I wish that heat would kick off.
I'll turn it off. You don't want to be turned off?
It seems awful hot in here to me. You all cold? Turn it off? Alright, Luke 24. And it said here our Lord is
talking to his disciples. And it said in verse 44, And these are the words which
I spake unto you while I was with you, and all things must
be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses, and in the
prophets, and in the Psalms concerning me. Then opened he understanding
that they might understand the scriptures. And he said unto
them, Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer
and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance
and remission of sins should be preached in his name among
all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. I want to ask a question this
morning, and that's the title of my message. What did our Lord
Jesus preach? What did Jesus preach? What did
our Lord Jesus Christ preach? What was his message? What was
his message? John, if you know, you're in
24 and you look right over to the page on the right and you
see John's gospel. That first chapter of John, John
the Baptist. He's the last of the Old Testament
prophets. And when he asked about his message,
they sent people to ask him, who sent you? Where'd you get
your authority? Who gave you your message? When asked about
his message, he preached repentance. He preached free from the wrath
to come. He preached repentance, baptism as evidence of a change
of repentance and change of mind, change of heart. But his main
purpose for coming was preaching and was the feet of forerunner
for our Lord Jesus Christ. He said of him that he would
prepare the way of the Lord, make straight paths for the Lord. And that doesn't mean that he
is going to make a way for Christ to walk in. He said, you make
it clear, you make it plain, that when the Lord Jesus Christ
comes, when the Messiah comes, everybody will be able to recognize
Him. You point Him out. Because our Lord is a sinless
man. He didn't need to know what path
to walk in. He says, you make clear, you
make plain, that when He comes, you'll know who He is. So He
was sent. He said, I'm not that light.
I'm not that light. I was sent to bear witness of
that light. He said, there's one coming after
me, preferred before me. And why was he preferred before
me? Because he is before me. Is before me. And he says, I
baptize with water, but when he comes, he'll baptize with
the Holy Ghost and with fire. And he said this, he said, he
must increase, and I must decrease. And then finally in verse 29
of John 1 he identified the Lord Jesus Christ and he says, Behold
the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. And
then from then on his disciples turned and started following
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now that was what John the Baptist
preached when they asked him what his message was. Well what
did the Lord Jesus preach? And you know the New Testament,
the Old Testament speaks of him, he that was to come. But the
words of this Bible, this is especially the New Testament
and the Gospels. They make up the largest body
of teaching and preaching by anyone in the New Testament.
And it concerns what our Lord Jesus Christ Himself said. They've
always said, He said, He said, Christ said, He taught this,
He preached that. And so you find that's what He's
about. And the Holy Spirit came upon
Him at His baptism. And I tell you this is my beloved
son whom I'm well pleased. But why did he preach? Why did
he preach? Well, I'm going to tell you.
Very simple. He preached himself. He preached himself. And everybody else been preaching
since then has been preaching him. But he preached himself.
First of all, he declared himself to be the fulfillment of all
prophecy. Look over here in Luke 24, 27. Look in verse 20, He declared
Himself to be the fulfillment of prophecy. Ain't that what
He said in verse 27? And beginning at Moses and all
the prophets, He expounded unto them in all the scriptures the
things concerning Himself. He started at Moses. Where's
Moses started at? Moses started in Genesis. Moses
wrote the first five books of the Bible. So when our Lord Jesus
Christ started with Moses, he started in Genesis. Then he went
to Exodus. Then he went to Leviticus. Then
he went to Numbers. And then he went to Deuteronomy.
And he spoke in all of every one of those places concerning
himself. And that's what he said. He says,
you know, if you believe Moses, you're going to believe me because
Moses wrote about me. And, oh beloved, the start of
our Lord's ministry, it was the fulfillment of a prophecy. When
He first started His ministry, He picked up the scroll of Isaiah,
and He quoted and He read from Isaiah 61, He said, The Spirit
of the Lord hath anointed me to preach the gospel, to bind
up the brokenhearted, to comfort them that mourn, to set at liberty
them that are held in bondage. And then he said, after he got
through that, he said, this day, this day, right here in all your
presence, these scriptures are fulfilled right now in your presence. They're fulfilled right now.
