Okay, go with me now to the book
of Nehemiah, Nehemiah chapter 8. I hope some of you remembered
to read that. Often we have trouble knowing where to start
reading. We all look for a place to read from God's Word to be
blessed. And if you're looking for a new
place to start, the books of Ezra and Nehemiah are just a
wonderful place. Both of them go together. And
you'll be greatly blessed to read both of those books. Let's
read verses 11 and 12 here in Nehemiah chapter Chapter 8, the
end of this brief account. So the Levites, verse 11, the
Levites stilled all the people, saying, Hold your peace, for
the day is holy. Neither be ye grieved. And all
the people went their way to eat and to drink and to send
portions That is, to give to those who could not come and
to make great mirth because they had understood the words that
were declared unto them. That ought to make you smile
with great anticipation. Cause for great mirth, or the
subtitle might be a reason to laugh and rejoice. Now this is not only a typical
story of a beautiful type, this is a true story. And I think
we miss a blessing sometimes if we do not look at the actual
story that's taking place in the Scriptures, whether it be
the Old Testament or New. These were real people just like
us, fathers and mothers, Grandfathers, grandmothers with their children
all gathered together and with jobs and homes and families and
living in the world and problems and so forth. Real people. This
story is of a real bunch of people. They were once held captive,
these people here, in Babylon. But by order of the king, Cyrus,
for those of you who know the story, By order of the king,
they were set free. And they were sent to Jerusalem
to dwell there where all who wanted to go could go. And they
were placed in Jerusalem under a wise and kind governor, a man
named Nehemiah, Tershepha. That word means governor. They
were under this wise and kind governor. And they were placed
also under the sound preaching of a man named Ezra, a scribe,
real people. But the greatest picture here
is the type of God's people, spiritual Israel, the church,
you and I, delivered from captivity, Babylon, delivered from the world,
from sin, from Satan, by order of our God and our King. That's
the only reason. And given to the Lord Jesus Christ,
the Redeemer, put in the body of Christ, New Jerusalem, like
these people. They were put over in New Jerusalem. Placed under the wise and kind
government of God the Holy Spirit. And under the sound preaching
of faithful pastors and teachers. It's a beautiful picture. I hope
you're with me. I say that a lot, don't I? Because I hope you're
with me. I'm not, as Paul said, fighting
as one that beats the air. But I really want you to hear
this, okay? Now, this all began with a great
worship service. Go back to, well, verse 1. A
great worship service. It says, all the people gathered
themselves together as one man into the street that was before
the water gate. They were all gathered together.
They were up in the previous chapter, verse 66, it says there
were 42,360 people in this street, in this way, in this narrow way
where the water came through the gate. It's all significant. Are you catching this? It's all
significant. There's not one word, idle word
in God's Word, not one piece of mere information. You understand? They were in
the street, in the way. All of these people were in the
way where the water would come through that gate. But they were
gathered as one. They were assembled together,
gathered themselves as one, with one accord. And it says that
they spoke unto Ezra the scribe, the preacher, to bring the book
of the Law of Moses which the Lord had commanded to Israel.
So they were gathered together to hear the Word. They insisted
that their preacher bring them the Word. That's what they were
wanting to hear. That's why they were gathered.
And so did we. That's why we assemble, isn't
it? And that's what we do. That's all we do. We preach the
Word. We read the Word, don't we? We
make much of God's Word. As Cornelius said, you remember
the story over in Acts chapter 10? Cornelius gathered his house
together and said, we're all here to hear. That's why we're
here. We're here to hear the Word.
And they told Ezra, their faithful preacher, bring the book. Bring
the book, Ezra. Bring the book, Brother John.
