I believe that if you'll listen
attentively and carefully to the message that I've prepared
for you today, that God will bless it to your spiritual understanding
and your spiritual growth. Our Lord has declared that He
hath chosen by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe. And when He commissioned His
disciples and sent them into the world, He gave them this
commission, go ye into all the world and preach the gospel.
and teach men to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded
you. Now I have given careful study
and preparation and prayer to the message that I have prepared
for you today, and I want you to listen to it, and I pray that
God will make it effectual to your understanding, that God
will give you eyes to see and ears to hear and a heart to understand. We are not just shouting and
screaming and trying to make converts. I'm trying to preach
the gospel of God's grace and teach you what the Word of God
has to say about God, about sin, about salvation, about eternal
life. Now, the title of this message
is The Lord's Prophet. The Lord's Prophet. In Deuteronomy,
that's in the Old Testament, Deuteronomy 18, verse 18 and
19. Now, listen to what Moses wrote
here. Moses is speaking. in Deuteronomy
18, verse 18, and he says, ìThe Lord said to me, ìI will raise
up a prophet from among thy brethren like unto thee, and I will put
my words in his mouth, and he shall speak unto them all that
I shall command him. And it shall come to pass that
whosoever will not hearken unto my words, which that prophet
shall speak in my name, I'll require it of him." Now, my friends,
without question, there's no question about this, the words
of Moses are spoken of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is God's prophet. The Lord said to me, I will raise
up a prophet from among their brethren like unto thee, and
I'll put my words in his mouth, and the people shall hearken
to him. And whosoever will not hear what this prophet has to
say, I will require it of him." Now that's Christ he's talking
about. The people asked John the Baptist, when John the Baptist,
the forerunner of Christ came, the people asked him, are you
that prophet? Are you that prophet? They looked
for that prophet. Moses wrote these words hundreds and hundreds
and hundreds of years before John the Baptist came. But when
John the Baptist came, he was an unusual man with an unusual
message. He was the forerunner of Christ.
And they kept asking him, are you that prophet? He said, no,
no, I'm not that prophet. In John 6, 14, listen to this. When they saw the miracles that
Jesus did, they said to one another, this is of a truth, that prophet. This is that prophet that should
come into the world. This is the one of whom Moses
wrote in John 3, 34. Listen. For he whom the Father
hath sent speaketh the words of God. That's what God said
to Moses. I'll raise up from among the
people a prophet like unto thee. He'll be in human flesh. And
I'll put my words in his mouth. And that's what he says here.
Whom God hath sent, he speaks the words of God. Now listen
to John 5, 24. And Christ said, He that heareth
my words, he that heareth my words, and believeth on him that
sent me hath everlasting life. Do you see what I'm saying? Moses
wrote hundreds of years ago in Deuteronomy 18, verse 18 and
19. The Lord said to me, the Lord said to me, and God spake
to Moses. All these people today talking
about what God told them, what God told them. God speaks to
us today through His Word. He does not speak contrary to
His Word or in addition to His Word. He speaks to us through
His Word. I don't care who the preacher
is or who the woman is or who the person is. It says God said
something to them in an audible voice. They're not telling you
the truth. God speaks through His Word. They might have heard
a voice, but it wasn't God's voice. I can assure you of that.
God speaks through His Word. And if anybody adds to this Word
or takes away from this Word, God said He'd add to him the
plagues written in this Word and take his name out of the
Lamb's Book of Life, out of the Book of Life. Now, that's just
so. But God spoke to Moses. I know that because Hebrews 1
says, God, who at sundry times and in diverse manners spake
to our fathers by the prophets, He spoke to the prophets, and
the prophets spoke to the people. And God said to Moses, I'll raise
up a prophet, and I'll put my words in his mouth, and you hear
him. And that prophet is Jesus Christ. He is that prophet. All right,
do you see there are three, listen carefully to this, now there
are three main defects in men, in me and you and everybody else.