And oh, when he come to that woman at the well, she's sitting,
our Lord was sitting there, she came. And our Lord preached the
gospel to her and told her about I'm the water of life. And you
know what she said? She said, I know that the Messiah,
when He comes, He'll tell us all things, all things about
salvation, all things that we need to know. And you know what
our Lord said to her? He said, I am He that's talking to you
right now. You're looking for him to come? He said, He's here.
And I'm telling you, I'm the one you're talking about. And
you know she believed him? She threw her water pot away,
forgot about water, and went and started telling people about
him. And I tell you, these claims
to be the one of the Old Testament prophecy, that's enormous. And
I tell you, there's people that's still looking for the Christ
to come. The average Jew is still looking
for Christ to come. There's a lot of people that
don't even believe that he's deity. But some believe, and
I tell you, for him to lay claim that I am the Christ. I'm the
one that the Old Testament spoke about. I'm the one that God sent
into this world from before the foundation of the world and everything
was written to me. And to say that I'm that one.
You're talking about some claims. And I tell you, some believe
He said, who do men say that I the Son of Man am? He said,
well some say you're John the Baptist, some say you're a liar,
some say you're one of the other prophets. Who you say I am? And he says, Simon Peter says,
we believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God. And then
there's others who didn't believe. There's others who didn't believe.
They didn't believe in Christ at all. Look over here in verse
30 of Luke 23. Verse 23, verse 23, some didn't
believe. No, Luke 4, excuse me, I'm sorry,
I said Luke 24, Luke 4, I'm sorry. Luke 4, look what he said here
in verse 23. He's in Galilee, he just got
through closing the book. And saying, this day is this
scripture fulfilled in your ears. And oh, they just wondered at
the gracious words. And he said unto them, you'll
surely say unto me, this proverb, physician, heal thyself. Whatsoever
we've heard down at Capernaum, do here in your country. Come
among your own people and preach to us and heal us. And he said,
no, I'm telling you, a prophet's not accepted in his own country.
But I tell you the truth, there were many widows in Israel in
the days of Elijah, when the heaven didn't rain for six months,
three years and six months, and a great famine. And he said,
but none of them was Elijah sent to except unto Seraphim, a woman
that was a widow. And many lepers were in Israel
at the time of Elisha the prophet. None of them was cleansed save
Naaman. And all they in the synagogue, now this is the same day, he's
preaching now, he just said the script these days, these scriptures
are fulfilled in your ears. And all they in the synagogue
when they heard these things were filled with wrath. Why did
it make them mad? He says because God saves on
the basis of his electing sovereign grace. He said he passed by all
of this and went to a widow. who's not even a Jew, he passed
by everybody else and he saved Assyrian. And he said in those folks they
understood clearly that he didn't come to do anything for them,
he came to do for who he would do it for. And look what they
rose, filled with wrath, and rose up and thrust him out of
the city and led him under the brow of the hill whereon the
city was built. They might cast him down. Went
from loving his gracious words to feeling anger. So some believe
and some not. As old Barnard used to say, the
gospel either makes you mad or sad, or being glad or mad, one
or the other. And then not only that, but he
not only preached a fulfillment of the prophecy, he said all
things written in the beginning of Moses and went through the
scriptures. He says to him all the prophets give witness. And
he declared, secondly, he declared himself by claiming to be the
I am that I am. When they asked who he was, he
said, I am. How many times did he say, I
am, but I am. And they understood clearly when
God told Moses to go down to Egypt. And old Moses turned around
and said, now when I go down there, who am I going to tell
of sin? He said, I am, then I am. I'm self-existent, I just am. Everybody else is because I am. If you have life, it's because
I am. If you're saved, it's because
I am. If you have any revelation, it's because I am. I am that
I am. So they understood clearly that
this is man claiming to be God who spoke to Moses on the mountain. And oh, he has seven, and seven
is perfection and completeness in the scriptures. He has seven
I am's. He said, I am the bread of life. Your father's a man in the wilderness
and they're dead. He that is me shall live. He said, I am the light of the
world. He said, everybody who doesn't
believe me walks in darkness. I'm the light of this world.
