John chapter 1 again. I'm going to speak tonight on
this subject, the three persons necessary in conversion. And of course, the Father, the
Son, and the Holy Spirit you immediately think of. The Father
chose us the Son redeemed us and the Holy Spirit calls us,
but that's not the direction that I'm going tonight. I want
to make two or three remarks by way of introducing the message,
and then I shall present the three persons that I believe
are essential and are necessary for conversion. First of all,
And this is something that needs to be stressed, I think, especially
in this day. The church of our Lord Jesus
Christ meets, first of all and primarily, to worship, to worship. We could learn from the ritualist,
I don't like ritualism, I don't like form, I don't like ceremony
when it's done for the purpose of ceremony, ritualism and form,
but we could learn from these people who manifest a great deal
of reverence in their kneeling and in their bowing and in their
falling prostrate. This is the house of God, and
I think we in our freedom And we, in our religious liberty,
and we in our familiarity with the Holy God, sometimes lose
sight of that fact that this is the place of worship. This is the place of meditation.
This is the place of communion with the living God. Our Lord
said, where two or three are met together in my name, and
I trust that's why we've met here, in the name of Christ,
seeking the presence of the Lord, he said, I'm in their midst,
I'm there. Now there's something to be done
before a service, there's something to be done during a service,
and there's something to be done after a service if I'm really
here for worship, if I'm really here to meet God. If I'm really
here for the purpose of fellowship and communion with the King of
Kings, there's something to be done before worship or the service,
during the service, and after the service. And I believe it
can be described in this way. Before the service there is a
preparation of heart. Yea, even before I leave my home.
Now of course I have an advantage. I think we preachers sometimes
forget that. We make it pretty hard on people,
but we don't work in public works. We don't work five or six days
a week and have only Sunday off. We have sermons to preach, so
naturally we're going to read the Bible before we come to church.
We have to stand up here in this lonely place, so naturally we're
going to pray. We've got to preach the gospel,
so naturally we're going to be sober. We're going to think on
this thing. And then during the service we
have an advantage because there's a great burden, there's a great
weight upon us in delivering the message that we feel God
has laid on our hearts. And then after the service we're
sincerely interested in how the message affected the people,
not for our praise or glory, for their good and for God's
glory. But whether we have the advantage or not, this is still
true. We must not dismiss responsibility
because of the lack of opportunity or the lack of responsibility.
And I believe that every one of us, and when I'm not preaching,
when I'm just attending a service, and last week I was in one service
in which I didn't preach. I preached Monday night and Tuesday
morning and Tuesday night and Wednesday morning and Wednesday
night, but I missed Thursday morning and I came to the service.
And I did what I'm going to recommend for you. I do this myself. There is a time before the service
of preparation. of coming and sitting in the
house of God, and there's nothing wrong with fellowshipping with
a neighbor, but there's a type of fellowship recommended. There's
another type that's not recommended. There's a type of fellowship
that can prepare our hearts for worship. There's a type of fellowship
that can prepare our hearts to receive God's Word. And that
is a quiet time. Meditation, communion with God,
praying for the minister, praying for those who shall bring special
music? I'm always fearful that with
our familiarity and our so-called religious liberty that we rush
into the presence of God sometimes unprepared, and I don't think
we quite make it. I think we try to rush into God's
presence and we're not prepared for that awesome, fearful, holy
presence. Perhaps we don't understand just
exactly what that presence is. Thou thoughtest, God said, I
was altogether such a one as thyself, but I'm not. The Lord
is in his holy temple. Let all the earth keep silent.
I'm not asking you to make of this auditorium a mausoleum.
I'm not asking you to make of this auditorium a place where
people are afraid to speak. But there is a preparation of
heart for a service. And I think we need to regard
it. We need to consider it. We need to think about it. And
then during the service, there's participation. It always upsets
me when I'm sitting on the pulpit, looking out over the congregation,
when we're singing a hymn or someone's reading the Bible or
praying, You see, people whom I know are not paying attention. They're not reading along with
us. They're not singing along with us. They're not participating. Well, I'll tell you this. I believe
if a group of people came into the presence of the Lord, and
they were there adoring Him and praising Him and worshiping Him,
and that's what we're here for. Oh, come let us worship the Lord.
