And that song that we just sang
is one that's been precious to me for quite some time. I remember
as a young man as the Lord had begun to give me a love for the
things of God and to have a delight in the
Gospel. And as I was hungry for the truth
of God. And on Sunday nights, there was
a radio broadcast that came on out of Cincinnati, Ohio. And
you could barely pick it up. It was back in the days of AM
radio. It was an AM station. It was what's called a clear
channel station, and you could pick it up late at night. And somehow or other, as men
would say, I happened upon that station. Of course, we know there
was no happenin' to it, but mercy of God. And he often fed my soul
with the things that I heard on that radio broadcast. And
that particular song right there was one that they would occasionally
sing on that broadcast. And I don't know why, but it
has always been very precious to me. But methinks a greater
chorus makes the heavenly arches ring. And it is a glorious message,
dear brethren. the gospel of Jesus Christ. Oh,
how today that message has been so tarnished and been so made
such a weak and the Savior's been presented as one who has
no power. But I tell you, Christ, He has
power to save and He will save. He said, all that the Father
giveth me, shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I'll
in no wise cast out. The Lord gives to his people
eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any
man pluck them out of his hand. What a glorious thing that is.
I don't know any way that you can preach the gospel apart from
declaring a sovereign savior. I mean, I just don't understand
how it can be. Because, dear brethren, Christ
has not tried to do something and failed, but he has undertook
the redemption of his elect bride, and he has accomplished that.
And not one of them shall perish. And he has privileged us to hear
Peter stood on the day of Pentecost. He said, the promise is unto
you and to as many as the Lord our
God shall call. The Lord does call His people.
He does. You know, and there's not a thing
in the world that anybody can do to stop that. And there's
not anything that really a man can do to help that along the
way. But He's given us the privilege
He's given us the privilege to declare the unsearchable riches
of Christ in the hearing of men. I can't think of a greater privilege
or a blessing that could come upon a man than to declare Christ
as the Savior. He is the Savior. He's the Savior
of sinners. He doesn't save the righteous.
He doesn't save men that can bring something to him, that
can cooperate with him, or in some fashion or other, do something. See, we live in a day and age
when folks trying to get folks to do something, do something
for the Lord. Well, I'm telling you this, that
you can't do a thing for the Lord. But in his mercy, he may
do something for you. And he'll cause you by that same
grace to desire to exalt and honor his name and to go forth
into the world and do such things as he calls you to do. He hasn't
called everybody to go forth. I mean, he hadn't called me to
go to Africa. How do I know that? Because I'm
not in Africa. No, I'm right here. And you know,
sometimes people get all worked up about going here and going
there. Well, you're where you are. And
that's where the Lord would have you to be. And that's, you know,
he'll lay, Jonah, you know, the Lord said for Jonah to go to
Nineveh. Jonah wasn't going to Nineveh. At last place on earth,
he was going with it. I mean, he bought a ticket going
the other way. He said, man, you weren't an
animal. Well, guess what? He wasn't an animal. And what
a glorious God we have, who's able to send men where he would
have them to be. How shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach? Except
they be sent. What a glorious thing it is.
Brethren, what a privilege. And there's nothing that accrues
to the preacher, you see. We live in a day of the famous
preacher, do we not? You know, we got them on every
channel of the radio and TV. wanting you to remember their
name so when you write the check you'll make it out to the right
one. But the gospel is not about all
those things, dear brethren. And I'm not saying that none
of them ever speak any truth. I mean, I've heard some of them
say some things that I thought was pretty good. But I've heard
them turn right around and basically make everything they said before
that to be a lie. So I mean, I don't get it. But it's not up to me. And I'm
not up here today to bash what's going on, but just to desire
with all my heart to exalt and honor Christ. And it does pain
me. You don't know how much when
I hear men attempting to what they call preach. the gospel,
and they preach everything but Christ. You know, that pains
my heart. And when they would present Christ
as one who hopes to do something, He shall see of the travail of
His soul and be satisfied. He is a triumphant Savior, a
glorious King. We're not waiting for the day
when He is going to become a King. He is the King. and he reigns
and he rules in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of
the earth and there's none that can stay his hand or say unto
him, what doest thou? Now, we are in Psalm 131 and
this is a short Psalm, probably good since I rambled on and took
up a bunch of time but, This is Psalm 131, another of
the songs of degrees of David. Lord, my heart is not haughty,
nor mine eyes lofty, neither do I exercise myself in great
matters or in things too high for me. Surely I have behaved
and quieted myself as a child that is weaned of his mother.