And he said, I am the door. If anybody's going to be saved,
he's got to come through me. He said, I am the good shepherd
who lays down his life. For who? The sheep. He said,
I am the resurrection. Lord, if you'd have been here,
my brother hadn't have died. He said, oh listen, I am the
resurrection. Huh? I am the life. You know, that's what He is. He's the resurrection. He raised
us from being dead in trespasses and sins. And He resurrected
us and He is life. And so we have life. We've been
resurrected. We're like Lazarus. He called
us. He says, I say unto thee, arise. Come out of there, Lazarus. And
he called all of us from the dead. He called all of us from
the tomb. He called all of us from death.
He's the resurrection. And when he says, live, I say
unto thee, live. We live. I ain't got no more
eternal life. The eternal life I have right
now, I have no more than when I get to glory. Only thing I
won't take with me when I get there is this right here, until
the Lord Jesus Christ comes back and resurrects the whole church. I've got life now! Got it right
now! I'm not gonna get it, I got it!
That's why we have such a hope for people that the Lord takes.
We can say, yes, they have actually now, the life they've got, they're
really, really living now. They don't have this to contend
with anymore. We hear people say, well, he's
going to have a life when he is. No, if you ain't got it now,
you ain't going to have it there. Ain't that right? A lady told me just yesterday
morning, her father had just died. And she said her father,
he was a religious man, very dedicated man. Southern Baptist
and just all he was dedicated. But her preacher, her husband
is a sovereign grace preacher, free grace preacher. Good preacher. Outstanding preacher. And her
father despised him. Hated him. Hated what he preached. Called him a heretic. Said that
he was just leading the cult. And she, and I didn't even remember
telling this sister, but she said, but he died. And she was
troubled about it. And I said, well, I'll tell you
one thing. She said, well, if he come back,
she said, if he come back, he'd probably believe, he'd probably
believe grace now. And I told her, no, no, he wouldn't.
No, whatever you die in, the only way in the world you'll
not hate God and despise God and fight God is for God to save
you by his grace. He could come back from the dead.
And if God don't change his nature, he'll hate God as much when he
comes back as he did when he died. God's got to change your
nature. That rich man in hell, he didn't
say anything about getting out of hell. I just want a little
relief. I just want a little relief. Give
me just a drop. And understand that, understand
that, you see, when he said, I'm the resurrection and the
life, if Christ does not give a man life, I'm telling you what,
if he don't change his nature, he will go to hell with the nature
he's got, and Christ bring him back from the dead, and he still,
if Christ don't give him a new heart, he'll have the same heart
he had while he lived on this earth. Ain't that right? People don't understand that.
They've got to understand this, that if whatever, if a tree falls
to the south, that's the way it's going to lay. If it falls
to the north, that's the way it's going to lay. Whichever
way that tree falls, that's the way it's going to lay. And now
Dante, if you won't like it, you're going to have to get it
from Christ. He's got to resurrect you. He's got to give you life
from the dead. He's got to come and quicken
you. Ye who were dead and trespassed the ship had to be quickened.
Quickened together with who? With Christ. She sung that. Well, I've ever thanked Christ
yet. I'm accepted in the beloved.
When he went to the cross, I did. When he went to the tomb, I did.
When he resurrected, I did. And right now Right now, we who
have been saved by the grace of God, we're seated with Christ
in heavenly places. I'm already sitting there. Where
at? In the person of Christ. You
reckon that I'm not going to get to go there then? Life, life, life, we have it
now. And our Lord, the sixth thing
he said, he said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. And
there's nobody that's going to approach my Father but by me. You want the way of the Father?
Come to me. You want the truth of God? Come
to me. You want the life of God? Come
unto me. Don't you dare approach Father
apart from me. And then he said, and lastly
he said, I'm the true vine. I'm the true vine. You're just
the branches. He said, he that abides in me,
he has life. The branches were joined to Him.
It's by Him that we have this life. And let me show you in
John chapter 8 and verse 56. Look in John 8, 56. Could there
be any clearer testimony to our Lord preaching Himself than this
statement right here? John 8, 56. I love this first inscription.