Let us bow down in His presence. And here a group of ten or twelve
people praising the Lord together. And in that group of two people
that are punching one another and laughing and carrying on
a conversation, I imagine it would be quite upsetting, don't
you? And yet, that's what I believe a worship service is. We're in
the presence of the Lord. Now there's some churches that
allow babies to cry and they allow people to get up and walk
around and go out and get a drink of water and come back. They
allow the young people to talk and pass notes. This is God's
house, and that will not be permitted. It must not be permitted. This
is the worship of the Lord. We need to not only prepare our
hearts for worship, we need to participate in that worship.
Participate. Participate in the prayer. Participate
in the reading of God's Word. Participate in the singing of
the hymn. And when the message is delivered,
it may be poorly delivered. But ask God to give you a word. Ask God to give you just a thought. Ask God to give you a message
from his messenger. And I think any of us can get
just a thought, just a word, and any word at all will add
to our growth, won't it? And then after the service, there's
something to be done, and that is contemplation. I'm not going
to ask you what I preached this morning. I'm not going to ask
you to give me the points, but it seems to me that if we come
to the house of God and we hear a messenger, we ought to be able
to retain something that he said. We ought to so give our teaching
that at least we'll retain something that was presented if it's God's
message and if he's God's messenger. So after the service, I think
we need to do a little contemplating. And I don't mean by that that
you can't fellowship. I don't mean by that that you
can't greet folks that you haven't seen for a week and pass a word
of greeting and a word of happiness. But we need to try to ask the
Holy Spirit to help us to try to retain something that was
presented. Lord, give me a blessing, not
just for the moment. but give me a blessing that I
might grow by what I've heard and what has been given to me."
So that's really and truly the primary purpose of the Church,
contrary to what most people believe, is not to win souls.
The primary purpose of the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ is to
worship the Lord. Turn to Psalm 95. Hold that John
1 just a minute and just turn to Psalm 95. The church of our
Lord Jesus Christ meets to praise Him. To praise Him, to worship
Him, to adore Him. Listen to this. Psalm 95 verse
1. Oh come, let us sing unto the
Lord. Let us sing unto the Lord. Let
us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. Let us
come before His presence with thanksgiving and make a joyful
noise unto Him with psalms. For the Lord is a great God and
a great King above all gods. In His hand are the deep places
of the earth. The strength of the hills is
His also. The sea is His. He made it. His
hands formed the dry land. O come, let us worship and bow
down. Let us kneel before the Lord
our Maker For He is our God, and we are the people of His
pasture, and the sheep of His hand. Today, if you'll hear His
voice, harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as
in the day of temptation in the wilderness, when your fathers
tempted Me, proved Me, and saw My work. Forty years long was
I grieved with this generation. I said, It's a people that do
err in their heart, and they have not known My ways, unto
whom I swear in My wrath. They should not enter into my
rest. So the Church of the Lord Jesus
Christ meets to worship. It meets to praise the Lord.
We are to exhort one another, to encourage one another, to
edify one another. We are to praise Him together.
Forsake not the assembling of yourselves together as the manner
of some is, but exhort one another encourage one another. But then the Church of our Lord
Jesus Christ meets together to preach His gospel, to preach
His gospel, and that to believer and unbeliever, to preach His
gospel to those who know Him and those who don't know Him,
to preach His gospel to those to whom He's precious and those
to whom he is not yet precious. And sometimes it pleases God
when the church has met together and the gospel is preached to
cause the saints of God to rejoice in the salvation of a sinner.
So tonight I want to present the three persons that are necessary
if someone is to be converted. We met together as a church of
the Lord Jesus Christ. We've come here to worship Him.