My soul is even as a weaned child. Let Israel hope in the Lord from
henceforth and forever. Now we know that David wrote
these words. Surely he did. And surely these
words are applicable to the mind that the Lord had given him.
But we also believe that these are the words and prayers of
Christ. Now, if anybody as a man walking
in the earth had reason to be haughty It would have been Christ,
would it not? I mean, he thought it not robbery
to be equal with God. He is God. He said so to Philip. Philip said, show us the Father.
He said, Philip. He says, have I been so long
time with you and thou hast not known me? He that hath seen me
hath seen the Father. And so a glorious Lord who took
upon himself human flesh. I can't even begin to imagine
it, let alone to set it forth properly. All we can do is go
into the scripture and read it and see that it's so. And the
scripture tells us that he learned obedience by the things which
he suffered. Now I don't know how him who
knows all things could learn anything. And I know the meaning
of the word learn doesn't necessarily mean learn in the sense like
we learn our ABCs or something like that, but he experienced
it. He went through it. He made the
world, yet he was not of the world. He made the water, yet
he thirsted. You know, he made the men that
made the whips that lashed his back. He did all these things. None of that stuff happened by
chance, but according to the determined counsel and foreknowledge
of God. And he, walking among men, knowing
more than all of the men who he came in contact with, yet
as a young man, he was obedient to his parents. You know that
song that is often sung about this time away in a manger, no
crib for a bed, the little Lord Jesus lays down his sweet head. a line in there that says, no
crying he makes. Now, I don't know that that was
necessarily true because crying in itself is not a sinful thing,
it's a manner of communication that only a baby, that only communication
a baby has. So I don't know, but I believe
this, I believe that he praised his father even in, even in the
womb. Because if John the Baptist leapt
in his mother's womb, it coming into the presence of him, we
know that there was, there's some knowledge, there's something
that moved him to do that. The Spirit of God moved upon
him. And I believe the Spirit of God was upon him without measure
from the beginning. But yet he came forth from that
virgin's womb as a man. I mean, he grew into a man. He came forth and took upon himself
human flesh and he underwent all the things, all the things
that children suffer. He suffered as a child. He undertook the redemption of
his people. He was tempted in all points,
like as we are, yet without sin. And he says, Lord, my heart is
not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty. Neither do I exercise myself
in great matters or in things too high for me." Now, it would
be impossible for him to exercise his mind in things too high for
me, but with the spirit of humility, he speaks as one who desires
not to be lifted up with pride. How removed and foreign is that
to the natural man? You know, by nature, men like
to let you know what they know, don't they? I mean, we all do.
