Come, preach for us. If that
didn't fill your pot, you've got a leaky vessel. Or it didn't come empty. That
was a blessing. Fill me up and now I hope it
will overflow. You've got to come empty, as
He said, to be filled. Our Lord said, you know, this
is the mouth of the soul. You know that? This is the mouth
of the soul. He said, open your mouths wide
and I'll fill it. He needs to give us ears to hear.
Open them wide and I'll fill it up. You know, us preachers, I hope
you get a double portion this morning. I've got to preach now. we get a double portion of His
Spirit. Now, I do know this, that this pot, you didn't deplete
this pot. There's plenty of oil where that
came from. I'm going to the same vessel.
I'm dipping in the same vessel. But you preachers, Fred and Brother
Bruce, know this, that a preacher can't be a blessing to anyone
unless he's blessed himself. And every time before we preach,
and we feel so empty, don't we? We feel so helpless. I've never
done anything like this before. I've worked all manner of jobs
in my lifetime, and nothing has ever been so difficult. But when the Lord blesses you,
I need a double portion. You know, a preacher who's preaching
second, he needs great grace. That's
what Brother Mike said last night, didn't he? You need grace to
hear what you're about to preach next and to forget about what
you're going to say and concentrate on what he's saying. The Lord
gave me that grace and I was so thankful. I remember I preached behind my dad one
time, up in Fairmont, West Virginia, and when he was in his prime.
And Marvin, no, Scott, I forget if Marvin was there yet or not.
But anyway, the format that he had was there's supposed to be
a devotion, a Bible, a devotion. And then a message, preaching,
devotion and preaching. Well, dad had the devotion. And
it weren't no devotion. It's about the best message I've
ever heard in my life. And I told him later, you're
supposed to just bring it to focus. But the Lord can bless twice,
can't he? Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. Children of Israel were told,
weren't they, when they came to gather manna that one day,
said, gather a double portion. Luke 24, the Gospel of Luke chapter
24. Go there with me. This is a familiar story to most of
you, I'm sure. I'm certain that Brother Bruce
has preached from this several times, Brother Mike, Brother
Fred, others. If I had a title or text, it
would be verse 17. The Lord said to these disciples,
what manner of communication are these that you have one to
another as you walk and are sad." What are you talking about? Why
are you sad? And then in verse 38, verse 38,
He said unto them when He appeared again, He said, Why are you troubled? Why do thoughts arise in your
hearts? What He's saying there is why
do you always think the worst? Our Lord appeared to them, and
they were affrighted and thought they'd seen a spirit. He said,
Why do you always think the worst? Is anybody guilty of that? Anybody
here not guilty of that? He said, It's I. After all was
said and done, all they saw, He said, It is I. And what I hope that we will
see is no matter what takes place in this world, Don't be affrighted,
don't be troubled, don't be so sad. It is I. Whatever it is, it's the Lord. Now this is a cure for trouble.
This will dry your eyes of sadness and make you glad in the Lord,
rejoice in the Lord. Okay? Two of them were walking
along together. You know this story. Verse 2.
Two of them went the same day to a village called Emmaus about
seven miles from Jerusalem. They were at Jerusalem. Luke
24. I'm sorry. Luke 24. Did I tell
you that? Luke 24. Okay. You ought to know
where this is. Luke 24. Verse 13. It said two
of them were walking along together and talking
together about these things. They were walking seven miles
from Jerusalem to this little city, this little village called
Emmaus. And they talked together, verse
14, of all these things which had happened. Now there were
two of them together. Brother Mike quoted it. We quote it all
the time, don't we? Where two or three are gathered
together in Christ's name. He said, I am there. And sure
enough, These two men were walking along together, one of them Cleopas,
we don't know who the other one was, but they were talking about
the Lord. They were talking about these
things. What a blessing, huh, to be together with God's people
to talk about these things. It's a good thing, isn't it?
It's a good thing for two or three to gather together in His
name and talk about these things, worship the Lord. the character
of a sheep. Sheep have to be together. Said
last night, somebody said, I don't have to go to church to worship.
