Oh, y'all heard that? My wife's
always telling me I talk louder than I realize, but a little
late to do anything about it now. It's so good to be with
you. Would you turn with me to Matthew
chapter 28, the last chapter of Matthew 28. We'll read the
first 10 verses in just a moment. Somebody remembered I'm a lefty,
thank you. Yes, I remember that day so well,
Shelby, so well. Got there early, and I think
you had to run me off. It was way after dark. What a
blessing. You that were privileged to have
that dear man as your pastor know exactly what I'm talking
about. I was telling Mark and Regina, who are kind enough to
have Robin and I in their home while I'm here, that I did not
appreciate that dear man like I should have. You know what
they say about hindsight. My dear mother will be, she is
95. Each time I see her, I think
that will be the last time, but the older I get, Bill, The more
I appreciate her. I didn't appreciate her when
I was a boy. It just broke her heart. But
I so much appreciate my pastor, Brother Don Fortner. I jotted a few things down here
on one of your offering envelopes. I'll give you a nickel for it
if you want it back. It's an honor to be here. Good
to see you all. Fairmont Grace Church. Some of
our folks are watching this this morning. God bless you, Bobby,
and others. I can't read my own writing.
Fifth Sunday dinner. I'd be more than glad to come
on a fifth Sunday. I think I asked about that last
time, if I'm not mistaken, but it's an honor to be here anytime.
I appreciate you having me. I am going to attempt to kind of pace myself, calm
down, so to speak. I think I would be more effective
that way. I don't know if I'll succeed.
So I was reminded of Larry Dale's daughter, Harley, who's 29 years
old now, but when she was just a little toad, just walking,
she was at the house and doing something that she shouldn't.
I had told her three times to stop. She ignored me, so I rose
from my chair and started toward her, and she said, now, Paw Paw,
let's just all calm down. I want to just Calm down calm
down pray that God would be pleased to make his message effectual
Let's begin at verse 1 here in Matthew 28 In the end of the Sabbath, as
it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene
and the other Mary to see the sepulcher. And behold, there
was a great earthquake, for the angel of the Lord descended from
heaven and came and rolled back the stone from the door and sat
upon it. His countenance was like lightning,
and his raiment white as snow. And for fear of him the keepers
did shake and become as dead men. And the angel answered and
said unto the women, Fear not ye, for I know that ye seek Jesus
which was crucified. He is not here, for he is risen. As he said, Come, see the place
where the Lord lay. And go quickly, and tell his
disciples that he is risen from the dead. And behold, he goeth
before you into Galilee. There shall ye see him, lo, I
have told you. And they departed quickly from
the sepulchre with fear and great joy, and did run to bring his
disciples word. And as they went to tell his
disciples, behold, Jesus met them saying, All hail! They came and held him by the
feet and worshipped him. Then said Jesus unto them, Be
not afraid, go tell my brethren. Isn't that sweet? Go tell my
brethren that they go into Galilee and there shall they see me."
I had considered giving this message the title of A New Day
Dawning or The Dawning of a New Day, but I'm not going to. Something Regina said to me this
morning about a glorious morning. The chorus of that song we just
sang that Bill led us in on page 103, Oh Glorious Day, that's
the title. Our text is verse 1 here in Matthew
28, Oh Glorious Day. In the end of the Sabbath, as
it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene
and the other Mary to see the sepulcher, as it began to dawn,
the dawning of a new day." I want to think about how Christ is
related to that. Because you see, the dawning
I'm thinking of had already taken place. It was over. The sun,
S-O-N, had arisen. These women, before this, had
watched Joseph of Arimathea put the body of Christ in his own
tomb. They saw he who said, I'm the
resurrection and the life, He that believeth in me, though
he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth
in me shall never die. And they saw his limp, lifeless
body laid in the tomb." In Luke's account, we're told this, Luke
23, and the women also, which came with him from Galilee, followed
after. That is, they followed Joseph
and beheld the sepulcher and how his body was laid. and they
returned and prepared spices and ointments and rested the
Sabbath day according to the commandment. Now upon the first
day of the week, which we just read here in Matthew, upon the
first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto
the sepulcher, bringing spices which they had prepared and certain
others with them. They come to finish what they
had to stop prior to the Sabbath. Now they're coming to the tomb
to finish preparing his body for burial. But that was a new
day. They didn't need to bring spices. They didn't need to bring anything
to finish what they had started prior to this three days before. Malachi said this concerning
the prophecy of Christ. But unto you that fear my name
shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings. I wonder if anybody here needs
healing this morning. Anybody here needs a touch from
the hand of the great physician. That was blessed good news, wasn't
it? I can only imagine what the angel's
words meant to these heartbroken women who last saw Christ lifeless. When they said to them, fear
ye not, I know why you're here, I know why you've come. You see
Jesus who was crucified, he is not here. It would be easy to
pitch tent right there, but he is not here. He is risen just
exactly like he said he would. Come see the place where the
Lord lay, and go tell his brethren." Again, consider this new day,
this glorious day, as it concerns the Lord Jesus Christ and all
things he must have to preeminence. You remember the prophecy in
Psalm 118 concerning David, but there was a greater than David.
