Everybody's always happy when
I bring Shelby. Until after our daughter graduated
from college, she rarely went with me anywhere. Stayed at home,
took care of our daughter, took care of things at the house,
and since that time, She goes with me about everywhere I go.
I have good friends. They like to do their best to
humble me every time they get a chance. I was preaching for
Brother Bruce Crabtree several years ago. I had been there two
or three years up in Newcastle, Indiana. And he started to introduce
me and he said it's so good to have one of God's choice servants
with us tonight. Nobody knows how the Lord has
used this servant of his. Only eternity is going to tell
him. He went on and on and on. And then he said, it's good she
brought Brother Don with her too. So good to be with you all again.
Turn with me to the book of Isaiah. The Gospel of Isaiah chapter
46. I would recommend, if you've
never done so, that you sit down and read through books of the
Bible at one sitting. You will find it makes a remarkable
difference in your understanding, rather than picking portions
and reading. Read the whole book of Isaiah
at one sitting. Particularly, I would encourage
you soon to read, beginning at chapter 40, right through the
end of chapter 46. In chapter 40 the prophet of
God says this word to all who speak for God, prophets and preachers
of every age. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people. Declare to my people, to Jerusalem,
to Israel, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity
is pardoned, that she hath received of the Lord's hand double for
all her sins. Tell my people redemption is
done. Tell my people I bring in and
give to them everlasting righteousness and I put away their sins. And then it gives the two-fold
message God's servants are sent to preach everywhere. He says
first tell them all flesh is grass. All flesh is grass. Oh, how important man is. I'm
sure if you find a church sign, even in California, I recall
our first visit here, it's been back in 19, my soul, when we've
been married 25 years. It's been a long time ago. I
brought Shelby out here for our 25th wedding anniversary. And
we were out here for most of a week, and there was something
we didn't see. We have church buildings on every
corner. I didn't remember seeing a church building anywhere. But
if you run across a church sign, somewhere even here in San Diego,
California, you'll see a sign that says we can't spell church
without you. You're just not that important.
All flesh is grass. Just withering grass. Fading grass. Grass that's dried
up, blown down, and about to be consumed. Fit for nothing. That's the first message. All
flesh is grass. A preacher who won't tell you
what you are. Just sinful grass. Fit for the burning of God's
wrath. Is not God's servant. And then
the prophet said, what shall I cry? He said, behold your God. And proceeded through the next
six chapters to show us our God. To show God in all his glorious
character as God. More than anything else, declaring
himself the absolute sovereign of the universe. And then declaring,
there is no God among men to be compared to with me. A just
God and a savior. God who saves sinners in a way
that is utterly consistent with his justice. And he says, this
is how I'll do it. Behold my servant. And reveals the Lord Jesus Christ
in whom all the Person of the triune Godhead is made known
to men in all his glory in the accomplishment of redemption
By the sacrifice of himself now if you will look at chapters
46, and we'll just begin reading at verse 1 Bell bloweth down Nebo stoopeth. These are just two of the idols
of the Babylonians. Bel boweth down. Nebo stoopeth. What does that imply? How does
Bel bow down? How does Nebo stoop? They're
just idols. Try to get that glass to bow.
Try to get that book to stoop. Try to get that guitar to bend.
It ain't going to happen. What you talking about? Bell
boweth down. Kneebow stoopeth. These gods
that men make bow to men. All the gods that men make bow
to the will of man. Baal boweth down. Nebo stoopeth. Their idols were upon the beast. That is, they carry their gods
from one place to the other. They put them in an ox cart,
put them in the back end of a nice Dodge Ram pickup truck, and take
them wherever they wanted to. And upon the cattle, they carried
their idols around. Their carriages were heavy-loaden. These big, massive idols. They're a burden to the weary
beast. The beast stoop and bow down
together. They could not deliver the burden,
but themselves are going into captivity. Verse 3. Hearken unto me, O house of Jacob. and all the remnant of the house
of Israel. Listen to me, my people. My people
which are born by me. These people, they carry their
gods. I'm God. I'm the one who carries you.