There are three main defects since the fall of Adam. Now you
listen to this. You'll learn something if you'll
listen. Like the old preacher used to say, if you're not in
too big a hurry to go to hell, will you sit down and listen
to the Word of God? There are three main defects
in man since the fall. The first one is this, we are
under the curse of sin, which is death. Now that's so. Romans
5, 12 says this, by one man, Sin entered the world, and death
by sin, so death passed upon all men. You and I, every one
of us, is under the curse of sin, which is death. Death. We are partakers of spiritual
death. You have be quickened who were
dead in trespasses and sin. The Bible talks about us being
dead in sin, dead in sin, spiritually dead. We're not only a partakers
of spiritual death, but physical death lives within us. It's just
a matter of time till you're going to die, a matter of time
till I'm going to die. The scripture says it's appointed
unto men once to die. Everybody always has died. Nobody's
ever gone to heaven without dying except Enoch and Elijah. That's the only two. God took
Enoch and translated Elijah, and everybody else has died.
You're going to die. Because of sin, we have in us physical
death. And not only that, but eternal
death. Some people say spiritual death and eternal death are the
same thing. But whatever you say, death is
in us. And death is a result of sin.
Every one of us are under the curse of the broken law, which
is death. The wages of sin is death. Death. Physical death, spiritual
death, eternal death. Death is in us. Death is about
us. Death is upon us. Hell and death
are moving to meet us at our coming. Now, that's the result
of the fall. That's the first defect in man
since the fall. God said to Adam, in the day
you eat, you'll die. Die. You can't do one thing about
it. It's in you, it's upon you, it's awaiting you. Spiritual
death, physical death, and if you don't know the grace of God,
eternal death. Now, secondly, as a result of
the fall in Adam, Not only do we have death in us and upon
us, but we're born in rebellion. That's right, we're born in rebellion
against God. All of you know this is so, both
in our wills and in our affections. It's a whole lot easier for you
to hate somebody than it is to love. It's a whole lot easier
for you to do wrong than to do right. You have a lot more pleasure
in sin than you do in holiness. It's a lot easier to do something
in the flesh than to do something in the Spirit. You know that
so, we're born with this Spirit, this nature, this principle of
evil, rebellion against God in us, both in our wills and in
our affections. Let me show you that in the Scripture,
Psalm 58. The wicked, and that's all men,
are restrained, perverted, that's what that word means, perverted,
separated from God, from the womb. They go astray as soon
as they're born. You don't have to teach children
to do wrong. They're born knowing how to do
wrong. You don't have to teach them to lie, to cheat, to steal, to
hate. You don't have to teach children
that. You have to teach them. You have to discipline. You have
to try to force them to do right. They're born knowing how to do
evil. They're born with evil within them. You have not the
love of God in you. That's what Christ said. You
don't have the love of God in you. You're not born with the
love of God in you. You're born with the love of self and sin.
You will not come to me that you might have life. It's all
summed up in this statement. This is what they said. We will
not have this man reign over us. We have no king but Caesar. Those are some of the saddest
words that have ever been spoken by human beings. They stood out
there, the Son of God, was on trial before Pilate. God, holiness,
truth in human flesh. And they were crying for his
blood. They were crying for his death. And Pilate said, Shall
I crucify your king? They said with one voice, with
one accord, We have no king. We have no king but Caesar. That's man's king. Flesh, evil,
and sin. We're born that way. And you
can fight it. fuss about it and grind your
teeth and spit at it and do what you want to, but it's so. Men
are born in sin. They're born in sin. They're
born in rebellion against God, both in will and affection. And
then thirdly, here's the third result of the fall. We're born
with death upon us and death in us. And we're born with evil
in us and rebellion against God. And thirdly, as a result of the
falling atom, we're born in ignorance. And that's what I'm talking about
this morning. We need to be taught. We need
a prophet. We need a teacher. We're born
in ignorance. We're born in blindness spiritually. Listen to what Christ said about
us. Having eyes, they do not see. Having ears, they do not
hear. Having hearts, they do not understand. Oh, we understand the ways of
seeing well enough. We're masters in that art. We
understand the ways of sin. We see and hear the ways of flesh. We can pick up anything having
to do with the flesh, and enjoy it, and love it, and feast upon
it, and roll it around upon our tongues and in our hearts, the
lust of the eye and the lust of the mind and the pride of
life. But by nature, we do not love God. We do not love holiness. We do not love God nor long for
His ways. We're ignorant. We're well-versed
in the ways of sin. and ignorant of the ways of God.
