Now, if you will, take your Bibles
and turn back with me to Isaiah chapter 40. The weight of what
I do here as your pastor is something that weighs heavy on my heart
and mind. I think about it continuously
all the time. I often lose myself in conversations
with my wife, and she looks at me and says, well, you're just
not paying any attention at all. But my mind is not on those things. It's on this congregation. And
sometimes I get lost in those thoughts and contemplations.
And the weight of it weighs heavy on my mind and the weight of
this Gospel that has separated me to preach. And I think of
this congregation often. I don't just stand up here and
throw things out like sowing a yard full of grass. I have
your faces before my eyes a lot. I see your faces when I lay down
to go to sleep, and I see your faces when I wake up in the morning.
And as I study the Scriptures and prepare these messages, I
think about you. I think about what problems that
you could have and the things that could be bothering you and
the things that could be a danger to you. I think about you, and
I think about you often, and the weight of that, as time goes
on, just grow heavier and heavier on my heart. And I know we're
probably insignificant in our, if you want to compare us to
these larger and long-established groups, but I find the responsibility
of pastoring this group just almost overwhelming to me. I
care for you. about whether or not you're here,
and I care about when you're gone, and I care about your health
and your welfare, and I care about your soul. And I don't
have much influence over the community at large, but the minute
you come through that door and sit under the sound of my voice,
I have a responsibility for you, for you. what you hear. It may
be only for an hour. It may be a half hour. You might
only pay attention to me for ten minutes, but that ten minutes
I have a responsibility to tell you the truth. The truth. And I especially care about what
you hear. And sometimes folks get mad at
me when I set worldly religion in a bad light, but My friend,
worldly religion sent more people to hell than all the speakeasies
and bars and brothels in this world. Religion. Religion. He doesn't group those
things together and picture them in the great whore, but he pictures
religion. Religion. And I tell you this,
if a semi-truck was about to run over you or a rattlesnake
was about to bite you, I'd say, get out of the way. Look out!
Look out! Beware! And that's all I'm telling
you when I talk about these things. I'm telling you, beware. Beware. I don't have a personal vendetta
against anybody or against any religion. I have a vendetta against
lies. And if the shoe fits, they just
have to put it on. I don't know what else to do.
I want to tell you the truth. That's the responsibility that
God's laid on me. to tell you the truth. And the
Lord said this, He said, Do you hate Me because I tell you the
truth? That's what He told us. They were just angry and upset
and didn't even know what they were mad about. They were just
mad. He said, Do you hate Me because I tell you the truth?
Is that a reason for enmity? Is that a reason for anger? Because
I tell you the truth? And then Of late I've been going
through this, I don't know how else to describe it except, and
some of you here are going to understand what I'm talking about
and some of you aren't, but I'm going through just a time of
dryness. Have you ever been there? Dryness,
just like walking in a desert. Nothing seems to move me. The
Scriptures just lay there before me sometimes, just in words.
I read them. And I understand in my mind and
recognize their significance, but I'm not moved. I'm just not
moved in heart. I'm just not moved. And I try
to pray and it's just like talking to yourself. Did you ever do
that? Huh? Try to pray and it's just words. You're just talking to yourself.
You feel like there's nobody listening. Nobody listening. Well, as I was preparing this
message for you, And everything I looked at, I don't know how
many times this week, I couldn't even begin to tell you how many
hours I put in in preparation for this message this morning.
And I just poured myself out over a passage and it just wouldn't
come to be. And I'd go to another passage
and it'd just go a little way and fall off into nothing. And
I was actually looking at something else and this was just a reference.
to another passage that I was looking at. But I read this first
verse, and it got a hold of me. And the first time in a while,
it kind of moved me. I want you to look at it here
with me. Isaiah chapter 40, verse 1. Now understand what this is.
This is the turning point in Isaiah's ministry when he begins
to declare and separate everything to the coming of the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's what he's talking about
here in these prophecies. He's not talking about the Jewish
religion. He's not talking about the actual city of Jerusalem.
When he says, cry unto Jerusalem, he's talking about the church
of the living God. He is here describing the coming of John
the Baptist and his ministry, his herald, the coming into this
world of Christ. And this is what he says, he
said, Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. And I know what this chapter
is about. It's about this coming of Christ
and His forerunner, John the Baptist, into the world and the
ushering in of the gospel age and the last days before God's
going to wrap things up. We're living in the last days.
