We have a very special treat
this morning. Pastor Paul Mahan, pastor of
the Central Baptist Church in Rocky Mount, Virginia, is with
us. Of course, Mindy, his dear wife. Your son-in-law gave you
up. I was talking to Gabe. He told
me Paul and Mindy were coming. And I really debated about what
to do. I thought maybe he wants to rest. And I just kept thinking
about it and I prayed about it. Well, I'll call him. And he very
graciously volunteered to preach for us this morning. I've just
been looking so forward to it. Paul's one of us, and so you're
right at home. So that's who gave me up. My
flesh and blood. I'm glad to see you again, I
really am. I'm glad to be here, although I really and truly would
have preferred to sit where you're sitting. That pew is very comfortable,
isn't it, John? Very comfortable. I know Frank knows now that you
look forward to being able to sit and listen and let someone
else do this. The Lord's providence is amazing,
isn't it? How He brings us through all
that He brings us through to where we are now. And someday
when we're with Him in glory, God's people, we're going to
stand amazed at His providence in doing all that He did. Things
that we didn't understand at the time. Things we didn't necessarily
want to go through. But we're going to look back
and see it was all good. Brother Scott Richardson once
said this. And he was no stranger to trials. He went through many, many deep,
dark trials up until the day he died. And he said, if you
knew what God knows, you would order your life exactly the way
he is ordering it right now. That's comforting, isn't it? I think back on the Lord's providence
years ago, there was a man named Frank Tate and his wife, Lee,
who were vital members of the church that I grew up and attended
and I loved that man and his wife, still do, but he was, Mother
Frank was such an example, wasn't he? Such an example, such a loving,
kind, Christ-like man and a teacher, a preacher, a right arm to the
church there and I looked up to him and he was such a blessing
to me and the Lord took him Ten years ago, he said, but now his
son is a pastor here. Amazing, isn't it, Lord? I never
thought that I would be where I am, and lots of you old folks
never thought it either, did you, H.B.? I was reminded last
night, especially, I attended my 40th class reunion. 40th. Some of you don't think
it's very old, but I do. And I was amazed how old everybody
looked. And I remain so young looking.
But no, seriously. I was just shocked. What shocked
me more than anything, and I hadn't seen some of them in 30 years,
most of them. What shocked me more than anything
was to read the names of the people that had died, passed
away. A couple of my very, very closest
friends, very closest. We were inseparable friends,
and I didn't even know that they were gone. And some of them died
horrible deaths, too. Who make the Theta Dipper, huh?
And here I stand this morning. Probably very few of them are
in a house of worship. Have any thoughts of God whatsoever?
Now, I know. Aren't you glad for the Lord's
sovereign, saving, mercy and grace? Matthew 9, we all have
a story to tell. Matthew chapter 9. Scripture says we spend our lives
as a tale that is told. The lives of God's people are
written in a book. You know, the stories of the
Old Testament saints and even the New Testament ones, their
lives are written in the book that we read. Well, ours are
too. Our lives are written in the Lamb's Book of Life, aren't
they? Everything about us was predetermined, predestined by
our all-wise, all-powerful God. We spend our lives as a tale
is told. Everything about us. And I'm
so glad. And right here in one verse,
if you want to look at one verse, and it's amazing what all is
in this one verse, this is every Child of God story. In one verse,
mostly one and two syllable words, very simple statements, is the
story of every single child of God that the Lord chose and came
to save and find and found and brought to Himself and revealed
Himself to them. One verse. It's amazing. That's
how you know this is God's Word. This is Matthew's story, verse
9. It says, As Jesus passed forth from thence, he saw a man named
Matthew sitting at the receipt of custom. And he saith unto
him, Follow me. And Matthew arose and followed
him. This is my story. This is the
story of every believer. One short verse, long on meaning,
full of truth, full of glory. Story of salvation, my salvation. It says, Jesus passed. Jesus passed. The Lord Jesus
is who this is. God manifest in the flesh. God
Almighty passed through this world. A brief time, thirty-three
years. Nevertheless, in great mercy,
in great grace, for a purpose, a divine, eternal purpose, he
passed through this blood. Passed through it. But he did
come, didn't he? Jesus passed. Now, and Brother Frank has already
