Tape 1 - The Foreshadowed Lamb of God

I'm not for sure how the rest of that song goes, Corky, but I feel like something good is about to happen, and that's the feeling of my heart.

My glad pleasure to introduce to you tonight Dr. Rocky Freeman. There are many kind and gracious things that we could say, many good things about our precious brother in the

Lord. We in fact have said them by way of newsletter, other pamphlets that have been shared and mentioned to you.

But I think the thing that above all else, in fact I know it is, the real reason why

Rocky Freeman should be here sharing with each of us this week is because he, as we have, found that Jesus Christ of Nazareth is his personal

Messiah. So we're glad to have him. I've enjoyed the brief excursion from the airport to the motel, and I'm looking forward to many opportunities of sharing and learning from him.

And having been blessed already by the spirit that possesses his heart and soul and illuminates his mind.

We are glad also that he brought along Patricia, Patricia Freeman.

Pat, may I ask you to stand please? I hope I not embarrass you, but we're so delighted to have you.

Amen. Thanks for coming and being with us this week also. So now

I share with you, I believe the message for this hour for our church family,

Brother Rocky Freeman. Good evening.

Pardon me? Thank you. I'm delighted to be with you.

I don't know all the reasons why I'm here, but I do believe that I'm in God's will for my life.

And I believe that before this world was ever created, God destined that you and I would be together for a reason.

You do not live by accident, neither do I. And all things are foreordained by God to bring glory unto himself and to magnify his son.

And so somehow in God's infinite wisdom, he communicated to your pastor who communicated to you, and through you, you've extended to me an invitation that he gave me perfect peace about accepting.

And so therefore you and I are together. And in a short few days, this week will be a part of human history.

And it'll be written down, and it'll be forgotten in most people's minds, but it shall never be forgotten by God.

God is going to hold you and me accountable for what happens this week. Because God will only do for us what we allow him to do.

So God just tells us to be available, and he'll do the work. So I'm trusting and praying.

As I look at you tonight, this place is filled. I don't know where we'd put anyone else, but they're welcome to come.

And we'll do what we can. But I really believe that God wants to do something in your life and mine.

I do not come to you, and you'll permit me a few moments to just kind of get acquainted with you mentally, but I do not come to you as someone who has all the answers.

I don't. My wife is here, and she will quickly give you testimony that I used to think

I did, I used to believe that I did, and sometimes even now I'm not so sure that I don't have all the answers, but I'm growing in my

Christian life. I'm learning about Christianity. And I found myself a few years back in my messages preaching to God's people, messages of rebuke, which

I believe are necessary, messages of scathing exhortation, which

I believe are necessary, because they were not doing what God said to do. But I discovered two things amongst many.

One is I wasn't doing them either. And secondly, I was preaching them for not doing something that I had not ever taught them to do.

And I discovered that most Christians do want to live for the Lord. They just don't know how. They just don't know how.

I mean, in their heart of hearts, they want to. Now, sometimes there's a struggle in the will. Sometimes there's a battle in the mind.

But if you ask them, wouldn't you really like to just be what God wants you to be? I mean, if it just brought you joy and contentment in life, and I've never met a person who

I really believe was born again who would say to the negative. And so what we're going to do this week, we're going to set out on an excursion, and we're going to move through a complete study this week in the areas that I feel are necessary for you and me to reach that point where God wants us to be, and that's a complete study as far as your life and mine is concerned.

And by complete, I don't mean all there is to know about it, but I mean that you will have completed a course this week that there'll be no reason as to why you and I cannot be an effective, faithful, happy -choice

Christian at the end of this week, because we will touch on those areas, and I'm going to give you thoughts. We'll give you scripture. We'll give you a handle that you can put up on the door so that you can use it.

You can use it. I'm not going to give you ideas. I want to give you some things where you can use in your everyday life, and I guarantee you that if you'll just worry about number one this week, be concerned about other people, but be concerned about yourself more than anyone else just for this week.

Reach out and touch other lives, but be concerned for yourself. And please do not assume that there's not any more information about the cross to learn.

It is a subject that you cannot fathom its depths. It is something that went on between God and his Son that you and I have no privilege to understand the first of.

But I believe that you and I can understand enough that sin doesn't have to whip you down. Guilt doesn't have to beat you down.

You don't have to have a chain on your back, but you can set free your heart and life so that you can be the Christian God wants you to be.

Now, that doesn't necessarily mean that you'll do cartwheels up and down the aisle, nor will you swing off the chandelier lights, but I promise you you can walk with God, and God will bless your life.

Now, whether you're a deacon, Sunday school teacher, young person, old person, married, single, young Christian, older Christian, member, visitor, been in church a while, or been in church for a short period of time,

I assure you that you can reach the goals that God laid forth in your life. And so I'm challenging you this way.

I expect you to be here every night. I just expect you to be here. You expect me to be here, do you not?

I mean, is there anyone that doesn't expect me to be here every night? You expect me, and I obligated myself to come.

I'll be here every night, so I'm asking you to do the same. Your pastor's schedule, your schedule, and my schedule, all of our schedules are busy, but you can find time to do what you want to do.

Now, I'm asking you to be here. It'll encourage me, and I promise you that if you'll be here each night, one night builds upon the other night. If you miss a night, it's going to leave a gap.

It's going to leave a gap in what we're trying to do. And by the time we reach Sunday morning, you and I will be at that point where we'll be able to lift our eyes up and see the

Lamb of God as He really is, as He really is, and He'll be doing our life by then, what He wants to do. So what we're going to do, if you'll have your Bible, please, how many of you have the

Word with you in written form? May I see them? Well, we've got, that's fine, three or four there that haven't been memorized evidently.

