That was a blessing. Thank the
Lord for that. Sometimes, well if you ever really
hear the gospel of God's mercy and grace, it's almost too much
to take in, isn't it? You think of yourself as being
so unworthy and you hear this grace and this mercy and the
Lord keeps having mercy on you. His mercies are new every morning,
aren't they? And you think it's just too much. You can't exhaust God's mercy,
can you? I keep saying it. There's more
to follow. It's too much. You can't ask
for too much. It's like asking for a little
water out of the ocean. I hope it doesn't run dry. I don't have to worry about that.
My granddaughter, oldest granddaughter, she's very young, she had quite
an appetite, she's one of the stoniker children, you know,
they have an appetite. And she, her mother would tell
her every now and then at the table, she'd just be gobbling
it up, you know, it's other people's table. She'd tell Isabella, it's
too much, don't get too much. Well, one day she was eating
with us and she said to her, me, mom, me, mom, I want too
much. Load her up. You can't ask too much of our
Lord. You remember when he asked, who
was the fellow? He said, ask me a great sign.
Ahaz, wasn't it? And Isaiah. Ask me a great sign. Isaiah 7.
Ask me something. Anything. He said, you can't
weary God. Ask Him. Do you not delight to
give your children anything to ask for? If it's good for them,
you will want it. That's our God in Him. Come with
me to Luke chapter 4. Luke chapter 4. I was going through
some old notes. I'm looking for something to
preach here. I preached this 12 years ago. I'm sure you remember it well. Maybe if I do remember, I feel
like I failed miserably. So Brother Donald, try her again
twelve years later. Same message. I mean not the
same notes or anything like that, but it's the exact same message.
I hope to learn a little something. And thank you for having me. I think you know how I feel about
this congregation, your blessed pastor. Man, we go way back,
don't we? Way back. Way back. What year
did Dad first come here? 1980. 1980. Well, I came here, I think, the
year after that. That's a long time in there.
That's a long time. And, oh man, we've been done
and I've been dear friends ever since and so many others are
still here and so many have gone and I miss them, miss them. And
old friends are special. Old friendships, brotherhood,
been together a long time, been through a lot of things together,
wept together, laughed together. You need to maintain those friendships.
You need to guard them. You need to nurture them. Don't
let anything happen to them. I'm thankful for Brother Donovan
and Shirley. Thank you for everything. Luke
chapter 4. Read with me verses 16 through
22. Luke 4, 16 through 22. He, our Lord Jesus Christ, came
to Nazareth where he had been brought up. And as his custom
was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood
up for to read. And there was delivered unto
him the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when he had opened the book,
he found the place where it was written, and this is Isaiah 61,
the Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath anointed me
and I believe he was he emphasized me he hath anointed me to preach
the gospel to the poor he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted
to preach deliverance to the captives and recovering of sight
to the blind to set at liberty them that are bruised to preach
the acceptable year of the Lord and he closed the book and he
gave it again to the minister and sat down and the eyes of
all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him and he began
to say unto them this day is this scripture fulfilled in your
ears And all bear him witness, and wondered at the gracious
words which proceeded out of his mouth." Gracious words. That's the subject, that's the
title, gracious words. The Lord came to Lazarus, where
he'd been brought up, to preach. To preach. It says in another
place that he went into every village and every town to preach. He said to his apostles, he said,
let us go into the next town, for that's why I came, to preach
the gospel. That's why I was sent. To preach,
to preach, to preach. Don't you love to hear preaching? Good, good preaching. Gospel
preaching. Good preaching. There's nothing
bad preaching going around, I don't want to hear it. I remember one
time, Todd and I were sitting in a meeting somewhere a long
time ago. And we were the only good preachers
there. I mean, the rest of these fellows
were, phew. We were sitting there listening
to one of these fellows and getting more and more nauseated. And
Brother Todd slipped me a note and I read it and I laughed out
loud and everybody looked at it. That note said, he quoted
something by Spurgeon. Spurgeon said, if some preachers
were sentenced to a lifetime in hell listening to their own
preaching, they would say with cane of old, my punishment is
greater than I could bear. Our Lord was a preacher. I'm
not ashamed of the gospel. Are you? No. Oh my. God's people
aren't ashamed of the gospel. The preaching of the gospels
of Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God to those
that are being saved. This is the gospel, this is the
means that the Lord used to save my soul, and your soul wasn't.
