What A Wonderful Savior

Let's read together Matthew chapter 9, beginning at verse 14. Matthew chapter 9 and verse 14. Then came to him the disciples of John, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast oft, but thy disciples fast not? And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bride chamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them?

But the days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast. No man putteth a piece of new cloth unto an old garment, for that which is put in to fill it up taketh from the garment, and the rent is made worse. Neither do men put new wine into old bottles, else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish. But they put new wine into new bottles, and both are preserved. While he spoke these things unto them, behold, there came a certain ruler, and worshipped him, saying, My daughter is even now dead, but come and lay thy hand upon her, and she shall live.

And Jesus arose and followed him, and so did his disciples. And behold, a woman, which was diseased with an issue of blood twelve years, came behind and touched the hem of his garment. For she said within herself, If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole. But Jesus turned him about, and when he saw her, he said, Daughter, be of good comfort. Thy faith hath made thee whole. And the woman was made whole from that hour.

And when Jesus came into the ruler's house and saw the minstrels and the people making a noise, he said unto them, Give place, for the maid is not dead, but sleeping. and they laughed him to scorn. But when the people were put forth, he went in and took her by the hand, and the maid arose. And the fame hereof went abroad into all that land.

Now, when I read those verses in preparation for tonight's service, I began reading them yesterday and studying a little bit. After reading that passage of scripture, this was my thought. What a wonderful Savior. What a wonderful Savior He is. Now, this passage of Scripture, Matthew was inspired to record for us, and you will notice in the reading that there is not a word of explanation given about anything. Matthew simply records for us exactly what transpired without any interpretive comment.

And the reason for that is that we might simply behold something of the grandeur, greatness, goodness, and glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. So as we look through these verses together this evening, I want us to look for that. I want us to look for the greatness and the glory, the goodness, and the grandeur of our Savior. And I want to do so by showing you five things in these verses that we've read.

First, in verse 14, we read, Then came to him the disciples of John, John the Baptist, saying, why do we and the Pharisees fast off? But thy disciples fast not. Now when I read that, first thing that caught my attention is that John's disciples seem to have aligned themselves with the Pharisees in this matter of fasting. And yet John's disciples were true disciples. These men were folks whom John had taught to follow the Savior. So here we see something of the wonder of our Savior's character as a Savior in his long-suffering, patient, gentleness, and kindness to such sinful disciples as all his disciples are in this world.

Now you might ask, Don, how on earth do you get that out of verse 14? Listen carefully. It is a painful and shameful fact, but it is a fact that the Lord's people, all of the Lord's people in this world, are sinners still. I had a conversation just a little while before any one of you got here this evening. A lady called me from Connecticut.

She was terribly disturbed about sin and not being able to triumph over and get the victory over sin. And I don't want to encourage anybody in sin. I don't want to encourage anybody in sin. But I said to her, you're going to have to learn something. Sin is something you're going to have to live with. Sin is something you're going to have to live with. Not learn to indifferent to sin. Don't ever be indifferent. Don't ever learn to be patient, tolerant with your sin. But sin's in you, and it mars everything you do.

And all of the Lord's disciples in this world are sinners still. Nothing more betrays the evil that still exists among true believers than strife and division among them. Here we see an example of strife and division between John's disciples and the Lord's disciples. All too often throughout the history of this world and the history of God's church, those who are truly brethren have been at odds with one another and behaved as though they were enemies.

And that's shameful. That's reproachful. It ought never to happen. But it has happened and continues to happen and will continue to happen because we are sinful people in this world. Let me see if I can explain what I'm saying. I'm not talking about folks who believe the gospel of God's grace being divided from folks who don't. We ought to be. The Lord says, come out from among them and be you separate. I'm talking about brethren. I'm talking about folks who worship and serve the Lord Jesus being divided among themselves. That ought not happen. I've been reading carefully, I scanned it and I've been reading it carefully, the biography of William Huntington.