Now, the gospel is being preached. Now, if anyone is converted,
genuinely converted, I'm not talking about anybody who has
a religious experience or makes a decision or joins a church.
I mean, if a man or woman's heart is broken and they brought to
repentance toward God and faith in Christ, there are three persons
that have to be healed. The first one, John chapter 1,
verse 6. The first is the one who preaches
the Word. It says here in John 1, 6, there
was a man sent from God, whose name was John. John came from
God. John came from God with God's
message. John came from God and called
himself a voice in the wilderness. They said, who are you? He said,
I'm nobody. I'm nobody. I'm just a voice. I'm just a voice. That's what
Paul said in 1 Corinthians 3. I think that it's possible, and
not only possible, but it looks to me like it's being done in
some places, to put too much emphasis on the preacher. and
not enough on the body of Christ. I think it's possible for us
to make an idol of a man, to follow that man rather than the
one whom he has sent to preach. Paul said, you follow me as I
follow Christ. But we're to follow the Master.
Listen to what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 3, verse 5. Who is Paul? Who
is Apollos? but ministers by whom you believe,
even as the Lord gave to every man. I have planted a palace
watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth
anything, neither he that watereth, but
God that giveth the increase. Our gifts are borrowed. I don't
have any gifts of my own. If I'm able to preach the gospel,
it's because God gave me the ability. If you're able to pray in public,
it's because God gave you the ability. If you elders are able
to preach, it's because God gave you the ability. You don't have
any. We don't have any gifts. They're all borrowed. If you're
able to give to support the gospel, it's because God enabled you.
Who maketh thee to differ? What hast thou that thou didst
not receive?" Our knowledge is God-given. Our message is His
message. We are nothing. That's what Paul
is saying there. Who is Paul? Who is Apollos? Who is this? Who is that? Nobody. He that planteth is nothing,
and he that watereth is nothing. John's power, he was sent from
God, but his power was not in his personality, his power was
not in his publicity, his power was not in his organization,
his power was in his message. Message. What was his message? Turn to John 1.29, same chapter. John 1.29. There was a man sent
from God. He was sent from God. And let
me tell you something. While you're finding this, let
me tell you something. The old timers used to consider a sign of divine
favor for God to send to them his man. Actually, did you know that?
When the apostle Paul quoted that scripture in Romans 10,
how beautiful are the feet of them upon the mountains who preach
the gospel, who bring glad tidings of great joy, good tidings, happy
tidings, blessed are the feet of those who come preaching the
gospel. That's taken from Isaiah, and it's also in the book of
Nahum. It's twice in the Old Testament. These ancient people,
they used to consider it a sign of divine favor if God gave them
his messenger. And they used to consider it
a sign of divine wrath if the prophet of God was moved away.
They really did. When the prophet of God packed
his bags and left, those people said, God is not with us. And when the prophet of God came,
they considered it, they considered that a sign of divine favor,
the Lord's going to speak. He sent his So there was a man
sent from God whose name was John, and John knew his place,
and that's the first thing a true preacher's going to know, he's
going to know his place. And I'll tell you, I'm not, I'm
really going to be honest about it, I'm a little concerned in
this day that it's not totally the preacher's fault, I mean
the people's fault, it's the preacher's fault. that we're
putting too much emphasis on this thing of the preacher, too
much emphasis on his ability and his intellect and his knowledge
and these things, I'm fearful that God is able to bring some
folks down awful low if they climb too high and get too haughty
and too high and mighty. And it's not just the people's
fault, it's the preacher's fault, but John knew he was nothing.
