There you go. Well, that's a real beginning. Drop your pick. Wonderful, merciful Savior Precious
Redeemer and friend Who would have thought that a lamb could
rescue the soul of man? Oh, you rescued the souls of
man. Counselor, conferrer, healer,
spirit, we long your embrace. You gave us hope when our hearts
had hopelessly lost our way. Oh, we'd hopelessly lost our
way. You are the one that we pray. You are the one we adore. You gave the healing and grace
our hearts always hunger for. Oh, our hearts always hunger
for. Almighty Infinite Father Faithfully
loving your own Here in our weakness you find us Falling before your
throne Oh, we're falling before your throne You are the one that
we pray. You are the one we adore. You gave the healing and grace. Our hearts always hunger. Oh, our hearts always hunger. You are the one that we praise
You are the one we adore You gave the healing and grace Our
hearts always hunger ? Oh, our hearts always hunger for more
? Now, we hungered almost. Don't that message make you want
to just be an old milk cow? He said, just want to be an old
milk cow. Just pulling the arc. Oh, just pulling the arc. Brother Mike Walker. Mike, looking
forward to this message. Lord, bless your heart. Brother
Mike Walker. I'm so glad that Paul listened
to Mindy. That was amazing, wasn't it? They were singing that song,
I couldn't help but think. I wonder what them Philistines
were thinking. You know, they're sitting there
watching it. The whole time they think there's nothing to that
God. Wait a minute. They're leaving
their young ones? What's going on here? This thing's
not by chance. It's on purpose. If you think
about all that, God's in control of all that. What a great God
we serve. I can tell you I wouldn't have
took a million worlds from what we've had this weekend. I would
not have missed out for nothing. I remember Mindy telling me about
that message years ago and I listened to it. I listened to it on tape.
Man, it's great. But there's no substitute but
sitting with God's people. It's like us yesterday over at
Bruce's house. We just sit down, we just fellowship,
we just rejoice. That's what we're doing this
morning around him. Joe, thank you for your hospitality.
Bruce, just, I can't tell you how much I appreciate you. Thank
you for asking this old boy from North Carolina to come and spend
some time with y'all. It's been my privilege. And Paula
so much. And me and Dee, I've enjoyed
it so much. Enjoyed it. And I enjoy my wife traveling
with me. I appreciate her. She's a blessing. I was talking
earlier about, you know, some of us ain't real good with computers.
And, you know, they said, Bruce said somebody made him an icon.
I said, Sandy's my icon. Everybody says they have a GPS. She's my GPS. Go places with
Sandy. You know, I'm glad we can laugh
and go on. We don't have to be sad all the
time. What do we have to be sad about? Alice, what do you have
to be sad about? Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Fear not. You know, I'm just
sitting there thinking, it's amazing how each message is just
tied right in together. I tell you, only God can do that. I don't know what He's going
to speak on, I don't know who He's going to speak about, but
I don't know what part of the book He's going from, and He
don't me either. Sometimes we'll ask each other,
but the Lord does that. brings our thoughts back to Him. And that's what it's about. And
only He can do that. Like I said the other night,
we want to worship God, but you can't make yourself worship God.
That's an impossibility. It's just an impossibility. Boy,
He can. You come in here and He enables
you. You come in here and some of y'all have traveled a long
ways and your body's just tired and wore out. And you come in
here and you leave and go, man, I ain't tired anymore. Now, I
may be in about 30 or 45 minutes later, but at that moment, it's
just like you lay down and slept and rested, and that's what you
did. Because all the time, we're working. Let's just be honest,
we're working, working against this old flesh. Man, I can rest. I can rest. Open your Bible to
the Gospel of John, chapter 1. John chapter 1. I'm going to
read verses 1 through 18. It says, In the beginning was the
Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning
with God, and all things were made by Him. And without Him
was not anything made that was made. In Him was life, and the
life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness,
and the darkness comprehended it not. But what does it mean
to comprehend something? It means to understand it. The
darkness comprehended it not. There was a man sent from God
whose name was John. The same came for a witness to
bear witness of that light that all men through him might believe. He was not that light but was
sent to bear witness of that light. That was the true light
which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world that He created. He was in the world and the world
was made by Him. And the world knew Him not. What is that saying? That is
saying that the creature did not know the Creator. That's
what it's saying. He came unto His own, Israel,
and His own believed Him not, received Him not. But as many
as received Him, to them gave He the power to become the sons
of God, even to them which believe on His name. Well, why did they
believe and others not? Why did they believe and others
don't comprehend? He tells us right here, which
were born not of blood. You didn't inherit it from your
parents. Not of blood, nor the will of the flesh, your will
or anybody else's will, but of God. And the Word was made flesh
and dwelt among us and we beheld His glory The glory is of the
only begotten of the father full of grace and truth. John bear
witness of him and cried saying, this was he of whom I spoke.