He was a remarkable man who lived in the middle and late 1700s up into the early 1800s. He preached in London He was a man who had no education at all other than just barely learning to read and write. God saved him when he was an adult and he started preaching in London, I think he was 36, 37 years old when he began preaching there.

So he wasn't just a young whippersnapper when he started. And God greatly blessed his ministry. And of course, that raised some difficulties because he was a man who was not born to nobility. He was not born with a silver spoon in his mouth, and he wasn't well educated, he wasn't a learned doctor, and he butchered the king's English, and folks didn't like the fact that he had such large crowds attending his ministry. But he believed and preached the gospel of God's free grace with clarity. There was another man across town, same age, A man who was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. A man of nobility. A man of noble birth and of tremendous education and intellectual power. His name was Roland Hill.

The two men believed the gospel of God's grace. Both of them did. They both preached it. As a matter of fact, I've read things by Roland Hill and things by William Huntington. They preached the same thing. They literally preached the same thing. They were both, in my opinion, not in my opinion, according to the word of God, they were both errant because they were pedo-baptists. But both of them, being of the firm persuasion concerning the baptism of babies, they both practiced it. They both taught the gospel of God's free grace with distinction and with clarity.

Both of them insisted upon those things. And yet, Roland Hill, constantly, throughout his ministry, badgered William Huntington, had not one good thing to say about him, wrote pamphlets against him all the time, and would not be appeased. But the two men believed the gospel of God's grace.

It ought never to have happened. You say, well, that can't happen among believers. I beg to differ. Paul and Barnabas were both believers. But they had a dispute over John Mark, a meaningless dispute over John Mark. And Barnabas and Paul went their separate ways. We never hear from Barnabas again. Abraham and Lot were both true believers, but they had a dispute of all things. They had a dispute over cattle. A dispute over cattle. Hard to imagine. And they parted company. This is an indication, an indication of a sad reality.

And here in verse 14 of chapter 9 in Matthew, the disciples of John the Baptist, who were also the disciples of our Lord Jesus, came to the Lord Jesus with a word of reproof, because they presumed, and it was purely a presumption, that his disciples did not fast. Now, they should have known. If they didn't know, they should have known that our Lord plainly told his disciples with regard to fasting, do this in private, don't do this in public.

But they continue to retain in their ignorance, in their lack of understanding, they continue to retain the Old Testament commandments as well as the customs and traditions of the Pharisees with regard to public fasting. And so every week, they fasted. Every Tuesday and every Thursday, they fasted. And they let everybody know they fasted.

The Lord's disciples didn't fast. Tuesdays and Thursdays they didn't fast. They did not publicly demonstrate any act of fasting. But these fellows presumed that since they didn't see the Lord's disciples fasting, and since they did not engage in that outward pharisaic custom of fasting, that these fellows do not fast.

And somehow they are breaking the customs of men, which men began to assume were the traditions and were the commandments of God Almighty. Now, while there's much in their behavior that's reprehensible, it must be acknowledged that these disciples of John did behave with a measure of integrity. They did not, like the Pharisees, murmur and complain and try to sow discord. Look back in verse 11, and you'll remember the Pharisees, they saw the Lord Jesus sitting with the publicans in Matthew's house, and they said to the Lord's disciples, I can see him sitting in the crowd.

Why is he eating with sinners? Something's wrong with that. Something's wrong with that. What's your master doing? Do you see who he's talking to? That's the Pharisees. These disciples of John came directly to the master himself. They came to headquarters. They said, your disciples aren't engaging in the weekly fast.

We want to know why. And they said so with an air of reproof and an air of scorn about them. One of their number must have said to them, while they were considering these things, certainly they were talking about it in some measure. One of their number must have said, now wait a minute, fellas. If we want to know what's going on, let's just go ask him. Let's just go ask him. No point in us standing back here talking about this thing, setting in a skew and trying to stir up a mess. Let's just go ask him.

