All right, open your Bibles with
me to Luke chapter 22. I do want to tell you how much
I appreciate the opportunity to be here. I was here last year
at your first meeting and enjoyed it very, very much. And I appreciate
all the effort that you all have put into it, the good food. And
I know it's a labor. But I appreciate it so much.
We do it every year. Third weekend in June. And our
meeting this year is June 20th through the 22nd. But I do so appreciate the privilege
of being here. And the songs that's been sung,
the messages have been such a blessing to me. Oh, my. I love to hear
good preaching, don't you? And it's been good so far. Got to always be something wrong
somewhere, you know. Got to be a fly anointment. I
hope it ain't me. I hope it ain't me. I hope it
ain't me. But, you know, here in Luke 22, it
was the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and our Lord Jesus Christ was
going to have his last Passover with his disciples. And he had
the Passover with them, and they're in the upper room. And he told
them about how he was going to be betrayed. That he was going
to be betrayed. And it says there in verse 23,
And they began to inquire among themselves which of them it was
that should do this thing. Who would do such a thing? Who
would betray our Master? Who would betray? Our Lord Jesus
Christ. Who would betray the one who
loved us so, the one who's met all of our needs, the one who
has been such comfort and loved us and taught us and kept us
all this time? Who would do such a thing? And
immediately, they're still in the upper room. And while this
is going on, it says there in verse 24, and then they began
to argue among themselves after they said, which one of us would
possibly betray? Which one of us would do this
thing? Then they began to talk about which one of us is going
to be the greatest. I wouldn't do it because I'm greater than
you. I'm stronger than you. I've got more faith in you. I
love the Lord more than you do. I'm closer to Christ than you
are. I pray more than you do. I understand what the Lord says
more than you do. So they began to argue among
themselves which of them should be the greatest. They're in verse
24. Well, our Lord, He began to teach them, said, it's not
the way it's going to be. It's the way the world does. The greatest
out in the world, that's the one that exercises authority.
He said, that's not going to be that way in the Kingdom of
God. You take the least among you, the very least one, and
that's the one that's going to be the greatest. The one that's
nobody. God said, I'll take the weak
to confound the mighty, the foolish to confound the wise. He said,
that's the way it's going. You take the very least. He said,
that's to be the one. He says, you know, if the saints
judge the world, shall we not take the least among you to be
the one to judge among the saints? And then he goes on down to Salem,
tell him down here in verse 29, he said, And I appoint unto you
a kingdom, a kingdom, as my father hath appointed me. You're going
to be with me in this kingdom. You're going to help me. You're
going to be used of me to set up my kingdom in this world.
And then when this kingdom, when we come into glory and the kingdom's
there, he said, You're going to eat and drink at my table
in my kingdom and sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes
of Israel. gave these men great encouragement,
told them of the reward and how he's going to bless them. And
then he says this, and the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to
have you that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for
thee that thy faith fail not. And when thou art converted,
strengthen thy brethren. And he said unto him, Lord, I
am ready to go with thee both into prison and to death. And
he said, I tell thee, Peter, the cock shall not crow this
day before that thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest me." I want to ask this question. Will your faith fail? Will my
faith fail? Will our faith fail? Gary gave
four great warnings that our Lord gave us. And as He read
them, I began to think to myself, what gate did I go in? Is the
Lord using Him to tell me something right now? Speak to me. Have I listened to a false prophet?
Have I got a false profession? Have I built my house on a false
foundation? They're real, as that happens
to people. And people's faith, they profess to have it, and
it fails. But will anyone for whom Christ died, will their
faith fail? Will it end up not being real,
not being true? No matter how weak it is, or
strong it is, or how mighty it is, or what we think about it?
That's what our Lord said here, Simon, Simon. Simon, Simon. Simon Simon we sang that song
that wonderful song and I preached this at home last week a wonderful
Savior's Jesus my Lord a Wonderful Savior to me. He hideth my soul
in the cleft of the rock that shatters a dry thirsty land He
hideth my life in the depths of his love and covers me there
with his hand. Well, that's what he's doing
right here with Simon Peter He's covered his head he's covered
Simon Peter with his hand Helping him, upholding him, and that's
what he's doing. And so he says, Simon, Simon. Simon, Simon. You know, he didn't
call him Simon Peter or Peter down here until verse 34. And
he said, I tell thee, Peter. You know, Peter means rock. You're
the rock. He didn't tell him he was a rock
here. He didn't tell him he was a rock here. And look how our
Lord said it. He said it so graciously, so
compassionately, so tenderly. Simon, Simon, just got through
telling him, you're going to have a throne. And you're going
to sit on a throne in my kingdom. Then he turns right around and
says, Simon, Simon, such tenderness, compassion. And gives him a fearful,
fearful warning here. It tells him about an enemy. It tells him about an enemy.
