It's so good to see y'all once
more time. Seems like time just quickly
goes by, doesn't it? I was telling Shelby, she knows
this, that last month we had our fifth granddaughter. She was a month old this past
Wednesday. Her mother is my youngest daughter.
We had three daughters. Now we have five granddaughters.
No boys yet. But we'll see. But those girls
are just beautiful. It's amazing to see them grow
up. And it's amazing to see God's people. After all these years,
you're still hungry for the gospel. and you never get over it. Those
who hunger and thirst after righteousness, they shall be filled. I pray the Lord's given us something
this morning, and I pray that he would be pleased to open his
word and speak to our hearts and make himself known. He was
singing the song about when I see him. We used to sing a song,
what a day that will be, when my Jesus I shall see. when I
look upon his face, the one who saved me by his grace. There's
not a one of us in this building has ever seen him with human
eyes. But to those that believe, you have saw him. And he's precious. He's the pearl of great price.
He would open your Bible to the book of Hebrews chapter 12. What we have before us is God's
Word. No question, no argument here. It's His Word. And if God is
going to speak to you, He will speak to you through His Word. God has ordained it that way.
He has established it. And I'm thankful that it is preserved
in an English language. You know, you just imagine if
it was in Spanish or French or Latin or some, you know, somebody
else can read it and tell me what it says, but I can't read
it myself. And I'm thankful that, you know,
you can get it almost anywhere now. If you can't read it, you
can download it and get somebody to read it for you. But, you
know, we're blessed. We're really blessed. I said that because it says here
in Hebrews 12 verse 25, see that ye refuse not him that
speaketh. You could read, see that you
don't refuse him that speaketh, but that's not what it says.
It says that you don't refuse him that speaketh. I pray this morning that God
would speak to you. And if he ever speaks to you,
you will never be the same. Never. For if they escape not who refused
him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape if we
turn away from him that speaketh from heaven, whose voice then
shook the earth, his voice. And now he has promised, saying,
yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.
And this word, yet once more signifying the removal of those
things that are shaken, There's some things he's going to remove
them. They'll be removed, they'll be put away. As of the things that are made,
that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Wherefore, because of this, we
receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, which cannot be shaken,
because it's built upon the foundation of Christ, let us have grace
where we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire. Things that or shaken in things
that remain. Turn back to chapter 1 of Hebrews. Don't refuse him that speaketh.
It's kind of ironic, that's how he began along those lines here
in the first chapter of Hebrews. God, who at sundry times and
in divers manners spake in times past unto the fathers, he spoke
to them by the prophets. He hath in these last days spoken
to us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things,
and by whom also he made the world. Who being the brightness,"
now watch this verse, who being the brightness of his glory,
and the express image of his person and upholding all things,
how is he upholding all things? By the word of his power. All things, not just some things,
all things. You can carry that as far as
you want to take it. This earth out here just spins
on its axis. Why? Why does it not move just
a little ways from the sun and we'd freeze to death? Why doesn't
it just move a little closer and we'd all be burned up? Why?
Because He has ordained all things, all things, all things, of whom
He hath appointed and by whom also He made the worlds. All things were created by Him
and for Him. And by Him they exist. Who was
it that said, in the beginning God said, let there be light?
Who was that? That's the Son of God. He said,
let there be light. And there was what? There's light.
He spoke it into existence and it is. God speaks life to a dead
sinner and they live. that which was without form and
void is not now without form and void. It is in order. When he had by himself purged
our sins, he sat down on the right hand of the majesty on
high. Who is this that speaks? It's
the one who's sitting on the throne. Where the king's word
is, there is authority. This book has authority. It's
sharper than a two-edged sword. Now turn to chapter 3. Beginning in verse 7. This book
was written to encourage the children of God. What I understand,
they were being afflicted and tormented by those lawmongers
who were trying to get them to turn back to the law. And God
inspired this book to show them that he is superior to all those. He's superior to the high priest,
he's superior in his sacrifices, he's superior to the angels,
he is superior. So here he says in chapter 3
verse 7, As the Holy Ghost saith, today,
if you hear His voice, today, not tomorrow, today. Today is the day of salvation. You don't, we're not, none of
us promised tomorrow. The Lord could wrap all this
up even before I'm done. Today, if you hear His voice,
do what? Harden not your hearts. Now who's he speaking to? He's
speaking to believers. He's speaking to children of
God. So is he saying that we can get a hard heart? Well, sure
we can. Very quick. She was praying and
I'll just be honest, sitting there trying to hear someone
read the scriptures or try sitting there listening to a song and
my mind was somewhere else and I go, why in the world was I
doing that? You all deal with that. It's called the old man. But
today if we hear his heart, hard or not your heart, as in the
provocation, And the day of temptation in the wilderness, when your
fathers tempted me, proved me and saw my works 40 years, God
said, go into Canaan. And they went and believed God.
