be gross here in any way I don't
mean to do that but you take a dead man hit him slap him he won't make a sound
not make a peep pick up a bunch of pick up a hundred pound weight
and lay it on him he won't feel the burden of it won't feel the
burden of it And he isn't weary from the burden of it. Turn out the lights. He don't
know they're out. Turn them on. He don't know they're
on. Huh? He doesn't feel the darkness.
And the unconverted man is laden with sin. The load of his sin. But he's not weary of carrying
it. No, no. Huh? He's shut up in prison,
but he don't have to be let out. He's shut up in the prison of
God's justice, but he doesn't long after liberty. He is under
God's curse, but he don't care. It causes no condemnation in
his heart, causes no condemnation in his conscience or his mind.
Is there any hope for somebody like that? There's any hope for
people like us? Yes, there is. And there's only
one, but God. This is the only hope for men
in this state. This is the only hope for people
in this condition. And I tell you what, as long
as there's life, there's hope. As long as there's life, And
if you're praying for a son, or a daughter, or a husband,
or a wife, or a grandson, or a grandchild, don't never stop
until they leave this world. Pray for them. Call their name. Call their name. Call their name. Christ called people's names.
He says, Zacchaeus, Lazarus, Mary, Martha, Peter, come over
here. Matthew, follow me. He called
people by name. And if He calls them by name,
let's take our name, our Lord, the people we love, let's take
their names to Christ. Take their names to God. Not
only is it a word of hope, but this God, this gospel, look what
it says, it's a word of miracles. But God, who in His rich and
His mercy for His great love were with, He loved us even when
we were dead and sinless, listen to this, has quickened us together
with Christ. Quickened us when we were dead
in trespasses and sin. That's supernatural. That's a
miracle. I say this all the time. The greatest miracle that ever
took place in this world was God saving a sinner. God giving
a dead man life. What God done for us is exactly
what He did for Lazarus. Oh Lord don't bring him out of
there, he stinks, he stinks. Not when I give him life he won't
stink. Oh yes he stinks, but oh listen
I call his name and I call him out of the grave, he ain't gonna
stink no more. He ain't gonna stink before me,
he ain't gonna stink before my father, he's not gonna stink
before the law. He's not even gonna, oh listen,
he's not gonna stink no more. And guess where He goes set?
He goes set with me. Huh? Oh my. People are, you know,
they make fun of miracles. But I tell you, and then people
talk about miracles. But oh, I tell you, people are
skeptical of the supernatural. But when it comes to the things
of God and the things of the gospel, everything God does is
supernatural for us. I mean, it's absolutely supernatural.
You know, I'll tell you what, if a day, you know, people, if
we could get our loved ones back for just a moment right after
they're gone, if we were really believers, we'd say, no, no,
no, no, no, no, not another moment in this world. Because we understand
the natural, the supernatural in this. You know, just like
Mary, when Gabriel came and told her, said, Mary, said, you're
going to have a son. You're going to call his name
Jesus. And he's going to be that holy
thing that's going to be born of you is going to be born of
God. And she said, how in the world is this going to be? How
is this going to happen? I've never known a man. I can't
have a child. I've never had a relationship
with a man. He said, with God, with man,
everything is impossible. But with God, all things are
possible. And I'll tell you this. I'll tell you this. She had a
supernatural birth in her womb. A miraculous birth from the womb
of a virgin. And I'll tell you this. God gave
us a supernatural birth in our own lives. And I tell you that's
what Nicodemus, you know, he said, oh, how can a man be born
when he's old? Nobody ever told him he had to
get in his mother's womb. As our Lord said, that which
is born of the flesh is always going to be flesh. Well, what
are you talking about? You got to be born of the Spirit.
You got to be born of the water. The Word of God. And I'll tell
you this, if it isn't supernatural, if it's not a miracle, if it
don't produce life, it's not the gospel. Ain't that right? You know what, it's so supernatural,
it's so powerful, it's so miraculous, that the gospel and God and His
power gives dead men life, gives blind men sight, Deaf men hearing. People who can't walk can walk.
