Turn to Mark chapter 3. I had
an enjoyable, very enjoyable trip to Tennessee in a Bible
conference down there, College Grove. Chris Cunningham's the
pastor. Felt like we had a really good
time down there. It's always a blessing to get
to meet believers in other places that you've never met before. Some of them I had, but a lot
of them I hadn't. And it was a real blessing. And
now, November the 30th, and December the 1st and 2nd, Todd Nyberg
will be having a Bible conference. I'll be speaking in it. And there
are six of us. And I'm not in any attempt to
go past myself. Because I know I won't remember
some of them, and I don't want to get it wrong. But I'll find
out and put it in the bulletin. When they heard what great things
He did, they came to Him. They came to Him. The Word of God says, Faith,
come up by hearing. in hearing by the word of God. When they heard of that leper
being cleansed, when they heard of that man being healed who
had the palsy, when they heard of that man being healed from
that demon being cast out of him, and he was delivered from
it, When they heard that, they believed it. And the evidence
of it, not all of them came because they believed. A lot of them
came because of curiosity. They just wanted to see what
was going on. They wanted to see what it looked
like. Who is this man? But many of them came because
they believed what they heard. Faith comes by hearing and hearing
by the Word of God. If we want to see sinners saved
here, what are we going to do? We're going
to preach the Word. We're not going to coerce people
to do something. That wouldn't save anything.
You'd be just as lost as ever. But when we hear the Word, when
the Word is preached and God enables us to hear the Word,
that's when a sinner is saved. He enables that sinner to hear
the Word. It quickens him. And no sinner ever comes to Christ
apart from hearing of him, hearing of his person, hearing
of his work. It's not until we see the great
things of Christ in salvation and how we need him, will we
come to him. Until that happens, He's nothing
more than an interesting historical figure. That's all it is. That's all
it'll be to that person until it comes in power. And you find
out your need of Him. You realize your need of Him.
That's when you'll come to Him. Now, back in verse 6, the Pharisees
took counsel how they might destroy Him. This is man's objective. It has always been Satan's objective
to destroy him. Listen to this in Psalm 2. Why do the heathen rage, and
the people imagine a vain thing? The heathen, the people, and
the kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together
against the Lord and against His anointed, against Christ.
saying, let us break their bands asunder and cast away their course
from us. No God for me. I will be my own
God. And the Pharisees, they want
to destroy him. Just like the rest of the people
when he was to be crucified, they all cried, the same crowd
that cried Hosanna, that same crowd cried, crucify him, crucify
him. Man's objective is to destroy
Christ. Destroy his authority, his Lordship. Leave me alone. I want to be
my own Lord. I want to be my own God. I want
to do things my way. Well, you just go ahead. You wind up in hell doing it
your way. If we go God's way, that's Christ
and that's salvation. And the Pharisees went forth
and straightway, this is after seeing a miracle now, this is
after seeing a man with a withered hand that could not lift his
hand in any way, shape or form. And they watched this happen
and it made them so mad that they went out and they got with
the Herodians and they counseled with them how they might destroy
the Son of God. But Jesus withdrew Himself with
His disciples to the sea. And a great multitude from Galilee
followed Him and from Judea. The religious leaders rejected
Him, but those who needed Him followed
Him. They followed Him wherever He
went. Those who needed Him followed
Him. The religious leaders? who ought
to have been following Him, wouldn't have a thing to do with it. And from Jerusalem and from Adamiah,
and from beyond Jordan, and they about Tyre and Sidon, a great
multitude. I thought of that scripture that
the Lord said He's going to bring them from the north, the south,
the east, and the west. You look at all these locations,
that's where they are. That's what's happening. The
Lord's bringing them. God is bringing him to the Messiah. And when they had heard what
great things he did, it came unto him. Oh, the importance
of preaching Christ. Do you see it? When I was reading
this today, I thought, oh, the importance of declaring Christ. People are not going to come
who don't know Him. If you don't hear of Him, you can't come to
somebody you don't know. When they heard of Him, when
they heard what great things He did, I'm sure there was one
that was crippled, said, I bet He can heal my leg. The blind,
I bet He can heal my sight. Those possessed, the family says,
He can heal this one. That one who had the palsy? Do
you imagine the encouragement and the hope that walked into
town? For years and years these people
were like this. Remember that one man who had
an infirmity for 38 years? And then he got up and walked
home. Oh, my soul. There's one in town
who can do something about my need, about my problem. And they came. They came. His fame went throughout the
region for his great works that he had done. And those who had
need of healing, what did he do? In another place it says
he healed. He healed. Self-righteousness
kept the Pharisees away. They did not see any need of healing for themselves. They
didn't need him. You don't go to the doctor if
you don't need him. If you're a hypochondriac, because
of that, you don't need him. You're not going to go, are you?
