenant. And when
He done that, we fell from everything that's right, just, holy, and
true. But Christ come with a message of the covenant of grace. Now
let me tell you, God never made a covenant with us. Never did. You know who He made a covenant
with? He made a covenant with His Son. The covenant's between
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. You know how we're
in the covenant? Only as we were given to Christ,
only as we were chosen in Christ, only as Christ stood as the Lamb
slain. God made a covenant with His
Son, and that Son was the responsibility to come here and be our surety. And as the covenant of grace
runs, that God gave all grace to his son, all salvation to
his son, all mediation to his son, all everything that we need's
in his son. And he said, if you want anything
to do with me, you got to come to my son. And Christ come and
he brought grace. He didn't just enter a covenant
of grace, but grace and truth came by the Lord Jesus Christ. And I tell you what, David said
it like this. And oh, thank God that He gave
us grace in Christ. Grace for grace. David, we need
to, he's called the sweet psalmist of Israel. He was on his deathbed. And these scriptures tells us
in 2 Samuel 23, he said David on his deathbed. He said the
sweet psalmist, the last words, the last words, of the sweet
psalmist of Israel. You know what they were? The
Lord hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things. And then to cap it off, he said,
and it's sure. Oh my. And then, oh, so that's, you
know, the Lord's going to come, and He'd come with a covenant
of grace. He'd come and established a covenant of grace. I looked
at my watch the other day, and when I look at the watch, if
it's on a certain number, I automatically think of a verse of scripture
if it's on a certain number. Like if it s 644, I seen 644,
and I told Shirley sitting there and I said, you know, it says
644, you know what that says? It says, No man, no man can come
unto me except the Father which sent me drawing. And as it is
written in the prophets, they shall all be taught of God. What
God teach us, salvations of grace, salvations of the Lord. Salvation's
in Christ, and all that hath been taught of the Father, what
does He do? He comes unto me. You know, what does God teach
a man? He teaches him that salvation's all of grace, all of Christ,
and what did we contribute to it? Absolutely nothing. You know what I'm going to contribute
to it today? Nothing. You know what I'm going
to contribute to it tomorrow? Nothing. You say, boy, that sounds too
good to be true. No, it don't. That's the only
hope I've got. That has to be true. If it ain't
true, then there's no hope for me. Then look what here in verse
3 of Mark chapter 1 again. So he's talking about Malachi
in verse 2. Then he goes to Isaiah 40. So let's look together in Isaiah
40. Look over here in Isaiah 40. He says, this is talking
about John the Baptist, prepare you the way of the Lord. And
you know in Isaiah 40, he's talking about this. And this is what
a preacher's supposed to preach, and what preachers are called
to do. And we're going to deal with it in the context of John
the Baptist. John the Baptist, you know, the
forerunner of Christ. And the first verse says this,
and this is what preachers are called to do. Comfort ye, comfort
ye my people, my people. He said comfort my people. God's
got a people. They're called His elect. They're
called His chosen. They're called His beloved. They're
called the apple of His eye. They're called His sheep. And
oh, my! And not everyone is in this. Not everyone's in this. And you
know, not everyone is comforted by this message. I got contacted
this morning by a fellow that I knew when he was just a kid.
and he s down in Florida now preaching, and he says, You know,
God revealed the gospel to me two years ago, and he said, I
m amissed a bunch of fundamental, premillennialist, legalistic
Baptists, and he said, They re really getting upset with me
right now. He said, Please pray for me! Please pray for me! He said, Do you remember me? And I said, Yes, I do! Yes, I
do. I tell you, that's what happens.
This message is not comforted for everybody. If you want to
be saved by works, there's no comfort in this for you. If you
want to think you're one of the good people in this world, this
message is not comforting for you. If you're really self-righteous,
this message won't comfort you. It is not comforting for everybody.