Paul knew he was nothing. Paul knew that his gifts were
borrowed. Paul knew that his knowledge
was God-given. He knew his message was not his,
it's God's message. And God could replace him just
as easily as God Almighty can snap his fingers. And John came the next day, John
seeing Jesus coming to him, and he said, and this was his message,
Behold, not do, behold, not do, look, look. The Lamb, he preached
the gospel of faith, look. He preached the gospel of substitution,
look. There's the Lamb. Christ is our
Lamb, Christ is our Sacrifice, Christ is our Sin Offering. Look,
John says, there's the Lamb, the Lamb, of which all other
Lambs were but types and shadows and pictures and pointers. There's
the Sin Offering, there's the Sacrifice, there's the Redeemer. Look, the Lamb. He preached the
gospel of substitution, he preached the gospel of sovereignty. It's
the Lamb of God. This Lamb and His sacrifice and
His sin offering is not the result of a council of churches or a
council of men. It's a result of God's counsel,
the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He preached the gospel of grace.
There's the Lamb of God that taketh away sin, that removes
the stain, that takes away the curse, that lifts the penalty. There's the Lamb of God And he
preached the gospel of all nations that taketh away the sin of the
world. Black man, there's your Savior.
White man, there's your Savior. Rich man, there's your Savior.
Poor man, there's your Savior. Old man, there's your Savior.
Young man, there's your Savior. Behold, look, the Lamb of God
the gospel of substitution, the gospel of sovereignty, the Lamb
of God that taketh away sin, the gospel of mercy, the Lamb
of God that taketh away the sin of the world, the gospel of all
nations. You're not going to have conversion
without preaching, for preaching is the sowing of the seed. Christ
said, A sower went forth to sow. The sower is the son of man,
the seed is the word of God. There can be no harvest if there's
no seed sown, and don't you believe it either. There's got to be seed sown.
The seed is the word of God. He hath begotten us again unto
a living hope by the incorruptible seed, which is the word of God. And I'll tell you this, people say, Do you think a man
can be converted under the preaching of error? I believe the harvest
is usually what you sow. Isn't it? A fellow plants corn,
do you ever get beans? A fellow plants beans, do you
ever get corn? If a fellow sows heresy, that's
what he's going to reap. If a fellow sows error, that's
what he's going to reap. If a fellow sows the true seed
of God's Word, He'll reap the true seed of God's Word. And
then preaching is the net cast into the sea. No fish are going
to be caught if the net's not cast. And happy are you, little
fish, if you're swimming where somebody's thrown a net. Preaching
as Jesus Christ passing by, blind Bartimaeus sat by the wayside,
begging, and the Scripture says there was a disturbance, and
he said, what's going on? And somebody said, Jesus of Nazareth
is passing by. Whoa, now's the time. Jesus,
thou Son of David, have mercy on me. Hush! Jesus, thou Son
of David, have mercy on me. Hush! I'm not going to hush.
Now's the time. I've got to cry right now. He's
passing by. He may not be passing by next
year. He may not be passing by five
years from now. I tell you, if you want a flower
to grow, you better not plant it on the doorstep. And if you
want a person to be saved, you better get him where the Gospels
pray. You want a flower to grow, you put it out there on the ground
where it can get the rain and the sunshine. And if a man's
going to be saved, he's going to have to get the seed of the
Word. He's going to have to get the
applying of the Spirit. He's going to have to get the
rain from heaven. He's going to have to get those necessary
ingredients that Jesus is passing by when his Word is preached.
And ever blind Bartimaeus, I'll be crying because tomorrow I
must work the works of him that sent me while it's called today,
Christ said. Today, if you hear His voice,
now is the accepted time. Today is the day of salvation. Preaching is the word spoken
to the dry bones. God said, Ezekiel, see those
bones? Yes, Lord, can they live? Lord,
you know. Well, preach to them. Preach
to them. So in conversion, the first thing
you've got to have, you've got to have somebody preaching the
Word, the Word of God. And I honestly confess unto you,
and I say this, God is my witness. Paul used that, so that's not
denied, I don't believe, forbidden. God is my witness. God put me
up here to preach the Word. And there are plenty of folks
that could do it just as well if God put them up here. I believe
that. This is my place, and I don't
have a ministry without you. I know preachers that scold their
people and get rough with them, and if I do, it's out of love.