You're not going to go. Self-righteousness will keep
you away from Christ. It will keep you away from him.
All who need righteousness, all who need cleansing, will come
to him. You mark it down, they will come
to him. Those who need him will come
to him. And he spake to his disciples that a small ship should wait
on him because of the multitude, lest they should throng him.
You know, our Lord, he provides here for the safety of his disciples. He provides here for a situation
where he can step out of it if they get too out of hand because
they were thronging him. They were falling at his feet.
They were just reaching out, grabbing him, touching him. They
wanted to be healed. And so he provides. I thought
of this when I saw this. I thought he could have stopped
that, couldn't he? But not one time did he ever
use his power for his own safety. He just said, get a boat in case
we need it. Get a boat in case we need it.
And he had it right there in case they needed it. When they
heard what great things he did, they came to him. It says in verse 10, For he had
healed many, insomuch that they pressed upon him to touch him.
Pressed upon him to touch him. Wouldn't you like to see that? I mean in a spiritual, in a real
spiritual sense. Man, I like to see this building
crowded. People, tell me of Him. I mean, lean upon the seat. Trying to grasp just a word about
Him. They were thronging Him. They
were thronging Him. Pressing upon Him. He was the
only hope they had. The only hope they had. And he's
the only hope any one of us has of being saved. He's the only
hope. For he had healed many so much
as they pressed upon him, for to touch him as many as had plagues
of disorders. I read this from two or three
men today. How'd they get these plagues? They said the Lord gave
them these plagues to bring them to Christ. To bring them to Christ. I tell you what, that man who
had the infirmity for 38 years, I bet he didn't complain about
it after the Lord saved him. That's why the Lord came to him. He had a real need and the Lord
met that need. He took care of that need. Took
care of it. Why does God reveal sin to us? To make us feel bad? To make us feel bad about what
we've done? To bring us to Christ. To bring
us to the Master's feet. And I want you to see here in
verse 11 that even the unclean spirits show reverence to Him. When they saw Him, They fell down before Him and
cried, saying, Thou art the Son of God. They recognized Him as
soon as they saw Him. Men don't even recognize Him. He came unto His own and His
own received Him, but not. How dead is man? How spiritually
dead is man when God Almighty walks into their presence, performs
miracles, and they get mad and want to destroy him? The devils, the unclean spirits,
without him saying, Do you know who I am? Without him doing anything,
he just walks in the room. And they said, we know who you
are. We know who you are. And they fell down. We ought to get a hold of this.
This is the one who has all power, not Satan. When he walks in the
room, they hit the dirt. They fell down. They fell down
because the Lord of Lord and the King of Kings just walked
in the room. And they said, Thou art the Son
of God. But he told them to shut up.
He told them to shut up. And the reason he told them to
shut up is because he's not going to receive the witness of devils. Only the redeemed are going to
be his witnesses. Only the redeemed. You remember
that woman in the book of Acts? She went by saying, These men
are of God. for bringing salvation, and Paul,
it just bothered him. And you know, Paul turned around
and cast an evil spirit out of that woman. If you would have
listened to her, if I would have listened to her, we'd have thought she knew something. We'd have thought she had a hold
of something. She's saying these men are of God. I mean, she was
saying some good things, wasn't she? And Paul said, there's something
wrong with you. There's something wrong with
you. And he cast that devil out of her. And straightway, he charged them
not to make him known. But I want us to see this. I
want us to see, first of all, the great works of our Lord. the great works of our Lord. Go back to Genesis chapter 1. In the beginning, Genesis chapter 1 verse 1, in
the beginning God, God, created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form,
and it was void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep. Can you imagine what that sight
was like? It was without form. It was void. Nothing. Void. And nothing but darkness. There was no light and nothing
but darkness upon the face of the deep. Now look at it. I looked out the window of the
day and I thought, how beautiful. I was looking at those trees
and those leaves and Vicki even said, came downstairs and was
talking to me, she said, well you have a beautiful view, don't
you? I said, yes I do. I said, look how beautiful it
is. Look what it was. And now look at it. Even with
sin in it, even with sin in it, it's breathtaking. It is absolutely
breathtaking. Look at the wonders of creation. Look at the beauty of creation. The Lord Jesus Christ created
all that we see and don't see. There's a lot of things we don't
see. There's a lot out there that we don't see. There's a secret workings that
goes on every day in creation that we don't see. But He does. He does. He created all of it. He created it all. Hebrews 1.10 says, And thou,
Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth,
And the heavens are the work of thy hands. He did it. He did it. He spoke and it existed. He made the animals and the trees
and don't ever get over that. When you read the Old Testament,
all those Old Testament prophets, when they spoke of God, one of
the first ways they identified God was as the creator. of heaven
and earth and the sea and all that's therein. Because I tell
you this, whoever created all this is God. The one that created
all this is God. Let me say it that way. It's
God. And the one that created all
this is the man, Christ Jesus. My. Psalm 19, 1 through 3, listen. The heavens declare the glory
of God, the glory of His power and His wisdom. It took wisdom
to make this. Can you believe that? How did
he even come up with evolution? Well, I guess dead people come
up with anything. Look at it. Look at the creation. Look at the harmony of it. Stephen Charnock said it took
such wisdom to make such variety work in harmony. Could that evolve? No. No. The heavens declare the
glory of God. Vicki called me. We was coming
back from Tennessee Sunday night. And we were almost in town. We
were out in the county. She said, look up in the sky.