If you're playing church, this is not comforting for you. If you're pretending, it's not
comfortable for you! He said, Comfort ye my people,
my elect. Listen, comfort is good news
in the midst of trouble, and I'll tell you what, that's good
news when you're in trouble, that's good news when And the
gospel's always comforting. Oh, my, comfort's good news in
the midst of bad news. Old Scott used to say all the
time, said, I've had no bad, I've heard no bad news or had
no bad news since I heard the good news. And boy, I tell you
what, you talk about a fellow who's in trouble a lot of times,
but you just wouldn't hardly ever know it. He just wasn't
that kind of person. But I tell you this, COMFORT
IS GOOD NEWS IN THE MIDST OF BAD NEWS. OH MY! WHAT THIS, WHEN HE TOLD US TO
COMFORT US ONE ANOTHER, IT'S BEING CONSOLED, IT'S BEING COMFORTED
IN SPITE OF SOMETHING THAT'S NOT COMFORTING. YOU'RE IN AN
UNCOMFORTABLE SITUATION, BUT THE GOSPEL ALWAYS COMFORTS, ALWAYS
COMFORTS. LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING, ALL
TRUE PREACHING, ALL TRUE PREACHING IS COMFORTING. ALL TRUE PREACHING
IS! ALL TRUE PREACHING IS! Even if
it's REBUKE, even if it's CORRECTION, even if it's INSTRUCTION IN RICES,
ALL TRUE PREACHING IS COMFORTING! Ain't that right? You come in
here sometimes and you just BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR And so you come in here, and
what does the Lord do? You got, you're in the midst
of troubles, you're in the midst of bad news, you're in the midst
of something going on, and the gospel comes and sets you straight
and comforts you and never ever fails to do it. True preaching's
comforting. No matter what, if it rebukes
you, that's comforting. That lets you know God's for
you. If he corrects you, that's a good thing. You need correcting.
You say, Lord, thank you for correcting me. You need instruction. Lord, I thank you. Lord, you
never left me to myself. You spoke to me today. You spoke
to me today. Oh, the gospel by its very nature
is comforting. And any preaching, any preaching
that leaves you looking to yourself, at yourself, There's no comfort
in ever looking at yourself. There's no comfort in looking
inside yourself. Is that right? You talk about
making you miserable. You start looking at yourself
and you say, you'll talk yourself right out of your conversion
if you ain't care. You'll talk yourself right out of what you
believe if you start looking at yourself. You'll say, how
in the world could I possibly be saved? The way I think, the
way I feel, the way I am. That s why salvation s of the
Lord, to look outside yourself! That s what true preaching does!
That s what the gospel does! And then look what he goes on
to say here again in chapter 40 and verse 1. He says, Speak
ye comfortably to Jerusalem, And you know when it says there
comfortably in the margin, it says the heart. Speak ye to the
heart of Jerusalem. Now Jerusalem, I don't know how
many times it's used in the scriptures. But it really does refer to the
Church, it really does. And that New Jerusalem that comes
down out of Heaven, that s the Church. And Paul talked about
the Heavenly Jerusalem in Galatians, the Church in Heavenly Jerusalem. And when he says, Speak to the
HEART of Jerusalem. Now listen, you can t speak to
a person s heart until you have a new heart. And that's the gospel,
that's what he does. He gives you a new heart, and
you know what that new heart does? It responds to the gospel. It does. Don't it respond to
the gospel? Oh my. And when he talks about
the heart, oh, God give us a new heart. I thank God for a new
heart. I know what it was to have a
bad heart. I knew what it was to have a wicked heart. I knew
what it was to have a hard heart. I knew what it was to have a
mean heart. I knew what it was to have an
unsympathetic heart. I knew what it was to have a
heart that nothing spewed out of it, but filthiness. Oh my,
but all God gave us a new heart, a new heart. And our Lord gives
a heart that responds to the gospel. That heart that moves,
the gospel moves it. And when he talks about the heart,
the heart is the whole man. He's not talking about that thing
that pumps blood. He's talking about the whole person. The whole
person. He's talking about your mind,
talking about your intellectual, intellect, talking about your
affections, talking about your emotions. What it is that makes
you you. That's what he's talking about,
Jihad, what makes you, you. And I tell you what, it has that
to do with everybody. Now, but free will Armenianism,
all it does is addresses the will, the will, the will. You know, you got a free will.
If you'll just do this, if you'll do that, you got a free will.
Then the reform doctrine, People that always got to go back to
some time that was reformed, they deal with the intellect.
They deal with the intellect, they deal with just the intellect.
And then the Charismatics and the Pentecostals, they come along,
and all they deal with is feelings and emotions, huh? But the gospel
addresses all three! The gospel addresses your mind,
Listen, your intellect, I tell you what, I don't care how smart
you are, you can be a genius, I have 160 IQ, but your intellect
cannot understand the gospel without a revelation. And the
gospel addresses your intellect, it addresses your mind, it addresses
your heart, it addresses you as you are. Oh, it addresses, there's three
kinds of preachers, and I just told you about them. There's
the preacher that preaches experience. Well, the gospel produces an
experience about every time you hear it. There's those that preach
to the mind, where the gospel addresses the mind. And there's the people that preach
doctrine, and you can't preach the gospel without preaching
doctrine, the doctrine of Christ. And so it addresses the whole
man. And here's another thing it tells us about here in verse
40. This is what John's doing, preparing
the way of the Lord. He comes to comfort the Lord's
people. And then look what he, this is what he said, your warfare
is accomplished. Oh, here's a message of comfort,
your warfare is accomplished. What warfare? Any of y'all have
a warfare ever going on inside you? Huh? Does your flesh lust against
your spirit and your spirit against your flesh? Do you say, that
that I would do, I don't. And that that I wouldn't do,
I do. So then I see a law in my members,
warring against my flesh. Oh, wretched man that I am. He
said, tell them, the warfare's accomplished. It ain't going to defeat you.