He that cometh after me is preferred before me for he was before me
and of his fullness have all we received and grace for grace. For the law was given by Moses,
but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. Don't you notice this
in verse 18? No man has seen God at any time. God is a spirit. That's what
he said in John 4. God is a spirit. And those that
worship Him, worship Him in spirit and in truth. Nobody has seen
God the Father in... He's a spirit. That's what he's
saying. Well, who created everything?
Jesus Christ did. God the Son. He's the Word. He's the written Word. He's the
manifested Word. He's God. But He's Christ. He's the second person of the
Godhead. Why do you think in schools that they are so set
on denying creation? To rob Christ of His glory. That's exactly why. That's right. All things were made by Him,
by Christ. The Word. I'm not trying to separate
the Godhead, but I want you to understand this. He just said,
no man has seen God at any time. No man. No man. The only begotten Son who is
in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him. That word declared means to unfold. And that's what he does. You
see something that's just folded up? He unfolds it. God manifests himself. Now listen, I have about three
or four points. He manifests himself in creation
as God that is above us. God manifests himself in providence
as a God that is outside of us. And God manifests Himself in
the law as a God that is against us. But then God manifests Himself
in Christ as a God come down with us and for His people. You see what I'm saying? And
it's in these verses. He talks about that that He made,
He came unto His own, and they didn't understand Him. They didn't
comprehend the creature, don't understand the Creator. Why doesn't He? We know it's
the fall. So the first thing, God manifests
Himself in creation. We're going to eventually get
to the law, and I didn't look it up, but can you imagine how
long it was from God in the garden till the time that God gave the
law at Sinai? It was a long time. I know from
Adam to Abraham was 2,000 years. You think from Abraham to the
time God gave the law, well, they were in Egypt 400 years.
It's been a long time. Well, what about all those people
who didn't have the law? And God only gave the law to
Israel. Well, what about the rest of them? What about the
rest of those people? What about the rest of God's
creation? How does God manifest Himself to them in creation? Turn with me to Psalms chapter
19. Psalms chapter 19. Verse 1. What do we read in John 1.18?
No man has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, which
is in the bosom of the Father, He hath the clarity. And what
does it say here in Psalms 19.1? The heavens do what? The heavens do what? Declare
the glory of God. And the firmament showeth his
handiwork. I do some woodworking, and I'm
not much. People would, I guess, refer
to me as a wood butcher instead of somebody with handiwork. Handiwork is that guy that can
make that guitar. That's handiwork. You look at
that and you go, man, somebody made this. So you know what that
is? That's His handiwork. God in
creation reveals, you know what He reveals? His marvelous handiwork. His name is stamped on it. The
heavens declare the glory of the Lord and the firmament showeth
His handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech. It's like it's speaking day unto
day utter a speech and night unto night showeth knowledge.
There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. God speaks. He's speaking. You say, does God speak in creed?
That's what he's saying. Whatever language it is, they
understand and God speaks in their language. Isn't that amazing
what he did on the day of Pentecost? They said, every man here is
in his own language. Whether he's German or whatever
it is, when he sees that sun come up in the morning, God's
saying, I'm God. That's what He's saying, I'm
God. The line has gone out through
all the earth and there are words to the ends of the world. In
them hath He set a tabernacle for the sun. Unless you have forgotten, this
earth that we live on, it revolves around the sun, not vice versa. The sun does not revolve around
us. We revolve around him. He does
not get his life from us. We get our life from him. You
say, well, everybody knows that. No, they don't. Do they? You say, well, why in the world?