You love to hear the gospel preached. I'm ashamed to be linked with
most of these so-called preachers today, aren't you? When people
find out and introduce you as a preacher, it's a shame because
all the foolishness goes on. But the scripture says it pleased
God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. The
Lord God in heaven had one son and he was a preacher. That makes
this office, that makes what we're doing vital then, vitally
important. Why did God choose preaching?
Why did God choose preaching? That's the main thing. You won't
find, no one is saved apart from the preacher of the gospel. You
won't find an example in the scripture. of anybody being saved
apart from preaching the gospel. Is that right? Why did God choose
preaching? Well, number one, we don't need
another reason. Because He did. Do we need to ask? Because He did. But secondly, it humbles man. It humbles the pride of man.
It does. We've got to sit down and shut
our mouths and listen. As a man stands up and proclaims
God's Word. And it's in demonstration of
the Spirit and the power of God to lay hold of often an unlearned
nobody from nowhere and fill him with the Spirit of God and
the power of preaching and save souls through that means. That's of God. And when the apostles,
many people knew Simon Peter. They saw him as a rough, gruff,
longshoreman fisherman, didn't they? They probably grew up with
him. And to hear him preach like he did, and that very word touched
them, that's got to be of God. It's got to be of God. I was
listening to a fellow one time on a cassette tape or CD or something. And I know this. I've known him
a long time. And he's not eloquent. He's not
gifted. He's not in private conversation. He's not able to have, you know,
high thoughts and things like that. He's just not a gifted
fellow. He doesn't have a lot of education.
But I was listening to him preach and it was such a blessing. It
was obvious that God was speaking through this man. You know who
it was? It was me. Seriously. You ever done that, Brother Don?
Yes, I have. I know you have, Brother Larry. Really? We have this treasure in earthen
vessels that's an excellency of power might be of God, not
of man. Otherwise, men higher and more
educated and gifted and all that wouldn't sit and listen to a
nobody. But it's of God. And another
reason is so that people will sit, come, and hear the preaching
from then on. You have to have it. You can't
do without it. Right? But once you've been blessed
and spoken to by God through His Word, You got to keep coming
here. Doesn't matter who the fellow
is. That's why the Lord was a preacher. He preached. Please God by the
foolishness of preaching. Well he came to Nazareth. Where
he'd been brought up, look at verse 16, he'd been brought up
in Nazareth. Now wasn't Nazareth blessed?
Oh my, Capernaum, Capernaum was called his city. He went there
and stayed there a lot. That's where he came back to
and went and came and went. Wasn't Capernaum and Nazareth,
where were these places? They were nothing. Like Rocky
Mount, Virginia or Crossfield, Tennessee. I've been coming here
a long time. I remember when this was a one
red light town, one horse town. You tell the average person going
to Crossfield, Tennessee, even now, where? Well, isn't this
a blessed place? Isn't this a blessed place? My,
my, Nazareth was so blessed. It's where he had been brought
up. As his custom was, verse 16,
as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the seventh
day and stood up for to read. There's a couple of ways to look
at that. It was a Jewish custom that when a young man would come
home, when he turned 30, that's the age of manhood, the Jew,
that he would stand up in his hometown and read the scriptures. Kind of a rite of passage. That
was a Jewish custom. So it was his turn. He came home. But I look at this a little deeper. His custom, he was accustomed
to always being in the synagogue. I believe that Joseph, I don't
know when Joseph died, but it's obvious that Joseph died at some
point before our Lord became an adult, and Mary, but they
took him to the temple, didn't they, from a child, from a baby. And Joseph was a just man, Mary
was a believer, and they took that child to the temple every
year, and I'm sure they went to a tabernacle where they heard
a man preach. And my parents did too. Timothy's mother and
grandmother did. That's a good thing to become
accustomed to. I remember thinking that my parents
were treating me cruelly by having
me sit in the worship service all the time. The best thing
you can do for your children. And not going to be saved apart
from hearing this word. You've got to know the script,
hear the word, which is able to make them wise unto salvation.
But it was his custom. Wherever you would find the Lord,
I mean, wherever you would find the Lord's people worshiping,
the Lord was there. And he still is. He still is. Went to the synagogue, as his
custom was, always. He was accustomed to doing that.
And he came into the synagogue. Well, he stood up for it to read.
And they delivered unto him the book of the prophet Isaiah. And
he opened the book. They delivered him the book to
read. The book, the book, the book.
