Well, let me say first, it's
really, really good to see everybody. My word, it is. I tell you what, I'm not going
to do that again. Turn with me to 1 Corinthians
chapter 1. I have looked so forward to being
here. Presbyterian Church down the
road from the house we had rented. And when I got there, the women were the ushers and taking
care of everything. So I just turned around and went
back to the house. You know. So I just forgot that. Had a wonderful time, but it's
remained no place like home. And I thank the Lord for these
men who preached for me while I was gone. Brad, Obi, Gary,
and Tom last week. You know, Tom, the one thing
I've noted about him, and all yours I've noted, when he hits
a pulpit, he is ready to go. He hits it at a dead run. And
he don't stop. He runs till he stops. And when
he goes his full blast until he stops, and he's a good preacher,
a fine, fine man, and I love him. All right, let's start reading
here in verse 21, 1 Corinthians 1,
21. For after that in the wisdom of God, God in His infinite wisdom made
it to be this way. The world by wisdom knew not
God. Let all the wisdom of this world
be put together. All the philosophers and all
of their books and all of their wisdom, they could not possibly
know God. But it pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. For the Jews require
a sign. Show us a sign. And the Greeks
seek after wisdom. They sit and listen to all of
their philosophers wanting to hear some new thing and learn
some new thing. But here's the difference. When
we preach Christ crucified unto the Jews, they stumbled over
that. There's no way our Messiah could be crucified. No way our
Messiah could suffer for sins. No way our Messiah couldn't come
empowered and glory and riding a white horse and set up his
throne in Jerusalem. And they stumble over him. Under
the Greeks it's foolishness. It's impossible for one man to
die. For others it just don't make
any sense at all. But under them which are called,
called of God, called by grace, called effectually through the
gospel. But unto them which are called, whether you're Jew or
Gentile, whether you're Greek, Christ, He's the very power of
God. He's the very wisdom of God.
And God says the foolishness of men, the foolishness of God
is wiser than men, though there is no foolishness with God. But
even the simplest things of God is so much above man as a dog
is man is above a dog. Now that's just the way it is.
And the weakness of God is stronger than man. For you see, your calling,
brethren, hath held that not many wise men after the flesh,
not many mighty, not many noble are called. But God hath chosen
the foolish things of the world To confound the wise, God hath
chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things
which are mighty. And base things, the lowly things
of the world, and things which are despised, God's word, God's
spirit, God's grace, God's people, hath God chosen, yea, and things
which are not, things that don't even exist as far as the world
is concerned, to bring to naught things that seem to be like they
are. And He done it this reason, that no flesh should glory in
His presence. But if you're in Christ, God
put you there. But of Him are you in Christ. But of God are you in Christ,
Jesus. Who of God is made unto us wisdom
and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Again, that according
as it is written, if a man's going to boast of glory in anything,
let him glory in the Lord Himself. Our Father, in the blessed, blessed
name of the Lord Jesus Christ, all thankful, thankful, thankful
in my heart to be here to be with the saints of God at Lantana
Grace, to be with the people of God again, that you spared
me and you spared them, that you preserved us together, and
you've met the needs of our hearts, our minds, our affections, our
emotions, and met the needs of all of our, that we have through
the preachers that you blessed to preach here while I was gone,
and I thank you for them. Thank you for this body of believers,
for their love and faithfulness and for their prayers for one
another and for me and mine for them. And Lord Jesus, we've gathered
here to worship this morning, and oh, how I want to worship,
how I need to worship. We've come here to hear the gospel,
and I've come to preach the gospel, and I ask that you'd give the
power to do it. I ask that you'd bring glory
to your blessed son so that when we're through with this service
today, everyone will know that the glory in your flesh is absolutely
one of the most horrible things a human being can do on this
earth. So that when we leave here, we will know and we will
glory in our Lord Jesus Christ, that we'll honor him and bless
him in our heart and in our soul. And, oh, Father, I pray that
you would open the hearts of those who have not yet believed,
that you would give the understanding and give the sight and give the
hearing ear and the seeing eye and the believing heart, and
do it because of our Lord Jesus Christ. May it manifest His grace
to them. And, Father, have mercy, mercy,
mercy, mercy on those we love, children and grandchildren, great-grandchildren. Oh, God, we have to leave them
with you. And we do. Thankfully, we do. Rejoicingly,
we do, knowing that you will always do what's right. God bless
you people together as we've met this morning. In our Lord
Jesus' name, amen. Amen. I want you to look back
with me here in 1 Corinthians. And I want to bring a message
this morning. I've entitled it, Is It Well
With My Soul? We sang that hymn, It's Well
With My Soul. We was riding in a van with five
of us, and they asked me to sing some hymns, and I sung It Is
Well With My Soul. And I wonder if it's well with
your soul, if it's well with my soul. And here he said in verse 22,
the Jews require a sign. A lot of folks say, God, if you're
there, prove it. Prove it. I want to know you
exist. Let me know that if you're real.