Why did He make creation like He did? To reveal His glory! His handiwork! What amazing! Me and Sandy were coming up the
road the other evening and the timing was perfect. The sun had
just went down and we were headed toward the west. Man, that sky
was orange. I just wanted to pull off beside
the road. My father did that. He might
have done it just for me. This is my father's world. I
mean, why did God design it that way? So that all creation, they
see it and He speaks and He says, I'm God. I'm God. He manifests Himself. He said it's like a, which is
as a bridegroom. Who's the bridegroom? Christ. Coming out of His chamber and
He rejoices as a strong man to run a race. His going forth,
His going forth is from the end of the heaven and His circuit
and to the ends of it and there is nothing hid from the heat
thereof. In creation. And Paul quoted
part of Romans chapter 1. For the wrath of God is revealed
from heaven. What is God like? What is His
attributes? We've never saw Him. What's this God like that created
all this? Does He reveal that? Yeah, He
reveals that too. For the wrath of God is revealed
from heaven And what is his wrath revealed against? All ungodliness
and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness. They suppress it. You know what
they say? That's not the truth. Oh yes, it is the truth. But
they don't like the truth. They don't comprehend the truth.
And they try to suppress the truth. But don't you listen to this,
verse 19, if you want to turn there, Romans 1, 19. Because
that which may be known of God is not manifest to them, it says
it is manifest in them. It is manifest in them because
God gave every man that he ever created a knowledge of good and
evil. And that conscience, the soul
of man, that conscience, it will live forever. God made man in
his own image. And when God breathed into his
nostrils the bread of life, he became a living soul. And that
soul, like God, is eternal. It will never die. He'll live
in one of two places. And God gave that man a conscience.
And what does that conscience say? And you're a sinner, you're
a sinner, and God deserves to be served and to bow to. And
we say, no, no, no, we don't want that. But it's revealed,
because that which may be known of God. What's known of God?
Is manifest in them. For God hath showed it unto them. Who showed it? The One that created
all things did. For the invisible things of Him
from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood
by the things that are made, even his eternal power in Godhead,
so that everybody that ever has ever lived or ever will live
is without an excuse. They won't be able to stand before
God and they can't say, well, I didn't know you existed. No,
you did. The problem is you didn't like
it. You don't like it that I am God. Because that when they knew God,
what did that say? When they knew God. Everybody knows God. That's right. They knew God. Now they don't know Him in a
saving relationship, but they know Him. They glorified Him
not as God, neither were they thankful that He is God. Were
they not thankful? But it became vain in their imaginations,
and their foolish heart is darkened. God Himself is invisible, but
His power, His majesty, and His glory shines forth in the things
which He has made. We see it. And they see it. I'm talking about lost men see
it, they see it. God shows it, they just don't
like it. In creation, all men behold a
creator that is beyond and above us. And men glorify him not as
the creator. That is why they worship and
serve the creature more than the creator. You understand that? You see? Isn't that right? That's
why it says in Romans 125, who changed the truth of God into
a lie. You can't change the word God.
That word change means you exchange it for a fable, for a lie. And they worship and serve who?
The creature. I made myself. I pulled myself
up by my own bootstraps. God didn't make me, I did. I
might have just evolved from some little germ or whatever,
but I've made myself. Look what I've evolved to and
God serves me. All men without Christ, that's
what they believe. And that's what you believed. It's not that you didn't know
God. You did know God. You just didn't like it. It's
my free will. It's what I can do. I control
God because I'm sovereign. No, you're not. He is. You see the picture? They do
know. Did Adam know? Oh, yes. You think he told Cain and Abel,
oh yes. He preached the gospel to those
boys. Then Cain killed Abel. And what was this over? Because
Cain thought he's God. That's right. And God wouldn't
bow to him and it made him mad. But then the Lord raised up Seth.
And from them two men, you have those who believe and those who
don't. And they were all taught. And they were taught in creation.
They just said, no, we just want And what it says in Ecclesiastes
chapter 12 verse 1, Remember now thy Creator in the days of
thy youth. And everything in this world
is geared to get you to not think about Him and to think about
you. Why is, why, you say, Preacher,
why is this world in such a mess? Men think that they are God. And God lets them know, and know
in certain terms, that they are not God. And that's what leads
us to the next point. God manifests himself in providence
as God outside of us. You say, what do you mean by
providence? God didn't just say, well, I'm going to create a worth,
a world, and I'm going to spin it into orbit, and I'm just going
to step back and just leave it alone. Oh no. It only spins on its axis, whatever
the degree is, because that's what God decrees. What does that
mean? Providence. It's God overruling
everything that He created. He's the Lord of Sabioth. He's the Lord of Hosts. He's
over everything. He's over every demon in hell.
