Mark chapter 10. Let's read verses 17 through 22. And when he was gone forth into
the way, that being Christ, there came one running and kneeled
to him and asked him, good master, what shall I do that I may inherit
eternal life? And Jesus said unto him, why
callest thou me good? There is none good but one, God. Thou knowest the commandments,
do not commit adultery, do not kill, do not steal, do not hear
false witness, defraud not, honor thy father and mother. And he
answered and said unto him, master, all these things, all these,
have I observed from my youth. Then Jesus beholding him loved
him and said unto him, one thing, one thing thou likest, go thy
way, sell whatsoever thou hast and give to the poor and thou
shalt have treasure in heaven and come take up the cross and
follow me. And he was sad at that sight,
and went away grieved, for he had great possessions. I got a call from Gary Friday
afternoon. Something you younger gentlemen
will learn is that when you start getting, when you get into your
fifties or so, it don't take a whole lot to amuse you. So
he called, and he'd been out about running errands, and he
told me, he said, hey, I just saw a sign at a church here that
said these words. It says, you take Jesus by the
hand, and he will guide you. And we kind of laughed. And he
told me a couple more. There was another one he saw
that said, heaven, deal or no deal? Well, that's real clever,
isn't it? But, you know, when we got off
the phone, I couldn't help but to think about the first one.
You take Jesus by the hand, and he will guide you. Now, listen
to me, dear friends. Religion always has, always will
be, putting the emphasis on man doing something to be saved. It's as sure as your own name
is to you. At first glance, this little
quote on the church sign may not seem so bad, but I wrote
it down. I actually wrote it down and
I looked at it real good. And upon closer observance, I
noticed that it began with a U, U-take, And it ended with a you. And pretty much everything in
the middle of those two words was about you. You do something. You take Jesus by the hand and
He will. But it don't work that way. It
doesn't work that way. This is what the natural man
and the natural mind always think. You have to do something. You must do something. What must
I do? What shall I do to be saved? You take and He will. If you
take Him by the hand, He'll guide you. He'll save you. He'll do
all wonderful things for you, but you've got to take Him by
the hand. In Mark chapter 10, we just read
the rich young ruler. You know, he came to Christ in
the right way. It said in verse 17 that he came
running to and bowing before our great God, kneeling in submission
and humiliation. But he asked the wrong question.
He said, good master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal
life? This is where all natural men
find themselves. What can I do? What shall I do? What must I do? In Christ here,
our Lord sets out from the start to correct this zealous young
man. His first words to him, what
were they? Why callest thou me good? Here's Jesus Christ, the
Lord, And he says unto this young man, why do you call me good?
You see, Christ was our mediator. He was our representative as
man. He said, why do you call any
man good? There's only one good, God Almighty. The young man thought himself
to be good, so he sure didn't hesitate to call Christ good. And our Lord follows this revelation
in the last part of verse 18. He said, there's none good but
one, and that is God. You see, Christ establishes to
this young man that there is but one good, and that is God
and God alone. And he's the one with whom we
must be reconciled. And in order to be reconciled
to a good God, a holy God, a righteous God, we find ourselves in a dilemma
because we have to be as good and as holy and as righteous
as he himself is. Now you don't have to look far
in scripture to see that that's an impossibility. The scriptures
proclaim clearly that there's none that what? Doeth good. Oh, my. What am I going to do
now? Well, I better find someone that
can do something for me. I better find a good one that
can stand in my place, that can do for me what I can't do for
myself. I must have a substitute. I know that this young man thought
himself to be good. Well, how do you know that? Well,
if you look at Matthew's account on this, when he came, he came
and he asked this question. He said, what good thing must
I do? What good thing shall I do that
I might have eternal life? So it wasn't all with this young
man about just doing something. It was, I got to do a good thing.
And people think that taking Jesus by the hand, that's a good
thing. That's a good thing. But as always,
our Lord met this young man where he was at. He met me where I
was at one day. I had all these preconceived
ideas and notions that, oh, I knew I wasn't good, but I wasn't any
worse than anybody else. He met me where I was at. And
that's exactly what he did with this young man. Christ meets
him where he's at, and he says in verse 19, and he says this,
sending him to the law by naming the things that no man can do.