And so with a measure of integrity, they come to the master, though in ignorance, and they ask him, why are your disciples not fast? And yet, as I said, there's much in their conduct here that's reprehensible. For like the Pharisees, they proclaim their own goodness. By pointing to the disciples who didn't fast, they say, we do.

We do. Isn't it amazing what vile creatures we are that we imagine the best way for us to to build up ourselves and to expose our goodness is to tear down somebody else and expose his weakness. That's horrible. That's horrible. And that's just exactly what they did. They said, your disciples don't fail. We do. Every man, the wise man said, is quick to proclaim his own goodness. Not only did they proclaim their goodness, but they judged their brethren by the yardstick of their own rules.

You see, this weekly fasting, this public fasting, we're not talking now about the fasting required by the Law of Moses. We're talking about the customs and traditions of the Pharisees. Every Tuesday and every Thursday, they fasted twice every week. Do you remember the prayer of the Pharisee in the temple? Lord, I thank you that I'm not as this public, and I fast twice every week. I fast twice every week.

They had received the customs of men as being the law of God, and they measured their brethren by their own traditions. Oh, how quickly religious people do that throughout all ages. As in the past, so in our day. Men and women do things. They allow certain things in their church, in their creed, in their profession.

And they say no to other things. Now if a fellow comes over here and he doesn't do what we do, he can't be right. And if a fellow's over here and he does things different than we do, he can't be right. We measure one another by ourselves. That's horrible. We set ourselves up as the standards of godliness, as the standards of spirituality, and we must not do that.

I was watching as the men came in tonight. First one came in was Ron. He was dressed with a coat and tie on. Bob came in with a sweater, Rex came in with hair a little longer than the rest of us. Of course, he's got more than the rest of us. But he came in a little more casual looking, and you look at that, and some folks get the idea.

Now, if I'm going to be spiritual, this is how I've got to look, this is how I've got to dress, and if you don't dress the way I do, something's wrong with you. When I was in Bible college, both schools I went to, they had rules and regulations that you wouldn't believe. I mean, they dictated One school I was in out in Springfield, Missouri, they passed a rule out there that fellas couldn't wear shoes with buckles on them. When they came in style, you couldn't wear no shoes with buckles on them, because that was worldly. And when there was a P-bunch, you couldn't wear your sideburns down below the middle of your ear, because that was worldly.

They make standards and say, this is godliness, and this is worldliness, and that's wrong. That's altogether wrong. These disciples also presume that because they did not see the Lord's disciples fasting, then they didn't fast. They're judged by sight, as only men can, and we got no business judging by sight, and whatever. We can't see. into the hearts of men. We just can't. And we must not judge them by what appears on our brief observation of them. Somebody sees one of us out in a restaurant. I presume it's true probably of all of us here. We sit down and have a meal. I hope you're thankful. I hope you lift your heart to God and give thanks.

But you're not going to see me bowing down at the restaurant table and praying. You're not going to see it happen. Now some religious fellow may see that and say, well, those folks don't pray. That's not an indication they don't pray. That's not an indication they don't pray.

Our Lord forbade his disciples to put on a public display of religious activity, and they obeyed him. But these fellows came and said, now we don't see your disciples fasting, therefore they must not fast. And then they appear to have cast a slur upon the Lord Jesus himself because of the behavior of his disciples or because of their imagined behavior. They looked at the Lord's disciples and they looked at themselves and they said, now your disciples don't fast, we do. Something must be wrong with you. So, what's wrong? They appear to cast a slur on that. You say, well, could believers do that? That is, you read it for yourself.

However, neither Matthew, Mark, nor Luke, as they record this incident, not one of them indicate that the Lord Jesus was angry or upset with these men. For he knoweth our frame, he remembereth that we are dust. Our Lord seems, as you read on through the passage, he seems just to have considered the source and with tenderness dealt with them. There's some things we ought to learn from this.