talked about this. Not just a man. This is the God-man. And what salvation is, and our
Lord Jesus said this, or His word, this is eternal life. You
want to know what eternal life is? It's to know someone. It's to know God and His Son,
whom He sent. And why? To know Him. To trust
Him. To be known by Him. If you weren't
known by Him, you wouldn't know Him. Our Lord said, This is life
eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus
Christ, whom thou hast sent, the Lord Jesus Christ. Most people
do not know who Jesus was or is. If you do, and most of you
do, how blessed we are. The Lord said, No man knoweth
the Son but the Father. neither knoweth any man the Father,
but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him." Most people
think they know God, but the God that they know or think they
know is far different from the God of the Scriptures, isn't
it? Far different. The Jesus Christ that people talk about
today is another Jesus, isn't it? Because they make Him out
to be just a man, just a man. And what we understand is that
He is God, very God of very God, and made Himself to be a man
for a purpose. But never quit being God, did
He? Jesus passed through. God manifested
in the flesh. He came to do God's will, to
seek and to save the lost, to find His sheep. And think about
it. He didn't have much time to do
it. That's why He spent every waking
hour of every day, every step that He took. I love the thought
of how that every single step the Lord Jesus took was in the
direction of saving one of His sheep. Every gesture He made,
every word He spoke, every place He went, everything He did was
divinely ordained, eternally predestined before the world
began in the saving of His sheep. This is who this is, the Lord
Jesus Christ. God come to earth on a mission
to save his people. Everything was ordained. When
this chapter begins and he entered into a ship, well, before that
he came and told his disciples to get a ship. And he said, get
a ship. The Lord never asked anyone to
do anything for him. The kings don't ask things, they
give orders. He said, get me a ship, and it
didn't matter which one they got because they were all his.
That was his sea. He came one day, and remember
Peter and Andrew and James and John were fishing, and the Lord
got in Peter's boat, remember? He got in his boat and said,
cast out. He didn't ask him. Would you
please take me out there? I'd like to go fishing. Cast
out. We're going fishing. We're going to catch something.
So he did, and he never asked anyone anything. He gave orders.
He said, get me a ship. This is the Lord Jesus Christ.
I remember standing with Brother Greg Elmquist one day. We had
been fishing, and he has a bait-casting net, Chuck, and we used that
all day, and we were washing our nets. Washing our nets, and
this very story came to my mind. I said, Brother Greg, I said,
what would you do if a man that you did not know just came walking
up and got into your boat and said, come on, we're going fishing?
And he looked at me and said, it'd have to be the Lord. Well,
it was and it is. This is the difference in the
Christ we know and believe and the one that's preached today.
The one we know, the one who is Lord, does as he will, with
whom he will, because he will, and giveth not account of his
matters to anyone. He told them, get in this ship,
we're going over to this side. He knew what he was doing. They
didn't know what he was doing. They never did know where he was going.
They didn't have to, did they? And neither did we. And they
passed over in order for him to save one man in the tombs,
a Gadarene demoniac. He saved that man. He came all
the way from glory to save that man. And then he said, get the
ship. We're going back over. And in the process, he raised
the storm in order to show them who he was. Then they came back
to Capernaum is where this is. He got out of the ship, walked
into town, and he was preaching in a house. And he had them bring
to him a man on a stretcher, a man sick with a palsy. Yes,
he had them bring that man to him in order to save him, all
right? So he left there, and then he's walking out of town,
and that's where this began. He passed forth from thence.
He's leaving Capernaum. And on his way out, there's another
fellow that's one of his, whom he came from, Matthew. And while
we're thinking about that, him passing through, Thank God he
came to Ashland, Kentucky. Thank God the Gospel came to
Ashland, Kentucky, of all places. Rocky Mount, Virginia. Other
insignificant places. Thank God he chose this place
to put his name there. Aren't you thankful? But he passes
through. The Gospel never stays in one
place very long at all. Remember that. That's what makes
this so vital, so important. This really is the day of salvation.
