over in Matthew chapter 25. Matthew chapter 25. I want to
begin reading around verse 31. Just thinking about Him. Thinking about Him, the Son of
God, the Lord Jesus. Curtis read that passage to us.
From this they went back. And that passage explained itself. From Him they went back. They
didn't go back from this. They went back from Him. To walk
with Him no more. In verse 31 of Matthew chapter
25, When the Son of Man shall come in His glory, and all the
holy angels with him. Then shall he sit upon the throne
of his glory. And before him shall be gathered
all nations, and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd
divideth his sheep from the goats. And he shall set the sheep on
his right hand, but the goats on his left. Then shall the king
say unto them on his right hand, Come, you blessed of my father,
inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of
the world. For I was not hungered, and you
gave me meat. I was thirsty, and you gave me
drink. I was a stranger, and you took me in. Naked, and you
clothed me. I was sick, and you visited me.
And I was in prison, and you came to me." That's the character
of these people. They are not there because they
did that. They did that because He gave them a new heart. I love
to do it. That is their character. Then
shall the righteous answer Him, saying, Lord, when saw we Thee
then hungry, and fed Thee, or thirsty, and gave Thee drink?
When saw we Thee a stranger, and took Thee in, or naked, and
clothed Thee? Or when saw we Thee sick, or
in prison, and came unto Thee? The king shall answer and say
unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done
it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it
unto me. Then shall he say also unto them
on his left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting
fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was not in
hunger, and ye gave me no meat. I was thirsty, and ye gave me
no drink. I was a stranger, and ye took me not in, naked, and
ye clothed me not, sick and in prison, and ye visited me not. Then shall they say also, they
shall answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee not hungered,
or thirst, or stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did
not minister unto thee? Then shall he answer them, saying,
Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to the least
of these, ye did it not to me. And these shall go away into
everlasting punishment, that the righteous unto life everlasting."
Our Lord calls this day the last day. Brother Curtis read it to
us there in John chapter 6. This is the will of Him that
sent me, that of all which He hath given me I should lose nothing,
but should raise it up again at the last day. This is that
day. He is good for His promises,
isn't He, Wayne? I will, I shall, and here they are raised up.
The hour is coming in which all that are in the graves shall
hear His voice and shall come forth They that have done good
unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil
unto the resurrection of damnation. That was a prediction of our
Lord Jesus, and this is the day that it was fulfilled. They have
heard His voice, the graves have come open, and now they have
come there to be received or to be rejected. Not only do we
find this in the New Testament, But it's everywhere mentioned
in the Old Testament. Daniel tells us this. Many of
them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake. And I
guess many there means all, doesn't it? Some to everlasting life
and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And Isaiah says it
like this when the Lord was speaking by him. This is what the Lord
Jesus said Himself. I have sworn by myself. The word
is gone out of my mouth and righteousness, and shall not return, that unto
me every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall swear. Surely
shall one say, In the Lord have I righteousness and strength,
even to Him shall men come. And all that are incensed against
Him, they shall be ashamed, And in the Lord shall all the seed
of Israel be justified and shall glory. That was predicted and
here you have the fulfillment of that. Here stands before the
Lord the seed of Israel and they are justified. They have been
chosen. They have been redeemed. They
have been called. They have been justified. And
now they are glorified. And here they stand before Him.
And they glory in Him. And they say there what they
said here. My strength is in Him. My righteousness is in Him. This prediction was fulfilled.
But He says you are also those that hated Him. Those that were
incensed against Him. They are coming too. Everybody
is coming to the King. Many are coming here, thank God
for it. They're owning Him here. But
everybody's coming. Everybody's coming. Unto Him
shall all men come. And we have that here in my text,
the fulfilling of it. And this day is called the last
day. You know, the Bible tells us
about the first day, doesn't it? We're in between these two
eternities. Right now, you and I are on this
little speck that we call time. We look back at eternity past
that had no beginning. And we're looking out into eternity
that is to come that has no beginning. But we're told of the first day.
