Well, I thank you again for everything. So much hospitality, generosity,
special thanks to your pastor and his wife. I know many knows
what it takes to put on a conference like this, all the planning and
preparation, the worry and everything. We thank you so much. Thank you
for having us. You ladies, thank you for all
the work and men. Thank you so much. You've been
so good to us. It's been a blessing. It's been
a blessing. That message has been a blessing. Turn with me to Numbers chapter
6. The book of Numbers chapter 6. I hope and pray that the Lord
will bless us this morning as he has. Well, we have a promise
here that he will. We just sang that hymn There
shall be showers of blessing and that's taken from Ezekiel
34 26 and it's worded correctly in that song it says there shall
be showers of blessing singular showers many showers of the blessing
the blessing the blessing of the Lord right here we're going
to we're going to hear about it and we have been blessed And
I'll go ahead and tell you, the blessing of blessing is the Word
of God, the Gospel of God that we've been hearing. That's the
blessing, chief blessing. And we, these preachers will
tell you that when you go, at home we generally have a course
of study that we go through, a book that we're going through.
And we know from service to service where we're going to preach from,
don't we? But when you go other places, you wrestle and search
for not what the bridge, or rather whom, but where, where. And I did that for this week.
But it was made easy for me in reading this chapter, these words. Look at it, verse 22. The Lord
spake unto Moses, saying, Here's the word of the Lord to his servant
saying, speak unto Aaron and unto his sons saying, this is
what you're to say. You want to be a blessing? You
want the people to be blessed? I want, I hope, I pray that we
will bless our God this day. I hope and I pray that you will
be blessed. I want to be blessed. Well he
said, he spoke to Moses to tell Aaron and his sons, these messengers
of his, this is what you're to say. This is how they will be
blessed. The Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
speak, speak unto Aaron and unto his sons, saying. Now the blessing,
the blessing, the greatest blessing, the chief blessing is the Word
of God. the gospel of God, or rather
the person of God who is the word of God, who must speak to
us. Is that not the chief blessing?
Is that not the blessing of blessing, the word of our Lord? If the
Lord speaks to us through his word, oh, how blessed we are.
We've been so blessed. The Lord speaks through his word,
and we've been so blessed to hear the word, rather the person
of Christ preached this week, haven't we? So blessed. Our Lord
said in Revelation 1, the revelation of Jesus Christ. And here's what
he said to the people. Blessed is he that readeth the
words of this book. Do you realize how few people
read the word of God? Do you? Do you? Do you take delight in reading
the word of God? And brethren, here's good counsel. Read the Word of God. This is
the blessing of God. The blessing of blessings is
that God has written a book, Words of Life, and they're to
his people. Read them for your own comfort,
for your own blessing. Oh, how blessed we are to have
a copy of God's Word. Read it. Blessed are they that
read the words of the book. He said, and blessed are they
that hear the words of the book. We cannot understand it unless
some man Tells us unless someone preaches and unless the word
of God is revealed to us can we like the eunuch said I can't
understand this unless some man Tells me and how blessed we are
to hear the word of God like the people was it in Ezra were
so grateful that they understood the reading How blessed we are this is the
best And blessed are they that keep the words of this book.
Lay hold of the words of this book. Believe the words of this
book. Do how blessed we are. What a blessing. And he said this to Moses, he
said this to Aaron, he said this to his sons, he said this to
the people. These were the words of God.
God speaks to us through his word. Through men. Through men. And all we do and preachers are
repeat what he tells us to preach. If you listen carefully to a
true preacher sent by God, if you don't know the word, listen
carefully because you'll hear the word of God repeatedly throughout
his message. It's just inundated with the
word of God. That's what we're to do, he told
young Timothy. Preach the word, Timothy, in
season, out of season. It's out of season today, isn't
it? Not in God's church. Never will go out of seats. This
is the best. Yeah, you get ever get tired
of hearing the word No, never this is the blessing and look
at who his who this is to verse 23 on this wise ye shall bless
the children of Israel That's who this is to Psalm 3 says salvation
belongeth unto the Lord and thy blessing shall be upon thy people. As Brother Gabe said, the only
thing God has to say to this unbelieving world is repent.