I want some kind of a sign. And others, they seek after wisdom. They're really interested in
education, learning, reading books, getting all the wisdom
and knowledge that they can get. But what it says here is that
we preach Christ crucified, Christ on a cross, Christ dying, Christ
shedding his blood, Christ suffering, Christ doing the work on a cross. And they said, under the Jews,
they stumbled over that. Which of the rulers ever believed
on him? This man, where did he ever learn
his letters? He never went to any place we
know. And oh, they just absolutely, and the Jews, they said, oh,
when they, Paul started preaching the resurrection, he said, what's
this babbler got to say? That's impossible. But unto us
which are called, called of God, whether you're a Jew or a Gentile.
I roomed with a fellow that's a Jew. And he talked about being a Jew
all the time. I told him, I said, you're my
favorite Jew and I guess I'm your favorite Gentile. But he
did not believe in God. He did not believe in heaven
or hell. But he gloried in being a Jew. He gloried in being a Jew. But he said he didn't believe
in heaven or hell or no afterlife or nothing. He said when you're
gone, you're just gone. But whether you're a Jew or a
Gentile, if God has called you, Christ is the power and wisdom
of God. Now beloved, I know that in me,
that is in my flesh, dwells no good thing, absolutely no good
thing. I put no confidence in this flesh
before God, no confidence at all. Yet by God's grace I must
control this flesh, I must subdue this flesh, I must mortify it,
make it dead. And the new man can crucify the
old man. Paul said, I must die daily. And we do, we must die daily. Must die to our own will and
self-righteousness and pride and thoughts of goodness in ourselves
before God. We must die to those things daily.
But yet, in light of those things, there are several things that
astonish me about myself. Been gone for two weeks and I
thought about these things. There's been, there's several
things that absolutely astonish me about myself as a believer.
As face answers to water, as face answers to face in water,
I have to face the scriptures about myself. And these things
astonish me about myself. I am as a preacher, even as a
preacher of the gospel, I'm ready to halt. I'm ready to halt. Through weakness, through lack
of faith, no patience. And when our Lord said in patience,
possess you your soul, it seems as if I have none. And another
thing that astonished me about myself, I'm so slow in believing
God's promises. So slow in believing God's promises. I'm like the man said, Lord,
I believe all I believe. But please, please help mine
believe. And another thing that astonishes
me about myself, I am unwilling to bear burdens, mine and others. It seems like it's just at times
I just absolutely have no willingness to bear a burden, mine or anybody
else's. And that's another thing that
astonishes me about myself that I find often that when I do things
for others, that my motives aren't right about it at all. I'm afraid that there's no love
involved in it. No really wanting to do it. When
the scripture says, Oh, no man, anything but to love him. But
instead of finding it a privilege, I find this more of a duty and
I find it, do I need to do that? Do I need
to do that? And another thing that astonishes
me so about myself is I murmur so. I murmur so against the providence
of God. God's life for me day in and
day out. If it doesn't come out the way
sometimes that I think it should, whether you hear me or not, no
matter what I say, I find I murmur against the providence of God.