He said, thou knowest the commandments. You want to keep the law? You
want to be saved by doing something? Then you know the commandments. It says, do not commit adultery. Do not kill, do not steal, don't
bear false witness, defraud not, and honor your father and your
mother. Now listen, a man may not cheat
on his spouse, but they're going to look in lust. Let's just be
honest. Men may not kill. They may not
go out and take another man or woman's life, but they're going
to hate in their hearts. Now you examine yourself. I'm
talking about me. Okay. You search your own heart.
Men are going to hate. And Christ said, if you look
at a woman in lust, you've committed adultery. And if you hate a brother
in your heart, you've committed murder. Men may not steal, but I'm going
to tell you what, they'll covet up a storm. They will. They'll look at something somebody
else has got, and they may not, because of the law, go out and
take it. But they'll sure covet it in
their hearts. Boy, he don't deserve that. I deserve that. That ought to
be mine. Men may not bear false witness,
but I'm going to tell you what, they'll judge in their hearts.
They'll judge you. I'll tell you what. And if you
promise not to hold it against me, I'll tell you. And that is,
I'll judge you. I will. I don't want to. And oftentimes I repent of it,
and I'm sorry that I do it afterwards. But you cross me, I'll judge
you. But thank goodness I'm nobody, so you don't have nothing to
worry about. But we judge one another. Let's just be honest
now. Search your own heart. But I'm telling you the truth.
I'll judge a brother. You know why? Because I'm a sinner.
I'm full of sin. Ain't nothing special about preachers.
Get that notion out of your mind. Just called instruments. Just
vessels that God uses. We're in the same boat you are.
Don't put me up on no pedestal. Please don't. If you put me up
on one, then I'm bound to fall. If you don't put me up there,
then I don't have as far to fall, no further to fall than you do.
And I tell you, we in our hearts, this is a heart thing. You see,
it doesn't have to be done outwardly. It has to, you know, it's, our
sins are in the heart. That's why Christ said, if you
look in lust, you've committed, if you hate in your heart, if
you judge in your heart, If you bear a false witness in your
heart, you even think bad of a brother. Don't do it. But that's our problem. That's
our problem. We can't do what we should do,
and we do what we shouldn't do. That's what Paul said, isn't
it? He said, what I shouldn't do, I do. And what I should do,
I don't. He said, oh, wretched man. The
apostle Paul. wrote three-quarters of the New
Testament. You know why? He said, old wretched
man, that I am. He was in the same boat as you
and I. And that's the problem with religion today. They somehow
or another think that man has the ability to do something to
please God. You can't do it. First of all,
you're dead in trespasses and sin. The wages of sin is death
and all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. So
all are dead. That's not hard, is it? All are
dead. Dead in trespasses and sin. And
Christ tells this young man, he said, you know the commandments.
I wonder how he knew that. Well, other than being God Almighty,
I tell you what, he knew just from the way this young man,
what good thing must I do? Well, there's another one of
them law men. They can tell you everything
they're supposed to do and everything they're not supposed to do. The
problem is I can't do any of it. The law, what do the laws
say? Well, here's what the law says,
Romans 3.19. Now we know that what things soever the law saith,
first it saith to them that are under the law, and all are under
the law of God, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world
may become guilty before God. What does the law say to David
Emerson? Guilty. You're guilty. And yet, this
young man in verse 20 of our text persists in his goodness
by ignorantly saying, all these have I observed from my youth. I've always done what's right.
That's just a little too long. Just a little too long. Our Lord
meets him and exposes him at his heart. And this is what God
does to those whom he loves. Notice that in that verse it
says, then Jesus beholding him loved him. Now I won't go into
this. It's not the meaning of my message
this morning. But I believe when it says that
Jesus beholding him loved him, even though this young man went
away sad, I think there was a time when he came. Because whoever
the Lord loves is going to come to him. And I don't know. There's some things in scripture
we're not meant to know. A lot of things, matter of fact.
So I won't try to throw my two cents worth in there on when
it came to be and how it came to be. We're not told. But if
it says, then Jesus beholding him loved him, I know he didn't
change his mind. And to those that Christ loves,
when you're convinced, you're good. Now, you think about this
in your own experience of grace. He then will expose to you your
deep-rooted sin. He'll meet you where you're at
every time. He'll expose something in your
heart that will tell you and show you that you're not as good
as you thought you were. Matter of fact, you're just the
opposite. You're wretched, you're evil, and good for nothing. God
has a way of doing that, doesn't He? If He loves you, He's not going
to let you go away in your goodness. He's going to intervene, and
He's going to show you that your goodness will only lead to condemnation. And He meets this young man at
his greatest weakness, and He says to him simply, He said,
One thing thou likest. He liked a lot more than that.