If you don't know one, would you see us after the service? We'd like to get you one. Everybody needs a Bible. It's God's guideline.

It's God's book. You know what it says. Would you turn to me, please, to the book of Isaiah, chapter 53, the book of Isaiah, chapter 53.

What we're going to do for the first couple of nights, I noticed your sign. The first thing that I saw when

I drove up said revival. I was sharing with your pastor something he already knew, but it's always interesting to me.

You know, it's difficult to change, isn't it? Well, Brother Rocky, we've always done it this way for 30 years, and we just assume because we've done it for 30 years, it has to be right.

Well, now, don't make the mistake of thinking because you've done it 30 years makes it wrong either. It can be right or wrong, but the word revival doesn't communicate today like it used to.

But I believe that God will send us revival, and a revival to me is nothing more than a Christian living where God wanted him to live in the first place.

You cannot revive lost people. They have to have new life. You can only revive that which has life, and that is a child of God, and those things you know.

So don't expect me to run from one end of the platform to the other, screaming and running and raving and running up down the aisles, and don't assume that we're not having a quote revival because it isn't done.

Now, I have made those trips, and occasionally I may make the trip. It doesn't matter to me one way or the other.

The most important thing is whether or not God will let me minister his word to your heart, and that Holy Spirit will take that word and use it in your life.

That's the most important thing. And so get all your preconditions out of your mind, and if you will overlook the uniqueness of my personality,

I shall overlook the uniqueness of yours. And if you will be delighted that a

Jew is in your presence, I'll be delighted that I'm in the presence of many Gentiles. And if you're real sweet to me, as I tell all my friends, when we get to heaven

I'll introduce you around and help you understand what's being said up there. As Zechariah says, the pure language, which has to be

Hebrew, in an instant had Adam and Eve their Hebrew names. Who gave them those names?

God gave them names. Adam didn't make his name up. God called him Adam. Evidently God spoke to him in Hebrew.

He didn't speak English. Are you glad you're a

Christian? It's just exciting to be a Christian. I've been looking forward to being with you. I've really been looking forward to it.

And I'm just excited in my heart at what I believe God is going to do in the life of your church this week. And it seems like,

I shared with your pastor, this conference came out of some things that God was doing in my own life.

As we began to read and study, my wife and I, and we were studying materials, and we were in a crisis time, not between ourselves, but just in...

We were in a crisis time because of my life. Because for some 20 years, I preached that which

I did not know anything about. I preached and taught, and there are people around the world, I've been around the world five times in mileage, and there are people all over this world, by the thousands, who are successful Christians because God used me to tell them how

I just wasn't. I just wasn't successful. And I didn't know what pride could do to an individual. Pride can blind the mind, it's the most amazing thing.

And pride has cousins called resentment and self -righteousness. Bitterness. Those are cousins.

Always run wherever you find pride, you find those things. And pride brings forth intention. And I believe that I was the only one really walking with God.

I mean, I didn't tell you that, but I can't believe that. But I didn't believe it. And I did believe it. But God, you see, said, man, you were confused, you know.

But successful. My name's known wherever you go. But, you see,

God doesn't judge success that way. And when I stand before the Lord, I, as you,

I want to hear God say one thing to me, if he would just be so gracious to say, well done. Just well done.

Thou faithful servant. Now, if he adds anything else, that's not like gravy, that's icing on the cake. Anything else he gives is pure grace.

But if God would say, well done, that would be sufficient. That would be sufficient. And that's my desire for you. All right?

We'll stay pretty close. Be with us in the morning if you can. We'll go for a week. Be with us, sit around tables, study.

We'll have some in -depth studies, totally unrelated to what we're doing, but they'll be in -depth Bible studies that we'll have together on various Sundays.

Saturday morning, we'll talk about the Middle East, what's going on over there, what's happening over there. When I was in Corpus Christi, I called the

Israeli Consulate. We talked for some hour and a half concerning the things that are going on over there.

We stay very close to it. We'll share some interesting things with you, some exciting things that have happened in recent days with the people of Israel concerning the gospel.

Then Saturday night, we'll have Christ and the Passover demonstration. We'll have a table on the platform all laid out, and we'll go to the

Passover demonstration together, you and I, and see how Christ is portrayed in that which is thousands and thousands of years old that Moses himself did not see as you and I can see it.

And then we'll have a great week together if you'll be with us. All right? The first two or three nights now, as we look at Isaiah 53, what we're going to do is we're going to lay a foundation.

I cannot assume where you are or presume where you are, so we're going to lay a foundation, and we're going to talk about the cross of Jesus Christ all week long, some aspect of the cross, and each one of them will fit upon the other one.

Tonight will be just a very basic foundation, and then we'll build upon that, and you and I will climb higher and higher with the

Lord as we walk with him through this week so that when Sunday morning comes, you and I will be ready to sit in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, and I promise you that it'll happen.

I shared a pastor letter. I don't know if he mentioned it to you, but we just finished this conference that came out of this, and it's not anything unique.

I'm going to tell you a lot of things you don't already know, but perhaps we can put them in a particular perspective. But God seems to put us in a place where it seems to be he wants to do something particular when we do this particular conference.

And we just came out of Corpus Christi, Texas. The pastor said, We've got to have a movement of God. I mean, if we don't have revival, we've had it.

We've got to have something from God. And his people just didn't know what to do, and they were all up in a prison.

They owed bills. They had debts. They had bills, all that. And the two days before I came, he said, Brother Rocky, I don't know what to tell you.

He said, Man, we don't have no money. I said, What? He said, We don't have any money. He said, We don't have any money to pay for your hotel. We don't have any money to pay for your travel.