When the gospel's being preached, as long as the gospel's being
preached, it's as if the door of the ark is open, but it's
not going to be open forever. The Lord's going to shut it.
I believe he's about to get up and shut the door. I really do. But he passed through. The God-man,
the gospel, passed through this place. And look at verse 9 again. It says, So Jesus passed from
thence, from there, and he saw a man. He saw a man. Who saw who? Who saw who? Matthew didn't see him. Matthew's
sitting at his customary seat where he always sits, counting
his money, doing what he did day in and day out. But somebody
is looking at him. Matthew didn't see him. The Lord
saw him. That's my story. Is that yours? Matthew, we could say this, he
didn't see it coming. He didn't see this day coming.
He wasn't looking. He wasn't seeking. Now, we preach
that unless you call on the name of the Lord, you won't be saved.
We preach unless you repent, you'll perish. We preach what
the Lord said, seek and you'll find. If you don't seek, you
won't find. If you don't ask, it won't be given to you. If
you don't knock on the door of mercy, it won't be opened. We
preach that, don't we? No, we preach that. But why does
anybody ask? Why does anybody seek? That's
the Scripture that says, I was found of them that sought me
not. To the average person, they don't understand that. Every
one of God's people understands that. I wasn't seeking. I wasn't looking. But when the
Lord started seeking me and looking for me, I started seeking, and
I started looking, and that's how you know he's seeking you.
So we don't stand by and say, well, if I'm going to be saved,
I'm going to be saved. If I'm one of the elect, I'm one of the
elect. No, sir. Though that is true. If you're elect, you will
come. You will see. But the means that
he's chosen are for you to ask, for you to call, and you to seek. But he saw Matthew first. He saw me first. Matthew didn't
see him. If he had seen him, maybe he
had seen him. This thing wasn't done in a corner.
Heard you preach that, Brother Dale. Wonderful message. Our
Lord preached all over that area, and everybody knew something
about this Jesus of Nazareth. Everybody knew something about
this young Jewish rabbi that turned the world upside down.
Everybody. You had to have been from somewhere else not to hear
about him, all right? If Matthew had seen him, If Matthew
had heard him, he didn't see any beauty in him that he should
desire. He didn't see anything in him that was special. He didn't
hear anything come from his mouth that impressed him at the time.
He's going to. He's going to. But Matthew's
hope is, and my hope is, that he sees me. That he looks on
me. And if he's looking at me one
of these days, I'm going to be looking to him. He saw. He saw. What did He say? Look at it. Two words. A man. Two-word sermon. There are about
nine two-word sermons. A man. The Lord saw a man. Scripture says, what is man? That thou art mindful of him,
for the Son of Man. that the Lord would visit him.
What is man? Man thinks he's something. But
if he would take a good, honest look at himself and at mankind,
he would see that we are nothing. The Scripture says, God, the
inhabitants of the earth are reputed as what? Nothing. Less than nothing, didn't He
say? Grasshoppers. Does anybody have any need for
grasshoppers? That's what the scriptures call
them, worms, doesn't it? He even called his elect, one
he loved, Jacob, he said, fear not thou worm, Jacob. Do you
take offense to that? You don't. Those that know themselves
for what they are don't take offense to that, do they? Huh?
Worm, dog, Syrophoenician woman didn't take offense, did she?
She knew what she was. Can't offend a dog if you call
him a dog, can you? Or a worm? The world won't hear
that. I'll have you know I'm no worm.
But then I'll have you know you're not one of the Lord's then. He
saw man, a wretched, miserable, poor, blind, naked, dead, God-hating,
God is not any of his thoughts, money-loving, covetous, selfish
man. That's Matthew. Publica. They
were the worst, weren't they? Republicans with a worm, that's
Matthew. A man, a worm. I have a little bit of experience
with worms now. Adam does too. You're going to
think I'm crazy. And he too, he did the same thing.