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. And
God said, ìLet there be lightî and there was light. He separated
the light from the darkness and He called the light ìdayî and
He called the darkness ìnightî and that was the first day. The first day. And here now weíve
come and weíve read about the last day. And everything else
is time and how insignificant time is. I wonder how you would
measure time on a scale. Would it be possible to measure
time in the light of eternity? What kind of a speck would it
take to measure time from the first day to the last day? It
wouldn't appear on a scale would it? And that's where you and
I are at this morning. We're between these two spans,
eternity past and eternity to come. And this is the last day. The last day. You know, really,
it's not the last. It may be the last day, but you
know it's the beginning, isn't it? We say this is the end. This text shows us the end, but
really, it's the beginning. It's the end of time, but it's
the beginning of eternity. Eternity that will never end. He says here in verse 46, These
shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous
unto life everlasting. You know, this is the only two
positions that people occupy in this life. There's only two
states to be in, isn't there? The saved or the lost. We're
among the righteous. We're in that position. We're
in Christ saved or we're wicked. People want this middle ground,
don't they? I'm halfway there. Or I'm in
this safe place. Or this place where I'm about
to be safe. But there's the lost and there's
the found. There's the wicked and there's
the righteous. It's that way here. And you know
it's going to be that way yonder? That won't change, will it? He'll
say to those on His right hand, come you righteous, Come, ye
blessed. And He says to them on His left
hand, depart from Me, ye cursed. And you know something? That's
the only two positions that people will occupy in eternity. They'll spend eternity blessed
or they'll spend eternity cursed. There's two positions. The Lord
Jesus tells us about two roads. One road is straight and it's
narrow because it leads to Christ. It leads to life. And one road
is broad, and it leads to death. But there are just two roads,
two ways. One to death, and one is to life. Why are these cursed? He says
to them twice, Depart from me, ye cursed. Ye cursed. And then he says to the others,
blessed. Why is a man cursed? Well, he's
cursed because of sin, isn't he? He's cursed because he's
violated what God has put in his conscience. God has given
every man a conscience, and when a man violates the rule of his
conscience, he sins against God. When he doesn't do what his conscience
tells him from God, he needs to do. And when he does what
God tells him not to do, he's cursed. And what about the law? Men are cursed because they don't
fulfill every jot and tittle of the law. Cursed is everyone
who continueth not in all things which are written in the book
of the law to do them. And here the Lord Jesus calls
them cursed. Cursed. Only two positions. Blessed and cursed. Only two characters. Righteous
and the evil. And only two destinations. Heaven
or hell. That kingdom or punishment. Boy, these are awful words to
use to describe the state of the lost. He uses words here like fire
and he uses the word punishment. When the Lord Jesus uses these
words as he often does in his Bible, I don't think he is talking
about the manner of punishment. When he says everlasting fire,
what does that mean? Is it literal fire? You know,
I think it's something worse. When he talks about darkness,
if there's fire, as you and I know it, there has to be light. But
he talks about utter darkness, outer darkness, where there is
no light. He talks about a bottomless pit. What does he mean when he
talks about these things? I think they tell us about the
severity of the punishment. What does fire do? When you and
I think of fire, we think of something that devours, don't
we? Fire devours material. It devours us. What does fire
symbolize when he talks about the wicked would be punished
in everlasting fire? It means everything that they
hope for, everything that they desire, everything that they
need will be devoured. The poor lost in eternity will
be stripped of anything and everything that would comfort them and help
them and meet their slantest need that they have, even one
drop of water. That's worse than a literal fire,
ain't it? What does he mean when he talks
about outer darkness? These shall go away into outer
darkness, total darkness. Well, God is light. And in him
is no darkness at all. And to be in a place that's out
of darkness, it means God is not there. It means they've lost
the presence of God. No light. God will not be there
in any mercy or any kindness or any longsuffering. Only the
Lord Jesus Christ knew what it was to live and be utterly forsaken
of God. And only those who finally perish
at last will know what he meant when he said, My God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me? There's not the most wicked man
in this world that is forsaken of God. Not one. When God forsakes a
man, that's hell. That's hell. That's eternal darkness. What does he mean when he talks
about a bottomless pit? I doubt if it's a literal bottomless
pit. But that teaches us something.