We don't have any money to give you an offering. He said, We don't have any money. I got bills stacked up on my desk. And I said,

Well, brother, you and I believe that God wants us down there. He said, I believe that. And I said,

When are we coming? He said, Well, where am I going to put you? I said, Put me in a motel. He said, Man, the Ramadi is 45 bucks a day, and the

Holiday Inn is $37 a day. I said, Just find a motel that you think is nice and adequate, and just put us in it, and we'll trust

God for the money. And we'll get it somewhere. If you don't get it, God will give it to us somewhere else. He said, What are we going to do with the plane ticket?

I said, I already got that, and put that on a credit card. You don't know what to do with that. If the Lord comes, Antichrist will pay for that. You know, so I don't worry about it.

But I believe in my heart I want to come. And he says, I believe in my heart I want to be here. And he said,

Well, what are we going to do about an offering? I said, Don't worry about it. Don't worry about it. We'll come. Now, I know, you know, the Jews got to live.

Got down there Sunday morning. I said, Have a good morning this morning. He said, Yeah, I just told the people what you said. I said, What happened?

He said, We got a $4 ,000 offer this morning. Church runs 105 in Sunday school. $4 ,000.

I said, Bro, we rolling now. We all right. Now, I know you Gentiles wouldn't have thought anything about money.

You just said, We shouldn't talk about money in the church and all that. Oh, yeah, I understand. But, you know,

God moves. God moves in strange and wonderful ways. And God just blessed each night we had people saved.

Just a little church dinner and God saved some people. And saved a whole group of older men on Sunday morning service. A whole group of older men there was.

And it's just amazing. So, God does the same here. God has something for you during this week.

So, let's just meet together and dine together. Devour God's word. And let the Holy Spirit of God minister to our hearts.

The basic message in Isaiah 53. 753 years prior to the birth of Jesus Christ.

The great prince of the prophets of Israel. Isaiah. In Israel, they call him Isaiah. But Isaiah the prophet,

Isaiah the prophet, was a man chosen by God. In chapter 6, he got a vision of the holiness of the

Lord. And when he got a vision of the holiness of the Lord, he was never the same. And God instilled within him the ability to go and proclaim

God's word. And then we come to two or three chapters that are quite unique. Isaiah 53, which is so marvelously, wonderfully unique, is a perfect graphic portrayal of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

In fact, I have no hesitancy in suggesting to you, ladies and gentlemen, young people, that without the gospel accounts other than Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, there is no more vivid portrayal of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ found recorded in the 66 books of the

Bible than was written by this man 700 years before Christ was ever born in Bethlehem. Now, in this, you have the foreshadowed cross.

Now, I know we say, well, it talks about the Lamb of God, but it has more than that in it, and that's what I want us to see this evening.

Now, so let's just pick it up, and let's look at the first four verses, and think with me, not only the foreshadowed cross, but obviously the foreshadowed

Lamb of God. Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God. When you go read the

Revelation, which reveals to us the majesty and the glory and the splendor of the

Son of the living God, it is in heaven that he is honored as the Lamb of God. He always and ever will be the

Lamb of God. Any other thing, any other name would narrow what God had set forth in his eternal purposes.

Now, look at verse 1. Who hath believed our report? I'm reading from the King James Version. For those of you that have it memorized, sleep for a moment or two or whatever, if you don't have the

Bible. Who hath believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? For he shall grow up before him like a tender plant, and like a root out of a dry ground.

He hath no form nor comeliness, and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.

He is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from him.

He was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

There is the foreshadowed, obviously, Lamb of God. Now, notice the phrases with me, please, in verse 2.

He hath no form nor comeliness. That's interesting to me, because that's basically the same word that's used when it says that God created the heavens and the earth, and the earth was without form.

What does that mean to you? It means it had no purpose. As far as humanity was concerned, it looked as if this

Jesus of Nazareth, the Lamb of God, the Son, there was no purpose in what he was doing. I mean, the government didn't like him.

The religious people didn't care for him. His family said he was mad. One of his own turned against him.

I mean, it just seemed like there was no purpose. There was no format. There was no guidelines to what he was doing.

He was all alone. He was standing out there by himself, and you could see him readily, and only those who had the eye of faith would ever see what he was actually doing.

It just didn't seem like it mattered. It was just an existence. It was just a... What do people say today?

He was just a man. He was just maybe a teacher. Perhaps he was someone who had just kind of gone off the deep end, so to speak.

He was just a fanatic. He was just a rebel rouser. He was just a rebel. He was a revolutionary, and all these terms that were thrown at him, but he never claimed to be any of those.

He said, before Abraham was, I am. He claimed to be God in the flesh, and the scripture confirms to us that in him dwelt the fullness of the

Godhead bodily. They said, all right, show us God. He said, if you see me, you have seen

God. I am God in flesh. That not only destroys the Jewish mind, but it also boggles a lot of Gentile minds.

But nevertheless, it is true. It is true. And it says that he had no form nor comeliness.

The next phrase goes along with it. And when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.

There wasn't any attractiveness in him physically. And I am perfectly convinced in my own mind, from a study of not only this passage of scripture, but many others, that the pictures you see painted of the

Lord Jesus Christ are no more biblical than the exit sign is. You see, no one saw him. And they are the figments of an artist's conception.

And they always try to beautify. They always try to make aesthetically appealing. They always try to make everything attractive to the eye that will appeal to the emotions.

But my dear people, neither on the cross or off the cross was there anything physically that would attract people to him.

Why? So that anyone who did come to him, it would be by the spirit of the living God. And no other way.