He says, Satan, Satan hath desired you. Satan hath desired you,
to have you, one of God's elect, one of God's chosen, you an apostle,
you one who walked on water, you that's been with me in my
temptations, you that sat down at the table with me
and ate with me and saw me when I raised the dead, Satan hath
desired to have you an apostle, an elect one, a chosen one. And
oh, he tells them about an awful, awful enemy that we have. And
I'll tell you something about it. He said, you know, Satan
desired to have you. Satan's working and they didn't know
it. They didn't know it. They didn't know Satan was there.
They didn't know the devil. He did not know the devil was
going to have him and sit to him this week. He didn't know
he was working. He was near the flock and they
did not have a clue that he was among that flock. Not the first
clue. And beloved, ain't that the way
it was in the book of Job? Job opened up, he says, the sons
of God presented themselves before God, and Satan appeared there
with them. And God said to him, have you
considered my servant Job? And what are you doing here?
He said, I've went to and fro on the face of the earth, looking,
searching. And oh, beloved, that's the way
he does. Wherever the people of God are, you mark it down,
he comes with them. And he don't come dressed up. He comes just dressed like I
am, with a suit on and a Bible. That's what, when he read those
verses tonight, you know where the false prophet hangs out?
He's right at the gate. He hangs around the gate. He
don't want you to get in the straight gate. He wants you to
get in the wide gate. He hangs around the gate. He don't want
to watch where you go. And that's what he done here.
And our Lord said, Oh, we've got an awful enemy. And as an
enemy of our Lord Jesus Christ and His blessed people, He's
got several names. And our Lord called Him Satan
here, and He's got it capitalized, because that's His title. Satan,
the archenemy, the serpent. And He's called subtle for His
deception, His ability to deceive. He's crafty. He deceived our
mother Eve through His subtlety, through His craftiness. He beguiled
her. And then Simon Peter, the one
here who was sifted by him, he says, Your adversary, the devil,
goes about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. He
was called a lion for his fierceness. He's called a lion for his aggressiveness. He's called a lion for his fierceness
and his ability to intimidate and cow down people and make
them afraid. And oh, then he's called an angel
of light. Because an angel, he comes in
dazzling. He comes in and impresses people.
He comes in shining. Oh, he comes in. Oh, that fellow,
I've never seen anything like him. Heard nothing like it. He
beats anything up and he comes in as an angel of light. Dazzling,
bright, brilliant. And then also, he's called an
accuser of the brethren. He told God, he says, you know,
your servant Job, He don't love you because you're God. He don't
worship you because you're God. He only worships you and comes
to you and worships you because of all the blessings you've given
Him. You give Him lots of cattle. You give Him lots of children.
You give Him fine houses. You give Him lots of money. And
if you take all that away from Him, He'll cuss you to your face.
He just serves you for what He can get out of you. He does not
care for you. He don't love you. He don't care
for your holiness. He don't care for your righteousness.
He don't care for your blood. He don't care for all you've
done for him. He don't care. He just cares
for what you got. Turn down that hedge around him,
let me have him, and he'll cuss you to your face. That's what
he does. He accuses us to God. He says,
them people down there, they don't love you. They're serving
you because they don't want to go to hell. They're using Jesus
as a fire escape. They're using Him as a doormat.
They don't love Him for who He is. They don't love His glory
and His righteousness and His power and His compassion and
His love. They don't love Him. They don't
love Him for who He is. Oh, listen, old Job said, though
He slay me, though He slay me, I'm going to trust Him. I'm going
to trust Him. And oh, beloved, listen. And
then look over here at John 8 with me, just a moment. John 8. He's
called a murderer. He's called a murderer. We got
an enemy, an awful enemy. An awful, awful enemy. He's called
a murderer. And a liar. Our Lord said here in John 8,
verse 44. Now He's talking to religious people, sons of Abraham,
as a matter of fact. You are of your father the devil,
and the lust of your father you will do. He was a murderer from
the beginning. Who did he murder? Adam. And
he murdered all of us in him. All of us died in him. And not
only that, he abode not in the truth. Oh, he didn't abide in
the truth because there's no truth in him. If there's no truth
in you, you can't abide in the truth. And when he speaks a lie,
he speaks of his own, for he's a liar. and the father of it.