That flesh ain't going to defeat you. No, no. The warfare's accomplished. Listen, the outcome of this battle's
already been determined. You know who's going to win.
The flesh ain't gonna win, Christ's gonna win. He's already won,
huh? Christ stood as our surety. He undertook for all of our infirmities,
all our afflictions, all of our shame, all of our, that's what
he says, tell her that her iniquity is gone. Your iniquity's gone. That's comforting, ain't it?
Oh my, huh? And oh, let me tell you something,
this is something that I love and I learned this years ago.
God doesn't, you know, no shepherd. If you got sheep, you're responsible,
and the shepherd's responsible for the sheep. No sheep's responsible
for itself. No sheep is ever responsible
for itself. And the shepherd is responsible
for the sheep. You reckon he can take care of
them? He told us over in Isaiah, he said, I'll carry the lambs
in my bosom. I carry the lambs in my bosom. Oh, my. And I'll tell you what. And you know, when I, Lord Jesus
Christ, the last thing he said on the cross, Her warfare's accomplished,
the last thing, you know what he said, the last thing he said?
It is finished. Our warfare's accomplished. The
outcome's already determined. Now don't that comfort your heart? To know that the victory's already,
already won? Already accomplished? for whom
he did foreknow, them he also did predestinate. Them he did
predestinate, he also called, and whom he called, he also justified,
and whom he justified, he also glorified. And every bit of that's
in the past tense. I ain't glorified yet, but I'm
as good as done. Huh? That's what we talk about. You know, people do a business
deal and they say, Well, it's a done deal. You shake hands,
it's a done deal. Well, This is something that
was done before the foundation of the world, and God in Christ
chose us in Christ, and what God does, nothing can be added
to it or nothing can be taken away from it. That's comforting,
ain't it? Huh? Oh, my. And then look what else he says.
Goes on to say her iniquities for all of it. And this, I don't
hardly know how to say this. For she hath received double
RECEIVED OF THE LORD'S HANDS DOUBLE FOR ALL HER SINS. NOW
WHAT IN THE WORLD DO YOU RECKON THAT MEANS? DOUBLE FOR ALL HER
SINS. WELL, I'M GOING TO SAY HOW I
SEE IT, AND IT MAY NOT BE RIGHT, BUT I'M GOING TO TELL YOU HOW
I SEE IT. WHEN IT SAYS THAT HE HAS PAID THE DOUBLE, THAT MEANS
HE PUT ALL OUR SINS AWAY. THEY'RE GONE. HE JUST TOLD US
ALL OF THEM ARE GONE. ALL OUR INIQUITIES ARE PARDONED.
ALL OUR SINS ARE GONE. And then He turns around and
gives us, puts our sins away and turns around and gives us
a righteousness. So He gives us a perfect standing
before Him. That's pretty good, ain't it? Sins are gone. That's one. And here's the double. I'm not
going to take your sins away, but I'm going to give you a righteousness.
My righteousness, the righteousness of God. Huh? Oh my. And then here's Mark 3. Here's
Mark 3. Here's where we go now. We got
down here. The voice of him. The voice of
him that cries in the wilderness. Cries in the wilderness, prepare
you the way of the Lord. Make straight in the desert,
listen to this, a highway for our God. When he says the voice
of one crying in the wilderness, you know why he's crying in the
wilderness? John the Baptist went off in the wilderness. He
wore a leather girdle, and here's this man, and here he comes,
and you know why he comes in the wilderness? This is a REJECTION
of man's religion, this is a REJECTION of man's religion, that's a REJECTION
of everything that's going on in town, everything that's going
on up in the synagogues, everything going on at the temple, that's
a REJECTION of man's religion. If you want to hear from God,
if you want to hear from God, you know where you've got to
go? You've got to go out in the wilderness. There's one fella
out there preaching. If you want to hear from God,
you've got to get out of religion. You've got to get away from that
religion, that rejection of religion. You've got to go out in the wilderness.