I mean, you know, we want to be an expert in something, and
so some people want to be an expert in everything, but I learned
a long time ago you can't be, even though you might want to
be. But Paul said that we know nothing as we ought to know. the Lord Jesus Christ as a man
walking in this world as a man in the behalf of sinners, he
had a complete and perfect understanding of that very thing. How would we, why? Why would
we ever be lifted up? What do you know? I mean, you
know a lot of times we get the pontificating and saying, well,
we know this, we know that. What do you really know? I mean,
you don't know anything that the Lord hasn't taught you. There's
never a thought came into your mind that the Lord did not guide. You know, people say, well, you
know, he's so smart, he thought up the how to do this, or he
thought up how to do that. Well, how did he do that? He
did it because God directed his thoughts in that. Elon Musk,
now this is a guy who seems to be a brilliant fellow as far
as the world goes, and he's got all these ideas and knows how
to get all this stuff done. How did he get like that? I mean,
he just decided one day, well, you know, I think I'm gonna do
that. No, the Lord gave him the abilities that he gave. Now I
don't know whether Elon Musk gives God any glory for it or
not. I never heard him do so. But it doesn't make a difference
whether he does or he doesn't. God will have glory from all
these things. But the Lord Jesus Christ would
set for us the example. And he says, or in things too
high for me, nothing would be too high for him. Plenty of stuff's
too high for us. You know, there are many subjects
that have often divided among the saints of God. That really and truly, when it
all boils down to it, what does anybody know about that? You
know, I think about the subject called the Trinity. Now, the word Trinity is not
in the scripture. The Father, Son, and Holy Ghost
is in the scripture. And we see the Father, we see
the Son, we see the Holy Spirit. I mean, they're all three one,
but our God is one God. Now, why do we need, what could
we accomplish by spending years trying to get down to the nitty
gritty of that and explain it to somebody? I've read books,
I've read a lot of books about that subject. And I always come
away, when I get through, you're right back to the same place.
What do you really know about that? You can't know that. Our
God, He inhabiteth eternity. How is it that finite men could
ever grasp that which the angels cover their eyes before His throne,
saying, Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God Almighty. He dwells in the
light which no man can approach, and how is it that men think
they can explain Him? Well, we're going to teach you
in three simple lessons. You know, how the Father, Son,
and the Holy Spirit, how this is. And many have been put to
death over these subjects. You know, there's been plenty
of stuff that men have put other men to death over in the name
of the Lord. You know, you're a heretic, we're
gonna kill you. These things are too high. And
that's not just, God is too high for us. You see, we have to put
our hand upon our mouth. See, that's what happened to
Job, was it not? Job was a pretty smart guy. The Lord had blessed
him. I mean, he was righteous before
the Lord. And he told us that he had a
lot of wisdom that he gave to his physicians of no value and
miserable comforters that came to straighten him out. But when
all was said and done, and Job had said everything that he knew,
and I can just, you know, I can imagine, because I'm kind of
about the same way, he was just pretty proud of himself, you
know, I've straightened these guys out. But all of a sudden,
the scripture says that the Lord appeared in a whirlwind. Now
when the Lord appears in a whirlwind, he'll get your attention. And
so he went, he said, Job, where were you when I laid the foundations
of the earth? And so ultimately, you see, he
brought Job to the same place he brought Peter. He said, Lord, he says, I have
heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye
seeth thee. And I abhor myself, I hate myself. And I repent in dust and ashes. So you see, that's the place
the Lord brings men. When he brings man to a knowledge
of the Lord, you won't hear a man boasting about what he knows,
but you'll see him glad that he's able to worship him who's
worthy to be worshiped. And so we don't, I hope we don't
exercise ourself in things too high for us because the knowledge
of the Holy One is too high for us except that He's pleased to
reveal Himself in Jesus Christ. Only knowledge you can ever have
of God is in Jesus Christ. He said, I am the way, the truth,
and the life. No man comes to the Father but
by me. Simple as that. I mean, Christ
is the Savior. He's the revelation of God in
the earth. God can't be seen by mortal men. No man has seen God at any time.
But the Son, who's in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared
Him. And Paul, Peter said, we've seen
Him. He walked with us, we have seen
Him. And dear brethren, that's the
message that we declare unto men today. I've not seen Him
with these eyes. But I, by the grace of God, have
seen him in those things that have been testified to us by
those men who did see him and whom the Lord has been pleased
to preserve for us all these years. Isn't it an amazing thing
that man in all of his wisdom cannot, and he's tried, he can't
do a thing with this book. That's just a book. Now you could
take a match and set it on fire and burn it right up right now.