And oh, this is what astonishes me more than anything. My heart
seems so cold, so cold, so hard and lifeless most of
the time. And it's so slow to warm to the
things of God. When I hear the gospel and I
read the scriptures, it's so, so slow to warm to the things
of God. And a thing that astonishes me
is my mind and heart is so prone to wander in prayer. I can pick
up a book and just get engrossed in it like that. But when I go
to the Lord in prayer, Mine's all over the place. And my attitude towards others,
oh, ain't you thankful that Christ covers a multitude of sins? And yet inside of all those things
that astonish me, yet I stand here before you as one who has
a good hope and a confident expectation of inheriting eternal glory.
Because God, who has performed the work, shall perform it, begun
the work, shall perform it under the day of Jesus Christ. Though
I'm so empty and have nothing, and have no strengths, only weaknesses,
yet I have courage enough to believe that God is for me. I have courage enough to believe
that Christ died for me. that the Holy Spirit sanctified
and sealed me. I have faith to believe that.
Well, how can you say these things in light of all that you said
about yourself? Because I see Christ. I see Christ
by faith to be the power and wisdom of God. I see that. And oh, listen, look what over
here says, Christ is the power and wisdom of God there in verse
24. Let me make just a few comments about this. Christ personally,
our Lord Jesus Christ personally is the power of God. Personally,
He is the power of God. Our Lord in His complex person
is the very power and wisdom of God. And what do you mean
by that? I mean He personally, the Lord
Jesus Christ, in His humanity, in His eternality, in His resurrection,
in all that He is, in His complex person, is the power of God. Now what do I mean by that? He's
the power of God from all eternity. Do you know who made this world? He is before all things, and
by Him all things that are made that were made. And without Him
was not anything made that was made. Ain't that what it says? And it tells us that He, by the
word of His power, He spake all things into existence and upholds
them by the word of His power. Now, you keep I Corinthians and
look with me over in Psalm 36, with me for a minute here, just
for a few minutes and a few seconds, whatever time it takes. But our
Lord Jesus Christ is the power of God from all eternity. This
world is brought into existence by His Word, by Christ speaking. When God said, let there be light,
who did that? Christ did. When God said, let's
make man after only man, who made that man? Christ did. who
became breathed into his nostrils the breath of a life, the living
soul. Christ did that. God has never
ever worked apart from his son. And look what he said here in
Psalm 33, and look in verse six. By the word of the Lord were
the heavens made. Well, who's the word of the Lord?
Christ is the word of God. The word was manifest in the
flesh. And look what it says, and all
the host of them by the breath of his mouth, he just breathed
and everything in the heavens comes out. Look in verse eight,
let all the earth fear the Lord. Let all the inhabitants of the
world stand in awe of him. These guys today, they sing all
them songs, God, our God is awesome, our God is awesome, our God is
awesome. Listen, they don't know the half
of it. They don't know the half of it. We don't know the half
of it. He that inhabits eternity spake this world into existence. And listen, he let all the earth
fear the Lord. Let in the habits of the world
stand in awe of him. Listen to this, for he spake. It was done. He commanded. Is anything changed since the
creation of the world? And oh, beloved, listen back
over here in our text. And I say Christ personally is
the power of God. When He became a man, He was
in all eternity, everything that God did. He upholds all things
by the word of His power. He brought this world into existence
and He upholds it now by the word of His power. Things exist
and consist by our Lord Jesus Christ right now. Your breath
is in His hands. Your life is in His hands. The
heavens is in His hands. Everything in this world is in
His hands. He upholds all of it. And that
means every minute thing. When he became a man, he still
proved he was the power of God. When he stood on that boat, when
he stood on that ship that night, and those fellows were scared
to death that they was gonna perish, our Lord Jesus got up
and said, peace be still, and the wind and the waves obeyed
his will. And oh, he come walking on the
water. Who can walk on the water? But
God, the man who made it, He caused the lame to jump up and
start leaping and praising God because He could just use His
Word and bring them up. And oh, He caused the deaf to
hear. He caused the blind to see. And
one fellow said, I've got a servant sick unto death. And he said,
I'll come and heal him. And he says, no, no. He said,
oh, listen, you're not worthy to come unto my womb. All you've
got to do is send your word and he'll be healed. And he sent
his word. And he got home and said, when
did he begin to mend? He told him, it was such a time.