Deaf people can now speak. Oh my! He makes sinners to be
righteous. He takes rebels and makes them
to be sons. Do you ever feel like you're
a miracle? That what God did for you is an absolute miracle? And I'll tell you something else.
He works that miracle every day in our lives. Keeping us believing,
keeping us cleaving, keeping us looking to Him. Keeps us calling
on Him, crying out to Him. Huh? That's a miracle. Every single
day of our lives. Oh my. Mr. Pink says this, he said, it's
like keeping a fire burning in the middle of the ocean. He said,
that's how miraculous our life is in Christ. If you was going
across the ocean, you got out there in the middle of the Pacific
Ocean or Atlantic Ocean, there's a great big fire burning out
there. No explanation for it except other than it's a miracle,
supernatural. That's what God does for us,
keeping us living every day. Huh? And oh, but I'm going to
tell you something, not only is this, but God, a word of hope.
Our only hope. Not only is it a word of miracle,
but God, even when we were dead in trespasses and sin, He gave
us life, quickened us together with Christ. But oh my, but God,
it's a word of surprise too. Huh? What a word of surprise. We were in this awful, awful
condition. But God, what happened here? God broke in on us. He invaded enemy territory when
he invaded us. He come among his enemies and
guess what he did? He made them his blessed sons. Made them to love him, made them
to desire him. Oh, God broke in on us. This is something, for God to
break in on a man. God's got to invade a man. This
is something I know without a shadow of a doubt. God broke in on us. He invaded us. He invaded us
with the gospel, with His word, with life. He went into our hearts
and He took it out and put in a heart of flesh. He went into
our minds and took that darkness out of there and put in light. He went into our souls and took
that hatred and enmity we had for Him and put in the love of
God in there and shed it abroad in our hearts. Huh? I'll tell you what you talking
about a surprise. Are you surprised that you did
this for you? Let me show you something you
keep Ephesians Look over at Acts chapter 9 Look at Acts chapter
9. Here's a here's what I'm talking
about It's what I'm talking about Look here Chapter 9 verse 1 Talking about Saul and Tarsus.
Here's your good illustration. God breaking in on a man. Let
me show you what I mean. It says in verse 1 in Saul. Yet,
breathing out threatenings. Threatenings. And slaughter. Slaughter? You slaughter pigs. You slaughter hogs. And that's
what he said. He was a threat. Slaughter. Who's he going to slaughter?
Huh? Against the disciples of our
Lord. Huh? He said, I threaten God's
people. I slaughter God's people. He said give me some letters.
Give me some warrants. That's what he's asking for.
Give me some warrants So I can go into Damascus and go into
the synagogues And if I find anybody anybody at all of this
way that this a believer in Christ Whether they're men or whether
they're women. I want to bring them bound back
to Jerusalem well, he started out he went on his journey and
suddenly suddenly there shined round about him a light from where? from heaven
that's where God comes from that's where work has to be done has
to be done from up there down here and oh my look what happened
to him now he fell to the earth he fell to the earth Heard and
heard a voice. Oh My you got to hear a voice
My sheep hear my voice there's coming now is when the dead shall
hear the voice of the Son of God And he heard a voice saying
unto him Listen, I tell you Lord knows these people saw saw and Oh my! Why are you persecuting
me? Well, he's after the Lord's people.
He's after believers. Look what he says here now. And
he said, Who art thou Lord? You see how that's capitalized?
He knows whoever this was had power, had authority. And the
Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. Oh my. It's hard for thee to kick against
the pricks. Oh my. And he trembling, not
glistened. This is something people don't
do anymore. He trembling. Trembling. No fear, no fear of
God. No trembling of heart and soul.
He trembling and astonished. You're talking about surprised.
You're talking about a man surprised and astonished. And said, Lord,
what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said, you arise
and go into a city. And I'll tell you, oh my. He went to slaughter Christians,
wanted them to die. He thought Christ was an imposter. Yet on the Damascus Road, what
happened? The most unlikely person in the
world, the most unlikely person in the world to ever become a
believer, became a believer that day. What happened to him? God broke in. God broke in. Oh my! Christ broke in. Oh my, and you
know what voice he heard? He heard, and this is what he
said about it. He said, when it pleased God
who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by His grace,
he understood that what happened to him was an act of pure free
grace. He understood that what happened
to him made him astonished, made him surprised, made him, oh,
how could this possibly be with what is in my heart? I was a
persecutor, injurious, and oh my, but here comes mercy, running
to get me. Here comes pity, hot on my trail. Here comes God's long-suffering.