People ask me all the time, you think we're living in the last
days? It's been the last days since Christ came into the world,
my friend. This is it. There's not going
to be another dispensation. God's not going to come back,
Christ's not going to come back, and the Jewish people are going
to go over there and raise up another temple, and so he's going
to do something else that nice. This is it. This is it. These are the last days. He could come at any minute. I look at what's going on in
this world just this week, earthquakes, A spill out here in the Gulf
that could affect the entire Atlantic Ocean and the seaboards
all halfway around this country. Ash and stuff in the air out
of volcanoes up in Greenland. Disturbing flights and things
clear over in Europe. I look around at the unrest and
the wars and the things that are going on, and I look at the
Scriptures and the prophecies concerning these days, and I'm
telling you, He could appear today, and I wouldn't be shocked. I'm telling you, we live in that
close, I believe, to the end of time. And that's what this
chapter is all about, the ushering in of that gospel age. Israel
is in chaos. under bondage, scattered abroad
by our enemies, the temple lay in ruins. And what little gatherings
were left are an absolute abomination to God. They've taken the things
of God that was given to them as children, as children of God. That's hard to fathom, isn't
it? We can't get a hold of that.
What would it mean to be a child of God? Huh? A child of God. Boy, I look at
a child of a president. Boy, that boy's got it made. His dad is the president. This boy could get into any school
in the country. He could do anything he wants
to do. His dad... What about if you was a child
of God? Huh? What would that mean to
you? Would that mean something? Well,
these things were given to Israel as children, and they took those
things which God absolutely forbid, and they mixed them with these
things that God gave them, and they built them groves up on
the mountains, and they built little idols in there, little
wooden idols they whittled out and overlaid with gold and silver,
and they built these little gardens, and they put run the water through
them so they could hear the water trickle through. And they'd go
up there to worship God. And they did all these things.
And God, just everything that was left, everything that was
left, even the little gatherings that was left, you can read Isaiah
chapter 1. I read it to you last week. He just talks about the absolute
abomination of their worship to Him even in the holy meetings
and things. They had so compromised. his
name, taking the things of God and
just mixed them with the practices of the heathen. These precious
pictures and types and figures of which Moses was commanded,
God said, you be careful when you go down to build this tabernacle
and you see to it that you build it exactly according to the pattern
that I showed you in the mount. Because that's what it's here
for. It's a pattern. A pattern of things to come.
You can read that over in Hebrews chapter 9 and 10. All these precious
pictures. And I look around me today and
all I can see is compromise. Israel has been swallowed up
by the world. This world now claims the benefits
of God while His children are kept in bondage. Isn't that what
was going on in Isaiah's day? They take an Israel captive and
now begin to lay claim to the benefits and blessings of God.
It's a bondage of deceit and influence, lies and empty promises. They cry, peace, peace, where
there is no peace. And they offer to men what God
has not given and require from men what God has not commanded.
We own Bibles. Sometimes I wonder if we read
them. I really do. I wonder if we read them. Where
in this book does God promise anything to this world? Huh? Where? You can't find it. Because it ain't there. It ain't
there. Where in this book is anybody
in any age asked to accept Jesus as their personal Savior? Find
me anywhere, cover to cover in this book. You can't find it,
can you? Where in this book is any man commanded to walk to
the front of an assembly and shake somebody's hand or kiss
his ring? You can't find it because it
ain't in there. Where in this book does it even
hint that a man is saved by his own free will, or that he has
a free will, or if he had one, that it even entered into God's
design of saving sinners? You can't find it. It's not of
him that willeth. Ain't that what God said? Then
how on earth can men stand up and say it's all up to you? Huh? You can't find it in this book.