Bring the book. and preach it to us. We need
to hear it. So Ezra did. As do all those
that are sent by God. Ezra was a faithful preacher
and that's what he did. That's all he did. Preach the
Word. In verse 2 and 3, let's read it. Ezra the priest brought
the law before the congregation, both of men and women, and all
that could hear with understanding. That means young people. was
able to understand, no matter the age. Upon the first day of
the seventh month, and he read therein. He read from Genesis,
Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. In the street that was before
the water gate. From the morning until midday. Six hours he read. I believe he read the whole thing. That's fitting, isn't it? Don't
leave anything out, preacher. Tell us the whole counsel." And
he read the whole thing for six hours before the men and the
women and those that could understand. Now listen to this. The ears
of all the people were attended to the book of the law. I would
have liked to have been present in this Bible conference, wouldn't
you? This is what this is. This is, in effect, one of the
first Bible conferences to be held. You're going to see in
a moment how several men got up to preach at this time. But
they were all attentive. Amazing, isn't it? And what a sad commentary that
is on our day. Sad commentary. But they were
all attentive. The Lord gave them ears to hear,
obviously. Well, they wouldn't have. But
verse 4, it says, Ezra the scribe stood upon a poor pit of wood. which they had made for that
purpose." Now, this is the first mention of a pulpit in the Scripture,
and it plainly says it was made for this purpose. What purpose?
To read the Word, to proclaim the Word. It was not a throne
for a man to ascend, but a desk from which to lay the book and
read. Are you with me? It was not a
pedestal for a man to be seen. but rather a pillar for the truth
to stand. It was not a stage for drama,
but a place to proclaim God's Word on them, a pulpit. I made the comment to Brother
John just a moment ago how the pulpits today are indicative
of what goes on behind them. Have you ever thought about that? Look at modern pulpits. They're
clear, aren't they? Because men want to be seen.
And they're not saying anything worth hearing. So they've got
to put on a show, Brother Dale, don't they? That's what it's
all about. Pulpits of old were much like this one. They were
created in such a way as to cover the man. To cover the man. For him to stand behind it. In
fact, most of them were very high. Because all the people
needed to do was to hear a voice. That's it. Not see the man, but
to hear a voice. I was preaching in England one
time over in Liverpool, England. And pulpits at one time were
stuck up in a corner. Have you seen pictures of those?
They call them pigeon's nests, I think. But they were stuck
up in a corner. Thankfully, they had put a new
one in this old building, and it was in the middle. But that's
indicative, isn't it, of what men have done with preaching
over the years. Just put it off to the side here, up in a corner,
because that's not the center of what we're doing here. Put
it over there, and the rest of it is formality and ceremony
and so forth. But the pulpit is for one purpose,
for the Word to sound forth. And so this is the first mention
of a pulpit in Scripture. It was made for that purpose.
And beside Ezra stood several men. I'm not going to read all
of their names. Names like Uriah, and Massasiah,
and Malkiah, and Hashbodana. Aren't you glad your preacher's
name is John? I am. But at any rate, these
men, there were about 13 of them with Ezra. And verse 5, Ezra
opened the book in the sight of all the people. He opened
the book. He made sure that everyone there
was seeing that I'm reading from God's Word. You understand? In the sight of all the people.
Look, I'm not reading from a manuscript. I'm not reading from my notes.
I'm not reading from an old book by an old preacher. This is God's
Word. Is that important? Never more
so than today. This is God's Word in plain sight
of everyone. Doesn't the Scripture say, to
the law and to the testimony? If they speak not according to
My Word, there's no light in them. Doesn't Jeremiah all the
way through the book of Jeremiah say, These false prophets are
stealing my Word. They're not preaching my Word.
They're preaching dream. He that hath a dream, let him
tell his dream. What's the chaff to the wheat?
But he that hath my Word, let him proclaim that faithfully.
Look, we're looking at God's Word. It's not open for debate.