So he's called a murderer. He wants to destroy men's souls.
And not only that, but he's the same one that when that seed's
sown by the wayside, he comes and snatches it away. He comes
and snatches away the seed that's sown. And then he's the one who
comes and sows the tares among the wheat. Now, beloved, we know
that the world is a snare. The world is a snare. You know
that world out there that we live in? The political world,
the social world, the intellectual world, the economic world, the
world we have to work in, all these worlds. Scientific world,
all these worlds, they got snares for us and they entangle us.
And the flesh, what an awful burden. Paul said, Oh, wretched
man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death? The
world's a snare, the flesh is an awful burden. But thus, neither
one of them's an enemy to us like the enemy of the devil.
He's invisible. You can't see him. He's got 6,000
years experience dealing with people like you and me. He was so brash, so arrogant,
that he even took on the Lord Jesus Christ 40 days and 40 nights. Now that's a pretty potent enemy,
ain't he? And oh, He overthrew our first
parents. He overthrew David when David
stood out one day out meditating. He looked down through there
and there's a woman down there and that said, Oh, you need that woman.
And not only did He take the woman, but then He committed
murder over that woman. And He did take Simon Peter when
our Lord said, He seeks to sift you. He sifted him. I mean, He
sifted him and sifted him hard. But oh, we have a blessed promise.
Resist the devil and he'll flee from you. Draw nigh to God and
he'll draw nigh to you. And look in Romans 16, 20, just
a moment. Let me show you this. This is
a blessed promise right here. Look at this blessed promise.
Romans 16, 20. This is soon to happen. And the
God of peace And the God of peace shall brew Satan, Satan, shall
brew Satan under your feet shortly. That means just right now, just,
just, I mean, it's right on us going to bruise him under our
feet. Oh, but now look over here. You
know, that's, I painted an awful dark picture and we've got an
enemy. And I don't want to deal with
him. I want my master to deal with him. My master's already
dealt with him. My master's defeated him. You
know, in Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, they got on Bob Pass Meadow one
time, and they finally got straightened out, and they got back on the
road, and they was going up through there, and there's this beautiful
house up there they wanted to go to. There was light in it, and
it was dark, and lightning, and everything going on, and they
started up through this path, and all of a sudden, there's
two big lines up there in front of that house that they wanted
to go into. And them lines just roared, and roared, and lunged at him.
And they jumped back, they jumped back, yeah, we're gonna get that
house down, we're gonna get to that place of comfort and rest, and
get in there where that light's at. Them lines is in the way. And then they got to looking,
they got to looking. I said, well, them lines is on chains.
So they just, they just walked around. And you know the chain,
stay away, don't let, you know, he's not going so far. That's the way it is with our
Lord. He's on a chain. He can only go so far. He can
only go so far. But now watch what else happens
here. And the Lord said unto Simon, Simon, Simon, Satan hath
decided to sift you as wheat. Now watch this. But, you think, thank God for these
verses. Thank God for these buts in the
scripture. Oh, thank God for these buts.
But, I have prayed for thee. I prayed for thee that what?
That your faith fail. It's going to be assaulted. It's
going to be put in the crucible. Satan himself is going to shift
you and try to, he's going to shift you and hope and he thinks
that he's going to turn you to where you're nothing but trash.
But there's some wheat there. And he said, I prayed for you
that your faith fail not. What a glorious, glorious, blessed
truth. Peter had an intercession. Peter
had somebody praying for him. Peter had somebody. He had a
great high priest that was in the presence of God praying for
him. Look what he said, I prayed for
thee. He didn't say your brethren prayed for you. He didn't say
you prayed for yourself. He said, I prayed for you. And
you know what? He prayed for him before the
temptation ever come. He said, this is coming. Satan
desires to have you. And he prayed for him before
it ever happened. Told him it was going to happen. Said, I
prayed for you before it ever did happen. And what our Lord
said in John 17 and 9, I pray not for the world, but for those
that has given me out of the world. And he said, Father, all
those that you gave me, I have kept them and lost none of them
save the son of perdition. that the scripture might be fulfilled.
And then he says, Father, they're in the world, and I pray don't
take them out of the world, just keep them from the evil that's
in the world. I pray for you. Now, beloved,
our Lord Jesus Christ prayed for his people before you and
I ever existed. Ain't that right? He said, I
pray for them who shall believe on me through their words. And
then as many as are ordained to eternal life believe." Why?
