Verse 11. The Apostle John said there was
a man sent from God. There was a man sent from God,
ordained of God, appointed of God. And his name was John. And this man sent from God, whose
name was John, came for a witness. He came as a prophet. to bear
witness of Christ, the Son of God, that through his message
and through his witness you might believe. Now John's birth was
a miraculous birth. If you'll turn with me to the
book of Luke, chapter 1, verse 76, John was miraculously conceived. His parents were childless, his
mother was barren. They were well stricken, the
scripture says, in years. And the Lord came to his father
and to his mother and announced the birth of this miraculous
child. And in announcing the birth of
this child, God said to the father and mother, verse 76 of Luke
1, And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the highest,
a prophet of God. He did not take this honor upon
himself, God gave it to him. He was not a voluntary prophet,
he was an appointed prophet. God made him a prophet. For thou
shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways. Go before Christ, before the
Messiah, to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation
unto his people by the remission of their sin through the tender
mercy of our God. That's his calling. That's his
work. That's his mission. John came
to tell of Christ. If you will open your Bibles
to John, the third chapter, verse twenty-seven, we have John's
testimony concerning Christ. In John chapter 3, verse 27,
they had come out to him there in the wilderness, and they wanted
to know who he was. He said, I'm just a voice. They
wanted to know why people followed him, why the multitudes came
to him. Was he the Christ? He said, I'm
not the Christ. In John 3, 27, John answered
and said, A man can receive nothing except it be given him from heaven.
You yourselves bear me witness that I said, I am not the Christ.
but I am sent before him. I am sent to prepare the way.
I am sent to announce his coming. He that hath the bride is the
bridegroom, but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth
and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice.
This my joy therefore is fulfilled. He must increase, and I must
decrease." And John, this miraculously born child. John, this anointed,
ordained, appointed, sent prophet from God. This forerunner of
the Lord Jesus Christ stayed by his one message until his
death. And the Lord Jesus said of him
in Luke chapter 7, verse 28, The Master himself declared in
Luke 7 verse 28 that John the Baptist was the greatest man
born of woman. In Luke 7 verse 28, For I say
unto you, this is Christ speaking, among those that are born of
women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist. So he's worthy to be heard, isn't
he? There was a man miraculously born, miraculously conceived,
miraculously sent of God. There was a man sent of God,
whose name was John. And he came to bear witness,
not of himself, but of Christ, that all through him might believe. And he preached that message,
he declared that message, he stayed with that message until
God called him home. And when the Messiah came, he
declared that of all men born of women, there's none greater
than John the Baptist. Now I want us to look at John's
message concerning Christ and see what he had to say. And I
believe verse 11 and 12 of Matthew 3 is a summary of what he thought
of Christ, is a summary of what he had to say about Christ. is
a summary of his message concerning Christ. For this is repeated,
these words are repeated in the account and record of all four
of the evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. All of
them record these words of John the Baptist concerning his Lord. Now the first thing he says about
Christ in verse 11, he says, He that cometh after me, speaking
of the Savior, the Lord Jesus, He that cometh after me is mightier
than I. He is mightier than I. Now look at the next line. Whose
shoes I am not worthy to bear. Whose shoes I am not worthy,
one of the evangelists records, to unloose. Now I want us to
camp right here just a moment. I learned something yesterday.
John was so sensible of the greatness of Christ. John was so sensible
of the greatness of his Lord, and he was so sensible of his
own unworthiness, that he seems at a loss to express the distance
between him and his Lord. Now he says here, he that cometh
after me is mightier than I. Oh, the greatness of my Lord!
Oh, the greatness of Christ! Oh, the unworthiness of his servant!"
And he just seems to pause there, and he can't think of any illustration,
he can't think of any way to express the greatness of Christ
and his own unworthiness. So you know what he uses over
and over again? "'Why, I'm not worthy to stoop and untie his
shoes.'" Well, you say, that's not too good an illustration,
is it? Well, you wait and see. Now, that's no problem now because
our customs are different. I'd get down here and untie Don's
shoes and take them off for him, and I don't think that that would
lower me in anybody's esteem or estimation. I'm sure he'd
do the same thing for me. He would even shine my shoes.
I'm sure if we were visiting together somewhere and I said,
Don, while you've got your shoe kit out there, shine mine. Well,
he'd come take them off and take them on and shine them, I'm sure.
But it meant something back then. I want you to read. I want to
read to you two things that I picked up yesterday concerning Jewish
custom, and you'll see why that John used this illustration.
