I appreciate his sympathy for
a little preacher. Brother David, I guess, is about
6'5". I'm 5'6". So this morning you're
going to hear the long and the short of it. I do want to thank you all for
everything. that you've done, all the work
involved, and I do understand something of the work it takes
to put on one of these conferences. And I thank you, men and women.
Thank you for the service, the food that you've already served,
and what we will be eating in a little while. Thank you so
much. Thank you for the music. I've thoroughly enjoyed all of
these specials, haven't you? Thoroughly enjoyed them. I like
the way it's done around here. I like the way your pastor does
things. Very reverential, very worshipful,
very respectful. Don't you, Don? And not much
flesh. You can't completely rule out
the flesh. But I thank you. All of these
specials, Linda's piano playing, I thank you. Brother Bob worked, and while
I'm at it, I'll be there too, brother Bob. That's where I'm
staying. Brother Bob worked all night
cooking that brisket, which I did not get one piece of. But he
worked this morning, he was up this morning cooking out there
too, the chicken. I want to return the favor. I
want to feed you, my hope. Luke chapter six, the gospel
of Luke. Chapter 6. One of the many ways
we know that this is God's Word, truly God's Word,
is the profound simplicity of it. that God declares infinite wisdom
and glorious things in a few simple words, quite often one-syllable
words, doesn't it? That's the way our Lord spoke,
didn't he, Brother Todd? Divine truth, eternal truth,
glorious things in one-syllable words. That's, you know, we... Try to say things, and we often
use a lot of words to try to say them. Well, the Lord says
so much in so few words, doesn't He? That's one way you know that
this is His Word. Look at Luke chapter 6 with me
in verse 17. It says, and He came down with them. and stood in the plain. And he came down. Speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ,
he, who God manifest in the flesh, came down, came down to earth. If he had not come down, We could
not go up, could we? He said in Exodus chapter three,
he said, I am come down to deliver them out and to bring them up. That's why he came. So he came
down. The high and lofty one who inhabiteth
eternity, he said, to this one will I look, whose love, so he
came down to dwell among us. It says he stood with them. He stood with them. The high
and lofty one, he came down. Someone said in another place,
what is man that thou should think on him? Be mindful of him. What is man that God would even
give him a thought? Much greater to visit him. I
believe, Brother David, he did visit us this morning, and I'm
thankful. Why would he do that? Because
of who he is. He came down. Why did he do it? Because it seemed good in his
sight. To the praise of the glory of
his grace. And he says, he came down and
stood with them. Who? Who did he come down to
stand with? With them. The people, the men
that he came to to condescend down to were nothing but sinners. Scripture says this man received
sinners and eateth with them. He came to be numbered with them,
with the transgressor. My pastor years ago preached
a message entitled the king and his motley crew. He, the king,
came down. Well, who did he come down to
be with, to stand with? With Simon, with Andrew, with
James, with John. You see your calling, brethren?
Not many wise men at the flesh, not many mighty are called, but
the Lord condescends to be in the company of sinners. Look
at verse 17. It says, he came down with them and stood in the plain and the
company of his disciples. The Lord came down and kept company
with sinners. They were his companions. He
was in the company of sinners. That's mighty poor company. Nevertheless, That's who he came
down to be with and dwell with and keep company with. David
said that in the Holy Spirit. He said, I'm a companion of them
that fear thee. And he also said, they that fear
thee will be glad when they see me. And they were. They were
glad that he came down to stand with them in the plain. Look
at that. In verse 17, it says that he stood in the plain, a
seemingly plain man, standing in the plain. A man, the scripture
says, with no form or comeliness, no beauty that we should desire
him, no outward beauty, a seemingly plain man, a man in a plain brown
wrapper, as it were, but he's anything but plain. Nevertheless,
he stood in the plain with them. And for these that he came down
to, he revealed himself to, that he is anything but plain. Do you remember he chose these
very one, three of them anyway, Peter, James, and John, he chose
them to take them up on that mountain that day to peel back
that veil that he wore, that covering that he wore, that plain
brown wrapper that he wore to reveal himself as he is, to reveal
his glory. And when they beheld his glory,
they saw him as he is, didn't they? Anything but plain. And that tabernacle, you remember
that tabernacle in the wilderness? That plain brown badger skin
tent which so many passed by. And it was nothing to them, wasn't
it? The Jebusites and the Hivites
and the Hittites and all the Parasites, yeah, they all went
by and it was nothing to them, but gathered around that tent
were a bunch of Jews, hated, despised by the rest of the world.