We're masters at this acts and deeds and arts of the flesh,
but we're so blind and so foolish and so ignorant in things of
the Spirit. Sit down and teach children how
to roll dice. They can pick it up in a moment.
Teach them to deal cards, they can pick it up in a moment. Teach
them to do anything wrong, they can pick it up in a moment. Try
teaching them the Word of God. Try getting them to memorize.
They can memorize any kind of song, having to do with the flesh.
You can, too. You can remember every evil thing
you've ever seen, every dirty joke you've ever heard, but you
can't remember three verses of Scripture. You can't remember
them. And you try to get children to
memorize the Word of God. They know Superman, and they
know all these other characters, Spider-Man, and all this, but
they don't know who Paul is, and they don't know who James
is. You know that soul. And I know it's so, and you can
fight it and gnash your teeth against it, but it's so. It's
so. We're born ignorant and blind,
spiritually blind, and dumb, and deaf, and do not understand
the things of God. The natural man receiveth not
the things of God, their foolishness to him, neither can he know them,
their spiritually discerned. The carnal mind, the natural
mind, is enmity against God. It's the friend of the world.
We're friends of this world. But man by nature is the enemy
of God. He can make bedfellows with anybody
in this world, but he doesn't want to walk with God. No, sir,
he doesn't. He's not subject to the law of
God. His mind's not subject to the law of God. His heart's not
subject to the law of God. It is subject to evil and sin.
Now, that's the three things that happened to us when Adam
fell. We came under the curse and judgment of God, and death
came upon all men. By one man's sin, death, sin
entered this world, and death by sin. You're going to die.
And you're already dead spiritually. Already dead spiritually. And
you were born in rebellion. Your will resists God. Our Lord
said, let another come in his own name and people listen to
him. I come in my Father's name and you will not hear me. You
will not. They'll follow Caesar and reject
Christ. They'll crucify Christ and turn
Barabbas loose. That's man by nature. And then
we're born ignorant. How ignorant we are. How blind
we are. How foolish. The foolish heart
of man. Well, it's good news. Good news. You've got good news. Yes, sir,
I've got good news. I've got the good news of the
gospel. It's good news. And that's this, that all three
of these needs are met in Christ. All three. There's a place where
all my needs are met. That's right. Everything I need.
Everything God requires. Everything I need. Everything
that I need to make me sufficient and adaptable. and acceptable
to God for eternity. That's what it says in 1 Corinthians
1.30. He of God is made unto us wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Wisdom for a
foolish heart, sanctification for an ungodly heart, redemption
for a dead heart, regeneration, huh? All in Christ. Now let me
go back to those three things again, will you? Will you go
back with me first? There's no use you denying it
or anybody else. It's so according to the Scripture. It's so by
experience, and you know it. Number one, because of sin, we're
under the curse of the law, which is death. And you can't do anything
about it. You're dying. And you might pay
somebody to keep you alive one second, and he can't do it. All
the money in the world won't keep you alive one minute past
God's decreed time. The number of your months are
set. You're dying, my friend. You're going the way of all flesh
one of these days. Spiritual death is upon you.
But in Christ, in Christ our great priest, through the great
atonement, we have life. He said, I am come that they
might have life and have it more abundantly. In Galatians 3.13,
it says, Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law.