But not too long ago, I bought, I set off and ordered 2,000 worms. I bought and paid for 2,000 worms
and had them shipped to me. I paid $49.95. You'd think, are
you serious? Go out in the yard and dig them.
You know how long it would take you to dig 2,000? At any rate,
they said they were special worms. But I took one look at them and
no, they wasn't anything special about them. Nevertheless, and
this is a good illustration. I've got so many good illustrations
out of those worms. But they sent them to me, 2,000 worms.
You know what 2,000 worms look like? Have you ever looked at
2,000 worms? They sent me this little sack,
this little sack of worms and got it in the
mail and opened it up. It was disgusting. Aren't they? It was disgusting. Wiggling and
crawling all over one another. Just a writhing mass of dirt
and filth. And if we could look down on
this world like God looks on this world, that's exactly what
we would see. And such were some of you. All
of us. A writhing mass of sinful humanity. What is man? I paid for those worms. I paid
good money for worms. Isn't that exactly what the Lord
Jesus Christ did? Why would He do that? For His glory. I made
Him a house. I made Him a worm house. I spent
more money to provide for these worms. Food and so forth. A nice
place to... I got carried away with this
thing, man. I put them in this nice house, you know, and put
the top on it and everything. And I went to bed. You know,
I laid in bed that night worrying about those ones. And it would all occur to me,
this is exactly what the Lord has done for me. One more little
story about that. It's just a wonderful picture. preparing a place for those worms
to live in. And I take care of them, man. I'm not willing to lose one of
them. But I paid for them. I reached down and I looked in
the sack, about to throw the sack away, and there was one
worm. Just one worm. I got 1,999 of
these worthless pieces of dirt. I said, no, I paid for them.
He was clinging to that sack for all he was worth. He didn't
want to come out. If I don't take him out of there
and put him in a safe place, he's going to die. I reached down. I touched him.
I said, you're coming with me. He saw a man. The Lord saw a
worm. Aren't you glad he looks on worms? Aren't you glad he passed through
this place and looked on worms such as we are? Oh, blessed is
the man whom thou choosest and causest to approach. Now look
at the next two words. He saw a man named Matthew. Now,
Matthew, his name, matathia is a Hebrew word, I believe. His
name means a gift of the Lord. Years before this, I don't know,
thirty-five, thirty, thirty-five, forty years, Alphaeus, his father
and his mother, they had a baby boy. The Lord gave them. The Lord gives life to them.
If you have children, the Lord gave you that child. Be thankful. Mindy and I wanted
to have children. The first five years could not
and thought we would never have a child. And that's a real trial
to go through. There are some in here who have
not. The Lord has not given you children according to His purpose.
And that's a real trial. We understand a little bit about
that. But then the Lord gave us a daughter. Oh my, and we
were so thankful and we named her that. The female name, Hannah,
means the gift of God. At any rate, Matthew, his name
means the gift of the Lord. Well, the Lord gave this man
and his wife a beautiful baby boy, but not knowing that long
before the world began, this young fellow named Matthew
was given to the Lord Jesus Christ by God the Father. Christ said,
All that the Father giveth me shall come unto thee. He's the
great shepherd given a sheep by the Father who chose them
and given to him to seek and to save, to find them and save
them, reveal himself to them. So this Matthew, he saw a man
named Matthew. Look at the next two words. at
the receipt of customs." That's six words. I know, I wasn't pretty
good at math. At any rate, he was in his customary
seat. A little play on words, but it's
still true. Sitting in his customary seat. Sitting where he always
sat, day in and day out, where he was a custom sitting, doing
what he always did. Doing what he lived for, he would
die for. And isn't that all of us? Aren't
we all creatures of habit? We're such creatures of habit,
I venture to say, that most of you are sitting in seats that
you acquired at some point years ago and have not moved one seat
from them. Anybody? Anybody? Kathy's on
it. Is that right? We're traditional. We do things in a customary way.
