Turn with me to Isaiah 29. Isaiah
chapter 29. Isaiah 29. Salvation is a miracle, isn't
it? I mean, it really is. Anyone, everyone who's saved is brought from darkness to light,
from death to life. Kingdom of darkness delivered
from the captivity of the God of this world. He's powerful. He's not all-powerful. He has
power. He holds men and women and young
people captive. He really does. How do I know
that? Because I was one of them. And for God to deliver someone
that's held in such bondage by merely the preaching of the
Word. Merely, I say. It's a miracle,
isn't it? A miracle. I'm looking at a miracle. Miracles. I'm looking at miracle
after miracle in this room. You're looking at a miracle. Look at Isaiah 29. It says in
verse 14, I will proceed to do a marvelous work among this people.
A marvelous work. Verse 18, in that day, that is
when Christ came, And the day when He comes for you through
the preaching of the gospel, the deaf will hear the words
of the book. Eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity. What a miracle. The Lord Jesus came to save and
that's what He did. That's what you said, He shall
save. He did. He came to save. He did that every day, day in
and day out. He's saved. He's saved every
day, all day. That's why He came. As long as
the gospel is being preached, somebody is hearing it and somebody
is being saved. Ears are being opened and eyes
are being opened. Amazingly, marvelously, the Lord
cast out devils. And people call these addictions
and call whatever it is that people are held by, by fancy
names, but it's demonic possessions what it is. You're either possessed
by the Spirit of God or another spirit. Right? There's no middle
ground there. The Lord did that more than any
other miracle, you know that? Cast out devils, He healed the
lame, people that could not walk. Lame from birth, never had walked. They got up and walked. And for
someone to walk according to the course of this world, the
prince of the power of the air, to children of disobedience,
even as others, for them to start walking by faith, walking with
God's people, that's a miracle, isn't it? Amazing. Lepers. Death, here, the blind,
see, the raising of the dead, it's a miracle, isn't it? And
all of God's people, every single saved child of God were all of
those things. All of those things, right? Such
were some of you. Such are some of you right now. What is the power of God? The
gospel is the power of God. It really is. I haven't experienced that power.
You're looking at a miracle. Mark 7. Go to Mark 7 and 8. These are Mark 7. This is really
my text in the Gospel of Mark 7. Two similar stories. Mark
7 and 8. The Lord healed a deaf man, a
dumb man who could not speak. followed by a blind man. The
Lord gave a man ears to hear and eyes to see. And that's how
it is. That's how salvation is. You
hear the Word and then you see Christ's glory. This is salvation.
What mercy. What a marvelous miracle of God's
mercy if someone hears the truth. What a miracle. Someone hears
the truth, believes the truth, believes the unbelievable, and
loves the truth. So many of you were in religion,
and when you first heard the truth, you hated it, didn't you? You said, I don't like that. And now you love it. That's a
miracle, isn't it? A man can't do that. Only God
can. Oh, my. We're all here. I thought
about all of us who've come from a long distance, some of us,
and we're all here to hear. Like old Cornelius, we're here
to hear. What a miracle. This is a blessing. This is a
blessing. Has it all been a blessing to you? You don't want it to
end. Man, you know, you're looking
at a, I was a preacher's kid like Gabe and Buddy. I heard 4,553,000 sermons. I thought I was gonna be one
of those boys that died in the service. In the morning or evening
service. I thought there was a time when
I can't wait for this to be over. No, you don't want it to end.
That's a miracle, isn't it? It's a miracle. It's the greatest
blessing. Do you consider this the greatest blessing on this
earth? Do you really? He that blesses
himself, blesses himself in the God of truth. This is the greatest
blessing. This is a foretaste of glory
divine. Do you really feel that way?
Are you glad when they said unto you, let us go to the house of
the Lord? My parents used to make
me go. Well, nobody wants to make me
go now. Glad. Who said that? Who said let's
go to the house of the Lord? Father. Son, Holy Spirit, Bride,
come, let's go. Okay, I'm coming. What a miracle. What a miracle. Mark chapter
7. A deaf man hears, a dumb man
speaks. Look at verse 31. It says, now
again, He departed from the coast of Tyre and Sidon and came into
the Sea of Galilee, the midst of the coast of Decapolis. He
just left Tyre and Sidon. The Lord went to the uttermost
part of Israel. That's where Tyre and Sidon was.