There's woe pronounced upon an unbelieving world. Woe, woe,
woe, woe. Repent, believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ and thou shalt be saved. But to God's people, blessing
after blessing Promise after promise, exceeding precious promises,
right? And all those promises are where?
In Christ, and they're what? Yay. Amen. You can think of that
word yay as not only yes, but when you hear something exciting,
like something great happens, yay! It's like a cheer. All the promises of God are yay! And amen, don't you love the
word amen? I love to say it. When something
I believe and something I know is true, it means it's true,
it means that's the way I would have it. Don't you love to say
it? When something blesses you, you
can't help it. Let the amen sound from his people again, yay! Amen,
all the promises of God. The blessings of God are to his
people. Every single promise in this
book From cover to cover from Genesis to Revelation are to
his people and they're sure That's what we heard and then now at
the mouth of two witnesses. You've heard it again Yay, and
amen say to the sons of Jacob the children of Israel say unto
them now look at verse 24 here it in The Lord bless thee The Lord bless thee. Now he's not praying this. This
is God saying to Moses, saying to Aaron and his son, you tell
them this. He's not wishing this, he's pronouncing
this. Tell them the Lord bless thee. That's a certainty. Not he might,
not he shall, but he is. You're blessed. If you're sitting
here this morning and hearing this and receiving it and believing
it and rejoicing it, the Lord hath already blessed you. You're
blessed to be sitting here. You're blessed to be reading
it. You're blessed to be hearing it. And above all, you're blessed
to believe this. The Lord, who did this? The Lord.
The Lord blessed you. You know what the word blessed
means? If you look it up. The word blessed means to kneel
to kneel to. Now we bless the Lord. Bless
the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his
holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and
forget not all his benefits, who forgiveth all thine iniquities. That's the first thing. But when
we bless the Lord, we bow the knee to Him. We worship Him,
don't we? We praise Him. When we bless
His holy name, we bow our knee to Him and bless Him. Well, how
does He bow or bend? It's when He bends the knee,
when He stoops down to bless us. bends, as it were, his ear,
his eye, his ear to hear us, his eye to look upon us. David
said, what is man that thou art mindful of him? Oh, bless the
Lord. He has stooped down. Where we are? He's condescending.
I almost preached from a passage in Luke where it says the Lord
came down and stood with them there. There's your free outline
for next Sunday. The Lord came down and stood
with them there in the company of His disciples, the companion
of sinners. He stood with them. What a blessing. The Lord is with them. How do
we know that? We have His Word. We have this blessing of blessing.
He blesses us by stooping down, doesn't He? Like that woman,
that guilty woman. He stooped down and blessed her
with those words that Brother Larry just read to us. What a
blessing. Brother Larry, you're just supposed
to read. You weren't supposed to preach. But that was a blessing. That was a blessing. Maybe you
want to preach on it. We're going through Luke right
now, and that's a chapter or two away. I want to do it now.
I want to title it, Frankly Forgiven. Frankly Forgiven. Forgiven why? Because he said so. You can't
do that. He did it. Frankly, forgive. The Lord bless
thee. You know, there are millions
today, right now, clamoring for a little man in Rome to bless
them. Millions make their pilgrimage
over to Rome to bow before and maybe kiss the ring of a man
who's not, he can't bless anyone. He's a curse. And people that
want his blessing are under the curse. Oh, bless God, we have some You
have some, you know some, whom God has delivered from that bondage,
from that darkness, from that pagan religion, hasn't He? We have a few. And we have a
couple more that are still sitting and listening. We have a young
lady, she was Catholic, born and raised that way. And the
Lord revealed Himself to her, revealed the truth to her. And
she brings everybody she knows to Christ, to hear the Word. Well, she has an aunt. Mary is
her name. And she's a staunch Catholic. And she's only about, literally,
she's, John, is she 4'5", maybe? And she's in her 70s. But she
keeps coming. And I know Catherine is her niece's
name. I know that she's praying and
praying and begging. I am. We all are. Lord, reveal
yourself to Mary. Show her that it's not Mary who
intercedes for her. It's not Mary who's the mediator
between God and man. It's the man, Christ Jesus. Lord,
reveal Christ to her, would you? If he does the day that he does
that, oh, we're going to bless God. And who can do that but God?