No man comes to the Father except through Jesus Christ. And no man can come to God and Christ except the

Holy Spirit speaks to their heart, opens up the deadness, quickens that life, and allows a person to respond with the faith

God gives it. And then as that person responds in that faith that God gives that dead person sins and trespasses, then

God creates in that person a new creation. And they become born again child of God.

But there's nothing attractive in this carpenter Nazareth. Someone looks, they look at him as if he was some violin player.

They look at him as if he's the movie character. Jesus Christ superstar. Jesus Christ wasn't a superstar.

He is God. Superstars die. And they rot.

And they corrode. Use all the Max Factor and Revlon. You want them to die. And they'll corrode and the worms and the canker are their reward alone.

But the word of God says, Thou will not suffer my soul to allow my soul to suffer corruption. And sure, he arose from the dead.

And he's God. And he's coming again as the ruling reigning king. You and I better understand, dear people, that he's coming again.

And if he isn't coming again, then you're still in your sins. And of all people most miserable because you've been deceived. I believe he's coming again.

I've been looking for him. Haven't you? Well, I don't know, brother Rocky. I don't get excited about it.

I believe he'll probably come again. But, well, after all, praise God. I may be well. I don't know.

That's the way most of us are. In our hearts we say we believe it. But in our life, it doesn't make much difference, does it?

What? No beauty that we should desire him. It isn't anything different today. What's the next phrase? He is despised and forsaken of men, rejected of men.

People despised him. Jesus Christ went cross -grain with every individual he met.

You will find very few people through the scriptures that just came to him and said, Oh, yes, you are he.

There was a conflict almost immediately. Why? Because he wasn't the norm. He was supernatural.

He was supernatural. He walked in perfect obedience to the will of God. And, dear people, if you and I walk in obedience to the will of God, in instant obedience, you're going to go cross -grain with most of the people you meet.

Because they're going to misunderstand you just like they did him. He didn't want to be misunderstood. He didn't come to be misunderstood.

And neither do you and I, but we will be. He said the world hated me and it'll hate you. Don't worry about it.

No one wants to run around getting hated. If you got a martyr complex, you got a problem. That's really self -righteousness.

Who in the world wants to be hated? I don't. I like to be loved. Don't you? Well, Brother Rocky, I don't mind. I don't understand.

But this is what we're talking about here. What else does it say? Look, please, verse 3. A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.

Jesus knew what it was to hurt in his heart. His family turned away.

His friends turned away. He came and preached the greatest messages that would ever fall upon human ear.

He performed miracles that no doctor would ever perform. He spoke the wisest words man would ever know.

And the scripture says that if all the books could be written about everything he did and said, the libraries of the world couldn't contain it.

But dear people, listen carefully. He hurt over a city that he tried to reach.

Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem. Why should you and I be any different?

Why would you think, young people, that you should be any different in school? Why should you think it'd be any different that someone would ridicule you for your

Christianity and try to tear you down? They did him. They've done every Christian that's ever lived who's ever tried to stand for the

Lord. The same thing. He knows. He understands what's in your heart. Do not believe that you have a high priest who cannot be touched with your feelings.

He knows what's going on in your heart. He knows and understands because he was acquainted with grief.

He was a man of sorrows and he was under the threat of death almost everywhere he went. I mean, there was a government contract out on him, to use modern terminology.

And when the government puts one out on you, you know, you can go nowhere that they don't understand and would not be looking for him.

And what does it say? It says, and we hid, as it were, our faces from him. The literal reading there in the

Hebrew is, as one from whom men hide their faces. I tried my best to understand that.

And the only way I could understand it was look in my own heart. When I'm not right with God, I don't like to get before him.

When you and I are not right, a man cannot look into the face of Jesus Christ and stand there very long without either crumbling at his feet and saying, my

Lord and my God, or walk away and say, you must be a devil himself. You have to make one of those choices.

Either he is who he says he is, or he's the biggest liar and fake who ever existed. There are no alternatives left open to you and me.

And I find that many Christians do not like to get before the Lord because they cannot stand the brightness of his personal presence.

They don't like for him to look into their heart. They don't like for him to look into their mind and find out what they think.

Some people believe they can get in a car and turn the lights out and God can't see. They believe they can get in a house and turn the lights out and God can't see.

And you go to the bars and the taverns and the clubs and they think just because they turn the lights down or turn them all off and throw a strobe light on about every three seconds that God can't see.

But though mountains would cover you, you cannot hide from God. God knows everything you think. God knows everything you say.

And God knows everything you do. And the amazing thing is God keeps books. God, now that blows your mind.

That scares you. It ought to. God keeps books. Books about what?

What you think and what you say and what you do. You mean tell me you believe that's what the book says?

Now you know what's immediately going through your mind? Boy, I must have a big one. You do. If you got one at all that's a big one.

I'll promise you because God keeps records. And I don't know how he does it but he does. And so I look at him.

What was the result of what happened? Look at verse four. Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted.

Tear off his clothes. Humiliate him in nakedness. Humiliate him before mankind just stripping him of his clothes.

That's humiliating, embarrassing. Tie his hands together. Strap him to a pole.

And the scourging lasted for over a quarter of an hour. And the bits of bone and metal that were designed for one purpose and that was to grab hold of the flesh, dig in, and to rip from the recipient of those blows the flesh.

His back was one enormous wound and those bits of bones and metal didn't tear on the outer levels of flesh.

They dug down to the very marrow of the bone. They ripped and they tore.

That's what they were designed for. And then they threw an old purple robe over that gaping wound in his back.

And they twisted together a little crown of thorns and pressed those down upon his brow.

Look at me please. Just turn back over to Isaiah 52 verse 14. As many were astounded, it means, as many were astounded here, astonished, astounded, at thee his visage, his countenance was so marred more than any man and his form more than the sons of men.

