We're looking here, continuing
on in the book of Mark. And we'll read here in the book of Mark in chapter
three. And he entered again into the
synagogue and there was a man there which had a withered hand. And they watched him, whether
he would heal him on the Sabbath day, that they might accuse him. And he saith unto the man which
had the withered hand, Stand forth. And he saith unto them,
Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath days, or to do evil,
to save life, or to kill? But they held their peace. And
when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved
for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto the man, Stretch
forth thine hand. And he stretched it out, and
his hand was restored whole as the other. And the Pharisees
went forth and straightway took counsel with the Herodians against
him, how they might destroy him. But Jesus withdrew himself with
his disciples to the sea, and a great multitude from Galilee
followed him, and from Judea, and from Jerusalem, and from
Abimea, and from beyond Jordan. And they about tired sighed,
and a great multitude, when they had heard what great things he
did, came unto him. And he spake to his disciples
that a small ship should wait on him because of the multitude,
lest they should throng him or crush him. For he had healed
many, insomuch that they pressed upon him for to touch him, as
many as had plagues. And unclean spirits, when they
saw him, fell down before him and cried, saying, Thou art the
Son of God. And he straightly charged them
that they should not make him known. And he goeth up into a
mountain and calleth unto him whom he would. And they came
unto him. And he ordained twelve that they
should be that they should be with him, and that he might send
them forth to preach, and to have power to heal sicknesses
and to cast out devils. And Simon he surnamed Peter,
and James the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James,
and he named them Boanerges, which is the sons of thunder.
And Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and
James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddeus, and Simon the Canaanite,
and Judas Iscariot, which also betrayed him. And they went into
an house. And the multitude cometh together
again, so that they could not so much as eat bread. And when
his friends heard of it, they went out to lay hold on him,
for they said he is beside himself. And the scribes which came down
from Jerusalem said, He hath Beelzebub, and by the prince
of devils casteth he out devils. And he called them unto him,
and he said unto them in parables, How can Satan cast out Satan?
And if a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house be divided against
itself, that house cannot stand. And if Satan rise up against
himself and be divided, he cannot stand, but hath an end. No man
can enter into a strong man's house and spoil his goods, except
he will first bind the strong men, and then he will spoil his
house. Verily I say unto you, all sin
shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewithsoever
they shall blaspheme. But he that shall blaspheme against
the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation. because they said he hath an
unclean spirit. There came then his brethren
and his mother, and standing without, sent unto him, calling
him. And the multitude sat about him, and they said unto him,
Behold, thy mother and thy brethren without seek for thee. And he
answered them, saying, Who is my mother or my brethren? And
he looked round about on them, which sat about him, and said,
Behold, my mother and my brother, for whosoever shall do the will
of God, the same as my brother and my sister and mother. Now, that covers a lot of ground
there, and we probably won't get to look at all of those verses,
but I think it's good to take these things in the settings
in which they're given. And of course, we know that chapter
three As it begins here, it follows right on the Pharisees accusing the Lord Jesus
of doing something that was unlawful on the Sabbath day. And of course,
he upbraided them, told them the Sabbath was made for man,
not man for the Sabbath. And he said, the Son of Man is
Lord of the Sabbath. Now, what he taught them was
several things. The most important lesson that he taught them was
that he was the Lord of the Sabbath. Now, I don't know how clearly
they understood exactly what he was telling them, but the
fact of the matter was he was basically explaining to them
that he made the Sabbath for man, and that he would use it
in any fashion that he saw fit to use it. And there was not
anything that they could say about it. Now, not only that,
but he taught them, as he will point out here in these next
few verses in this chapter three, that their heart was hard. And
that they thought more about the religious aspect of keeping
the Sabbath than they did about the purpose of the Sabbath and
showing mercy unto their fellow men. And so this is where he
entered into the synagogue. And the man with the withered
hand was there. And I thought it interesting
that he said to the man with the withered hand, now the man
with the withered hand was there. The man with the withered hand,
he probably was there because he normally went there. He didn't
go there because he had a withered hand, he was there. And the Lord
met him where he was, just like the woman at the well. Now the
Lord had an appointment with the woman at the well, though