And that was exactly when our Lord said, I'll send the word.
He caused the dumb to speak. He raised the dead. Lazarus,
been dead four days. He was rotten. He was stinking. He was corrupting. But at his
command, the dead came forth and he didn't stink anymore. He cast out devils and all the
poor had the gospel preached to them. Oh, He was the power
of God, even when He dwelt in His human nature. And I'll tell
you something else, in His life, in His personal life, and as
a man, and in death, His death proved that He was the very power
of God. Look in John 10, 17. Look in John 10, 17. In death,
He proved that He was the power of God. You know, We are all going to have to go
through that valley. We are all going to have to go
there. And the only hope we have is
in our Lord Jesus Christ's death and resurrection. And look what
our Lord Jesus Christ said here in John 10, 17. I show you in
death He proved He was the power of God. Therefore doeth my Father
love me, because I lay down my life You see what I said? Nobody's
going to take it from me. He said, I lay down my life that
I might take it again. I'll lay it down. I'll die, but
I'll take my life back. I'll give myself life back. I'll
die. Yes, I'm going to die. But I'm not going to stay dead.
I'm going to, I'm going to pick my life back up again. And listen
to this, no man takes it from me. Old Pilate said, don't you
know I have the power to crucify you, I have the power to release
you. He said, you got no power, Pilate. He said, you ain't got
any power to do anything. He said, you're just doing what
my father ordained to be done before the foundation of the
world. Oh, and listen to what he said here. No man takes it
from me. I lay it down of myself. I have
the power to lay it down. I have the power to take it again,
this commandment, if I received it from my Father. And when our
Lord Jesus hung on the cross, it says that our Lord Jesus said,
and he yielded up, when the scripture were fulfilled, he yielded up
the ghost. And he said, Father, into thy
hand I commend my spirit. You know when he died? When he
willed to die. Huh? That's when he died. No
man took his life from him. No man. And I tell you what,
he proved he was the power of God in his resurrection. Look
in John 20 with me. John 20. And oh, he resurrected
from the dead. And I'll tell you something else.
You know who else gonna resurrect from the dead? Everybody whom
he died for. You go to anybody that you love's
grave that you know was a believer, they're already, their spirit's
already with the spirit of just men made perfect. But one of
these days, every grave of every soul, no matter where they're
at, whether they're in the depths of the sea, whether they was
burned at the stake and they're nothing but ashes, if they're
nothing but dust, as Adam turned back to dust, wherever they are,
Christ died for them. Because he lived there, every
one of them's gonna live. And every grave everywhere, men's
gonna come up out of the sea. They're gonna come up out of
the ages. They're gonna come up with new bodies. And they're
gonna beat the Lord in the air and forever be with the Lord
Jesus Christ. You know why I know that? Because
Christ, Proved that he was the power of God in his resurrection.
Look what he said here in John 20 in verse 5. And listening
to all, Peter and him ran together to the sepulcher, and he stooping
down, looking in, he went to that grave where our Lord Jesus
Christ was. And he stooping down, looking
in, saw the linen clothes lying. But he didn't go into the grave.
He didn't go in there. He stooped down. I mean, you
know, they had him in a rock. And he stooped down and looked
in there. And he saw these clothes that
they wrapped our Lord Jesus Christ in. And look what it says now. And then he saw the napkin that
was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped
together in a place by itself. What in the world happened? Now,
I'm going to tell you something. They're looking for the shroud
of tyranny, saying that that's evidence of a resurrection. There
ain't nobody ever going to find the clothes or the grave or nothing
else where our Lord lived because they wouldn't make a shrine out
of it. They'd worship the grave instead of Christ who was in
the grave. They'd worship the clothes instead
of Christ who was in the clothes. And oh, he got that napkin off
of his head and he rolled it up and laid it right here and
just got up out of them clothes and walked off. They had to tell
Lazarus, they told him, everybody said, take off his grave clothes. But our Lord left his grave clothes
just where he was at in the tomb. Just like he got slipped right
out of them. And they was not unwound and
that proves that nobody comes and stole his body. He just got
out of them. just got out of them, just rose
and left them laying just like they was. And oh, listen. Then went also
that other disciple which came first to the sepulcher, and he
saw and he believed. For as yet they knew not that
scripture that he must rise again from the dead. Then them disciples
went again their way home. Oh, He proved He was the power
of God in His resurrection. And I'll tell you something,
He's the power of God right now. Right now. Our Lord Jesus Christ,
after He by Himself purged our sins, He sat down on the right
hand of the Majesty on high. God exalted Him. And when you
say to somebody's right hand, people say, that's my right hand
man. That's my right hand. I don't know what I'd do without
them. Well, our Lord Jesus Christ is at the right hand of God.