I guess it was a meteor shower went by. She said, it's so bright. She
said, it looks like it's on fire. I said, well, be careful. It might hit your car. Because
she was just so excited about it. She was so excited. And then
I said, well, it's got to be a meteor shower. When we got
home it was. But she was talking about just
how impressive it was. That's his. And it's nothing
to him. It's just like the nations, there's
a drop in the bucket. A drop in the bucket. But the
heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament showeth
His, what? His handiwork. You ever see the
handiwork of a craftsman? I mean a real craftsman. Beautiful. You stand in awe of it. Day unto day uttereth speech
and night unto night showeth knowledge. Did you hear what
it said today? When you walked outside today, it was a beautiful
day. Did you hear the speech of nature? Did you hear the speech
of creation, crying that God is? Did you hear it? Did you hear the speech today?
There was a speech going on. There's a speech going on every
day. Every day, creation stands up to the podium and says, God
is. Except man. Except man. Idiot man says, no
he isn't. Or they come up with a God that
doesn't even exist. There is no speech, no language
where their voice is not heard. No man, no woman, no matter where
they live on this globe will ever have an excuse. Because creation itself, that
sun, when it comes up and it goes across the sky, it is screaming
now, it is screaming that God is. It is screaming the glory
of God. That sun never changes in temperature.
It never moves out of its path. Billions upon billions of people
have watched that sun come up and go down, come up and go down,
come up and go down. And it does that by the Word
of Jesus Christ, our God. And then look at the great things
that he had done in Providence. How do you look at history as
something that's just interesting? When you go back, when you look
at history, If you look back at the history
of this country, if you look back at the history of Europe
and the history of the world, how do you see it? Believers see it as the providence
of God. They see the unfolding of the
purpose of God through providence. Scripture says he brings down
one and he lifts up another. He raises up a nation, he brings
down a nation. And you can see all these, now when you look
back at history, you see all these workings going on. All
these workings going on. I'm taking too long aren't I? Anyway, where was I at? History is the working of God's
providence. And it's through the working
of God's providence that the gospel goes to a place. God providentially
brought Rothbard to Ashland. The gospel was planted. God gave birth, spiritual life
to a man, Henry Mahan. And look, this is the seed of
that. Right here is the seed of it.
Whoever thought, whoever thought that such a powerful ministry
and that we'd be here today, 50 some, probably 60 some, I
don't know, years later. I hope that 60 years down the
road that our children can say this. Everything that happened today,
Everything, things that we don't see, things that happen over
here in the woods that we don't see. Everything, I mean everything,
happened by the providence of God. And somehow, even the minutest
things are working together to bring about and fulfill the purpose
of God in all this. But you know what? Hearing about the great things
of creation, hearing about the great things in God's providence
won't save anybody. When they heard of the great
things He did, that's when they came to Him. When they heard
of the great things He did. You remember that? Remember that
day? Remember that time? I'm not going
to go to a specific time of day, but you remember when you heard
the gospel? What did you hear? What did you
hear when you heard the gospel? You heard of the great things
that he did. Not what you are to do. Not what
God expects you to do. But what he did. You heard how he glorified the
Father by his obedience. He said in John 17, 4, I have
glorified thee on the earth. I have finished the work which
thou gavest me to do. I've glorified you. Adam didn't
do that. He dishonored God. Christ never
dishonored the Father at one time, not even by a thought. He glorified His Father by the
doctrine He preached. He glorified His Father by the
miracles He wrought. He glorified His Father by the
innocency of His life. He glorified the Father by His
sufferings. He glorified the Father by His
death. He was obedient unto death, even
the death of the cross. He said, My meat is to do the
will of Him that sent me. He glorified the Father. And we hear that. We hear that. This man who is our substitute
glorified the Father on our behalf. We hear how he magnified the
law and he made it honorable. He didn't go around the law.