Born by me from the belly. Eric and Amy, they're fixing
to have a baby. My God, we commit that baby to
you. born by me from the belly, real,
real, which are carried from the womb, carried by me from
the womb of eternity. And even to your old age I am
he. And even to whore hairs will
I carry you. God's been carrying me since
before time began. Carrying me from my mother's
womb. Carrying me from the womb of
eternity. Carrying me in all the days of my rebellion. Carrying
me to the throne of his grace. And carrying me still in his
hand. Now that my head is covered with
what hair I have. with white and gray hair or hairs
I'll carry you I have made and I will bear even I will carry
and bless God he added this and will deliver you I will at last
bring you to glory to whom will you liken me and make me equal
and compare me that we may be like show me a God like me They
lavish gold out of the bag, and weigh silver in the balance,
and hire a goldsmith, and he maketh it a god. They fall down,
yea, they worship. They bear him upon the shoulder,
they pick their god up and carry him. And set him in his place. Tell him where he can go and
where he can't. And there he stands till they move him somewhere
else. From his place he shall not remove. He won't interfere
with their lives at all. Yea, one shall cry unto him. Yet could he not answer, nor
save him out of his trouble. Remember this. And show yourselves
men, that is, quit acting like foolish children with superstitious
good luck charms. Bring it again to mind, O ye
transgressors. Remember the former things of
old, for I am God, and there is none else. I am God, and there
is none like me. Now here is my distinct quality
as God. declaring the end from the beginning
and from ancient times things that are not yet done saying
my counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure back in chapter
43 chapter 42 behold my seraphim
whom I uphold mine elect in whom my soul delighteth I put my spirit
upon him he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles he shall
not cry nor lift up nor cause his voice to be heard in the
street a bruised reed shall he not break the smoking flax shall
he not quench he shall bring forth judgment to truth He shall
not fail. Oh, what a word concerning God
our Savior. He says, I will do all my pleasure. We're assured in Isaiah 53 and
verse 10, concerning this one who is Jehovah's righteous servant,
God our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, He who gave himself for
our sins, who by the sacrifice of himself put away sin, he who
by his obedience unto death brought in everlasting righteousness
and fulfilled all the word of God, now sits upon the throne
of glory having all power in his hands. This is what the book
says about him. The pleasure of the Lord shall
prosper in his head. The pleasure of the Lord shall
prosper in his head. What does that mean? He who is
the God-man our mediator has the responsibility before the
triune Jehovah as our covenant surety to fulfill everything
the Lord God Almighty purposed from eternity for the glory of
his name in the saving of his people. What's he doing now? What's he doing? The pleasure
of the Lord is prospering in his hand. And the pleasure of
the Lord shall prosper in his hand tomorrow until there are
no more tomorrows. As it has from eternity, for
he who is the God-man, our mediator, had that glory the Father gave
him before the world was, when the Lord God trusted him as our
surety. When we talk about God, we must
declare His sovereignty. To declare His sovereignty is
simply to declare that God is God. Divine sovereignty means
that our God does exactly what He wants to, all the time, everywhere,
with everybody. God does exactly what he wants
to, all the time, everywhere, with everybody. He says, I will
do all my pleasure. Nothing ever comes to pass in
time. except that which God brings
to pass, and that which God brings to pass is exactly that which
he purposed and predestined from eternity. He who is God worketh
all things after the counsel of his own will. everything that
comes to pass in time God purposed to bring to pass in eternal predestination
and effectually brings to pass by his sovereign providence according
to the good pleasure of his will to the praise of the glory of
his grace now having said that let me ask you to turn in scripture
with me to 4-5 text turn back to the book of 1st Samuel 1 Samuel
chapter 12 What is God's pleasure? What
is it that God is pleased to do? What is the pleasure of the
Lord that prospers in the hand of Christ Jesus? Now I know that