He's so sensible of the greatness of Christ and of his own unworthiness
that he seems at a loss to express the distance between him and
his Lord, and therefore he signifies this distance. by declaring himself
unfit to untie the master's shoes. Now here is the Jewish custom. Listen to it. What is the duty
of a servant? That's the question that is asked
in the old Jewish customs and writings. What is the duty of
a servant? A servant, among other things,
he prepares his master's bath, he undresses him, he washes He
potters him, he helps him dress, but read on, it says, he buckles
his master's shoes. He buckles his master's shoes
and carries them to and from his master's bath. This is servile
work, and this work is never performed by a Hebrew. Never. Only by a Canaanite. Never by a Hebrew. It is also
said that, watch this now carefully, all the services which a Canaanite
servant performs for his master, a Hebrew disciple performs for
his master except he shall never unloose his shoes. Except he shall never unloose
his shoes. Listen to this. This is also
the Jewish custom in those days. It is said, If thy brother be
poor, and is sold unto thee to be thy servant, thou shalt freely
make him do the work of a servant, except unloosening thy shoes. He shall not unloose thy shoes. That's too low. That's too menial. A Hebrew never does that. Now
John thought himself the greatest born of woman, filled with the
Holy Spirit from his mother's womb, miraculously conceived
from a barren womb when she was well stricken in years, the prophet
of God sent to be the forerunner of Christ, and yet he says, I
am unworthy, I am unfit to do for Christ. what the lowest servant,
and that which is too scandalous for Hebrew, does. And that is,
unloose his shoes. He is mightier than I. Turn with me to Isaiah chapter
9. Who is this Christ? Who is this Jesus of Nazareth?
He is the mighty God, the mighty God. In Isaiah 9, verse 6, unto
us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government
shall be upon his shoulders, and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor. Watch it now, underline it. The
mighty God. That's who he is. Who is this
carpenter, the mighty God? Who is this son of Mary, the
mighty God? Who is this Jesus of Galilee,
the mighty God? That's who He is. He is mighty
in creation, for all things were made by Him, and without Him
was not anything made that was made. He is mighty in knowledge,
for known unto God are all His works from the beginning. He
declared the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things
that are not yet done. Mighty in holiness. for even
the cherubims and seraphims of heaven fall at his feet and cry,
Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God Almighty. Mighty in judgment, for he destroyed
the world by the sweep of his hand through a great flood. He uprooted the cities of Sodom
and Gomorrah with fire and brimstone from heaven, the mighty God.
Mighty in providence for all things work together, for good
to them who love him, who are called according to his purpose. Mighty in love. Greater love
hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends,
his enemies. God commended his love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. John says, he is the mighty God,
mightier than I. He is the mighty Redeemer. Turn
to Matthew 1, verse 21. The angel of God came to announce
the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ to Joseph, and he said in verse
21, She shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name
Jesus, Joshua. For he shall save his people
from their sins. What's so great about that? Well,
in the first place, his people, whom he came to save, were captives
of the great law of God. We were in captivity. We were
in captivity to the law of God. In order to redeem these people,
he had to do what no other person could do. He had to do what man
and all the armies of men could not do. He had to do what even
an angel and all of the legions of angels cannot do. He had to
do what the Holy Spirit cannot do. He had to become a man, take
on himself the nature, the likeness of sinful flesh. He had to become
a man, be born of a woman, face the holy law of God, the immutable
perfect law of God, and as a man, tempted in all points as we are,
he had to face that law without sin. Now, Abraham was the friend
of God, but Abraham was not without sin. David was a man after God's
own heart, but David was not without sin. John the Baptist
was the greatest man born of woman, but John the Baptist was
not without sin. The Apostle Paul was the greatest
of all the apostles, but he was never without sin. Only of Christ
can it be said. He was without sin. He is mighty to redeem because
he is without sin. And he became a man and redeemed
the captives, set free the captives, captives of the great holy law
of God, by taking their place and meeting that law head on,
and obeying it in every jot and tittle. We look at the law of God concerning
our actions, and that's hard enough to face. We look at the
law of God concerning our words, and that's even more difficult
to face. We look at the law of God concerning
our imaginations, and that is more impossible to face. And
we look at the law concerning our innermost, unspoken, unrevealed
thoughts, and that's even harder to face. But Christ looked them
all in the face and kept them in every jot and tittle. The
Heavenly Father spoke concerning him, This is my Son, in whom
I am well pleased." Well pleased. He did what no other one could
do. He's the mighty Redeemer. And
these people whom he came to save were not only captives of
the great law of God, they were captives of the justice of God. And our great, mighty Redeemer
must take all our sins in his righteous soul. and be separated
for a time from the face of his Father, and bear in his soul
all of the hell and crime and guilt and felt of a race of fallen
men, only Christ could do it." Mighty? Mighty? He is mightier than I? He is
the mighty Redeemer. Suppose you were walking down
the street in Chicago, Some of you have been to some of these
large cities and you've visited what they call their skid rows.