The uttermost coast, the northernmost border of the land of Israel. He went all that way. He went
to the uttermost to save one woman's daughter, Vex with her
dad. That Syrophoenician woman. You
know the story. That was right before this. He
went all that way because he's able to save the uttermost. The
Lord walked vast distances to save one person. Often he would... The disciples didn't know where
he was going, what he was doing. He did. And they just followed
him. And often he'd say, let's get
in the ship. Go over to the other side. They'd go all the way over
to the other side to save a man possessed by a devil. And they'd
say, now let's get in the ship. Let's go back. Well, he went
to tire and sight. And you know that story of that
woman. Her daughter was captive of the
devil. And our Lord, you remember, he
ignored her. She came to him, and my daughter's
vexed with the devil, and he didn't answer her. And then he
told his disciples to tell her, I've only come for the lost sheep
of the house of Israel. I'm only here for the elect.
And then he told her she was a dog. And she didn't leave. Brother Larry,
she didn't leave. She didn't go away. She stayed
right there. She said, what was her answer when he said all of
that? Truth. Truth. And then he answered her. Answered her prayer and saved
her dog. You come all this way to hear men stand up and call
you filthy, vile worms and dogs and wretches and no good and
you ain't worth nothing. And here you are, you're still
here. That's a miracle, isn't it? Alright, then he came again to
Galilee. What was in Galilee? Nothing. Anything in Galilee? Like Nazareth. Nazareth was right above there,
mountain town. Galilee, full of nothing but
fishermen. Nobody. From nowhere. Just like Louisville, Arkansas. That's right. Rocky Mountain,
Virginia. I keep getting it wrong, Brother
Darvin, I got in the bulletin this morning. Lewisburg, Arkansas. It doesn't matter, does it? But
the Lord Jesus Christ kept coming back to Galilee. In fact, it
was called His city. Capernaum was called His city.
The mountain town full of nobody. And that's where He spent all
His time. And he kept coming back, and coming back, and coming
back, didn't he? And the Lord keeps coming back
to this place and meeting with us. What a blessing! What a miracle! What grace! What mercy! Here
we are back again. And the Lord has promised to
be where two or three have gone. What a blessing! What a blessing! We don't deserve it. Lewisville,
Sylacauga, Alabama. Anybody know where that is? Anybody
but two people? The Lord does. So He came back. He
came back to Galilee. And verse 32 says, They bring
unto Him one that was deaf. All through the Gospels, it says
they brought the lame, the blind, the deaf to Christ. Who did? People brought these
loved ones, these friends and family and loved ones unto Him. He brought them to Him for Him
to heal them. Now, they were hoping and begging
that the Lord would heal these friends and loved ones. Why did
they bring them to Him? Well, they must have heard that
He's the healer, He's the only one. Or else, Brother Darwin,
they themselves had been healed of something. Right? They themselves
heard His voice. Someone once said that the gospel
is just one beggar telling another beggar where he got food. That's
it, isn't it? One blind man telling, I see. How'd you see? That man did it.
You wanna see? So they would bring their loved
ones to the Lord Jesus Christ. How do we bring people to Christ? How do we bring people to Christ?
Can we? Well, we pray for them. We bring them before the Lord.
We pray for them. We call upon the Lord for them. Job had sons and daughters who
didn't know the Lord, didn't they? What did he do? He said,
could be now they sinned against the Lord. They don't know Him.
I'm going to pray for them. I'm going to come before the
Lord before Him. So we call, we pray, we ask the Lord to speak
to them, give them ears to hear and eyes to see, raise them from
the dead, deliver them from the captivity of this world. Don't
we ask, we beg you. Brother David, I love how you
began. This is serious, isn't it? That's one thing that you'll
note about God's true preacher. He's not a clown. This is not
fun and games here. This is serious. This is life
and death. Every message is life and death in it. The Word does
not return void. Somebody's hearing God's voice. So we bring people to the Lord
in prayer. We ask Him. We call on Him. I
love this verse in Psalm 147. It says, The Lord taketh pleasure
in them that fear Him. and in them that hope in His
mercy. Now, I hope in His mercy. My
hope for myself is His mercy. You know, the only hope I have
for my family, my children, my friends, and those all around
me is His mercy. The Lord takes pleasure not only
in those who hope in His mercy for themselves, but those who
hope in His mercy for others. You understand? He takes great
pleasure in that. Those who call upon Him for others. Rahab. Rahab. When she went up to that room
where those men were, she pleaded with them to have mercy on everybody
else, didn't she, David? My father, my mother, my family. And she was last. She was last
on the list. The Lord did. Saved her whole
house. So bring them to the Lord in
prayer. How do we bring them? We bring
them to hear the gospel. The gospel is the power of God.