But to them, that was not just a plain tent. because God Almighty
had shown them on the inside the Shekinah glory of God. So he came down and stood with
them in the plane, in the plane. Peter, James, John, Bartholomew,
Thomas, Matthew, Publican, and so forth. And they beheld his
glory. We see Jesus done. made a little
lower than the angels, why? Most people only see him that
way, and he stays that way to them, and that's why they refer
to him simply as Jesus. But we know why he became a man,
don't we? We know why he became a plain
man, don't we, brother, don't we? We know why. For the suffering
of death, for the purpose of death, to be our substitute,
as you preached last night, as you prayed. as a man, to fulfill
God's law as a man, to be our substitute, our sin-bearer as
a man. But he's not that way now, is
he? He's much higher than that now,
isn't he? He went on to say, we see him
high and lifted up, crowned with glory and honor. And so therefore,
we refer to him not simply as Jesus, but as the Lord Jesus. He came down, yes, but he went
back up. That's where he sits, crowned
with glory and honor. That's why he came, that's what
he did, that's where he is now. And this is salvation, that's
what you preached this morning. Visit us with thy salvation.
Oh, visit me with thy salvation. And it's salvation for us to
see the Lord Jesus Christ as He truly is, to behold His glory. That's salvation in the beginning,
and that's how we're kept safe, by looking to Him who alone can
save us, hath saved us, must save us. That's who He is. That's His name. He'll save us.
He saves His people for His name's sake. What's His name? Savior.
Not an attempt on, but Savior. And that's how we see Him in
the beginning. That's how we grow to learn to
know Him. And that's how we'll see Him
in the end. Crowned with glory and honor, the successful, sovereign
Savior seated on the throne. And the way the Lord does this
is through the preaching of the gospel. This is how He shows
Himself. Now look at verse 17. It says
in verse 17, The great multitude of people came out of all Judea
and Jerusalem from the sea coast to Tyre and Sidon, God has a
people, remember, tribe, kindred, nation, tongue, under heaven.
He said, I'll say unto the north, give up to the south, come, north,
east, west, bring my sons and daughters from afar. They'll
come, because he said so, and they'll come to see him, to hear
him, to be healed of him, be saved of him. We've got people
in here this morning from the north and the south, and the
east and the west. No, I was thinking about folks
from Houston. You know, you're as far south
away from here as we are east of here. And I don't know who's
from out west, but it's probably somebody. But the Lord brings
his people from the the far points of the earth to see His glory,
to hear His gospel, and what He did, see who He is. Look at
verse 17. A great multitude out of all
Judea, Jerusalem, from the seacoast, Tyre, and Sidon, they came to
hear Him and be healed of their diseases. To hear Him. And that's how you're healed. That's how you say it. You hear
Him. We say that all the time that
we preach Christ. Why? Because neither is there
salvation in any other. There's none other name given
among men whereby we must be saved. Unto heaven, not one.
We preach Christ because He is the Savior. There is no other.