There's some pitiful sights on those streets. Suppose you were
walking down the street and you looked in the gutter late one
evening and there lies what's left of a man. He's dirty, as
dirty as a man can be. He hasn't had a bath in months. He's unshaven. His hair is matted. filled with lice, dirty, his
clothes are ragged and filthy, he's barefooted, he's broken
out with boils and sores, his teeth are rotted out, his eyes
are just burned holes in a white sheet. You stand there and look
at him, he's all but rotten, all but dead, all but in hell. And you're clean and spotless,
and you stand there and look at him, I wonder, and you who
despise dirt so much, and you who despise filth, and you who
despise uncleanliness, could you reach down and put your arms
around that broken, sad hulk of a man, and pull him up to
you, and put his rotten, dirty face against your clean, spotless
face? and his body against yours. Could
you love him enough to let his filth flow into you? Could you
stand for even a little while to bear that filth and let your
cleanliness and spotlessness flow into him?" No, I can't love
like that. No way. Well, I can't either.
But my Lord did. He came down here into this world
and he found me on skid row. Worse than that, he found me
on the dunghill. Samuel said, on the dovetail,
in the corruption and depravity and degradation of my filth and
my guilt and my sins, he came down here in his spotlessness,
he who hates sin worse than he hates hell. He who cannot bear to be separated
from his Father without crying out, My God, why hast thou forsaken
me? He came down here in his holiness
and in his heaven-given spotlessness and immaculate purity, and he
looked upon me in my rottenness and my filth, and he put his
everlasting arms of holy love about me and drew me to himself,
and he took my hell, all of it, and gave me his holiness. He took my filth and my guilt,
all of it, and gave me his righteousness. He took my place and gave me
his place. That's how much he loved me.
He is mighty. He is the mighty God. He is the
mighty Redeemer. He is mighty to save. He is mighty
to set free every believing captive. And he's the only one who can.
When you see where the sinner is, And you see what the sinner
is, and you see what the sinner's done, and you see the claims
that the law of God and the justice of God has upon that sinner.
Then talk about baptism can save, or church membership, or sacraments,
or communion, or good works, or keeping the law, or joining
a church. You're foolish. It takes one
mightier than I to save, and mightier than you, and mightier
than the angels, and mightier than the greatest man. It takes
him who is mighty to save. Then the second thing John said
about him quickly, he said, he's mightier than I, and it says
in the latter part of verse 11, he shall baptize you with the
Holy Ghost. You know, the first experience
that we have with the Holy Ghost as believers is when? Well, it's when we are awakened
by the Holy Spirit under the preaching of the law and gospel
of God. That's the first experience we
have with the Holy Ghost. That's the first experience.
Turn to John 16, verse 8. Our Lord, speaking here to his
disciples, said in John 16, 8, and when he is come, who is he
talking about? The Holy Spirit. He shall baptize
you with the Holy Spirit. And the first experience, the
very first experience that we personally have with the Holy
Spirit, is when in our deadness he makes us alive. When in our
sleep he awakens us. When in our grave of sin he raises
us. under the preaching of the Word,
never apart from the preaching of the Word. The Word of God
is the seed of life. You hath he begotten of his own
will unto a living hope through the incorruptible seed, the Word
of God. The Holy Ghost comes in the Word
as the Word is preached, and when he is come, he will reprove,
he will convince, he will convict the world of sin. of righteousness
and of judgment. Only the Holy Ghost can do that.