Do you know what that means? That He's in the position of
power, in the position of authority, in the position of honor, in
the position of exaltation. And He's the power of God right
now. John 17 and 2 says this, that He has power over all flesh. That's everybody. That's everybody
you know, and everybody I know, and everybody we don't know.
Whether they know it or not. That fellas that don't believe
in heaven and hell, those people don't believe in God. It don't
make any difference, that ain't gonna change nothing. Is it? But He said, He has given Him
power over all flesh. I mean, that's over your flesh
and my flesh. And that He, He alone can do
this. Give eternal life. To who? To
as many as was given Him. Now I'll tell you something.
If I was you and I didn't know Christ, I'd say, Lord, that preacher
just told me that you got all power and authority in heaven
and earth. And you got power over me. That you order everything
in my life, I don't care what it is. And if you have all this
power and all this authority that you can save me or leave
me in my sin, whatever you do, please, please, please don't
leave me in my sin. If you got power over me, got
power over my flesh, oh Lord, please don't leave me in my sin.
Don't leave me to myself. If you got this power and authority,
you do for me what I cannot possibly do for myself. Ain't that right? Now listen, let me tell you something
else. It said here, not only is He
the power of God, but He's the wisdom of God. And I'll tell you, the scripture
said in Colossians 2, 3, that all the treasures of wisdom are
hid in Him. And I tell you, our Lord Jesus
Christ, the great things He did before the world began, are proof
that he's the wisdom of God. You know, when it says he was
the lamb slain before the foundation of the world, why was he made
that way? Why does it say that about him?
Why does it say he was the lamb slain before the foundation of
the world? Because the salvation was purposed through the Lord
Jesus Christ and by the Lord Jesus Christ and His Father before
the world ever began. All the wisdom of God in providing
an atonement, providing a substitute, providing a sin offering, before
there was ever a sinner, before Adam was ever made, Christ stood
for His people before the world ever began. Before the world
ever began, Our Lord Jesus Christ identified with His people. He
was a representative man. He did not come here and represent
Himself. He was here to represent. He
had to deal with two people in this world. First of all, He
had to satisfy God. Man can't possibly do that. Man
cannot possibly satisfy God unless that man is God Himself. And only God can satisfy God. But God can't die, but man can. So God became a man in the person
of His blessed Son. Oh, the wisdom of God in that.
The wisdom of God in that. That our Lord Jesus Christ on
this world, while He lived on this world, He was representing
God as God's representative to satisfy Him, to honor Him, and
magnify Him, and exalt Him. and at the same time represent
us before God with the perfect humanity and sinless humanity
to offer himself as a sacrifice for sin in our room instead? All the wisdom of God found in
our Lord Jesus Christ, that he stood for us, lived for us, You
got, listen, I know I've said this before and you need to get,
we have to understand these things. And oh my, as much as I hear
them and as much as I've heard them all these years is still,
if a man's gonna believe God, he has to believe with the perfect
faith. If a man's gonna love his neighbor,
he has to love him perfectly. If a man's gonna love God, he
has to love him perfectly. If a man is going to live for
God, he has to live for Him perfectly. Now where are we going to get
that perfection? And I mean God will not settle
for anything less than perfection. It must be perfect to be accepted.
Where are we going to get this perfect faith? We've got to be
as righteous as God Himself for God to have anything to do with
us. Where are we going to get this perfection? Where are we
going to get this righteousness? Our Lord Jesus Christ. That was
the whole purpose in Him coming. To honor God. God made Him to
be sin who knew no sin. Oh, the wisdom of God in this.