I only want to open the ear of someone so steeped in that. Oh,
the Lord bless thee. If the Lord doesn't do it, we
won't be blessed. He must do it. The Lord bless
thee. Look at the next line. The Lord
bless thee and keep thee. Keep thee. Now the word keep
can mean several things and all apply here. The Lord keep thee. Keep means to not throw away. not cast out. We have so much
stuff in our house that continually we're casting it out, only to
gather more stuff. Anybody guilty? We've got a carload,
by the way, John, we need the back of your truck to put some
stuff in, to take back for that, that we gathered, that we'll
eventually throw away. Stuff, keep. The Lord keep thee. Why would he want us? And I don't
like to use that word, but why would he keep any money? You
know what the scripture said our Lord said all that the father
giveth me shall come to me and he that cometh to me I will in
no wise Pass down David said that what is man that thou art
mindful thing why would you even come down here? Why would you
who you don't make God doesn't need any of us does oh, but we
need him. That's why I came And he's going
to keep some of these worthless creatures. Is there any fishermen
in here? Larry? John? If you go fishing
and you catch some little ones, what do you do? They're not keepers. You cast them out. That's not
what the Lord does. It's the opposite. Do you see
your calling, brethren? Have not many wise men at the
flesh? Not many mightier called? Not many big? Not many rich?
Not many famous? None that think themselves big.
None that think themselves worthy. No, the only ones He keeps are
the little ones. The worthless ones. You know
what I mean? The Lord keep thee. Not because
we're worth keeping, but to the praise of the glory of His praise. The word keep means to protect.
The word keep means to watch over, to defend, to keep from
harm. Keep, the Lord keep thee. Look
at Psalm 121 with me real quickly, Psalm 121. Brother Gabe sings
this all the time and it's always a blessing. Psalm 121, the Lord
keep means to to protect, to watch over, to defend, to keep
from harm, to keep from falling. Didn't Jude say that? Now unto
him that is able to keep us from falling, present you faultless
for the presence of his glorious throne. Look at Psalm 121. It says in verse 3, he will not
suffer thy foot to be moved. He's our keeper. He that keepeth
thee will not slumber. One time a man, a believer, was
having trouble sleeping, and he woke up and began to read
the Word of God. And that's a good thing to do.
He began to read the Word of God, and he turned, Brother Gary,
to Psalm 121. And he read where, he that keepeth
Israel shall not slumber. He said, well, if God's staying
up, I might as well go to sleep. Behold, verse four, he that keepeth
Israel, shall neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is thy keeper. Keeper means to keep. Oh, Psalm
23, the Lord is my shepherd. That's another definition of
the word keep. It means to provide for. Provide
for. If any of you have had any horses
or cattle, livestock, You'll say of a horse, well, he's an
easy keeper, right? He's an easy keeper. He doesn't
require much. He doesn't require much. He doesn't need much to keep.
He's easy to keep. And I would ask you ladies, if
your husband's an easy keeper, is he high maintenance? Or vice
versa? The fact of the matter is, every
one of us, they're not easy keepers. We require everything. We need
everything done for us. We're poor, we're miserable,
we're blind, we're naked, we're wretched, we're helpless, we're
hopeless in and of ourselves. We can't do anything. With us,
everything's impossible. The Lord is naked. And he has
promised, you shall be kept, you shall be provided for. If
the Lord is your shepherd, you shall not want, you shall not
need anything. He shall provide for you everything,
the wisdom you need, the righteousness you need, the sanctification
you need, the companionship you need, the food you need, the
raiment you need, the comfort you need, the protection you
need. We hadn't heard my pastor, Brother
Henry Mahan, preach from Psalm 23 recently on tape, on recording. And in that psalm he was saying,
I may get old, but the Lord is my shepherd. Well, he did get
old. He said, I may lose my health, but the Lord is my shepherd.