What happens if someone throws you in a bottomless pit? There's
no standing, is there? There's no stability. You're
always falling. What happens when God moves His
hand? We fall. And we fall forever. That's what hell is. God refuses
to uphold the soul. Oh, what an awful, awful thing
it is. When we read here, "...from the
mouth of the dear and blessed Son of God, these shall go away
unto everlasting fire." Everlasting punishment. You know, if it was
ten billion years, if it was a trillion years, there would
be hope. But one of the things that makes
it hell is everlasting everlasting. Somebody said, Bruce,
I don't believe that. I wouldn't either. It wasn't
in the Bible. Because to me, it's an awful
thing. It's an awful thing. But there it is, ain't it? Then he shall say to them on
his right hand, oh, I love this, Come, ye blessed of my Father,
inherit the kingdom, prepared for you, inherit this everlasting
kingdom of the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Here they will
reign with Him. The Bible talks about that, doesn't
it? If we suffer with Him, we shall reign with Him. Set in
His throne, He said, and reign. What does it mean to reign? It
means you're above everything else. You're above everybody
else. Reigning in life, it means there
will be no more death. Reigning above your sufferings,
there will be no more suffering. There will be no more pain. There
will be no more tears. There will be no more dying.
Nothing to disturb you. No sense of sin. Nothing to interfere
with your everlasting happiness. Oh, to be blessed of God! to
be blessed of God. There will be no end and there
will be no doubt. No sense of anything to disturb
their complete and eternal happiness. Nothing like that will allow
to be entered into this kingdom. Only rest and everlasting comfort. Oh, hear the children of God
fight. They fight with devils. They fight with themselves. They
fight with the world. And they wrestle and they struggle
and they hope and they wait and they suffer. But all of that
will be gone there. There they will be blessed. There
will be nothing there but eternal and full and absolute happiness. I love to think of heaven as
a happy place. I'm very seldom happy. I'll be
honest with you. It seems like as I get older,
I can't laugh about much. I'm just not happy. You see so
much trouble, don't you? And after a while, it just zaps
the happiness out of you. Oh, to be happy. To be happy. I'll be happy on earth. Brothers
and sisters, you'll be happy on earth. That's a happy place.
Oh, happy, happy, happy. Heaven is a happy place. Oh,
to be there this morning. World without end. Come, ye blessed
of my Father. Who's on the throne here? Did
you notice this? And here's what I want to talk
to you just for a minute. It won't take me long. Did you
notice who was on the throne? I told you last week that Christ
must reign. Well, He's reigning this morning.
And He's reigning here on this day. It says there in verse 31,
When the Son of Man shall come in His glory, and all the holy
angels with Him, then shall He set upon the throne of His glory."
It didn't mean that He stepped back up on the throne. He's always
been on His throne. But then it's going to be manifested
that Jesus is on His throne. He's reigning. And here He's
reigning in judgment. Do you notice what He's doing?
He's revealing some things. He's revealing men's destiny,
isn't He? He knows that. He knows men's
destiny. Come, you blessed of my Father.
Come to me. Come into my kingdom. Depart
from me, you curse. He knows who they are, don't
He? He knows who they are. He's executing men's eternal
destinies. Either come or depart. He's bestowing
the blessing and He's executing punishment. He's doing all of
this. He's on His throne. He said,
No man is ordained to judge anybody but Myself. God hath committed
all judgment to the Son. All judgment. And here He is
on His throne, judging people. This man, the Son of Mary, Jesus
of Nazareth. And He said, The Father has given
Me authority to execute that judgment. Somebody said He could
reign if He wants to. He wants to. He wants to. And here He is reigning. Here
He is reigning. And He is committing men to their
eternal home. Notice how His throne is identified.