It's not up for judgment. This is God's Word to be heard,
to be preached, to be believed. I feel very strongly. Well, the people back then, they
did not have a copy of God's Word. They didn't have a copy
of God's Word. So it was all the more important,
wasn't it, for the people to know, are you really reading
from God's Word? Yes, I am. Yes, I am. And isn't it a cause for great
mirth, people? that we have a copy of God's
Word? Also a cause for great repentance
what we do with it or don't do with it. But I feel very strongly about
this, very strongly. And we learned from a wise man
that it's vital that we all have the same copy. the same version of Scripture. So as there's no doubt, we're
all reading the same thing. A king's command. I feel very
strongly about that. One thing I like about the King
James Version, of many things, is that it's not a translation
of a translation of a translation of a translation. It's translated directly from
the original language in which it was written. Plus, it's in
the language of a king. That's the language of our God,
isn't it? You can't use lofty enough language
concerning our God, thee and thou and thine. Don't those just
have a more royal sound to them? A more worshipful sound to them?
And our generation has lost sight of what real sovereignty is,
so they just dismiss it. Let's just take it out of Scripture. That being said, Ezra read the
old Hebrew Scripture, Moses' book, and he read a long time,
six hours. And no children died during the
service. You remember that story, don't you? I'll not tell it. Yeah, no one died. Someone did
one time when Paul was preaching when he was raised, and that's
a good picture. But anyway, after he read for
six hours, in verse 6, it says that he blessed the Lord. He
prayed, blessed the great God. He prayed unto the Lord and gave
thanksgiving, blessed the Lord. And all the people answered,
Amen, Amen. I love the word Amen, don't you?
I love to hear it. And I love to say it. It means
that's the way it is. So be it. It kind of means, Brother
Todd, I agree. It kind of means that's the way
I would have it. Amen. Amen. And after he read,
all those people that were there to hear it, and everyone that's
truly here to hear will hear and receive and believe and say
amen to everything God said. Amen. Bless the great God. Amen. My God is great. And everything
He said is true. Amen. Amen. Let the Amen sound from His people
again. Amen. And then 13 faithful preachers
got up. I believe each in turn. I'm quite
sure they didn't preach together at the same time. I'm quite sure
of that. God's not the author of confusion. But they in turn
got up and read in verses 7 and 8, and again I'm not going to
read the name, and it says these men, the Levites, that is God-ordained,
ordered men, caused the people, the last part of verse 7, They
caused the people to understand the law. That means they rightly
divided the Word. That means they gave the sense
of it. That means they commented on it. That means they preached
from it. And the people stood in their
place. Verse 8, And they read in the book in the law of God
distinctly plainness of speech, and gave
the sense, and caused them to understand the reading. As I
said, this is kind of a first Bible conference. It really was. And each man got up and turned.
Perhaps old Yeshua got up and began to preach. You've got to
begin in Genesis 1, don't you? You've got to begin there. In
the creation, you begin, in the beginning, God. And He began
to preach on the creation. God our Creator. And He preached
the fall of man, didn't He? If you don't understand that
God is Creator, you don't understand His sovereignty, do you? If you
don't understand what happened in the fall, what happened to
man in the garden, you're wrong on it all, aren't you? So somebody
had to do that, didn't they? Had to explain that or give the
sense of it. Began to preach the fall of man.
And Adam all died. And he got up and preached, I'm
quite sure, the woman's seed. Though he did not understand
or know who it was exactly, he knew it had something to do with
Christ, didn't it? Oh, yes. Oh, yes. All of God's people
from the beginning have been saved one way. One way. Through Christ, through faith
in Him. And perhaps he got up and preached on the flood. God's
judgment. And another fellow, Hodijah.
Hodijah got up and he began to preach Maybe he started over
in Genesis 15 or Genesis 22. Something about Abraham. The
seed of Abraham. That's where the faithful come
from. Abraham. And I'm quite sure he preached
from Genesis 22 on Abraham and Isaac on the substitute. Aren't
you? There's a fellow. That fellow
you got in an argument once with in my town. So-called grace preacher. One of these Reformed fellows.
I got in an argument with him in public in front of a bunch
of people, and I had to break him up. But I appreciated that, Brother
Todd. I was trying to coddle the fellow. I was trying to make
friends with him, only to realize that we're not preaching the
same gospel, and that man's a coward. And anyway, he one time, I think
it was my wife who was preaching, yes she does that a lot, to his
wife. And speaking to his wife, and
she said something, no him, you were talking to him, that I had
just spoken from Genesis 22. And he said in his ecclesiastical
voice, you've heard him, I've never preached from that. I've been a so-called preacher
for 30 years. He doesn't belong in the pulpit.