the woman at the well didn't have an appointment with the
Lord. See, she didn't go to the well to meet the Lord. She went
to the well to draw water. The Lord went to the well to
meet the woman. And the Lord entered into this
synagogue to meet a man with a withered hand. Because he would
not only heal the man with the withered hand, but he would smite
the enemies of God with his words. as he healed this man and show
them that it is better to be obedient than to do sacrifice
to the Lord. Men like sacrifice. I mean, that sounds strange,
does it not? But see, religiously minded men,
they feel like they ought to be doing something. And so they'll
do something because they think they ought to do something. And
they'll be satisfied with doing something because they feel in
their mind, well, we've done something for the Lord. And so
men love sacrifice. And the Pharisees, they loved
sacrifice. They loved to go through the
streets with you know, the phylacteries on their heads and the things
bound around their arms. And they thought that this was
really, they were really doing something for the Lord. Now they
didn't mind getting a little, you know, you know, accolades
from the people along the way. But I don't think that was necessarily
their 100% reason. I think they were religiously
oriented to the point that they did think that what they were
doing was in some measure serving God. And so it is that men by
nature think that they can serve God. See, men think they can
just decide to serve God. Because what they picture God
is just hoping somebody will serve Him. I mean, isn't that
kind of the way it was? That's kind of the way I was
brought up in the religious orientation that I had, was they were just
trying to get folks, don't you all understand that God just
needs some folks to go out here and serve Him? Won't you all
come on now? I mean, He's done so much, won't
you just serve Him? And so they thought that men
think that they can just serve God whenever they get ready.
But we'll see in a moment, if we get that far, that the Lord
is the one that gives men the privilege to serve Him. And it's not then born out of
anything that they would do, but it's born out of what He
would do through them. See, that's the service. That's
what we desire, is it not, that God would work in us. And so he said to the man with
the withered hand, stand forth. Now I imagine this was a shock
to this man with the withered hand, was it not? Because he
was there and the Lord said, stand forth. He said, what have
I done now? And he saith unto them, now here's
the man, he said, stand up. He said, and he asked this question,
he says, is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath day or to do evil,
to save life or to kill? But they held their peace. Isn't
that just like religious men? They held their peace because
they knew that if they said that it's better to show mercy, which
they knew that was the truth, but they didn't want to admit
it because they didn't want to give Christ any glory. And so
they didn't say anything. They held their peace. Now anybody
there knew the answer to that question, did they not? Is it
better to do good on the Sabbath day or to do evil? Which is the
best thing to do? They knew what the answer was,
but they held their peace. And when he had looked around
about them with anger, he was angry. See, there are a few occasions
in the Scripture when we see the anger of the Lord. And it's
always displayed against religiosity and the way of men in their mind
to think that they can serve God with the ways of the world
as those money changers in that temple. Every time that I think
about the money changers in the temple, I think of the money
changers that inhabit the religious world today. I mean you can't
turn the radio and TV on hardly and somebody somewhere not be
advertising something that they're selling that they say is for the Lord. This is gonna help you. Now they
wanna make money off of it. And I'm not saying, there's not
a thing in the world wrong with a man printing books and then
having them for people that want to purchase them. But we're not
sent out into the world to be hucksters, to be sellers of merchandise
for the kingdom of God. That's not what we're called
to do. And so it is that he spoke, he became angry with them. And
he became angry not because they said something, but because they
didn't say anything. When they knew that they should
have said something. And he looked on them with anger,
being grieved for the hardness of their hearts. And he said
to the man, stretch forth thy hand. And he stretched it out. Isn't that an amazing thing?
The Lord said, stand forth, and what did the man do? He stood
forth. The Lord said, stretch out your hand, and what did he
do? He stretched out his hand. Now, some would say, well, he
did that because he wanted to. Well, yes, he did. No doubt he
did. But do you mean to tell me that
you think that when the Lord said to this man, stand forth,
that the man wasn't going to stand forth? I mean, he said,
come on, man, I got to teach these Pharisees a lesson. Stand
forth here. No, I don't think I will. No. You see, what the Lord said,
when my sheep hear my voice, I know them, and they follow
me. And he said to this man, stand
forth. And the man stood forth. He said,
stretch forth your hand. And he stretched forth his hand.
What a glorious thing. And he stretched it out, and
his hand was restored whole as the other. He just did it. There wasn't any fanfare to it.