He's over Satan. He's over the world. He's even
sovereign over men. And God speaks in providence. You say, well, how do you mean
He speaks in providence? The wind blows where it will. As I think about this, I think
about those people in Florida right now. That's horrible. That could be us. That hurricane
come in and, you know, just till right till it decided where God
wanted it to go, they had no clue. They think, well, this
is where we think it might go. And what is God saying? You're
not God. Isn't that what he's saying? Is that not providence? He said,
well, I think it just moves by chance. Oh, is that what you
believe in? You think, okay, you think you
can control that storm. Okay, you try it. You know where
it's going? You know where it's going? I
know exactly where it's going. Wherever God decreed for it to
go. And if He's saying it, He had
a reason for it. They may not bow to Him, but
they can't deny that it's God and God sent it. Cindy said she
read something the other day that somebody said, well, where
was God in Harvey and what's this one's name? Irma. Where's
God? I think exactly where He's at.
He's in the eye of the storm. We understand it. They may not
bow to it, but they can't deny that He's God. They may try to. You know what God is saying?
God is saying something in all this. God said something when
He sent Harvey. God said something when He sent
this. You know what He said? I am God! And He speaks loud. He speaks
a lot louder than I try to do, doesn't He? You know how he speaks? He speaks in a still small voice.
He don't have to scream. That's right. He don't have to
scream. He'll get their attention. And
I tell you this, and until God gets their attention, they'll
perish. You know what I pray? Lord, thank you. I pray, Lord,
you use that. to open up their eyes. You know,
you see all these people on TV, they pray and they pray. Well,
what about all the other times? I prayed that they'd fall on
their face and beg God for mercy. God spared me. God controls all things. He said, I declare the end from
the beginning and from ancient times, the things that are not
yet done, saying, my counsel shall stand and I'll do all my
pleasure. He said, does God rule Providence? Oh yeah. You know what he told
Pharaoh? He said, for this same purpose
have I raised you up, that my eye might display my power in
thee, and that my name might be declared throughout the whole
world. Forty years later, maybe a little longer, when they come
to Jericho, you know what Rahab the harlot said? We've heard
what your God did to Pharaoh. You want to see Providence? How shall Israel go and get through
the Red Sea? I guess they're going to will
it. I mean, that's about how funny
that would be, wouldn't it? And God said, you stand here
and you're going to see the salvation of the Lord. You mean God would
roll back the Red Sea? And that's why they said, oh,
it was just the Reed Sea and they just walked through on ankle-deep
water. Well, if that's the case, He drowned that whole army in
ankle-deep water. That's a bigger miracle. Right? I mean, what are you going
to do? God did this. God did it. Is that not providence? God made
the sea and He can roll it back. Now, sea, would you let me roll
you back? God speaks and He manifests Himself
in providence and He speaks through it. Can you see them children
of Israel? They walk through on dry ground.
Oh my goodness, why would God do this? Because God has a people,
that's why. That's why. Providence is God bringing all
things to pass to accomplish His sovereign will. God rules the whole universe.
And he can even bring to pass the lining up of planets for
a solar eclipse for his own glory. I know this from experience.
I don't know if the young man ever heard. This young man lives
in, he lived in California. He still lives there. He planned
12 years ago, I mean 4 years ago, he told his mother that
he wanted to come to this area and go to Kentucky, one of those
places down there in Kentucky, to see that eclipse. Four years
ago, he planned it. And because he planned that,
they made their trip, and they did other places, but you know
that boy wound up at our church. Hmm. What's the odds of that? He wasn't planning on coming
to our church. He wasn't planning on hearing the gospel. You think
God would do that? And you say, well, how they knew
that four years ago, I don't know. But they didn't control
it, God did. Do you think God would line up
planets to save one of His elect? Is that not providence? I stood
back and I seen it and I go, oh my goodness. You know, I still
stand amazed. God spoke to me through it in
them people's time. And you know, for a few moments,
everybody's looking at what? Isn't that right? They ain't
looking at the moon. They're looking at the sun. All God has to do is just will
it. But He uses providence. Isn't
that amazing? You were saved because of providence.