And where in this book does it hint anywhere that we should
defend or try to find good in everything we hear that men claim
to be of God? I had some of the closest relatives
that I grew up with that will defend any kind of religion in
the name of religion and deny everything that God says in this
book. I'm amazed. I just stand and listen to them
talk and I'm amazed. I don't know what to say. I don't
know what to say. Paul plainly tells us in this
book that they'll come and preach another gospel. another Jesus
by another Spirit. Huh? But don't say anything about
it. Say anything about it. Well,
I tell you this, you better be careful what you defend and what
you condemn. You better have a foundation
for it. It better not be, well, I think. You better throw that
out the window. Open up this book and find something
in this book, something substantial. Find you a foundation. If you're
going to refute something, find it in this book and say, well,
why does it say this? Huh? Why does it say this? I'll tell you what the old prophets
told them, thus saith the Lord. That's what He said. And I'll tell you this, I know
where you are. I know how you think. I know
your questions. I know why you ask. And I know
why you're confused. And I know that you are confused.
I know these things because I came from the same place where you're
at. I don't have to guess about it. I don't have to have a vision
or a dream late at night. I came from there. No man can
preach this gospel unless God has revealed His Son in him and
called him out of darkness. into His marvelous light. And
once you've been in darkness, you understand what the darkness
is. Once you've been in bondage,
you know what it is to be captive. Once you've been separated from
God, you know what that vacuum is. You understand it. I don't need a vision in the
middle of the night to tell me these things. I know them by
experience. And I tell you this, you can't
tell what you don't know anymore and you can come back in some
place you haven't been. I can listen to a man a few minutes
and I can just write him off because I know he don't know
what he's talking about. He's just up there blabbering
something that somebody else blabbered to him. That's all
it is. And I know this, I have nothing
to offer this world in a universal sense. God's promises and provisions
are to Israel. Listen to what he says here.
Comfort ye my people. Ain't that what he's saying?
My people. Comfort ye my people. I've got nothing to offer this
world in a universal sense. God's promises and provisions
are to Israel. God's inheritance is to His children. And I've got nothing to offer
to those who follow this world's principles, defend its pipers
and dance to them, dance to their music or worship their God. But
to every believer, I've got some words of comfort. Words of comfort. Two things here that are sufficient
to cheer up the most miserable of God's children. I know, Winston
and I sat and talked for hours the other night and we talked
about these things and talked about prayer and talked about
walking through these dry spells and these times when God just
seems like He takes His presence from you and all these things.
I've got something that will bring you out of it. I've got
something here. And God will be pleased to speak
this to your heart. It will purge you out of your
dead state and bring a new life into your worship and devotion.
Listen to what he says, My people, drowning in a sea of iniquity
and ignorance and swept away by a nature of enmity and hostility
and finding no hope in myself, no ground for mercy, no connection
between me and God, lost without understanding. Would not all
your troubles vanish if God would whisper in your heart, my son? Huh? They'd just go up in a puff
of smoke, wouldn't they? All your fears would be gone
if you knew 100% you was God's child. Huh? All your fears and
all your worries and all your deadness would be gone. My people. My people. Oh, chosen in Christ
by eternal love. Never was a time, even in eternity,
when God had not set His heart on you in perfect love. Perfect
love. Never a despising, never an angry
word. He loved you. He loved you. Why you shed enemies? He loved
you. Why you shed enemies? He sent
forth His Son to die in your place. He loved you. chosen in
Christ by eternal love, blessed in Christ by an eternal predestination,
sealed in an everlasting covenant of grace, joined to Him by an
everlasting union, represented by Him in a particular redemption,
standing by grace in a substitute, raised with Him, seated with
Him at the right hand of God. called by His gospel, given life
by His Spirit, interceded for by the Son of God Himself, preserved
in Him unto a final resurrection. My people. It takes on a new
meaning, doesn't it? My people. Can you picture yourself
on the bed? Just close your eyes for a minute
and try to picture yourself laying there on the bed. Gasping for
the last two or three breaths you're going to have in this
world. Fixing to go out and meet a living God, meet a holy God. Going to go out and face eternity.
This little temporary business here is over with. You're going
out for long eternity now. Now the charade is over. The facade gone. The refuge broken
down. Now you're going to stand before
God. What's going to give you hope before Him? What's going
to comfort your heart before Him? If He tells you in your
heart, you're mine. Huh? You're mine. My people. What would it mean
to you this morning to know in your heart, I'm His? Huh? What would that mean to
you? Some of you here are suffering
from illnesses. that others seem to ignore. You
live in pain all the time. There's something wrong and you
can't live a normal life. You can't go about things like
everybody else does. Does this not comfort your heart?