You know what hardens hearts more than anything else? Unbelief.
Unbelief. What's unbelief? You just don't
believe God. That's just that simple. We just don't believe
God. I was grieved with that generation
and said, they do always err in my heart and they have not
known my way. So I swear in my wrath they shall
not enter into my rest. Take heed, brethren, lest there
be in any of you or any of us an evil heart of unbelief in
departing from the living God. Don't refuse him that speaketh. But here's what we should do.
exhort one another daily. Today, if you hear His voice
and exhort one another daily, we need to be exhorted with each
other daily. While it is called today, lest
any of you be hardened, how are we hardened to the deceitfulness of sin? Let's go back to Hebrews
12. Begin reading in verse 1. I didn't know hardly where to
begin reading with this chapter, but with the thought in mind,
don't refuse Him that speaketh, and we know that it's Christ
sitting upon His throne. Those people in the Old Testament,
they heard. They heard God speak through
Moses. God said, go into Canaan and take it. They said, oh, there's
giants in the land. Yeah, that's true. It's a fruitful
land. Yeah, that was true too. But
we just can't take it. And if they had went in that
day, they could have taken Canaan. And you know what God did? God
shut the door. They didn't go in tomorrow. They
could have went in today. And for 40 years, 40 years, they
walked in the wilderness till that whole generation died off. Why? They wouldn't believe God.
Wouldn't believe him. Joshua and Caleb did. The only
ones, 20 years old and upward, that got to go in. Now, verse
1 of chapter 12. He's just been talking about
all those in chapter 11 who believed and walked by faith. Abraham
believed God and it was accounted unto him for righteousness. Wherefore,
seeing we also were compassed about with so great a cloud of
witnesses, Let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth
so easily beset us. Let us run with patience the
race that is set before us. The brother mentioned that race.
Run the race. You may not run as fast as someone
else. You may seem to run a little
faster than others. But we're not running looking
to each other. How do we run the race? He tells us verse two,
looking unto Jesus. And nothing else matters. You
may be like Jacob, have to limp along the way, that's his race.
That was his race, his life. Your life is that race. Looking
unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith, who for
the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross, despising
the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne
of God. For consider him that endured such contradiction
of sinners against himself, lest you be wearied and faint in your
mind. When the enemy comes and says,
you don't really believe God, do you? And you begin to look
at yourself. First thing we do, we're trying
to look inside. Look inside for some strength. The Holy Spirit says, consider
Him. Just take a second to consider Him, who He is, what He did. He endured the cross. I'm so
thankful He did. He endured it, despising the
shame. He endures such contradiction
of sinners against himself, lest you be weary. In your mind, you've
not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. You've
forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children.
My sons, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint
when thou art rebuked of him. For whom the Lord loveth, he
chasteneth, and he scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
Why is God chasing his children? Well, we read here, because he
loves them. And he then tends to teach us
something. God speaks through his word,
and God speaks through providence. We ask, why did this come? Why
am I this way? He teaches us. He speaks to us. For whom the Lord loveth, he
chasteneth, and scourgeths every son whom he receiveth." If you
endure chastening, endure it. He endured it. If
you endure chastening, and the only way you endure it is by
God's grace. If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons.