Because we heard that word. And oh, He said, I pray for you.
Before the temptation, I prayed for you. And the only reason
He did not fully and finally fall away was because of Christ. Because of what our Lord Jesus
Christ did. You know, I know this and I know
it as well as I know my name, that in me, in my flesh, there's
no good thing. People talk about, you know,
I have this strength and I have that strength. I got news for
you. I have none. Christ is my strength. I've tried
to stand on my own and I ain't never been able to do it. Can't
do it. Don't even try. I gave up trying
that years ago. But the only reason he did not
fully and finally fall away was because of our Lord Jesus Christ.
And you know, our Lord promised that he would lose none. Look
in John 6 with me just a moment. John 6. You see, he promised. He promised that he'd lose none.
And here's one of his. Look in John 6, 37. He promised
that he'd lose none. And you know, that's the thing
that, you know, all the promises of God are in Christ. Yay and
amen. And that's what, oh, how firm a foundation you saints
of the Lord has laid for your faith in His excellent Word.
What more can He say than to you that He has said to Jesus,
to you who for Jesus have refuge fled? And oh, look what He said. He promised He'd lose none. All
that the Father gives me, in John 6, verse 37, shall come
to me. And him that cometh to me, I'll
know why he's cast out. Oh, if Simon Peter, if anybody
needed to be cast out, it'd be him. He's going to deny the Lord
three times. But oh, he said, I came down
from heaven not to do mine own will, but the will of him that
sent me. And this is why I won't cast
him out. And this is the Father's will, which he has sent me, that
all which he has given me, I should lose nothing. Not only will I not lose it,
but I'll raise it up again at the last day. Oh, He promised that He'd lose
none. I won't lose one. And then He promised eternal
life. He didn't promise life until you do good or do bad. He didn't promise you life until
you sin. He didn't promise you life until
your faith is not perfect. He didn't promise you life if
you do the best you can. He didn't promise you His life
if you wasn't faithful. He promised eternal life! And He gives life! One of the preachers said it
this morning, he said, y'all, can you just imagine the Lord
said, I invite you to take life? Invite you to take life? Did you invite your children
to take life? No! He said, I give it! I give it. You know how long it is? And
people argue and debate over the length of eternal life. It's not the length of it, it's
the quality of it. It's the life of God in a man's
soul. It's Christ in you, the hope
of glory. It's what we have in Christ that
makes it eternal. It's the quality of it. And then,
beloved, He promised that one day they'd be where He was, and
they'd behold His glory. He said, Father, I will, that
they whom Thou hast given Me be with Me where I am, that they
may behold My glory. And you reckon that we'll be
there? He said, I will. And then, beloved, He also promised
this. This is why He didn't fall and
fail and His faith didn't fail. That He said, I'll never leave
you and I'll never forsake you. I'll go with you even to the
end. I'll go with you. And then He says, I prayed for
thee that thy faith fail not. Thy faith. Thy faith. That faith that I gave you. That
faith that was a gift. That faith that looked outside
itself. Faith is not self-inaction. Faith
is self-renounced, self-abhorred. Beloved, but if faith fails,
I pray for you that your faith fails. If faith fails, everything
fails. Everything fails. Courage fails. Patience fails. Hope fails. Love fails. Joy fails. Peace fails. All hope is gone
if faith fails. If faith, if it's gone, all is
gone. But he said, I prayed for you.
I prayed for you that your faith will not fail. No wonder Simon Peter says, unto
you that have obtained like precious faith." Oh, it's precious. It's precious. And our faith
won't fail. And you know why it won't? Because
Christ won't fail. Oh my, I couldn't count the times
I've failed. I couldn't begin to count the
times that I've quit. I couldn't begin to count the
times that I've said, How can you have anything to do with
me? That our faith won't fail because Christ won't fail? He
sits right now. Right now. He appears in the
presence of God for us right now. Sits at God's right hand
with an omnipotent hand. And He's got all power in heaven
and earth. And He exercises that power and
exerts that power for all whom He died. And He exerts that power
from people who haven't yet believed on Him and gonna give them faith.