That's where God's at. That's where the message's at.
Oh, my. Prepare you the way of the Lord.
Well, how did he prepare the way of the Lord? He says, Make
a highway. You know, since Christ made everything, why does it
say prepare the way? John came preaching. John came
preaching, and he came preaching that, There's one coming after
me, there's one that's preferred before me. And they asked him
one time, Are you the Christ? He said, No. They said, Are you
Elijah? He said, No. He said, Who are you? He said,
I'm a voice, crying in the wilderness. And
the scriptures tells us that everybody wanted to hear from
God, had to go where John was. John wasn't going to come to
them, they got to go to him. And that's the way it is with
the gospel. I've always told folks, don't
tell them to come, just don't say, don't come to church, come
hear the gospel, come hear Christ, come hear about Christ. And make
a highway, make Christ known as the one coming Make Christ
known as the One Coming. Make Christ known as to who He
is. Point Him out. Make Christ known
as to what He'll do. He said He'll put away sin. That's
what He said He'll do. He said He'll put away sin. He
said, I'll tell you what. He said, you know, you all think
I'm something? I'm just a voice crying in the
wilderness. That's all I am. He said, He said, he, he said,
I, I got, I got the decrease. I'm nobody. I got to go down.
But he got to increase. Huh? Oh my. And oh, listen, this is what
he says. Oh, and he goes on down there and say, and this is, this
is what he's going to say about Christ. This is what he's going
to say. Every valley is going to be exalted. Every valley is
going to be brought up. In other words, Christ is going
to make a way for us to walk, and look what He goes on to say,
And every mountain and hill shall be made low. He said when Christ comes, He
said He's going to make the crooked straight, and the rough places
plain. He's going to make it so easy for us to go. You know,
it's what He said, our burden's going to be light. He said, Follow
Me. come and follow me, and then
the easiest thing we've ever done in our lives is to follow
Christ. I tell you what, people, you
know, yes, of course we have trials. Yes, of course we have
afflictions. Yes, of course we're getting
old. Yes, of course things are going to happen in our life.
But I tell you one thing about it, that my life is so much better
SO MUCH MORE COMFORTING, SO MUCH MORE STRAIGHTER, SO MUCH MORE
EASY, FOLLOWING CHRIST. IS THAT NOT RIGHT? OH, LISTEN,
YOU SAY, BOY, THAT'S A ROUGH, THAT LOOKS ROUGH OUT IN FRONT
OF ME. WHEN YOU START WALKING, IT'S NOT AS ROUGH AS YOU THOUGHT
IT WAS. YOU SAY, LORD, WHAT AM I GOING
TO DO? THEY SAY, LORD, THIS TIME YOU GAVE ME A MOUNTAIN. You know
what he said about that mountain? He said, I'm gonna make that
thing come down for you. I'm gonna make it come down for you.
And has he not done that for us? Has he not done that for
us? Oh, bless his holy name. Oh,
my. And then he goes on to say, he
gonna make the rough places plain. He gonna make the crooked. Oh,
my. You know, you say, boy, get off
the path, get off the path. No, no. He said, I'm going to
make the. You're crooked, I'm going to
make you straight. The way in front of you is crooked. Your
ways are crooked. I'm going to make it straight. Your thoughts
are crooked. I'm going to make them straight. Your opinions
are crooked. I'm going to make them straight.
The way you're going is crooked. I'm going to make it straight.
This is the way to go. This is the way to go. And then look what else you're
going to say. I've got to hurry. Look what he says now. And the
glory of the Lord shall be revealed. Oh my, what glory is he talking
about? The glory of the Lord shall be
revealed. Oh my, have we seen the glory
of God in the face of Jesus Christ? Have we seen God's glory in his
blessed son? And then this is the same glory
that Isaiah saw when he saw the Lord high and lifted up. He said,
When I saw His glory, and I saw the whole heavens filled with
His glory, and Isaiah after he saw His glory, he said, Oh my,
and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed. You know, it must
be a revelation if we see God's glory. If we see anything glorious
about the Lord, it has to be a revelation. I mean, we can't
see it without Revelation. And then look what he goes on
to say, and then when he says, The voice of him that cries in
the wilderness is John again. The voice said, Cry! And he said, What shall I cry?
What am I going to say? What do you want me to say? Well,
you just talked about the glory of the Lord and how He's going
to make everything right and straight. Now I said, I want
you to tell man what a mess He's in. He said, All flesh is grass. All flesh is grass. Boy, grass ain't much, is it?