To that point in history, no human had ever been beaten as the Son of God was beaten.

Turn with me please to Isaiah chapter 50 verse 6. I gave my back to the smiters and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair.

I hid not my face from shame and spitting. They spit upon his face. They plucked his beard out by the roots.

They slapped and smote the Son of the living God. Now, may

I just give you in one word why. One simple word that will answer to you and me the question why he would do something like that.

You. You. And you could say the same to me.

You. You. If no one ever lived on this earth but you.

God loved you so much that he sent his Son that if you would believe in him you would never perish but that you could have everlasting life.

You. You caused it. And I caused it. Mankind caused it.

Well, what happens? This was God's way and this was the foreshadowed Lamb of God and it amazes me that a man

Isaiah who was wrapped up in the people of Israel and preaching to them God's word that God would give this man such a vivid description that the

Jews cannot see today. My people are blinded to this. But it gives us more than that.

Let's pick back up at verse 4 and incorporate it through verse 4, 5, and 6. We're talking about the cross.

Here you will find if you're making a note the purpose of the cross. This is the purpose of it. Surely he hath borne our grief and carried our sorrows yet we did esteem him stricken smitten of God and afflicted but he was wounded for our transgressions he was bruised for our iniquities the chastisement for our peace was upon him and with his stripes we are all healed.

Now you'll know that 5 is the Bible number for God's grace. And if you will notice there are 5 of those in verse 4 and 5 verse 4 and 5 if you look it says

Surely he hath borne our griefs our sorrows our transgressions our iniquities and for our peace and there are 5 of those and those 5 things will incorporate for you and me what

God has marvelously wonderfully done for you and me by his grace. Grace simply means you get what you do not deserve.

You just don't get what you deserve. We deserve judgment but God says I'll forgive you.

God says I'll forgive. So God's wrath says destroy man God's love says I'll redeem man.

But God's wrath and love meet together in the character of God and they both say well it's got to be paid for somehow or other and God says

I'll just send my son and he'll pay for it so that I can hide my wrath and my love and I'll wrap it all up in my son the

Lamb of God. And this is what happened in the word of God. Now you and I both know it never says in there that he would be our substitute.

You don't find the word substitute mentioned. But it's certainly implicated and it's certainly implied in those scriptures.

Well why could it be? Verse 6 All we like sheep have gone astray.

We have turned everyone to his own way. Now let me just pause there for a moment.

Let's start our week out together. The biggest problem in your life and mine if you will just let me say it from the speaker's platform the biggest problem in your life is not your pastor.

The biggest problem in your life is not a deacon or a Sunday school teacher not a friend or neighbor. Your biggest problem is the one you see in the mirror every day.

Nobody makes you do anything you don't want to do under the normal circumstances of life.

My dear people you and I have to put the finger tonight where it belongs. If you have problems doing what

God wants you to do then you need counseling. You need someone that can talk to you and help you understand. But under the normal circumstance you are your biggest problem.

That's why it says everyone is turned to his own way. And that's what you and I do.

We go our way and try to make it God's way or convince God that it ought to be his way. And the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

The Lord just laid it on the Lord Jesus Christ and the Lord Jesus Christ took that. Now let's move along pick up at verse 7 and you find here we're talking about the foreshadowed cross.

700 years prior to the birth of Christ we find here the death of the cross involved.

Verse 7 he was oppressed and he was afflicted yet he opened not his mouth he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb so he openeth not his mouth.

He was taken from prison and from judgment and who shall declare his generation for he was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression of my people was he stricken.

And he made his grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death because he had done no violence neither was any deceit in his mouth.

Notice the phraseology there in verse 7. He humbled himself and opened not his mouth. He could have spoken he spoke on other occasions he said you bunch of vipers quieted sepulchers on the outside you look nice clean everybody thinks you're straight everybody thinks everything's alright but inside you're like a sepulcher there's death and darkness in you you bring corruption everywhere you go that's what he told the religious people of the day.

In John the 8th chapter he called him and said you're a murderer you're liars you're father

Satan my father's God and yet you're trying to claim God as your father you're trying to kill me because I told you the truth.

He spoke on some but come to the cross he didn't say anything. Opened not his mouth.

What else did it say? A lamb that is led to the slaughter a sheep that before is sure as is dumb cut off out of the land of the living they made his grave with the wicked.

What's it saying to you and me? He was obedient to death. Jesus came to die. He knew he was going to die when he came.

God never asked you to go through physical death under the normal circumstances. He may but he does ask you to die.

And he asks you to die to yourself and stop living for yourself and let Jesus be Lord in activity as well as in word.

He wants to be God and he wants to be Lord of your life. What else does it say to us? I've tried to understand this somewhat and I've been fortunate enough to be around sheep herders people as I've traveled about and they've tried to educate me somewhat and I don't profess to be any kind of an authority on sheep.

In fact I know very little about sheep. But I know this that when a sheep goes before her shearers that sheep is dumb and passive.

You can take most animals and you begin to shear them and they'll scream and fight but a sheep won't. A sheep just stands there and you just shear it.

Why? Because that's the purpose for which it was put on this earth. It has no defenses except it's very quick.

You know it can move sideways and backwards and up and down about as quick one way or the other. I mean it just moves quickly. But it has no defenses.

And it knows instinctively so to speak that whenever you begin to shear the wool off of it that is the purpose for which it came.

So I'm not surprised that Jesus lamb -like in his quality as he stood before those that would take his life he was as if they was like that sheep before shearers not speaking and passive not offering any kind of defense whatsoever just submitting themselves and letting them do whatever they wanted.

Why? That was the reason he came. That was the purpose for which he came. And then it says lamb to the slaughter innocent and seemingly powerless.