the secret things belong to the Lord and I am perfectly content
to leave the secret things in His hands But God has revealed
some things about his pleasure. God has revealed some things
about his purpose. And I want to know as much as
I can about those things that he has revealed. We will pry
into nothing secret. But we will look into the word
of God to see what he tells us is the pleasure of the Lord and
I found five things distinctly spoken of in this book as those
things that God is Pleased to accomplish things God is pleased
to do here in 1st Samuel chapter 12 and verse 22 Listen to this
it pleased the Lord to make you his people It pleased the Lord
to make you his people. Let's read verses 22 through
24 together. The Lord will not forsake his
people for his great namesake. Do you remember how Moses used
to pray to God? Lord, if you destroy these people
here, what will the Egyptians say? For your name's sake, Lord,
protect them and care for them. The Lord will not forsake his
people for his name's sake. Somebody wants to ask the old
black preacher in Richmond, Virginia, John Jasper. He said, Jasper,
you talk about your salvation and the certainty of it. He said,
what if you wind up not being saved after all? And Jasper said,
that can't be. Well, how can you say that? He
said, the Lord's got more to lose than I do. If John Jasper
go to hell, it'd be John Jasper losing his soul. But if John
Jasper go to hell, the Lord's going to lose his glory. His
name's at stake. His name's at stake. Because
it hath pleased the Lord to make you his people. Moreover, as
for me, Samuel says, God forbid that I should sin against the
Lord in ceasing to pray for you. But I will teach you the good
and the right way. Only fear the Lord and serve
Him in truth with all your heart for consider how great things
He hath done for you. If you and I belong to God, if
we are numbered among God's elect, if we this hour are believers,
men and women who trust the Lord Jesus Christ, if right now for
the first time in your life, you find yourself believing on
the Son of God. It is because it pleased the
Lord to make you his people. It pleased the Lord to make you
his people. How has the Lord God made us
his people? He's done so by three almighty
acts of grace. First, by special adoption. He said, ye have not chosen me,
but I have chosen you. In sovereign, eternal, electing
love, by special divine adoption, the Lord God has made us his
own people. God hath from the beginning chosen
you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the
truth. We are his because he chose us. Behold what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed on us that we should be called the sons
of God. The Lord God took me as his son
before the world was. United to his son, made me one
with his son because of his adopting grace. Back when I was a boy, you could
adopt children pretty easily. There were a good many up for
adoption. And mamas and daddies could pretty well pick and choose
what they wanted. You didn't have to get what the
government said you could have. And this man and his wife decided
to adopt a baby and went to one of the local adoption agencies.
And as they were coming up, they made the appointment. Everything
was all set. And they got out of the car and started walking
to the front office. And there's this little old red-headed, freckle-faced
boy. stepped out from behind the bush
and threw a rock at him. And just stood there and made
faces at him. His wife went inside and sat down. The lady running
the adoption agency came out and she said, Mr. Smith, we've got just an ideal
little girl for you. And we're going to bring her
out and let you get to meet her. And they brought her out and
introduced this beautiful little blonde haired girl, her hair
all fixed just right, dressed up real pretty. And they talked
a little bit and finally sent the girl out of the room. The
man said to the lady, he said, when we came in out there a little
while ago, he said, we got out car, started coming door, there's
this little red-headed boy out there who picked up a rock and
threw it at us, hit me right in the back. She said, oh, I'm
so sorry. She said, Mr. Smith, we've got
59 children in this orphanage up for adoption. That's Johnny,
he's number 60. And he looked at his wife, she
looked at him, she said, I think that's the one we want. Nobody
wants Johnny, a number 60. My name's Johnny, my number 60. And it pleased God to make me
his. He pleased the Lord to make you
his people. There's no other reason why you're
sitting here right now rejoicing in the gospel of God's grace.