Then you're not a sheep. You're not a sheep. Sheep have
to be. He said that, didn't he? We need each other. Sheep have
to be in the fold. They have to be. Sheep must flock
together. The word gregarious, that's the
nature of the animal. They're gregarious. All clean
animals. All clean animals flock together. They congregate. That's where the word congregate
came from. Gregarious. On the ark, how many
clean animals were there? Seven. How many unclean? Two. As soon as that door opened,
those unclean, one went this way, one went that way, didn't
it? Sure they did. What did the sheep do? They stayed together. That's
the nature of the animal. Are you a sheep? I could go on
and on about sheep, couldn't I? Dirty, stinking sheep. You
ever been around sheep? They're not clean animals. They're
dirty, they're stinking, they're needy, they're helpless. Somebody
owns them and they're glad of it. They got a shepherd. They
want to be, here I'll tell you where sheep are, they want to
be where the shepherd is. They want to be where the shepherd
is. Alright? They were together. These two
disciples were walking together. Now Scripture says, can two walk
together except they be agreed? Doesn't it? Can two walk together
except they be agreed? Paul said this, how can light
have fellowship with darkness? It can't. God's people can't walk
with the people that swerve. Sheep and goats have to coexist. Have to live in the same world
together. Have to trade together. Have to have commerce together
and business and so forth. But you can't walk with someone
that doesn't agree with you. But you don't agree with them.
You can't have fellowship. Light and darkness cannot coexist. Oil and water can't mix. Veil
and Christ can't. It can't be done. Scripture says, Proverbs 1.13,
My son, walk not with them. Walk not in the way with them.
Psalm 1.1, Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel
of the ungodly. How can we? My father, my dad,
my pastor used to always say that two things, the two most
dangerous things for believers are the things of this world
and the people of this world. The children of Israel walked
through that wilderness with who? Together with the children
of Israel. And He warned that they will
steal away your hearts. The people of this world, the
things of this world will steal your hearts away. Beside, how
can you walk with those that hate your God? How can you walk
with those that hate the truth? that you can walk with somebody
in this world, be an intimate companion with somebody in this
world, is to be silent. Ephesians 5 says light reproves
darkness, exposes darkness. That's our purpose. Now, I'm
not saying we're holier than. You know, touch not, don't come
near me. That's not what I'm saying. But you can't I'm not
friends with somebody that hates my wife. You can't. And I'm a witness of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Salt and light. That's our purpose
in this world. And if we've lost that light,
lost that salt, we're good for nothing, aren't we? They are
of the world, therefore speak they of the world, and the world
hears them. What does the world talk about?
The world. I don't want to talk about the world. They just bring
you down. Bring you down. How can we? Sheep and goats must coexist.
But someone argues, but the Lord ate with publics and sinners.
Yes, He did. Why? To save them. He came to save
them. He came to seek and to save His
own. And they were there. But He wasn't intimate companions
with those that that didn't believe the truth,
didn't believe Him. His disciples were His intimate
companions and friends. The friendship of this world
is enmity with God. Get out of Facebook. Turn it
off. Shut her down. Disfriend everybody. I'm telling
you the truth. Shamefacedness should be our
face. Why do we want the world to see
our faces and the faces of our children? There is one face that
the world needs to see. If we are going to use that medium
for something, use it to set forth the face of the Lord Jesus
Christ. This is what my dad would have
said. He would have faced this head on by then. This is a scourge,
it really is. Come out from among them, be
ye separate. Can two walk together except
there be a grief? The friendship of this world
is enmity with God. What are you going to do with
that? You ought to obey it. You ought
to adhere to what he said. The world will bring you down.
David said, I'm a companion of them that fear thee. That's what
he said. My dad used to say this. I'm just telling you for your
own good. Come out from them. They won't do you any good. That
iron sharpeneth iron, doesn't it? Hearty counsel from a man or woman of God. They were talking
together. These two disciples walking on
the road to Emmaus in a village. They come into this village.
The Lord went around preaching when He was here. He went in
all the villages. He didn't stay in Jerusalem,
did He? But he went into all the little towns and villages
like Newcastle, like Rocky Mountain, Virginia, like Dingus, West Virginia. That's where the Lord has His
people. He's outside the camp, isn't He? Outside the camp. He went into these villages.