I know you all do too. Our Lord, He said, He said in
John 8, verse 56, Your father Abraham, and they all called
themselves in the sense of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Your father
Abraham rejoiced to see my day. Rejoice! Now Abraham lived, how
many years? 18, 15, 18 hundred years before
Christ came. Then your father Abraham rejoiced
to see my day and saw it with gladness. Then said the Jews
unto him, You are not even fifty years old, and you have seen
Abraham? Our Lord said unto him, I am
telling you truly, truly, I said unto you before Abraham was,
that I am again. Then look what happened, how
did they react to him? Took up stones to stone him.
Because he made himself damn. But I'll tell you what he did
before Abraham was. You know who, you know he told
Abraham this. He said, you know what he said?
He said, I'll be your exceeding great reward. Abraham rejoiced
when he heard that. Abraham rejoiced when he heard
that. And then I'm going to tell you this. And look over at Matthew
7 with me just a moment. Here's my third thing about Christ
preaching Himself. He preached Himself. The longest
sermon in the New Testament is the Sermon on the Mount. Is the
Sermon on the Mount. And in this message where Christ
preached, the longest message in the New Testament, is the
longest sermon. And you know, and in this message,
Our Lord said this seven different times. He said, you have heard
it said. This is what you've been taught. This is what the
Pharisees taught you. This is what the Sadducees taught
you. This is what the Rabbis taught you. This is what you
was taught in the synagogue. He said, you have heard it said,
but I say unto you. And he did that seven times again,
perfection. He said, I say, they said unto
you, but I'm telling you. This is what they said, but this
is what I'm telling you is true. This is what they said, but this
is the truth of the matter. This is what they said, but this
is what I say about it. So seven times, seven times I
say unto you. And look here in Matthew 7 to
24. And he said, and in the conclusion
of this Sermon on the Mount, he sent forth himself. And he
says this, now watch this. Therefore, whosoever heareth
these sayings of mine, what I just preached, what I just sang, he
that heareth these sayings of mine, I say unto you, I say unto
you, I say unto you, I say unto you, he that heareth these sayings
of mine and does them, does them, I liken him unto a wise man which
built his house on a rock. Rain descended, the floods came,
the winds blew and bled upon that house, and it fell not,
for it's found on a rock. That means, beloved, that you're
going to have storms, you're going to have rains, you're going
to have, oh, you're going to have some trouble in this world.
God's going to send a lot of things on your house. If He builds
your house and you go out of the house built on a rock, He's
going to try that house. The trying of your faith being
much more precious than of gold will be tried with fire. And
oh, and it was found on the rock and it didn't fall. And then
look what he says, that's a wise man, and everyone that hears
these sayings of mine and does them not, he's going to be like
a fool. And he built his house on the
sand. The rain descended, the floods came and the winds blew
and beat upon that house and it fell. And great was the fall
of it. And I tell you what, that's what
he says, that's what he's telling you. You hear what I'm telling
you? That's what he said. He said,
everything I've said to you, if you'll hear them, hear them,
do them. He said, you've got a house built
on a rock. And what rock we built on? The only foundation that's
been laid, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now let me tell you, the whole,
the whole of a believer's life, the whole of a saint's life,
of true Christianity is based upon these sayings of mine. These
sayings of mine. It's not my sayings, it's not
the Baptist's sayings, it's not somebody sending you a quarterly
out and telling you what to preach for the next three months. It's
not the Pope issuing you an edict. It's not what the denomination
teaches. Y'all know, y'all heard that
saying so many times. What do you believe? I believe
what my preacher believes. What does your preacher believe?
What I believe. Well, what do you and your preacher believe?
We believe the same thing. That's pretty much the
way it is, ain't it? You know, folks, but, you know, and this
is what I loved about. When I first came in contact
with these men who preached the grace of God, they, back in the
late 70s, I was absolutely amazed and it blessed my heart because
I read the scriptures and read them and read them and read them.
And it blessed me so that when these men would get up to preach,
When they opened the scriptures and the scriptures they dealt
with, that's what they dealt with. They dealt with that subject.