A lamb is. A lamb is innocent. It doesn't. You and I both know that an animal cannot sin.

It's impossible for an animal to sin. Animals do not sin. Only people sin. In the human realm only people sin.

Birds don't sin. Cows don't sin. Snakes don't sin. People rebel against God and only people.

We're not talking about the angelic creation. So what happens here?

Innocent and seemingly powerless and yet he could have called 10 ,000 angels and swept them into an eternal hell forever.

Had he chosen to do so but not so. He was lamb -like in his quality but he was not the lamb. He became as a lamb.

He is God. He's more than a lamb. But he had that lamb -like quality.

And what happened? Before Pilate Pilate says don't you understand that I have the power to take your life.

He didn't answer his accusers. They brought liars in. They got 2 or 3 of them together and said this man did this.

None of them they could even agree themselves. But it's interesting when justice gets warped. And Jesus just plainly told them.

He says no one takes my life. I lay it down. If I lay it down I'll take it up again. No problem with him.

No problem with him. And the death of the cross became a reality. But you see back in the book of Exodus chapter 12

God told him to get a lamb. And take that lamb and kill it. And he said when I see the blood

I'll pass over you. And so here in Isaiah in verse 10 you have the provided lamb of God described.

But notice something in verse 9 you already know this. But you notice the word death. That is quite interesting isn't it?

In Hebrew it is the intensive plural. It means a repeated death.

He didn't die a repeated death. But his death the Hebrew language indicates was such an intense death that it was as if he was dying over and over and over again the horribleness of it and it was so deeply intense.

You and I died once physically. But it was as if he died over.

I never could understand that until I realized why would his death be so intense? Because he was dying for the sins of the whole world.

He was dying your death and my death. It had to be intense. And it was intense.

Look at verse 10. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him. Adonai Jehovah he hath made he hath put him to grief when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin.

He shall see his seed he shall prolong his days and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

It pleased the Lord to bruise him. You know this well but I would be remiss perchance someone did not know it. Would you turn to me please to Genesis chapter 22.

Hold your place in Isaiah. It's very familiar but let me just point it out to you quickly. In Genesis chapter 22 we'll not go through the whole story.

You know it's the story of the man called Abraham and his son Isaac. It's sack which means laughter.

And he laughed literally in Hebrew he laughed. We just say laughter. And he told him take that boy and take him over to Mount Moriah.

Have you ever asked yourself the question why didn't Abraham just go out back? Why didn't God just say Abraham go out back and build you an altar and alter him.

Why Abraham built altars elsewhere. Noah built an altar and he came out of the ark. They had altars all over the lands around there.

Altars were everywhere. Why did God send him three days and three nights journey to Mount Moriah? Two reasons.

One is that's where God was going to build the temple. And also it's the very mountain range area where Jesus Christ will be crucified on Calvary.

Right there in that spot. That's why God sent him because Isaac becomes a picture of the Father and the

Son doesn't he? And we know that quite well. But notice what he said in verse 5. And Abraham said unto his young men

Abide ye here with the ass and I and the lad will go yonder and worship. The Hebrew word for worship means bow down.

We're going to go and bow down. Bow down my will. Bow down my life. I'm going to bow down. We and the boy are going to go submit our wills and come again to you.

So I'm going to go off with the boy and he and both of us will come back. Knowing full well that if God required him to take that boy's life

God would give him back to him because God had promised him. God had promised him. So he wasn't afraid.

But he never told the boy what he was going to do, did he? Look at verse 7. I don't believe he told Isaac what he was going to do. Do you believe he did?

What would you do if your dad came to you at night and said I think I'm going to go offer you up? God spoke to my heart. Would you go?

Uh uh, not me. No, now maybe you would. You may be more committed than me but I want to get him examined about as quickly as I could.

No, not so. And Isaac spoke unto Abraham his father and said my father. And he said here am I my son.

He said dad behold the fire and the wood. I see the fire and the wood but where's the lamb for the offering?

He knew what he was going to do but he didn't see any lamb. He didn't wonder what dad was going to do here. And Abraham said my son now here's how you and I normally read this in church.

Abraham said my son God will provide himself a lamb for the offering but that is not in the

Hebrew reading. The emphasis is God will provide himself and himself carries the emphasis not lamb.

God would provide himself. Now how do we know how can we verify from that passage? We can go to verse 13 and see it can we not?

And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked and behold behind him a ram not a lamb. A ram's not a lamb.

I'm not a farmer but I got enough sense to know that don't you? A ram's not a lamb. What is a ram?

Well go back up to verse 10. And Abraham stretched forth his hand and took the knife to slay a son an angel of the

Lord. Now I've had preachers dramatize this and evangelists are the worst. You ever seen this? And Abraham took that knife and he was going to plunge it into that boy's heart and an angel of God grabbed him and there's a big wrestling up on the mountain and here they go.

Now simple question and it's so important. God does everything in decency and order and perfectly correct.

What would have happened if Abraham just plunged that knife into that boy? Other than killing him. If he hit him he'd have bruised him.

The knife would have bruised him and God says no lamb would ever be offered to him with bruise. It had to be perfect without blemish, without spot.

No bones broken. No, if you'll study Leviticus very carefully they just reached the knife out and slit the throat of the animal so that it would be killed instantly he would not be injured anyway and the blood would flow off the altar in a certain fashion.

And God knew exactly what he was saying and Abraham knew exactly what God was saying to him and there wasn't a big wrestling match up on that mountain between Abraham and the angel of the

Lord. But don't you notice verse 13 A ram caught in a thicket by his horn. Study that word thicket very carefully trace it through the

Bible trace it through your Bible dictionary get you an archeological book Bible handbook and you'll find that's the same kind of a bush whereby the thorns that were put around the heads of Christ or the head of Christ came out of.