Back there in verse 10, it said, Cursed, cursed is everyone that
continueth not in all points of the law to do them. Well,
we haven't, you haven't, and can't. But here, just two verses
later, it says, but Christ hath redeemed. What's the word redeem
mean? Well, if you've ever taken anything to the palm shop, you
know what it means to redeem it. You go back a few weeks later
and pay the man the money and buy it back. And He has redeemed
us from bondage. He has redeemed us from prison. He has redeemed us by paying
the debt that we owe. He's redeemed us from the curse
of the law being made a curse for us. The Bible says, in Adam
we die, in Christ we're made alive. By man came death, by
man came the resurrection. Do you see that? He restoreth
my soul. I wish you could see that. The
wages of sin is death. The results of sin is death.
The fruit of sin is death. But the gift of God is eternal
life. Where? In whom? In Jesus Christ,
our Lord. All right, let's go back to that
second thing that I talked about. The second thing was this, because
of our sinful natures, because of our sinful natures, we're
at war with God. Yeah, we are. When you're at
war with truth, you're at war with God. When you tell a lie,
it's an attack on God. That's exactly right. When we
do anything evil or sinful, it's an attack on God. Because God
is truth, and God is life, and God is righteousness, and God
is holiness. And when we're at war with righteousness,
we're at war with God. Now, that's just so. We're in
rebellion against God. David said, Lord, against Thee
have I sinned. Against thee I have done this
evil in thy sight, that thou mightest be clear when thou judgest,
that thou mightest be justified when thou condemnest me. And
because of our sinful natures we are at war with God, both
in will and affections. We love sin, and we hate God
by nature. That's right. But the King of
Salem, the Prince of Peace, has come. He has come, the King of
Salem, the Prince of Peace, the Lord Jesus Christ. That's who
He is. That's what He's called. And He hath reconciled us to
God. He not only made peace for us
with God, but He has brought His peace into our hearts toward
God. He said, My peace I give unto
you. Let not your heart be troubled. He has conquered our hearts.
He has made the enemy to be His friend. Thy people shall be willing
in the day of thy power. He has shed abroad his love in
our hearts. He has led captivity captive.
Where sin did once reign, Christ now reigns." Our Lord Jesus Christ
came into the land of the Gadarenes. And he went down there into the
tombs. And there was a man in the tombs
who was possessed of demons, a raging maniac. They couldn't
keep clothes on him. They couldn't keep him chained
or tied. No man could tame him. He was
just a wild, raging, turbulent maniac. And when he saw our Lord
Jesus Christ, the demons within him cried out against Christ
and said, We know who you are. We know who you are. You're the
Holy One of God. Have you come to torment us before
our time? Do you hear the hatred there?
Do you hear the enmity there? Do you hear the warfare there,
as that naked, raging maniac faced our Lord Jesus Christ?
Well, the King of Peace, the King of Salem, spoke words, and
he said, I command you to come out of him. And I'll tell you,
you know what Scripture says? That a little while later, that
man, that same man, full of such hate and enmity and warfare,
was sitting in his right mind clothed at the feet of Christ.
The King had conquered Him. The King. And that's what the
Lord Jesus Christ does in these wicked hearts of ours. He comes
and conquers us. He subdues us. He puts His love,
the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts. He gives us peace
and joy and rest. Where sin did reign and where
sin did abound, grace did much more abound and now Christ reigns. He's the king. He's my king.
Sin shall not therefore reign over you. It remains, and we
battle it, but it doesn't reign. Christ reigns. He's the king.
He's the priest. Do you get that? He atoned for
us. He put away our sins. He delivered us from the curse
of the law. He delivered us from death by His atonement. He's
the king. He reigns over us. He has subdued our wills. He
has conquered us. We're in love with Him. We bow
at His feet. We lay down our arms of rebellion,
our weapons of warfare, unconditionally surrendered as Thomas fell at
his feet and said, my Lord and my God. That takes a miracle. And a miracle is what salvation
is. Now lastly, because of the fall, we know not God. We're in spiritual darkness and
blindness and ignorance. I talked about that a while ago.