We get used to doing things. And we settle in and do things
as we always do them. We sit where we always sit. We
do what we always do. We live for something. Everyone
lives for something. Everybody is in love with something
and lives for that. And unless the Lord comes to
them and reveals Himself to them, they'll die doing that. And they'll
die for the most ridiculous things, won't they? They'll die for vanity. And so would we have. Music. In my case, it was automobiles
and stuff like that. Some of the sports. Right? If the Lord hadn't come to us
and gave this command that he's going to give Matthew in a minute.
Two words. We'd sit right where we sat.
and sit there till the day we die and perish, wouldn't I? You've got people in love with,
and we look at them as if they are utterly foolish, and they
are. We were leaving to travel to
Kingsport one Sunday evening and stopped in a Dairy Queen
to get a bite to eat. on the way, and this old man
and his wife pulled in in a gorgeous, gorgeous, about a 49 or 50 Chevy
truck that was just beautiful, showroom condition. I know he
had $50,000 in that truck. I know. I've restored some old
vehicles. But I have restored some old
ones, and I know what it takes. And I hear he and his wife hopped
out of that truck, both dressed alike in casual clothing and
all that, and hopped out of that car and out of that truck. And
I turned to Mindy and I said, that's their life. That truck
right there is their life. That's what they live for. They've
gone to a car show. They haven't given God a thought.
God in whose hands they're breathing and all their way. God who gave
them what they had. They didn't give Him a thought.
Certainly no thanks. And that is their life and that's
what they lived for. And so did we. Everyone in here
whom the Lord revealed Himself to. You were living for something
or someone until the day that He came where you were and told
you that aren't you going to have it. Matthew is so glad for
he that died counting his money. He had no idea who was looking
for him. He had no idea. The Lord of glory had come for
him. This is his day. This is the day of his salvation.
The coming of time, like the child in Ezekiel in the field. And the Lord said, when I pass
by, it was your day, the time of love, the day of your salvation. It's not the day that Matthew
makes a decision in. Do you hear Matthew say anything
here? Do you hear the Lord ask him anything? Do you see how
passive he is in all of this? That was me. We're not arguing
doctrine here when we talk about the Lord's sovereign choice and
the sovereign mercy and sovereign call. We're not arguing doctrine
here. Anybody argues that just to know the Lord. Those whom
the Lord has called and chosen and come to and revealed Himself
to and brought them out of that customary seat. and gave that
command, they know, don't they? To a man, to a woman, they know
salvation's up the Lord. It's not a doctrine, it's just
so. You don't argue these things. Well, salvation's not an offer,
is it? It's an operation of God. Not
our choice, it's His. It's when He comes to us, and
that's when we'll come to Him. All right, look at the next two
words. He was sitting in his customary seat, and he said,
the Lord spoke. The Lord spoke. You know when
salvation will come? When the Lord speaks. Salvation
is through His Word, through His Gospel. When He speaks His
Word to us. He who spoke the worlds into
existence. We're born again by that Word,
aren't we? We're given life by that Word.
Begotten by that same Word. It's his word, not a man's word,
but his word. He said, you know, you can't
hear from the Lord if you're talking, and that describes this
religious generation, doesn't it? People who do all this talking. I meet people all the time, you
know, that I find out real quickly who's religious and who's not. They want you to know. Last night,
my reunion, you know, mostly publicans and sinners. That's
my kind of people. But there were some, weren't
there many, it was obvious from the outset. They were wearing
their phylacteries, very broad, very obvious. And they wanted
it to be obvious. That's not, that's not how it
went. Don't come nigh me, I'm holier
than you. And I thought, I know you. One fellow in particular.
And I've just owned up now, John, where I don't care anymore, thankfully. I really don't. The Lord doesn't
save too many Pharisees, does he? But he does. He has to. He
has to reveal to them their worms, too, doesn't he? At any rate,
where was I? He saved them. Too much talking
in religion. Too much talking. People that
do too much talking tell me they don't know much about the Lord.