No other reason. He made us his children by special
sovereign creation. It's called the new birth. If
any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. Old things are passed
away, and behold, all things have become new. He causes the
fallen sons of Adam, like mother Mike, to be made partakers of
the divine nature creates in us a new man Christ Jesus the
Lord created in righteousness and true holiness so that he
makes us new creatures by the power of omnipotent grace you
who were dead in trespasses and in sins yet now hath he quickened
he's raised you from the dead John describes it this way Blessed
and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection. On
such the second death hath no power. We've been made partakers
of the first resurrection, raised from the dead spiritually by
the power of God the Holy Ghost, who is compared to the wind that
bloweth where it listeth. You hear the sound of it, but
you can't tell from where it came or where it's going. You
just know where it's being. So is everyone that is born of
the Spirit. God the Holy Spirit comes in
sovereign saving power not to offer life to sinners, not to
offer salvation to sinners, not to offer faith to sinners. He
comes and operates in sinners by the mighty operation of his
free grace and causes the dead to be possessors of life. and
because he makes them live, they believe. He that believeth on
the Son of God shall have everlasting life. Now that's the truth, but
it's nowhere stated in scripture. No word scripture. What does
the book say, do you remember? He that believeth on the Son
of God hath everlasting life. He's already got it. You wouldn't
believe if you didn't. If you find yourself believing,
it's because God the Holy Ghost has given you life. He comes
and gives us life and causes us to be the sons of God in the
sweet experience of His grace by the gift of faith. He comes
in Galatians chapter 4 because you are sons. God sends the Spirit
of His Son into the hearts of you whom Christ has redeemed.
Crying, Abba Father, so that you You came in the door back
there tonight And when you thought about God you tremble you're
just terrified when you think about judgment and eternity scared
to death and now You lift your eyes to heaven and you smile God's my father How can that
be? He's given you life And we are
His sons in the experience of His grace by faith in the Son
of God. Yes, we lay hold on the Son of
God because God has given us life in Christ Jesus. And we
call the God of glory our Father. It pleased the Lord to make you
His people. Now, look at Colossians chapter
1. Colossians chapter 1. Here's something else God's pleased
to do Colossians 1 verse 19 It pleased God to put all fullness
in his dear son our Savior the Lord Jesus Christ all Fullness
is in Christ. Look at Colossians 1. Let's read
verse 18 The Lord Jesus is the head of the body Not that silly
old man in Rome, the Lord Jesus. I never cease to be astonished
that men, grown-up men, men who can spell a little bit and add
two and two together too, will watch a bunch of fellas dressed
up in drag, look like they belong to a Masonic Order parade somewhere
over in Rome. Reverence that nonsense. The
Pope is not the head of the church. Christ is the head of the church.
Don Fortner is not the head of the church. Not any church. Christ
is the head of the church. He's the head of the body of
the church. Who is the beginning. The beginning of everything.
The first born from the dead. firstborn the law of the firstborn
referring to him who opens his mother's womb in birth that in
all things he might have the preeminence the triune Jehovah
is determined that God incarnate Jesus Christ our mediator have
preeminence everywhere and in everything forever and God's
gonna see to it for it pleased the father that in him should
all fullness dwell. What does that mean? All fullness
resides in Christ. Turn over just one page, chapter
2 verse 9. For in him In this man, Jesus Christ, that
man seated yonder in glory, that man in a human body just like
this one, that man who died for us at Calvary, that man seated
in glory, in him dwelleth, that is permanently abides all the
fullness of the Godhead in a body. all the fullness of the Godhead
bodily. Now you and I can't get our brains
around that. the infinite God Father, Son,
and Holy Ghost in all the totality of his infinite being resides
permanently in the God-Man, our Mediator that means all of God
you will ever see or ever know or ever hear is the God-Man,
Jesus Christ you got that? All of God you'll ever see or
hear or know is the God-man Jesus Christ. God is spirit. How many of you have ever seen
a spirit? Please don't raise your hand. I know what you've
been smoking. God's spirit. You can't see a
spirit. Who's ever talked to a spirit? You need to be in a
nut house somewhere. God's Spirit. You can't talk
to a spirit. Who's ever heard a spirit? You
can't hear a spirit speak. God is Spirit. How can you know
God? In the beginning was the Word. And the Word is God. Jesus Christ is God's Word to
man by whom God makes himself known. And in that man resides
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Now listen to this next
word. and ye are complete in him. If you ever get hold of that
it will sell you a butt a long time. You who are his are as
complete in him as God is completely in him. All your soul needs, all that
God can require from you, all that God can give to you is yours
in Him. All the fullness of grace, all
the fullness of salvation of Him are ye in Christ Jesus who
of God is made into us wisdom. He is that wisdom dwelling with
the Father from everlasting. That wisdom in whom God is well
pleased, whose delights were with the sons of men before ever
the earth was made. That wisdom by whom God makes
himself known. He is made of God to you. Wisdom.
