We just sang that old hymn, I
Must Tell Jesus. I can read it better than I can
sing it. But verse one said, I must tell Jesus all of my trials. I cannot bear these burdens alone. Now every believer will say amen
to that. They know that's so. Verse two. I must tell Jesus all of my troubles,
trials and troubles. Verse four, oh how the world
to evil allures me. I'm not immune from that. I've
not reached some sort of high plateau of super spirituality
that I'm not tempted, that this world doesn't allure me. If I
ever tell you that, I'm lying. I'm lying. The Apostle Paul spoke
for every believer in Romans 7 when he said, Oh, wretched
man that I am. Not that I once was a solid Parsis,
but I am right now as Paul the Apostle. Oh, how the world to
evil allures me. Oh, how my heart is tempted to
sin. Can anybody deny that? No, again,
we have to say amen. I've told you before, you're
aware of it I'm sure, how that old hymn came to be written.
It was written by a man named Elisha Hoffman. He was a pastor
many years ago and one evening he was visiting one of his members,
a widow woman I believe it was, and she was going through some
very difficult time in addition to her loneliness. And she finally
asked broken heartedly, Pastor Hoffman, what shall I do? What can I do? And the pastor
could only answer this way, I think I can identify with that man.
I think I may know how he feels. Because sometimes I'm just at
a loss for words. you others, things you go through,
are going through, and I pray for you. And I think, what can I say? I can't identify with what they're
going through. I can't tell them, well, I know
what you're going through, because I don't. That wouldn't be true.
Some of you, I've not experienced that. I think the best thing
I could do is what he told this poor, hurting lady. He responded, my dear sister,
you must tell Jesus. You must tell Jesus. And her
eyes lit up and she responded, yes, that's what I must do. I must tell Jesus. The pastor
left the house and as he walked home that night, those words
just kept ringing over and over and over in his ears. I must
tell Jesus. And when he got home that evening,
he sat down before he went to bed and he wrote that famous
hymn, I Must Tell Jesus. He can help me. There are only
four verses in that hymn, aren't there? Plus the chorus. But I'm sure
every believer, even this little flock, this small number, they
could write additional verses to that hymn, couldn't they?
Describing, mentioning their own experience, their trials,
their troubles, their evil heart, what they passed through. That
would make the hymn way too long to write or to sing. David wrote in Psalm 34, verse
19, He said, believers have a few
troubles, a few afflictions. No, he did not. I hope you know
that's not how it reads. He said, many, and he spoke from
personal experience. I like to hear a man speak from
experience, don't you? David from personal experience
said, many are the afflictions of the righteous, many. And remember
the words of that one, David's God and David's son, the Lord
Jesus Christ himself. He told his children, the faithful
shepherd told every one of his children, his sheep, know this,
I'm telling you the truth. If this wasn't true, I wouldn't
tell you. In the world, you'll have tribulation. That being
so, that being so, how full of comfort are these words here
in Titus chapter 2. Look at it if you will. Titus
chapter 2. We'll just read a few verses.
Beginning at verse 11. For the grace of God that bringeth
salvation. Nothing else will bring salvation.
Not all the labors of my hands will bring salvation. Not all
the tears I could ever cry can bring salvation. Oh, but the
grace of God. It doesn't try to bring salvation.
It doesn't attempt to bring salvation. It brings salvation. Hath appeared
to all men, that is, all nationalities, Jew, Gentile, and so forth, teaching
us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, that's what grace
does. It does it affectionately, that
we should live soberly and righteously and godly in this present world. And while we are, Verse 13, looking
for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great
God our Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us that
he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar
people, zealous of good works. Looking for that blessed hope,
that's our text, and the glorious appearing of the great God, the
great God, Oh, we could pitch a tent there very easily for
a long while, couldn't we? But look, it gets even sweeter. That great God is our Savior. The great God, our Savior, Jesus
Christ, our great God and Savior. I read only half of that verse
in Psalm 34. Many are the afflictions of the
righteous, but But the Lord delivers him out of them all." David looked
to the Lord, didn't he? He knew what it was like to lean
up on the arm of flesh. He'd done it and he fell. Why
wouldn't he? Why wouldn't you and I? We've
all done it. We've all leaned up on the arm
of flesh. We all think, well, we're stronger than we really
are. We've all done like Pierre and
say, well, these might deny you, these might forsake you, but
not me. You're not speaking to me. That's not about me, your
words. Oh, no, I'll even go with you.