But Christ was meeting him where his heart was. He said, Go thy
way, and sell whatsoever thou hast, and give it to the poor. And listen, this would have been
a great deal for this young man because in the next phrase it
says, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven. My, if he'd have given
up everything, he'd come out ahead because he'd have treasure
in heaven. And that's something we still need to learn. We hold
on way too tightly to this world and the things of it. God gives
us the treasures of heaven and we holding on to these earthly
things are going to rust and corrupt and some one day be burn
up. And he says in come, verse 21,
come take up the cross and follow me. Now listen, according to
the law of God, if you lack just one thing, In the law, you're
guilty of the whole law. If you offend the law in one
point, you're guilty of the whole law, just as if you didn't keep
any of it. Why? Because if you're going
to keep the law to be saved, if you're going to do something
in order to be saved, you've got to keep it, everything, you've
got to keep it perfectly. Oh my, that's a tall order. No,
that's an impossible order. You can't do it. Why? Because there's none that doeth
good. You can't do it. And when Christ here tells him
to take up the cross and follow Him, you know what He was saying
was just this. He was saying, you're the guilty
one. Christ is telling him to take
up the cross on which you should be hung. That's your cross. He said, that's your cross, but
I'm going to make it mine. Now listen, follow me for I'll
take it up for you and I'll endure it for you. I'll hang on that
cross in your place, but that's your cross. You've heard that
song. I should have been crucified.
I should have suffered and died. And that's true of every man
and woman ever born into this, this world. Well, man, I tell you, your message
is kind of a discouraging message. I've got to give you the bad
news before I can give you the good. You're the one that should have
been crucified, but Christ said, I'll carry it. I'll carry it
up Calvary's mountain on my back. I'll take all the condemnation
that you deserve, that you earned, that belongs to you. And I'll satisfy the wrath of
God in your place, because I've kept the law perfectly. There's
only one good, and that's God. And here's God in the flesh,
dear friends. Here's God doing it for us. Hebrews 12, 2 says, looking unto
Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who, listen now,
who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross. And he didn't only take my cross,
Virgil, but he endured that cross joyfully. It pleased him to do
so. It pleased him. Despising the
shame, he endured the cross, despising the shame. But now
he sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Do you
know why? Because he was innocent. That
was my cross. That was my sin that he put away
on that cross. And that was yours. Christ endured what wasn't His. I'm telling you, there's no greater
enduring than enduring and despising the shame that does not belong
to you. I can remember in school, we
had a guy who was a little bitty guy, and I've always been big.
And he could hide behind me in class and stir up more trouble,
and the teacher would never see it, because I sat in front of
him. And he would throw spitballs
and he would do things that absolutely just, and every single time I
got blamed for it. Why? Because I'm the big doofus
sitting in front of him. Most of the time with a smile
on my face. Because I'm laughing at him. He's going to get in
trouble. No. And then when I'd get in trouble,
he'd sit behind me and he'd go, you big dummy, you always get
the blame, don't you? And that's tough. It's tough
to endure something that you didn't do personally. I hated
that. I'm like, hey, it's him, not
me. Christ endured the cross. It wasn't his cross that he bore. It was mine. It was yours. Oh, let's don't talk about what
we got to do, friends. Let's talk about what he did.
Let's talk about what he did. Years ago they had that bracelet.
What would Jesus do? It don't matter. What are you
going to do? You're going to do wrong every
time. That question and the issue is what Jesus did. What Jesus
did, not what would Jesus do. They say kids look at that and
they, you know, make a decision. They look at that and what would
Jesus do? Well, I need to do what Jesus would do. Well, you're
not. You can't. Might as well forget it. The
issue is what He did. And He died. And He took all
my sin upon Himself. All the sin of all God's elect
throughout all time. And He put that sin away. It's
gone. And now those that are found
in Him, they're free from that law. Free from doing. Free from
not doing. now shall we continue in sin
that grace may abound? God forbid but we're no longer
judged for our sin were you saying you'll never sin again brother
Dale? I'll sin before I get out of this pulpit but God's done
forgiven it and it's his prerogative isn't it? he's God he doesn't
have to check with anybody to see if it's alright it's God
that justifies who's gonna say a thing It's Christ that died. Who's going to argue against
that? Nobody can. Well, this young man went away
sad, the scripture says, for he had great possessions. And
I thought about this a whole lot, and you think about it with
me. Now, it's true, it says, that he had great possessions.