For what son is he whom the Father chasteneth not? But if you be
without chastisement, for of all are partakers, then are you
bastards. and not sons and he gives an
example. Furthermore we had fathers of our flesh which corrected
us and we gave them reverence. I remember my father, if I got
out of line, you better believe he was going to correct me. He
was going to get to chasing and he was going to teach you. A
lot of times maybe he didn't take, he was not a perfect dad
and none of them are, but sometimes maybe he didn't take the time
to teach me what he was trying to teach me. But I got the lesson. What was the lesson? Don't disobey
him was the main lesson. Don't doubt him. Don't question
him. We've had fathers of our flesh
which corrected us. We gave them reverence. Shall
we not much more rather be in subjection unto the Father and
Spirit, Father of spirits, and live? For they verily for a few
days chastened us after their own pleasure. Sometimes they
may did it just because they was upset. Sometimes they may
did it just because I got on their nerves. But they corrected
us according to our pleasure. But why does God correct us?
I want you to see this. But He, for our profit, that
we might be partakers of His holiness. That's why. Now, no chastening
for the present seemeth to be joyous. No one loves pain, but
it's grievous. But nevertheless, When this comes,
afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them
which are exercised thereby. Wherefore, lift up the hands
which hang down in the feeble knees, and make straight paths
for your feet, lest that which is lying be turned out of the
way, but let it rather be healed. Follow peace with all men and
holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord. Looking diligently,
lest any man fail of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness
springing up trouble you, and thereby many be devoured. Oh, when a root of bitterness
springs up, and many are defiled, lest there be any fornicator
or profane person as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his
birthright." Who was the birthright? That's
Christ. That's what he sold. It's not just his physical birthright
being the firstborn. He sold it. He made light of
it. It's not worth much. Let me just see what I can get
out of it. For you know how that Esau afterward, when he would
have inherited the blessing, he was rejected, for he found
no place of repentance, though he saw it carefully with tears."
You know what I see there? God shook Esau, and it was too
late. He comes in, and he thinks he's
gonna go out and get the venison and bring it in, and his father
Isaac's gonna bless him. And he's done blessed Jacob.
And here it says, he saw repentance carefully with tears. Maybe God
will be impressed with my tears. Oh no, he was rejected. God shook his house and it didn't
stand. Jacob have I loved and he saw
have I hated. You know how that afterward,
when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected
for he found no place of repentance. He saw it carefully with tears.
For you've, the Lord says, you've not come into the mount that
might be touched and that burned with fire, nor into blackness
and darkness and tempest. He's talking about Mount Sinai. Go look at that mountain. Stand
there when God speaks. People were terrified. They said,
Moses, we don't want God to speak to us. You speak to God for us
and God will speak to you. They were terrified. God, apart from grace, He's a
consuming fire. Let me tell you this, He's terrifying.
He's God. He's not trying to be God. He's
God. He's God. You've not come unto the mount
that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness,
and darkness, and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and the
voice of words, which voice they that heard entreated that the
word should not be spoken to them any more. We've done mention
twice that our Lord endured. He said you endured chastening.
And here he says, You see, they heard, and the sound of the trumpet
and the voice of the words, which voice that they had heard, entreated
that the word should not be spoken to them anymore, for they could
not endure that which was commanded. They couldn't endure it, and
you can't either. We can't either. Without a mediator,
we can't endure it. I heard Brother Bruce say one
time, he said, I lived a long time and all I ever seen was
the bad side of God. God's justice and God's wrath,
the soul that sinneth, it shall die. You couldn't endure it. They couldn't endure it. And
if so much as a beast touched the mountain, it shall be stoned
or thrust through with a dart. And so terrible was the sight
that Moses said, I exceedingly fear. and quake. But, you want to see a little mercy?
I will hear from Sinai's judgment, fire and God's wrath. But you
are come unto Malzahar. and to the city of the living
God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company
of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn,
which are written in heaven, and to the God, the judge of
all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus,
the mediator of the new covenant. The law came by Moses. But grace
and truth came by Jesus Christ. No one ever spake like this man.
He spake grace and he spake mercy. Why? Because he satisfied all
the demands of the law. He had taken away the first that
he may establish the second. That first was shaken and it
was removed. And the second is established
on better promises. That's what it says in Hebrews,
on better promises than these. Because it all rests on Christ
who speaks the Word of God. The blood of sprinkling that
speaketh better things than that of Abel. Abel's blood was the
first man that died. It was over grace and works.