That's the place where you ought to start preaching. Genesis 22. Do you know that story? If I'm
not careful, we'll stay there. Where Abraham took Isaac up on
that mountain. And old Isaac on the way up said,
here's the wood and here's the fire. Where's the lamb? And Abraham uttered those wonderful
prophetic words. My son, God will provide Himself
a lamb for a burnt offering. And up on that mountain when
Abraham was about to plunge that knife in the breast of his son,
he looked and lo, behind him caught in a thicket was a ram. And they both, he untied his
son that should have died, and they both laid hold on that substitute
and put him on that altar in the stead of his son. And they both went down that
mountain singing, O how merciful, singing of the substitute, the
Lamb. Never preached on that. Somebody
did. I'm just quite sure of it. Aren't
you, old Dodger or whoever preached on that? Genesis 22. Maybe one
of them got up and preached on old Jacob at Bethel. You reckon,
Todd? Jacob at Bethel? Where the Lord
appeared to him. Joseph. What about Joseph? You
reckon anybody preached on Joseph? They were arguing about who could
preach on that. Let me have it. Let me have that.
Sharon, maybe somebody's mother thought that their son got a
harder passage than them. That's a private joke. But anyway,
it's all hard, Sharon. It's all hard, isn't it? It's
all hard. Impossible. But perhaps one of
them got up and preached on the captivity of Israel in Egypt
and so on and so forth. Another one got up and preached
on the great deliverance, how God provided Moses that great
deliverer. And the Passover. You know somebody
spoke on the Passover. You know that. The Passover. And another got up and preached
on the smitten rock. Another one got up and preached
on the manna. Another one on the serpent on the pole. Now, this service, look at verse
18, the last verse in this chapter. This service, and this is important,
day by day they did this, and the last line says, this was
a solemn assembly. You see that restraint? Did you
notice that? It was restrained. It wasn't
out of hand. It ended up everybody real happy. And they ate afterwards. Oh yeah, they ate. But it didn't
start that way. I mean, it wasn't an out-of-hand,
overzealous, ridiculous show of emotion and all that. It was
a restrained assembly, as it should be. This is serious, solemn. Solemn meaning serious, sober. And God is in the heavens, we
are upon the earth, therefore let our words be few." We're
not hasty to utter anything, we're not here to be seen or
even heard, but to worship in spirit and in truth according
to the manner. There's a manner laid down in
God's Word to worship, and that's the way we do it, a solemn But
this assembly started out, it didn't start out happy and joyful
or with great mirth. It ended that way. But to the
contrary, after hearing the preaching, at first, look at verse 9. After
hearing the reading and the explanation of God's Word, the declaration
of it, verse 9, the last line says, all the people wept when
they heard the word of the Lord. Everybody. So everybody wept
when they heard the Word of God. When they first heard it, they
were weeping. Because what they heard from God's Word, they heard
from the Law, they heard things like this. They heard what God
had done for Israel. If you want to read, go on and
read for yourself the rest of chapter 9. It's the confession
of. The Levites on behalf of the
people. Confession of their sins. Profession
of how good God had been to them and confession of how they sinned
against it. That's what the whole chapter
is about. Chapter 9. They had read, they heard what God had
done for Israel and how Israel had sinned against God. Sinned
against His good. They heard and read what God
demands from the law. and how that they've broken every
single one of them. That's the first thing they heard.
That's the first order in preaching. That's the first order in preaching.
Whatsoever things the law saith. Here's what they heard. Whatsoever
things the law saith that saith to them that are under the law.
