The incarnation and birth of
our Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, our Savior,
was prophesied in this book from the very beginning of time. It was set forth throughout the
Old Testament scriptures repeatedly. This was not some thing that
was hidden away in the prophets, some small piece of Old Testament
literature. The fact that God's own son,
Jehovah himself, the word would come into this world in human
flesh was proclaimed in the very first prophecy of the Old Testament. proclaimed in the very first
revelation of God's grace back in Genesis chapter 3 and verse
15, when the Lord God said that he would come and bruise the
serpent's head. This has been the message of
scripture. It is the message of scripture,
has been, always will be, the singular message of scripture.
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came into the world to save sinners
by the sacrifice of himself. God promised his servant Abraham
that he would give him a seed, a son, in whom and by whom All
the nations of the earth would be blessed. Then in Galatians
chapter 3, the apostle Paul tells us plainly that that seed is
Jesus Christ, whose seed we are. One seed, and we are one with
him. He is Abraham's promised seed. In him, God's elect out of all
the nations of the earth are blessed with God's eternal salvation. The whole message of the Old
Testament, the gospel message believed and the blessed hope
expected by God's elect throughout the Old Testament scriptures
was that God himself would come in human flesh to save his people
from their sins and deliver them out of the hands of all their
spiritual enemies. To him give all the prophets
witness. We read in Acts 10 43. From Moses
to Malachi, all the prophets gave witness of Him. All the
saints of God who lived in those ancient times were saved just
exactly as you and I are. Saved by the blood and righteousness
and free grace of God in Jesus Christ the Lord. They were not
saved, as folks say, on credit. No, God's not in credit card
business. They were saved by Christ the
Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, and they were saved
by the very same faith that you and I possess by the gift of
God. Well, how could they have had
faith in Christ who hadn't yet come? The same way you have faith
in Christ who has come, by the gift and operation and revelation
of God the Holy Spirit. You see, Christ is not known
by education. Christ is not known by learning. Christ is not known by mental
ability and discernment. I preach the gospel, and preach
the gospel with all the clarity, simplicity, and dogmatism I possibly
can. I try to make certain that no
one who hears anything I say can fail to hear what I have
said. I don't do anything in secret
in this regard. I try to make certain that everybody
hears what I say. I've often said there's a difference
between teachers and folks who give out lessons. A good teacher
makes certain that the student gets the lesson. A good teacher
makes certain that the student gets the lesson. If the student
doesn't get the lesson, unless there's some kind of mental defect,
it's not his fault, it's the teacher's fault. A good teacher
sees to it that students get the lesson, but not in spiritual
things. Not in spiritual things. I can't
teach you Christ. Mama and Daddy can't teach you
Christ. Your Sunday school teacher can't
teach you Christ. The knowledge of Jesus Christ
comes only by divine revelation. Only when God opens your heart,
gives you life, performs the wondrous work of faith in you,
causing you to see and trust his son. Oh, God do that. for blind, helpless, lost, dead
sinners today. That's how the Old Testament
saints were saved. That's how you and I are saved. They live, just as we do, by
faith in the Son of God, living in hope, looking for and expecting
the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. God commanded
Moses to make a tabernacle And he showed him a pattern in Exodus
chapter 25. And everything in that tabernacle,
every board, every tent peg, every curtain, every rope, every
cord, every article of furniture, all the garments of the priesthood,
every sacrifice, all of it was done according to a specific
pattern. And when Moses got done with
the tabernacle and raised it all up, the Lord God Almighty
came into the tabernacle and His glory drove Moses out. He couldn't abide in the tabernacle,
because that tabernacle was built by the pattern God showed Moses
in the mount. And the pattern, the pattern,
oh God help you to understand this, the pattern Moses saw was
Jesus Christ the God-man, our crucified Redeemer. That was
the pattern. God didn't give Moses a bunch
of blue pants. No, he showed him the person
and work of the Savior, and he said, now you do this according
to the pattern. The same was true with regard
to the temple that was later built by David's son Solomon.
It was a glorious work, the most glorious work that the world
had seen, and yet it spoke of a work far, far, far, infinitely
farther, more glorious than that work. It spoke of Jesus Christ,
our Lord and his Redeemer. As long as the scriptures were
given in the Old Testament by the prophets, as the great long-anticipated
event drew near, God inspired his servants, the prophets, with
such clear views of this great work of grace. that every circumstance,
every circumstance involved in the first coming of our Savior,
every circumstance involved in our Lord's incarnation was plainly,
clearly, distinctly told by God's prophets in the Old Testament.