and righteousness righteousness perfect holiness and righteousness
and sanctification the word is holiness Christ is our righteousness
before the law and Christ is our holiness in the new birth
giving us a righteous standing because we are a holy people
having his very holy nature and we have been made or he is made
of God unto us redemption Complete deliverance from the fall of
our father Adam to the entrance of God's saints in glory in the
resurrection How come God did it that way? That is according
as it is written. He that glorieth let him glory
in the Lord All right. Let's look at something else
that it pleased the Lord to do it pleased the Lord To make you
his people And it pleased the Lord to put all fullness in Christ. Now turn back to Isaiah 53. Isaiah
53. Verse 10. It pleased the Lord to bruise him. It pleased the Lord to bruise
him. It pleased the Lord to crush
his darling son to death as my substitute. What does that mean? Anytime you try to tell somebody
anything at all about God's sovereign election and Christ's particular
redemption and the Holy Spirit's irresistible grace, they'll tell
you, but God wants everybody to be saved. God takes no pleasure
in the death of the wicked, and that's true. God takes no pleasure
in the death of the wicked. The former is not true. If God
wanted everybody to be saved, everybody would be saved. I can't
imagine anybody objecting to that fact. If God wants it done,
be done. God said so. Well, what does this mean? God
has no pleasure in the death of the wicked. It means the death
of sinners under the everlasting fires of God's judgment in hell,
whatever that is, will never satisfy the justice of a holy
God. That's the reason hell is eternal.
You can't please God's wrath. You can't appease God's justice. You can't propitiate God's judgment. But there is one who did. It pleased the Lord to bruise
him. He is the propitiation for our
sins. That little baby last night,
see if I remember her name, Sadie. She had a pacifier, didn't she?
You know how come mama give little babies pacifiers? To shut them
up. She's crying. Give her a pacifier.
Stick the pacifier in her mouth. And if you can put a little honey
on it, it'll work even better. Just as happy as they can be. As happy
as they can be. That's the very word. Christ
is made of God to us. Propitiation. He's the propitiation
for our sins. The only one who can satisfy
an angry God is Jesus Christ the Lord. And he, by the sacrifice
of himself, paid all the debt we owe. Read the text. It pleased the Lord to bruise
him. He hath put him to grief, when thou shalt make his soul
an offering for sin, he shall see his seed. He shall prolong
his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his
hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied. By his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities.