You were saved because God arranged it in such a way. He did. You want to see providence? God
allowed the Philistines to take the ark. And I asked Paul, and
I don't know the answer to it, why didn't God kill them when
they touched it? If you didn't answer that, let me
know. But he did, didn't he? I know why he allowed it, just
so they could bring it into their temple. And day gone is going
to fall on his face before God. For a little while, they had
Christ in their midst. Didn't he? You think about that, that's
sobering. And a man is responsible for the light he has and for
the light he could have had. God gives him light in creation
and God gives him light in providence. And then God manifests himself
in his holy law. What is God like? God manifests
himself as a God that is against us. Turn with me to, I'm going
to show you this in Exodus chapter 20. I know there's the moral law and
the ceremonial law. But here when God begins to give
the Ten Commandments, which consummates all the law of God, And Exodus 20 verse 1, and God
spake all these words saying, I am the Lord thy God, which
brought thee out of the land of Egypt and out of the house
of bondage. And what's the first thing God says? Thou shalt have
no other god before me. Isn't that it? You shall not have any other
god before me in the garden. You know what Adam wanted to
be? He wanted to be his own God. You are not God. Don't have any
other God before me. And it says in verse 18 of Exodus
20, And all the people, they saw the thunderings and the lightnings
and the noise of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, and
when the people saw it, they removed and stood afar off, and
they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear. But
let not God speak with us, lest we die." God is holy, and God
demands perfection. The soul that's in it, it shall
surely die. It said in Hebrews chapter 12
verse 18, For you've not come unto the mount that might be
touched, and that burned with fire, nor into blackness, and
darkness, and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and the voice
of words, which voice they heard it, entreated that the words
should not be spoken unto them any more. For they could not
endure that which was commanded. They couldn't what? They couldn't
endure it. I'll tell you a little secret. You couldn't stand to
hear and stand in the presence of a holy God and hear His law.
You couldn't stand it. You could not stand to hear how
bad you are. You couldn't stand it. That's
what God says about you. And to see that in the life of
a holy God, that's terrifying. It's terrifying. And rightfully
so. He's God and we're not. For they
could not endure that which was commanded. And if so much as
a beast touched the mountain, it shall be stoned and thrust
through with the dark. And so terrible was the sight
that Moses said, I exceedingly feared and quaked. It scared me to death. If the law ever comes to you
like it did Paul, Paul thought he kept the law. But when the
law came, Sin revived and I died and the law revealed the exceeding
sinfulness of sin. And if it ever comes, I heard
something your pastor said and it really spoke to my heart.
He said one time there for years, he said all he ever saw was the
bad side of God. And all the world says is God
is love. God loves everybody. And they
like to put bumper stickers on the back of their cars, smile,
God loves you. What good would that have done
when God destroyed this earth in the dimes of the flood to
put that bumper sticker on the back of that ark and said, smile
everybody, God loves you. All those people are dying under
the wrath of Almighty God. Will God punish sin? Oh yeah.
But Moses could have put it on the inside of the ark and Moses,
I mean, Noah could have got up every morning and looked up and
said, smile, God loves me. But they don't know anything
about God's wrath. And I think God can reveal His wrath in a
storm. And He does. And what God said,
I'm holy. Will God punish sin? Ask Him
in the days of Noah. Will God punish sin? Ask Korah
and Dathan. Ask those that lived in Sodom,
will God punish sin? Will God punish sin? It's a fearful
thing to fall into the hands of a living God. You don't want
anything to do with a God apart from Jesus Christ. You don't. So why in the world
would anybody want to live under the law? You that desire to be
under the law, do you not hear what God says through the law? All the law can say to you is
you are a guilty, no good sinner and you deserve to die. The soul
that sinneth, it shall die. That's it. God is perfect. The law of God
is terrifying. When the law came, sin revived,
and I died, the law will kill you and will condemn you. It
will pronounce you guilty. It shows no mercy. It's the sword of God's justice,
the strictness of God's law. God wouldn't spare his own son.