Oh, Dr. J.R. Graves, I think, summed
it up better than anyone in the past hundred years. He said one
time to his church while he was preaching, if my voice is the
only voice you hear today, if my voice is the only voice you
hear, nothing of any eternal value will come of our encounter. You must hear Him speak who speaks
with power. You must hear Him speak who speaks
with life. You must hear Him speak who speaks
from heaven. You must hear from the Holy You say, why aren't more people
convicted of their sins? Why aren't more people converted
to Christ? Why aren't more people storming
the gates of heaven, wanting to be let in? I'll tell you why
they've never heard from heaven. They've heard men speak. They've
heard men argue. They've heard men reason. They've
heard men proclaim. They've heard men plead. They
haven't heard God yet. When a man hears God, he wakes
up. Son of man, speak to the dry
bones. Can they live? Lord, you know
I can't make them alive. They can't make themselves alive,
but you can make them alive, and I'll preach to them, and
Lord, if you make them alive, I'll be grateful. If my voice
is the only voice you hear, that's the first experience we have
with this baptism of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit comes
and awakens us and shows us we're sinners. And we find out we're
lost. We find out we're helpless and
hopeless and without God and without Christ and without hope
and without help. And then what's the next experience
we have with the Holy Ghost? The second experience we have
with Him is when He, by His mighty power, is pleased to reveal to
us the sufficiency of Christ. the sufficiency and the effectual
sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. Thomas found this out, and he
fell at the feet of Christ and said, My Lord and my God. Paul found it out on the road
to Damascus when God unhorsed him and brought him down in the
dust, and he cried, Who are you, Lord? And he said, I'm Jesus
of Nazareth, whom thou persecuted. And he said, Lord, what will
you have me do? Old Paul's broken now. What will you have me do? The
disciples, the Lord Jesus said to them, will you also go away? And they said, Lord, we found
out there's no place to go. We found out there's no one to
go to. To whom shall we go? Thou hast
the words of eternal life. Have you found that out? No man
can call Jesus Lord, but by what? By the Holy Ghost. No man can
see in that crucified man his Savior, his Redeemer, his Lord,
except by the Holy Spirit. Nobody. John said, He'll baptize
you with the Holy Spirit. You'll be awakened, you'll be
quickened, you'll be made alive. The Holy Spirit will reveal Christ
to you. And then, what other experience
do we have with the Holy Spirit? Experience after experience follows. As the Holy Spirit, look at John
16 again, verse 14, takes the things of Christ and shows them
to us. For Christ said in John 16, 14,
He'll glorify me. He shall receive of mine and
show it to you. He shall not speak of himself.
Anytime you hear people running around talking about being baptized
with the Holy Ghost, and all they talk about is the Holy Ghost,
just remember this. They don't know the Holy Ghost,
because the Holy Spirit of God does not speak of himself. He
does not magnify himself. He does not call attention to
himself. Christ said, He shall glorify
me. He shall take the things of mine
and show them to you. And then the Holy Spirit of God
allows us to grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord
Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit of God creates within us the
fruit of the Spirit as the years go by and we grow in love and
faith and meekness and kindness and humility and generosity and
all of these things. That's the work of the Holy Spirit.
And that's what John is saying. He is mightier than I. He shall baptize you with the
Holy Spirit. We'll turn back to Matthew 3.
Let me show you something else. John says in verse 12, whose fan is in his hand, and
he will thoroughly purge his floor." He shall purge his floor. What's that talking about? Whose
fan is in his hand. Well, the Jews had their hand
fans. There were three different kinds,
three sorts of instruments which they used. Some of them had teeth
But they would—they used these hand fans to separate the wheat
and barley from the straw. The grain would be on the floor
there, and they would use these hand fans, some of them with
teeth and some of them without teeth. There were three sorts
of them. And they would fan the floor, and they would blow the
straw away, and it'd leave the wheat, and leave the true grain,
and leave the barley. Now listen. He'll purge his floor. The floor is the world. The floor
is the world of men all together. Here they are together, even
right here this morning. There's the wheat, and there's
the tares. There's the barley, and there's
the straw. And it's got to be separated.
It's got to be divided. Well, how is it divided? How
is it separated? The way we comb our hair? The
way we dress? Is it separated by the so-called
outward conduct and morality? What about the inward conduct
and morality? How is it separated? What is
the fan in the hands of the Mighty One? What is the fan? He'll purge
His floor. This world belongs to the Lord.
He bought it with His blood. He's the Lord of the dead and
the living. This world was purchased by Christ on the cross. It's
His world. And he's going to purge his floor. He's going to separate the wheat
from the tarry. He's going to separate the true
grain from the straw. How does he do it? What is the
fan? The fan's the gospel. Not some preacher who looks out
and says, Well, I can tell who's saved and lost. He's a fool.
That's what he is. He doesn't know who's saved or
lost any more than I do. Well, I can talk to a fellow
five minutes and tell whether or not he's saved. No, you can't.
You're a fool. The only person you know anything
about yourself, and you don't know that too well. Do you know
yourself? Is it possible that you may be
deceived? I'll tell you what the fan is.