Don't you love the book? Don't you love this book in your
life? And I do hope you have a book
in your life and not a device. Seriously. I'm very serious. He opened the book. And they
saw it over the knee of my eye, and I'm not going to go on this
too long, but I'm being very serious here. Over in Nehemiah
chapter 8, it says they built a pulpit of wood. And Nehemiah
and all the men stood up in the pulpit to read the book. And they read from morning till
evening, didn't they? And the people were attentive.
But it says the pulpit was for that purpose, for them to stand
up and read the book. And it says he opened the book
in the sight of all the people. In other words, all the people
clearly saw he's reading to us from the book. Is that important? You need to know that the man
standing up here is not reading the U.S. News and World Report. He's
got the book. And that's what he's reading
from. We're reading from the book, aren't we? I remember,
well, I don't remember, but it was told me when my father-in-law,
1968, He was in false religion and
someone invited him to come hear Henry Mahan preach. And his daughter,
Mandy, was nine years old when they took her and the family
to hear Henry Mahan preach. Now he didn't know anything.
He had Ballard. He didn't know anything. He didn't know the
Lord. He didn't know anything. But the Lord created an interest
in him, a thirst. He was becoming discontent where
he was. He wasn't hearing something.
He told his preacher, Brad, where he was. First Christian church
or something like that. He said to him, he was getting
discontented like those men in the cave. He told that preacher,
he said, I don't know what I'm not hearing, but I'm not hearing
something. And he actually said, I need to hear some hell's fire
damnation or something. Well, that's what, it's because
they're not preaching the book. And wherever you go, You've been
to some of these places. They're not preaching God's Word.
That's what he told young Timothy. He said, preach the Word, Timothy.
In season, out of season. It's out of season now, isn't
it, Brother Gary? Most preachers, so-called, use this as a prop
to run around the pulpit, don't they, Brother Don? Just waving
it around. They're not preaching it. Line upon line. Well, my
father-in-law sat there and heard a preacher of the Word. And you
know what he came away saying? He said, when he first heard
it, I don't know what he's saying. But he's getting it out of the
book. Isn't he? He's preaching the
Bible. This is the book. Whose book? God's book. You know when people
write a book, there's supposed to be an authority on a subject
like handguns or something. They say it's the handgun Bible. The Bible. That's the word they
use. The Bible on building chicken coops or whatever. It's the Bible.
It's the Bible. In other words, that lends credence
to it, validity to it. This is the authority on the
subject. This is the book. This is God's
book. It's the first and last word
on the subject. Any subject. Name something. This is the authority of it.
And the book was made flesh. And dwell among us. What does
that say about the depravity of man? The rebellion of man? They'd rather read and hear anybody
or anything but Him. What does that say? Listen to
anybody and everybody. Proverbs, how many Proverbs are
there? Eight or nine hundred Proverbs alone. Solomon wrote
three thousand. You hear anybody quoting one?
What does that say? Do you love this book? Do you
love to read it? Revelation 1 says, blessed is
he that has the words of this book, that readeth the words
of this book. Do you love to read this book? That's of God, brother.
Do you love to hear it? Do you love to hear it read?
Do you love to hear it preached? Do you? Oh, and blessed are they
that keep it, that lay hold on it, that believe it. Do you believe
this book? Do you believe God's Word? Do
you believe all of it? Yes. Even who sweat and wail? Oh,
yeah. That's of God. The book, the book. He opened
it in the sight of the people. The book. What a blessing this
book is. You know what it took for us
to get a copy of this book? People were burned at the stake. Burned at the stake so you're
not going to have an English language copy of that. Bless
God for the book. The book. He opened it. He opened
the book. Now this is not the last time
he opened the book. In the end, he's going to open
the book. Over in Revelation 5, it says there was a book written. And I heard an angel say, who's
worthy to open the book? No man in heaven could open the
book. And I wept much, because nobody could read the book. And
the Lion of the tribe of Judah came and took the book and opened
it up. He's the first and last word
on every subject. Don't you love to hear it read? And you need to hear it read
by somebody that knows the writer of it. Don't you? Can you imagine
the Lord Jesus Christ reading this book? Now they delivered
unto him the book. But that proves my point, doesn't
it? He opened it in their sight. He didn't need... He wrote it! It's all right here. It's all right here in it. He
didn't need a copy of the book, but he did. He opened it in the
sight of the people. If they'd have known who this was, they
would have said, Oh, Word of God incarnate speak to us. Wouldn't
they? Here, find something to read.