I told him at church a couple of weeks ago, I said, would you
offer up your child for your worst enemy? And none of us would. He did. That's the strictness of God's
law. He would not bend His law for
His own sake. But you know, I said, but what
about all those others who didn't have the law? It's like he said,
God gave the law to who? To the Jews. But what about everybody
else? When they do by nature the things
contained in the law, they are a law unto themselves. Why do you think those people
over in Africa, if you want to call them third world countries
or whatever, they still worship something. Before we came over here and
drove the Indians out, They believed in what? That great Spirit, didn't
they? Well, where did they get that from? And they thought they
had to do something like those Philistines did to appease that
Spirit. When Paul came to Athens, he
said, you've got all these altars, all these sacrifices. And he
said, you've got this one over here that says, to the unknown
God. Well, why do people believe that?
Because God revealed it to them. The law is on their hearts. You know what man's trying to
do in religion? He's trying to ease that gnawing conscience
that says, it's not enough, it's not enough, it's not enough,
it's not enough. And God's against me. Yes, He
is against me. And I'm against Him. I don't
want Him reigning over me. That's the way the flesh is.
But then Christ manifests God. A virgin shall be re-child, and
you shall call His name Immanuel, God." And you think about this.
I think many times we just get in a hurry and read this. God. God. With us. The God of creation. The God
of providence. The God who gives His law. He's
with us. You know what Solomon said when
Solomon was getting ready to dedicate the temple? He said
in 1 Kings 8, 27, but will God indeed dwell on the earth? Oh
yeah, He will. But he asked that, didn't he?
Will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, the heaven and
heavens of heaven cannot contain God, how much less this house
that I've built. They looked forward to the time
when He would come. Abraham saw my day. You say,
how will those people save you in the Old Testament? Same way
you are. By grace, through faith, and at naught of yourself, it's
the gift of God. When God enables you to believe and look to Christ,
and here He comes, God, who cannot be seen, is now manifest, and
we can see Him. God who won't allow you to touch
Him. God killed a man for touching
the ark and Christ allowed lepers to touch Him. God with us. When He took upon Himself that
union of God and human flesh, it is a union that is never reversed. And that's my only hope. I can't get to God. And God,
because He's holy, cannot have anything to do with me. Righteousness
and peace have kissed each other. The law came by Moses. Oh, yes,
it did. But what came with Christ? Grace.
Yeah, God's a God of wrath. Is there no grace? Is there any
mercy? There's mercy in one place. The
mercy seed. That's the only place. That ark. You think about how did Abraham
worship without the ark? They all did up to that point,
but they looked by faith. And then all this was God revealing
Himself to us. That is, now, he's in an ark.
He's the priest. He's the sacrifice. And the law
is kept in the ark. It's kept in Christ. God Christ
manifested that. He put away the law. It's the
end of the law. I'm not under the law. Thank
goodness! Thank goodness God's not against
me. He's for me. I didn't marry it. I didn't earn
it. It's grace. Grace. Oh God, if that leper
touched that priest in the Old Testament, he was defiled. And
God allowed sinners to touch him. That woman with the issue
of blood in the Old Testament, she had been defiled. She got
in and come to the temple. And she presses men, Fred was
talking about this, she pressed through that crowd and she touched
him. You mean God would allow sinners
like us to touch Him? Yeah, because He touched us.
He's able to be felt with the feelings of our And how do we
know that? God manifested Himself. He revealed
it. In Him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. Judas saith unto Him, not ascary
it. And He said, Lord, how is it
that You will manifest Yourself unto us and not unto the world?
And He did. And He does. Grace is when God
manifests Himself to you in grace. Why in the world would God make
Himself known to you in mercy? And then the gospel, when it
comes, like you said, in power, that's God telling you what He's
already done. And you know when He says, I've
loved you with an everlasting love. Best news a sinner ever heard. I don't deserve to be loved.
If I did, it wouldn't be grace. And I thought about this. When
Christ came, He looks like, like I said, He looks like any other
man. Well, how are you going to know He's God? How are you going to know He's
God? He lived for 30 years in obscurity. He did. But for three
and a half years, when he came out and revealed himself, he
showed that he's God. He turned water into wine. He restored a withered hand.