Let me read a few verses of that to you. Psalm 118 verse 22. The stone which the builders
refused has become the headstone of the corner. This is the Lord's
doing and it is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day. Oh, glorious day, this is the
day which the Lord hath made. We will rejoice and be glad in
it. Yes, I know that those words
refer to David. You remember how God had anointed
David, the shepherd lad, to be Israel's future king. You also
know how that Saul, who was the king at the time, did everything
he could to stop that. How many times did he try to
take David's life? But it was God's will, God's
purpose that David be king. That was the will of Almighty
God. That was the will of Almighty
God. Despite that everything Saul
tried to do to prevent it, David ascended the throne because it
was God's will. That's the bottom line. This
is the God that speaks thus. Remember the former things of
old, for I am God. I am God. And there is none else. I am God. This is Isaiah 46 and
9. I am God, and there is none like
me, declaring the end from the beginning and the ancient times
the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand,
and I will do all my pleasure. If he's God Almighty, he will
do all his pleasure. And if he can't do all his pleasure,
he's not God Almighty. That being so, we should not
be at all surprised to find that David ascended the throne. Oh, but behold, a greater than
David is here. In Psalm 118, those words, yes,
refer to David, but they refer to David's son and David's God,
the Lord Jesus Christ. The religious leaders refused
this stone, this foundation that God laid and not man. How many
times How they hounded the Lord Jesus Christ. We don't need you,
they said. Now remember, these were the
builders. These were the leaders. These
were the teachers. These were the folks that were
supposed to know everything. God's will and God's purpose.
The leaders, the teachers. I can't help but remember what
Brother Mahan said, perhaps right in this pulpit. You know who
keeps the gospel out of the churches, most churches in our day? The
preachers, the pastors, that is just a fact. It's sad, but
it's so. The stone which the builders
refused has been made the headstone of the corner. Concerning the
Lord Jesus Christ, that foundation that God laid, what did they
say? What did the leaders, the teachers
say? We don't need you because we've
got Abraham. We can trace our lineage back
to Abraham. We don't know who you are, but
we know our father's Abraham. We're his children. We're his
children. We know you, they threw in the
Lord's face. We know your brother. We know your mother. We know
your father. Who do you think you are? Isn't that so? Remember when Pilate came out
with Christ and asked again the builders, the builders, the teachers,
the leaders that already instructed the mob, when he asked you, whom
should we release, you shout out Barabbas. If anybody says
Jesus, you drown them out and say Barabbas. What shall I do
with him? Remember what the leader said,
crucify him. Crucify him. We will not have
this man rule over us." Again, in Luke's account, "...and they
were instant with loud voices, requiring nothing less than that
would satisfy him, that he might be crucified. And the voices
of them and of the chief priest prevailed." And Pilate gave sentence that
it should be as they required. And he released unto them him
that for sedition and murder was cast into prison, whom they
had desired, but delivered Jesus to their will. And we all know what their will
was. Remember our Lord Jesus Christ
himself. in this same Gospel of Matthew,
said to the chief priest, the elders of the people, the builders,
did you never read in Scripture, he said, and they had many, many
times, have you never read in Scripture the stone which the
builders rejected? The same has become the headstone
of the corner. This is the Lord's doing and
it's marvelous in our eyes. And this is that day, that glorious
day that we read of in Psalm 118, here in our text. Jesus Christ, despite everything
they could do, didn't they come to Pilate? And they said, Pilate,
would you give us a guard? Would you seal that tomb? Because
we're afraid that his disciples, I mean, we remember he said when
he would get alive that he would rise from the dead. His enemies