And what is the result? That every mouth may be stopped
and all the world become guilty before God. And when we first
really hear God's Word plainly declared, when we hear a faithful
and true preacher sent from God and we hear His Word plainly
declared, He's not going to stand up and tell us how much God loves
us and how much God needs us and so forth. No, sir. All false
prophets do that. None of God's true prophets do
that. Not one single prophet in all the Old Testament ever,
ever, ever stood up in front of a public crowd and said, God
loves you. Not one time. Nor did any of the apostles say
that. Ever. Ever. Not one time did they ask anybody
to do something for God. Not one time. No true preacher
ever did that. John, the last of the Old Testament
prophets, what did he pray? What did he pray? Repent. What
are you going to repent of unless you hear about your sin, your
guilt? What did the Lord Jesus Christ,
who was a preacher, what did he pray? The first words
out of his mouth as a man, as a preacher, were repent. The
message hasn't changed. The law hasn't changed. God hasn't
changed. Man hasn't changed. Man hasn't
changed. Our needs haven't changed. Our
guilt hasn't changed. They didn't hear how much God
loved them, but they heard of a holy and just God. Yes, an angry God. And our guilt
before Him. What does the Holy Spirit do?
What is the first work of the Holy Spirit upon people? What
did our Lord say? What did our Lord say? Didn't
he say, John 16, he will convince, or that is, convict of what?
Sin. Sin. I venture to say you'll
not even hear the word mentioned today, will you? Have you? Think about it. You'll hear it mentioned a lot.
Someone told one of our ladies one time, she said, you all say
too much about sin. That's the whole problem. That's
the issue, isn't it? That's why Christ came. That's why God's going to destroy
this blood. That's the whole issue between us and God. That's
what needs to be dealt with in here. Sin. There are awful consequences
of sin. It ought to make us weak, shouldn't
it? Our desperate condition and the
desperate condition of our children. You know, someone who first, when they
first hear the preaching, when they first hear the truth preached,
and they go away saying what a great message it was. I think
they must not have really heard. Don't you? Old Brother Barnard used to say,
men, when you preach, you ought to either get glad, sad or mad. And I've found from experience
and from God's Word that the first thing it does is makes
us either mad or sad. The Word, the truth offends,
doesn't it? The fence of the cross. The fence. Truth renounces
us. God's Word renounces man. God's
Word has nothing good to say about man. Nothing. It renounces
us. It condemns us. It offends us.
It leaves us helpless, doesn't it? And they all heard this. They all heard and understood
that God created man upright in His image. But Adam, Their
father rebelled and fell, and because of that, this wicked,
sinful nature came upon them all. They not only believed that
as a doctrine, but they felt it in themselves, didn't they? And had them all die, you know.
And they felt the consequences of that in themselves. And their
children. They looked at their children.
And they saw this fallen nature in their children. It made them
weep. And they thought if the Lord doesn't save our children,
they'll not be saved. This is serious, isn't it? They saw themselves in their
children and they thought, if the Lord doesn't take me out
of them and put Christ in them, they'll be lost. They heard and understood that
God is holy. And that He will by no means
clear the guilty. And they heard this, that God looked down when
Genesis 6. God looked down and saw the wickedness
of man was great in the earth. And the thoughts of His heart
was only evil continually. And isn't that what you see all
around you? Not only around, but within.
God destroyed this world. Is this not a missing message
today? Adam, do you hear anybody ever today talking about God
going to destroy this place? God hasn't changed. It's all
coming to that ultimate end. It really is. And they heard
this. And they looked around and within
and they saw a sinful world and they saw their own sinfulness
and they wept. And they heard and understood
that God chose a people, mercifully, graciously, Israel, them, their
fathers. That God chose a people. Didn't
have to, but He did. And in spite of all His goodness
and all His mercy and all His grace to them, they forgot God,
didn't give God a thought, went a-whoring after other gods after
the world, forgot His mercy, set aside His Word. This is the
first time, John, that they'd even seen this book for years.
That's how perverted and bad they got. They'd never looked
at it. How many years, Mike, did you go by without giving
God's Word a thought? Could care less that it was even
written, couldn't you? Anybody else? I did. Set aside
His Word. God was not in all their thoughts. They saw, they heard this of
their posterity, and they said, we've done the same thing. We're
guilty of the same thing. God ought to cut us off too.