Huh? Ain't much. And then, Lord, he
says, and the goodliness thereof. Now, listen, I'm interested in
keeping a good green yard. I like a pretty yard. I do. But you know what? Every year,
the wind blows on it, and it turns brown. It dries up. Don't need mold. It ain't got
nothing to it. And listen, he said, the flower
there, and the flower of the field that you see out there,
he said, it just blows away, just blows away. And you know,
here's the thing about it. As we get older, as we get older,
You know, and we're in our glory, and we're in our prime, and all
that, and we got all this glory about us, and strength about
us, and all that, and then we have all these petals on these
flowers. God blows this one off, and blows
that one off, and blows another one off, and blows another one
off, blows another one off, and then when you know by the time
he gets them all blown off, you're ready to go home. Blow them all off here one time,
Lord, just blow them all off. And then look what he says, the grass
withers, don't it do it? It withers, and that flower fades. And then look what he says, because
the Spirit of the Lord blows upon it. Oh my, ain't you thankful
that the Spirit of the Lord blows upon you? And you know what happens
when the Spirit of the Lord blows up on you? You'll say, surely,
surely I'm grass. You'll find out just what you
really, really were. When the Spirit of the Lord blows
on you, you'll find out what you really were. You'll see what
you really are. You're like grass. You're like
a flower that fades. That's your guilty. And then
look what he goes on down there and say, the grass withers. The
flower faded. and the Spirit of the Lord blown
up, and surely the people's grass. The grass withers, the flower
fadeth. But this is something, even while
we're fading away, and we understand how little and how nothing that
we are, look what he says, no matter what goes on, the Word
of God stands forever. We're fading away, we're just
old grass, flowers fading. And he says here, but you know
what? In spite of what he says about you, God's word stands
forever, huh? Oh, the word of our God shall
stand forever. And then look what he says, talking about good
news. He said in verse nine, oh, sign
that brings glad tidings. Brings glad tidings. What's glad
tidings? Oh, Jerusalem. Jerusalem and say unto the cities
of Judas, listen to this now, behold your God. His word stands forever and listen,
behold your God. And that's what John says. He
says, behold the Lamb of God. What's he going to do? He's going
to take away the sin of the world. Let me show you something real
quick in John chapter 1. I want you to see this and then
I'll quit. John chapter 1. This is in verse 19. John chapter
1, 19. And this is a record of John
when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask
him, who are you? Talking about John the Baptist,
who are you? And he confessed and did not deny who he was.
But this is what he confessed, I am not the Christ. And they
asked him, what then? Art thou Elijah? He said, I am
not. Art thou that prophet that should
come, the Lord Jesus Christ? And he answered, no. Then they
said unto him, Who are you then, that we may give an answer to
them that sin us? What say, what are you going
to say about yourself? That's what he said. That's what
he said about himself. I'm just a voice and I'm crying
in the wilderness. Make straight the way of the
Lord, it says the prophet Isaiah. And they which were sent of the
Pharisees, and they asked him, saying, Why baptizest thou then,
if thou be not that Christ, nor Elijah, neither that prophet?
Listen to this, John answered them, I baptize with water, that's
all I do. But there standeth one among
you, and you don't know who he is. He that is coming after me
is preferred before me, whose shoe latches I am not worthy
to unloose. These things were done in Beth-Abrah,
beyond Jordan, where John was baptized. And the next day John
seeth Jesus coming unto him," Christ is coming to John, and
said, Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away, beareth the
sin of the world. This is he of whom I said, after
me cometh him which is preferred before me, before he was before
me. That's what John had to say about
Christ. That's all I want to be, just
a voice, just a voice. Oh, our blessed Father, in the
name of the Lord Jesus Christ, thank you for allowing us to
stand again, preach the gospel, preach our Lord Jesus Christ,
preach what John said of him, what kind of person John was. He took no glory for himself,
gave man no rights, no power, no ability. gave all the glory
and honor to Christ, pointed to Him, spoke of Him, preached
Him, told people to look to Him, and Lord Jesus, make us faithful,
make us true, make us honest, make us people that are witness
faithfully to the Lord Jesus Christ, witness faithfully as
it is written, and we always say, as it is written. And we
bless you for this service today. Bless you for the food we're
about to eat, the fellowship we're gonna have. Bless it to
your glory and our good, for Christ's sake. Amen. Amen. Turn your eyes upon Jesus. If you girls need to go, go on
back. Look full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth
will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace. Well, I won't see you tonight,
but I'll see you Wednesday, God willing. They'll holler for it.
They'll open that door and say, it's time. And when they say
time,