These men have been saying this. How many times do we have to
quote this? It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching. Why do we say that? Because it's
so. Why do we preach? Because it's the power of God. There's not one person in Scripture
who will say depart from the preaching of the gospel. Not
one, you won't find one person. Everyone in here who's saved,
you were saved through the preaching of the gospel. That's what God
has chosen. And there are many reasons for
that I'll not go into, but you don't need another reason except
that God said so. But we bring them to hear the
gospel, we tell them the truth, we witness to them, yes we do,
we speak the gospel to them. Our primary objective is for
them to come hear a man that God has raised up, that God has
gifted to preach the gospel, that God, that's how they're
going to hear. So we tell them, we bring them,
we give others, we give them CDs. I guess you still give them
CDs, don't you? Flash drives or whatever. It's a strange day. Used to be
tape. Give them a tape. How do we bring parents? Parents,
bring your children to hear this gospel. They're not going to
be saved apart from hearing the gospel. They're just not. Your purpose in life, the fact
that you had children, the Lord gave you children, is to bring
them up in the fear and admonition of the Lord. That's it. God has
entrusted you with a soul. Now you better bring them to
hear the gospel. If you want them to be saved,
if you want the Lord to save them, they're going to have to
hear the gospel. It is not cruel and unusual punishments. They may think so. It's not child
abuse. It's child abuse not to bring them to hear the gospel. I'm living proof of that. Aren't
we, Brother Gabe? We're living proof. Aren't we,
John? Living proof of that. Clay? Look at verse 32. They bring
unto him one that was deaf. He was deaf. He couldn't hear. Everyone is deaf until the Lord
gives ears to hear, right? They're all deaf. Our Lord said
over in John chapter 8, He says, why do you not understand my
speech? He says, because you cannot hear
my words. No man can hear. No man will
hear. They turn away their ears from
the truth. Are they rebellious against the truth? But they cannot
hear their death. Why are they dead? They're dead.
The dead man can't hear again. They're dead. They bring unto him one death.
Do you know anyone who's deaf? Do you have anyone in your...
family or someone you know and love who's deaf, who cannot,
who will not hear the gospel, who will not hear the truth.
Do you? Everyone in here does. You talk to them, you persuade
them. We do that, don't we? Persuade
them. As much as life within us, we
persuade them. You know, the more we do this,
brother, and this is what John said, The more we do this, the
more I do this, the more it's so obvious to me that I can't
convince anybody of anything. I can't make anybody believe.
I can't make anybody hear. I can shout. I can say with a
small voice. I can do whatever. I can't laugh,
cry. It won't matter unless God opens
their ears. You know anyone? They just won't
hear. They just won't listen to you.
They just can't hear you. You can't get through to them.
It's frustrating, isn't it? It's frustrating. It often makes
you mad. That being said, don't get mad at
people that can't hear. Don't get mad at them. Pity them,
okay? There was a time you couldn't
do it. Do you know someone? Deaf to the truth, and yet very much attentive to
everything that's going on in the world. Believe anything and
everybody. All the lies and... I mean, just
believe everything that's said by all... David said, I said
in my haste, all men are liars! And our Lord one time said, this
is a marvelous thing, a wonderful thing, that the prophets prophesy
lies, and my people love it, sir. They love it. How's that? Because the truth, you know,
doesn't say anything good about us, does it? It's all bad. The
truth tells the truth about who God is and what we are. Man doesn't
like that. Turns away the ears from the
truth. Cannot hear the truth. Will not love the truth. Well, look at verse 32, it says
he was deaf, and you know anybody? And he had an impediment in his
speech. Now, everyone who's deaf, I mean truly deaf, cannot speak,
there's a certain sign that they are. It doesn't take long to
note that they cannot speak because they have an impediment in their
speech. Have you ever been... Amazingly,
Brother Clay, when I was applying for hearing aids. The woman who
was in charge of that was deaf. And she had an interpreter over
here. And she could not speak very
plainly. I could understand her a little
bit. It's amazing, but this is a good illustration, because
she was talking through this interpreter, okay? And the interpreter
was making signs to her. She was talking to me, okay?