He said, I've had all I want to put up with you, and now it's
time for you to know what I can do. I've had all of you, I can stand.
Now it's time, listen, I'll tell you what it was, it was the time
of predestination. To everyone that's ordained of
God shall believe. It was God's predestinated time. It couldn't happen sooner and
it couldn't happen later. That's the way God does it. At
His appointed time, He comes and crossed our paths. He said, I'm going to tell you
something. What are you going to tell me?
That I've got to do something for you. There's no hope for
you. And oh my, let me show you something else over here, over
in Galatians, right back to your left, Galatians 2, verse 20. Oh my, look at this, this is
how, this is, you know, this is what I'm talking about. This
is what I'm talking about. Look what, this is what, this
is how he viewed himself after this. He said in Galatians 2.20. He said, I'm crucified with Christ.
I've died with Christ. I was crucified with Christ.
But then he says this, he said, yes, I was crucified, but yet
I live. I'm alive. Huh? I live. I'm dead and yet I live. I was crucified, nevertheless
I live. And then he goes on to say, yet
it's not me that lives. It's really not me. It's really not me that's living.
Huh? Yet I'm not living. Well what
is it then? Christ in me. I live. Saul of Tarsus lives. Yet it's not me that's living.
What a surprise. Christ lives in me. That's the
only place that there's life. You can only have life from Him.
Huh? And listen to this. This is what
really got Him. Who loved me. The Son of God
who loved me. Loved me. And gave Himself for me. Huh? Oh my. You know, are you surprised
that now you're a believer? That you actually believe? Is
it a surprise to you? Is it a surprise to you that
you love God's Word? Huh? That you come and you love to
hear preaching? I mean, you love to hear it.
You just do like to hear it. You want to hear it. Most of
you listen not only to the preaching here, Sunday morning, Sunday
night and Wednesday night, but you go home and listen to somebody
else or you listen to somebody else this morning. How can you
take so much? Why do you got to be listening
all the time? Why you want to hear all these preachers? Why
is that? What happened? Oh, now you know you don't have
nothing to do with God's people and that's all you want to do
now? Fellowship with the Lord's people? Be with God's people?
You'd rather be with God's people than anybody else on the face
of the earth? Huh? Oh my! Oh my! And I'll tell you something,
when we sometimes have this old flesh rise up, and He does it,
He does it. He does it. And then at the same time, he's
just absolutely miserable when he's like that. What a surprise to ourselves.
I couldn't tell you how many times that I've just stopped
and said, I'm saved. I am saved. God in grace saved
me. And I'll start thinking about
that word grace. And I'm just astonished, absolutely
astonished, that God done that for me. You just, oh, what a
miserable wretch. There was a time you were just
the opposite of this. What happened? But God, that's
what happened. But God. Oh, when God, who commanded the
light to shine out in darkness, has shined in our hearts. Huh? Oh, and I tell you what,
are you surprised that God would love you? That's what He said
here. By the great love we're with,
He loved us. He loved us and gave Himself
for me. Huh? Are you surprised that God came
and saved you, quickened you? And like the old hymn writer
said, and can it be that I should gain an interest in the Savior's
blood? Died He for me, who caused His
pain for me, who Him to death pursued? Amazing love! How can it be? that thou, my
God, shouldst die for me. Amazing pity, grace unknown,
love beyond degree, that thou, my God, shouldst die for me. If it still ain't a surprise
to you, still ain't just astonished that God did this for you, Astonished. I'll tell you something
else about this word, but God. You know what else it tells us?
It tells us that salvation is of God from beginning to end. It starts out talking about God
giving life to people who were dead in trespasses and sins.
And he goes down here and tells us, at the end he starts out
And not all his condition were he in, but he says, but God.