remembered, but his disciples forgot. But give us a guard,
seal that tomb, because if they come and steal his body away,
Devil around claiming he rose from the dead and everything
we've done will be for nothing. Remember what Pilate said, go
your way. I give you what you want. Go your way. Make it as
sure as you can. And they did. They did. As the angel said, I know why
you women have come. You seek Jesus Christ who was
crucified. He's not here anymore. Look where
he was. Look where he was, but he's not
there now. He has risen, because the stone
which the builders refused has become the headstone of the corner. God has highly exalted his Son,
and this is the Lord's doing. And it's just marvelous, isn't
it? It's marvelous in our eyes. This is exactly what Psalm 2
speaks of. Let me read a few verses of that.
Psalm 2, verse 1. Why do the heathen rage? And
the people imagine a vain thing, especially the builders. The
kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together
against the Lord and against his anointed, the Lord Jesus
Christ, saying, Let us break their bands asunder and cast
their cords from us. Let us break their bands. He
that setteth in the heavens shall laugh. That's God Almighty. He looked down at those hip squeaks,
that dust, and he just laughed. He that saideth in the heaven
shall laugh. Yes, that's God. Is that your
concept of God? Is it? The Lord shall have them
in derision. Then shall he speak, that is,
God shall speak unto them in his wrath, and he shall vex them
in his sore displeasure. Yet, yet, that despite everything
they did, Everything they of their own will did, they fulfilled
God's purpose of grace. Yet God says, I will set my king
upon the holy hill of Zion That's his son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
I will declare the decree. The Lord said unto me, this is
God speaking to his son. Thou art my son this day have
I begotten thee. What a glorious day. Ask of me,
God says to Christ, ask of me and I will give you the heathen
for thine inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth
for thy possession." The purpose of God, the very glory of God,
and the salvation of the elect of God, God put into the hands
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He entrusted all those sheep
All those sheep he entrusted before the world ever was, he
put into the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Great Shepherd
of the sheep, all those God purposed to save. That's a fact whether
you like it or not. That's just so. Listen, who else
would he trust the salvation of sinners with? In whose hands
would he place them? Except the hands of his son,
who he himself said, he shall not fail. Behold my son, look
at my son, consider my son, he's the mighty God. He's the Everlasting
Father. He's the Prince of Peace. The
government shall be upon His shoulders. He shall not fail. Behold Him. Look to Him. And that's the one in whom the
Lord placed all of His people. Multitudes of people. Thousands
upon thousands and hundreds of thousands. John said, I couldn't
count them. There are so many. Remember what
the angel of God said to Joseph when he was troubled concerning
Mary being pregnant? Joseph was going to put her away
privately, just send her away. He loved her. She could have
been stoned. The angel came to him with these
words. Don't be worried about it, Joseph. Don't be troubled.
For she shall bring forth a son, O glorious day, and that shall
call his name Jesus. Why that name? Because it means
the salvation of the Lord. And he lived up to his name.
For he shall save his people from their sins. Now pay attention
here, please. He shall save his people from
their sins. I ask you, did he? Did he? Did Jesus Christ accomplish that
great and glorious work? Was he successful? Was he successful? There's no leeway here. There's no elbow room to be granted. Either he did or he didn't. Either
he failed or he succeeded, and it doesn't depend on your will
whatsoever. It depends on the will of God
Almighty, who sent His Son into this world to accomplish His
purpose. How can we be sure that God Almighty
accepted the sacrifice of His Son when Jesus offered Himself
with that spot to God? How can we know that God was
satisfied with the atonement that he offered, not to you,
but to God? How do we know God was pleased
with it? How do we know God accepted it?