The fan is the gospel, and the fan is in the hands of the Lord
Jesus Christ. He'll purge his floor. The real
wheat will be separated from the straw by what? Turn to John
10. By the gospel. That's how it's
separated. by the gospel. John 10, verse
24. Listen to this. John 10, 24. Then came the Jews round about
him, and they said to him, How long dost thou make us to doubt?
If thou be the Christ, you be the Messiah, you be the only
Savior, you be the Redeemer, tell us plainly. And Jesus answered
them, I told you, and you didn't believe me. I told you. He told them what I've told you
this morning. And they didn't believe. He said, the works that
I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me, but you believe
not, because you're not of my sheep. You're not wheat, you're
straw. You're not barley, you're tares.
You believe not because you're not of my sheep. I said to you,
my sheep hear my voice. There's one way I can tell whether
or not, Brother Jones, a man's saved, and that's whether or
not he believes the gospel. That's the only way. That's the
only way. That's the only way you can tell.
I get up here and preach the gospel. I'm simply saying this,
that if a man hears the Word and he says, yes, Christ is the
only Savior, He's the Lord of Glory, He's the only Redeemer,
I believe Him, I receive Him, I trust Him, I say, Brother,
there's some wheat, good old wheat. A man says, well, I can't
take that. I believe a fellow does the best
he can, he'll wind up in heaven. Uh-oh. Uh-oh. That's strong. Well, I believe a fellow makes
a profession of religion and joins a church and tries to halfway
live a decent life, go to church on Sunday and give his time,
he'll wind up in heaven. Uh-oh. Uh-oh. The fan separated you, didn't
it? You can't take the gospel. The gospel is the one redeemer.
One door, and one Savior, and one way, and one truth, and one
life, and one Lord, and that's Christ! And no man cometh to
the Father but by Him. And that's how they're separated.
His fan is in His hand, and He will truly, completely purge
His floor. He'll blow away the straw, and
He'll leave the wheat laying there. Ready for what? Look at the next line in Matthew
3, and He will gather his wheat, he'll gather them into the garner. Now turn to John 17, verse 20. Let me show you something here.
John 17, verse 20. My friends, his wheat will be
gathered. I have no doubt about that. I'm
out looking for the sheep of Christ. I'm on television right
now. I'm preaching right now on Channel 13. You know why I'm
there? I'm looking for the sheep of Christ. I'm trying to find
somebody, somewhere, who will believe this message and worship
the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm not trying to build a big
congregation or a big local church. That's not my aim. That's not
yours. I'm trying to find the sheep of Christ. I'm preaching
to you right now. What for? Why? I want to find
His sheep. They're out there. They're out
there. And he said in John 17, verse 20, listen to it. Neither
pray I for these alone, but I pray for them also, which shall believe
on me through their word." You see, the Lord Jesus, back down
to 2,000 years ago, has already prayed for those people that
are going to believe the gospel through the word of his disciple.
Already prayed for them. They're out there, he said. You
just go preach to them. Go into all the world. And preach
the gospel to every creature! God's got a people in every tribe,
kindred, nation, and tongue under heaven. Go take up the gospel,
and the gospel will purge my floor and reveal my sheep and
call out my oath. Turn to John, or Acts. Let me
show you something. Acts chapter 18. In the 18th
chapter of Acts, Paul was down in a place, and he's having a
mess of trouble. And every preacher knows about
this. He's run into some conflict. There's some folks giving him
a hard time, and Paul was about to pack his bag and go out of
there, just, and go somewhere else. And the Lord came to him,
Acts 18, 9, and said to him that night, said, Now Paul, Acts 18,
9, be not afraid, but speak, and hold not your peace. I'm
with you, and nobody's going to hurt you, for I have much
people in this city. There's some wheat down there
that's all covered up with straw and covered up with tar that's
all mixed among them, you know. It's just like a mess, Paul.
Looks like it all's no good, and you pack your bag and leave.
But wait, hold on. You just stay here and preach.