We must never set ourselves up as judges of our brethren, especially with regard to matters of indifference. Quarrels quarrels are best settled. Will you listen now? Listen to me. Quarrels are best settled at the throne of grace, talking to the master. That's where they're best settled. Go to the throne of grace and call on God in behalf of your brother with whom you have a quarrel.

They are never settled by sowing discord. Never, never. So often, men and women, rather than going to a brother, rather than going to a sister, if Lindsey and Diane were having trouble, if Lindsey and Diane were having trouble, I guarantee you, I guarantee you, Lindsey wouldn't go talk to Hubert and Judy and Ron about Diane's trouble. I guarantee you wouldn't.

He'd go talk to Diane. because that's what trouble is. Go talk to her, and we'll get together before the throne of grace, and we'll settle this thing, because he loves her. But that's not the way we do it in relationships with other people. Got trouble with Bob? Let's talk to Rex, and we'll talk to Buddy, and Shirley, and we'll talk to Judah, this one, that one. Why don't you go talk to Bob? He wouldn't hear it.

Maybe he would. He might almost be as gracious as you are. He might possibly be as gracious as you imagine yourself to be. I often have people Come to me. I travel around a lot. People come to me and ask me this thing or that, have difficulty with pastor. I said, why don't you go to talk to your pastor? Just go talk to him. Oh, he wouldn't hear us. Maybe he would. Would you hear him if he can't talk to you? Well, sure I will. Well, he might possibly be that gracious. He might do that.

Now look at verse 15. The Lord Jesus here graciously and tenderly identifies himself with his disciples. They come and say, why don't your disciples fast like we do? And Jesus said unto them, can the children of the bride chamber mourn, which is what fasting implies, as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast. Rather than getting into a dispute with these men about the matter of fasting, which was altogether insignificant, our Lord sees the opportunity here to identify himself with his children, particularly in a most tender way. He compares himself to a bridegroom.

This is what John the Baptist had taught them. Turn over to John chapter 3. Hold your fingers here. Look at John chapter 3 in verse 29. John the Baptist taught his disciples exactly what the Lord's here talking about. He that hath the bride is the bridegroom, but the friend of the bridegroom which standeth and heareth him rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. This my joy therefore is fulfilled.

Now marriage back in these days in Bible times was considerably different than marriage in our day. Marriage today is not arranged by mom and dad. Sometimes mom and dad wish they could do it, but it's not arranged by mom and dad. Matter of fact, most moms and dads learn fairly early that if they start to try to manipulate too much, they get in trouble.

So they just kind of step back and leave it alone, wait and see what happens in God's good providence. And in marriage today, when a couple gets married, the groom is kind of like a lapdog in the way. Nothing revolves around him. Everything revolves around that lovely bride coming down the aisle. But back in these days, marriages were arranged, and everything centered around the groom. Everything. Marriage was arranged, and the bride was chosen by the father. And so our Lord God, our Father, arranged the marriage of his son and chose his bride, the church, before the world began.

The children of the bride chamber are the friends of the bridegroom. If you have another translation, you might look it up. This word children here might better be translated friends, the friends of the bride chamber. These are described here as being those who kind of stand by. prophets, the preachers of the gospel, who point me into the bridegroom and say, look to him, here he comes.

Now in these days, as I said, the center of attention was not the bride, but rather the bridegroom. And all the saints of God say that's just where it ought to be. Let him have all the attention, let him have all the praise, let every eye be turned to him, the Lord Jesus. But I think it's interesting that as our Lord has this affront from these disciples of John, he seizes the opportunity to call himself a bridegroom.

He identifies himself with his people in the most intimate, tender way, the bridegroom and the bridegroom. Now, what the bridegroom is to the bride, the Lord Jesus is to every sinner who trusts him. Do you trust him? Do you believe on the Son of God? If so, this is what he's done for you.

The bridegroom loves the bride with an everlasting love, deep and unchangeable. He loves her. The bridegroom has taken his bride into an indissolvable union of grace with himself. We're members of his body, bone of his bone, flesh of his flesh. And the bridegroom has paid all our debts. We owe God for our sin. He paid the price. We owe God perfect righteousness. He gave it. He pays all our debts.