The fact that God was satisfied with that offering, that atonement,
and that it accomplished everything it was intended to accomplish,
such as the putting away of all the sins of all of his people,
of satisfying the holy justice of God Almighty, and remember,
if that is not done, Jesus Christ died for nothing. If God was
not pleased with the offering Christ presented to him, then
God will have no grounds upon which to justify a sinner. God
must be just in justifying any sinner. Remember Scott Richardson,
what would he say? Before God does anything for
you, he's got to do something for himself. And that's what
Jesus Christ enabled God to do. And here's the proof. Here's
the proof in this chapter and throughout scripture that God
accepted the sacrifice. Here's the evidence. God showed
his everlasting satisfaction with what his son's death accomplished
when he raised him from the dead. That's it. That's proof. If God
weren't satisfied, Christ, instead of the angel telling the women,
come see where he lay, they'd say, see, he's still here. He's
still here. What did Paul say in Romans 1?
Concerning his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, which God made of the
seed of David according to the flesh, and declared, set forth,
proven, to be the Son of God with power according to the spirit
of holiness by the resurrection from the dead. That's what we
read in Psalm 2. That's what we read in Psalm
118. That's what we read here in Matthew 28. Are you thinking of what Paul
wrote in Philippians? Who being concerning Christ,
who being in the form of God, and thought it not robbery to
be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, and took upon
him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of man.
My soul, great is the mystery of godliness. And being found
in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient
unto death, even the death of the cross. Now what did all that
amount to? Wherefore God also hath highly
exalted him, and given him a name above every name, That's the
reward of Christ's success. That at the name of Jesus, are
you listening? At the name of Jesus, every knee,
these two knees and every leg, every knee on every leg out there,
this whole world over since time began, since Adam was created
until Christ calls his last sheep and says, time shall be no more.
Every knee shall bow to Christ. Every tongue, every knee in heaven
and in earth, everything under the earth, and every tongue,
every tongue, shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory
of God the Father. How about that? I like that. How does that grab you? I like
that. He has exalted his son, the Lord
Jesus Christ. We sing and it's well with my
soul. Well, it's well with me if it's
well with him. If he's alright, I'm alright.
If he's exalted by his grace, I'm going to be exalted. I'm
going to be with him where he is and there's nothing, there's
nothing on earth or in hell that can do anything about it because
God wills that it should be so. If you, if there was a prince and his father was king And the
prince was sent out by his father, the king, to defend his kingdom,
the father's kingdom, against enemies. And the folks waited,
and they waited. And weeks went by, months went
by, and then a year went by. They would rightly conclude he
must have been defeated. The prince didn't come back because
he was overcome. Oh, but when our prince came,
He wasn't defeated. He came back. Destroy this temple,
he told the builders, and in three days, I'm gonna raise it
up again. He came back. God raised him
from the dead, and that tells me he succeeded. He accomplished the eternal salvation
of his people. The captain of our salvation
was victorious. Father, the hour has come. that
thou should glorify thy son. What shall I say, Father? Save
me from this hour. Oh, no, for this hour came I
unto the world. Father, glorify thy name. Except the seed fall into the
ground and die, it abides alone. Oh, but if it die, that's Jesus
Christ. If he dies, he'll bring forth
much fruit. Much fruit. Hmm. I'm trying to stay calm. And that's exactly what he's
doing. Every time God the Holy Spirit gets a sinner lost, that's
when the Christ sheep. And Christ said, I'm going to
bring them home. I'm going to bring them all the way home.
I'm going to bring them to my father's house and their father's
house. My God and their God, I'm going to bring them all the
way to glory. Colossians chapter 2, and you
being dead in your sins and uncircumcision of your flesh, had he quickened,
made a life together with him. having forgiven you all trespasses,
blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that were against
you, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing
it to the cross." Well, where are they? You can't find them.