And I'll purge my floor. I'll call out my sheep, and I'll
blow away the chaff. He'll gather his wheat into his
garner. What's the garner? It's a place
of protection. He says, I mean, they're in my
hand, and nobody's going to get them out of my hand. And last
of all, I close, turn to Matthew 3 again. It says here, He's mightier
than I. He'll baptize you with the Holy
Ghost. He'll thoroughly purge his floor. He'll gather his wheat
in the garner. And last of all, he'll burn up
the chaff. He'll burn it up. He'll burn
it up. Turn to Isaiah chapter 5. Now,
I don't like to talk about judgment, and I don't like to talk about
hell. I just don't, and I know Brother Henry feels the same
way. It's no pleasure to preach on hell. I love to preach about
the grace of God. I love to preach about the blood
of Christ. I love to preach about the welcome that, Matt, that
God puts out for every prodigal son. Come on home. I don't care
how far you've gone. I don't care how deep you've
dived into sin. I don't care how covered over
you are with fields. I don't care how black your heart.
I don't care how blasphemous your tongue. Come on home, and
you will find a welcome. Though your sins be as scarlet,
he'll make them white as snow. But if you don't come home, if
you persist in staying out there, Isaiah 5.24 says, therefore,
as the fire devoureth the stubble, did you ever watch a fire go
through an old, dry, brittle stubble field, have you? As the
fire devoureth the stubble and the flame consumeth the chaff,
so their root shall be as rotten as, and their blossom shall go
up as dust. Because they've cast away the
law of the Lord of hosts and despised the word of the Holy
One of Israel, he'll burn up the child. He's going to gather
the wheat, and he's going to burn up the child. Matthew 10, 28 says, Don't be
afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no
more that they can do. I'll tell you whom you shall
fear. Fear him. who is able to cast you, body
and soul, into hell." Brother Ralph Barnard, who is
my dear friend and preached the gospel so many years, a blessing
to so many of us, said when he was a boy growing up out in Texas,
he was born in Alabama and his family moved to Texas when he
was just a child on an old farm out there somewhere in Texas,
and he had an old Shepherd dog had him for years. His name was
old chef. He loved that dog so much and
He and that dog were inseparable they had a couple of cows and
that dog would go out to roam everywhere all over the range
and and Barnard an old chef would go out every evening to bring
them in at milking time and That dog would get behind the heels
of those cows and drive them back home for milking time Rolfe
said, just love that dog so much. And one day he came into the
house. His father was in what's called the living room, the parlor,
sitting in his chair. And Rolfe came in and he said
to his dad, he said, dad, he said, something's wrong with
my dog. His daddy kept sitting there
and he said, what do you mean, Rolfe? He said, well, he said,
old Shep growled at me. His daddy perked up a little
bit and he said, that dog never growled at you before. dog loves
you." Ralph said, well, he growled at me, and he looked sick. His phone coming out of his mouth,
Daddy. Oh, he said his dad jumped out
of that car and reached up out of that chair and reached up
and grabbed his shotgun off the wall, you know, and headed, putting
shells in it and cocking it, going out the door. And Ralph
said, Daddy, what are you going to do? And he stopped in the
door and said, I'm going to kill your dog. Ross said, I grabbed
him by the leg and I said, Daddy, you can't kill my dog. And he
started crying. And he said, My daddy stooped
down and put his arm around me and said, Son, I hate to, but
I'm going to have to kill your dog before he kills you. And he said, My daddy went out on
the porch and shot my dog. My dog gone mad. Well, let me
tell you something. God is going to destroy the mad
dogs of this world, those who are mad with the Savior, those
who are mad with his Son. See, he's got to destroy them
before they destroy his world and his people. He's going to
put them where they won't do any more harm. He's going to
take every mad dog of sin, every mad dog of rebellion, every mad
dog that hasn't been broken by His love and broken by His grace
and brought to His feet, He's going to destroy them. He's going
to burn them up with a chaff. That's what He's saying. He's
got to do it. God delights to show mercy. He
takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but God's righteousness
and God's justice and God's holiness has got to deal with you, just
like it dealt with Christ on the cross. Christ died in the
hands of God's justice. He spared not His own Son. Christ
was numbered with the transgressors. He represented me and you on
that cross, and He died in the hands of God's justice. And every
unbelieving sinner someday is going to perish in the hands
of God's justice. He Don't you talk about God doesn't
send anybody to hell? If you say that, you're just
saying God doesn't save anybody either. God saves sinners and
God sends men to hell. He shall gather his wheat, and
who will burn the chaff? He'll burn the chaff. I don't
know who they are. He'll have to do it. I might
burn us some wheat, but He'll burn the chaff. He knows all
men. He knows you and me. Our Father,
deal with us according to Thy mercy, and deal with us in love
and grace, not in justice. Deal with us in Christ. Look
upon us in Christ, not in ourselves. Break our proud spirits and our
haughty hearts, and bring us to the feet of Christ, loving,
trusting, believing on Him. In his name we pray, amen.