His blood cried from the ground. What did it cry for? Judgment. His blood speaks better things. You know what his blood speaks?
It speaks. It says forgiveness. Thou art
forgiven. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. If we confess our sins, He's
faithful just to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from
all unrighteousness. How do you know that? That's
what the blood says. It speaks. It speaks. He speaks. And now our text. See that you
refuse not Him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused
him that spake on earth, they didn't escape. They refused not,
see that you don't refuse him that speaketh, they refused to
hear him, they refused to bow. For if they escaped not who refused
him that spaketh on earth, much more shall not we escape. If
we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven. If you turn away
from him, now listen to me, there remains no more sacrifice for
sin." No more sacrifice for sin. "...whose
voice then shook the earth." Talking about when he spoke there
on Mount Sinai. "...but now he hath promised,
saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also
heaven." And this word yet once more signifying the removal of
those things that are shaken as of the things which are made
that those things which cannot be shaken may remain." When God
speaks, he causes a shaking. He said,
once more I shake not the earth but also Now he's making reference,
the apostle here is, to back in the book of Haggai. If you
would go and be turning there, you'll find Matthew, Malachi,
I think Zechariah, and then you'll find Haggai. Haggai was probably raised in
Babylon. He could have been a child when
they were taken into Babylon, and he may have solved the first
temple, Solomon's temple, that was destroyed. And why was Solomon's
majestic temple, why was it destroyed? They would not obey God. They
would not obey the commandments of God. They were always going
after their idols. And God shook that place, and
when He was done with it, there was not anything left. Now, how
did He shake it? He brought the Babylonians in,
and they tore it all to pieces. Can you imagine being a Jew?
And it's all torn down. And there's nothing left. God
shook it. He shook it to its core. He spoke
how? He spoke through Haggai. He spoke
through Jeremiah. He spoke through Isaiah. This
man was raised in Babylon, so he's probably an old man when
he comes back to Jerusalem, and they come back to rebuild the
temple. So there in Haggai chapter 1
verse 2, Haggai was going to encourage the people to build
the temple. Why? They're indifferent. Cyrus sent them back with the
command. Cyrus, a picture of Christ, Cyrus
even sent his money and he said, you go back, the word was, go
back and build the temple. What did they do? Oh no, we're
going to build our house. Here in Haggai 1, verse 2, then
speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, This people say the time is not
come, the time that the Lord's house should be built. Then came
the word of the Lord by Haggai, the prophet, saying, Is it time
for you to dwell in your sealed houses? And this house lay in
waste. Now, therefore, thus saith the
God of hosts. You know what God said? You know
what God said to them through Haggai? Consider your ways. Consider, that's a sobering statement
isn't it? You consider, and every one of
us must consider, our ways. You have so much, and you bring
in little. You eat, but you have not enough.
You drink, but are not filled with drink. You clothe, but there
is none warmed. And he that earneth wages, earneth
wages to put into a bag with holes. Thus saith the Lord, the
host, consider your ways. Go up to the mountain, and bring
wood, and build the house, and I'll take pleasure in it. And
I'll be also glorified, saith the Lord. You look for much,
and lo, it came to little. And when you brought it home,
I did blow on it. Why? said the Lord of hosts, because
of my house is laid waste. And you run every man into his
own house. You know what he's actually just
saying? He's just saying there's something more important to you
than the worship of God. You said, could that describe
us? Oh yeah. Oh yes, that's what he's saying.
But what is amazing, he didn't leave them there. How long would they have kept
going this way if God hadn't have sent them, Hagia? God speaks,
and God spoke through this man. This man, if he had been lived
in Babylon, can you imagine what this man could tell? Imagine
all the things he saw, living around idolatry, Babylon, for
70 long years. But they had a promise that in
70 years, when it's over, we're going back home. He's resting on God's Word. Now,
chapter 2, verse 1. In the seventh month, in the
one and twentieth day, of the month came the word of the Lord
by Prophet Haggai, saying, Speak now to the Zerubbabel, the son
of Tau, governor of Judah, and to Joshua, the son of Josedek,
the high priest, and to the residue of the people, saying, Who is
left among you that saw this first house in its first glory?