But you know what, you wouldn't ever destroy the word of God
because it's going to be there. And somebody's going to have
it. I remember reading about those prisoners of war during
the Vietnam War. And I believe it was John McCain
or one of them had said that they set about to memorize or
they the Lord had kind of brought to mind each one of them parts
of scripture that they had learned as a child. And so that these
things, as they were there in those cells, they would come
together and one would tell what he knew and another one tell
what he knew. You see, the word of God is quick and powerful
and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing
asunder of soul and spirit. Now, I can't tell you what the
difference between soul and spirit is. I've heard people try to
do that, and I always scratch my head and say, well, you know,
that something's too high for me. I can't get it. But the word
of God does pierce. And he gives a man the understanding
he'd have him to have. Surely I behaved and quieted
myself as a child that's weaned of his mother, my souls even
as a weaned child. We are never as a weaned child. I mean, because we're always
as weak as an unweaned child. Jesus Christ stood upon his own
and he went to Calvary's cross. And he hung there. Judged by the law a sinner. And no man did help him. The
scripture says none did pity him. That's beyond comprehension,
is it not? Nobody stood with him. Nobody could. Because he entered
into a place that no man could come back from. Oh, what a glorious Savior He
is. He is even as a weaned child. He's a strong and mighty warrior,
a redeemer, a king, that one who reigns and rules,
but yet has hands that drip with mercy. Let Israel hope in the Lord from
henceforth and forever. Brethren, we have no other place
to go but unto the Lord. You can't, there's nothing that
I can do for you. There's nothing that anybody
else can do for you except we pray for you. But the Lord, he
helps us. that call upon His name. Because
He's the one that causes them to call upon His name. Thy people
shall be willing in the day of thy power. What a glorious Savior. See, He hasn't left anything
to chance. The Grace Gazette this week,
I titled it, Bought, Sought, and Brought. And that's the thing,
dear brother. He bought us with his own blood.
He sought us when we were not seeking him. And he brought us
by a way that we knew not. See, you didn't plan your life
out to be like it is, did you? You know, did you decide one
day, when you was growing up, you said, you know, I think one
day I'm gonna grow up and I'm gonna follow the Lord. No, you
might have thought that you were following the Lord. You know,
as a child, I never really gave much thought to it, because I
was just always raised in church, and so I didn't give it that
much thought about whether or not I was or not. But one day
the Lord got my attention, And he showed me that no, I was a
rebel against him. I didn't love his way. I didn't
love his word. You know, I like the trappings
of religion, but it was not a thing that was precious to my soul.
I can't understand it. Now one day, I didn't have any
concern. I've shared this with you before. There used to be
a thing where they would, every week in Sunday school, they'd
have a little thing that you'd fill out where you got your daily
Bible reading. In course, wanting to be a good
little religious fellow, I would sometimes, you know, just before
getting in bed, I'd think, oh man, I've got to get my daily
Bible reading. And so I'd throw the Bible open to read a verse
and I'd think, well, I did it. And I'm not casting aspersion
on that. I'm not saying there's anything, I'm saying, I'm thankful
that that was the way it was, but That in itself, I didn't
have no more concern for what the word, I couldn't have told
you after I read it. What I read, I couldn't care.
See, I was just going through the religious motion of it. But
I don't know what happened. One day, this word became precious
to my soul. And I hungered for it. And it fed me. And I sought it
out. And I don't say that. It wasn't
anything I did, brethren. I could have been seeking out
anything. I mean, you know, but the Lord
in his mercy, he calls me to desire the preciousness that's
found in Christ. Oh, that he might teach us each. That he might call his people.
unto himself. He's able to save to the uttermost
every soul that comes to him. And he says to sinners, only
sinners, come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest. He will. I can't tell you how it'll be.
I can't tell you when it'll be. See, I heard that message all
my life, but I never knew what it was until one day the Lord
showed it to me. He can do that. He won't do it
on your timetable, but He'll do it on His. Thank you for bearing
with me. May the Lord use His Word. May
He touch our hearts and give us a desire to exalt Christ because
He's worthy of praise.