The Apostle Paul quotes from Isaiah 53 10 and it says he hath
made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be
made the righteousness of God in him. If you care to read the
book of Leviticus, and you scratch your head wondering what all
this stuff means, read the New Testament and it will explain
it. Aaron and his sons were required to take the sin offering. Now,
I'll give you a homework assignment. Go home and look up the word
sin offering in the Old Testament. Look them up as many places as
you can find them, and there's a bunch of them. And then look
at what the original word is. There is no Hebrew word anywhere
in the Old Testament for sin offering. Everywhere you read
the word sin offering, it would be better translated sin. The
prophet is talking about a sin offering, that is, an offering
for sin. But that which is brought to
the priest, quite literally, the people bring to the priest
their sin in that offering. And the priest and his sons were
required to eat the sin of the people in the holy place. Leviticus chapter 6. Aaron's
sons, Nadab and Abihu, refused to do so. God killed them. Aaron
and his sons were required to eat the sin of the people in
the holy place. In the place where the sacrifice
was made to satisfy the justice of God. What was that for? Because
Christ Jesus, our Lord Bob Miller, would make sin for us. I don't
have any idea what that means. I don't have a clue what that
means. I'll tell you what I know it doesn't mean. It doesn't simply
mean he paid a debt. If I were a very wealthy man,
let's say I had the wealth of President Donald J. Trump, he
said he was worth billions, I'll take him at his word. And my
dear friend, Brother Eric, got head over heels in debt. And
he's fixing to go to jail. Because he owes so much money,
he can't pay it, and he's been dishonest in what he did, taking
out the debts. And I said, I'll pay the debt,
what will it cost? Everything you've got! Okay, I love it. And I might
pay the debt, and hurt for it, but it won't break my heart.
It won't break my heart. Our Savior died with a broken
heart because he who knew no sin and did no sin and could
not sin was made sin. Our great high priest who is
our priest and our offering and our altar and our sacrifice ate
the sins of his people when he died in our stead at Calvary.
He took that which is directly opposite from all that he is
And he drank the cup of damnation dry in the place of sacrifice
and now We are made the righteousness of God in him because we take
And eat his flesh and drink his blood That's a picture of faith in
it John chapter 6 you eat his flesh drink his blood what does
that mean? Brother Richards, everything
that we are by nature, Christ made his own at Calvary. Everything
we are. And he, giving us faith in him,
gives us everything he is by nature as the God-man, our mediator. We'll go back here and eat a
little bit and you'll get you a piece of meat and a piece of
bread and you'll get you a drink and you'll eat the meat and the
bread and the drink and everything in that meat and drink becomes
yours permanently. There's nothing in there that's
worth having that anybody can take from you. It's yours believe
on the Son of God and Everything that Jesus Christ the God man
mediator is is yours permanently Here's a fourth thing Galatians
chapter 1 Galatians 1 Verse 15 It pleased the Lord to make you
his people. It pleased the Lord to put all fullness in Christ.
It pleased the Lord God to bruise his son in our stead. And it
pleased the Lord to reveal his son in me. When it pleased God
who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by his grace
to reveal his son in me. Now I'm going to tell you something
that's shocking to this religious generation. Salvation only comes
by divine revelation. Mamas and daddies can't talk
their boys and girls into it. Preachers can't con you into
it. Nobody's ever been saved by repeating the sinner's prayer.
Nobody's ever been saved by walking the church aisle. Nobody's ever
been saved by going to a confessional booth or kneeling in front of
a Baptist church building at what they call an altar or a
mourner's bench. Nobody's ever been saved by it.
Preachers hire folks saved. How do you expect the men to
get saved? Nobody gets saved. God saves folks. There's a big
difference. How? By the revelation of Christ in
you. Paul going down to Damascus Road,
full of venom and hatred, spitting at the name of Jesus Christ.
And suddenly, God throws him off his horse. And Paul realizes
who he is and who God is. He says, what wilt thou have
me to do, Lord? That's how God saves everybody. Same way. He
saves by divine revelation. When the Holy Ghost comes to
a sinner in effectually irresistible saving power and grace, He convinces
the sinner. He doesn't try to convince. He
convinces the sinner of sin because you believe not on me. Righteousness
Righteousness not that you must do righteousness done because
I go to my father of judgment not judgment coming but judgment
done Because the prince of this world is cast out and he reveals
his son in you turn over to 2nd Corinthians for a minute 2nd
Corinthians 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 Chapter 4 rather If our gospel be hid, it's hid
to them that are lost, in whom the God of this world hath blinded
the minds of them which believe not. Now I suspect, probably,
I'm certain of it, whatever translation of the Bible you've got in your
laps, if it's an English translation, the word God is spelled little
there, as if to imply that's referring to the devil. There's
no reason for that. Nowhere in this book is Satan
called the God of this world. Nowhere in this book. There's
only one God who is the God of this world, and that's the Lord
God our Savior. And He blinds men who believe
not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the
image of God, should shine unto them. For we preach not ourselves,
but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus'
sake. For God, now watch this, who commanded the light to shine
out of darkness has shined in our hearts to give the light
of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. How does he do that? How does
God reveal himself in Christ in the hearts of men? Look at
1 Corinthians chapter 1, this will be the last text. 1 Corinthians
1 verse 21. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. Isn't that amazing? God uses the most unlikely, most
insignificant, most contradictory means imaginable to reveal Christ
in sinners. He speaks through a dirty, broken,
empty, worthless piece of dirt. The word of his grace to sinners.