He's the one who's legally responsible. Remember, these were the days prior to women's liberation. In those days prior to women's liberation, men assumed total responsibility for a household. Men assumed total responsibility for that which was incurred by their families. Men assumed total responsibility for the indebtedness of their wives and children.

And so our Lord Jesus Christ, as a bridegroom, incurs upon himself all our debts, all responsibility for us, and all our obligations. And he supplies all our needs. both for time and for eternity, both spiritual and temporal. As the bridegroom, he sympathizes with us in all our troubles. He bears all our affronts, all our sins, all our horrible, horrible acts of unfaithfulness and thoughts of unfaithfulness toward him.

He's a bridegroom incomparable. There's never been one like him. Never been one like him. We're to love our wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. That's the only unconditional love there is in this world. He loves his church, immutably, unconditionally, forever. Sometimes The Lamb's wife defiles herself, but he constantly cleanses her, for he hateth putting away, and he will not put away his own.

Won't happen. Won't happen. You mean, Pastor, are you saying that there's absolutely no terms, no conditions, no circumstances under which the Son of God will put away one of his, that's what I mean to say. That's exactly what I mean to say. If you're his, you're his forever, and he'll keep you. He'll keep you.

Thirdly, look at verses 16 and 17. No man putteth a piece of new cloth into an old garment, for that which is put in to fill it, to fill it up taketh away from the garment, and the rent is made worse. Now, I've looked at these two verses of scripture for years. Let me give them to you in a nutshell.

The word new cloth means unshrunken cloth or raw cloth, untreated. So if a seamstress were to take a garment, take a pair of britches that were torn and decide, well, I'm going to put a piece of unshrunken or raw material in there. She put it in, and just as soon as the material, the new cloth shrunk, it would make the rend or the tear even worse than it was before.

The word bottles here, if you have a marginal reference, says wine skins, and that's a much better translation. When you put new wine into a bottle, all you do is pop the cork on it. You don't cause it to burst. But what he's talking about here are those old wine skins, which were far better for the storage and the aging of wine than our bottles are today, for the leather wine skins would allow the wine to breathe. But if you put new wine into an old leather wine skin, as the wine fermented, as the wine was still pretty green, it would cause the leather wine skin to burst open. Now you look at that and you say, well what on earth is the connection?

Why did the Lord Jesus use this illustration? Very simply put, for this reason, he's saying don't ever impose upon my children what they can't bear. Don't ever do it. He's teaching us how to teach babes in the kingdom of God. You see, in the family of God, there are little children, young men and fathers. And little children are not to be dealt with as young men and fathers, but as little children. And sometimes, if you read Hebrews chapter 5, you'll find out that those who should have been fathers and teachers are still little children.

And so just as we would not put, or a seamstress would not put new cloth into an old garment or put new wine into old bottles, a winemaker wouldn't do that. So we must not impose upon men and women things that they cannot bear in the kingdom of God. Now what on earth does that mean? Somebody says, well, we oughtn't to teach folks strong doctrine. Every now and then I'll have preachers tell me I don't preach. Strong as you do, because I know our folks can't bear it. God's sheep will take his truth. That's not what he's talking about. There's never an excuse for hiding truth from men. It does not mean that we should fail to instruct folks in the ordinances of the gospel. We must do that. It's imperative that men and women learn to worship God according to his word.

What it means is we are to take care to train believers in the way of Christ considering their circumstances and their needs, so that we do so with patience as dealing with the Lord's little children. I'll tell you something about young believers. Gotta remember now we're dealing with young believers who generally are adults, at least young adults, maybe older adults, but young believers. Those who are newly brought into the faith, novices without experience. As a general rule, they're far more hasty and far more harsh in their judgments than older believers.

