Thank you, Brother Don. That's
Pastor David Edmondson instead of David Pledger, but I think
he's- Sorry, I do that. That's all right. That's okay. Well, it is good to be here again. Instead of four days, that only
took us four hours. And instead of eight or nine
tanks of gas, only a little over half a tank. That's not bad. But I'm thankful to be here.
I'm thankful for this church. Your pastor and his wife, we've
become real dear friends over the years. I'm thankful for the
labor of love that goes into preparing these conferences,
and during these conferences, and after these conferences.
Oh my, may the Lord continue to bless the work here for His
glory, and you folks who are dedicated for that very reason,
the glory of Christ our Savior. Shelley, Our daughter sends her
love. Many of you know her. She's a
piano player at David Edmonds Church now, following in her
mama's footsteps, and she can't be here. She would like to be,
but she said, please give everybody her love. Well, I'd like you
to, I was talking to Brother Donny Bell just a moment ago,
and he knew I was preaching first, and he told me, he says, time
to put up or shut up. So turn to John chapter 14, and
I pray the Lord will give me a little utterance to bring a
message that will glorify Him and feed your souls. Let me share
something that happened while we were moving into our new home
just a few days ago. When we got to our new home,
our son-in-law and our daughter, who drove the truck out from
California, was their way before we were. And they already had
their truck unloaded. They had taken the furniture
in the house and the boxes were still in the garage. And so we were taking the boxes
in and some of the And I'm so thankful for all who helped.
I'm getting old and to have to have done that without help,
I wouldn't have been able to do it. But we were unloading
some of the boxes that were in the garage and just carrying
them in item by item. And I happened to have a handful
of knives that were in a tray that came out of the kitchen.
And as I walked from the dining room into the kitchen, there's
a little bump there, and I tripped. And I had to tray up about chest
size, chest height. And three or four of those knives
fell out. And the point of one hit me right
on the top of my leg about a third of the way from between my knee
and my hip. And I said, oh. And my daughter
said, are you OK? And I said, no. It got me. So I rushed into the bathroom,
my wife right behind me, and I just knew my pants were ruined,
blood just gushing all over the place. And I exposed the wound,
and she said, oh, praise the Lord, it's not very bad. Well, it wasn't really. She got a Band-Aid out of the
cabinet, put a little neosporin on the
band-aid and she got a tissue and she did get one drop of blood
off the wound. Patched me up. And I went out
to face the others. I was exposed. There wasn't anything
I could do. I kind of thought maybe I would get a little sympathy
and they'd tell me to sit down and I could milk it for a while,
but too late. So I had to change my attitude.
Are you okay? Oh yeah, you can't keep a good
man down. Now I'm not a comedian. I said
all of that for a purpose. I was exposed. But when the knife
of God the Holy Spirit penetrates our soul with Holy Spirit conviction,
we're exposed before God. And a little Decision for Jesus
ointment and a free will band-aid won't cover that wound. We know
it won't. And we're just remorseful, filled
with grief and sorrow. This is God working in us to
prepare us for the gospel. And we don't try to cover it
up, do we? No, we confess. our totally depraved, helpless,
hopeless condition before our God, and we start seeking for
mercy. The Holy Spirit has prepared
us when He begins that work of conviction. He has prepared us
to hear the gospel of God's sovereign, amazing grace through the merits
of Jesus Christ alone. It's God's work. All God's work. Salvation is of the Lord from
start to finish. And here in John chapter 14,
our Lord is dealing with this subject of where He was going,
encouraging His servants, His disciples, their hearts are troubled. He has told them He's going away,
and they couldn't go with Him right now. So they're troubled. They don't understand. He's told
Peter that he's going to deny him three times. I know Peter's
heart was troubled. So he says in verse 1 of chapter
14, Let not your heart be troubled. Ye believe in God, believe also
in me. In my Father's house are many
mansions. If it were not so, I would have
told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place
for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that
where I am, there ye may be also." Now folks, who is this man that's
speaking to these disciples? He's making them a promise. A promise that where he was going,
They would be with him. I'll come again and receive you
unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also." Well,
who's speaking? This is God Almighty speaking. Jesus Christ, the second person
of the Blessed Triune God. God in a human body. God who
cannot lie. The same God who brought in the
floodwaters during the days of Noah, destroying everything that
had breath in it, except those who were aboard the ark, the
same God. The same God who rained fire and brimstone down from
heaven after he had delivered Lot, killing everybody in those
two cities, and I think three more smaller cities in that area. The same God, the same God speaking
to his disciples. This is the same God that purposed
his chosen people to go down into Egyptian bondage, telling
Abraham what he was going to do hundreds of years before he
did it. And then told Moses to go tell
Pharaoh to let my people go. Moses said, who shall I say sent
me? Our Lord said, tell him I am
sent you. Jesus Christ who is speaking
in this text is the great I am. Pharaoh said, who is the Lord
that I should obey him? Well, he knows now. Because God
destroyed him and the whole Egyptian army in that Red Sea. And He purposed to do that so
His name would be known throughout the whole earth, so glory would
be given to our God. This is the same God speaking.