Did you notice that? The throne of His glory. The throne of His glory. He is not just a glorious throne.
It is that. But it's the throne of His glory. What makes it a glorious throne,
Shannon? He's sitting on it. He's there. It's His glory. That day will be all about Him.
It's all about Him. Everything here is about Him.
Before Him shall be gathered all nations. He shall separate
them one from another. He shall set the goats on the
left, and He shall set the sheep on the right. And He shall say
to the righteous, Come. And He shall say to the cursed,
Depart from Me. It's all about Him. It's always
been about Him. It's never been about you, and
it's never been about me. It's always been about Him. Just
talking about Him, speaking of Him. The Bible says that in Him
dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. In His body,
in His humanity dwells everything God is. Can you and I begin to
comprehend, imagine all that God is in His very essence? In
His eternal, glorious being? Look to Jesus and there you see
all God is. He is God. He's God the Son in
His body. Isn't that wonderful? That's
amazing. All God is. And the Bible says
you are complete in Him who is the head of all principalities
and powers. And you know something? All God's
blessings is in Him. There is no blessing that God
has for any poor sinner outside Jesus Christ. There is where
the love of God is. There is where the mercy of God
is. There is where the grace of God is. There is where the
salvation of God is. And apart from Him, men will
seek these things in vain. They are in Him, in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Come ye blessed of my Father.
He hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places
in Christ Jesus our Lord. What's eternity of past about?
What's eternity to come about? What's the judgment about? What's
hell about? What's heaven about? What's salvation
about? You know what it's all about.
I don't care what subject you take up. It's about Him. It's
about Him. It's about His glory. God from
all eternity has purpose to honor and glorify and magnify His Son. And that's what this is about.
That's why you and I are here this morning. It's for the glory
and honor of the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. And those
who think of Him, and speak of Him in a way that diminishes
His glory. Do not think of Him and speak
of Him rightly. Because His is the fullness of
all glory. Now listen to this. When you
and I talk about election, as we often do around here, we're
not ashamed of that, are we? We talk a lot about election,
unconditional election, individual election. Election before the
world was. Election by the free grace of
God. Election in His hands. When we talk about election,
listen, we talk about Him. We never talk about election
apart from Jesus Christ our Lord because the Bible says that God
has chosen us in Him. He's not only chosen us, but
He's chosen us in Him. What does election have to do
with it? It's about God, by His own free and sovereign grace,
choosing a great host of people to save out of Adam's race. And
He chose to do it by this way, by giving them to His Son. It has to do with Christ. They're
His sheep. They're His chosen. Brother Curtis
read it this morning. I come down from heaven not to
do my own will, but the will of Him that sent me. And this
is the will of Him that sent me, that all which He hath given
me. That's electionism. God giving
His Son a gift. And what was it? A host of fallen
sinners out of Adam's race. Some people say, I don't like
that old election. Well, you don't like Him then.
Because it's about Him. About Him. What the Father gave
to Him. That's what we talk about. When
we talk about predestination, we talk about Him. For God has
predestinated us to be conformed to the image of His Son. Don't you love predestination?
Don't you love that God does it? Has purpose to predestinate
you, dear child of God, unto the image of His Son? One woman said predestination
is not even in the Bible. Then Christ is not in the Bible.