He said, stretch forth your hand. And his hand was made whole. I mean, the Lord didn't, you
know, sweep his hand out. He didn't draw attention or anything. He just did it. And he stretched it out. And
the Pharisees went forth. They were mad. Why were they
mad? Because their religious apple
cart got turned over. And they couldn't stand it. And
they hated Christ. See, they buttered him up from
time to time, or they thought they did. Said, Lord, we know
that you're a teacher sent from God. We know that man couldn't
do these miracles, but what they wanted to do was entrap him.
See, they didn't do that because they loved him. And there are
many men who speak forth great religious platitudes and tell
all sorts of things in the name of the Lord. that hate Christ. I mean, we don't like to think
of it that way. But dear brethren, if a man is
not desirous of giving Christ all glory and smiting men to
the dust where they have nothing to boast in, then that man hates
Christ because Christ will be exalted. His name and His name
alone will be lifted up. And the Pharisees, they probably
would have settled for having, you know, if they could have
had some billing along with the Lord. If He had raised some chief
seats in His crusades and had them all sitting up there where
they could look good to the people, they probably might have went
along with Him. But you see, He put the axe to
the root of everything that they stood for and they hated Him.
And that's why the men of the religious world hate the gospel. Now they don't hate what they
call the gospel. See, everybody has a gospel.
I mean, there's a lot of gospels out there. Paul spoke about it. He said, you know, these are,
they're false christs. They're not true. There's one
truth. And it's not true because we
say it's true. It's true because it's true.
And the Lord's given us a privilege by His grace to see these things
as being true. And He's caused us to love His
truth. And the Pharisees went forth and straightway took counsel
with the Herodians against Him, how they might destroy Him. Now
I want you to see how quickly that men of religion embrace
the power of the state. And I'll say a little word about
this. Now, I'm glad that we live in the country that we do. I'm
glad that we have the kind of government that we do have. But
we are not, as God's people, to be aligned with the government. Now I'm not telling you you don't
need to go out and vote because we have a kind of a unique position
as far as government's concerned versus the ones that the governments
that men had in this day, in these times. We have a unique
government really probably on the, in the earth. And we've
been given the privilege to participate as the citizens in the government. But there's a caution to be had
with that, because there's still the government which yields its
power, and God's people don't either derive any power from
the government, nor do they give any power to the government.
See the government is the government. The Lord designed governments
to be what they are. Let them be what they are. But
we don't have any reliance upon them. And we're not going to
sell out ourselves unto a government in order to promote our ends. Now a lot of people, now it's
just like with this business about the abortion thing. Now
abortion is an awful thing, it ought not be. But you can
pass every law you ever want to pass, and it will not change
anything. It won't change the heart of
a single person. You know, it won't stop it. And
what the folly of, I see a lot of people who align themselves
with these different causes and things and they march, you know,
we're going, Roe v. Wade's been overturned. So what? That didn't do anything. It didn't
really change anything. I mean, and I'm not saying it
wasn't a good thing that it was. I'm glad that it was, okay? But
we don't derive our power nor our satisfaction from these things. They're just things. It's the
government. But you see, religious men, they
want to tie these things together. And there are people who believe
that what ought to be done is that we need to paste the Ten
Commandments up on every place, and men ought to be made to abide
by the Ten Commandments. Well, who can abide by the Ten
Commandments? I mean, the Lord showed that
from the beginning. So the governments of this world
are the governments of this world, but they have no bearing on the
children of God. If the government, the government
doesn't tell us what to do. Now, you know, it's just like
when this deal back when the COVID thing come up and the government
said, for all these churches you can't meet. And I was surprised,
to tell you the truth, at the number of churches that just
folded up like $2 suitcases and just did exactly what they told
them to do. When the Lord said that we ought to gather together.