They talked together of all these things that had happened. They
were talking together, communing together. Oh, how blessed it
is. What a blessing it is by the Lord to talk of these things.
Nothing else worth talking about, is it? As I said, you talk about
this world, the world wants to talk about the world and the
things of the world. And God's people, isn't it a
blessing when you get together? Just in even private in the homes
of one another and the conversation, you're hoping and praying that
the conversation will come around to the things of God. And you
feel like it's a loss, a loss, a waste of time if it doesn't.
There's some believers, some brethren and I were together
not long ago. We were all together. It's a lot of foolishness and
cutting up. And you know, I know the Lord understands our praying.
Those disciples, you know, those grown men got together. You get
men together and they're going to poke fun at one another. And
they're going to carry on and cut up. And the Lord understood
that. But it was a waste of time if they didn't say something,
deal with something properly. And it's always a disappointment
to me if we believers get together and we don't start talking about
our Lord. You know what I'm saying? It
isn't. We'd no sooner been in Brother
Bruce's house and Mike got there. We all got there at the same
time, didn't we? And buddy, the conversation flowed right into
the things that our Lord did. That was so blessed. Nothing
better is it? Nothing sweeter. The foretaste
of glory divine. What are we going to be talking
about in glory? And by the way, it's a big congregation up there. This is what the Lord has promised.
The blessing had two or three gathered, but up there are going
to be two or three zillion. Heaven is not you and the Lord
alone. It's a congregation. What are we going to be talking
about? Him. Him. Him. Well, it says in verse 15, they
communed together in reason, and Jesus Himself drew near and
went with them. Their eyes were holding that
they should not know Him. Our Lord has promised that. Where
two or three are gathered, I'm with them. God's in the midst
of our eyes, Psalm 46. But their eyes were holding that
they didn't know it was Him. Is the Lord with us? Is the Lord
with us? He said He would, didn't He?
He said so. But I can't see Him. Well, He is. He said so, didn't
He? Huh? Turn with me quickly to
II Kings chapter 6. II Kings chapter 6. You know,
our eyes are often holding that we don't see the Lord with us.
If God be for us, Mike quoted this, didn't he? He said, I preached
the whole Bible, and he did. If God be for us, who could be
against us? God is with us in all things.
All things work together for good to them that love God, aren't
they? All things, according to His purpose, according to His
will. This world exists. This world still stands because
of God's people. Do you know that? The purpose
of Egypt was to support God's people while they were there.
When He brought them out, it's over for Egypt. All things work
together. And all things, whatever they
be, bad or good, big or little, God does it all. He said, I the
Lord do all these things. Didn't He? No matter what it
is. He said, it is I. It is I. You know the story here of Elisha
and the servant who went out one morning to get some wood
or something and verse 15, The servant man of God rose early
and went outside, and a host, the enemy, were surrounding them,
horses and chariots. And his servant ran back in the
house and said, My master, what do we do? What are we going to
do? We're surrounded. Look at what's happening. Terrorists
and bombs, and there's a fellow over there going to knock out
the power grid. What are we going to do? It sounds just like his master,
doesn't it, Elisha? What did he say? Two words. Fear
not. Our Lord was always, constantly
telling His disciples, fear not, wasn't He? In fact, that's the
thing He commanded them more than anything else. You know
that? More than anything else. He said, fear not. Over in Luke
21 and Matthew 24 are the same and Mark. The Lord, they said, when are
all these things going to happen? When are you coming again? And
He began to tell them of all the bad things that was going
to happen in the world. There was nothing good that He
said about planet Earth. It was all bad. He said, they're
going to hate you. He said, your parents are going
to turn against you. Your brothers and sisters are
going to turn against you. They're even going to kill some
of you. They're going to persecute you. He said famines and earthquakes
and pestilence and all of this, wars and rumors of wars, nothing
but bad things are going to happen to planet earth. But He said to His disciples,
in your patience possess your souls. In your patience. He said
when you see all these things happen, Don't say, whoa, whoa,
whoa. He said, lift up your head. Your
redemption draws nigh. He said, there will be distress
and anguish upon the earth. Men's hearts failing them for
fear for the things coming upon them. Heart disease is the leading
killer of mankind right now. Their hearts are failing them
because of stress. Why? Because of all this stuff
that's happening. But He said to His people, let
not your heart be troubled. Ease your hearts. Why? He said,
what causes in the world anxiety ought to give you great anticipation. Lift up your heads. Lift up your
countenances. Your redemption is coming. It's
not bad. Spurgeon used to say, the thing
we fear most of all is death. He said, that's the best thing
that's going to happen to us. When would we fear the best thing
that could possibly happen to us? If you don't know God, you
need to fear death. If you don't know Christ, oh,
quake and tremble with fear. Weep for yourselves and for your
children. You say, I'm afraid for my child. I'm afraid for
my daughter. You ought to be. And don't rest until the Lord
saves their souls. Their souls are in danger. That's
the danger. Christ said, don't fear man after
he's killed the body. There's nothing more he can do.