He said, How many of you saw Solomon's first temple? They
probably had to be maybe 80 or 90 years old. He said, are any
of you left that saw that first temple? I said, hmm. Boy, there's
nothing to compare to it. That's what he's saying. And
how do you see this temple? How does this temple look in
comparison to Solomon's temple? Is it not in your eyes in comparison
of it as nothing? They're looking with the outward.
See how we judge things. Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel,
verse four, saith the Lord, and be strong, O Joshua, son of Joseph,
the high priest, and be strong, all you people of the land, saith
the Lord, and work, for I will be with you, saith the Lord of
hosts. According to the word that I covenanted with you when
you come out of Egypt, so my spirit remaineth among you, fear
ye not. Now here it is, this is what
Paul quoted there in the book of Hebrews. They didn't have
the New Testament scriptures like you do. You know what Paul
had? He had the Old Testament scriptures.
And that's what he preached from. And that's what he spoke to them
from. He said, verse 6, for thus saith the Lord
of hosts, yet once It is a little while and I will shake the heavens
and the earth and the sea and the dry land. He says, I'm going to shake it
all. And I will shake all nations,
and the desire of all nations shall come, and I will fill this
house with glory, and the Lord of hosts, saith the Lord of hosts,
thy silver is mine, the gold is mine, saith the Lord of hosts,
the glory, and here it is. What's he making reference to?
The glory of the latter house will be greater than that of
the former house. The glory of this latter house
shall be greater than the former, saith the Lord of hosts, and
in this place I will give peace, saith the Lord of hosts." He's
speaking of the time when the Son of God would be made flesh. You imagine, I know he was taken
there when he was eight days old. He said, and Simeon said,
my eyes have seen thy salvation. And then when he comes riding
into Jerusalem, the week before he'll be crucified, after they
cried Hosanna, you know the first place he goes? He goes to the
temple. You know who that is in the temple?
That's the glory of God. And he's going to, she's getting
ready to shake that whole world. The first thing he did, you imagine
them in there changing, they're selling their sacrifices and
all these things, and he took a whip. And he said, you've turned
my father's house into a den of thieves. He said, you get
out of here. I guarantee he shook them up.
It was a little bit of disturbance. And that's why he's saying, once
more, I'm just not going to shake the earth, I'm going to shake
all nations. And he did. He did. That's what He came to do. He
came as the Word of God. He came to fulfill God's Word. And then, when He fulfilled what He came
to do. You want to see His glory? The
glory of that house? when He sheds His blood to make
an atonement for sin, to put away sin by the sacrifice of
Himself. Now, when you listen to this
and you think about this, they've taken the Son of God out. We've
said, we won't have this man to reign over us. We're not going
to believe Him. We're not going to bow to His
Word. We want to kill Him. So they have Him crucified and
they take Him outside. the city walls, and they nail
him to a cross. And he hangs there, and there
for three hours of darkness, and he's cried, my God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me? And Jesus, when he had cried
with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. If we could have just
seen in the spirit world when he cried, It is finished. It shook heaven, earth, and hell. I could see Him trembling. He
that had the power of death is now destroyed. We don't have
to fear death anymore. He conquered it. Here's what
it said, "...and Jesus, when He had cried with a loud voice,
He yielded up the ghost, and behold, the veil in that temple..."
was rent entwined from the top to the bottom, not the bottom
to the top, from the top to the bottom to show that God did it,
and the earth did quake, and the rocks did rent, and the graves
were opened, and many bodies of the saints which slept arose."
You know what he did? He just shook the whole world.
He shook it to its core. He shook it. He shook it. And you know what
he did when he opened up that veil? He'd done away with all
that. I heard Don say one time, he
goes, you know, they didn't have any Ark of the Covenant. We don't
know when it was gone. But they're pretending to go
through worship and they don't have no Ark, they have no Christ,
they have no mercy seat. He could have been sitting back
there and nobody knew because nobody goes behind the veil.
They just knew what was told them. And you could see when
God split that veil, he said, he's probably sitting back there
playing tiddlywinks. And when he did, he shook that place.
Can you imagine? Now, this is not just some...