Now he's the one that sent the COVID to start with, and he'll
call whoever it pleases him to get it, and whoever is gonna
get it, They're not going to be prevented from getting it
by anything they do. Now, that sounded bad. I'm not telling you to be foolish. But our reliance is not on the
governments of this world in any fashion. And we don't take
any delight when I'm speaking about in relation to Christ and
the glory of Christ. Because look, the government,
as good as some of these guys might govern, I'm glad that the
Lord put me in positions of power. Just like I'm glad if I've got
some, if I've got a lawsuit that I'm involved in and somebody's
trying to sue me to take away everything I've got and I believe
it's unlawful, I want to get me the meanest lawyer that there
is out there and I want him to defend me. Now, the Lord raises
up kings and princes and all these people. There are certain
people that he designed for a task. And you can't take a little old
Casper Milk Toast guy and go up there and occupy these places
of power. But that doesn't mean, however,
that because somebody is elected and he does some things I like,
that I'm gonna just say, man, this is the greatest guy that's
ever lived. I mean, he's the Lord's, you know, this is just,
he's just serving the Lord. Well, he is serving the Lord,
don't get me wrong, he can't help it. The heart of the king's
in the hand of the Lord, he turns it with us, every wills. And
so there's no doubt that the governments of this world are
controlled by Almighty God. And He'll put whoever He wants
to in there. But dear brethren, we don't take
any comfort from whoever's in there, do we? What can they do
for us? I mean, they can't do anything
for us or to us. I mean, we belong to the Lord.
And so we are a part of this. thing we call self-governance,
for whatever that means. And we ought to be a part of
it. But as we see with these Pharisees who quickly align themselves
with the government to give them power. See, everybody wants to
have the power, do they not? I mean, the Republicans, they
would say, you know, whenever they want to get something done,
well, we're going to set the whatever this thing, what do
they call it? filibuster. We'll set the filibuster aside
so we can do this for this particular thing, and then when the Democrats
come along and they want to do the same thing, everybody, oh
no, no, you can't do that. And the whole, one of my point
is, all of this government stuff is just stuff. All these people
that are in these offices primarily are there because they delight
in the power that they have, and they want to continue it.
Now why would we want to be caught up in that? Or get to thinking
that because somebody's on our side that they love the Lord. I don't know if they love the
Lord or not. You know, they, I mean, I hadn't heard any of
them that stand up and said, you know, we'll worship Christ
and Him alone. I've never heard anybody stand
up and say that in the halls of Congress, and maybe they have
been. You know, maybe there are, and
I just don't know about it. But it doesn't make any difference
whether they are or they aren't. That is the government, and we
are the people of God. And we have a king, and he is
our king, and we give him allegiance. And he said, divide by the ways
of the earthly rulers, and we do. Because he said so. Not because they said so. I don't
know how I got off on that. But anyway, they took counsel with the Herodians. Now, the Pharisees hated the
Herodians. I mean, they didn't want anything
to do with the Herodians, but their hatred of Christ was so
great that they would align themselves with the Herodians. Now, the
Herodians was like a political party. They were people that
was associated with Herod. They were like the Bush dynasty
or the Clinton dynasty or the whatever. I mean, they were the
people that was involved in all of that. And so they despised
these people, but in order to get at Christ, they were willing
to do something that they normally would think was terrible. Just
like when they went to, when Caesar, or when Pilate asked
them, is this your king? They said, we don't have any
king but Caesar. I mean, they hated Caesar. They didn't want
Caesar to be their king, but they hated Christ more than they
hated Caesar. And so is the way of the world
and the way of governments. And I'm telling you, our government
hates Christ regardless of what they might say. Because if they
love Christ, people wouldn't vote for them. I mean, if they
stood up and they said, you know what Christ said, they wouldn't
get voted in. I mean, you've got to kind of
say, well, you know, all these people, all of this stuff, it's
okay. All this transgender stuff and
the homo stuff and all that, you've got to kind of go along
with it a little bit. You can't just come out and just
say, you know, what the scripture says about it. And that's the way of government,
is it not? It's the way of the world. I
mean, it's a necessary thing, insofar as men are concerned.
That's why God's people, that's not our realm. That's not the
place to which we operate or give allegiance in any way. Most
especially, would we not align ourselves with those who hate
the Lord Jesus Christ? But Jesus withdrew himself with
his disciples to the sea, and a great multitude from Galilee
followed him, and from Judea, and from Jerusalem, and from
Idumea, and from beyond Jordan, and all these places that men
had heard of him. His fame spread, and men love
a good man. religious, they love religious
excitement. I mean if you can get something
happening and you can really get something jiving and going
on, people are going to come see about that. Now probably
less so in our day than in those days because there wasn't a lot
going on just like used to years ago when the circus came to town
in these little places and stuff. People didn't have anything else
to do and so that was a big deal and they wanted to go because
there was some excitement that they didn't normally get like
when the fair came to town. I mean you know that was really
something. And so it is. This was the same
thing. They heard about this man. They
wanted to go see what it was about. And great multitude, when
they had heard what great things he did, they came unto him. See,
they wanted to see what was going on. And he spake to his disciples.