But I'm saying to you sincerely, I don't have a ministry without
you. That's right. And you're just as important
as I am. I just happen to be one God put up here to do the
talking tonight. Next Sunday he may have somebody
else, I don't know. But right now, I'm his messenger. And you've got to have that for
a person to be saved. Now secondly, look back at John
1 again, the second person necessary in conversion, the one who preaches
the Word, and secondly, the one who hears the Word, the one who
hears it, the one who hears it. Now he said in John 1, verse
10, he was in the world, he was in this world, and the world
was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came to his
own, and his own received him not, but as many as received
him. Brethren, when you receive the
Word, the Gospel, when you receive the Gospel, you're receiving
Him. He is the Gospel. He is the Gospel. As many as receive Him, He said
to His disciples, you go into all the world and preach the
Gospel to every creature. He that believes it and is baptized
shall be saved. And he that believes it not shall
be damned." Now, brethren, I want you to turn to Mark 6. I want
to show you something here. I think it's important enough
to point it out. In Mark 6, verse 20. Now, it's not enough to hear
the right preacher. Not enough to hear the right
preacher. There are people who were saved under John's ministry
and people who went to hell under John's ministry. John can't save. It says here in verse 20 of Mark
6, Herod feared John, knowing he was a just man and a holy
man. Herod came to hear the best preacher
of his day. Our Lord said, of all men born
of women, John the Baptist is the greatest. But brethren, it's
not enough to hear the greatest preacher, and then it's not enough
just to hear his words. Listen, Herod feared John, knowing
that he was a just man and a holy man, and he observed him. And when he heard him, he heard
John, he listened to him. He went out there where he was
preaching, and he listened to him. But my friend, it's not
Christ in the ear that saves, it's Christ in the heart. I left
here, Brother May, and preached. Well, I'm glad. And I hope you
keep coming to hear me, but I'm warning you. You can listen to
me preach and perish. Did you know that? And I said,
but brother man, I give assent to what you're saying. I love
to come and hear the gospel. Well, so did Herod. Listen, read
on. And when he heard him, he did many things and heard him
gladly. Oh, he liked old John. He liked
him. He liked his preaching. He thought
he was a just man and an unusual man and a great man. And he did
many things. I don't know what he did. But
he did many things, but I know what he didn't do. He didn't
receive Christ. He didn't receive Christ. And
this is the way a man is saved. It says, as many, he was in the
world, and the world was made by him, and the world heard him
preach, and the world saw him, and the world saw him die, and
the world saw him come forth. But they didn't receive him,
but as many as did. To them gave he power to become
the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. They
received Christ as prophet, to reveal God as priest, to redeem
them, and as king to reign over them. But they consciously, willingly,
intelligently, lovingly received him. Received him. Paul said, I know whom I have
believed, and I am persuaded he is able to keep that which
I have committed to him. I've committed to him. So if
man's converted, number one, somebody's going to have to preach
the gospel. And secondly, that man who hears that gospel is
going to have to hear it with his heart and receive it with
his heart. Receive it. And then thirdly,
the three persons necessary for conversion, the one who preaches,
the one who hears, and the one who enables us to preach and
you to hear. Look at John 1.13. These people
were born. These people that heard the gospel
and believed it, they were born. It was a spiritual birth. It
was a regeneration. It was a recreation. It was a
making of something new. Not of blood. That is not a family
you don't inherit from your mom and daddy. Your children are
going to be Christians because you are. We're not born of blood,
natural generation. We're not born of the will of
the flesh. We're not born of the will of man. We're born of
God. Now, my friends, turn to 1 Thessalonians 1. Now, this
is so important. This is the reason we need to
pray when we come to a service. Prepare our hearts and cry to
God. If the Holy Spirit's not present,
my preaching will just be so many dead, empty words. I know that. If the Holy Spirit's
not here, my preaching's just so much flesh. If the Holy Spirit's not present,
you'll never be awakened, you'll never be enlightened, you'll
never be convicted, you'll never be brought to Christ. Paul said,
Knowing brethren, 1 Thessalonians 1, 4, Knowing brethren, beloved,
your election of God for our gospel came not unto you in word
only. You know, I ran into this when
I was growing up, and I ran into it more in school. I heard a
fellow on the radio yesterday, driving back from Birmingham,
and he said, You ought to go out and win at least. What was
it? one soul to Jesus every day.