They're out in oblivion somewhere. They're gone. They're gone. And
having spoiled principalities and powers, He made a show of
them openly, triumphing. Triumphing over them. This Jesus
Peter preached on the day of Pentecost? This same Jesus? This same Jesus that I'm trying
to preach as the mighty God and everlasting Father? Is that the
one you trust? If you're trusting a Jesus that
can't have his way, if you're trusting a Jesus whose success
of what he came to do depends upon what you do in time, he's
not this same Jesus. He's an imposter. He's a fake. He's a fake. Listen to what Peter
preached. God had raised him up. whereof
we are all witnesses. Therefore, being by the right
hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise
of the Holy Ghost, he, Christ, hath shed forth this which you
now see and hear. For David is not ascended into
the heavens, but he saith, The Lord said unto my Lord, Set thou
on my right hand, that's God speaking to his son, until I
make thine enemies thy footstool. Enemies are not just prostitutes
and drunkards. Enemies are some maybe here this
morning that won't bow to him. He will make such enemies his
footstool. Therefore, Peter said, let all
the house of Israel know assuredly that God had made that same Jesus
whom ye crucified, both Lord and Christ. I hope I won't get in trouble. Ooh, our eyes got big. It's not
gonna be bad. My wife sometimes, when I ask
her something, a question that the answer should be obvious
to me, she'll look at me and say, duh, duh. When I hear people talk about
making Jesus Christ Lord, Bill, would you make Jesus the Lord
of your life? I want to say, duh. He's already
Lord. God made Him Lord. God exalted
Him. Remember how John saw Him? When
I saw Him, I felt at His feet as dead. And he laid his right
hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not, I am the first and
the last. I am he that liveth and was dead.
But behold, behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have
the keys of hell and death. Up from the grave he arose. Now
it occurred to me when I was looking over my notes, I think
the last of the month is Easter. Is there, oh, I don't want to
go down that. I better not digress. The utter
stupidity and insanity that will go on then, perhaps more than
any other, that superstitious, I mean, you know, I don't need
to tell you all that nonsense. Oh, but here's what happened. Here's what happened. Up from
the grave he arose with a mighty triumph over his foes. He arose
a victor from the dark domain and he lives forever. with his
saints to reign, he arose, he arose. Hallelujah, Christ arose. I tell you, it's hard just not
to go ahead and sing that. He arose. The resurrection of
Jesus Christ was a glorious day, wasn't it? Oh, what a morning. In the end of the Sabbath, our
text says, believers have entered in to the rest which the Sabbath
only pictured. Come unto me, all ye that labor,"
Christ said, and I will give you rest. I am the fulfillment
of the Sabbath. We observe no Sabbath. Christ
is the end of the lawful righteousness to everyone that believeth. Christ
hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse
for us, for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on
the tree. In the end of the Sabbath, O
free from the law, O happy condition, Jesus hath bled, and there is
remission. Cursed by the law, and bruised
by the fall, grace hath redeemed us once for all. Here's the second
thing. Because Christ had his glorious
day, his people will have their glorious day. They will have
the dawning of a new day. This is what I mean by that.
As Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15 and 14, if Christ be not risen,
listen to this, This is serious. If Christ be not risen, as some
in that church were insinuating, then is our preaching vain. It's
pointless. It's empty. We're just wasting
our time. And your faith is vain. A dead Christ can't save anybody. Yea, and we are found false witnesses
of God, because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ
from the dead. If so be that the dead rise not,
then Christ is dead in vain. And if Christ be not raised,
your faith is vain, you are yet in your sins. Then they also
which are fallen asleep, in Christ have perished." Oh, but I like
how Paul just sweeps all those suppositions aside when he said,
oh, but now. Don't you pay any attention to
those heresies? But now is Christ risen from
the dead and become the first fruits of them that slept. Only a risen Savior can raise
dead sinners to life. He's able to save to the uttermost
that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth. ever liveth,
right now, right now, He's not going to be Lord, He is Lord.