that they should have a ship waiting for him, and evidently
he was at the seashore, and I'm picturing in my mind that he
was standing on the seashore, and the people were gathered
around there, and he had his back to the water. And so here
he is preaching to them, and he told them, and there's another
account in the scripture where they did the same thing, maybe
the same account, but he said, get this ship ready so that I
can get in this ship and get away from these people. For he healed many, and they
pressed upon him to touch him. Many has had plagues. People
want to be healed, don't they? I mean, you can preach sovereign
grace. You can preach the healing hand,
the true healing that's necessary for men, and you can't get five
people to show up. But, buddy, if you can go out
here and you can lay a few out on the floor and you can touch,
you know, some and heal them, lengthen a leg or two out and
make people, you know, get excited about, well, man, I saw it with
my own eyes. And you can get people stirred
up and you can get those people to throw on you. But they weren't
coming to see the Lord Jesus because they loved what he was
saying, but they loved what he was doing. because it was new,
it was novel. It was a thing that they thought
they could be excited about. And then it says, the unclean
spirits, when they saw him, fell down before him and cried, saying,
thou art the son of God. Well, what did he tell them?
He said, shut up. Because you see, they are appointed
under the chains of darkness. He didn't need their testimony.
And as we'll see here in just a few verses, we come to understand
that the Lord doesn't need a witness in the earth. He will raise up
a witness in the earth. A lot of people get real puzzled
why the Lord, he told a lot of these people that he healed and
said, don't tell anybody about this. And I remember as a kid,
I was always puzzled about that. And I'd say, well, gosh, you
know, you'd think the Lord would want these people to go out and
just tell everybody. Well, the Lord is selective. about who He would tell, number
one, and who He would send to tell. Because it pleases Him
to send His Word as He sees fit. And so He told them to shut up. He said, don't make Him known. Don't say this. I don't need
your witness. Don't want your witness. And
then it says, He goeth up into a mountain, and He calleth unto
Him, whom he would. He didn't just say, I don't want
all y'all to come up into the mountain. I'd like to get as
many of you up here as I can. No. He called whom he would. He selected some to come up there. And look what it says in the
next verse. It says, and they came unto him. Isn't that amazing? He called whom he would, and
they came. See, those two things always
go together. When the Lord calls, his people
answer. It's just, it's a demonstration
of the power of God. He didn't call, he didn't say
to them, y'all come, and some said, well, you know, I don't
think I'll go today. I mean, maybe Peter wasn't feeling
good, and he said, I'm gonna stay home. No, when the Lord
calls, His people come because He ordains that. It says right
here, and He ordained twelve that they should be with Him.
He might send them forth to preach. Now when it says He ordained
them, that doesn't mean that He went through some religious
ritual, does it? I mean, ordaining them, that
doesn't mean He had some thing that He went through. But he
just set them apart. He ordained them unto this end
that they should be with him and that he might send them forth
to preach. Now that is how the Lord is pleased
to send the gospel, is it not? How shall they hear without a
preacher and how shall they preach except they be sent? Folks can't just decide to go
preach. Now there's plenty of folks that do decide to go preach,
but they don't really preach. See, only the Lord can raise
up a man to preach the gospel. You can go to all kinds of schools
and learn how to say stuff, but only the Lord can send a man
to preach. And that's not anything on the
man, look, the Lord raised up stones. He doesn't need the talents
of men. Now he sometimes gives men certain
talents and he uses them, but the Lord, I used to think when
I was a kid, you know, that old so and so, but you know, the
Lord could really use him. And that's the way people think.