There is no message other than Christ and Him crucified. That's
why we preach Christ. We preach Christ. It's not just
a slogan. He's salvation. We preach Christ
because God says so, says to do that. Preach my son. Because
sinners need to seek Christ. They need to look to him. The
only way that they're gonna be saved, be drawn to the Father
is by Christ being lifted up in them. The only way. Preachers
are like Moses who lifted up the serpent on the pole. They're
like that pole. They're only good for something
as long as they set forth and hold up the Lord Jesus Christ
for sinners to look to. It's not just a slogan. And a man can't preach something
he himself has not experienced either. We preach Christ because
He's the one we look to. I'm sitting there, Brother Todd,
begging the Lord Jesus Christ to give me the liberty to preach
Him. Aren't we? Not just a slogan. Salvation. Salvation. To see the Lord Jesus
Christ. And to hear Him, to see Him,
is to be healed. The Lord sent His preacher, His
disciples out preaching. That's what it pleased God to
do. What the world calls foolishness,
to save his people by the foolishness of preaching. He said, go preach
saying this, the kingdom of heaven is at hand, heal the sick, cleanse
the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils. Well, this preaching
is what does all that. This is the power of God. The
gospel is the power of God and the salvation. This is how the
Lord healed, because we all have all of those things in us, all
of them, not one, but all of those things. From the sole of
our feet to the crown of our head, there's no soundness in
us like those lepers. We come forth from the womb,
speaking life. We're born dead in trespasses
and sin. We must be raised to life. What
does that? The gospel, nothing else, of
Christ, nothing else. It is a power of God unto salvation. Hearing the gospel and the gospel
is a person. This is what we've been hearing
since we've been here, haven't we? How blessed we are. Oh, blessed
are your ears for what they hear. Most of the world is feeding
on the husks of religion. It's true. You hear some of it.
You see some of it, don't you? How blessed we are. You come
in here at any given time and get a five course, a five point
meal. Can't you? Oh, how blessed we
are. You see, well look at, read on
with me. It says they came to hear him
and to be healed of their diseases, verses 18 and 19. And they that
were vexed with unclean spirits, Sin! That's why Christ came,
to save His people from their sin, isn't it? That's the issue.
It separates us from God. It's the issue that just vexes
us all of our days, doesn't it? This is what we need rid of. And so we come to hear about
the only one who can get rid of this sin, don't we? He said,
to save them from their sin. Someone once told one of our
ladies, you people talk too much about sin. Well, she doesn't
know anything about sin then, does she? She doesn't need Christ
then, does she? Because that's why He came. To save His people from their
sin. Vexed. Vexed. Lot, you know,
was inside him. So are we. It says his righteous
soul was vexed. Not just with the people around
him. With himself. He seemed as one
that mocked. To who? To himself. And everybody
else, didn't he? What's Lot's hope? Well, bless
God, he came. Lots of hope. And it says laid
hold of him, didn't it? Huh? Laid hold of him, the Lord
being merciful, and took him out of that place. My, my. Vexed. Read on. It says those
that were vexed with an unclean spirit and they were healed.
Tell me, you who are assaulted by the adversary, by Satan himself
and your sin within, when do you ever feel rid of that except
when you're under the sound of the gospel. You never do, do
you? Except when you hear Christ pray,
when you're under the sound of His gospel. Then you feel, then
and then only, like He's led captivity captive. Verse 18,
they that were vexed, verse 19, a whole multitude sought to touch
Him, for there went virtue out of Him. Like that woman, you remember,
with the issue of blood. She said, if I can just touch
the hem of his garment, if I can just get a little bit of him,
I'll be healed. I don't have any hope anywhere
else. And so she sought to touch him. And that's why we come here,
isn't it? We hope, we pray. with her who
has this issue called sin. If I can just, we used to sing
that old song, reach out and touch the Lord while he passes
by. And today is the day of salvation. Every time the gospel is preached,
it's the day of salvation. It really is. Reach out and touch
him and virtue goes out of him. Saving virtue. The word virtue means power.
Power. That's what it meant. Virtue
went out of it. Power. Healing virtue. Saving virtue. Saving power. That's what the
Lord came to exert. His power. His power. His saving power. Virtue. Power
came out of Him. Now tell me something. you who
believe a true and living God, you who
believe this true gospel, was it not the message of a sovereign
God reigning and ruling, doing as He will with whom He will,
because He will, working, as He quoted, all things after the
counsel of His will, and none can stay His hand. Was that not
the first message that God Almighty used to open your blind eyes?