That we who knew nothing but sin might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. All that was purposed before
the foundation of the world, before God ever made Adam, he
had a savior for sinners. And then he purposed from all
eternity that they're gonna hear that gospel, they're gonna believe
that gospel, they're gonna hear Christ crucified. That's why
we say that Christ crucified is the power and the wisdom of
God. Oh, listen, you know, let me
give you an illustration. Here's some things that James
gave me before the service today, just to show you man's wisdom,
how foolish this man's wisdom is. Faith is the victory. No, no, faith ain't the victory.
Christ is the victorious one. And we have the faith of the
Son of God. That's why our faith is perfect,
because Christ believed God enough for all of us. Have you ever had a day that
your faith was perfect, that you believed with all your heart,
24 hours a day? Well, who did? Christ did. So I trust Him to make me acceptable
for God. And listen to this one. Seven
days without prayer makes one W-E-A-K week. That's man's best. Nothing leaves heaven until something
leaves earth. I don't have a clue what they
mean by that. Church 321, trying to sell books
for $1,000. Name the common leader, 31 ways
of unlocking your greatness. Anybody here want that book?
You want to unlock your grace? Use sunscreen, S-O-N, screen
to prevent sin burn. That's man's wisdom at his best.
No wonder Christ is foolishness to them. Christ's stumbling block
to them. We need to talk to God. I'll tell you who talks to God.
For me, and always has and always will, Christ sits at the right
hand of God and maketh intercession for us. God will not speak to
nor be spoken to by any member of the human race apart from
the Lord Jesus Christ. Listen to this one. Trust the
Lord and drive the Ford. If you get time to pray, God
has time to listen. Choosing mothers, choose Jesus. Life is your only chance. Eternity
is paycheck time. Hell ain't half full. Now you understand why we say
Christ is the power and wisdom of God. Listen, look at the world, look
at its creation, look at its glory, how everything continues
as it's ordered by its creator. How's that happen? How does,
how come the sun gets up every single morning? And how come
it goes down every single evening? How come there's seven constellations
of stars? How come that We get rain just
when we need it. Why is all this? Why is the world
and the creation and its glory, how everything continues as it's
ordered by its creation? Because it's the wisdom of God. Christ does it. He opposes it
by the word of His power. Look in Psalm 19. Look in Psalm
19 with me. You know, the creation itself,
the creation itself leaves men without excuse. God just, you know, He's not
like us. He didn't wind up a watch and walk off and leave it. Let
it run by its own will. No, no, no, no. You know all
it takes to mess this thing up. And everybody's worried about
the world going to be blowed up with atomic bombs and this
kind of thing's happening. No, no, it ain't going to happen.
You know why? Because God said He would destroy this world and
all the elements with fire. And then he'd create a new heaven
and a new earth. If he made one, can he not make
another? And look what it says, the heavens
declare the glory of God. Just go out any night you can. And when that sun, that moon
is in full And you look at the, when it's
not in the darkness and see all the stars, you can see the evening
star, Venus out there late in the evening. You know, when the
sun, when the sun goes down, there's Venus out there. And
all the firmament shows his handiwork. Look at this earth and all that's
in it. It's God's handiwork. How many
times have you looked at something and just stood in utter astonishment?
Say, oh my goodness, how beautiful! How glorious! Oh, I've never
seen anything like it! And day under day it utters a
speech. Night under night it shows knowledge.
Every day it's telling us something. It's speaking to us. And it shows
us knowledge every night and every day. And there's not a
place on the face of the earth where they don't hear this speech.