As a general rule. Man, I was. When I was 20 years old, I had an answer for everything. And I wasn't the least bit bashful about telling you what the answers were. And I wasn't too hesitant to make quick judgments concerning men and their actions. And I've wished many times I could take them back.

Young believers usually are far more strict and unbending in their discipline than others are. When disciples get a little older, they understand. Folks dealt with them with a little bit of leniency. we would have put up with them, and we ought to do that with others. Young believers generally are more highly opinionated than older seasoned men.

You look at things just in a worldly perspective. If Rex takes Ian and trains him in the shop out there, and Ian's a pleasant young man, pleasant young fellow, but let him get to be about 18, 20 years old, There ain't a thing on earth he can tell that. By that I've learned everything. I know what's going on there. He's got his mind made up just in ordinary, natural things.

And regrettably, the same thing's true in spiritual things. Regrettably, they have firm opinions, know everything, but they're very susceptible to error because they won't listen. That's the reason God gave pastors and teachers and elders to instruct those who oppose themselves with patience and understanding. Usually the young are more rash and erratic in their behavior than the older.

And so our Lord looks at these disciples of John's, and he's speaking in the context of them with his disciples, and he's saying, now fellows, don't put raw, unshrunken cloth into this pouring place here. You'll make a mess. Don't put green wine into old wine bottles. You'll make a mess if you do. Just be patient. Just be patient.

And indeed, that's exactly what the Church of God must be. I have folks Call me up periodically, write to me, want to know about discipline. Everybody seems so anxious to put folks out of the church. I don't know why. Never have been able to figure that out. So anxious to put folks out of the church. I'll say to him, what problem are we facing? Well, we're not really facing a problem now, but we want to be ready. Just wait. Just wait. Don't be so anxious to be hard with men.

God teach us to be anxious, to be patient and kind with men. Patient, kind with one another. Now in verses 18 through 22, Matthew shows us two examples of our Lord honoring faith. Faith honors God, and God honors faith. We have Jairus, the ruler of the synagogue. He came with strong faith, and he said, Master, my daughter's dead already, but if you'll come and touch her, if you'll just lay your hand on her, she'll live again. Now Bill, that's faith. That's faith.

You've seen a dead corpse, cold, empty. Motionless, lifeless, breathless. Imagine somebody coming to a cold, dead corpse, touching it. And breath coming and going. And warmth returning to the body. And life returning to the limbs. This man said, Lord, my daughter's dead. If you come lay your hand on her, she'll live. That's strong faith.

And then this woman came who had an issue of blood for 12 years. And she came, Luke, I believe it is, tells us she came trembling behind the master. And she didn't say a word to anybody. She came with apprehension, mingled with faith. Folks, I don't believe like I ought to. She didn't believe like she ought to. She had weak faith. But she said if I could just touch the hem of his garment, I would have made whole. She touched him, and it made whole immediately.

You see, it is not the measure of our faith, but the object of our faith that saves us. I wish I could get that across clearly and distinctly. We keep looking to ourselves for peace. We keep looking to ourselves for assurance. I don't believe Christ like all two. I don't.

Sometimes I believe him more firmly, more confidently than in others. Sometimes I have a greater realization of my blessed relationship with him than I do with others. But I believe him. I trust him. He's my salvation. And when I'm confident, And when I'm trembling, he's still my salvation.

You understand that? Faith looks away from self to him. It is not our believing him that saves us, but it is him that saves us, and we trust him. You understand that? So it's not the measure of our faith, but the object of our faith that saves us. I said a minute ago that faith honors him, and he honors faith.

This man came with strong, confident faith, worshiping the master. And he got exactly what he wanted. You see that? Buddy, the scripture says the Lord went with him to his house. He got exactly what he wanted. And this woman came with trembling, weak faith. And she got exactly what she wanted. Exactly what she needed. Virtue went out of her savior and she was made whole.