And it made them weak. And they said to a man, all of
them, all of them said to a man, we've all sinned. And this wasn't
a doctrinal statement. This was from the heart. We have
sinned against, they said with David, against thee and thee
only have I sinned and done this evil in my sight. You're going
to be clear when you judge me. That's what they said. That's
what they thought. And then, Nehemiah and Ezra,
they heard this, they saw this. They saw them mourning and weeping.
Do you mourn? Do you mourn? Do you weep over
your sinfulness? I believe Nehemiah and Ezra both
thought, good, we're glad to see it. Only the mourners will be comforted.
Only the poor will receive the kingdom. Huh? Only the meek will
inherit the earth. Well, in verse 10, look at this. Oh, look at this. Verse 10. They
said unto them, well, in verse 9, they said, that mourn not,
nor weep. In verse 10, they said, go your
way, eat the fat, drink the sweet, and send some things, take this
home to those who couldn't be here today. We've got good news
for you. This day is holy and set aside
unto our Lord. Don't be sorry. The joy of the
Lord is your strength. Don't be grieved. Hold your peace. Joy of the Lord. I've got good
news, they said. We've got good news for all those
mourners. Good cheer. Be of good cheer.
Do you mourn? I've got good news for you. Be
of good cheer. Whoever's heard the bad news,
I've got good news for you, they said. Listen to this. And you
know they quoted these scriptures to them. Well, they weren't written
yet, but the theme was there. Be of good cheer. In Christ,
in a substitute, the warfare is accomplished. Comfort my people, he said. The
warfare is accomplished. Iniquity is pardoned. Though
you sinned against the Lord, He's forgiven all thine iniquity.
Though you sinned against Him greatly, He's redeemed your life
from destruction. He'll not destroy you in Christ.
The Lord is merciful. Though you're sinful, the Lord
is merciful and gracious. He delights to show mercy, and
it lasts forever. You have dealt wrongly with Him,
but He hasn't dealt wrongly with you. He hath not dealt with us
after our sins or rewarded us according to our iniquity. Though you can never get rid
of your guilt and sin, He has, as far as the East is from the
West, so hath He separated our sins from us. Yes, God hath laid on Him the
iniquity of us all. There's a scapegoat. You reckon anybody preached on
the scapegoat, Leviticus 16? You know they did. And they gave
the understanding of it. There's a scapegoat. There's
somebody coming upon whom God Almighty is going to lay all
our sin and all our guilt, and this fit man is going to take
our guilt and our sin in a faraway place where it will never be
found again. And as Brother Jack Shank said,
God's not go-hunting either. That guilt will never be found.
He took it where it will never haunt us again. Did you get rid
of it? I sure did. Oh, yeah. He hath removed our
transgressions from us. He hath put all our sins upon
the scapegoat, like as a father. Do you like this passage? Like
as a father pitieth his children. So the Lord pitieth them that
fear Him. Do you like the next verse? He knows our frame. He doesn't
expect much out of sinners. He knows our frame, dust. And
His mercy is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that
fear Him. Cheer up. Be happy. Eat the fat. Hath not God made
unto us in this mountain a feast of fat things? You know, if you get real good
cooking all the time, you begin to take it for granted, don't
you? Don't you? Don't you? Yeah, you do. God ought to take your promise. A feast. A veritable feast is
what we have every time we meet together, don't we? A man faithfully
gets up and gets this book, and that's all he does, and opens
it up after many hours of study and begins to feed you this blessed,
undeserved book of God, of Christ the lamb, the fat, the sacrament,
the fat thing, and wine on the leaves. Deep, dark red wine, the blood
of Christ. Wine on the leaves. Eat the fatty
said, drink the sweet. Oh, we stand up and tell about
man's guilt, don't we? We tell about what happened in
the fall, but we don't leave people there. Here's a good lesson
in preaching too. I'm speaking to myself. We want people brought low, but
we don't want them to stay there, do we? We want people to feel
their guilt. We want them to be convinced
of their sins, don't we? But the whole purpose, Brother
Frank, is to point them to the sin, the one who takes it away. That's where we want them to
ultimately look at it. You've been bitten by a snake, but look. Look. That's the only one. Someone said the only purpose
of a preacher is like that pole. upon which that serpent was lifted
up, unless he lifts up Christ. Didn't Christ say, if I be lifted
up, I'll draw all men, all my men, all my people unto myself. That's our only purpose, Brother
John, isn't it? Tell them the problem, but then
show them the remedy. Bring them low. Preach at them. Thou art the man. Point at yourself too. Thou art
the man. But then preach, there is the
man. There is the man. Get you out
of it. Oh, understand. They said eat
and drink. Eat and drink. Eat the fat. Drink the sweet.