Because if you take predestination out, take Him out. And take all
hope that you'll ever have out. Because if God has not predestinated
a host of men to be conformed to the image of His Son, everybody
will die in the image of sin and Satan. That's our only hope,
isn't it? I was preaching years ago on
the radio. I was preaching a series on God
predestinating us to be conformed to the image of His Son. And
one man says, You're stripping man of his dignity. And what
he meant was, You're taking man's free will away from him. I said,
Oh, no, no. I'm giving to man dignity, real
dignity. The dignity that God has bestowed
upon Him to be conformed to the image of His Son. Brothers and
sisters, that's the apex of dignity, isn't it? I think the reason
He didn't like it is because God did it. You see, it was in
God's hands. But who wouldn't love to be conformed
to the image of God's Son? When we talk about creation,
as we often do, we talk about Christ who created all things. He was in the world, and listen,
the world was made by Him. Isn't that amazing? No wonder
He spoke to the sea and it obeyed. The sea is His. No wonder He
spoke to the wind and it obeys Him. The wind is His. The sun
is His. He made it. The stars and the
moon is His. He made it. You and I are His. He made us. The sea is His and
everything that's in it. He made it. The rolling hills
are His. The earth is the Lord Jesus Christ
and everything in it and everybody in it. He made it. He owns it. We are His lot, stock and barrel. We do not belong to ourselves.
We do not belong to the devil. We belong to the Lord Jesus Christ. He made us. Do you know why the
evolutionists are pushing evolution so hard? You know why they're doing that?
You know why they talk about the millions and hundreds, millions
of years it took to evolve us and evolve the sun and the planets
and the universe? You know why they talk about
that? They hate Jesus Christ. They hate the fact that He spoke
it into being by His power. This world is young, isn't it?
It's very young. It's very young. He spoke it
into being. Oh, just talking about Him. Just
talking about Him. When we talk about redemption,
we talk about the Redeemer. We talk about particular redemption. We talk about effectual redemption.
Why do we hold so strongly that every sinner for whom Christ
shed His blood will be saved? Why do we hold to that so strongly,
that they'll be forgiven at last and enter this kingdom? It's
because of who the Redeemer is. It's more than just a doctrinism.
It's a person. Don't talk about redemption if
it doesn't redeem. We believe in no such Redeemer.
Don't talk about salvation if it does not save. Oh, we can
talk about it. We'll accomplish because of who
accomplished it. He entered into the presence
of God having obtained eternal redemption for you. And here they are, aren't they?
Who did Jesus Christ die for? Who did He obtain eternal redemption
for? Here you see them in my text.
Come ye blessed of my Father. Oh, what a blessing! He gave
me to obtain eternal redemption for you. And here they are, every
last one of them, they are all redeemed. Brothers and sisters, I dare
not be cocky about this this morning, but I cannot. And I have got too old now to
even meditate or think upon another redemption but what Jesus Christ
has accomplished. And I cannot look upon it in
any way, sense, shape, or form that He has failed. Not one drop
of blood was shed in vain. Not one groan upon the cross
will go unrewarded. Those whose sins He bore, He
put away. And listen to me, nobody else's. Justice cannot payment twice
demand. First at my bleeding shirt, His
hand, and then again at mine." Why do we say that? Because it's
the King who died. And here He is upon His throne. Would any man dare look at Him
and say, You failed? How could He fail? When you and I talk about irresistible
grace, when we talk about effectual calling, We're talking about
Him who is the Shepherd who goes to find His sheep and never stops
looking until He finds them. When we talk about calling, we're
talking about the Shepherd finding His sheep. Has He ever failed
to find one of His lost sheep? No, and He never will. He found
you, didn't He? He found you. When you were in
a perishing state, He found you. And He laid you on His shoulders
and brought you safely to the fold. It's about Him. Listen to what He says in John
6, verse 44 and 45. It's written in the Prophets.