They didn't start here and run over there and say a bunch of
stuff about this and they didn't turn around and try to tell you
how to live and how not to live and what to do and what not to
do. They dealt with the scriptures and they actually preached Christ. They didn't talk about preaching
Him, they actually preached Him. And if somebody talks about preaching
Christ, it's not just talking about it, it's preaching Him.
And that's what our Lord preached Himself. So if He preached Himself,
we must. And that's why all of our life
as believers is based on these sayings of mine. Ain't you grateful
that's why? Huh? These sayings of mine. He makes it clear there in Matthew
7.21 is what He says. He says, Not everyone that saith
unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. Oh
my, put it on the bulletin board, Jesus is Lord of this city. They
sang the songs, Jesus is Lord, but that's not everybody says,
Lord, Lord. shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. Who? But
he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. What's
the will of my Father? He that believeth on the Son. This is the will of Him that
sent me. That he that seeth the Son and believeth on Him hath
everlasting life. You want to know what God's will
is? To believe on His Son. And I tell you it's not enough.
It's not enough that those who break their professional law,
it's not enough. Our Lord said, if a man's angry,
he's in danger of hellfire. Our Lord said, if a man hates
another man, that's like having murder in your heart. He said,
despising somebody, He says, you're in danger of
the judgment. And He said, oh listen, if a
man looks on a woman just to lust after her, he's committed
adultery. He said, he that loves his silver and gold, he said,
don't have treasure laid up in heaven. And he said, and if the
devil wants your gold, Miles, you go with him too. And the
man asked him, give him your coke also. So you see, he's dealing
with heart issues. Heart issues. Not what you do
outwardly. He dealt with heart issues. And
that's what we understand. God looks on the heart. And nobody
knows what you're seeing with your eyes. Nobody knows what's
going on in your mind. Nobody knows what's going on
in your thoughts. Nobody knows what's going on in your heart
except Christ. And that's why I said, He that
hears these sayings of mine. And that's why I said, I'm going
to listen to what He has to say. Oh, listen. I know a preacher
preaching. Folks told me one time that the
preacher even told him, You know, when they got ready to get a
dog, he wouldn't even let people have dogs in the church unless
he first checked with them to see if it was the right kind
of dog. That's a fellow preacher over
in Missouri, that's right, I'm telling you the truth. Yeah, he controlled that congregation
so much, I'm going to go get me a big German Shepherd. Oh,
listen, that's too big a dog for you. It's too mean, it might
hurt your children. Get you. Pretend to be a dog,
one of them things that you carry around in your lap. These are
not dogs. People call these dogs lap dogs.
That's not a dog. A dog is a big old thing. I don't understand that people
like that. Y'all forgive me if I hurt your
feelings, but I don't get it. I don't get people kissing dogs
and letting dogs kiss them. I don't get it. Never kissed a dog in my life.
I ain't going to start. I love dogs. That's what you
know. Jim and Debbie, they got dogs.
They got them good old big retrievers, you know. That's
what you got to have. These little old lap dogs. I
don't know how to go. But that's what our Lord Jesus,
you know, He's... Here's this saying of mine. Oh, we don't want to. And we
deal with heart issues. Heart issues. And also, let me
tell you this quickly. Over in Matthew 13, you don't
have to turn to it, but he preached himself in the parables. There's
so many parables in Matthew 13. You know, he talked about the
parable of the vine dresser. He said a man let out of his
vineyard and he said he hired some husbands and they come and
take care of him. And he sent his servants to get his payment
for the year. They'd beat them and send them
back. They'd beat them and send them back. Greater would send
them back. He said, finally I'll send my son. Surely, surely they'll
revenge him. And then he said, but they killed
him. What will the Father do unto them that killed us? And
then about his second coming, He talked about it in the parables
of his second coming. He talked about the parables
of the talents. And he gave one ten, one five, one one, and they
all, and he said he'd come and he wouldn't require the talents.