to turn you from that idol, that man-made, that imaginary God
who wasn't God at all to the true and living God. Wasn't that
the first message? The message of a Christ, a sovereign
Christ who came on a mission, came sent by, this is life eternal,
to know the true God, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom
he sent, the one sent by God on purpose, with a purpose, with
a mission, with a work to do and he came and he did that work. He didn't try to do it, he did
that work. He by himself purged the sins
of his people, all the people given to him by the Father, he
saved them all, went back to glory, sat down, he's now waiting,
expecting all of this to be wrapped up and all of his people to be
with him where he is. You heard this message of a sovereign
God, a sovereign Lord, and this is what opened your blind eyes
to see God as He is, to see Christ as He is, to see the truth as
it is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Wasn't it? Tell me, do you get
tired of hearing that? Is this not the message that
keeps you saved? Do you not have to keep hearing
this message of a God on the throne? That's what you preached
last night, both of you this morning, of a Christ who didn't
try to save, He actually did. Isn't that what you lay hold
on, Brother Todd, until the end? That's the beginning of your
confidence. He came to save you. But did He do it? I believe He
did. Well, it doesn't matter if you believe it or not, he
did. And in the end, when you haven't made any progress, like
Peter and James and John and all of them, they didn't believe
in progressive sanctification, did they? In the end, their confidence
was that one who came to save me is Lord, my Savior. He did it. He said he would,
he did it. That's all my hope. All my salvation. We need, Brother Bill, to keep
hearing that, don't we? Keep hearing that. Keep hearing
it. Tell me once more about my sovereign Lord. All right, that's
what I want to try to do. Try to do. That's all we can
do. Who can utter the mighty acts of our Lord? This virtue,
that's what I want to look at for a few more minutes. This
virtue, this power. that went out of the Lord Jesus
Christ, that he came to exert his power. How much power does
the Lord Jesus Christ have? He said, all power is given unto
him in heaven and earth. All power. He's declared, Romans
1 declares the gospel, doesn't it? And begins this way, the
gospel of God, that his son, who's declared to be the son
of God, with power. With power. And to be saved, this is what
we're saying, to be saved is to hear, believe, call on this
one who has all power, the only one, all power to save. And the
fact of the matter is you won't call until he makes you call
by that power. This is his power. He calls whom
he will and they come. They will not come until he calls
them. They won't do it. They won't
come unless he draws them. And this is his amazing power.
It said up in verse 13, He said, when it was day, he called unto
him his disciple. And Mark's gospel, I believe
it is, says, he went up into a mountain and called unto him
whom he would, and they came. They came. He called them, and
they came, like you and I would call a dog, and they come. Because
he has that power. Look back, just browse with me
at a couple A couple of instances of His glorious power. Chapter 5, look back at chapter
5 with me. See the Lord, this is the Lord
who knew His own, who predestinated. Whom He foreknew, He did predestinate. Those He predetermined to save,
He came to save. And He calls them. Every one
of them that He knew and predestined to be His own, He comes calling. And they will come. That's what
he said. All that the Father giveth me
will come to me. They will come to me. No man
can except I draw them. The Father draw them. And so
he came calling. All he predetermined to say. Look at chapter 5 verses 1 and
following. It came to pass as the people
pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he stood by the
lake of Gennesaret, Galilee, And he saw two ships standing
by the lake. But the fishermen were gone out
of them and they were washing their nets. And so he entered
into one of the ships. He just got in one of those boats. This was Simon's. He knew that. He knew that. He chose this boat. You know how many boats there
were around that lake at that day? We just got back from the
New England states, and any little fishing village up there you
go into is just full of boats. The harbors are full of boats,
and so was this one. This is a fishing village. Well,
the Lord chose that particular boat that belonged to, well,
that some men were borrowing. But he chose that boat and just
got in that boat. Read on. He entered in that boat
that was Simon's and prayed him or told him that he would thrust
out a little from the land. And he did. He said, thrust out.
Got in that boat. And he said to Simon, thrust
out, cast off. And he did. And he sat down and
talked to people. Now, verse 4, when he had left
speaking, he said to Simon, now, launch out into the deep and
let down your nets for a draft. Brother Greg Elmquist is an avid
fisherman. And I go down there sometimes,
we go fishing. He takes me fishing. He's got
a new boat. Brother Chris, last time Brother
Cody and I were down there, he had a 1962 aluminum boat that
leaked like a sieve. Honestly. Brother Cody and I
were lying under that boat every night, patching it, so we could
go out in that boat fishing the next day. And it still did. Guys were spewing out of it.
Cody and I going, Greg, would you please buy yourself a new
boat? Well, he did. He called me a
little while after that because I hazed him so long about it.