And there's not a language where it's not heard. The line is going
out through all the earth and the words to the end of the world. And them, he hath set a tabernacle
for the sun. I mean, every day the creation
speaks and it gives a speech, whether men believe it or not,
whether they hear it or not. And oh, beloved, and I tell you
this. Our Lord Jesus Christ, He's the
wisdom of God. He purposed the way of salvation
from eternity. Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. He, in His wisdom, He makes the
world to continue as it always was. And in His sinless humanity,
He proved He was the wisdom of God. Even as a child, even as
a child, the scripture said He grew in wisdom and stature with
men and God. As a child, I believe he is 12
years old, the scriptures tells us. And his mother and daddy,
they went up to be taxed and they turned around and went back
to the house. And our Lord Jesus, when they came back and found
him, he was sitting in the temple. And it says he was reasoning
with the doctors and the lawyers. Reasoning with, 12 years old,
reasoning with them. And they were astonished. And
how his answers, 12-year-old child confounded the doctors
of divinity of his day. The men who knew the law, he
confounded them. They said they were just astonishment
at his understanding and his answers. And all, and I tell
you, you read this for yourself when you get home, this will
be a blessing to you. He confounded the Pharisees,
the Sadducees, and the Herodians time and time again. Now let
me tell you, the Pharisees was the strictest living sect. They
believed in the resurrection. They believed in 630 something
laws that had to be kept. And then the Sadducees, they
were people who did not even believe in a resurrection. And
the Herodians, they were the political system and leaders
of that day. But I tell you, let me give you
three things that he confounded about. The Pharisees came to
him and they said, is it lawful for us to render unto Caesar
the things of Caesar's? And our Lord said, show me a
penny. He gave him a penny and he said, whose image is on that? They said, Caesar's. He said,
well, you give Caesar's what's Caesar's, you give God what's
his. Why didn't we think of that? And then these Sadducees who
didn't believe in the resurrection, they said, had a wife and he
died. And as the law says, the brother's
supposed to marry and raise up children unto his brother. So
they said, married, no children, married, no children, married,
no children. And then until they had seven husbands. Said, now
in the resurrection, they thought, boy, we'll fool him now. In the
resurrection, whose wife she gonna be? The first one, the
fifth one, the sixth one, the third one? Who is she gonna be?
He said, you do err neither knowing the scriptures nor the power
of God, for there is no marriage in heaven and earth. Those are things of time and
sense. When you get this new body, you don't need to be married
in heaven. Christ is the bridegroom and we're his
wife. Oh, listen. And then there they come and
one fellow says, Lord, Master, what's the greatest commandment?
And our Lord said, love God with all your heart and your neighbors
yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
All the law and the prophets. And that's why they said never
ever a man spake like this man. Nobody ever spoke like him. Nobody
ever did like him. Nobody can save like Him. And
the fact that He's called a Savior tells you that He saves. He don't try to
save. He don't make an effort to save.
He ain't just standing wanting to save. He does save. He does save. And He's the only one who can.
And you know what He saves men from? Not from mistakes. Not from mistakes. Not from living
a haphazard life. You know what He saves men from?
Sin. Sin. Anybody know anything about sin? That's what Christ came to do,
to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. People say, well,
you know, I ain't been perfect. But, that's the whole long and
short of it. You ain't been perfect. And if
you're going to come to God, you're going to have to be. And the Scripture says you are
complete in Him. And you know what that word complete
means? So don't think for one moment
in your life, if you never hear another preacher in your life,
if you never ever sit under the sound of a gospel preacher, don't
you ever think for one second in your life, one moment that
God will accept you the way you are. God only accepts men in
Christ. He only receives men in Christ
and Christ is the only one that can save you. You know why? Because He's got
the power. He's the power of God. And He's
the wisdom of God. He knows how to save and when
to save and how to deal with you and keep you. Amen? Our Father, O our Father, in
the blessed, blessed name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Thank
you for your gospel. Thank you for the truth as it
is in our Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, God. Thank you for allowing
me to be here this morning. Blessed be your name for allowing
me to speak, for allowing me to talk about you, speak of your
great power, your infinite wisdom, and all that you are in your
blessed person. God, make it real, make it alive,
make it effectual. Oh God, it's up to you to make
it real, make it alive, make it effectual. I have no power
to reach the heart, no power to reach the will, no power to
reach the understanding, no power to give life, no power to give
sight, to see, but Lord you do, and I ask that you will. God,
bring glory to yourself in us here at Lantana Grace. Thank
you for this time together. In our Lord Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Learning to lean. Learning to lean. I'm learning to lean on Jesus. Finding more power than I've
ever known. I'm learning to lean on Jesus. See you tonight, six o'clock,
God willing.