And they gave me the book. But he opened it to the book
of Isaiah. And he found the place where
it was written, Isaiah 61. To Him give all the prophets
witness done. Our Lord Himself said, they,
of the scripture, they are they which testify of Me. He could
have turned anywhere. They gave Him the book of Isaiah,
the scroll, the robe, whatever it was made of. They gave Him
the book of Isaiah. He could have turned anywhere
and read anything and said, this day is this scripture fulfilled
and you read it. He could have turned to Isaiah 6, when Isaiah
said, I saw the Lord high and lifted up. He could have said,
this day is the scripture fulfilled you read. I'm here. He could
have turned to Isaiah 7, Emmanuel, call his name Emmanuel, God with
us. He could have said, this day is the scripture fulfilled
you read. He could have turned to Isaiah 9, couldn't he? A child
is born, a son is given, called his name Wonderful, Counselor,
the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.
He could have turned there, couldn't he? And it said, this day is
the scripture fulfilled. You ready? He could have turned to Isaiah
11, the rod of Jesse, this day. Isaiah 25, He'll swallow up death
and victory. It'll be said in that day, this
is our God. We've waited on Him. He'll save
us. He could have said, this day is the scripture fulfilled
you're in. Couldn't He? He could have turned to Isaiah
32, the King shall reign in righteous day. A man shall be a hiding
place. This day is the scripture fulfilled you're in. He could
have turned to Isaiah 42, behold my servant, mine elect. He'll
bring forth judgment. This day is a scripture fulfilled
year. Couldn't it? He could have turned to Isaiah
49, a light to the Gentiles, a covenant of the people. This
day is a scripture fulfilled. He could have turned to Isaiah
53. A man of sorrows acquainted with
grief, led as a sheep to the slaughter, as a lamb before shears
his tongue. So he opened, if not his mouth,
Wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities, by
his stripes we are healed. This day is the scripture fulfilled
in your hearing. Couldn't it? But he turned to Isaiah 61. This
is what he chanted. And after he preached, they wondered
at the gracious words out of his mouth. If this isn't proof of God's
absolute sovereign revelation of the truth and electing grace,
this whole story here. They said after he read, what
gracious words. A few minutes later, I want to
throw him off the cliff. Why? What did he preach after
that? Election. Sovereign election. What do you
want to get? If that isn't proof of God's
sovereign saving, electing grace of the people, revealing it to
whom? If you love the truth, you're chosen. You're chosen. God loves you.
But he chose Isaiah 61. Here's what he read. Look at
Luke 4, verse 18. He said, The Spirit of the Lord
is upon me. He hath anointed me. to preach
the gospel to the poor. The Spirit of the Lord is upon
me. The name Christ, Christos, means anointed one. He is the
anointed one. He is the one anointed of God. He's the prophet, He's the priest,
He's the king, He's the mediator, He's the advocate, He's the way,
He's the truth, He's the life, He's all. He's all the fullness
of God in a Godhead bodily. He is all. He is here. He's the
anointed one. Great is the mystery of godliness.
God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit. That
is the Spirit of God declared Him to be. At His baptism, this
is He. This is the One. This is the
One. There is no other. You need a prophet? Like the
woman at the well said, when Christ has come, He'll tell us
everything. Christ said, You need a priest? Someone to
go into the Holy of Holy with the precious blood of a lamb
to offer up one sacrifice forever for your sin? Christ said, I'm
the priest. He's the King. What do you need?
He's got it all. He has all the storehouses. He's
the King. He's the anointed one. He said,
the Spirit of the Lord has anointed me. Now you hear fellows say
that today, don't you? And anytime you ever hear somebody
say that, you mark them off immediately. I got the anointing. You hear
them say that all the time. I got the anointing. I got spirit
filled. Isaiah, I'm certain, like Isaiah
53, he didn't fully understand what he was writing when he wrote
that. He sure wasn't speaking. The eunuch, when Philip came
down there, The preacher to the eunuch, the eunuch said, does
he speak of himself or another man? And Philip said, he sure wasn't
speaking of himself. And he preached Christ to him
didn't he, Gary? And Isaiah wasn't speaking of
himself. And neither does any preacher
of the gospel does. No, no, no. Even the Spirit of God doesn't
speak of himself. And real Spirit-blessed field
preaching, anointed preaching, preachers and people don't speak
about themselves. They speak of whom? Christ. Isn't that what Christ said?