And I turned and said, David, I turned and said something to
the interpreter, where are you from? She said, I can't talk
to you. I was talking to her. That's a good illustration. But they have an impediment in
their speech. I would not make light of that
at all. The deaf, you see, cannot hear
certain sounds. They cannot hear certain sounds,
so they cannot verbalize these sounds. They cannot repeat what
they've heard, you see. And they cannot hear themselves. speaking, so they cannot enunciate,
they can't speak clearly, they can't, it's unintelligible mostly. Now here's the fact, all of us
are born deaf to God's Word. We're born deaf to God's Word.
And every single human being has an impediment in their speech
that readily gives them away, that they're deaf to God's Word,
that they haven't heard a thing God has said. You know how it
begins? Always. I. Me. My. Aren't I something? Pride is what God hates. The
whole human race is full of it. There's never been a generation
more full of it. In the last days, He said men should be lovers
of themselves. You know what picture people
love to take more than anything else? Selfie. Ain't that cute? No, it's indicative
of the time we live. Lovers of self. Lovers of pleasure
more than love. Proud, heady, high-minded, blasphemers,
boasters, braggers. Aren't I something? I, me, and
my. Why does God hate pride so much? Because what do we have
that we have not received? Not the strong man, glory, and
strength. The beautiful woman and her beauty. One germ won't
take that away right now. It's going to happen to every
single person. The Lord's going to bring down the lofty looks
of man. Well, in salvation, this is how He does it. Through the
gospel, He brings you down. Breaks that pride. He heals that
impediment of speech. I, me, and mine. The religion,
there's nobody more, a dead giveaway, somebody that's just religious
doesn't know the Lord when they say, I'll let go and let God.
I can't hear them say, you let God? You can't hear yourself,
you see. You can't speak plainly. Do you
hear what you're saying? You let God? I accepted Jesus. Well, that's
the wrong Jesus. He's Lord Jesus. You see, nobody fears Jesus.
That's why everybody calls Him that. It's the fear of the Lord
that's the beginning of wisdom. When you find out who Jesus is,
like Saul of Tarsus, you'll call him Lord, won't you? That's what
the disciples called him. Why? He said, you call me Master
and Lord. You say, well, so I am. That's a dead good way. Jesus is. Jesus that. Jesus my
buddy. Wrong Jesus. I made him Lord. Don't you hear?
You haven't heard. David said that. People read
about it. Don't you hear? Haven't you heard
what God's word said? God made him Lord. This is what God says, bow, believe. I got saved. That's the word
there. I got saved. There's no more
blasphemous statement that a human being could utter than that right
there. I got saved. bragging on yourself about salvation. Can you? What if somebody, what if I gave
my only child's life to save you and you went around telling
everybody that you accepted that? How would that make me feel? One time a man came up to my
wife and she knew him from Dave's business. He said, I got saved. And she said, I'm sorry to hear
that. Shocked him. She said, what do
you mean? She said, if the Lord had saved
you, you'd have said so. He said, that's what I meant.
No, that's not what you meant, because that's not what you said.
If somebody saved you, died saving you, you'd be singing their praises
all your days, wouldn't you? That's what God's people do.
The Lord saved them. Look, verse 33. It says,
Our Lord took him. He took him. What a blessing. The Lord accepted him. I'm preaching
the acceptable year of the Lord. The Lord is accepting sinners.
Unworthy, no good sinners. Bring them to the Lord. You reckon
the Lord will take my son? You reckon the Lord will speak?