Now, for you young people who Maybe you aren't as familiar
with things as some of your moms and dads are. If your moms and
dads aren't as familiar as you should be. When we talk about
prophecy, we're not talking about the nonsense you read about Nostradamus. Nostradamus saw that there was
going to be a great earthquake in the year 2000. You know, I
believe I could see that next year. No, that's not the kind
of prophecy we're talking about. And we're not talking about the
kind of prophecy that you hear these fake prophets today, these
charismatic fools, these charismatic deceivers talking about having
a word of knowledge and a vision from the Lord. I see somebody
out there that's got got a pain in their side. No, he's just
after your money. He's just after your money. No,
when we talk about prophecy, we're talking about God describing
things. Before they happened hundreds
of years before they happened with such precision with such
Specific words that if they did not come to pass Exactly as God
spoke of them. It would prove the whole Word
of God to be a lie Now they said I've been good on that. So I'm
a good on that Isaiah said behold a virgin shall be with child
A virgin shall conceive and bear a son. A virgin. If he had wanted
to say a young maiden, that's what he would have said. He said
a virgin. Something strange is going to
happen. A woman who has never known a
man is going to bring forth a son, a man just like you, only that
man will have no earthly father. No earthly father, a virgin,
is going to give birth to a man. The place of his birth was named
specifically in Micah 5, verse 2. Bethlehem. Bethlehem. Bethlehem. But, well, it could have been
another Bethlehem. Could have been another Bethlehem.
There were two of them, you know. There were two of them. There
were two of them in the land of Israel. Two Bethlehems. So
God said Bethlehem of Judah. Precise, precise prophecy. The time of his incarnation was
given with such precision by the prophet Daniel that anyone
who can work a calculator or count, what are those things
where they used to count things off, or who could count on his
fingers, anyone who could do any kind of math could say, Messiah,
the Christ, has to be born somewhere right in this short time frame,
limiting it to within three to seven years maximum. Maximum. Precise prophecy. The massacre
which followed our Lord's birth by Herod when he gave order that
the infants be slaughtered. Jeremiah said that's what Herod's
going to do. and the blessings of his birth, oh, the blessings
of his birth, his great salvation, God's great grace, God's great,
great glory was given by the prophet Zechariah. Again, to
him, give all the prophets witness. To him, give all the prophets
witness. Today, I want us to look at Zechariah
2, verses 10 and 11 for our text. Here, Zechariah describes some
of the wonderful blessings of our Savior's incarnation. Zechariah
2, verse 10. Come back before the world was
you read it in Psalm 40 the Lord Jesus stood before God the triune
Jehovah as our surety and said lo I Come to do thy will. Oh my god. I when it came into
the world as our blessed savior coming into the virgin's womb
as as his holy humanity was conceived in the womb of the virgin. And
as he came forth out of the mother, out of his mother's womb, being
the firstborn who opened his mother's womb, he said, Lord,
I come to do thy will. Oh, my God. Here he speaks the
word by the mouth of his prophet Zechariah, giving it to us plainly. Lo, I come, and I will dwell,
I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith the Lord. This is
Jehovah. You see that? This is Jehovah. I come, and I will dwell in the
midst of thee. And many nations, many nations,
he's not talking about Christian nations and non-christian nations
is People talk about the United States being a Christian nation
who? Great Britain being a Christian
nation never has been a Christian nation not on this earth never
has been one never will be one No, no, no, he's talking about
God's elect out of all the nations he says many nations shall be
joined to the Lord in that day and Shall be my people And I
will dwell in the midst of thee, and thou shalt know that the
Lord of hosts hath sent me unto thee. I told you about Brother
Ryan Heller's conversion this past week. He wrote to his dad
and said he struggled so much, conviction of sin, and fearful
that this is not real. I went home late after work one
night and picked up again Spurgeon's All of Grace and read it and
the Lord spoke. And the Lord spoke. Oh, if God
speaks to you, if God reveals himself in you, if Christ is
ever made known to you, you won't need to get me to tell you about
it. You'll come tell me about it. Do you understand the difference?