He made the blind to see, the deaf to hear, the lame to walk,
and he raised Why did He do those things? To show us that He's
God. He's God of creation. He's God over providence. He
said, disciples, I want you to go over across the sea. And He went up into a mountain
to pray, and they're in the ship alone. And a storm comes up. Who do you think caused the storm? Anybody? And then they're in
the ship. He's going to teach them something.
Listen, everything that God allows to come into your life, He's
doing it for a reason to teach you something. And they're scared
to death and were terrified. And then they see Him. He's walking
on the water. Who can do that? Only God. And when he come into the ship,
there was a great calm. He was sovereign over Providence. Even when he was a babe. Herod
wants to kill all the babies in Bethlehem. And he can't. You know why? Because God's done
decreed he's got to go to Egypt. Because he said, from Egypt have
I called my son. Over all things. He allowed blind
Bartimaeus to be laying there. They brought him out there that
day and laid him right beside the street just like they've
done every other day. But this day is a different day. Jesus
is going to pass by. Who caused that to happen? He
did. He did. And he manifested the law of
God. He kept it perfectly. He said, thank God I've come
to destroy the law of the prophets. I didn't come to destroy but
to fulfill. He satisfied all the demands of the law. The law said, the soul that sinneth,
it shall die. And when God took all the sin
of all the elect and put them on Him and made Him sin, He died
in the place of His people. And that law that was against
us is no longer against us. blotting out the handwriting
of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us,
and he took it out of the way and he nailed it to the cross. Mercy is only found in Christ,
the mercy seat. It's like that woman you said
they brought her, y'all sung about, somebody sung about. They
brought her to our Lord, she was caught in the act of adultery.
And they said, the law says she ought to die. And that's what
the law said. He said, what do you say? Well,
he just began to write on the ground. He was acting like he
ignored them. And they began to beat him. He
said, well, he was without sin, you cast the first stone. And
they were convicted of their own conscience. Of their own
what? Conscience. And they begin to
just walk away. And our Lord looks up and there's
nobody there. And this is where He brings you.
It's just you and Him. And He says, where are your accusers?
No man, Lord. He said, well, go in peace. Go
and sin no more. When Christ received that vinegar
on that cross, He said, it's finished. And listen to me, child of God,
it's finished. It's satisfied. And you know
what He did? He revealed all this to us. And we know that He was manifested
to take away our sins and in Him is no sin. And this was manifested
the love of God toward us because that God sent His only Son into
the world that we might live through Him. Can I tell you something
this morning? He delights to show mercy. He'd rather save you than damn
you. His wrath, that's his strange work. People are just terrified, and
they ought to be. But there's mercy. Mercy. You need mercy. Well, come to
Him. Come to Him. Apart from Christ, all All we'll
ever know apart from Christ is God's wrath. Now listen, Ephesians
2 verse 3, among whom also we all had our conversation in times
past in the lust of the flesh, in the desires of the flesh and
of the mind, and we were by nature, we were all by nature the children
of wrath even as others. And here's two precious words,
but God. You better thank God one day
if God ever buts into your life. But God. who is rich in mercy. Mercy. For His great love wherewith
He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, He hath quickened
us together with Christ. O grace, are you saved? He manifests
Himself in creation as God that is above us. He manifests Himself
in providence as a God outside of us. He manifests Himself in
the law as a God against us. And He manifests Himself in Christ
as God with us. Romans 1 verse 16, I'm not ashamed
of the gospel of Christ. It's the power of God unto salvation,
it's like you said. To everyone that believeth, to
the Jew first and also to the Greek, for in that gospel, in
that gospel, What gospel? We talk about Christ and why
He came, who He came for. For therein is the righteousness
of God revealed from faith to faith. The just shall live by
faith. If you shall confess with thy
mouth the Lord Jesus Christ and believe in thine heart that God
hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with
the heart man believes and with the righteousness and with the
mouth confession is made unto salvation. This is a faithful
saying and worthy of all acceptation. Christ came into the world. Why
did He come? Did he come to just try to do something? Why did
he come? He came to save sinners, Paul
said, of whom I am chief. And I know everybody perverts
from John 3, 16, but it's still in our Bible. Listen to this as a sinner needing
mercy. For God so loved the world. that
He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him
should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son
into the world to condemn the world. Thank goodness. You imagine if God came down
to condemn us. But that the world through Him
might be