He said, fear God after he's killed the body. We'll cast both
body and soul into hell. Isn't that what He said? Don't
fear terrorists. Fear God. And if you fear God,
you need not fear any terror whatsoever. Fear nothing. Fear not a thing. And He says to them, I didn't
read it. Elisha prayed. He said, Fear
not. They that be with us, verse 16,
are more than they that be with them. If God be for us, who can be
against us? Scripture says it. Our Lord says
this, that the children of God have an angel watching over them. bearing them up, doesn't it?
One angel. You know what one angel is going to do to this
earth? One angel. One angel is going to destroy
a quarter of this earth. And he says, every one of God's
people have an angel. Fear not. One time, one time
though, it was David destroyed the men, the Ziklag, took the
wives and all that, and the enemy. It was the Philistines. I forget. Anyway, I preached on it. I've
already forgotten. But these men had taken their
wives, and David went back and recovered it all and destroyed
all of them. Well, 400 men got away on camels.
400 of the enemy got away on camels. And somebody said, should
we go after them? He said, they're just men on camels. How fast can they go? Or where
can they go? What damage? Terrorists. ISIS. They're just men on camels. Our
God sits on the circle of the earth. The King's heart is in the hands
of the Lord, like the rivers of water He turns it with. Fear
not. Why do you fear the worst? We
ought to be thinking the best, shouldn't we? We ought to be
thinking the best. This is what the world does to
us. It brings us down. Hey! My God reigneth! Whom have I to fear? What have
I to fear? They that be with us. A young
man opened his eyes and he looked around and he said, The mountains,
look at this, verse 17. The mountain was full of horses
and chariots of fire around about one man. One man. The Lord sent a legion
to surround one man. You think anything could happen
to him until the Lord says so? He said, not one hair. When he
was telling his disciples that, Fred, all this is going to happen
to you, he said, but not one hair of your head will fall to
the ground. Not one hair. And they're all numbered. I lost all my hair, Joyce, because
the Lord said so. I tried to recover it. I tried
everything I could to grow it back. It wasn't the Lord's will. You understand that? And yours
is. There's no glory in it. That's
a fact. But he did tell them that not
one hair of Paul, but when it's time, Paul had his head cut off. And he was happy to do it. I've often thought I've been
such a coward that I'd love to lay down my life. I'd love for
them to come in right now and say, threaten my life, say, quit
preaching or cut your head off. Wouldn't you? Well, let's do
it, boys. Let's go ahead and do it. I've been such a coward. Don't
you know Simon Peter? He looked forward to, take me,
crucify me. I denied him horribly. Turned
me upside down. You know he did, brother. You
know he did. Counted a great privilege. In fact, he did. Later
on, he said they would beat him, almost beat him to death. And
he said they rejoiced and went back rejoicing in it. They were
counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. Where am I? Go back to Luke 24. Luke 24. So they were talking about these
things, and they were sad, and they were troubled, and they
were upset. And they said to him, He said to them, what manner
of communication, verse 17, what are you talking about? Why are
you sad? And one of them, Cleopas, said, are you a stranger in Jerusalem?