Now isn't it interesting that here was a ram what is the ram strong one? The sheep family. The ram leads the sheep family what did

Jesus say? All ye like sheep my sheep know my voice my sheep follow me that's what

Jesus said we are sheep and he is the ram and he's the head of the sheep family although he is in the sheep family he is the leader of the sheep family and it's interesting that he was caught around his horn and Abraham went and took the ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son

God provided a substitute God provided a substitute and it was a ram that was dying like a lamb and Abraham called that place a

Jehovah Jireh which means we say the Lord will provide but actually the literal reading in the Hebrew is the

Lord will appear the Lord will appear is the actual reading of that in the free reading of the

Hebrew and so what I'm saying to you is that God said in Isaiah 53 verse 10 that he would provide the

Lamb of God quickly in verse 10 and 11 just add verse 11 he shall see of the travail of his soul shall be satisfied by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many for he shall bear their iniquities if there is to be a lamb if there is to be a cross there has to be a reason for it

Jesus did not die on the cross God did not provide his son without a particular purpose in mind and we don't know all the purposes but one of them is there's supposed to be fruit out of that cross fruit out of the cross look what he said in verse 10 right in the middle of the verse he shall see his seed prolong his days see of the travail of his soul he shall be satisfied so what do you have there?

you see you now can view Calvary we sing the song Calvary you can now view Calvary in harmony with the law of God and that law of God is the law of sacrifice for fruitfulness there is no fruit in any place in the world without sacrifice occurring whether it's the little seed that goes down into the ground where it's the blossom that dies before it can become fruit and there'll never be any fruit in your life until you die until there is death of self and get your own dreams and aspirations and all this selfishness out of our life then the fruit of God will begin to flow through that life it never has been and it never will be this is

God's law the law of sacrifice for fruitfulness he was bruised he was put to grief and he was to prolong his days how?

through the seed that would be brought into being by the pleasure of the Lord you are the godly seed and you're in existence right alongside the ungodly seed and it started way back in Genesis 3 15 you and I are the fruit of what

Jesus Christ did on the cross if you're a Christian and it's through you that people will recognize

Jesus Christ as Lord and it's through you that Jesus Christ will be condemned or judged by being failure or not being able to do what he says he can do by walking around in a totally defeated life all the time and you and I are either positive or negative influences for Jesus Christ people wrongfully but they'll do it anyway they will judge him by what they see you and me do and he bears the blame as he once bore the shame why do we keep putting him through it day after day after day you say well you mean tell me that no one fails sin is not necessarily a failure sin is wrong but sin only becomes a failure if you don't learn from it and go back and keep on doing it keep on doing it then it becomes a failure hopefully we wouldn't and hopefully we try to get from it and we get victory in our lives but the

Lord is seeking fruit what is the fruit? being made in the image of God and being made in the image of Christ you and I to become

Christ like in our character that's fruit three kinds of fruit mentioned in the scripture right fruit of the spirit that's fruit of character the fruits of righteousness which is conduct and then the fruit of souls which is converts if you're not winning people to Jesus don't look at your conduct you can fake it look at your character something's wrong with your heart something's wrong inside if we don't care whether people live or die in heaven or hell but you know what

I think I think you and I are so busy working around and messing around with our conduct that we miss dealing with our character and therefore we just deal with the external don't do this and don't do that we're going to talk about this it doesn't make any difference you don't have to worry about don't do this and don't do that if you're right with God those things become immaterial they just don't bother you anymore and if you're still doing the battle young or old well you're not to go here and you're not to go there and you're not if you're still fighting that battle then you are yet carnal and still walking in the flesh look at verse 12 the victory of the cross therefore will

I divide him a portion with the great and he shall divide the spoil with the strong because he hath poured out his soul unto death in Isaiah chapter 49 verse 24 we're about to close shall the prey be taken from the mighty or the lawful captive delivered but thus saith the

Lord even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered for I will contend with him that contendeth with thee and I will save thy children so when he talks about dividing the spoil with the strong in the

New Testament there's one called strong and it says how can you set the captives free except you first bind the strong man and the enemy

Satan is called the strong one he's a mighty one and this here is the language is suggesting a battle and the dividing of the spoil in the battle if you want another one you see you can turn me to Hebrews chapter 2 hold your place in Isaiah quickly and turn to Hebrews chapter 2 this one is effective for every

Christian all of us have to deal with this verse Hebrews 2 .15 listen to it Hebrews 2 .15

and deliver them who through the fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage one of the things that Satan will use on you and me as much as he will anything else is the fear of dying the fear of death and it keeps you in bondage keeps you tied up and bound up and he died to set us free from that and if you and I understand that there is a deliverance of the captive of the just from the mighty one enemy he came to set us free from that and to deliver us he took the spoil from the strong how did he do that?

because he was numbered amongst the transgressors so you see it is not only the bearing of our iniquities it's not only that he was a guilt offering for our sin that's what we see it is not only that you and I could be made righteous it is not only the travail of the birth for those in the likeness of the son of God but it was also a battle with a horrible terrible foe for the releasing of the captives that he held within his grasp and every man woman born girl on the face of this earth who does not know

Jesus Christ their spiritual father is Satan no matter how good and kind they are

Satan controls all lost people they are totally and completely his you don't get

God as your spiritual father until you are born again into the family of God through the precious blood of the

Lord Jesus Christ then and only then do you get God as your spiritual father there are those who would have us believe otherwise that we're all

God's children we're just different colored flowers in God's garden if you believe that I have some swamp land in the