Well, my friends, if I was trying to win converts to the Republican
or Democratic party, I might could do that. If I was trying
to win converts, proselytes, to the Baptist church, I might
could do that. If I was trying to win converts
or proselytes even to Calvinism, I believe I could do that. I
think I'm that good a salesman. But this thing of people being
born again, I don't have the heavenly regenerating
power to give spiritual life. And the man doesn't have the
power to give it to himself either. The Holy Ghost has to give it
to us. We're born of God. God begets his children. Our
gospel came not unto you in word only. It's not just so many words. But the gospel came to you in
power, divine power, in the Holy Ghost. That's who speaks and
gives life. I could have stood outside the
grave of Lazarus and talked till I was blue in the face and he'd
stayed in that grave. And all of the committee could
have gone there, and they could have had a big revival, and they
could have whooped it up with some of the best gospel singers
in the land, and they could have given one of these high-pressure
mass evangelistic invitations. He'd still stayed in that grave.
But when our Lord Jesus Christ stood outside that tomb and told
him to roll away the stone, he said, Lazarus, you come forth. And the dead rose. And that's
what salvation is. It's a resurrection. It's God
speaking life. It's God regenerating. It's God
raising the dead. It's God Almighty giving life
where there is no life. And I know the seed of the Word.
That's the reason I preach it. And I know a man must hear it.
That's the reason you hear it, you listen. But I know it's the
Holy Ghost. that makes a difference. He's
got to be here. One of my favorite stories, I'm
going to tell it to you tonight. I heard Brother Barnard tell
this story a long, long time ago. This is one of his favorites.
I've heard him tell it many, many times. But he said he was
pastor of a church out in Texas, out in Border, Texas. And on
prayer meeting night, he said, had a little informal service,
and he preached and did a little teaching, and he'd say, anybody
got anything to say? And he said nearly every time
he said that, an old white-haired gentleman named Brother Burke
would stand up wherever he was seated. And he'd say, Brother
Barnard, did I ever tell you about how the Lord saved me?
And Barnard would say, yes, Brother Burke, you told us last Wednesday
night, but tell us again. Because he said, I never got
tired of hearing it. And he said, well, Brother Barnard,
he said, yes, you know, I was a wild one. I never go to church. I'm married. He said, my wife
always went to church. He said, we didn't have church
but once a month. We had a circuit rider with her
way out in the country preacher'd come in, he'd preach on Friday
night, he'd preach on Saturday night, he'd preach on Sunday.
And he said, we wouldn't have church but once a month. He said,
my wife always went, but I never would go. And he said, one Friday
I got the chores all done, the preacher was in the village,
he was going to preach that night, and so he said, I surprised my
wife, he said, I just for no reason in the world just walked
in there where she's getting ready for church, And I started
getting ready too. And she said, where are you going?
And I said, I'm going to church. Anything wrong with that? Oh
no, she said, I'm glad. So he said, we hitched up the
buggy and we drove to church and parked the buggy and got
out and went in. I sat down with my wife and said,
Brother Barnes, that preacher got up there and he let in on
me from the time he started. And he never let up till the
time he said, Amen. He told those people everything
I'd ever done, everything I'd ever said, about everything I'd
ever thought. And I sat there and I thought
to myself, that rascal, if he wasn't a preacher, I'd whip him.
Imagine him getting up in front of that crowd and telling them
all about me. I'll never come to this place. I guarantee if
I ever get out of here, I'll never come back. And so he said,
when the benediction was fed, I just ran out the back door
and I went and got the bug and I was sitting there. Impatiently
waiting, my wife came out and she said, what's your hurry?