I'll even die with you if that's what's needed. No, no, no. That's not the case. David said
he didn't do that. Many are the afflictions, but
the Lord, he looked to his Lord. The Lord, if I'm delivered, the
Lord's gonna have to do it. David just sang, we just listened
to Dave Coleman sing. God leads his dear children along,
some through the water, some through the fire, some through
the flood, the waters rather, but all through the blood, he
leads them along. If he doesn't do it, they'll
never arrive at that celestial city. And as they go, they'll
have tribulation. As pilgrims make their journey
through this world, they're bound to have tribulation. Many are
the afflictions of the righteous without and within, but the Lord,
capital L-O-R-D, the Lord delivers him out of them all. David looked
at the same one that our text speaks of. There was no Old Testament
God. and New Testament God. Oh no,
Jesus Christ is from everlasting to everlasting. He's our great
God and Savior. This is that one that appeared,
the very same one, this same Jesus, in all his glory, in all
of his majesty, in all of his omnipotence, in all his sovereign
rule over everything all the time, he appeared to another
suffering believer. John the Apostle. John said,
I, John, who am also your brother and companion in tribulation
and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ was in the isle
that is called Patmos. Why, John? For the word of God
and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. They put me out here
on this rocky desert just to shut me up. It didn't work. As was said concerning the children
of Israel in Egypt, when they were put in bondage, the more
they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. John
is given a revelation while he was on that desert that they
thought he would not be heard from again. He was given the
revelation of Jesus Christ. Chapter 1, verse 17, John hears
a voice and John turned and he said, When I saw him, when I
saw him, I feel that his feet is dead. This is not in my notes, but
it occurs to me just now. I wonder if that will happen
in the average church that surrounds us today. There's really no wonder about
it. I know it won't. Because the Christ that's preached
doesn't deserve worship. There's no awe in front of Him.
There's no standing in wonder before Him. He's pitiful. He's
to be pitied. Oh, but that one who John saw,
the true God and Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, the great
God and our Savior, John said, when I saw Him, when I was in
His presence, I fell at His feet like a dead man. I crumbled. I crumbled. And He laid His hand
upon me, His right hand upon me, saying, Fear not, I am the
first and the last. This is our great God and Savior
doing the talking here. I am He that liveth and was dead. And behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of
hell and of death. John, what I'm about to show
you, what you've seen and are about to see, write in a book. I'm going to show you things
that shall be hereafter. No question about it. No question
about it. And in chapter 4, we read verse
1. After this, John says, I looked, and behold, a door was opened
in heaven. Oh, my soul, that's a wonder
in itself, isn't it? A door opened in heaven. There's
a way into the presence of a just and holy God. There's a door
to heaven. Jesus Christ said, I'm the door.
No man comes to God, no man comes to the Father if they try to
detour me. I'm the way, I'm the door. By
me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved. And he'll go in and
out and find pasture. A door was opened in heaven and
the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking
with me which said, come up hither. And I will show thee things which
must be hereafter." That one who spoke to John, that one before
whom John fell as a dead man, he's the same one that our text
speaks of, the great God and our Savior. Verse 3 of that hymn,
I must tell Jesus, says, tempted and tried, I need a great Savior. Don't you? Don't you? Tempted and tried, I need a great
Savior. I need the mighty God, the everlasting
Father, the Prince of Peace, my Savior. Anything less than
that will be of no use to me. I'm a hard case. I'm rotten through and through. I need help. A band-aid won't
help me. A little religious makeup won't
help me. I need the healing touch of the
great physician. I need him to arise with healing
in his wings. I need him to come to where I'm
at and say, Larry, live. As we read a moment ago in Psalm
71, David said, he will yet quicken me and quicken me until I stand
before him in resurrection glory. Yes, I need a great Savior, and
Christ is the Savior that I need. I think it was Martin Luther
who said, if you see yourself as a little sinner, and most
people do, I mean, you can like that or not like it, believe
it or not believe it, but that's just the truth. Your neighbors,
your children, your loved ones, most of them, yours and mine,
is just so they don't know it, and they would like to hear it,
but the truth is, they don't, they view themselves as little
sinners. Just little sinners, not that
bad. And on the same hand, viewing
themselves as a little sinner, they view Christ as a little
savior. He doesn't require much of me.