They shall be all taught of God. Everyone who hath heard and learned
of the Father, He cometh to me. That's what calling is about. Coming to Christ. Are you thirsty? You know what He said to the
thirsty? Come to Me and drink. Are you burdened? You know what
He says to the burdened? Come to Me and find rest. That's
what calling is about. It's not us believing in effectual
calling or not believing it. It's believing that calling brings
us to the Lord Jesus Christ. And when you come to Him, you
may have never understood it before, but as soon as you get
to Him, you'll understand what effectual calling is. I can't understand anybody. I
can't understand anybody not believing in effectual calling. What kind of power, what kind
of grace did it take to bring you to Christ? I have often said
this, if the Lord drew everybody, if He taught everybody the way
He taught me, He'd save everybody. I could not resist Him. I would
not resist Him. Don't you feel that way? I tell
you, calling is just as essential as the cross of Christ. It's
just as essential as election itself, calling it. I was reading Adam Clark. He's
one of the favorite of the Armenians when they want to know what they're
supposed to believe, they go to Adam Clark. And I was reading
him on John 6, 45. And here's what he said about
drawing, God drawing. He said, if you want to draw
a sheep, then you put green grass in front of him and you'll draw
the sheep. If you want to draw little children, hold some nuts
out before them. Children love nuts. And you can
draw the children. Well, here's the problem with
that. Green grass is natural to a sheep. And nuts may well be natural
to a little child to play with them. But here's the whole problem
with that. Our coming to Christ is not natural. We're adverse. Here's the miracle
in that. When you come to Christ, you
could never have got to Him or desired Him or want to come or
would come unless He enlightened your dark understanding. unless
He got away, did away with your old twisted affections that loves
darkness and put in your heart a love for the Savior, a need
for the Lord Jesus Christ. And this, last of all but not
the least, He has to bend your will. He has to break your will
that you may be willing to come and give yourself up to the Savior
to be saved by Him. So Mr. Clark had it wrong, didn't
he? I fear that so many of those Armenians have the calling wrong,
among some other things as well. Ain't it a miracle that you come? You know why you come? He called
you. That's the only reason you came.
He wasn't some spark of goodness. He wasn't some desire of God
by nature that you had left in you from the fall. It was altogether
new. It was His voice. Did you notice
here in my text that nobody made a move even to come into the
kingdom until the Lord Jesus says, Come, you blessed of My
Father. And nobody will do it here this morning either. Men
are dead in sins and they cannot and they will not come to the
Lord Jesus until He calls them by His gospel, until He draws
them by His Holy Spirit. And you know something? We'd
quit coming if He quits drawing us. Wouldn't we? Sometimes we
get in this cold, indifferent state and it scares us to death.
We get to the place where we don't even desire to pray, don't
even desire to read the Bible. Don't Him desire to live by faith?
And it scares us to death. I think He lets us get there
sometime to show us, if I quit calling you, you'll quit coming. Oh, the church of old prayed
like this, draw us and we'll run after you. And if you don't
draw us, we can't run after you. And I'm telling you, if you're
here this morning and you're lost, you will not come to Him
unless He calls you to come to Him. And I just about wager that
when He calls you, if He set His heart and His grace upon
you, you're coming. You may brag this morning and
say, I'm not coming, but I bet you will. I bet you will. I seen this fellow over here
is awful proud years ago, wouldn't you, Clarence? Good looking,
too. Skinny, muscled. He changed a
little bit, ain't he? But you know something? I saw
Him on His face. I saw that proud fellow on His
face seeking the Lord. Who brought Him there? The Lord
called Him. The Lord called Him. I tell you,
it's about Him, isn't it? It's about Him. It's about His
glory. When God is determined to bring
a man to Christ, He's coming. And He's coming like God has
purposed for Him to come. Down at the feet! of the Savior
with that leper praying, Lord, if you will, you can make me
clean. Oh, we've seen so much of this
walk in the aisle. We've seen so much of this decisional
regeneration. You know what I want to see?
What you want to see? Man being called to the Savior. Give me Christ or give me death.
I'm going to die. without Him. Down they go at
His feet, and they're broken before Him. That's what you and
I want to see. Oh, calling, calling. And what
about this? What about from the time they're
called until the time they reach that heavenly home? Ain't this
about Him too? It's about Him too. What keeps us? Come into Him
through this world of devils and flesh. Oh, aren't you sick
of it? Aren't you sick of flesh? A world that's so attractive,
temporal advantages. What keeps us from the time He
brings us to Himself and grants us faith in the graces of the
Spirit? What keeps us from falling? What keeps us from being deceived?
and let us stray by devils and sin. He does. He does. I'm telling you, He does. All which you've given me, I
have lost what? A few of them. Some of them was
rebellious and I couldn't do anything with them. I lost one
of them. No, He lost nothing. Of all that
you've given me, I've lost nothing. How important will that be, brothers
and sisters, when you stand before Him yonder? What if you stand
on the left hand instead of the right? How important will election
be then? Don't tell us about election.