The Spirit of God will take the things of man and show them to
him. He will not speak of himself. He'll take the things of man
and show them to him. You want a Spirit-filled church?
You want to hear a Spirit-filled preacher? Number one, he's not
going to say that about himself. But number two, you're going
to hear him preach Christ! You know, Christ came down here
to bear witness of the Father, didn't He? No man knoweth the
Father but the Son. Neither knoweth any man the Son
but the Father, and He with whom the Son will reveal Him. Did
I say that right? Well, the Spirit, God the Father,
bears witness of the Son, doesn't He? God didn't speak out loud.
Just a couple, three times in the New Testament, didn't He?
It was all about his son. One was personally to his son.
When Christ said, Father, glorify thy name. He said, I've glorified
it and will glorify it again. And then through the apostle,
this is my son in whom I'm well pleased. And at his baptism,
this is my son. That's all God's got to say to
human beings, isn't it? The Father bears witness of the
Son. The Holy Spirit bears witness of the Son. That's what he does. That's his purpose. Lead us and
guide us in all truth. The truth as it is in Jesus Christ. He said the Spirit of the Lord
has anointed me because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel
to the poor. Are you poor? I look around here at some pretty
nicely dressed people. Got some pretty nice cars out
there in the parking lot. There's none of us in here physically,
materially poor. But I hope every person in here
is spiritually poor. I hope every one of us feel poor
and needy. Don't you? Because that's who
this gospel is for. We say that all the time, don't
we? This gospel is just for sinners. We say that all the time. Christ
said, I didn't come to call the righteous, I came to call sinners.
This is for those that don't have any goodness, those that
don't have any righteousness, those that don't have any wisdom. Those that have no redeeming
qualities. Nothing to recommend them to God. Poor. Lepers. Oh my, this gospel is for the
poor, poor in spirit. The Lord's got to do that to
us, doesn't He? It's poor in spirit. Isn't that
the first thing the Lord said in His Sermon on the Mount? What
was the first thing He said? The first blessing that He pronounced
upon people. Blessed are the poor in spirit. Theirs is the kingdom of God. He said go tell John again that
the poor have the gospel for you. You ever get tired of hearing
this gospel? Well, if you ever quit being
poor and needy, you'll get tired of it. You want some of that? Oh, he sent me to preach the
gospel to the poor. And brethren, you've got a preacher
right here. You've got a good preacher right here. Go in the
bed. Folks down in Fairmont have a good preacher. You know I said
this, where I was in Newcastle, and I say this carefully and
I mean it everywhere, I mean it, I mean no disrespect to these
men, but Henry Mahan's ministry is over. It's over. I mean, I'm still
listening to it all, but his preaching, it's over. Scott Rich
is gone. Right there is Henry Mahan. That's right. Don't brag on the
dead and kill the living. I'm just the one to say that. Because no man of stains can
remain higher than I do. But he would say this very thing
if he was standing here right now. Right over there is Scott
Richardson. You need to hear him. God has not left himself
without a witness. When Elijah was gone, Elisha
was raised up. When Paul was gone, Timothy was
raised up. Some said that. We've got Paul. Don't do that. He got a preacher. He got a good
preacher. Man, oh man. And when Christ preaches, He
preaches through a man. He preaches through a man. That's
amazing, isn't it? And I'm thankful. I'm thankful. He sent me to preach the gospel
to the poor. Verse 18, He has sent me to heal
the brokenhearted. Heal the brokenhearted. The scripture
says, God said, I wound and I heal. First thing the Lord's got to
do. To show you, to preach to you the insearchable riches of
Christ, make you poor. Basically the hunger and thirst,
got to make you hungry, doesn't it? To want to eat Christ's flesh,
got to make you thirsty, want to drink Christ's blood, doesn't
it? It's got to make you poor to want the insurgible riches
of Christ, doesn't it? He's got to break your heart
over sin for this gospel to mean anything to you. He sent me to heal the brokenhearted.
The gospel is this blessed balm of Gilead. You know what the
balm of Gilead was made up of? Myrrh, principally. That's it. You know where myrrh comes from?