God's in heaven. We're on the earth. Let your
word speak to you, he said. What the word says to us that
every mouth may be what? Stopped. Stopped. Y'all know John Davis? Brother
John Davis? You wouldn't have believed him
when he was in religion. He was religious. When I first
met him, he was religious. And he came
walking in my study one day, one of the men, asked him to come talk to me,
come to church. And he came walking in my study,
and he said, hello brother, how you doing? Praise the Lord. Isn't
the Lord good? And so on and on I thought, oh, what have we
here? You know John, don't you? And they had a few words now,
and he just talked, and I just let him talk. He wasn't ready
to listen. And then he said, let's pray. And we started to
leave, and I was glad when he left. He said, let's pray, and
what he meant was pray together in unison. That's what religion
does. No, let's all pray. We've all
got something to say. God loves to hear from us. No,
he doesn't. No, he doesn't. Job and his friends were talking
a long time, weren't they? What did Job come to the conclusion?
He said, I've spoken things too wonderful for me, things I didn't
understand. He said, I'm going to put my
hand over my mouth. I don't want to be standing up
here. Frank doesn't want to be standing up here. Louis, we really
don't. But necessity is laid upon them. We are the spokesmen.
But those who fear God and know God know that what have I got
to say? Who am I to take these things
in my mouth? Who am I to stand up and try
to declare God, declare the truth? Nevertheless, this is the means
that God has chosen. But who we're going to have to
hear from is the Lord. Not men, but the Lord. He saved. He saved. Unto Him. Unto Matthew. Two words. Unto Matthew. The Lord speaks
to individuals. The Lord speaks to people. When
He comes, our Lord said, My sheep hear My voice. Didn't He? Every one of them. This is how
you know. I'll never forget. Never forget
when the Lord spoke to me. I thought I was the only one
in there. I sat there for years, just like some of our kids are
sitting here now. I sat there for years and served
thousands and thousands of sermons, but never heard a word until
one day He spoke to me. And everything He said then was
directed at me. I'm the one. I'm the guilty one. I'm the prodigal son. I'm Mary
Magdalene. I'm the thief on the cross. I'm
the one he's talking to. That's when salvation is going
to come, when he saith to you, Oh, may the Lord speak to us
and our children. Speak, Lord, speak. And he said two words. Two words. Follow me. And walked off. Is that enough to save a fellow?
Asked Mathieu. He said two words to him, right?
You know what? He said the same two words to
Peter. He said the same two words to
Andrew, to James, to John, to me. Didn't he? He didn't ask me. He told me. Thou hast given commandment to
save me. Aren't you glad salvation is
my command? It's not my invitation. Aren't you glad, Dale, that through
the gospel one day he said, follow me? Oh, this is the difference between
our Lord and the one that you must make Lord, they're talking
about today. This is the difference between the God who is God, not
the one who wants to be. This is the difference between
the Lord Jesus Christ and that other Jesus who is standing at
men's hearts door trying to get in. They won't let Him. He doesn't
ask anybody anything. He tells them. He doesn't make
requests. He gives commands. Where the
word of the King is, there's power. He gives a command. And
I'm so thankful, or I wouldn't have come. I wouldn't have come. I don't know everybody in here.
Maybe there is somebody in here like this, but this God who's
trying to save you is the wrong God. He's not God. If He's trying
to tell you something, that's not the God of the Scripture.
He doesn't try to tell anybody anything. You hear people say
that, don't you? God's trying to tell me. He tried
to tell the sun to shine. He tried to tell the moon to
hang in space. God said, let there be light. Follow me, follow me, follow
me. He didn't ask Matthew to let
him be Lord of his life. He had come to announce to Matthew,
I am now, right now, from this day forward, your Lord. By asking
but to tell him, I am your Lord from this day forward, you will
follow me. I am your Lord, you will follow
me. I am your King, you will bow to me. I am your Master,
I now own you. I am your Redeemer, I've bought
you. I am your Sovereign Lord, your Ruler, your Savior, your
Messiah, your Prophet, you'll hear it from me if you hear it.