This young man was a rich, young ruler. He had great possessions,
is what verse 22 tells us. And it's true that he did trust
in his riches, but it's also true that he trusted in his doing. Now, let me tell you why. He
wasn't grieved because he had great possessions. Well, you give me a million dollars
today and see if I'm grieved. Seriously, think about that.
He wasn't grieved because of his great possessions. He went
away grieved because Christ asked him to do something he couldn't
do. Isn't that right? Go sell all that you've got.
Give it to the poor. Come follow me. I'll give you
treasures in heaven. And he went away sad because
he had great possession. He couldn't do it. Christ met
him where he was at. You kidding? He couldn't do it.
And all of a sudden, all his hope had now gone by the wayside. You know why? Because he trusted
in doing something. What good work can I do, Lord? Well, what does the law say?
All those I've done. One thing you lack. Go do this. Went away sad. Couldn't work
his way. Couldn't do anything that would
merit it. And neither can you. And neither
can any man or woman born of woman do anything to appease
God. Salvation is a free gift from
God Almighty and you don't have to work for it. It wouldn't be
a free gift if you did. But yet men are so depraved,
we're so evil by nature that we want to take some credit. What got, as Brother Chris said
last week, what got Lucifer kicked out? I will. I will exalt my
throne above the most high. I'll be like the most high. I'll
do this, I'll do that. No you won't. What got Adam and
Eve in trouble? Well, in the day you eat of that
fruit, you shall not die. You'll know the difference between
good and evil. You shall be as God. They said, I like that. I'll be as God. I will. Give
me that fruit. No, you won't. No, you won't. Christ said, I'm the vine, you
are the branches, and he that abideth in me, the same bringeth
forth much fruit. For without me, you can do nothing. Nothing. What can I do to be
saved? Nothing. What shall I do to be
saved? Nothing. It's a free gift of
God. Free gift. You see, Christ must
abide in us, and we must abide in Him. Then and only then can
we bring forth fruit. And notice, too, that it first
says that He must abide in us. You see, He's got to abide in
me before I'll ever abide in Him. When Christ shows me my
need of Him, He's already done a work. Because a dead man can't
do anything, can he? Can a dead man do anything? I
use my dad as an example. When he died in 1996, if I went
up to his casket and said, Daddy, take my hand, he wouldn't have done no good.
He was dead. Before we can Even seeing reach
out and touch the Lord as he passes by, God's already had
to give life. He's already had to visit us
in mercy and grace. All right, turn with me real
quick to Luke chapter 10 also. I wanna show you just another
quick example. Luke chapter 10, verse 25. Now
this is the story of the Good Samaritan. Everybody,
every child in Sunday school has been taught the story of
the Good Samaritan. But this story was told, and
we don't know if it's a parable, a true story, or just a narrative
in which Christ gave. We were not told. But this story
was told in response to a self-righteous lawyer. whose intentions were
to tempt Christ. And look at verse 25. And behold,
a certain lawyer stood up and tempted him, saying, Master,
what shall I do to inherit eternal life? Now, you'll be amazed at
the similarities between him and the rich young ruler. And
he said unto him, What's written in the law? What did he say to
the rich young ruler? You know the commandments, what
do they say? He says here, what's written in the law, how readest
thou? And the law, your answering said, thou shalt love the Lord
thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all
thy strength and with all thy mind and thy neighbor as thyself. And Christ looked at him and
he said, that was answered right. Your answer is right. In another
place, Christ said, on these two hang the whole law. If you
can love the Lord thy God with all your heart, with all your
soul, with all your strength, all your mind, and love your
neighbor as yourself, you're going to be all right. You know
what the problem is? We can't. I do love the Lord, but I don't
love him like all two. I don't. And neighbor? You have to be an awful good
one for me to love you a little. I sure can't love you as much
as I love myself. Because I love myself way too
much. And so do you. Just be honest. Be honest before God. You don't
have to tell me. Be honest before God. And Christ said, you've answered
right. You've got the right answer. He said, if you do that, thou
shalt live. Well, you would think that the
old fellow would go away happy, wouldn't you? No, he didn't no
more mean what he said than a man in the moon. And look at it.