My people. My people. And some of you here
this morning have laid claim to what God has not given you.
You've laid claim to things you've never received and confessed
to have what you know in your heart and your mind and in your
conscience that God's never given you. He's not given you these
things to have. Why don't you confess what you
are? Why don't you just come to Him like you are? Just bow
down and confess what you are. I'm a sinner. I'm a sinner. I need Christ. Maybe he'll whisper
in your ear this morning, you're mine. Huh? Do you doubt your saving interest
in Christ? Here's assurance, my people,
mine. God has from the beginning, Paul
said, chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the
Spirit and belief of the truth. Wherefore, He called you up by
our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Can you believe? Can you believe? Can you embrace
Him? Can you rest the weight of your
soul in His hands? Can you just give up on this
life and see the fallacy of it and see the sin of it and see
the wrong of it and just turn it loose and rest your soul in
His hand? Can you do that? If you are,
you belong to Him. You belong to Him. He that believeth,
ain't that what it says? He that believeth and is baptized,
he's going to be saved. You can have the very promise
of God as His people. And then He says this, not only
does He say, My people, but He speaks to your heart and you
cry back to Him, and He's your God. Now you should think about
that for a little bit. David said, My God. My God is in the heavens. My
God. What kind of enthusiasm would
spring up in my heart if I could but know Him as my God? Huh? I could get happy about that.
My God. But is this not the very covenant
that he makes with his own? Is that not the heart and soul
of his covenant that he spoke through his prophet Jeremiah,
of which Paul talks about over in Hebrews 8, 9, and 10, talking
about this covenant, this everlasting covenant of grace? Is that not
the very heart of that covenant, they shall be my people and I
shall be their God? Ain't that what he said that
covenant was? That's how He's going to reveal that covenant.
He's going to come in, and you're going to be His people, and He's
going to be your God. That's the only way you can have
it. That's the only way you can have it. Oh, I tell you to be
able in truth and grace to bow my head and cry, My Lord and
My God, and mean it. Mean it. There's no comfort to
you when you read such a passage as this, and you, Paul said,
Huh? That church was in trouble. They had all kinds of problems
going on. And Paul said, but I heard about
you, and I heard about your faith, and I know what this thing is
all about. And he went on to tell them. Oh, he said, I can't
wait. For God opened your understanding,
gave you a little bit of sense of what's going on, and that
power, that power of God that He exercised and set right before
your eyes when He raised His Son from the grave, that's that
same power that He uses in your heart when He resurrects you
from this deadness of nature and brings you into a knowledge
of Himself. And He said, and you, hath He
quickened? Does that not move you? Boy,
that moves me. You, Hathi Quicken, who were
dead. There's a picture of me, dead
in trespasses and sins, walking according to the course of this
world, walking after the prince of the power of the air, walking,
I was by nature the children of wrath, even as others. It's
a perfect picture of me. But you, he said, Hathi Quicken. The Lord giveth. I tell you this, even to those
who sit in the worst that sin and a fallen world can bring
upon them, all that the devil can pile on them, they find comfort
in this, my people and your God. Think about old Job. Come along
and took everything man had. All of his treasures, all of
his money, all of his children, took everything that he had.
Even his wife come out and looked at him and smote him with balls. And there he sat out there on
the ash heap, scraping his balls with an old piece of glass or
metal or something. And he sat out there on that
thing, sackcloth and ashes. And his wife looked at him and
said, Why don't you just curse God and die? He said, The Lord
liveth. He giveth. And the Lord taketh
away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. That's what it means when He's
your God. My people. My people. Satan said, yeah,
He's your people. You got Him hedged about, but
you take down the hedge and watch what He'll do. He said, take
it down. There He is. Smote Him from head to toe. Blessed
be the name of the Lord. My people. Oh, to be able in
truth to say that in my heart. But how can this comfort be given?
What must I say to you in order for you to hear Him and for Him
to say to you, your mind? Well, the voice says here, cry.
And he said, what am I going to cry? He said, cry all flesh
is grass. All flesh is grass. It's all
grass. It's just temporary. It's just
temporary. That's all it is. You can't find
comfort in Christ until you discover your own filthiness and emptiness.