He did lose his health. And he said, my mind may get
feeble, and I may lose it, but I won't lose my shepherd. His
mind did get feeble, but the Lord was his shepherd. Oh, now
he's beholding his face. You know, the world talks about
blessing. And people mean well, I guess, when they say, have
a blessed day. You hear that said all the time,
don't you? Have a blessed day. And what they mean by that is,
I hope nothing goes wrong. I hope everything is well. I
hope you're healthy and wealthy and all of that. And I do not
diminish these temporal blessings of our God. Everything we have,
everything is a gift from God. It is. Health is a blessing,
isn't it? The things we have are a blessing, the family, our
homes and all, what a blessing of God. But they are not the
chief blessing. In fact, and the world doesn't know anything
about that. But in fact, it may be the greatest blessing you
ever have when the Lord removes this thing. Trials are a great
blessing from the Lord to His people. He gives the world to
the world and they think they have it all. And he begins to
take out of his people a love for the world, the things of
the world. If any man loved the world, the love of the Father
is not in him. It may be the greatest blessing given to a
child of God to remove these things, so that they have nothing
and have no one but Him. That's the blessing. So they
clearly see through these trials, through these afflictions. Like
Job, he lost everything. What did he say? He blessed the
Lord. Because the root of the matter
was in him. He knew the Lord. The Lord, because
the Lord knew him and loved him. And here's what he said. Oh,
if we can say this. Though he slay me, I'll trust
him. Our Lord said things like this.
Blessed are the poor. Blessed are they that mourn.
The world doesn't know anything about that. We do, don't we?
And it could, the thing that happens to us, we may think it's
the worst thing that could possibly happen. That's just not so with
God's people. Everything works together for
good. The thing you may think is the
worst thing is probably the best. When my father fell and broke
his hip, and he was always an independent man, and I guess
that's where I got it. I'd like for people to do things
for him, And he was always up into his 90s getting up on a
ladder to change a light bulb. And I'd come over and say, Dad,
don't do that. Get down. Call me. I'd say, you're
going to fall and break your hip. And I worried about that. Because when they break their
hip, it's over. And it did. One day he went out
and took the garbage can out and it was raining and he fell
and broke his hip. Mom called me and I ran over
there and said, Dad, what have you done? And those next three weeks were
the hardest weeks of our lives. We thought this is the worst
thing that could happen. It was the best thing that could
happen. He went to be with the Lord in
20 days. Had I known then what I know
now, I'd have said, go ahead, break your hip. But the Lord did that. Was that
a blessing? Yes. It ushered him into glory. And it showed us even more clearly
than ever through that trial of trial, it showed us God did
this. And it's good. And we blessed
his holy name. And right now we're blessing
him for my dad breaking his hip. What a blessing. And he said that in those words
in that message. I may lose my health. I may lose
my mind. And he did. But he didn't lose
his salvation. Why? Because the Lord is his
Savior. Not a thing. Not a what? It's
a person. That was a blessing, Brother
Kay. A blessing. Let's look at the next line in
our text, number six. Says the Lord bless thee. He
must bless thee. Say this to them, and keep thee.
And verse 25, the Lord make his face shine upon thee. You know where I'm going, don't
you? John no, 2 Corinthians 4, go over there. The Lord make
his face shine upon thee. Now no man has seen God. No man
can see God. No man has ever seen the face
of God, or have we? Didn't Job say, I'm gonna see
God with my eye? Didn't it? No man hath, but now,
hold on, the Lord Jesus Christ is God. Didn't it? God manifested. One time, it was, was it Philip? Show us the Father. And you know,
Philip didn't go up on the mountain with Peter, James, and John,
did he? They went up, the Lord chose those three to go up on
the mountain and peel back that robe of flesh, and they saw him
as he is, God, who dwelleth in light, which no man can approach
unto. Well, Philip didn't go up there. And maybe Peter, James,
and John could have tried to tell him, you don't care, this
is God. Show us the Father. Thomas was
and said that. He that's seen me has seen the
Father. Well, look at 2 Corinthians 4. We haven't seen God with our
outward eye, have we? But here's what it says, 2 Corinthians
4. Verse 5, we preach not ourselves,
but Christ Jesus Lord, and ourselves your servant for Jesus' sake.