You won't need me to tell you God saved you. Oh, no. No when
God gives you faith You will know the Lord Jehovah sent Christ
to you the Lord Jehovah has saved you by his grace the Lord of
hosts has sent me unto thee this prophecy was delivered by Zachariah
and who returned from Babylon with Zerubbabel and began to
prophesy in the second year of Darius. He came just about two
months after Haggai had come and given his prophecy. In fact,
Haggai's prophecy in chapter two of Haggai is almost exactly
the same as that which Zechariah gives us here. This is God's
prophet. And look what he says in verse
five. Here in Zechariah 2 verse 5, the Lord assures us of his
constant gracious care of his people. His eye is ever upon
us for good. His eye is ever upon us for good. His protection is sure. His protection is constant. Watch what it says. For I, saith
the Lord, have you got it there? Zechariah 2, 5. I, saith the
Lord, will be unto her, unto Zion, unto my church, my people,
a wall of fire round about her. A wall of fire. Not just a circle
of fire, a wall of fire round about her, and will be the glory
in the midst of her. Jesus Christ, the Lord Jehovah,
speaks plainly and says, I will constantly surround you with
my care. I will constantly watch over
you with my care, and I will be your glory in the midst of
you. Having assured his people of
his abiding care, the Lord called those Jews who had remained in
Babylon to return to Judea. Look at verse 6. Ho! Ho! Come ye forth and flee from the
land of the north, saith the Lord. For I have spread you abroad
as the four winds of the heavens, saith the Lord. Lest I forget
to say it later, when you read through this book and you read
about false religion and Babylon and
all the darkness and corruption. God never, are you listening? God never says, now stay there,
maybe you can do a little good. They might let you teach Sunday
school, you know. I can't tell you how many times I've had folks
to excuse their idolatry. They say, well, they let me teach
Sunday school down there, hogwash. If you taught anything, they
wouldn't. That's just fact. If you told anything, they wouldn't.
Well, I think I could do a little good if I stay among them. No,
no. God never says stay there and
reform. Stay there and do a little good. Stay there and see if you
can't get Babylon to turn away from Babylon. It ain't going
to happen. He says, come out of her. Come out of her. Be not
partaker of her sins. lest you also be partaker of
her judgments. The Lord says to his people,
he says, come out, come forth and flee from the land of the
north. Now, the fact is those Cyrus had granted liberty to
the Jews who were taken captive. They were given complete liberty
to return to Judea at the expense of Babylon. Cyrus said, you can
go home and I'll pay your way. But many of them found great
comfort and ease in Babylon. They had built their houses there.
They had raised their sons and daughters there. They had children
who lived there and grandchildren who lived there. And they just
liked living in Babylon. Jews in name. pretending to worship
God, but they preferred Babylon to Judea. They preferred the
land of idolatry to the land of God, and they weren't willing
to return. So the Lord calls them out and
again assures them, assures them, you come dwell here with my people,
and I'll be with you, and I'll protect you. Look at verse 7.
Deliver thyself, O Zion. Deliver thyself, O Zion. Man,
how are you going to preach that? You believe in predestination.
How are you going to handle that? You don't believe a man can do
anything. How are you going to handle that? You don't believe
a man can come to Christ. How are you going to handle that?
You don't believe a man can believe on the Lord Jesus. God commands
you to come to his side. He commands you to come. And
you will willingly come, or you will never come. Deliver thyself
old Zion that dwellest with the daughter of Babylon For thus
saith the Lord of hosts thus saith the Lord who rules everything
and everybody after the glory After the glory that is the glory
of God's own great name in the salvation of his elect Hath he
sent me under the nations which spoiled you? For he that toucheth
you, toucheth the apple of his eye. He that toucheth you, toucheth
the apple of his eye. The one speaking in our text,
I remind you again, is Christ himself. Jehovah says, Jehovah
has sent me. And this is what he's saying.