God's not going to fill you up until He empties you. He's not
going to raise you up until He brings you down. He's not going
to give you hope until He makes you desperate. And that's the problem today.
There's enough gospel being preached around this country to save this
world. But nobody's listening because
nobody's in a bad shape. It's the very appearance of Christ.
That's what this chapter's all about. He's coming into the world. What does He say when He comes
into the world? He says, "...sacrifice an offering
thou wouldest not." Why wouldn't He have it? Huh? Why wouldn't he have it? Because
you don't have the holiness and the justice and the righteousness
to offer him what he demands. That's why he won't have it. The very appearance of Christ
that evidenced the worthlessness of this flesh, all flesh is grass. People want a universal truth.
Here it is. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. You can tell that to anybody
on the street. It's the truth. It's the truth. None righteous, none good, none
that understandeth, none that seeketh after God, all gone astray. And I honestly believe the reason
why the preaching of Christ has no effect on this world is because
this great truth has been totally ignored. Don't preach that, you'll
run folks off. I'd rather run you off than have
you in a false refuge. There is in this chapter a two-fold
message of evangelism that must be preached. Even at the advent
of Christ, it must be preached. He set apart a man, John the
Baptist. I'm telling you, this man, these
Pharisees came out, all the people with clout come out, and he said,
what are you here for? You go back and bring forth fruit
and meat for repentance, and then I have something to say
to you. Right now, I don't have anything to say to you. And sent
them away. Send them away. This man stood
on his two hind feet and told this world, all flesh is grass. It's just grass. All flesh is
grass. God means by that. And I tell
you this, God means nothing to a man. He means nothing to a
man who thinks himself capable. It doesn't mean anything. You
can talk about God, Russell, to your friends all day long.
It just rolls off of them like water off a duck's back. You
know why? Because they think themselves
capable. They think themselves capable.
God means nothing to a man who thinks he's in charge. What do
you mean bow down? I ain't going to bow down. I'm
in charge. What do you mean God ordains things? I got the choice. You'll find out one of these
days. You're going to find out. God means nothing to a man who
believes himself to be free. I'm not in bondage. Ain't that
what the Jews told him? We've never been in bondage to
any man. What are you talking about? Yeah, you're in bondage. He means nothing to a man because
that man has no debt. He's got no debt to pay. What
are you talking about debt? He's got no debt to pay. I've got no captivity to be freed
of. I'm not in jail. I'm not in bondage. Look at the world as God evidences
the flesh and see it in its bondage. See it there from the beginning.
From the beginning. See it there in its perfection
in the garden and watch it fall. Watch it go downhill. Look at
it in his sons. Look at it in Abel. Look at it
all down through time. We're going through Genesis.
Generation after generation after generation after generation,
all this world does is degenerate. It degenerates. See the evidence
of it. Paul said, "...by one man sin
entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon
all men." Where's the evidence? All of sin. All of sin. Listen to what Paul says over
in Romans chapter 8. He says, for what the law could
not do. What was the problem with the
law? God gave it. Why couldn't the law do it? It
was weak through the flesh. Ain't that what he's crying here?
All flesh is grass. God sending his own Son in the
likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the
flesh. There's no hope or comfort to
offer to any man who clings to the flesh. He must see everything
concerning this flesh is nothing. It's not the alcohol that pollutes
you, it's you that pollutes the alcohol. It's not tobacco that
pollutes you, you pollute it. Drugs are a good thing, but we
pollute them. Everything we do, we pollute.
That's why I'm trying to preach to you. All flesh is grass. There's nothing in it. There's
no hope in it. There's no righteousness in it.
There's nothing in it. It's all in Him. And I preach to men and I pile
up warnings and I pile up promises all around you and it has no
effect. But I tell you this, He said, you cry, all flesh is
grass. And you cry this, that all the
glory of the grass is the flower. Huh? That's man's goodliness.