For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath
shined in our hearts to give the light, the understanding
of the knowledge of the glory of God. And Moses said, show
me your glory. He said, I'm going to make my
goodness pass before you. And you know what? So who is
it? The Lord came down. the glory
of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Now we haven't seen him with
these eyes, but bless God, bless God, we have seen him with the
eye of faith and we've seen the glory of God, the redemption
that's in Jesus Christ. We've seen the face of God in
Jesus Christ. The purpose of God, the mind
of God, the will of God, the love of God, the mercy of God,
the redemption of God. We've seen it in the face, the
person, the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Most of the world
just thinks Him as Jesus. We call Him God. The light has
shone in our eyes. The Word has revealed Him to
us. Go back to our text. Oh, the
Lord make His face. This is my prayer that the Lord
will reveal Christ the Son in you. Brother, you read that,
didn't you? Our favorite chapter. Galatians
1. Galatians is our favorite and
so is he. The Lord revealed his Son in you. This is the face
of God to shine upon thee like it surrounded Paul. Verse 25,
and the Lord be gracious unto thee. Be gracious unto thee. The Lord be gracious unto thee.
He doesn't say the Lord offer grace unto thee. That word is
not in the scripture. I despise that word, offer of
the gospel. I despise it. There have been
some pretty good preachers in the past say that, but they're
just wrong, aren't they? They're just wrong. I mean, there's
some men I love who say the free offer of the gospel. That's just
not so. The gospel wasn't offered to man. Christ didn't offer himself
to man. He offered himself to God. By
one offering, he had perfected forever them that are sanctified.
The gospel's not an offer to man, but it is an offer to God
by Christ that he made and God accepted it on our behalf. And
we're accepted in the beloved. The gospel of grace, grace is
not an offer of God, but it's an act of God. It's something
God does for us through Christ the Lord. It's something God
does in us by the Spirit of Christ. Grace be unto you. This is the
blessing of God. It's a gift bestowed, a gift
bestowed, not offered. We wouldn't receive it if he
asked us to accept it, huh? We all reject it by nature. But
God, as many as received him, and a man can receive nothing
except to be given him from above, unless he be given the will,
the heart to receive it. And those that have received
him are what? Born of God. There was a time when you rejected
this gospel. If you were in false religion.
There was a time you rejected, right? But God said you will
believe this one. Like Saul of Tarsus. I don't
ever believe that. You will believe this, Saul.
And what did he say? I do believe. I not only believe
it, I love this. And they were all marveled at
the gift, the grace, the act of God upon this enemy of God. He broke down the enmity in this
man, and now he not only doesn't hate it, he loves it, and preaches
that which he wants persecuted. Who can do that but God? Oh,
the Lord be gracious unto thee. Ephesians 1 talks about that
grace. Don't turn that. You know it
by heart. He talks about electing grace.
Brother Cody, we were listening to him on the way over here,
and oh, what a blessing. Whoa, what a blessing, wasn't
it? Tears came to my eyes listening, and you know what he preached?
Six stubborn statements. Man, I've heard that so many
times, and I heard a young man just declare it again. I just,
yes, yes, yay, amen. Electing grace. Predestinating
grace. Aren't you glad God predestined
everything down to the hairs of your head? Aren't you glad?
Oh, brethren. Nothing's by chance. Nothing's
by accident. Nothing. The Lord does it all. He said, I do all these things.
Isn't that wonderful? We have nothing to worry about. Oh, we worry about our children.