Amazing. It's a tree. It's an evergreen
tree. And they don't cut it down. They don't cut it down. They
slice it, the tree. They cut it. They wound it. And
it's literally the blood that comes out of that tree. It has
this healing quality. It has a sweet smelling savor
to it. Not only a sweet smelling savor,
but there's nothing quite like it. A salve that will heal, bind
up wounds. An evergreen tree, wounded, and
the blood is the balm. Now, what's that talking about?
Isn't that amazing? He sent me to preach this gospel,
and this is what heals. When the Lord sent the disciples
out to preach, He said, go preach the gospel. Heal the lepers,
raise the dead, give sight to the blind, isn't it? Well, this
gospel is what does that, isn't it? When he told them, go tell
John again that the lame walk, the blind see, the dead are raised.
Brethren, I still see that happening, don't you? Not as much as I'd
like to, but we do see it. We see people that sit and hear
and listen to the gospel and listen to the gospel for a year
and never hear a thing. And all of a sudden, they hear.
Their ears have been opened. Their deaf ears. Their blind
eyes to see God, to see Himself. They now see God. started attending about five,
six years ago. He's an electrical engineer and
she's a nurse and they're, you know, gifted, humanly speaking,
intelligent people and this man can do anything. But they say he was Catholic
and they sat for four or five years and they couldn't get out
that back door fast enough. And I couldn't even get, you
know, they'd go, where's Bobby? She'd just, where's Bobby? And we, how many times did we
say, what's going through their minds? Why are they coming here? You don't even speak to me. Later,
Brother Donnie, the lady said, I didn't like him. I thought
he was mean. I thought he was rude, talking about me. Didn't
like what I said, but she kept coming. You tell me about enough, God. And she wrote me a letter in
that time, and it wasn't very nice. She rebuked me over something. I didn't deal with it. She rebuked me in a letter. I
didn't answer it. Well, it wasn't long. And Lord broke both their hearts.
And now, the last ones to leave. The last one, they don't want
to leave. They don't want to leave. They're dear brother and
sister now. Oh, my. The Lord's got to break
your heart. They broke their hearts. The
Lord's got to break your heart. This gospel, oh, my. It's healing. It's healing. He sent me, verse
18, to preach deliverance to the captives. Oh, my. Deliverance to the captive. Pharisees
said, we be Abraham's seed. We've never been captive to anybody.
Oh, man. They were captive to Satan right
as they spoke. Some of you were in false religion.
You, honey, my, my. You can sure talk about captivity,
can't you? You were preaching all this freedom. That's what
Pentecostalism, they brag on all this. You know, what's that
scripture says? Promising everybody liberty when
they themselves are Captives? People need deliverance from
these deliverance places. You know? Every one of these
places has got the name deliverance on it. They need deliverance
from that! There are captives to it, aren't there? Oh, He sent
me to deliver the captives. Captives bound by the flesh,
bound by Satan, bound by sin, bound by lust, bound, bound,
bound. And do you not Do you not still,
believer, do you not still feel bound by the flesh? Do you not
still think, like Paul said, in my flesh dwelleth no good
thing. What I want to do, I can't do. What I don't want to do,
that's what I do. Do you not feel that? Feel like I'm just
so bound? Who shall deliver me? And Paul answered for himself. Oh, thank God. There's a deliverance.
Jesus Christ. Every time we hear the gospel,
don't we feel like we've been delivered? Deliverance to the
captive. Our Lord said this day, and brethren,
I'm preaching, Brother Larry's preaching this gospel. I'm trying
to preach this gospel. And today, this scripture is
fulfilled in your ears. Somebody. Anybody. Needs real deliverance. It's
in a deliverer. The Lord Jesus Christ. Look at
verse 18. He sent me to recover the sight
of the blind. Amen. You know, I'm still blinded
by myself at times, aren't you? I'm still blinded by the things
of this world, aren't you? I'm still blinded. Blinded, blinded. I still need deliverance. I need
this gospel. I need to keep hearing this gospel.
Don't you? Open blind eyes. We got some
people we know that their eyes are blind. Lord open their eyes. He sent me to set at liberty
them that are bruised. That means those that are beaten
up and bloodied and the adversary has pummeled them like Christian
faithful. Remember that story of Christian
and his companion faithfully left the straight and narrow
way and got off in Bypass Meadow and then they ended up, they
fell asleep and they ended up in Doubting Castle? Remember
that? Old Brother Donnie, we love that story, don't we? The
Lord had to put our brother John in prison to tell us that, didn't
He? They ended up in Downing Castle
and it says that old Giant Despair would go and take them both out
of the dungeon every now and then and just give them a thrashing.