And he talked about his second coming, the wise virgins and
the foolish virgins. The wise, they'd rise up and
they was waiting and the foolish virgins, they didn't have no
oil in their lamps. They didn't have them trimmed
and burning. He had talked about the sheep and the goats. And
the left hand and the right hand had his second coming. And in
Luke 15, all the parables about him. It talks, he said, the shepherd
leads the nine and nine to go seek that one sheep that's lost
and goes into the wilderness and finds him. And then that
woman, the next thing, she's sweeping the house looking for
a lost coin. That's our Lord looking for one
of his people because it's valuable to him. And then when that prodigal
son comes home, he's the everlasting father upon the roof looking
for him to come. And when he comes, he runs and
meets him. Oh my, talking about the parables. He's the merchant
who sold everything he had to get that pearl of one great price.
He talked about we sell everything to get Christ as the pearl of
great price. I have a hard time with that
because I got nothing I can sell and I certainly ain't got nothing
I can give. But when he talked about that pearl of great price,
A pearl is made from suffering. A pearl is made from a foreign
body getting into it. And it weeps and it weeps in
that orchard until that pearl is formed. And our Lord Jesus
Christ, He comes down to the depths of this world. And sin,
He was made in the likeness of sin and He suffered in the darkness
of this world. and beloved in this church and
he come here with that pearl of great price to church him
and he come and suffered greatly to purchase this pearl this church
that he said is a pearl of great price he paid it all to buy that
pearl of great price and that was a treasure hidden in the
field what treasure is hidden in the field again that is his
people his elect I think And it said, but he bought the whole
field just to get the treasure out of it. He said, I give him
power over all flesh. Why? That he might give eternal
life to his midst. You see, what in the world have
we got to give? What can we have to offer? What
have we got that we didn't receive? Huh? If we have grace, God gave
it. If we have a revelation, Christ
gave it. That's why he said, he told them, he said, ought
not Christ to have suffered? Oh, you're so slow to believe.
He said, don't you remember reading in the scriptures, ought not
Christ to suffer? He was wounded for our transgressions,
bruised for our iniquities, chastised when our peace was opposed. And
ought not the lamb be slaughtered? Ought not the lamb die? That Passover lamb that the blood
was shed and put on the post of the door and over the little?
He said, don't you know that Christ must suffer? Don't you
know that they would give his back to the spiders and they'd
pluck off the beard? Don't you know that they would
beat him and chastise him? Don't you know that his mouth
will be turned to parchment? Don't you know that they said
that he's wounded in his side, they gave him vinegar to drink? Did you never read where they
said they hated him without a cause? Did you never read where it says,
smite the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered? Did you never read where it says
the seed of a woman would crush the head of a serpent? And that's
what he's talking about. Everything about the scriptures
concerned our Lord Jesus Christ. And every parable, either directly
or indirectly, presents to us the person, the work, and the
glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. and oh bless his name and I tell
you what oh my ain't you grateful that he preached himself he said
Christ had to suffer he told his disciples that from the beginning
he said the son of man must go up to Jerusalem you look at all
the must Christ had to do he must go up to Jerusalem he must
be delivered into the hands of sinful man he must suffer He
must die! And this is one thing I'll tell
you he did. When they come to get him in the garden, and that
great mob come out after him, and they came after him, and
Peter, James, and John was with him, and he said, you see me,
let these go your way. Okay, that's me and them at the
same time. And that's what the Father said.
That's what our Lord Jesus Christ said. If the Father gets me,
He's going to let you go. I'm going to bear your sins in
my own body on the tree. I'm the only one that can suffer
to put away sin. I'm the only one that can satisfy
God. I'm the only one. But He has to suffer. Then it
says, but He entered into His glory. What glory? The glory he had with the Father
before the world ever began. What glory? The glory of being
the eternal God. The glory of having a multitude
given him that no man can number. The glory of having the angels
obey everything he said. The glory of having all of these
people with him that they may behold his glory forever and
ever. Now look with me back over in
Luke 24. Let me say a few things about
this. In Luke 24. Back where we was. Luke 24. In verse 24. Excuse me, verse
45. Let's look at this again. Luke 24, 45. I'll get there in
a minute. Look what it says in verse 44. These are the words which I spake
unto you while I was yet wicked. Everything I've told you, I've
told you before. I'm not telling you nothing new.