We worry about the world. If you say you don't, you're
a liar. I lose sleep, I stay awake, and I'm trying to tell
people not to worry. But I'm worrying. Our God has
predestined everything. And it's going to happen. He
said, I've spoken it, I'll do it. I've purposed it, I'll bring
it to pass. Predestinating grace. Accepting
grace. He accepts every single sinner
that comes to Him. Everyone. But He can't accept
me. Ask the thief. Ask him. Oh, but you don't know
me. He does. Ask Mary Magdalene. Will he accept the worst sinner?
Accepting grace. You ever tire of your life? Oh, man. He that's forgiven much,
loving much. Love to hear this gospel of redeeming
grace. Redeeming grace. We don't have
any redeeming qualities. We have nothing to pay. If you
have nothing to pay, I've got good news for you. I'm here to
tell you that He frankly forgives. He pays it off. Forgiving grace,
abounding grace, redeeming grace, revealing grace. Oh, God hath
revealed unto us the mystery of His will which He keeps hidden
from the wise and the prudent and reveals it unto us. We can show people these things,
they can read the same book that we read, and they just don't
see it. Why? God hasn't revealed it to
them. God must reveal it. But He has
revealed it unto us and our children, how blessed we are. Isn't this
the blessing? Oh, the Lord be gracious unto
them. Look at the next line. And the Lord lift up His countenance
upon them. The Lord lift up his countenance
upon them. Now when you're angry, your countenance
is falling. God is not smiling on his work. Scripture says God is angry with
the wicked every day, doesn't it? Doesn't Romans say the wrath
of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness
of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness? Doesn't it say
that? God is not smiling upon his church, he's frowning. frown
of God, His countenance is the cross, but not His people. Scripture
says when God looked down upon the earth in Genesis chapter
6, it says the whole earth has corrupted His way and full of
violence. And it said He repented God that
He made man. There's a frown on His face.
in our own word. You know, God speaks as it were
in baby talk to us. We wouldn't understand it. And
he says in a language we can understand, I wish I'd have never
made you. But Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. There was a man whom God had
chosen, whom God had loved, whom God revealed to him the way of
salvation, Christ the ark. A man whom God loved and he put
in that ark. And on that ark and in that ark
was the smile of God. God looked down on the earth
and said, I'm going to destroy them all. But everyone in that
ark, everyone who'd found grace in the eyes of the Lord, God
smiled at them. His countenance You know how
God will smile upon you is if you love his son. I'm telling
you the truth. It says, cursed is everyone that
loveth not the Lord Jesus Christ. But oh, the blessings of God
are upon all those that do. If you do, let's see first. I
was down visiting Brother Donnie Bell years ago and he just, his
son, And his wife had just given birth to Brother Donny's first
great-grandchild. Now, I know something about the
love of grandchildren. Some of these men that were grandfathers,
grandmothers before us would try to tell us. I just didn't
believe it. No, you can't love your grandchildren
like your children. Oh, yes, you can. Well, great-grandchildren,
surely it's just petered off by then. Surely there's no more
of that kind of love reserved. Oh, yes, there is. Brother Donnie,
he told me about his first great-grandchild, Riley, little girl. And he wanted
me to see her. Kept talking about her on the
phone. Okay, okay, let's talk about another thing. Oh, no. That's a good illustration, isn't
it? If you don't want to hear about God's Son, He has nothing for you. But buddy,
you delight. He loves you. Well, I was down
there. We walked in, and little Riley
was going to come over, and the car pulled up, and Johnny ran
out there. And I'm in the house, and Brother Gary, he brought
her in. Big smile on his face. And he's
looking at me. Like, isn't she the most beautiful
thing you've ever seen? And I smiled back. I said, yes
she is. And we've been friends ever since. That's a simple illustration,
but that's the way it is. That's why God is angry with
this world. They don't want anything to do
with God's Son. And he's got nothing for them.