Brethren, I can trust Him, can't you? Are you troubled? Do you have
any problems? Have you come to Christ? Has
the Holy Spirit convicted you? Showing you that you are nothing
but sin in his sight. Do you agree with God, what the
Bible says about the fall of Adam? How he plunged the whole
human race into condemnation? Well listen, this is for us who
are troubled. Let not your heart be troubled.
You believe in God, our Lord said, believe also in me. Whatever
you can imagine of the greatness of God, all of his attributes,
he's the express, Jesus Christ is the express image of God Almighty. Oh, I love to talk about this
blessed one who redeemed me with his own precious blood. He's
the creator of all that we see, just spoken into existence from
the word of his mouth. God Almighty. Well, who's he
talking to? He's talking to hell-deserving
sinners who had heard his life-giving voice. He just passed by them,
spoke to them, said, come, follow me. And you know what they did? They dropped everything and started
following him. I'm sure there are some more
things that were not written during His calling His disciples
to Himself, but the Word of God says they dropped everything
and followed Him. God's sovereign, irresistible grace brings us
to Christ when He speaks to us. After he has convicted us of
our sin and we see our need of his mercy and we hear his gospel
Telling us what he has done for us how he by himself purged our
sins how he redeemed us with his own precious blood Brethren,
you can't keep a convicted sinner when they see their need of Christ
You can't keep them from coming to Christ There's a personal
inward Efficacious call that comes from God himself under
the preaching of his gospel that his people not only will
not resist, they don't want to. He makes us willing in a day
of his power. So he's talking to his disciples who heard his
voice. Have you heard his voice? The
voice of the preacher is important. We must preach the gospel. But
if all you hear is the preacher's voice, that's not enough. We
must hear the voice of Jesus Christ saying, come, follow me. I heard that voice almost 50 years ago. Now don't
misunderstand me, I didn't hear an audible voice like some of
these preachers were saying they heard, but I heard I heard a
voice speaking to me, when I heard the gospel, as we drove away
from that church that morning, I told Judy, that makes more
sense than anything I have ever heard. But God was dealing with
me. And eventually, after going back
and hearing the gospel, eventually I embraced that. By God-given
faith, I embrace the deity of Jesus Christ and what he accomplished
for me when he came to this sin-cursed earth. That's a miracle. That's what Brother Bruce Crabtree
preached last night. That's a miracle that only God
can perform. It's called the new birth. And
he delivers us from the power of darkness. from the power of
Satan, the power of sin. Jesus Christ has all the keys
in His hands and He turns that key into the lock of unbelief
and sets the prisoner free from that prison house of unbelief.
We come to Him rejoicing with joy in our hearts that He, God Almighty, has included us
and a chosen people who would be recipients of His amazing
grace through the merits of Christ alone. So he's speaking to his
disciples. Brother Henry Mahan explained
the word efficacious to me years ago when he was speaking at one
of our conferences. He wasn't speaking just to me,
he was speaking to the whole congregation. He said, you know
what the word efficacious means. Gets the job done. And when God
begins the work, He gets the job done. Our Lord Jesus says
to His saints, those who believe Him, I go to prepare a place
for you And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come
again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may
be also." I'm interested in those words. I wasn't in my state of
unregenerate unbelief. I had no interest in any church
or anyone who taught religion. No interest. But all of a sudden
that changed. I'm interested now. That's God
working in His people. Now God the Father highly exalted
His darling Son, Jesus Christ the God-man, giving Him a name
above every name. Why did He do that? Well, Philippians
chapter 2 tells us, He was obedient unto death, even the death of
the cross. So where was our Lord Jesus going
when he said, I go to prepare a place for you? Well, he was
going to glory. That's where we're going if our
faith is in Christ alone. But there are other places he
had to go first. He had to go to the cross. He
had to do that. He had to be buried in a rich
man's tomb, a borrowed tomb. He had to come out of the grave.
Those things must be done because it was the will of God our Father
that His darling Son would do all of that which He purposed
before a star ever twinkled in the sky. So our Lord Jesus was
going to the cross. He said, I go to prepare a place
for you. Now what I'm about to preach
to you, you may not believe this, but you will before you ever
enter into glory. Jesus Christ didn't go to the
cross to try to do something. Can you imagine people believing
in a God that tries to do something? God never tried to do anything.
That implies he might not get the job done. When Jesus Christ
went to the cross, he went there not because it was plan B as
some religious folks try to push down people's throats. It was
always plan A from the beginning. Jesus Christ is the Lamb slain
from the foundation of the world. And He was going to the cross
just like it was purposed by God back in old eternity. I heard last night this man preaching
about what our Lord went through when He went to the cross. Brethren Jesus Christ Went there
to save his people That's why they named him Jesus And he didn't try to save us He offered himself as a sacrifice
to his heavenly father All of my sins He bore in His body on
the tree. I believe that. All of them,
past, present, and future. Nothing can be laid to the charge
of God's elect because Jesus Christ paid it all. All to Him
I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain
and He washed it white as snow. Do you believe that? I'm telling
you, he didn't try to redeem his people, he redeemed us. And
when he offered himself to God the Father for our sins, and
uttered those words, it is finished, the work of redemption was done.