There is a glorious time coming for which I have been sent of
God from everlasting. I shall be manifest to my elect
among the Gentiles. By the power of my spirit, through
the influence of my word, I will bring them out of Babylon, the
religion of this world, and bring them to Zion. And so all Israel
shall be saved. And those who spoiled you shall
be spoiled by you. I, the longer I live, the more
I read those words, the more I like that. Those who spoiled
you shall be spoiled by you. Satan, who robbed you of everything,
shall be robbed by you. And you shall possess everything
Satan took to be his own by usurpation. All who have spoiled you, all
the nations of the world, all the peoples of the world who
have in any way harmed, hindered, hurt, persecuted you, you shall
stand on them in judgment and you shall spoil them. This is
the call of our Savior to his redeemed, directing his chosen,
redeemed sinners to himself and his all sufficiency. And the
call is accompanied with this promise. He that toucheth you,
toucheth the apple of his eye. He that toucheth you, toucheth
the apple of his eye. Come to Christ. Jacob, are you
listening to me, son? Come to Christ and he'll take
care of you. That's what he says. Did you hear that? Come to Christ,
he'll take care of you. come to Christ and I'll keep
you as a man guards the apple of his eye. He that touches you
touches the apple of mine eye. Now look at verse nine. For behold,
I will shake mine hand upon them. Shake my hand upon them. I will
shake my hand upon them and they that They shall be a spoil to
their servants, and ye shall know that the Lord hath sent
me." He's not talking about just shaking
his fist at them. God says, I'll take the nations
by my hand and shake. I'll shake the world, and those
who were spoiled shall take the spoil. That tells us the history
of the world as we see it today. What is God doing? Unless you were living on another
planet, I suspect you're all familiar with the yik-yak that's
been going on in the news about that Phil Robertson duck dynasty
down in Louisiana and the sodomites. Well, Phil Robertson is a Campbellite
preacher, and I have no use at all for his doctrine, his theology.
But what he said with regard to the Sodomites, it was exactly
what the Scriptures teach. People ask me all the time, do
you think we're going to face the judgment of God? My soul,
where have you been? Where have you been? This nation
is under the judgment of God. Read through the scriptures.
Sodomy. Please. Please. I'm going to
start correcting you if you say it to me. If you say gay, I'm
going to say no queer. I'm not going to lie. I'm not
going to lie. Not gay. Sodomites. Sodomites. Sodomites. Sodomites. Throughout the Old
Testament, Everywhere in the Old Testament in Israel and Judah
when idolatry invaded sodomy arose Every time a king arose
was seated on his throne in Israel or Judah who did that which was
right in the eyes of the Lord He destroyed the idols Destroyed
their altars and drove the sodomites out of the land. Why? because
sodomy is the plain, unmistakable, clear mark of judgment and divine
reprobation. It is to be laid at the doorstep
of all human religion. Read the first chapter of Romans.
Read the first chapter of Romans. Sodomy, sodomy, is that which
is the result of man being taught that he's God. It is a result
of man being taught that he is to be honored and worshipped
as God. It is a result of men attributing
to man work and power that belongs only to God. Romans, our second
Thessalonians chapter 2, the apostle speaks of the man of
sin, Antichrist. And he's not some fellow with
a pitchfork and horns and a red suit and a long tail. No, no,
no. Antichrist. speaks of man. His number is 666. And he sets himself up in the
house of God, demanding that men worship him as God. Well, nobody does that, brother
Don. Don't they? Go home and turn
the television on this afternoon. Or your radio. Go across the street and visit
the church, or down the street, or up the street, or back here.
Visit any of them. Any place in this town. Any place
in this town. Any of them. Doesn't matter if
it's Baptist, Catholic, Presbyterian, Pentecostal, Methodist, or anything
else. Any of them. And men everywhere
are told they have power over God. God can't do what he wants
to because you won't let him. God can't control everything.
After all, he's God, but he doesn't control evil things and good
things. God can't save sinners unless
they give him permission. Your will is more powerful than
God's will. Everywhere you go, men attribute to man the work
and power of God. Make salvation to be your work,
not God's work. to depend on you, not on God.
That's called worshipping Antichrist. That's called Babylon. And yet
this perversity of sodomy, like all other degenerate perversities,
arise from the hearts of depraved human beings and in your heart
too. My heart too. and the only reason, oh God thank you, the only reason
you don't stoop to such degenerate perversity is God hath from the
beginning chosen you to salvage. The only reason you don't bow
at some isle and worship yourself, the work of your hands. The only
reason you don't stoop even lower and commit the male perversity
that follows such reprobation is God's chosen you to salvation
and sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth, whereunto
he called you by our gospel. Brother Don, I'm not that bad.