But God. And listen to this. He's rich,
rich, rich, wealthy in mercy. And then he says, even when we
were dead in trespasses and sins, he saved us by grace. Saved us by grace. Quickened
us together with Christ. And not only did He do that,
but then He said He raised us up. Raised us up from where? From the grave. From sin. From self-righteousness. From
a false hope. From traditions. He raised us
up together with Christ. Then whatever He did, He made
us set together. Every one of us are sitting with
Christ right now. Where at? Up yonder. He's on
his throne. Where his body, wherever his
body, wherever he is, that's where his body is. Huh? Now I tell you, ain't that what
else he said? And I tell you what, and listen to this. And
we got years, we got ages to learn something about this. That
in the ages to come, listen to this. He's gonna show the exceeding
riches of His grace and His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. Everything here is done through
Christ and because of Christ. And I love this right here. For
by grace, for by grace are you saved. Through faith, and listen
to this, and that, not of yourselves, you have a thing in the world
to do with it. Not a thing. Well I said, oh listen, I gotta
believe, yes you do. Yes you do, you absolutely do. But where in the world did you
get that faith at? You wasn't born with it. You
can't buy it. You can't pray it down. God gave it to you when He gave
you grace. When He gave you grace, you know
what come with it? Life, breath, salvation, grace,
faith, repentance, everything that God required for us to do,
He did for us in His blessed Son. That's why Paul said, I
live by the faith. The faithfulness. Christ Jesus
I don't live by my faithfulness I live by his faithfulness and all for by grace are you
saved through that not of yourself listen to this it's a gift of
God God gives it to you well how do I not want it ah did he
ask you Did he ask you whether you wanted
it or not? But after he gave it to you, you were absolutely
thrilled to death that he did. He said, I got something for you.
And you know, we didn't even have
a clue what was going on. I got something for you. What
is it? Salvation. But what I got to
do to get it? Nothing. I'm going to bring it
to you. I'm going to give it to you.
And I'm going to give you everything that you absolutely need to look
to me, believe me, and trust me. I'm going to give you everything. Not only that, but I'm going
to give you everything to keep you on. Oh my goodness. This salvation is just overwhelming. No wonder we say amazing grace. Oh, it's amazing. No wonder how
sweet it sounds. Where? In a believer's ear. In a believer's heart. Huh? And look what the Lord goes on
to say. And He says, just to make sure you understand what
I'm talking about, it's not of works. You don't have a work. You don't have any kind of work
that I would ever accept or do. Because if you did, you'd boast
about it. But he goes on to say, here's
what happened. God started a work. For we are His work. It's you. That he that hath begun a good
work in you, he shall perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ. This is God's work. He said,
God, we are His workmanship. And we was created, where at? In Christ Jesus. Huh? And oh, He created us under good
works. But here's the thing about a
believer. If he has a good work, he don't know he did it. You
really don't. You find folks bagging about
their works and shining, you know, holding up their light
for everybody to see. They ain't got no light and they ain't got
no works either. Lord, when did I do these things? But watch
what he goes on to say. And God ordained before, as that
predestination again, that we should walk in them. We gonna
walk in them? We are. Why? God ordained it. He predestinated it. So I'll
tell you what this word but God means. It means salvations of
the Lord from beginning to end. You know I started out talking
about how bad we were. And what we were by nature. And then we come up to God. But
God wasn't going to let us stay like that. He quickened us. He gave us life. That's a miracle. Supernatural act of God. Huh? It's a word that surprised us.
He astonished us. He broke in on us. We was all
over Damascus Road. And He broke in on us. And He
taught us. And He taught us how bad we were
and how evil we were. He come. And He saved us and
made us to understand from Alpha to Omega, Salvation is of the
Lord. What do you believe? Salvation
is of the Lord. Why do you believe it? Because
God saved me. When did He save you? When it
pleased Him. Why did He save you? according to his good pleasure. How did he save you? By grace? Huh? Oh, I'm telling you. Somebody will ask me, you know
what you believe? And I'll say, I'm just the opposite of what
free willism believes. And they get it that quick. Again,
just like that. You say, what do you believe
over there? The opposite, whatever a freewheeler believes, an Armenian
believes, I believe just the opposite. I talked to a woman
that's running some rehab place. Talking about a rehab place.