Then what do you think about standing at His right hand yonder?
Those who are on His right hand yonder are His sheep. They were
chosen and given to Him before the world. What do you think
about election when they stand there? I bet men will change
their mind about election. when they stand there. He won't
be so contemptible then. What do you think about the Lord
keeping you in this godless world, in this twisted, perverted society
in which we live? How important is it, brothers
and sisters? It's going to determine where you stand yonder. If He
loses you here, you'll be on the left hand yonder. That's
how important it is. But you know something? He's
never lost a warrant. Never lost a one. Can you imagine yourself standing
yonder to judgment this morning? I want you to do that if you
can. And the King calls to you. Now you take this as personally
as you can. Imagine yourself standing there
and you hear His voice speaking to you and this is what you hear. Come, you blessed of My Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared
for you. How's that going to make you
feel? Oh, can you imagine that? I can't begin to get a hold of
that. Can you? What are you going to do? Imagine what you're going
to do when He says that to you. What are you going to say? I'm
going to leap. I'm going to shout. I'm going
to be like old Scott Richardson. I finally made it. I finally
made it. I hear this voice and you know
what you're going to say? Oh, thank you. Oh, thank you. Thank you for choosing me. Thank
you for preserving me. Thank you for calling me. Thank
you for dying for me. Thank you for your blood. Thank
you for saying come. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you. You know what the
saints of God will do? They'll spend eternity praising
Him. Somebody said, what are they
going to do there? They'll do just exactly what they want to do.
And that's spend eternity praising Him. One old woman told Charles
Spurgeon, she was under conviction, and she said, Spurgeon, if God
saves me, He'll never hear the last of it. That's the way it'll
be, isn't it? You want to be saved this morning?
You want to be saved His way? Being saved His way is the way
in which the Son of God is going to get all the glory for it.
Then come and give up yourself to Him. Cast yourself upon Him
and ask Him to have mercy upon you that you're nothing. And
you should have been in hell yesterday. And the only reason
you're not is because He's kept you from it. And seek Him for
mercy. His heart's full of it, you know.
It's going to take a lot of grace to save you, but His heart's
full of it. Then come to Him. Come to Him. O bunions that come
with a chain binding your feet and a rope about your neck, and
say, Lord Jesus, save me or I perish. O gracious Lord, we love to talk
about You. We love to think about You. We
were lost and without You, had no understanding of You. Full
of the devil's sin, pride, and self-will, ignorance. Oh, but
you call us and give us a new heart and a new spirit to praise
you with, to worship you with, to understand you, to know you,
to ascribe glory unto you. You call us out of our miserable
darkness into your marvelous light. We thank you this morning. Oh, blessed Lord Jesus, we thank
you for all that's here. Thank you for those who have
an interest in you, that love to hear about you. are satisfied
and content to hear nothing else but about the great Savior. Oh, bless your people this morning
with your presence, with your special presence. Would you have
mercy upon the lost? Oh, we dare not command you.
You're the king. We're poor beggars. We do ask
you. You told us to ask, and we ask
you, Lord, to save your people. Thank you for this day, this
beautiful Lord's Day. Thank you for the dear sisters
that have cooked for us so many Sundays. Thank you for Curtis
that we've come to know and love. We pray your richest blessings
upon him as he goes to be with Frank. We pray for Frank that
you'd bless him and his wife. Bless him as he pastors the church
there. Bless him with your gospel that
he may preach it in power and his purity. We thank you for
this day, our health. Thank you for the food we have. In our Lord Jesus' name, amen. I don't know how long it will
be. It may just take a minute.