And when He gives it to them, it'll never fail because He prays
for them. Huh? Oh my! He ever lives to
make intercession for us. Ever lives. Look what else He
says now. Here in Luke 32. Oh, he said, Simon, they desired
to have you, that he may sift your sweet. But I prayed for
you. I prayed for you, that thy faith fail not. Ain't
you grateful that the Lord Jesus Christ, that great high priest,
when he went in, he had the names of children on his breastplate
and also on his shoulder. And our Lord Jesus got us on
his heart and bears our weight on his shoulder. And you know it's His faithfulness
that's going to keep us faithful. And then look here at a sure
thing that's going to happen. And He says there in verse 32,
But I prayed for thee that thy faith fail not, and when thy
heart converted. Oh, He was sure that He's going
to be sifted. It's also sure that His faith
is not going to fail because Christ prayed for Him. And it's
also sure that He's going to be converted. He said, when you're
converted, strengthen the brethren, strengthen thy brethren. Oh,
he's going to fall. He's going to fall. Simon Peter
said in verse 33, he said, Oh Lord, I'm ready to go with you. I'm ready to go to jail if that's
where you're going. I'm ready to go to prison. I'm
ready to die. And our Lord said, you're going
to deny me three times. It's late in the evening and
they ain't left the upper room yet to go out into Gethsemane. He
don't leave there till verse 39. He can't get up and go out
to Gethsemane. But here he is. He said, you
know it's dark now and before daylight comes, before the rooster
crows the first time, he said, you're going to deny me three
times. He's going to fall. He's going to deny his master.
He's going to be sifted. But he says, when you're converted,
strengthen the brethren. Now how in the world is this
going to do him any good? this fall. How's it going to
do him any good? How will it do the cause of Christ
any good? How will it do his gospel any
good? And he's going to be converted. And what is a conversion? It's
something that happens to us just regular. How many times
have we been converted? How many times have we been converted? We're just constantly being turned
away from ourselves. And that's what a conversion
is, it's being turned from, too. And, you know, we get converted
from traditions, get converted from false ideas, get converted
from self-confidence. And, you know, conversion is
a turning from. And Simon Peter must be turned
from what he was before. Oh, mine. His conversion. How
is He going to do any good? What's His conversion going to
do? His conversion, He said, strengthen the brethren. His
conversion will be a glorious, glorious display of the grace
and faithfulness of the Lord Jesus Christ. When He said, I
will never, ever cast you out. Here's a perfect illustration
of that. Here's a perfect illustration of that. Let me ask you this.
If you'd have been there when you come in at Noah's day, and
you saw Noah laying there naked and drunk, what would you have thought of
him? You'd say, there ain't no way in the world that man can
know God. Go see your Abraham. He's up
there at Abimelech's palace. His wife, Sarah, is with him.
He said, Now, Sarah, you tell him that you're my sister, because
they're going to kill me and take you. That's how good-looking
you are, so listen. They do what they want to, don't
hurt me. If you'd have been standing there
and heard him lie like that, selfish and self-centered, you'd
have said, That's the father of the faithful? God made a promise
to him? There ain't nothing to him. Been
there when David took Bathsheba, got her pregnant. Uriah come
home. Wouldn't have nothing to do with
it. Said, oh, listen, Joab, you take him and you put him right
in the heat of the battle. I don't want him coming back here. Said,
I don't want him back here. Not only did he take his wife,
but then he took his life. If you'd have been there, what
would you have thought of David, the man after God's own heart? If you'd have been there, here's
Simon Peter, one day walked on water, and he's sitting there
by the enemy's fire, warming himself. Oh, you're one of them
Galileans, you're a beast of treachery. Oh, not me, not me,
I don't know that fellow. Another fellow says, well, ain't
you one of them fellows that's been running around with him this
I know, I know, you got me mixed up somebody. If you'd have been
there, what would you, you thought, this man's an apostle. This man
knows Christ? Huh? Oh, if somebody saw me and you,
where we was at, what we was doing, what we was saying, how
we was acting, would they say, does that man know Christ? Thank God, He says, I will in
no wise, no way, under any circumstances, ever cast a man out. If God would
ever cast a man out, He would have cast me out years and years
and years ago. Ain't you grateful? Huh? Now, I didn't say all those things
to tell you, you know, that all those things are warning for
us. This is what not to do. Don't see how far you can sin.
Don't see how far you can take the grace of God and go with
sin on your own. No, no. All those things are
written for our learning, for our admonition to keep us and
teach us what not to do. And oh my. And who better to
tell of Christ's faithfulness? And who could talk about How
Christ is faithful and gracious and merciful more than Simon
Peter, huh? He must be converted. He must
be turned from his self-confidence. He must be turned from trusting
his own strength. He must be turned from trusting
his own ability. He didn't know himself. He was
deceived. He said, I'll go with you even to death and prison. He deceived in his own self.