Are you a stranger around here? Don't you know what's happened
here? Now who's talking like a stranger? They're talking like strangers.
They're talking like strangers to the truth. They're talking
like they're strangers to the covenant of grace. They're talking
like they didn't hear a word that the Lord Jesus Christ said.
Anybody guilty of that? Have you ever talked about things
like the Lord is not on the throne? Like you've never heard a word
He said? What if a hurricane hits us?
We just read last night, or did we here? It's home, maybe. Nahum
1, verse 2, "...he hath his way in the whirlwind." Who did this? Where is it going to go? Exactly
where the Lord sends it. Well, if he sends it over the
top of a bus, well, ask Dan and Sandy Parks. They'll tell you.
They've got food and rain with them. What about the flood in
Houston? Huh? What about them, Fred? Our people are safe, weren't
they? Why? They're in the ark. Everybody in the ark is safe
when the flood comes. Why are you so fearful? Why are
you so afraid? Let not your heart be troubled.
You believe in God? He said, Believe in me. I am
God. I reign and I rule. The Lord reigneth. Rejoice in
the Lord, I said. And again I say rejoice. But
things look bad. Good. That means it's about to
get real good. Seriously. Seriously. Are you a stranger
around here? Why are you smiling? How long can we be under God's
Word and God's Gospel and hear the truth message after message
after message and still keep being so troubled? I know our
troubles are real, you know, the loss of loved ones and these
things we go through, the real trials, the heaviness, heaviness,
heavy trials. All of God's people go through
them. They do. But God sent them. You know Job
was weeping when all this happened to his family. You know he was.
Tears running down his face when they came. But you know what
he said through those tears? He said, It's the Lord. He said,
The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name
of the Lord. Isn't it? In one of the most
wonderful and amazing verses in all of God's Word, Job said
this. He said, Though He slay me, No, He'd take everything and
everyone I had. He gave it to me. I didn't have
anything when I came into the world, and I'm certain I won't
have anything when I go out. And He takes these things away
from us to wean us from this world, to set not our heart upon
Him, so that we keep looking to Him, keep calling upon Him,
seeing this world for the finite world that it is, the vanity
that it is, that you can't keep these things. Only one thing
left, it's Him. This relationship with Him. There
are no relationships in heaven except that relationship in Christ.
There's no marriage or given and married. No fathers and mothers
and brothers and sisters. We're all family in Christ. And
He's got to teach us that now, doesn't He? That this is it. This is that precious thing.
This is that family that we need to nurture. He takes these things
away from us. Job said, though He slay me,
I'll trust Him. It's all good. It's all good.
I've weaned. We had horses and I've weaned
some of them. It's a painful thing. That poor
mare and that baby that just, oh. It's heartbreaking in the
mind. It's heartbreaking. But it must
be. It must be. They said, are you a stranger
around here? Are you a stranger? And brethren, we need to be exhorting
one another. They were feeding each other
with sadness. Oh, we trusted. They were feeding
each other with sadness. We ought to exhort one another.
And so much more as we see the day approaching. Brother Don
Bell. Don Bell came up to Rocky Mount
one time and I told him about a place that I wanted us to walk
up called the Peaks of Otters, the highest point around there.
And you can see it's 360 degrees. But it's a mile and a quarter
up that hill, up that mountain. A strenuous walk, okay? And so he came to visit. I said,
let's go see that. He said, okay. So we got there,
and you can either take a bus for the old folks, and we wasn't
about to do that. Or you can walk a mile and a
quarter straight uphill. up the mountain. So we started
walking, okay. We hadn't gotten very far at all until Donnie
said, let's turn around, let's get the bus. I said, no, no. I said, look,
there's a sign, there's a sign, sure it can't be much further.
I went up the sign and said, you've come a quarter mile, you've
got a mile and a quarter to go. I said, let's take the bus. He said, no. We've come this
far. And you know, all the way up
that hill we were talking about... You know what we were talking
about? You know what we were talking
about? We were talking about the Lord. We were iron sharpening
iron. We were feeding off each other.
We were talking all the way. Would He want to quit? I said, no.