I told you I've been reading about Huntington. I read a passage to Shelby the other day in his dire need. He was such a poor man. I read about him. He walked, normally walked a hundred miles a week to various preaching engagements. Y'all remind me of that next time I complain about being too tired. He normally walked a hundred miles a week to preach different places. One Sunday he woke up and he was just tired. He had preached all week. He preached on Saturday night, walked home, got home late at night, got up early in the morning, had a seven o'clock service in the morning, and had to walk to three different preaching engagements that day.

And this was his prayer. He said, Lord, I need your help. Either lessen my work Increase my strength or give me a horse. That kind of simple praying, that's kind of like, either lessen my work, increase my strength or give me a horse. And he went out on his preaching engagements and came back on a horse that night. God gave him what he sought.

God honors faith, because faith honors God. Oh, God helped me to believe. Honor you by believing. This is the work of God that we believe on him whom he has sent. And then one last thing. Look at verses 23 through 26. Our Lord came into the ruler's house, into Jehosh's house, and he saw the minstrels, the flute players, and the people making the noise. He said, y'all, give me a little room here.

The maid is not dead. Now that doesn't mean She is not physically dead. That's not what it means at all. She was physically dead. The scripture says so in other places. What's it mean? It means that believers are never dead. Now, remember he said concerning Lazarus, he said, our friend Lazarus sleepeth? And the disciple said, well, Lord, if he's sleeping, why bother to go up there to Bethany? He said, you don't understand. Lazarus is dead. I'm trying to tell you now, he that believes on me shall never die. But when someone lies out in the grave to accommodate fail, fickle human understanding, yes, she's dead.

And so the Lord said to these folks that she's not dead, and they left him to scorn. What he was doing is he was hiding himself from these unbelievers, making himself known to those who believe. And when the people went out of the room, when they were put forth, he went in, took her by the hand, and the maid arose, and the fame thereof went through all that land.

Without question, the man who did this is the omnipotent, almighty God. Omnipotent God. Omnipotent God. I can't sufficiently stress The omnipotence of God our Savior. Omnipotent God. Is anything too hard for the Lord? Anything too hard for the Lord? God, just in proportion, as we realize and believe his omnipotence, we'll have peace and trust in him. Just in proportion. Exactly in proportion. He has absolute, total power over all flesh, over all events, over all circumstances, over the very demons of hell and the devil himself. He has absolute, total, omnipotent power over death, spiritual death.

Lord, my daughter's dead, but if you'll touch her, she'll live. Lord, my son's dead, but if you'll touch him, he'll live. It's up to you, it's up to you. He has absolute, total, omnipotent power over sickness. the forerunner of physical death, total power. Lord, my wife's sick. If you'll touch her, she'll live. My brother's sick. If you'll touch him, he'll live.

He has total power. He gives it and withholds it as he will. And he has total power over physical death. So the scripture says, he that liveth and believeth on me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. No such thing as death for the believer. No such thing. Because our savior is life. And in him we have life.

Someone described the funeral of a believer like this. He said, it looks like a crowd of grieving caterpillars. all dressed out in black suits. As they crawl along mourning their dead brother, carrying his cocoon to its final resting place, you can see a beautiful butterfly fluttering around, looking over the scene as if it were dismayed. That's it. He's not dead. He's not dead. lives with the Savior when he leaves his body. Our Savior has total, total, total power. Can you get hold of that? Total power. Oh, God, help us to believe it. Let's stand together and pray.

What A Wonderful Savior

Sermon Transcript

About Don Fortner

Comments

Articles

Featured Authors

Podcast

Sermons

Featured Preachers

Books

Browse by Format

Music

Recent Comments

About

Legal

Subscribe

Account

Articles

Featured Authors

Podcast

Recent Comments

Sermons

Featured Preachers

Books

Browse by Format

Collections

Music

About

Legal

Subscribe

What A Wonderful Savior

Sermon Transcript

About Don Fortner

Comments

More from Don Fortner

Related Sermons

Same Scripture

Articles by Don Fortner

Books by Don Fortner

Where this book stands in the tradition

Plato

Augustine

The Western Christian Tradition

This Book