You know, one of these athletes, buddy, if we could ever get old
so and so into the kingdom here, if we could kind of persuade
him to become a believer, just think of all the good he could
do. Well, he couldn't do nothing. No man can do anything except
the Lord be the one who sends His Word. And when He sends His
Word, He can send it through ignorant and unlearned men just
as easily as He can through those that have great wisdom and understanding. It pleases Him to send them forth. He sent them forth to preach
and to have power to heal sicknesses and to cast out devils. And now
he gave them that power. The error that men run into is
that they think he gives all men that power. Now I don't know if anybody,
if he's given anybody the power to heal sickness and diseases
and cast out devils in the present day. I've never met anybody that
did. I've met some folks who claim
to, But I've never seen it in action, not in reality. I've
seen them tell me about the things they said they did, but I've
never seen it actually happen. I never saw the results of it,
but they said they could. And it's not about the excitement
that a man can generate that causes people to be healed. When
the Lord healed somebody, they're healed. See, when the Lord healed
a blind man, I remember, I'll just give you this little tidbit. I remember one time back, this
was back at the height of the Cares Maniac revival thing, whatever
you want to call it, back when I was just actually in my early 20s. It
was back around in the early 70s. And over Lake City, they
supposedly had this big healing meeting, and this guy, he was
a blind guy that sold magazines down at the post office, had
him a little thing. And I wasn't there, but they claimed old Bill
has gotten, the Lord healed him, he's not blind anymore. Man,
what a thing. Well, whenever, the next time
I was in Lake City and I went in the place, guess what? Bill
was still there selling magazines. Now evidently, and I don't know,
maybe he was healed, but he wasn't healed for just a short period
of time because he was as blind as he ever was when I saw him. Now what is it that makes people
believe such stuff? I don't know. But I know this,
it's not about You can't believe something strong enough to make
it happen. Now, that was another thing that I was taught at one
point in time in my life. If you just have faith enough
and you believe it strong enough, it'll happen. I remember one
time a fellow that I knew that really believed that doctrine
or claimed to, he decided that the Lord had told him to raise
somebody from the dead. And he went out to the graveyard,
and I'll give him this for, you know, dedication to what he thought
was right. And he laid on this man's grave
for two nights, two days and two nights, praying that the
Lord raised him from the dead. Well, guess what? He didn't raise
him from the dead. I don't know what happened in
his mind or whatever after that, but the Lord didn't send him
to do it. Because I'm going to tell you
what, if the Lord sends a man to heal a man or to raise him
from the dead, I guarantee you that the man whom he sends to
raise from the dead will be raised from the dead. How do you know,
the Lord said, how do you know that a prophet is speaking the
word of God? He said, if the things that he
says comes to pass. See, all these guys, and I don't
need to tell you about this one gentleman who was very famous
and actually a very good teacher of, I mean, as far as men are
concerned, and he made all these predictions about the Lord was
gonna come back on a certain day. Well, guess what? He didn't
come back on that day. And so what does that make the
man? I mean, it doesn't make him a false prophet because I
said he's a false prophet. The scripture says he's a false
prophet. And so a man needs to be mindful, you know, before
he goes out and says, I've been sent to do so and so, you know,
let's see the fruit of it. And I would be, if a man has
the gift of healing, I'd be the first one to praise God. I mean, if he actually did, if
the Lord sent him to do it. The Lord did send the disciples
to do it, and guess what? They did it. Did they not? I
mean, Peter and John at the temple. The Lord healed that man through
them. He gave them the power to do
that. He gave them power. They came back. I remember when
they came back and they made a report to the Lord and said,
Lord, the devils are subject to us. I mean, we're able to
cast out these devils. He said, don't rejoice in that.
He said, that's not anything. He said, I can give you that
power or I can take it away. He said, rejoice in this, that
your names are written in heaven. He said, that's the thing you
ought to be rejoicing in. And you see, when the Lord sends
men into the world to declare His glory, it's His glory that
they're going to delight in. And He would have those whom
He sends to declare Christ in them crucified and not anything
else. We don't need anything else.
And so He called the disciples. and we're gonna stop there, gave
him power to cast out devils, and he named them. Remember the
scripture says that he calls his own sheep by name. Now he
called his own sheep by name, but he also called one who wasn't
one of his sheep. Did he not? Because he called
him to do something that he didn't call the others. See, the Lord
ordained the life of Judas Iscariot to be exactly what it was. I
mean, he said it'd been better if this man had never been born,
as far as he was concerned. But see, it belongs to the Lord,
the right to make one vessel into honor and another into dishonor
as it pleases Him. And what can we say about this?
Some people really get upset about this. And in the flesh,
I mean, you know what, a man, he would probably would get upset
about that, but nonetheless, it's true. And so we are made
to be reminded as we read the names of these disciples that,
and it says in Judas Iscariot, which also betrayed him, but
remember this, he was chosen by the Lord among those 12, just
the same as the rest of them, but he was chosen for a different
reason. And the Lord would have him to fulfill that purpose.
And he is mentioned as that one who betrayed the Lord.