If I can walk up and out and make a decision, that's okay.
If I can raise my hand and the preacher says, oh, God sees that
hand, what nonsense. That's all he requires. If I can just sign on the dotted
line and just go my way unaffected, unmoved, unchanged, my heart's
in the world and it's obvious my heart's in the world, but
I've made my decision, I'm a little sinner. I just need a little
savior. But a real sinner. A real sinner. A sinner that our Lord described
as being taught of God. Everyone who's been taught of
God. Everyone that God strips. Everyone
that God brings down. Everyone that God, by His grace,
teaches their hearts to fear. Oh, that's a real sinner. That's
a real sinner. I don't have any righteousness.
I don't have any merit. I don't have any worth. I've
looked from head to toe and I can't find anything in me that would
attract God Almighty to have mercy on me. If he has mercy
on me, all the reason will be in himself because there's none
in me. I'm the sinner. That's the sinner
that Jesus Christ came to save. That's the sinner that needs
a great savior and that's exactly who he is. That's what our text
says. Not that he was, who he is now. Child of God, is that
not good news to you? Again, we're just saying, tempted
and trying, I need a great savior. We have a great savior. We have
a great Savior. There is no limit to His power. There is no limit to His mercy.
There is no shortness of grace. He has a constant supply and
a constant flow to every needy sinner because He sets up on
a throne of grace. He has everything I need, exactly
what I need, the best time I need it, and all the time. Is that
not so? The angel appeared to Mary and
said, Mary, you've been favored. You know what he said to her?
Mary, you've been graced. You found favor. You've been
graced by God. Thou shalt conceive in thy womb
and bring forth a son. Call his name Jesus, Mary. He
shall be great. He shall be great. He shall be
called the Son of the Highest. And the Lord shall give unto
him the throne of his father David. And he shall reign if
people let him. He shall reign if folks allow
him. No, he shall reign over the house
of Jacob forever. And of his kingdom there shall
be no end. People talk about an earthly
kingdom. You know, there's a lot of people believe that, the fundamentalists. I think that's part of their
package. their theology that Christ is
going to reign over Jerusalem, they're going to rebuild the
temple, they're even going to offer animal sacrifices again. What
utter nonsense. And he'll reign there for a thousand
years and then there's going to be this step and that step,
this judgment, that judgment, pre-tribulation and post-tribulation,
rentals, aluminum, and all that. No, he shall reign. He shall
reign forever and of his kingdom. His glory, His heavenly mansions,
there'll be no end. He shall reign forever and His
people will reign with Him forever because He's our great God and
Savior. With such a great God and Savior,
if He says to us as He said to His disciples that day after
He had labored, healed, lain, opened blinded eyes, preached
the glorious gospel of the blessed God. At the end of that day,
he said, standing on the shores of Galilee, he said, let us pass
over into the other side. And they got in the ship. You
know the story. Got in the boat and begins their journey. And
then skipping, just Going over what followed that, Mark 4 verse
31, let us pass over to the other side. We go down to chapter 5
verse 1 and we read, and they came over into the other side
of the sea. Why wouldn't they? Why wouldn't
they? If he's the captain of our salvation,
if he's the master of the sea, If he's the great God and our
Savior, why wouldn't they pass over into the other side? The
surprise would be if they didn't. The wonder would be not that
they did, but if they hadn't. If they hadn't. If it doesn't matter what happened
in between those two statements, if they don't arrive safely on
the other side, the only way that that could ever happen to
them or you and I is that the captain of our salvation would
have to fail. He would have to fail. Terry,
that's not possible. That's not possible, because
God Almighty said concerning His Son, 700 years before He
came to this earth, Behold My servant, he shall not fail. He will do everything, everything
that I've committed unto His hands. He will do everything
I'm sending Him to do. When Jesus Christ says, let us
pass over to the other side, it doesn't matter what happens.
between now and my actually entering glory, nothing's going to stop
it. Nothing's going to stop it. Billy,
that's pretty good news, ain't it? That's pretty good news,
isn't it? Isn't that the best thing you've heard all week?