Me and her was talking. She told me what all they was
doing and how they done this, that, and the other. And I said,
well, I'm going to tell you right now that what you believe, what
you just told me, I believe just the opposite of that. She just stared at me. You know,
you heard about a calf staring at a new gate, put up a new gate
and all the calves gather around and stare at it? Well, that's
the way she was. That's the way she was. She was
like a calf staring at a new gate. I haven't used that in a long
time, but you all know what I'm talking about. Boy, I tell you, like
Henry used to say, if we can't laugh together, you can't laugh
with somebody, you can't cry with them either. But I tell
you what, it's wonderful to laugh together, ain't it? And the gospel
fills us with joy and peace and belief. Now let me tell you this. This but God, not only a word
of hope, not only a word of miracle, not only a word of surprise,
not only a word of salvation of the Lord, but that's also
a word of encouragement. But God, huh? What a word of
encouragement. What a word of comfort. What
a word of encouragement and comfort for you whose hearts are broken
over somebody that you love. Oh, every one of us got somebody
we love that don't believe. Son, daughter, both of mine. I love my son. Oh, I love him. Love my daughter. Love my grandsons. Sometimes it really, really troubles
my heart. Some of you got unconverted husbands
or unconverted wives. And it looks, for my part, it
looks absolutely utterly hopeless. Utterly hopeless. They grew up
where Henry Mayhem was in our home countless times. Scott Rich
is in our home countless times. Don Fortner, Tim James. Countless preachers in our home.
Maurice Montgomery. Raised in conferences. Raised
around conferences. Grew up going to conferences
all over. Got to go places they could never
go. And the case appears hopeless. But
God really ain't. Really ain't. You know what it
says here? That God has great love. Great love. Great love. Oh, how great is God's love.
Huh? If He could save us, He could
save anybody. How great is God's love. Well,
just keep on praying. Keep on praying. Keep on seeking. Keep on calling. Keep on desiring
the salvation of those you love. And for us, for us who are left
in this world, we're left here. We're left here to do something.
We're left here to carry on. We're left here to carry on with
the gospel. We're left here to carry on and live our lives to
the glory of God in Christ. He left us here and left churches
here. He left preachers here. He left the faithful here, those
of us who are left. We live in a world. We live in
a world. That's against God. A world that's
against Christ. We live in a world where Antichrist
is in full force. What is our hope? What is our
encouragement? What's going to keep us believing
in this place? In preaching and believing and
calling on God and seeking one another and coming to these services. What's going to keep us? Carrying
on. What's going to be our encouragement
in this world is so against God. Right now, this pandemic going
on all over the world. People live in fear and anxiety. What's our hope? What's our encouragement?
But God. were with He loved us. How much? How much? We used to
tell our kids, I love you from the moon and back. I love you
this much. You love me from the moon and back, yes? That's nothing
compared to God's love with a great love. Were with He loved us. Huh? Oh my! Is this rich? Is this a blessing? Is the gospel
live to us, real to us? And I tell you what, you know
what encourages us and keeps us keeping on? God! God! And you reckon He'll ever
fail us? If we got this song, The Love
of God, in that little chorus book of ours. Do we have it? Well, I got one right here, so
let me see. I know it was in the beginning. 34. Let's stand together. Where we at now? Far than tongue or pit can ever
tell. It goes beyond the fire star
and reaches to the lowest hell. The guilty pair bowed down with
care. God gave his son to win. His erring child he reconciled
and pardoned from his sin. How rich and pure. How measureless
and strong It shall forevermore endure The saints' and angels'
song When hoary time shall pass away
And earthly thrones and kingdoms fall When men who hear refuse
to pray On rocks and hills and mountains call God's love so
sure Shall still endure the days of this and strong. Redeeming grace to Adam's race,
The saints' and angels' song. O love of God, O now rich and
pure, Well, I'll see you tonight, six
o'clock, God willing. See y'all this evening.