He said it in his reading coming up the road. It's a hand's breadth
thick. Just that thick. It's so... You probably could
have read it with horses. With teams of horses. But God
did. And when he did... You talking
about shaking that place up? He shook it. It had never been
shook like this before. He shook it. He shook it. When He came to the world the
first time, He shook it. This could happen, some would
just say, well, this has reference to His second coming. But listen,
all through the book of Revelation, that's a picture of what happens
from the time Christ came to the time He comes back. And all
those things are being fulfilled. You know what He's doing right
now? You know what He's doing right now? He's shaking the world. Why do things happen? Why? They're
not accidents. They're happening on purpose.
And God speaks to men that whether they listen or not, that's up
to God. By nature, if He leaves them
alone, they're not going to hear. Why does all this just keep coming?
Why does all this... Why? Why? God says, I'm God. I'm God. It said here He's going to gather
all the nations unto Himself. It said to him shall all the
gathering of the people be. Now listen to me. Our Lord came,
he gave his life, he made an atonement, he finished his work
and he went back to glory. Now he's not done. Up till now,
he said, don't you go anywhere but to the house of Israel. And
he said, when you go preach the gospel, you're going to Jerusalem,
Judea, Samaria, and then to the uttermost parts of the earth.
Now they're going to go to all nations. God's going to shake
all these nations. He's going to shake those in
Asia. He's going to shake those in
Europe. He's going to shake those in
Rome. He's going to shake them. How's he going to shake them?
With the gospel. here on the day of Pentecost.
I think God could be wrong, but I think it was 14 different nations,
it says, that are included there. They were gathered from all over
the world. Why were they gathered there? To celebrate the Feast
of Passover and I think the Feast of Firstfruits. That's why they thought they
were gathered there. But an old fisherman stands up and preaches. And God saves 3,000 souls. And
you know what He did? He just shook their world. They
were pricked in the heart. That's where the shaking must
come. And they cried out and said, what must we do to be saved? And God said, 3,000. And you know on over in chapter
4, we've been trying to study the book of Acts 7 on Wednesday
night. You know, after Peter and John went into the temple
and he healed the lame man, it says he had been laying there
for 40 years. Everybody saw him, everybody knew him that went
into the temple. And Peter said, the man asked
the lamb, and Peter said, silver and gold have I none, but such
as I have, give I thee. In the name of Jesus Christ of
Nazareth, rise up and walk. And that man was whole. But you
know what that did by God saving that man? It shook that world. It shook those people in the
temple. They go in and it says immediately, he didn't stagger
around. He jumps up and they go, that's
that man, but it can't be that man. What God did for that man,
He shook up their world and they go, we're going to put a stop
to this. We're going to threaten him. Don't you preach anymore
in Jesus' name. It's bothering them. And you
know what it says they did? They prayed. Acts 4.31, and when
they prayed, we thank you for saving it, man.
Thank you for giving us the grace to trust you. And when they prayed,
the place was shaken. And they were assembled together,
and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake
the Word of God with boldness." You think about this, there's
only between Passover and Pentecost 50 days, less than two months.
Less than two months ago, Peter's standing denying that he even
knows our Lord. And he denied Him three times.
Why is this man speaking now with boldness? I'll tell you
exactly why. He was called of God, he was sent of God, and
he was filled with the Spirit of God. And they said they took
knowledge of them and they'd been with Jesus. But he shook
it up. He's not done. Paul, one day, he wanted to go
into Asia. I said, Paul, you're not going to Asia right now.
And Paul, in a vision, God spoke in visions and those things then
because they didn't have the Scriptures like we do. And he
saw in a vision a man over in Macedonia saying, why don't you
come over and help us? We need some help. And Paul goes
over there. What's he going to find? Who's
this guy that called for help? God didn't tell him the exact
person. And he goes and he's going out
of the city and it's on the Sabbath day. And he said, is there anybody
around here that worships God? Does anybody around here know
God?" Somebody said, well there's a few women, they meet up here
by the riverside where you know and he goes up there and he sits
down. You know who just happened to
be there? A woman named Lydia, a seller of purple from Thyatira. You know where Thyatira is at?
Asia. The Lord told him not to go to
Asia because God's going to bring Asia to him. This woman's selling
her purse. She's just there on a business
trip. She's not there looking for the gospel. God preaches
the gospel to her and opened up her heart and gave her faith
and he shook that world. Now he's not done in Philippi.