He called me and said, I bought a new boat, a 1969 boat. Well, it is new in the sense
it doesn't leak. Well, I went down there not too
long ago fishing with him and we were standing there. and made
me think of this passage. We were actually washing his
nets. He has some bait casting net. We were washing those nets out
and this scripture occurred to me. And I said, Brother Greg,
what if a man just walked up to you and got in your boat,
didn't ask you, just got in your boat and said, hey, shove off. Greg said, you know how fishermen
are with their boats and so on? He said, well, you'd have to
be the Lord. This was. That's who this was. I often
think, I almost always think of Simon Peter as being a man,
something like maybe Tommy Nell. Tommy working this morning? You
know, big, burly fella. Maybe he was, maybe he wasn't.
But that's how I picture Simon Peter, don't you? Big, rough,
gruff fella. He would take on the world. He
tried to, didn't he? Took a sword and was going to
call a house on everybody. Nobody could, you know, stand
up to that man. It takes somebody, a bigger man
than him, to tell him what to do then. The scripture says, God hath
anointed him with the oil of gladness above his fellows. He
is infinitely great. The only one with this power,
to exert this power over the most obstinate of men. The hardest of hearts. This is
the only one who can. And bless your heart, he doth.
Aren't you glad, Brother Bob? that he's stronger than you.
Aren't you glad he exerted this power that day he called you
by the gospel? You said, I won't come. He said,
yes, you will. Yes, you will. He made you willing
the day of his power. Isn't that still your hope and
your pain to this day? That while you're prone to wander,
if you could have your way and your will, you would and you'd
run off in a hurry? But he said, no, you don't. Isn't
that your salvation? that a one stronger and mightier
than you has purpose to save you. He said, I have you in my
hand and nobody can pluck you out of my hand. He is the Lord. He came to his
own. Listen to this. He came to his
own. Scripture says his own received him not. So what did he do? He
took him anyway. You ever thought about that?
He came to his own, his own received him not. So what'd he do? He
took it. Like David, remember? I love that story of David. He
came to Jerusalem. This was before he was set up
on the throne in Jerusalem. The Jebusites were inhabiting
Jerusalem at the time. He came there and they stood
behind the walls and said, those little fellas behind the wall,
Jebusites said, he can't come in here. What's the next verse? Nevertheless, David took it. He took it. He took what was his. This is the Lord. See, the earth
is the Lord and the fullness thereof. The world and they that
dwell therein. This is His lake. This is His
boat. Those are His fish. These are
His men. And He calls and takes what's
His. Can I not do with my own what
I will? Yes, he can and he does just that. Election. A doctrine? It's unto salvation. If he's chosen you, you're his. And nothing and no one can stop
it. See, that's our hope. That's the hope for our children.
We hope and pray they're one of his elect because if they
aren't, they're going to hear his voice. And come hell or high
water, they're coming to him. in the fullness of time. Isn't
that our hope? Not a doctrine. This is who He
is. This is what He does. This is
how He saves. Power. Christ has that power,
has that authority. He came to Satan, our arch enemy,
a few chapters back, a couple of chapters back. He came to
Satan, our archenemy. He said, Satan hath desired to
sift you like wheat. What he said of Simon, he says
of all his people, he hath desired you. What's our hope? What's
Peter's hope? I'm mightier than him. Faced him. The first act
he did, actually, was face our adversary, wasn't it? As a man,
didn't he, Don? Faced our adversary. And he said,
like we'd say to a curred dog, get behind me, Satan! Oh, the disciples hid behind
him for three and a half years, didn't they? They hid behind
him. He was their salvation. We're still hiding behind him.
He is our salvation. He said to those demons who said,
we know who you are. You come to torment us, to destroy
us. He said, hush. Shut up. And they shut up. He's the only
one that can. And he does. He came to the temple,
back a chapter or so. He came to the temple and sat
down to teach and the Pharisees were all offended. The Pharisees
said, by whose authority do you do this? Well, Malachi said, ìThe Lord
whom you seek shall suddenly come to his temple.î This is
his temple. This is not their temple. Theyíre
trespassing. And he came to his temple. In
fact, later on he planted a whip by the deed and he said, ìGet
out of my house!î And he called whom he will to his house. Oh, how blessed are they who
are called, not invited, mind you, called to his house. It's his house. It's his temple.