He's not going to rule, He is ruling. He's not going to be
on the throne, He's already on the throne. And He's able to
save to the uttermost every sinner that comes unto God by Him. There
is no question about that. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
Christ said, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall
hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall
live. The very night before he went
to the garden where he was betrayed, he told his disciples, because
I live, ye shall live also. I am the resurrection and the
life, he said. What did Paul say? Even when
we were dead in sins, had he quickened us together, together
with Christ, and had raised us up together with Christ, and
made us sit together in heavenly places with Christ. I like one
old hymn writer, preacher of the past, whose name I don't
recall, but he put it this way, "'Twixt Jesus and the chosen
race, subsist a bond of sovereign grace, that hell with its infernal
train shall never dissolve or rent entwine. One in the tomb,
one when he rose, one when he triumphed o'er his foes, one
when in heaven he took his seat, and while seraphs sang all hell's
defeat. This sacred tie forbids our fears. For all he is and has is theirs. With him, their head, they stand
or fall. Their life, their shorty, and
their all. Paul said, I'm crucified with
Christ, nevertheless I live. I'll live, God's people will
live, as long as Jesus Christ lives. That pretty well sums
that up, doesn't it? The only way I'll perish, the
only way that eternal life can cease, is if Jesus Christ dies. I will live as long as he lives. Oh, what a glorious day this
was. What a dawning in my darkened
heart when God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness,
shined into our hearts to give us the knowledge, the knowledge
of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Thank God. Bill, thank God. And even as
I say that, I'm thinking to myself, you don't thank him enough. Every
morning when I open my eyes, I thank God that He didn't leave
me to my will and my self. Every night I go to bed, the
last thought should be, thank you God that in your marvelous
grace you shined that light into my darkened soul and you showed
this sinner Jesus Christ. Huh? You revealed Christ to me. You didn't leave me to my will.
You would not let me go. I was telling Mark and Regina
about, as a young man, my last year in high school, the first
week of my senior year, I was out with a friend in a car and a 16-year-old boy in the
back seat that followed me around and looked up to me and I taught
him every wicked thing I knew. And Bruce, I don't remember how
it even happened, but he cut down a utility pole. That boy
that followed me, 16 years old, he died. He died. 16 years old, he went out, drunk,
on beer that I'd give him. I lay up in the hospital for,
oh, a good while. Fella, I think it was Jesse was
a young man that was a, assistant pastor or something in one of
the local churches where I lived at the time and he would come
in to visit me. I told Mark last night, it didn't make any difference,
he was probably Armenian, he would have been a five-pointer,
it wouldn't have made a lick of difference to me. And finally I told him,
listen, you take your God and you take all this stuff and leave
me alone. He said, you realize what you're
saying? I said, absolutely I do. Get out. Don't ever come into
this hospital room again. I don't want to hear about your
God. I hate your God. Thank God. He would not take
no for an answer. And I got out of that hospital.
Missed the whole first semester. Wouldn't have graduated if I
hadn't had teachers coming to the house. But finally I was
able to go back to school. It wasn't long. I was right back
doing the same old stuff. But he would not let me go. He would not let me go. Thank God for that. Thank God
for that grace that made me the differer. Nothing else could. Mom could, nobody could. That has made us, his children,
new creations. This is not of this world. Born
from above, that's God's marvelous work. And now we can say all
things are passed away. Behold, look at this wonder. Look at this miracle. Look what
grace can do. All things have become new. I remember, I think it may have
been here, Brother Henry Mahan read this poem to us. I believe
it was one of his favorites. You'll recognize it. The Touch
of the Master's Hand. was battered and scarred, and
the auctioneer thought it scarcely worth his while to waste much
time on the old violin, but he held it up with a smile. What
am I bid, good folks, he cried, who'll start the bidding for
me? A dollar, a dollar, then two, only two, two dollars, who'll
make it three? Three dollars once, three dollars
twice, going for three, but no. From the room far back, a gray-haired
man came forward and picked up the bow. Then wiping the dust
from the old violin and tightening the loosened strings, he played
a melody pure and sweet, as caroling angels sing. The music ceased,
and the auctioneer, with a voice that was quiet and low, Said,
what am I bid for the old violin? And he held it up with the bow.