I pray before you leave here today you find out you're just
that bad and that you find out that the only distinction between
you and me and any deviant, perverse, reprobate, in hell or out of
hell is the distinguishing free grace of God. That tells the history of God,
he's shaking his hand in judgment upon the nations. He's shaking
his hand in judgment upon the nations. But he's shaking his
hand to gather his elect out of the nations. He's shaking
his hand to save his elect. The whole purpose of God's judgment
upon the nations in time, in providence, is the saving of
his elect. That's his whole purpose. Now,
let's look at verse 10. Here's a text. I'll be very brief
with it. Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion, for lo, I come, and
I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith the Lord. And many
nations shall be joined to the Lord in that day, and shall be
my people, and I will dwell in the midst of thee. And thou shalt
know that the Lord of hosts has sent me unto thee. Hear the Lord
God. speaks of wondrous things and
very brief statements by which he calls his people to rejoice
and sing. The text opens with a call to
rejoice. Sing and rejoice, O daughter
of Zion. The psalmist said we hanged our
hearts upon willows in Babylon because we found no joy there,
but now Now we sing and rejoice in Christ. We rejoice that Babylon
has fallen. We rejoice that Babylon has fallen
in our own experience. And we rejoice in Christ, who
is our salvation. Oh, Don Fortner, hear what you're
preaching. My brothers and sisters, hear
your pastor and hear God's word. Quit grumbling about everything. Quit grumbling about everything.
Say, but the nation's in a mess. Not God's nation. But things
are in turmoil. Who said so? God still sits on
his throne, doesn't he? God shakes the nations. for the
saving of his people, to gather his elect out of the nations.
He turns nations upside down, raises them up, and treads them
down for the saving of his people. So sing and rejoice, O daughter
of Zion. Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I say rejoice. Let your
moderation be known unto all men, the Lord's at hand. Be careful
for nothing. Don't fret about anything. Oh, quit worrying about stuff.
But in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving,
let your request be made known unto God. Rejoice, because Christ
comes as God our Savior. Our Lord Jesus was to be manifested
in the temple which they were now rebuilding in Jerusalem and
he was to be the glory of it. From the first revelation of
Christ as the serpent bruiser to this glorious advent of our
Savior in his incarnation spoken of in our text was a period of
4,000 years and during all that time God sent his prophets and
God gave the establishment of his worship in the tabernacle,
in the temple, in the priesthood, and sacrifices, and all the ceremonies,
and Sabbath days, all those things by which he says to his church,
by his prophets, his delights are with the sons of men. And
his voice heard by his church enraptured his church. so that
his people with ravished hearts cry, it is the voice of my beloved. Let us hear his voice and rejoice. Hear his voice, his word of salvation. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. How we ought to rejoice. I've
been saved by God. My sins are forgiven. My name's
written in heaven. God works everything together
for my good. No harm shall ever come to me
of any kind, by anybody, anywhere, at any time. Tell me what it
is I got to grumble about. Tell me what it is you've got
to grumble about. Triumph in his praise. Surely, if ever anyone
had reason to sing and rejoice, it is you and I who are saved
by God's grace. Look at our text again. The next
thing we see is a promise of our Savior's coming. Here is
a call for joy and singing. For lo, I come, and I will dwell
in the midst of thee, saith the Lord. I come and I come to stay. I come and I come to stay. Well,
he just tabernacled here among us. Yeah, he tabernacled in human
flesh and his human flesh was taken from us. But he sends another
comforter just exactly like himself, by which he says, I come to you. He says, I'm coming and I'm coming
to stay. I come to dwell in the midst
of you. I come to abide with you forever. Lo, I come. Come to save my people
from their sins. Come to satisfy the justice of
God by the sacrifice of myself. I come as one of you to dwell
with you. We've seen it fulfilled. The
word was made flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld his glory,
the glory as the only begotten of the Father. full of grace
and truth. He says, Lo, I come. I come as
your surety to fulfill everything I pledged to my father on your
behalf before the world began. I come to fulfill all the promises
of the covenant. I come to save my people. I come
as the Lord, your righteousness to make you the righteousness
of God in me. I come as your divine substitute
to die in your place bearing your sin in my body on the tree. I come as the God-man mediator
to bring you to God by the sacrifice of myself. I come as Jehovah's
righteous servant to fulfill all his will and I shall not
fail. God our Savior says I come Come
into the world to save sinners Sinners like you. Oh how we ought
to rejoice and then it promises. I'll dwell I'll dwell I'll dwell
with you If Christ comes to you today
in the mighty saving operations of his grace if the Lord Jesus
Sets up his throne in your heart today He abides there forever Fred was talking to me this morning
before service. A lot of times I don't know his
presence. And I don't sense his presence. And I don't feel his
presence. But he's present. Dwelling in
me. And with me. All the time. Everywhere. He comes to dwell
with his church. not just with me, but with all
you who are his. I come to dwell in Jerusalem,
to dwell in Zion. And he dwells with his people.