He would go through this world and all around us, troubles and
trials and tribulations, doubts and fears, lusts and failures
and falls and everything we go through is just beaten and battered
and bloodied. Somebody get us out of here.
Somebody come help us. Set at liberty. One of these
days you're going to be real free. And you never feel so free,
do you, as when you're hearing this gospel? Liberty. Liberty to sin cry. Oh my. Verse 19, to preach the acceptable
year of the Lord. You know the hour. Acceptable
year of the Lord. Now what this is alluding to
is a year of jubilee. Over Leviticus 25, I believe,
a year of jubilee that everybody that was in debt, everybody that
was in prison, after 49 years, 50 years, on the 50th year, they
blew a trumpet and said, anybody in debt, anybody that's lost
everything, anybody in prison, turn them loose! But if you were in prison, that
would be the sweetest sound you ever heard, that trumpet sound.
Like Rahab, that trumpet sound that Rahab, that was noise to
the ears of everybody in Jericho. What's that sound? Tell them
to hush. Rahab said no, tell them to blow
it louder. That's my deliverance, he's coming
to get me. Well that's just every 50 years.
You had to wait 50 years, Brother Larry. You and I don't have 50
more years. And you're a lot older than I
am. Scripture says, count your days.
We've got days. You know what He said, Brother
Donnie? Today, this day is the Scripture for fulfilling your
years. Year of Jubilee. Acceptable year of the Lord.
Right now. Right now. Today is a day of
salvation. Whenever the Gospel is preached,
this is the day. This is your day. If you need
deliverance, if you need healing, If you're poor and needy, if
you're broken hearted, and you know this gospel, we talk
about the gospel, it's Christ and Him crucified, a pardon for
sin, a peace that endureth, righteousness that endureth. It's all included. The Gospel begins with a sovereign
God reigning and ruling over all things, purposing all things,
predestinating everything down to the very hairs on your head. Everything about you, everything
about your family, every aspect of your life, everything, every
single thing in your life and everyone in your life. God has
predestinated and purposed it according to His will. And He's
too kind to do wrong. He's too good to do evil. He's
too wise to err. And He loves you too much to
not do exactly what is best for you. Now that is good news, Eddie. That will heal your broken heart.
No matter how bad the marriage is, no matter how rebellious
the children are, no matter what sickness you go through, what
death, whatever you endure, here's the good news. Thy God reigneth. And it's all good. And it's all
according to His purpose. He's not a bystander in the affairs
of men. He's working all things after
the counsel of His own will. And for His people, for their
good, for His glory. And they're going, oh, buddy,
when it's all over... You see, we need... Oh, that
they were wise and would consider their latter end. Just wait till
it ends. That's why the Scriptures keep
saying, wait, wait, wait, wait till it ends. Don't get too upset. Don't get too down, okay? Wait
and see the end. It's going to end good. Real
good. And we're all going to say, what
were we worried about? What were we so upset about? Yes, it's sadness. Yes, it's
real sorrow. Yes, it's great. Well, here's
the good news. And this is the only way that
Job could console himself in all that grief he endured. What
did he say? He consoled himself by saying,
it's the Lord. Eli, it's the Lord. Job, the
Lord gave. The Lord taketh away. Blessed
be the name of the Lord. Right? The balm of Gilead. This is healing
for the broken heart. This is deliverance from being
captive to our doubts and fears and worries and troubles. This
is sight for the blind. We've got to see beyond this
veil of tears, don't we? Acceptable year of the Lord.
Acceptable year of the Lord. I like to put it this way. God
is accepting all applications for mercy. You ever applied for a job, you
know, and there were like a thousand applicants. You go, I ain't going
to get that job. Ain't no way. Somebody better
than me. Somebody better than me is going to get that job.
I got good news for you. This ain't for the best. Everybody
that applies, even the worst, the worst. Me, would you have
me? Accepted. Come on in. I'm a thief. All I've ever done
is been a thief all my life. I've never done any good. Come
on in. It's acceptable. Any closer? That's the last word
I'm saying. Those are gracious words, aren't
they? Oh, may the Lord let us hear those words in our hearts
and come to Christ. Okay. Well, well, well, well, well.