He saved her and her whole family were baptized. Well, those people
get mad. You know why? Because God's just
shook that place. We've never heard anything like
this before. This somebody named Jesus that's
rise from the dead. We're going to beat him. Him
and Silas. We're going to throw him in the
prison. That's what we're going to do to him. We're going to
shut up this gospel. And they take him in there and
that jailer, he beats him and chains on. Once you see this,
and it's said at midnight, Paul and Silas begin to pray. And God shook that place. Let me find my text. Acts chapter
16, if you want to turn there. This is what we have, a picture
of how God saves sinners. He shakes those things, and those
things that won't remain are done away with, but those things
that do abide can't be shaken. You know why they would beat
Paul and Silas? They're trying to shake them. You know what men
like to do? They like to use fear, you know. You need to do what we say or
we're going to threaten you, we're going to come get you.
Paul said, none of these things move me, neither can I my life
dear unto myself. But the Lord allowed Paul to
be put into prison, him and Silas. And at midnight, Paul and Silas
prayed, and they sang praises unto God. And the prisoners heard
them. I wonder what they were singing.
Probably one of the Psalms, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall
not want. He maketh me to lie down and
grieve pastures. He leadeth me beside the still
waters. He restoreth my soul. And suddenly
there was a great earthquake so that the foundations of the
prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors
were opened and everyone's bands were loosed. Everybody set free. How? God shook that place. And
the keeper of the prison, awakening out of his sleep and seeing the
prison doors open, and he drew his sword, because he's responsible
for these prisoners. If one prisoner escapes, they'll
kill him. And he knows it. But what I want
you to see is the keeper of the prison, awakened out of his sleep
and seeing the prison door open, he drew his sword and would have
killed himself. Men think by killing themselves,
they will save themselves. He said, I'll kill myself and
I won't have to deal with this. Supposing that the prisoners
had fled, but Paul cried with a loud voice saying, do thyself
no harm, we're all here. And he called for a light and
sprang in and came trembling and fell down at Paul and Silas
and brought them out and he said, sirs, what must I do? When does God shake things? He
does it for this right here. Why was the house shaken? Why
is this place shaken? Why is God shaking the world
today? To save His people. And He's going to save them.
You know, Job knew something about this. Here's what Job said. Job said, I was at ease. But
he hath broken me asunder, he hath also taken me by the neck
and shaken me into pieces, and he hath set me for his mark." Our Lord is now shaking the nations
of the world and they will all fall. Micah 4.1, but in the last
days it shall come to pass the mountains and the house of the
Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains, and
it shall be exalted above the people, above the hills, and
the people shall flow into it. And every nation shall come and
say, come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord and to the
house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways and
we will walk in his paths for the law shall go forth out of
Zion in the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. So it's a picture of him when
he came the first time. It's a picture of him working
now. But as someone mentioned, one day he's coming back. And you talk about shaking things
up. It says that men will run to
the rocks and cry for the mountains to follow them and hide them
from the face of the Son of God. He's coming back, not riding
upon a lowly duncan. He's coming back as King of kings
and Lord of lords. He will come to gather all his
elect. The world and all the kingdoms will bow before him.
Let me read. Hebrews 12, 27 through 29 again,
and this word yet once more signifying the removal of those things that
are shaken. As of the things that are made,
that the things which cannot be shaken may remain. You may be shaken. Some tragedy,
some event may come and it'll shake you, but you will remain. It's not because you're strong,
it's because you're His. He keeps you. Wherefore, we receiving
a kingdom which cannot be moved, God give us grace, let us have
grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence. and godly fear, not some slavish
fear, godly fear. Knowing the terror of the Lord,
we persuade men. God give us all the grace to
proclaim his word. And I pray that God would cross
some people's path just like he did Paul on the road to Damascus.
He shook his world. In what one place in the book
of Acts it says they turned the world upside down. What they
really did was turn it right side up. That's how God speaks. Oh, when
God speaks. I pray He speaks encouragement
to your heart if whatever you're going through, if you're His,
you shall not be moved. I hope that's been a help.