Faith comes by hearing. Hearing by the word of God. It
pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe. You're born again not of corruptible,
see, but of incorruptible, by the word of God which liveth
and abideth forever. And this is the word which by
the gospel is preached unto you. Of his own will begat he us with
the word of truth. You being a preacher, thought
God would hear the gospel and be saved? Well, I don't know. All I know what the book says,
faith comes by hearing, hearing by the word of God. I suspect
that's what it means, don't you? That's how God saves sinners.
Well, I got saved because I was walking down the road one day
and a hubcap fell off the car and nearly hit me in the head
and I just called on Jesus. No, you didn't. Men are saved
by hearing the gospel. by hearing the gospel by the
most unlikely of means not by pageantry and parade and show
just by the simplicity of gospel preaching I think I remember
correctly your pastor is still preaching to the book of Genesis
to you is that right? did you ever wonder I'm sure you did
read the book of Genesis and you get over to Jacob and he's
about to leave Laban and he makes a deal with Laban he said I'll
tell you what Laban you crook I'll go out and I'll breed your
stock. And all of the sheep and the cattle that are white and
clean, they'll be yours. The ones that are ring-striped
and speckled and off-color, I'll take them. I'll take the scourge. You can have the rest. Okay,
but that's a good deal. And Jacob went out and he peeled
some poplar rods. And when he was breeding the
cattle, when he was breeding the cattle, he did something
no cattleman or shepherd ever dreamed of doing. I mean, nobody
would ever dream of it. He stuck those peeled rods in
front of those rams and those ewes as they were breeding. and
every time one of them came out, reamed straight, spake wood,
or off-color. Every one of them. So Laban's herds were reduced
and Jacob's were increased. And read the commentary sometime. Wonder what that means. Or there's
something magical about this. No! No! By divine revelation,
I have no doubt, the Lord God showed Jacob how to get the cattle. And it took... Well, Jacob, if you'll No, that's
too fancy. Where's the broomstick? If you'll take your worthless
poplar rod and take your pocket knife and just peel the bark
off and stand up in front of those ewes and those reddens
when they're breeding, I'll take care of you. Now God, you know
I'm not gonna do that. I'm not. There's a better way
about this. There's got to be some genetic
way I can do this. I'm not gonna do it that way.
Not that way. No, Jacob said okay. Let me get
me some rods. And he comes away with a huge
herd. Even so. Some of you have spoken to me
last night and tonight about God using me to speak to you,
the word of truth. And I hardly know what to say.
I hardly know what to say. Me? Oh, if you just knew me. Nobody would
ever dream that God might be pleased to speak life to a dead
sinner. Through these lips, nobody would
ever believe it except me and God and you who believe. This is the pleasure of the Lord. He made you His people. He put
all fullness in His Son. He bruised His Son. He revealed
His Son in you. And He did it by sending you
a preacher to preach the gospel of His free grace. Oh, what a good, gracious, and
wise God we serve. Let us proclaim his word to the
world, expecting God to reveal his son in chosen centers. Call them to the north and the
south and the east and the west, saying, bring my sons from afar,
bring my daughters, gather my people, and they are gathered
by you.