All month? All year? Jesus Christ wills
that his people be with him where he is. And nobody, nothing, not
a demon, not a devil, not man, not politics, not society, nothing
can stop that from happening. Because he's our great God and
Savior. I love that verse, as I've told
you before. In Revelation 7, concerning that
great multitude that John saw, the redeemed in heaven that no
man can number. Oh, God's elect will be a multitude
that no man can number. Christ shall have a glorious,
glorious crown. But concerning that multitude
before the throne, all waving the palm leaf of victory, all
clothed in white robes, and all singing the same song. I'm looking
forward to that. They all sing the same song.
They're all in perfect harmony. There's no discord, not just
from the lip, but from the heart. They're singing from the heart.
And they're all in perfect unity, perfect unison. And they all
sing the very same thing. Salvation to our God that set
us upon the throne and unto the Lamb. John, who are these? Who could they be? My soul, John,
you saw just prior to this. men crying for the rocks and
the mountains to fall on them, and hiding from the face of the
Lamb. And now here's a multitude standing
right before the presence of the Lamb, right before His throne,
and they're not making such a cry, they're not uttering such prayer,
they don't have any fear, they sing in harmony. How is that,
John? Who are these blessed ones? Who
are these favored ones? How in this world did they come
to be here? John said, I don't know, you
tell me. And he said, these are they which
came out of great tribulation. Oh, my hurting brother, my hurting
sister, he's talking about you. He's talking about you as if
you were the only one of his sheep. He's talking about every
one of his own, every one of the chosen, every one that he
redeemed, every one that he called, every one that he right now intercedes
for. Concerning every one of them,
we're told, they came out of great tribulation. So will you,
Bobby. So will you, Les. So will you. So will every child of God. So
will you, Delilah. So will you, Terry. We're all
going to come out. Oh, yes, I know. I know. Weeping. My soul. Again, David speaks
from experience, but he's speaking of the experience of every child
of God. Weeping may endure through the night. Oh, how we weep. Sleep
won't come. And the tears wet our pillow.
And we pray God, how long, how long, how long do I have to endure
this? How long is this going to go on? It's just going to
go on until the sun comes up. Joy. Everlasting joy. Joy that no man can take away.
Unspeakable joy. It's going to come in the morning
when God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. Mine is going to wipe away. I'll never have a reason to cry
again. Remember when your children were little and they'd be crying
and you'd say to them, you've got nothing to cry about. I'll
give you something to cry about. No, we'll have nothing to cry
about. There won't be any pain. There
won't be any sorrow. There won't be any heartache.
There won't be any sickness. There won't be any death. There'll
be no reason to cry. And so shall we ever be in the
presence of the Lord. Oh, what a glorious fact this
is. We have a great God and Savior. The triune God, all three, bear
witness to this glorious fact. God the Father said, more than
once, when his son was on earth, this is my beloved son in whom
I am well pleased. Oh, and remember, God's not easily
pleased. He won't accept just anything.
But he accepted his son because everything his son did was perfect. God said, I'm well pleased with
that. He led a perfect life, fulfilling God's law. And then
as a perfect sacrifice, he satisfied the strict justice of a holy
God. And God said, I'm well pleased.