He said, get in this buggy. And she got in and said, what's
the matter with you? He said, I'll never, you'll never get
me back out there again. Why, that man talked about me
something awful. He told those people everything
I'd ever said, done, or thought. I'll never go back to church
if I live to be 100. Well, he said, next night she's
getting ready to go to church like she always did. It didn't
faze her what I'd said. She's in there getting ready,
and I came in, and I started putting my clothes on. She said,
where are you going? Well, he said, I'm going back
to church with you, but I'm going to tell you this, that preacher
better not get on me again tonight. Now, I threatened to whip him
last night. If he gets on me tonight, I'm going to do it.
Now, I'm going back, but they better leave me alone. He said,
I went back, and I sat down in the same seat, and he took up
where he left off the night before. And Brother Barnard, that man
just scratched all the skin off and poured in the salt, nailed
my hide to the wall, and just left me dangling there in front
of all those people. And he said, I didn't even wait
for the Amen. I left during the benediction.
And he said, I was out there in the buggy waiting. And he
said, my wife came out and got in and said, I was mad. Oh, I
was mad. I said, let's get out of here.
I'll never come back again. We went through that same thing.
He said, the next day was Sunday. Didn't have service on Sunday
mornings, having Sunday night. And he said, my wife got sick
Sunday afternoon. Something was wrong, she got
upset and went to bed. Said she was in there in the
bed and I came in and started putting my clothes on. She said,
where are you going? He said, I'm going back to church. She
said, thought you were never going back again. He said, I'm
going to give him one more change. And so he said, I got in the
buggy and said, I... Now he didn't know that was the
Holy Spirit. He couldn't stay away. And he
got in the buggy and went back, and he said, sure enough, he
took up where he left off the night before, said, this time
I didn't let him get half through, so I jumped up and I ran down
to the front by the barn, and I fell on my face, and I cried,
Preacher, pray for me. Don't skin me anymore, just pray
for me. I'm lost. I need Christ. And
he said, for that night was over, the Lord spoke peace to my heart.
And he said, I got in my buggy and said, oh, I was riding down
between those pine trees and said, every little star seemed
to twinkle and say, we're glad you're saved, Brother Burr. And
he said, I got home, I put the buggy up and said, I walked,
oh, I was happy, I was walking on air. And he said, I walked
up the walk and walked up the steps and hit that front porch
and opened the door and my wife said in a loud voice, Lord saved
you, didn't he? And he said, I walked in that
bedroom, and I said, How'd you know? Ah, she said, I heard you
when you was coming up the walk. I heard you singing Amazing Grace. How sweet the sound that saved
a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I'm
found. I was blind, but now I see. I
knew he was working on you. I know He's going to save you.
That's the Holy Spirit. And brethren, we preach, and
you hear it, but the Holy Spirit makes that seed grow. The Holy
Spirit strips the old sinner and whittles him down, knocks
his foundations out from under him. He can't explain it, and
the preacher can't explain it, and nobody else can, but we just
know He does it. He does it. And without Him,
we can do nothing. Nothing. Our Father in Heaven,
thank Thee for the Word. Thank Thee for Thy precious,
blessed Holy Spirit that makes the Word to grow and gives it
life. We thank Thee for Christ our
Lord who died for our sins and reconciled us unto Thee. We don't
love Him like we ought to. We don't love one another like
we ought to. We're not what we ought to be.
nor what we want to be, nor what we expect to be, but by Thy grace
we are not what we used to be. Help us to grow in grace and
in the knowledge of Thy dear Son. For Christ's sake we pray. Amen. Ronnie, come announce the
number, please, sir. We'll sing number 249. 249. stand please Just as I am without one plea,
But that Thy blood was shed for me, And that Thou bidst me come
to Thee, of God I come, I come just as I To rid my soul of bond or clot. To Thee whose blood can cleanse
each heart, O Lamb of God, I come. Oh