He made it head on and made it honorable. He kept every jot
and tittle of the law. I know this world doesn't think
anything of God's law, but he does. He does. We better think of what he thinks
of. We better fall in love with what he loves and that which
pleases him. It says in Isaiah 42, 21, the Lord
is well pleased for his righteousness sake. He will magnify the law
and make it honorable. Honorable. And you know what? In Christ, we have magnified
the law and made it honorable. We've done that in Christ. And
we hear how He redeemed the elect. He's purchased the church with
His own blood. 1 Peter 1, 18-19. For as much as you know that
you were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from
your vain conversation received by the tradition from your fathers,
but with the precious blood of Christ. as of a lamb without
blemish and without spot. Redemption is real. When Christ
died on that cross to redeem, He redeemed. He redeemed. He didn't take a shot at it.
He accomplished it. It's finished. That's what He
said. It's finished. You know, before he even went
to the cross, this is how sure, sure he was that he would not
fail. He said, when I said, my servant
shall not fail. He knew he wouldn't fail. I read
that to you out of John 17, 4. I have glorified thee on the
earth. I have what? Finished the work. He hasn't
gone to the cross yet. He hasn't suffered yet. He hasn't
been nailed to the cross yet. But he says, I finished it. It
was finished before the world was created. As far as God's
concerned, He cannot fail. He's the Lamb slain, not just
2,000 years ago, though He was, He's slain before the foundation
of the world. This matter has been settled before creation. That's our God. That's our God. He's not like us going to work
trying to get something done. No, it's finished. Before he
spoke the first thing into existence, it's finished. With him it is. We hear how he defeated Satan.
How he bruised Satan's head. Listen to this. Colossians 2.15. And having spoiled
principalities and powers, are you afraid of them? Are you afraid
of principalities and powers? Are you afraid of the powers
that be right now? Are you afraid of them? He spoiled them. They are under
his absolute control. He made a show of them openly,
triumphing over them in it. They thought when they knelt
unto the cross, we are winning. No, you're losing. He's winning. He's getting the victory. Well,
it doesn't look like it. Well, he is. He's getting the
victory. They're beating him in Palace
Hall there. They're taking a whip and they're
just laying his back wide open. And they're taking a crown of
thorns and putting it on his head. And they take a robe and
put it on him and they mock him as the king. Who's winning? He is. That's a weird way to
win. He's winning. He's winning. He's getting the
victory. He's doing battle, and he's whipping
them, and they don't even know it. That's how dead man is. He gets beat up, and he doesn't
even know it. Defeated, and he doesn't even know it. Whipped,
and he doesn't even know it. 1 Peter 3, verse 22, "...who is
gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God
right now, as I stand here and preach to you, you sit there
and listen to me, this man is seated at God's right hand. There
is a real, real living man seated at God's right hand. Angels, Gabriel says, here I
am. The lightning says, here we are. Angels, good and bad. You know,
it's not that we don't have Satan over here and God over here and
they're out here running loose. No, they're under His authority. Satan doesn't rule hell. Hell
belongs to God. He created it for devilish angels. The picture that men give of
hell and devil is they're down there with a pitchfork Go around
tormenting everybody. No, he's going to be in torment.
It's not his hell. It belongs to God. That's where you're going to
put all the prisoners who reject Christ. The lake of fire is his
lake of fire. Who's gone into heaven and is
on the right hand of God, angels, and authority and power be made
subject unto him." We hear how he fulfilled all
righteousness by his obedience. His righteousness is my righteousness. His righteousness is the righteousness
of his people. Aren't you glad you don't have
to come up with one? Because you can't. You hate to come up with something
that you can't come up with. The bank said to me today, well,
you've got to come up with a million dollars. I said, you'd better
come and get it, because that ain't happening. If I'm told to come up with a
righteousness, be ye holy, for I am holy. You ever think about
it? Wow. He said, be ye holy. I tell you
what, the man who's been enlightened and born of God, he flees to
Christ. Because God requires to be holy. Without holiness, what? No man
will see the Lord. No man. We hear how that through
Him we are justified from all things. Through faith in Him. But you could not be justified
by keeping the law of Moses. We hear how He cleanses us from
all sin. We hear what great things He
hath done in salvation, and we come to Him. And when we hear of Him in power,
we come to Him and find Him to be all-sufficient, find Him to
be able, and we find Him to be willing. Have you heard of Him? Have you really heard of Him? Did you hear what he did? He said, oh man, that just fits
what I need. That just fits what I need. If it does, you'll come to Him.
If it does, you will come to Him. Everyone who had need of healing.
And you know what? I find I need that every day.
It's not something I needed 30-some years ago. That's something I
need right now. You know, 30-some years ago is ago. It's gone.
I need Him right now. I need Christ right now.