Let's go on in there. I don't want to quit. We were
exhorting one another. We saw the end was approaching
until finally we got to the top of that mountain. And the view
was so glorious. We could see everything as it
was. We forgot completely about the
trip. We completely forgot about the
pain, about the suffering, the long journey. It's like it never
happened. And that's what he read. The
former things shall not be remembered or come to mind. No more pain.
No more sorrow. No more tears. No more death.
You'll be rejoicing in that which He hath created. All things brand
new. And it will so far exceed this
world that you won't even remember it existed. And it will be worth
it all. Like a woman in travail with
a child. And when that child is born,
she forgets the pain for joy that her son is born. Oh my, they were so sad. Well,
our Lord said, what thing? They said, stranger, don't you
know what things have happened? He said, what thing? They said
concerning Jesus of Nazareth, verse 19. Jesus of Nazareth,
prophet, mighty indeed, Word before God, and all the people.
Chief priests and rulers delivered Him to be condemned to death
and crucified Him. Boy, they're talking about like
the world, aren't they? Jesus. Jesus, the prophet. a good man,
a miracle worker, and the rulers took him and killed him. Who
delivered him? Who delivered him? Jesus? You still think he was
just Jesus? Didn't he say to you, how long
have I been with you and yet you still don't know me? He that
seeth me hath seen the Father. This was God. Man didn't deliver
Him to be killed. God did. God delivered Him up
for all of His people, didn't He? They've forgotten what our Lord
said. We're so dull of hearing, aren't we? We forget and we get
so troubled and sad. We need to be more immersed in
what our Lord said. Quit listening to so many voices.
Turn the Internet off. Turn the TV off. Seriously. Social media. Don't listen to
it. There are all so many voices. There's one voice we need to
turn to. The voice of wisdom. The voice of counsel. Wise counsel
from above. Wisdom from above. Nobody has
any answers. Apparently, they didn't hear
much of what He said, did they? He kept telling them, Fred, didn't
He? The Son of Man must go to Jerusalem. He's going to be delivered.
Who's delivering Him? God is. They're going to be taken
with wicked hands and crucified, but they're going to do what
God determined before to be done. But they didn't hear it. They didn't hear it. We've heard it. I know, but they were sad. My
dad used to say, we have entirely too many worries and fears for
those whom the Lord keeps saying, fear not. Entirely too many. He said, we have entirely too
much unbelief for those who have so much truth, who have so many
promises. Entirely too much, don't we? They said in verse 21, they said,
We trusted it had been He which should have redeemed Israel. You know what? They were like
the people of this world. You listen to them? The people
of this world. Religion thinks that Christ is
going to come back to this earth, that Israel is the key. He's
going to come back to this earth. He's going to sit on a throne
in Jerusalem. Again, on a physical throne in
Jerusalem, they think they're going to start sacrificing animals
again? They think that they're going to build that temple so
they can sacrifice animals. They think there's going to be
a big, big battle between the forces of God and the forces
of this world and all that called Armageddon. I'll dispel all of that by one
sentence our Lord said. One thing our Lord said. He said,
My kingdom is not of this world. If it was, we would fight. It's
an unseen kingdom. And that battle was fought at
Calvary between the forces of good and
the forces of evil. They're not equal forces. And
I'm here to tell you, and Isaiah told us to tell it a long time
ago, cry unto them, comfort ye, comfort ye my people, tell them
the warfare is over. The battle is not yours. Who
are we going to fight? Who are we going to fight for?
It's over. Christ won. By himself, didn't he? By himself. Israel is the key, but you can't
see it. Don't be looking for a temple
to be built. It's already being built. It's
in here. The temple. But you can't see
it. That's right. It's an unseen
kingdom. It's a spiritual kingdom. And
when the last stone made ready is put in the building, like
you said, the last elect is put in the building, it's over. They tried to put him on the
throne, didn't they, friends? They tried to put him on. They tried
to make him king one time. You're our earthly Messiah. They
wanted the splendor of Solomon. They wanted the rule of David
again. And they tried to make him king
so they all could dwell under a vine and fig tree. He said,
no, everything is going to be leveled. Not one stone left standing
on another. The Zerubbabel is going to lay
the top stone with shouts of grace unto it. It's a spiritual
kingdom. Christ is ahead. He's that Zerubbabel.