It says in verse 29, but he willing to justify himself. That's what
people want to do. They want to justify themselves. And he said unto Jesus, well,
who is my neighbor? Who is my neighbor? Notice that
it says that he said it to tempt him in verse 25. He wanted to
see how Christ would answer him. And his purpose in raising this
learned and pious question was to tempt the Son of God, and
he was trying to get Him to say something against the law so
that he could go back and tell the Pharisees and the scribes
and all of them, the rulers of the synagogue, that he needed
to be crucified. He's out causing trouble. He's
speaking against the law of God. He wanted to discredit the Lord
of glory and discredit the gospel of God's free sovereign grace
in Christ. That's what this man wanted to
do. So he asks a very sincere sounding question. He says, Master,
what shall I do to inherit eternal life? Oh, doesn't that sound
just precious? What shall I do? I'm willing to do it. That's
what Peter said. I'm willing to go to the cross
and die with you. And Christ said, oh, Peter, slow
down, buddy. He said, before the cock crows
twice, you'll deny me three times. Peter said, not I. Not I would
he do. Christ asked him three times
after he had resurrected. He said, Peter, do you love me? He said, Lord, I don't know.
Feed my sheep, feed my sheep, feed my sheep. Oh, don't say
what you're going to do. Christ answered him with a question
of his own. He said, what's written in the
law? How readest thou? And that's pretty much the same
thing he asked the rich young ruler. Thou knowest the commandments,
he asked him. And now he asked this man, what
does the law and the commandments say? And he said to him, what's
written in the law? How do you read it? And the man
came seeking to justify himself and he said, who is my name? He's trying to seek righteousness
by the law, and he didn't understand the law. This man answers correctly,
but he still didn't understand. And anyway, to get to the point,
the only problem, dear friends, was this man was no This man
or no other man that has ever lived has the ability to love
God with all their heart, soul, spirit, and mind. They definitely
can't love their neighbors themselves. And if men insist on doing something
to be saved, they must do everything, and they must do everything perfectly,
and we can't. If you'd be saved, justified,
sanctified, assured of acceptance, made righteous, In any way or
to any degree by keeping the law, you've got to keep it. You can't just say, I've done
all those since my youth. No, you've got to keep it. And
you've got to keep it perfectly. Now you take Jesus by the hand
and he will guide you is what that church sign said, right
Gary? You saw it. And I'm here this morning to
tell you by the power and authority of God Almighty and declare to
you, dear friends, that you can't take Jesus by the hand. You can't. You can't do it. You must love God perfectly. You can't. You must love your
neighbor, your worst, most hated enemy. That's what he meant by
neighbor. You can't. It's impossible to obtain eternal
life by obedience to the law for one very obvious reason.
No sinful man can obey God's law. He can't do it. The law
wasn't given for you to keep. It was given to show your inability
to keep it, to shut you up to Christ. The law was our schoolmaster,
what? To bring us to Christ. But this lawyer, willing to justify
himself, he said unto Christ, Who is my neighbor? And like
most people, this man ignored the Lord's word. And rather than
acknowledging his failure and his sin, He attempts to justify
himself. He was embarrassed. I know he
was, and he tried to cover it up by changing the subject. Well,
who is my neighbor? You see, if he could make the
law say and require less than it required, he might be able
to find some comfort, or at least make some people think that he
found comfort in it. Well, who is my neighbor? Therefore, ignoring what he had
just quoted about loving God with his whole heart, he says,
well, who is my neighbor? And this indication seems to
have been, I've loved my neighbor, and I do. I love my family. I love my relatives. I love my
kinsmen. I love my nation. That's easy. That's easy. They're yours. And
even though I doubt if he did that, but your neighbor, those
that God requires you to love, Love is yourself. They're not
your family and friends. They're your worst enemies. Oh
my. The law requires, and I'll never
forget this, that we must do what no man can do. Christ the
God-man has done for his people precisely what the law requires. Why are people mad that they
can't do something that Christ has already done for them? You've
just got to bow. Humble yourselves, therefore,
under the mighty hand of God. The Lord Jesus Christ came here
to fulfill the law for us, loving God with all his heart, loving
his neighbor as himself. That's what the story of the
Good Samaritan is all about. Read it again. For when we were
yet without strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly.
For scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet perventure
for a good man some would even dare to die. But God, but God
commendeth his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us. You see, works religion. I'm
about to close. Works religion is missed the
truth. They proudly boast on their billboard signs things
for you to do and you can't. Quit trying. Quit trying. I seen one one day said, let
go and let God. I can let go pretty good, especially
with my sin, but I can't let God do nothing. If I could, then
I'm God, and you better get ready to deal with me. Let God. Those words don't even go in
the same sentence together. They don't. How can I let God
do anything? Well, you take Jesus by the hand,
you're dead. There's no life in you. How are
you going to take anything, take anybody's hand? And listen, the
first action ever taken in raising a poor sinner is always taken
by God Himself first. We love Him, why? Because He
first loved us. If I have any desire to serve
God, God's already done a work of grace in my heart. Why? Because
I was dead. Plumb dead. Completely dead. I was going to have you turn
here, but I'm not. But I'm going to just briefly go over this
with you. In 1 Samuel 2, there was a lady
by the name of Hannah. And she prayed a prayer that
should be an example to each one of us. And in 1 Samuel 2,
you don't have to turn there, in verse 6, she says these words. She says, the Lord killeth and
maketh alive. He bringeth down to the grave
and bringeth up." Who does? God does. God does it. Who bringeth up? God does. Did I take Him by the hand? No
siree, He bringeth up. In verse 7 it says, The Lord
maketh poor and maketh rich. He bringeth low and lifteth up.
Oh, who does? The Lord does. Spiritually and
physically speaking, it's God Almighty that makes poor. It's
God who makes you poor in spirit and causes you to say, I must
decrease, Christ must increase. It's God that maketh you rich,
for He is rich in mercy. But God who is rich in mercy,
for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were
dead. Don't take my word for it, read
the scriptures. Dead in sins, he hath quickened
us. That word means made us alive. Together with Christ by grace
are you saved. Not by taking God's hand. It's
God who brings us down that he may raise us up. Verse 8 of Hannah's
wonderful prayer, it says, He raiseth up the poor out of the
dust, and He lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill. You're talking
about me. I'm a beggar. And where am I at? I'm in a dunghill. Now, I don't have to tell you
what a dunghill is, do I? It's a heap of repulsive manure. Let's just be honest. That's
what it is. And He sets us among princes. And He makes us. Did you hear that? He makes us
inherit. I wasn't willing to inherit anything
He had, but He made me willing. And now I inherit because He
made me inherit the throne of glory. For the pillars of the
earth are the Lord's, and He's set the world upon them." He
didn't just say earth. He didn't say the moon, the world.
God's in control of the whole shooting act. We're pouring in
the dust. Me and you are beggars. If I
hold out my hand, it's not to take His. You know what it is?
It's to get a beggarly hand out. Would you please help a beggar
out? And if I can do that, God's already done a work of grace.
That's right. I'm a beggar in the dunghill.
Do you know what a dunghill, pile of manure, heap of dungs,
a something or a situation or condition that is repulsive or
degraded? And He lifts us out of the dunghill. Mexus and Herod. And she said,
he'll keep the feet of his saints. And the wicked shall be silent
in darkness. And she ends verse nine with
these words. For by strength shall no man
prevail. What? Salvation's of the Lord. He not only saves us by grace,
He makes us to inherit the throne of grace. He keeps us by His
grace. Wicked men be silent in darkness,
for by strength shall no man prevail. I can do nothing, Christ
is all. If I could do something to cause
God to save me, then Christ would profit me nothing, would He?
No. Take God's hand? That would require
some strength, would it not? Not by strength shall any man
prevail. He reached down His hand for
me. That's the truth. He reached
down His hand. He grabbed you out of the dunghill,
Gary. Made you sit in heavenly places
with Christ. The richest and the most wise
man that ever lived, Solomon, said, for all this I considered
in my heart, even to declare all this, that the righteous
and the wise and their works are in the hand of God. No man knoweth either love or
hatred by all that's set before him. It's in the hand of God.
And Peter, the same one that denied him, the same one he asked
three times, Do you love me? He said, I love you. He said,
feed my sheep. He wrote this. He said, humble yourselves. Humble
yourselves. Don't ask what you can do. Humble yourselves in what Christ
has already done. Humble yourselves, therefore,
under what? The mighty hand of God. That's
what we're talking about, taking God's hand, aren't we? Humble
yourself under the mighty hand of God. That's a hand that needs
no help.