It's his salvation. It belongs to him. Belongs to
him. He came one day on the Sabbath
day. On the Sabbath day. And he did
something to offend the Pharisee, and they said, you can't do that.
Yes, I can. He's Lord of the Sabbath. He's
the Lord of His people. He's Lord over all. They brought
a guilty woman before Him one day. Guilty. Everybody said she
was guilty. And they said, Moses, and the
law says that she's to be stoned. What do you say? He said, innocent. You can't do that. I just did. One time they brought to Him
a man sick of the palsy, laying in his bed, and what did He say
to him? The most blessed words a human being can hear. Thy sins
be forgiven. Oh, they really were upset then.
Who can forgive sins but God? Right. Said, you can't do that. He did. And he said to them,
which is easier? Which is easier? To say, thy
sins be forgiven thee, or take up thy bed and walk? which is
easy. Humanly speaking, it's easier
to say that ever. To say, thy sins be forgiven
thee. And all over the land, impostors, pretenders, fellas
who pretend to have that power to bless and to forgive sin,
all over the land are telling people, thy sins be forgiven
them. Bless you, you know. You know, bless, bless, bless,
bless. But they don't have that power. They can say it all day
long and it won't be so, will it? Oh, Brother Chris, when he
said it, it was done. It was done. Why? Because he
said it. He said to the disciple, now
are you clean? How? Through the word I spoke
unto you. Because I say so. He has that power, doesn't he?
Clean. Just pronounce pink with the
word. Oh, that's powerful. That's who
I need. That's who I need. And that woman
caught in that act of adultery, he said with a word, sovereignly,
frankly, freely, finally, irrevocably, unchangeably, forgave, justified,
removed all charges against her, blotted out the handwriting of
ordinances against her that God himself held against her. He
just blotted it out. blotted out. Scripture says,
he taketh away the first to establish the second. He who wrote the
law says, don't need that anymore. Who can do that? You can't do it. Or you have.
It's been done. Power. Virtue. Virtue. Oh my. This is the Lord that
we believe. The Lord we And back in our text,
it says here, they came to hear him, to be healed of their diseases. They came to, they were vexed
with unclean spirit, to hear him. Now the scripture says,
whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord, shall be saved. Now that's not
lip service. Many people draw near with their
lips when their hearts are far from them. But the heart man
believeth unto salvation. Believes what? That he's Lord. Don't just say that. They believe
that he's Lord. You see, only one who is unrighteous,
I mean knows they're unrighteous, will call on the Lord to be their
righteousness. I mean really call on the Lord
to be their righteousness. Only a sinner. A Roman seven sinner. A Roman
seven sinner. That's what a sinner is. A Roman
seven sinner who says the things that I would not, that's what
I do, and what I wouldn't want to do, I cannot. How to perform,
I find not. I don't know how. Without him
you can do nothing but sin. That's the one who calls on the
Lord. You're talking about short prayers.
Brother Chris preached in our place a three-word prayer. Lord, save me. Only the lost will call on someone
to come find them. It really is that simple. People
call on Jesus all the time to make their next house payment.
But people, God, those who call on the name of the Lord, how
should they call on Him whom they've not heard and whom they've
not believed? Ain't nobody gonna call on Him
that they don't believe has the power to save them. And only helpless sinners call
on this sovereign Lord. Only the unrighteous call on
the Lord to be their righteousness. Well, that's who He came down
to save. It says, here He came down. If He hadn't come down,
we're not going up. No man can get to God except
by Him. And so He came down. And He stood
with them. Oh, my. In the company of a bunch
of motley fellows. And I believe I'm in that company,
I hope. I'm Matthew, Republican, anyway. And he stood with them
there, and they came to hear him, and bless God, they were
healed of their diseases, all that were vexed. Everyone who
came to hear him, to touch him, to seek him, to call on this
Lord who had all power, the only one who does, that was vexed,
that needed healing, no matter what it was, all manner of sin,
they were healed. By virtue of him, his power.