He's done the work. And the world can't see it. That's
why Christ said if you see this, don't go after that. It cometh
not with observation. Isn't that what He said? The
kingdom of God doesn't come with observation. It's here. Where? Here! Among you! In you! Christ in you. Isn't that what he said? Don't
be looking at Israel, that dirt poor place over there. I'm looking
at Israel. He's not a Jew, which is one
out with him. Circumcision is not made with hands, but of the
heart. I'm looking at Jews. White skinned Jews. That's right. Why? He did redeem Israel. Well, let me hurry. Certain women came, they said,
and told us that He had risen. Oh, my. You know, the Lord uses
women. They can't stand in the pulpit
to preach, but they can tell others. Like that widow. Who
did the Lord give those vessels to to fill up? A woman at the
well came. The Lord revealed Himself to
her. What did she do? ran home and
told the men. These women. He used Mary Magdalene, didn't
he? The first woman, the first person he revealed himself to
after he arose. And she went and told the disciples.
And they didn't believe her. If you reject the messenger,
you won't hear the message, will you? You won't hear the message. Don't despise the messenger.
My, my, we have this treasure in earth and vessels. But he
said unto them, now in verse Oh, fools and slow of heart to
believe all that the prophets have spoken. Aren't we so foolish? Aren't we so childish? Aren't
we so unbelieving? We have so many promises, and
all the promises of God are what? Not maybe, not a hope to, but
yay and amen. Sure and certain. Oh, who ought
not Christ to have suffered these things and enter into His glory.
And it says, beginning at Moses, beginning at Moses and all the
prophets, He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things
concerning Himself. He began in Genesis and preached
all the way through Malachi. Paul one time, I got to hurry,
I got to quit. Paul the greater one time preached all night long,
you know, when it fell out the window. They were in an upper
room. It fell out of the window and broke
his neck and he raised him. No, I can't do that. And I'm not
going to preach much longer. But our Lord preached a long
time apparently. They were walking seven miles.
And boy, they slowed to pay. I'm sure they stopped and sat
down as he preached to them. And their hearts began to burn.
He preached from Genesis to Malachi. See, Christ, they are they which
testify of the Lord Jesus Christ. To Him give all the prophets
witness. They bear witness of Me, Christ
said. That's why they were written.
The Old Testament says somebody's coming. All the Old Testament
Scripture is about Christ and Him crucified, isn't it? That's
the story. The Gospels say He's here. He's here and the epistles
and the revelations say He's coming again. It's all about
Him. What's the first words in the Bible? Anybody know? In the
beginning. What's the last two words of
the Bible? The end. Yeah, right down below verse
20 is the end. That's inspired. The end. What did Christ say? I'm the
beginning, I'm the end. There's a man, Brother Gabe Stoddicker,
my son-in-law's preacher and a pastor now and a good one.
And a man around there came to hear him and the Lord saved him.
And he's a world-renowned musician, a mandolin player. If I said
his name, you'd know who he was. Intelligent man, brilliant man,
teacher of music and so forth. And world-renowned, famous. Well, he heard this little upper
room came and he heard the Gospel of the Lord saved him. He was
in religion. He had religion. And he came
to Gabe and he said, I had no idea. He said, I had no idea
that the Bible was all about Jesus Christ. He said, I had
no idea that Christ was all through this Bible. That's why God wrote it. Any
of you have photo albums of your children, your grandchildren?
Grandparents are the worst, you know. You ask them about their
grandchildren, and they'll say, yeah, I just happen to have an
8 by 10 right here. Oh, I thought you'd never. You
know, this is God's book about His Son. He made this world. as a tabernacle for the Son. All of eternity is a married
supper in the honor for the glory of His Son. The Son rises every
day. Why? It's a picture of the Son. And if somebody's not interested,
they ain't going to be in His heaven.