That all things must be fulfilled. Huh? All things must be fulfilled. That were written. Written. We're in the law of Moses and
the prophets and in the Psalms concerning me. And then look
what it says. He opens their understanding
that they might understand the scriptures. When the Lord opens your understanding,
when he turns on the light, I was talking to a fellow the other
day, he said, when the Lord turned on the light, you know, and he's
like the rest of us, you come out of false religion, you know,
all of us come out of some kind of a mess. Sometimes three or
four different kinds of messes, you know, we just go from one
mess to another mess, one religion to another, you know. And anyway, he says this, he
said, when the Lord showed me the grace of God, that salvation
was entirely of Him and taught me The grace of God. He said, it's like I got a new
Bible. He said, always been in there, but I just never had seen
it. He said, like I got a brand new Bible. He said, I've seen
things I never saw. And that's the way it is. You
know, you open it up, it's a new Bible to you. It's a new Bible
to you. And he opens their understanding
of the scriptures. And why does he open them to?
And he says, thus it is written again, he used that term. It
behoove Christ to suffer. It's absolute and necessary that
Christ suffer. Suffer what? Suffer the wrath
of God, the justice of God, bearing our sins in His own body on the
tree. Suffer death. Suffer the punishment and judgment
of sinful men on Him in this world. And then look what He
says. And He says, now I'm telling
you. And He just said, I'll rise the third day. And He did, and
He's standing there as evidence of it, showing them His hands
and His feet. Showing that he's suffering, showing that it was
in him indeed who suffered. And then he says this, and that
repentance and remission of sins or payment of sins shall be preached in my name
among all nations. All mine. Preach repentance and
payment of sins. Payment of sins, repentance.
What's repentance? It's a change of mind. Oh, but
what a change of mind it is. And I ain't gonna go into repentance,
but oh, your mind changes about God, about yourself, about sin. And it's a change, it's such
a change that it's, you're going this direction, and your mind's
in on that, and God takes you and turns you this way. Acts
in the opposite way. That's what it means. Repentance.
It's changing your mind from yourself to Him. From your self-righteousness
to His righteousness. It's turning from everything
and it's a radical change of mind. And then He says it's going
to be preached in my name. You want your sins paid? I'll
pay them. I paid Him. And we preach it
His name. His name. Who paid sin? He did. Who works repentance in you?
He does. Who gives you faith? He does. Who died to save sinners? He did. Whose blood we shed?
His. Who was satisfied? God was. We
talk about Christ being our all in all. He's God's all in all. Alright. And then I tell you
what. He said it is written. And I
tell you, He said, in all things, He says, now you go among all
nations and you start preaching. You start in Jerusalem and you
just go on and preach. And He says, and you are witnesses
of these things. Teaching them all things that
I command you, not what anybody else, what I tell you. How in
the world can we do this? How can we preach our Lord? Well, it's to preach Christ in
His glory, in His fullness. as Savior, as Lord, as King,
as His saving work in the glory of His power. He said, all authority,
all authority is given unto me. Oh my! Our Lord had a lot to
say about Himself. Now I believe He had a word of
it, don't you? Every word of it. Every single word of it. He that heareth these sayings
of mine, I've got my ear cocked Lord, tell me what you say. I want to hear, I want to hear. Our Father in the blessed name
of Christ our Lord, thank you for allowing us to meet here
today. God bless you for your message. Lord Jesus bless you
for your words. Bless you for opening our understandings
that we might understand the scriptures. And Father, I pray
that you'd continue to work and work in this congregation, work
in these people, work in us to do and to will, to will and do
as your good pleasure. Lord, open the hearts, the minds,
the understanding of those that are here. Bring glory to yourself. Lord, it'll be to your glory,
your glory. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. Did you hear what Jesus said
to me? They're all taken away, away. Your sins are pardoned and you
are free. They're all taken away. They're all taken away, away. They're all taken away, away. They're all taken away, away. My sins are all taken away. My sins are all taken away. My sins are all taken away. I'll see you tonight, God willing.