Lo, I am with you all the way, even to the end of the earth.
And he comes to dwell with his assemblies. He says, wherever
two or three are gathered together in my name, Doesn't say we're two or three
gathered together. He says gathered together. If God's gathered you
here with his saints this morning, trusting Christ, trusting his
blood and his righteousness, if God has gathered you, he said,
I'm there in the midst of them. Rejoice and sing. Children of God, the Lord has
come and he comes to dwell with us. These things were revealed
to and believed by God's elect throughout the Old Testament.
They received them, embraced them, and rejoiced in them. Shall
we do any less? God forbid. Sing and rejoice,
O daughter of Zion, for lo, I come, and I will dwell in the midst
of thee, saith the Lord. Oh, the ineffable love of Christ. He stooped to become a man. He stooped to be made sin. He stooped to die the painful,
shameful, ignominious death of the cross as our substitute.
And now sitting yonder on heaven's lofty throne, he stoops in grace
with the omnipotent arm of mercy and brings sinners to himself
in saving grace. This is his promise. Lord, I
come. And at the appointed time of
love, he will come to all his own. Still, he gives us another
reason to rejoice. And many nations shall be joined
to the Lord in that day and shall be my people, shall be my people,
and I will dwell in the midst of them, my people. I shall call
his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. We were his people by the gift
of God and everlasting election before the world began. His people
long before He came into the world. He didn't come to get
some people. He didn't come to make some folks
His people. He came here to save those who
were from eternity His people. And we're His by His own shed
blood, by the price of redemption. He bought us. And He comes to
make us His in the sweet experience of grace. I'm often asked, Brother Don,
how can I know if I'm one of God's elect? You can't. You can't know that. Nah. Not
possible to know that until you believe on the Son of God. But
believing on Him, cried Elijah, I know I'm His. Unto you therefore
which believe. What does the book say? You get it. He's precious. To you who believe, He's precious. To everybody else, he's a doorstep. To everybody else, he's a good
luck charm. To everybody else, he's a good fellow to think about
at Christmas and Easter and when you have trouble. To everybody
else, he's something you can use when difficulties come. But
to you who believe, he is precious. He's precious. It is God's gift
of faith that makes the Savior precious to his own. Now, look
at the last line of our text. When Christ comes to his chosen
to redeem sinners, he causes them to know him. And thou shalt
know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto thee. Oh, Lord Jesus, come now. And when he comes, you'll know
him. You'll know that he is the Christ,
the sent one of God. He is the Lord of hosts, the
mighty ruler. You will know that he's been
sent to you. You'll know because you too will
trust him and all what rejoicing there shall be for your soul
and in your soul in that day. Then you shall know that the
Lord of Hosts has sent me unto thee. Brother Roth Barnard used
to tell about a man, I don't know his name, let's call him
Brother Burke. Back in the days when we used to have testimony
meetings. Roth said every time they'd have a testimony meeting,
Brother Burke would be the first one to stand up and give his
testimony. He was a rebel, hard-hearted,
ungodly man. But he had a believing wife and
she prayed for him relentlessly. Went to worship God all the time
and left him at home, prayed for him, prayed for him. And
he cussed her because she came. Sometimes locked her out of the
house when she'd come back. He despised her religion because
he despised her God. And one night they had a special
series of meetings and Mr. Burke decided he'd go to
the meeting. just to kind of spite his wife and the preacher
and God. And his wife was sick, she couldn't go. And he went,
heard the gospel of God's grace, and God saved him by his grace.
And he said, he said, you know, the night the Lord saved me,
I started to walk home and the birds were singing. Thank God
he saved you, Brother Burke. He said the wind blew in the
trees and I could hear the wind say, Oh, rejoice, the Lord saved
you, Brother Burke. He said, when I got home, opened
the door, my wife said, the Lord saved you, didn't he? In that
day, I'll come and you shall know that I am the Lord. Oh, may God send you home today.
knowing that he has sent Christ to you in the saving power of
his grace. Amen.