You've got no use for them. Oh, has He shown you His Son? And all these pictures and types
and symbols and shadows and pictures, when you see a new one, isn't
it wonderful? Well, look at that! You expect it, don't you? You
show your kid, isn't He beautiful? Yeah. I'm here to tell you God's Son
is altogether loved. There's none like Him. None like
Him. And God shows that to His all
his children, all his elder brothers. I had one, my oldest brother,
two brothers, but my oldest brother was my hero. He was my example. I wanted to grow up to be just
like him. And now, I've got an elder brother, the Lord Jesus
Christ. He is my hero. I want to be just
like him. Just like him. Have you seen
the Son? He preached, and boy, I tell
you, he could preach all night long. The woman's seed, Passover
lamb. You know he preached on that.
Maybe the second King's poem, The Empty Vessel. Oh, my. Christ is the Kindred, Redeemer,
and Ruth. He's the Good Shepherd in song. He's wisdom in proverb. On and on, he preached that.
And they heard this. Their hearts were burning. Now,
they didn't know it was Him. They thought it was just a preacher. Just a preacher. Well, to them,
that's what He was. Just a preacher. But the Lord
still blessed them, didn't He? Huh? If you're going to hear
from God, you're going to hear it through a preacher. And they constrained Him. Don't
leave. Stay with us. We'll put your
house on a loft. We'll have you a place to stay.
Don't go. This is too good. We need some more of this." That man right there, the Lord
sent him. He said, if they hear from me,
they will hear through you. Is that right? Who said that?
There either is or isn't. There's no gray area. Our Lord
said of John the Baptist one time, the ministry of John the
Baptist is of man or God. Huh? The Pharisees said, you
know, we're not following. We don't like him. If we give
our way to people, they'll get mad at us. If we say it's of
God, he's going to say, why don't you hear him? But there he is. Huh? If he's not of God, everybody's
heard the gospel of him and saved God's true people. They're false
converts. That's a fact. God never saved
one person under a false convert. Judas never was an instrument
of saving anybody. Nobody was saved under Balaam.
Proverbs 23 says, They will not profit this people at all. You know them by their fruit.
What is it? They don't have any. But God's men have fruit. If
they have one fruit, they're of God and you better hear them.
If you don't hear them, you're not going to hear from God. And
you're not of God. You're a troublemaker. You're
a divider. And God will deal with you. There's
sheep and goats, there's tares and wheat, and buddy, the winter
is coming. They thought he was just a preacher. They thought he was just a preacher. If he's a preacher sent from
God, you better receive him. You better receive him. It was Him. It was the Lord.
The Lord speaks to us. Don't speak to us through a man.
Don't despise a man. The Lord sends sinners, yes He
does, to preach the gospel. Just like you. Sinners, just
like you. Fallible. Finite. Men, just like
you. Well, our Lord, after preaching,
they said, Don't go. And then finally, The Lord came
to them and in verse 30 and 31 it says, It came to pass, they
sat at meat with him, he took bread and blessed it, and broke
it and gave it to them. Their eyes were opened and they
knew Him. They knew it was Him. You know
how your eyes are going to be opened? In the breaking of this
bread. In the breaking of this bread.
This is how the Lord reveals Himself to you. The Word of God. Break thou the bread of life,
dear Lord, to me, as thou didst bless the load, break the load
beside the sea. Become as empty vessels. If we
came as empty vessels this morning, we'd be filled, wouldn't we,
with that message? If we come hungry and thirsty, oh, blessed
are they that are hungry and thirsty, we'll be filled. If
we receive the man that God sent as not just a man, but the man
of God, the man sent by God, then we'll eat and our hearts
will burn, and the Lord will bless us, and we'll know it's
Him. He's been with us. He's been with us. He's with
us. Boy, the half of that story wasn't
told, was it? There's more of, oh, where'd that go? You pick
that up next Sunday, Brother Brooks, and finish that. Oh,
my. Two or three together, gathered
together in an upper room, talking about these things, hearing from
the Lords there, the oils there poured down the head. It's right
back where we started with. I pour it off the head of Christ.
He's determined to bless him in this place. His place. It
all flows down. Oh, I hope you got a little bit
of it this morning.