We're well versed in the ways and arts of evil and sin in this
world. Men can build bridges, they can
put folks on the moon, they can invent all kind of medicines
to heal diseases, but they can't understand or see the simple
mysteries, the profound yet simple mysteries of the singleness of
Jesus Christ, the redemption of God. The Scripture, they have
no appetite for the Scriptures. They have no appetite for the
things of God. They have no appetite for the
gospel of Jesus Christ. But their appetite for the things
of the world is never satisfied. Their thirst for the world is
never quenched. Their thirst for fame and influence and popularity
and money and possessions and material things is never quenched.
Their thirst is never quenched. But they have no thirst for God.
Blessed are they that hunger and thirst for righteousness,
they shall be filled. Well, because of that fall, we're
in spiritual darkness and ignorance. But that prophet, that prophet,
Moses said, The Lord thy God. He said to me that the Lord thy
God will raise up from among the brethren. He'll be born of
a woman, made under the law, God in human flesh. He'll walk
this earth. He'll be tested in all parts
as we are, yet without sin. And that prophet, that prophet,
the Lord Jesus Christ, has come. And John writing about it says,
And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an
understanding. an understanding that we may
know Him that is true. He's given us some understanding
of God. Oh, we don't know all about God?
No way. We can't comprehend God. We're
not God. But we have some understanding
of His holiness, some understanding of His justice, some understanding
of His grace. Yes, we do. He's given us an
understanding that we may know Him that is true and that we're
in Him that is true, even in His Son, Jesus Christ. And this
is the true God, and this is eternal life. He said, I am the
light of the world. He that followeth after me shall
never walk in darkness. Never, never, never. My friends,
what I'm saying is this. Our death and curse is removed
by Christ, our priest, with his atonement. Our rebellion in will
and affection is conquered by Christ, our King. And our ignorance
and blindness is dispelled by Christ, who is our prophet this
is my son hear ye him now let's notice in closing the second
part of that prophecy and he said and it shall come to pass
that whosoever shall not listen shall not listen and receive
the words which that prophet shall speak in my name God said
I'll required of him I'll required of him you're not going to hear
Christ you're not going to hear him Well, let me tell you what
you're doing. He that believeth not shall be damned. Why is unbelief
such a serious offense? I'll tell you three or four things.
Number one, unbelief puts a question mark on the wisdom of God. The
preaching of the cross is to those who believe wisdom. We
see how God can be just and justifier. We see how mercy and truth can
meet together. We see how righteousness and
peace can kiss one another. We see how the law can be honored.
We see how the justice of God can be satisfied. We see how
that every character and attribute of a holy God can be satisfied
and honored and exalted in the life and death and intercession
of Jesus Christ the Lord. That's the wisdom of God. But
the preaching of the cross is to them who are perishing foolishness.
They say, that's a bunch of foolishness. You know how serious that is?
Not to believe the gospel is to look at God in the death of
His Son and say, God, that's a pack of foolishness. That's
sheer nonsense. Whoever heard of such foolishness,
I refuse to listen to it. I require it at your hand. Secondly,
unbelief strikes at the love of God. Let me tell you a story,
quickly, if I have the time. There's an old Presbyterian preacher
named Daniel Baker. His father and mother both died
when he was a little boy. He and his sister were sent to
an orphanage. He was about seven or eight, his sister about nine
or ten. He loved his sister. Oh, he had no parents now, and
all his love was given to his sister. And she got angry with
him one day, and he was so grieved because she
was angry. So he took all he had, all his
little savings, and he went down to the store, and he bought her
a pretty vase, and he brought it back to her. She was still
angry, and he handed her the vase with a smile and said, I
love you. And she took that vase out of his hand and dashed it
in pieces at his feet. And he said, I stood there unbelieving. I didn't believe what I saw.
She took the object of my love, the gift of my love, and despised
it and dashed it into pieces at my feet. Christ is the gift
of God's love. And when you don't believe Him,
unbelief says, I despise your gift of love. Now, if you want
this message on tape, this message you want to preach last week,
write to me. Send two dollars and we'll mail the tape to you.
That prophet and then he that believeth on the Son. Until next
week, may God bless you, everyone.