I can demand no more. And the son himself testified
of his worth when he said, I came down from heaven not to do my
own will, but the will of him that sent me. And he did. And
he did. And God, the Holy Spirit, bears
witness of the Son, doesn't he? In today's modern, so-called
Pentecostal, charismatic nonsense, when people stand and wave, what
is that all about? What's all this? Like they're
trying to catch flies or something. Does that mean you're holy? Going
to stand up and swoon and wave your hands around? And they talk,
this is the Holy Spirit. The sight of the Spirit is speaking
in tongues. It's an unknown language, why
don't you just shut up? Nobody understands you anyway,
all that gibberish. No, the Holy Spirit bears witness
of Jesus Christ. That's what Christ said. When
He, the Spirit of Truth, has come, He won't speak of Himself. He'll take the things of mine
and show it unto you. He'll glorify me. That's what
the Holy Spirit does, our great God and Savior. Even the context
here. in these few verses that I read
in Titus chapter 2, speaks to the greatness of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Did you notice that? Looking
for that blessed hope we read in verse 13. What hope would
there be? What reason would there be? The
hope for his glorious appearing if he hadn't succeeded when he
first appeared. No, the success of his first
appearing guarantees the reason for his second appearing. That's
exactly what we read in Hebrews chapter 9. But now once in the
end of the world has he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice
of himself. And as it is appointed unto men
once to die, and after this the judgment, so Christ was once
offered to bear the sins of many, and unto them that look for him
shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. We rejoice, we rest in redemption
obtained. Redemption finished. John chapter 19, when Jesus therefore,
verse 30, when Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he
said, it is finished, and he bowed his head and gave up the
ghost. Was he lying? Was he deceived? Never. Jesus Christ was declaring
once and for all the complete and everlasting redemption of
all those the Father gave him to redeem. Look down, if you
will, in chapter 3 here in Titus. Read this with me. Read with
me. Titus 3 verse 4. But after that
the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared,
not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according
to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration and
renewing of the Holy Ghost which he shed on us abundantly through
Jesus Christ our Savior, that being justified by his grace
we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Again, is that not good news?
And Robin took a second test just to confirm the first one,
that she was negative. I sent out an email to y'all
and texts and calls, but she called Billy. And I was sitting
there when she was talking to Billy. And he said, she said,
Billy, we're negative. We're going to meet together
at the Lord Will Sunday for service. And I could hear you. You said,
oh, that's good news. That's great. We're at last going
to meet the worship. We're going to get to hear the
gospel. We're going to get to hear the good news. And the heart of the gospel,
the very essence, the sweetness of the gospel is just here. Jesus Christ redeemed his people
from all their sin. I don't want to hear about a
redemption that allows people that were redeemed to go to hell.
If you can get any good out of that, you're welcome to it. Oh,
but I want a redemption that really redeemed me. Or an atonement
that really atoned. Jesus Christ by himself purged
my sins. That means they're gone. They're
gone. And I bear them no more. Oh,
the bliss of this glorious thought. My sins not in part, but the
whole. are nailed to His cross, and
I bear them no more. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
O my soul. Looking for that glorious appearing
of the great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ. We just keep looking
out the window, don't we? Just keep looking out the window. And one day, one day, as we're
looking out the window, Jesus Christ may appear, coming in
the clouds with power and great glory. Man, would that be a sight! Wouldn't that be something? To
see him as he is and to be like him. Or, or, if that doesn't
happen in my lifetime, very soon, when a few more days are come,
when this vapor is just about gone, he'll come to my dying
bed, and I'll see him. I'll see him. He's gonna say,
Larry, you've dwelt here long enough. It's time to come home. It's time to come home. Beloved, now are we the sons
of God, and it doth not yet appear where we shall be, but we know
when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see
him as he is. And until that blessed time comes,
we'll just keep looking out the window. Children of God, children
of Jesus Christ, our great God and Savior, let us pray for grace
to trust him, to trust him, to honor him, to worship him, and
to love him. Oh, for grace. Oh, for grace
to do those things. I looked for the CD that I had
of songs sung by Judy Estes. I've misplaced it. Bobby, maybe
you have a copy. You can make me a copy. I was
going to play this one this morning had I found it. Deeper than the
stain has gone. When with holy choirs we're standing
in the presence of the king and our souls are lost in wonder
while the white robe choir sings. Then we'll praise the name of
Jesus with the millions round the throne, praising for the
power that reaches deeper than the stain has gone. Praise the
Lord for full salvation. God still reigns upon his throne. And I know, I know the blood
still reaches deeper than the stain has gone. Amen. Amen.