Let me tell you when it's going to wither. When God goes, blows
on it. You might stand there and set
your jaw and clench your fist and do what you got to do and
get angry and mad and blow up and argue and all that. Let me
tell you something, one of these days God just may in grace go,
and when He does, you're going to wither. you're going to wither. Oh, that he'd do that? He'll wither you, I don't care
how strong you are, how rebellious you are, just a little blow and
you'll wither. That flower will fall on the
ground. And when he does, when he does, to those he does, to
those he withers and brings down and shows what they are. He tells
this prophet, he said, you get up on the mountain. Get up there. Don't be afraid to cry. You get
up there. I know what this people's about.
I know how their heart is. I know exactly what they are.
But they're my people and I'm your God. Now you get up on that
mountain and you tell them this. Behold, you're a God. And if
you've ever been withered, And you're laying down there in that
withered state, you're going to be happy to know He's your
God. He's your God. Oh, I'll tell
you, He says over Romans 8, how beautiful are the feet of them
that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings to these
sinners. They bring glad tidings to them
because God withered them. You're not going to be glad until
He withers you down, until He breaks you. It's got to be broken. All flesh is grass. But even
that grass, when he weathers it, he says, Behold your God.
Without question, this is talking about the great sovereign spirit
of God. Called in the covers of this
book, he's called the Comforter, isn't he? There's no doubt in
my mind that's not what he's talking about here. When he said
comfort you, he comforts you. I can't comfort you unless he
does. But I tell you, if he does, if he does, it won't take much
of a word. I listened to a message Paul
Mayhem preached one time, and he was talking about going through
his dead spells and dry spells like I'm going through, and he
said, sometimes you get up there and you just can't say nothing. It just won't come to you. He
said, well, if you get to that place, just start crying, blood,
blood. That's all it takes. That's all it takes. Nothing
but the blood. We sang about it just a little bit ago. But
he's talking here about the great sovereign Spirit of God. He's the Comforter. He alone
can speak the promise. He is that Holy Spirit of promise,
Paul said, in the very earnest of our inheritance. Huh? The earnest of it. Who can explain
how a man comes to know it? Paul said it as clear as I think
it can be said when he said to the church at Galatia, he said,
because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His
Son into your heart, and you cry, Abba, Father, you are God,
you are God. There will be no beholding your
God, no crying of His sons until there is a withering of the flesh
and that flower fadeth away. I'm everywhere when I get up
here and preach to you what the hymn writer said. That old hymn,
brethren we have met to worship, you remember this line here?
All is vain unless the Spirit of the Holy One comes down. It's
just vanity. It's vanity. Let me be quick
to point this out to you. When the Holy Spirit designs
to speak, He most always, I'll use that phrase, He most always
does it through a man. Almost always. Having said what
He said about these things, He tells His preachers to get up
on the high mountain and lift up their voice with strength.
Lift it up and be not afraid and say unto the cities of Judah,
Behold your God. And then very quickly let me
tell you the basis of this comfort. In Isaiah chapter 40 verse 2,
he said, Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her
that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned,
for she hath received double for all her sins. You know what
it is to receive double for your sins? Now, God's just. He's perfectly just. He's not
going to require double what's owed. That's not what He's talking
about here. But she has to receive double by the hand of God for
her sins. You know what He's talking about?
He's talking about pardon, and He's talking about righteousness. That's what it takes to be saved.
That's what it takes for a sinner to be saved of God. He must be
pardoned from his sins. And he must be clothed with a
righteousness. And his children, they have it. They have it. He said, now you
go tell them that. You go tell them that. But how
do I know if I'm among his people? Well, listen to this, Galatians
3, verse 5, and I'll close with it. Paul said, He that ministereth
to you the Spirit. That's why I said what I said
a while ago. God, when He visits with His Spirit, He most of the
time, I'm going to give it to you, I know there's some prophets
and some people in the Scriptures that He didn't do that. John the Baptist was covered
with the Spirit in his mother's womb. I know that there's exceptions
to the rule, but what I'm saying is this, most of the time, When
God sends His Spirit to speak peace to your soul, He does it
through a minister of the gospel. That's what Paul is talking about
here in Galatians 3, verse 5. He therefore that ministereth
to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he
it by the works of the law, or the hearing of faith, even as
Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness.
Know ye therefore the day which our faith the same are the children
of Abraham. That's how I know I'm his child.
If I believe. Can I believe? That's the question.
Can you? Can you? Will you? His people can and his people
will. Because he comes to them in power
and makes them willing.