And oh my, he didn't know himself and he got to learn himself.
And oh, Jeremiah says, turn us, O Lord, and we shall be turned.
And who better to tell the brethren the bitterness of falling than
one who has fallen? Who better to tell the weakness
of the flesh than those who have trusted the flesh? Look over
here in verse 60 in Luke 22. Here's where his conversion starts.
This is one of the most astounding things I've ever seen in all
the world. And right here it is in front of us. Luke 22.60,
and Peter says, Man, this is the third time I know not what
thou sayest. And immediately while he yet
spake, the rooster crowed. Now look, and the Lord turned
and looked upon Peter. Oh my, looking right at him.
Looking in the depths of his soul. Simon Peter just denied
Him three times. And Peter remembered the Word
of the Lord, how He said unto him, Before the crow thou shalt deny
me thrice. And what happened? This is when
his conversion started. Converted from his self-confidence,
his self-righteousness, his pride, his arrogance, false ideas of
himself, and Peter went out. and wept bitterly. And how many
times have we had to go out and wept bitterly? Who better to
tell the brethren of the grace and the mercy and the forgiveness
and the power of the Lord Jesus Christ than someone like Simon
Peter? Who better to tell of Christ's
faithfulness than those who are unfaithful? As we receive mercy,
let us faint not. And look with me in John 21.
I'll be done just in a moment. How long have I been? You got
a clock up here? Look with me in John 21. This
is such a blessing right here. John 21. You know, they went off fishing.
They went off fishing here in John 21. In verse 5, it says, our Lord Jesus
says, Have you any meat? They got to
him, no, we ain't got no bread, we ain't got nothing to eat.
They answered him, no. And he said unto them, cast your
net on the right side of the ship, and you'll find. They cast
therefore now, and they were not able to draw it to land for
the multitude of the fishes. Now watch this. Therefore that
disciple whom Jesus loved, oh John, whom Jesus loves saith
unto Peter, it's the Lord, it's the Lord, that's the Lord over
there. Now when Simon Peter heard that, he girded his fishes coat about
him, for he is naked, and he didn't wait for them, he didn't
help them fellas draw them fish to land, he didn't help row that
boat, he had to get to Christ just as fast as he could get
there. Why? Because Because even though
our faith sometimes feel like it's plum gone, like the devil's
turned us every way but loose, we still have the confidence
and the desire and the need to get to Christ and do it with
confidence no matter how far we've fallen. No matter how far
we've fallen. And ain't that what it is? Now
look back over in Luke 22 and I'll be done. He throwed himself
in there. And you know, here's one of those
instances, you know, here comes the devil. And he said, here
you have an apostle who denied you. And still you love him? Still you use him? He said, I'll take the week to
confound him. That's what so many people say.
I've never failed. I've been faithful for 35 years. I've been, I've never, I've been,
I've went to Sunday school all my life and they talk about all
that they have done. And you mean tell me I'm not going to
get more than somebody else? God said, I take this man who
is nothing to bring to nothing all you who
think you're something. That's not right. I'll leave
God to let you stand on your own and see what's right. Oh
Lord, I prayed for you. He said, I prayed for you. And
look down here in verse 38, or verse 37, and I'm through. Here's
the reason none for whom Christ died will ever perish. He said,
For I say unto you that this that is written must yet be accomplished
in me. Everything that's written must
be accomplished in my body, in my heart, In my mind, in my soul,
in my suffering, in my death, everything about me that's written
must be accomplished in me. And then he quoted Isaiah 53,
12, and he was reckoned among the transgressors. And let me
tell you how I understand this. He said, Simon Peter, he's a
transgressor. John's a transgressor. I'm a transgressor. And our Lord
says, number me among them. Number me among them. And this
shows us that his death was substitutionary. Number me among the transgressors.
I'm a transgressor. The Lord says, number me with
him. Number me with him. Oh, he's an awful transgressor.
Number me with him. He transgressed more than the
hairs of your head. Number me with Him. He drank the liquid
of life water. Number me with Him. And then watch what he says. For the things concerning me have an end. They have a completion.
They have a finish. They have an end to them. And
beloved, you know where it ends? He cried with a loud voice and
said, it is finished. And he gave up the ghost. And every transgression that
he was numbered among was cleared of every charge and every guilt
that had ever be brought against him for all time and eternity. Ain't that right? Ain't that
right? Oh, the Lord bless you all. God
bless you, Tommy.