And God the Father accepted that. He accepted the sacrifice of
his son. And when He did, all those our
Lord Jesus laid down His life for were accepted and the beloved. What I heard last night, I need
to hear often. God sees no sin in spiritual
Israel. I need to hear that. Because
I'm still a sinner. I have wrong thoughts go through
my mind and I shamefully admit that sometimes I entertain those
sinful thoughts. I'm sorry. I do things I shouldn't
do. I don't do things I know I should
do. I understand a little bit of
what the Apostle Paul said when he was inspired to write these
words. Oh, wretched man that I am. Not that I was, but that I am. I need to hear what Jesus Christ
has done for me over and over and over again. This takes my
eye off of me and it focuses my eye of faith on Christ my
Savior who took care of my sin debt by the supreme sacrifice
of himself. So he was going to the cross,
and he went there. Then he went to the grave. On
the third day, he was resurrected from the dead, showed himself
alive to many of his disciples, up to as many as 500 at once. Then he ascended to glory. There's a glorified God-man on
his throne in heaven right now. What's he doing there? Whatever
he wants to do there. God does what pleases God. And
Paul wrote these words under divine inspiration to the churches
in the Galatia area. He said, when it pleased God,
who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by His grace
to reveal His Son in me. That's what Jesus Christ is doing
right now. Bringing His chosen blood-bought
children under the preaching of His gospel. sending His Spirit
into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father, and revealing the Spirit
of Jesus Christ in us. I need to hear this gospel more
and more because it stirs my heart. The new heart God has
given me to worship and praise God my Father for choosing me
in Christ before the foundation of the world. It stirs my new
heart to worship God the Son who cleansed every spot and stain
from this hell-deserving sinner by His precious blood, washing
me clean in His sight. It stirs my heart to praise God
the Holy Spirit for taking the things of Christ and revealing
them to me. I shudder to think where I might
be today if it wasn't for the sovereign grace of God that delivered
me from that awful state of unbelief that I was in. This is God's
doings. And every time we meet for public
worship, where the true gospel of God's grace and his mercy
is preached, those who have the spirit of Christ dwelling in
them are filled with worship to our great majestic triune
God for this unspeakable gift, eternal life through Christ our
Savior. Brethren, These words are precious. Our Lord said, I go and prepare
a place for you. I will come again and receive
you unto myself that where I am there you may be also. Everyone
that Jesus Christ laid down his life for will be in glory with
him. We're going to see him in all
of his glory. I rejoice to think of that wonderful
day when faith will give way to sight and I get to see Him
face to face. And I rejoice also to know that
when He delivers me from this body of death and ushers me into
His presence, I will never ever sin against my God again. Isn't
that a day to look forward to? He's coming again. He's coming
again. It might be at our appointed
time of death, absence from the body is present with the Lord,
or we might be here when He returns. But if we are, We're going to
be caught up in the twinkling of an eye. You know how fast
that is? That's faster than a wink. He's
coming with all of His holy angels and all of those that have gone
on before us. And He promises, and He cannot lie, that where
He is, we will be also. And we'll all be ushered into
the presence of the King of Kings, rejoicing for all eternity for
what He accomplished when He went to Calvary to lay down His
life for His people. But there's something else That's
going to happen when he comes He's coming with all of his angels
But we read in 2nd Thessalonians chapter 1 And he's coming in
flaming fire Taking vengeance on them that know not God And
obey not the gospel of Christ our Savior with eternal destruction
from the presence and the power of God. I warn you, if you're trusting in anything
other than the Lord Jesus Christ and what He accomplished for
you, get rid of it as fast as you can. He will not share His glory with
another. And He looks right down into
the depth of your heart. He knows everything. He knows
if you're trusting in Him or if you're trusting in Him plus.
And there's no plus. There's only one blessed hope. And that hope is in Christ alone.
God, help us to lay this to heart. And I encourage you. Come to
Christ. Today is the day of salvation.
You have no guarantee you'll see tomorrow. And we don't know. Tomorrow might be His appointed
day of His return. Come to Him. Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. And we read in Romans
chapter 10, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall
be saved. But how shall they call on Him
in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in
Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without
a preacher? And how shall they preach except they be sent? You
have to know who the true and living God is. His name is Jesus
Christ the Lord. You have to know what He accomplished. He saved His people. by the supreme
sacrifice of himself, sanctifying us and making us perfect in his
sight. He has returned to glory where
he was before he came to this earth, now in a glorified body,
and he's coming again. Believe on him. Thou shalt be
saved. Amen. Thank you. Amen. Thank
you, Pastor.