A thousand dollars, who'll make it two? Two thousand, who'll
make it three? Three thousand once, three thousand
twice, and going and gone, said he. The people cheered, but some
of them cried. We do not quite understand. What
changed its worth? Swift came the reply. It was the touch of the master's
hand. And many a man, with his life
out of tune, and battered and scarred with sin, is auctioned
cheap to the thoughtless crowd, much like the old violin. That
was me. That was me. a mess of poly-pottage,
a glass of wine, a game, and he travels on. He's going once,
he's going twice, he's going and almost gone. That was me. But... about said, excuse me, oh no,
don't excuse me. Excuse me if I'm not thankful.
Oh, but the master comes and the foolish crowd never can quite
understand the worth of a soul and the change that's wrought
by the touch of the master's hand. Have you been touched by
the master's hand? Not by the preacher's hand? Not
by Mom's hand or Dad's hand? Have you been touched by the
Master's hand? Have you liked that woman with
the issue of blood? I suppose she may have been crawling
on her hands and knees, but she said, I've got to get to Him.
I've spent all my living on physicians and I'm worse off than I've ever
been. That's what the builders do,
the people. That's what preachers do, make decisions, walk up an
aisle, you've got to touch the master's hand and she reached
forth and just touched the hem of her garment and just like
that she was made perfectly whole. Christ said, who touched me?
The disciples said, who touched you? There's so many people pressing
against us in this mob, we can't hardly move. And you ask who
touched you? And he said, oh, I'm not talking about that kind
of touch. Somebody's touched me because I feel virtue has
gone out of me. Out of her, when she touched
Christ, out of her flew all that disease. that was killing her. And from Christ there flowed
into her grace and mercy, the touch of
the Master's hand. Let me wrap this up. There was
one last thought. Another glorious day, yet the
dawn. It's sort of a combination of
these two. Christ day, our day, And one day soon, it's going
to be our day, when time shall be no more. Not a 24-hour day. When this day dawns, it's never
going to end, Mark. The sun will never go down again. Father, this is the day I'm speaking
of. Father, Christ prayed, I will also that those whom you have
given me be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory.
Oh, I can't imagine. Which thou has given me. When
time shall be no more, Christ still lives, the great I am that
I am, and His people, every one of His people will be with Him. And that they're glorious, mmm,
I can't find words. And they're in the presence of
this, when we, His people, are gathered with Him in glory, and
He brings them all around and presents them before God, His
Father, who put them in His hands before the world was ever created. He entrusted them to His Son,
and His Son, the Captain of our salvation, is going to say, Father,
here they are. Here they are, Father. All those you've given me, I
lost none. What a day that will be! What a day that will be when
we shall see Him as He is and be like Him. I'm going to read
a few verses of a hymn and I'm done. There is coming a day when
no heartache shall come, no more clouds in the sky, no more tears
that dim the eye, all is peace forevermore on that happy golden
shore. Oh, what a day, a glorious day
that will be. Oh, my suffering brothers and
sisters, there'll be no sorrow there, no more burdens to bear,
no more sickness, no more sickness. I'm looking at places, empty
places, where not just brethren have gone on, so we're happy
for them, but those who aren't able to attend service here anymore
because of sickness. There'll be no more sorrow there,
no more burdens to bear, no more sickness, no more pain, no more
parting over there, and forever I will be with the one who died
for me. What a day. Oh, glorious day
that will be. What a day that will be. Bill,
you sing good. I complimented Bill on his song
leading. I appreciate it. You can hear
it. I lead the singing at our church.
There's no one else to do it. I never get complimented. You
ask my wife, I'll never get complimented. But they got no choice. What a day there will be when
my Jesus I shall see. And I look upon the face of the
one who saved me by his grace. And he takes me by the hand and
leads me through the promised land. Oh, what a day. What a glorious day that will
be. Therefore, the redeemed of the
Lord shall return and come with singing unto Zion, and everlasting
joy shall be upon their head. They shall obtain gladness and
joy, and sorrow and mourning shall flee away. God bless you. So good, so good to be with you. I've looked forward to it.