I am your Priest, you'll confess to me. I am your King, I am your
Intercessor, I am the one who will pray for you. I am your
Mediator, I am your Surety, I am your Wisdom, you need to know
anything, you're going to get it from me. I am your Righteousness,
I am your sanctification, I am your redemption, I am the Lord
your shepherd, you are my sheep, follow me." When the gospel comes and the
Lord speaks to you, you will arise and go to him. You will
arise from wherever you are, and you will follow him. It's
a sure thing. Because he's the surety, a sure
thing. He arose, and look at this, two
words, followed him. Followed him. Another account,
Luke's account, says two words, left off. He left off. What would it take for a man
to leave everything, to follow someone he doesn't
really know, to go where he doesn't know where he's going, to a place
he's never seen? Huh? Ask Rebecca that. where that
old servant of Abraham came to find the bride for Isaac, you
know. Oh, the Lord prepared the way. His angel will go on and
prepare the way. The Holy Spirit will make a person
willing the day of his power. He left everything. He left all.
He left all of his money. Oh, it takes power, doesn't it?
Oh, my love. Sovereign power. And he arose
and he followed the Lord Jesus Christ. He followed Him. This
is Bible. This is vital. He followed Christ. This is how you know who the
Lord's people are. They're following Him. They're
not following a denomination. They're not following the world.
They're not following the religions of the world, the religious leaders
of the world. They're following Christ. That's not just a slogan
we preach about. This is truth. We follow Him. We follow Him. Not the world. Not our dream. the masses, not
the crowd, not where the crowd is going. No, in fact, the Lord,
you follow the Lord. He said you'll go unto Him without
the camp. Bury his reproach. The way that
leads to death is wide and many go therein. They're just following
like the blind leading the blind, following their blind leaders.
And they're blind too and they're all going to perish. But thank
God the Lord comes and gives His command to follow Him. If
you follow anyone else, you'll be lost. If you follow anyone
else, you'll perish. If you follow anyone else, you'll
end up outside, kidnapped. Followed him. This man, Matthew,
he's a publican. He's a rich man. He's like Zacchaeus. He was once a leader on top of
his business, I suppose. Now he's a follower. Once a talker,
now he's a listener. Brother John Davis, now he's a man of few words. I've got to tell you this, then
I'll close a bit. It hasn't been too long. Anyway, Brother John,
the Lord began to speak to him. The Lord revealed Himself to
John and he came to me and he said, You know, I've got a problem. I'm down at this place. I've
been attending this so-called church and I've been teaching
an adult Bible class. That's what they do. As soon
as a fellow makes a profession, they make him a Sunday school
teacher. And he said, I'm teaching this class, and I can't go there
anymore. I have to come here and hear
the gospel. I can't stand it. I said, John, stay right there.
You now have learned the truth, and you teach them what you know.
You tell them what you know now. It's a real opportunity. And
he tried, but he couldn't stand it. He just couldn't stand it.
He had to be with God's people, worshiping the Lord, being fed.
And this really happened. One Wednesday night, with a good
little crowd in this three-wheel Baptist church where he was going,
he asked the preacher if he could stand up and say something. And
the fellow, not knowing what he was going to say, said, Sure,
John. And John got up, like I'm standing here in the pulpit,
and he said, and I quote, he said, This man's not preaching
the truth. He said, I've heard the truth.
It's right up the street, Central Baptist Church. He said, that's
where I'm going. I have to hear the truth. That's
where I'm going. If anybody wants to go, go with me. Been there
ever since. That's what the Lord does. That's
who the Lord speaks to. If they got anything to say,
anything to do, it's to follow Christ, to speak of Christ. Follow
Him. He once was lost, now he's found.
He once was blind, now he's seen. He once was dead, now he's alive.
Why? Because the Lord Jesus Christ
saw him, looked on him, came to where he was, spoke to him,
called him, drew him by his sovereign power, redeemed him by his blood,
made him righteous. All those things. Salvation really
is of the Lord. Amen. Okay. May the Lord bless
you.