I reckon He might. It was William J. Gabe had to remind me then. William
J. and John Newton were friends,
and William Jay came to see John Newton one time, and he said,
Brother Jay, did you hear the good news? Brother Newton, did
you hear the good news? The Lord saved old Tony Newton. And he said, I'll never despair
of the Lord saving anybody if He saved old Tony. And Newton
said, Brother Jay, I have never despaired of the Lord saving
anybody since He saved Can you say that? I'm telling
you, you're looking in a mirror. Don't despair. You reckon the
Lord will take my son? I can't get through to him. You
reckon He'll take him? I reckon He will. I reckon He
just might. Don't you reckon it so? Don't
you believe me? Look at verse 33. It says, He took him from
aside from the multitude. You know where you're going to
hear from Christ? Outside the camp. Not in a cathedral,
not in a big temple, not in a big time religion, not in a big building. Far from the maddening crowd.
Away from the noisome pestilence. You're going to hear him out
in Galilee, out in the wilderness, out in Louisville. That's where you're going to
hear from him. Aside from the crowd. He's going to take you
and you're going to be alone with him. You're going to hear
from him. My sheep hear my vote. Brother John said that, didn't
he? And thus it's said. It's said. If and when you hear
from the Lord, you're going to hear Him. That's the voice you're
going to hear. You must. You'll be hearing Him through
a man, but it'll be the Lord. I heard, you heard how many messages? I heard so many sermons. And
I'm just like Gabe. I was raised under the truth.
But I do remember, I don't know the day, even the year, but I
do remember going to a meeting in Danville, Kentucky, before
Don ever came then. My dad was preaching a meeting
down there. And I heard him growing up, I
heard all these messages, all these messages. The song leader
and his wife and their son, who was close to my age, were going
to Danville to the meeting where Dad was preaching. And I heard
that and Ronnie, the song leader, said, you want to come with us?
I said, we're going to the steakhouse. Oh, good. Yeah, I'll go. That's
why I was going. Now I heard my dad, I heard my
dad, that man standing there pulling me, just my dad, that's
just my dad, that's just my dad for you, that's my dad, that's
my dad, that's not, he wasn't my dad. That's my Heavenly Father. He took him aside, you're gonna
hear alone, you're gonna be alone with the Lord, like old Jacob,
the Lord's gonna get you alone and he's gonna wrestle you down
to the ground. You're gonna find out who you are. You're going
to find out who He is. And you'll be a changed man.
No more walk of pride. Your ears are going to heal.
Now look at verse 33. It says He put His fingers in his ears.
Now, how could you make a man hear if you put your fingers
in his ears? That just doesn't sound right,
does it? Well, that's what the Lord does to every single child
of God that He saved. Takes you away from the crowd,
and He will stop your ears from hearing anybody but Him. That's
what's going to have to happen. You're going to have to hear
his voice, no one else's voice. He'll stop your ears, stop you from
hearing the lies, and hear his voice. My father-in-law, Ed Ballard,
wonderful, just a fine man. He was a brick mason. Darwin
knew him well. He was in religion. And the Lord
started making him discontent like those men, David and 1 Samuel
22. They all came to David in the
cave and they were in distress, in debt and distress and discontent. The Lord's gonna make you discontent
if you're in religion and bring you to hear the truth, isn't
it? It'll make you hungry and thirsty. The Lord was making
him discontent and he went to his preacher and he said to him,
He went and he said, I don't know what I'm not hearing. But
he said, I'm not hearing something. That's what he said. I don't
know what I'm not hearing, but I'm not hearing something. He
said, Russ, he said, I need to hear some hell's fire damnation
or something. He wasn't hearing God's Word.
The man was just preaching a little sermon. Well, the Lord did want
him to hear him and me. And that was the story, Wes,
that he'd sit there like, you know, I think so, and a little
while later, mm-hmm, I guess so. They brought this man to our
Lord, he put his fingers in his ear, and he's going to have to
stop us from hearing anybody but himself. And it says he put
his fingers in his ear and he spit. The Lord spit, touched
his own tongue, and then touched the man's tongue. So the Lord
put his fingers in this man's ear and touched his tongue. Look at it, verse 35. So straightway
his ears were opened, and the string of his tongue was loose,
and he spake plainly. What's it going to take to open
the ears of the deaf? What comes from the mouth of
the Lord. What's it gonna take to make a man speak plainly,
speak the truth, love the truth, bow to the truth? Huh? What comes from the mouth of
the Lord. That's what it is. And how significant this is.