But for everyone that loves his son, and you wouldn't love him
if he didn't first love you and didn't reveal his son to you,
you wouldn't. There was a time I had nothing for him, but God. He revealed his son to me, gave
me a love for him, and now there's nothing I love more. Not even
these. That's a God. It really is. When Brother Gabe left and took
Our only daughter and grandchildren away, three hours away, we thought
this is the worst thing that could happen. I wouldn't change them. I wouldn't
bring you back if I could. That's the best thing that could
have ever happened for the kingdom of God, the glory of God. And
now I rejoice. There have been many births because
of that. We lost our only begotten, but
there were many others born. It wouldn't change a thing. Oh, the Lord lift up His countenance
upon you. If you love Christ, He does.
He smiles on you. Look at this. It says, and give
thee peace. We've been hearing about that.
Brother Weller said it. The Lord made peace by the blood
of His cross. frankly forgave and gave peace
and by his blood made peace with God. God is not angry. There's
no wrath. There's no fury in him for his
people. There is therefore now, right
now, no condemnation to them that are in Christ. Why? Because
Christ died. Amen? Yay. The Lord give you peace. He has.
Give us peace. And that should give us peace
of mind. My peace I leave with you. My peace I give unto you.
He took my weapon. There is no wrath. There is no
judgment. And look at this. I've got to
close. Verse 27. And they shall put
my name upon the children of Israel. They shall put my name. Behold,
what manner of love astonishingly, that God, the Father, that we
should become, that I should become the sons of God. That
prodigal came home and was just amazed that the father came running
and fell on his neck. And he thought, I don't deserve
to be a son. Just make me a hired servant.
No. Won't do that. You're my son. But I'm a sorry
son. But you're my son. I love you. Behold what manner of love the
Father bestowed upon us that we should be called the children
of God, the sons of God, Christian. I know the world. And isn't it
a shame that the world is so, uses that term wholesale, that
we're almost ashamed to use it. Isn't that a shame? Christian.
That's the name of Christ. That's the bride of Christ bears
his name, Christian. I'm a Christian. Brother Gary,
I don't want to be ashamed to own that name. Disciples are
called Christian. I'm a disciple. I'm a learner.
I'm a believer. I'm a follower. I'm a lover of
the Lord Jesus Christ. That makes me a Christian. And
though men use it and abuse it, it's alright. No, it's not alright,
but I'm a Christian. God's love, Brother Don preached
about it. Christ's love is like the love of a father for his
children, a husband for his wife. Gabe mentioned it. A union indissolvable,
united by God in holy matrimony, eternal union. Like in marriage,
like a husband leaves his father and mother to cleave unto his
wife, that's exactly what Christ did. To cleave, never leave. Christ did that. And you know,
one day he shall present us to the father in the marriage supper
as his bride. I've had the privilege of uniting,
no, I didn't unite, of performing the ceremony of three couples
sitting right there. Six adult. And it's such a blessing
if each one knows the Lord. What a blessing it is. You two,
you two, you two. stood and we tried to preach
the gospel in that of Christ and his bride, and oh, I'll never
forget it. You and Irene standing before
me, and as I was saying these things, smiling. Normally you've
been married and the groom was, hope she says I do. That's kind
of a picture of modern religion, isn't it? The bridegroom standing
over here sure hopes she accepts me. Anyway, they're standing
before me smiling, understanding, taking these vows seriously.
They're about to be united in holy matrimony before God, and
they're loving everything. They're just relishing this,
cherishing the moment, and I did too. And the thing I love to
do, and I heard someone do this for the first time, and I do
it every time after I marry. I turn the couple around, to
face after they kiss. And I turned them around and
said, ladies and gentlemen, I now present unto you, Mr. and Mrs. Larry Criss. Oh, that gives me great joy.
You know this is gonna happen. Given by God the Father to the
son to marry his bride. and perhaps the Holy Spirit officiating
this ceremony is gonna stand before the angels to present
all of his people as the bride of Christ and say, ladies and
gentlemen, angels of God, I present unto you, Mr. and Mrs. Jesus Christ. Give him my name. And he said
in closing, and I will, Bless them. So we have hands and butts
back. Bless the Lord.