And they understood. They understood. It says in verse 11, they stilled
the people. Peace, be still. Saying, hold
your peace, for the day is holy. Don't be grieved. And all the
people went their way to eat and to drink, and they took some
home to others of what they'd been eating and drinking. You've
got to have this. Oh, did not we have? We feasted
today. We're sorry you weren't there.
Here, I want you to have some of it. And so do we. That's the purpose
of these CDs and so forth. It's not to add to the posterity
of Brother John's, you know, the works of John. That's not
it, is it? Brother John and I were talking
how it would probably be a good thing to destroy all tapes. Honestly. It wouldn't be a bad
thing. Just destroy them. I gave this
illustration. My mother has fed thousands of
people over the years. I mean thousands of people, which
is a noble thing, which will receive a profit's reward. And some of the best meals, I've
eaten at five-star restaurants all over this land and in others. And some of them haven't come
close to something my mother has. That's cornbread and taters. They don't serve that in five-star
restaurants. But she has never, I have never in my lifetime heard
her say, Boy, didn't I fix a good meal last Wednesday? Never. Never once has she even
brought it up. Do you remember what I fixed
last week? Wasn't it a good one? She's thinking about the next.
That's all she's thinking about. Throw it away. Let's go on to
the next. Right? Right. But we do have these tapes. And what's that for? Take it
to those who don't have it. That's it. Those who couldn't
be here. Well, and they were happy. It says, they went, they left,
verse 12, all of them went home to eat, to drink, to send portions,
and to make great mirth. That means they had a big time. That's what that means. They
laughed. Have you ever had to make great
mirth without laughing? Have you? You have your old prude. I remember, and some of you remember
this as well. Todd, I bet you remember Brother
Henry Breedlove. He was in every Bible conference.
Brother Henry Breedlove, many of you remember him. He was pastor
at the Fairmont Baptist Church in Sylacauga, Alabama for 40
years. garment, a cloth factory down
there for years. A faithful man, faithful man.
He wasn't a, he would admit, he was not a great preacher,
but he was a faithful preacher. And oh, how he loved good preaching. He had Pharaoh Griswold in his
pulpit constantly, and my pastor constantly, all the time, at
every opportunity. And he was at every Bible conference
I remember, and I went to about all of them. And the thing I
remember about that dear old man, he's gone now, some of you
remember him, many of you remember him, that I'd be sitting in the
pew there during the Bible conference and I'd hear somebody behind
me laugh. You remember that? Laugh out
loud. You remember that, Cecil? And
I remember as a boy thinking, I didn't hear any joke. The preacher would say something,
you remember that? I remember like yesterday. Now
I know. Now I know. One of my favorite
passages in all of God's Word is this. David wrote in Psalm
126, this is it. When the Lord turned the captivity
of Zion, we were like them that dreamed, as if this is too good
to be true. Then was our mouth filled with
laughter, and our tongue with singing. And they said among
the heathen, the Lord hath done great things for us, whereof
we are glad." We're so glad. Great. A reason to laugh. Got a reason to cry, don't we?
Hmm, but boy do we have cause for great mercy. And when we're
in the glory together someday, all of us, and they'll all be
there, not one missing. Scripture says, no more sorrow,
no more tears of crying ever. A lot of laughter. May the Lord
bless you.