That man, you know, when we think of spittle, we think of something
disgusting, don't we? And every time man spit, it was. And when God came to this earth
and spit in his face, how merciful is our Lord. How gracious is
our Lord. Grace pours from His lip. Nothing
but goodness and grace and mercy came out of His lip. And He took
the spit and healed a man. Oh my, my. What came out of the
mouth of the Lord is what opened His ears and loosed His tongue. In verse 35, look at it. It says
His tongue was loosed and He spake plainly. What did He hear
first? What was the first thing He heard? He heard the Lord's voice. And
his tongue was loose. He couldn't speak. And his tongue
was loose. What did he say? What's the first
thing he said? I know what he said. Salvation of the Lord. Christ dissolved it. That's what
every single person who's had their ears open and their tongue
loose says. Salvation of the Lord. No more
impediment of speech. No more I, me and my. It's all
him. Paul said, when the commandment
came, I died. I died. The Lord looked up from
heaven and sighed and said, be open. And straightway his ears
were open, the string of his tongue was loose and he spoke
plainly. The Lord gave the commandment. How are we saved? By command.
Not invite. By command. He gave the commandment.
Hear. And he heard. How's anybody going
to hear? when the Lord says, hear. See,
that's our hope, isn't it, Brother David? Our hope. We know this
is the power of God. We know the gospel's the power
of God. We know that they must hear His voice. We know that
they will hear His voice, if He gives the command. So we just
keep preaching that. Just keep preaching. One day,
like me, they hear. And their tongue is loose. And
they speak plainly. No more impediment of speech.
No more impediments be. No more I, me, and mine. It's
all Him. It's all Him. He chose me. He loved me. He bought me. He laid down His
life for me. He saved me. He is made unto
me. He hath, where He hath at, unto
Him who hath. He shallites, he shall. You heard
of the hivites of Hittite? We're the heathites. There's
a new generation of people. A heathite, new tribe. He hath
done it. The Lord hath done it. That's
what they said in verse 37. He hath done all things well.
He makes the deaf to hear and the dumb to speak. He's the only
one that can. And he does. Turn the page. Turn the page. Chapter 8. Look at chapter 8.
Turn the page. You can turn any page. It'll
be the same story. Mark chapter 8. Look at this. Mark chapter 8, down in verse
22. He comeeth to Bethsaida, and
they bring to him a blind man. They brought a blind man to him,
and besought him to touch him. He took him. He took the barman
by the hand. What'd he do? Let him out of
town. Let him out of town. Same thing.
What'd he do? Spit on his eyes. And when it was all over, he
saw very clearly. He saw men for what they were. He saw Christ first thing. He
spit over John chapter 9. John chapter 9, yeah. The story
of Lord Helan, a blind man, and it says he spit and he took and
made clay out of it. He made clay out of it and anointed
the man. Now, he put his fingers in his ears to make a man hear,
and he put clay in his eyes to make him see. Doesn't make sense,
does it? And that's exactly what the Lord's going to do to everyone. He's going to stop your ears
from hearing lies and hear only His voice. He's going to shut
your eyes to seeing everything, anything. You're going to see
all men for what they are, clay. He's the potter, you're the clay. He said, I see men walking this
tree, dead wood. I see them clearly. There's nothing,
there's nobody. Salvation's up to the Lord. Brother
John quoted this, that we have this treasure in earthen vessels,
clay pots, that the excellence of the power might be of God.
It's clear that God was speaking when he spoke through those fishermen
in it. They spoke before doctors and
lawyers and Pharisees and all that, and the Lord saved some
of those people. Thousands through those preachings. Brother Scott
Richardson was a coal miner. Brother Darwin's a carpenter. And on and on it goes. God's
a machinist. That the excellency of the power
might be of God, and not of men. You can see clearly that if someone
hears, it's not going to be that man. It's going to be obvious
that the Lord's picked it. There's a group up in New Jersey who
the Lord opened their deaf ears and blind eyes to a man, and
you know what that man's name is? Clay. Clay. He's got a good name. Good
name. John. There's a man sent from
God whose name was John. There's an angel sent from heaven
with a message whose name was Gabriel. God hasn't changed. The message hasn't changed. The
methods haven't changed. The means haven't changed. Salvation
is up to the Lord. It's the preaching of the gospel.
Have you heard? Have you seen? What do you say? Salvation is
up to the Lord. Amen. The Lord bless you.