Arizona desert that I need to sell as quickly as possible and if you'll meet me after the service you'd be a likely candidate that is the father's thing from the word of God God will save any man that'll come to him but there are those who will not come there are those who are never gonna come and there are those who are never gonna come the day they were born but Jesus said

I am the way and the truth and the life and no man comes to the father but by me that's awful narrow -minded and it's kind of dogmatic but it's true nonetheless what else do we say in closing well in verse 12 you find the effect of the foreshadowed cross by foreshadowed it was pictured way back here the effect it had on heaven the effect that it has on heaven it says in verse 12 he was numbered with the transgressors and what's the effect he bore the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors he prayed for those two men on the cross made intercession for those who crucified him all those standing around and he paid a ransom he paid a ransom that's the effect that it had on heaven and ladies and gentlemen

I wish we had time to go into it this week but we don't but we always preach and teach the effect that sin had on man but let me tell you something the effect that sin had on God is far greater than it ever had on you because it required him to stir the whole portals of heaven and send his son to take care of it that's how horrible an effect it had on God he had to send his son to make the payment turn with me please to our last passage in the book of Acts turn to the book of Acts chapter 8 will not take as long each evening but the preliminary remarks of getting acquainted and so forth which allows me to get my heart in tune with you chapter 8 we're going to begin reading in verse 26 hold that please and turn to Hebrews 9 let's look at the

Hebrews 9 passage first one verse and then we go back to 8 put them together Hebrews 9 verse 24 for Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands which are the figures of the true but into heaven itself now to appear in the presence of God for us it means before the very face of majesty is how the

Greek reads he appears before the very face of majesty now notice something quickly while we're here the word appear appears three times notice it here it appears in verse 24 who now to appear he appears now in the presence of God the

Father on your behalf and mine alright look down please to verse 26 it says but now once in the middle of the verse but now once in the end of the ages hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice himself he appeared back then to die for your sins he now appears before God the

Father on your behalf verse 28 so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation he won't come back to die for sin he comes back to bring salvation the three appearances of Christ are there for you and me those that affect our lives turn back to Acts chapter 8 verse 26 and an angel of the

Lord spoke unto Philip saying rise and go toward the south and to the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto

Gaza which is desert and he arose and went and behold a man of Ethiopia a eunuch of great authority under Candace queen of the

Ethiopians who had the charge of all the treasure and had come to Jerusalem to worship was returning and sitting in his chariot obviously he had a driver in his chariot read

Isaiah the prophet well that's interesting man down in Africa he's reading Isaiah one you and I just read well let's see what he's reading verse 30 and Philip ran there to him well verse 29 then the spirit the

Holy Spirit said unto Philip go near and join thyself to this chariot so the chariot had evidently stopped the man's trying to read resting a little bit perhaps resting the horses

Philip goes over and Philip ran there to him and heard him read the prophet Isaiah he heard him reading now it's interesting he heard him read it your pastor said something to me quite thrilling he'll not mind me mentioning it is that you had a day of reading

God's word I believe God's word in the house of the Lord ought to always be read aloud always it always has been in Jewish life

Jesus read it aloud you and I but we all have we have these silent requests and silent prayers and all these things you don't find those things in the

New Testament you know the reason we make them silent because we're embarrassed to be transparent and tell people that we've got a problem and the other reason is because we know if we do tell it somebody's going to spread it all over town so we're cautious I understand but neither of those ought to be in the house of the

Lord neither of them belong in the you and I ought to be open with each other and we ought to be able to share any burden we got now notice what he said understandest thou what thou readest you understand what you're reading do you and he said how can

I accept some man should guide me and he besought Philip that he would come up and sit with him the place of the scripture which he read and it's quite interesting that he happened to be at this spot he was led as a sheep to the slaughter and like a lamb done before his shearer so opened he not his mouth in his humiliation his judgment was taken away and who shall declare his generation for his life is taken from the earth and the eunuch answered

Philip and said I pray thee of whom speaketh the prophet this of himself or some other man and that's the very question that Jews will answer you to today when you talk to them about Isaiah 53 they say it's

Isaiah the prophet but it can't be Isaiah the prophet because he said he died for our sins he was cut off out of the land of the living for us for our people it can't be him and it can't be

Israel because it wasn't cut out of the land of the living Israel's in existence today well what did he say to him look at verse 34 and the eunuch answered

Philip and said I pray thee of whom speaketh the prophet this of himself or some other man and Philip opened his mouth and began at the same scripture and preached unto him

Yeshua which is the Hebrew for Jesus preached unto him Jesus now this was sometime after the day of Pentecost and here was this man of great authority riding in the chariot he stops in the desert he's reading

Isaiah now in an instant God the Holy Spirit didn't send Philip over and he's reading Isaiah 6 that'd been a good one holy holy holy

Lord God almighty and the seraphim hide their faces from him he didn't stop him there no he waited until he strangely got around Isaiah 53 where you know why nobody can come to God except through the cross he wanted him to get to that right there right place and in an instant now if you and I had been there we'd have run over and got

John's gospel we'd have got everything out and we'd have quoted him the Roman road and we'd have got all that and we'd have got him to say a few words he says boy

I got another one we'd write his name down call the pastor I led a man to the Lord today well where'd he go I don't know well who's going to follow up on him

I don't know who's going to disciple him I don't know man I just saw him he's riding down the road he's gone well what'd he say to you he didn't say anything well is he going to come get baptized

I don't know and we read somebody's scripture and we believe because they say yes to it they're saved but dear friends a lot of times they're not if the

Holy Spirit doesn't have them under conviction you can read them every scripture in the word of God and they can say yes yes yes a thousand times and they'll never get saved until the

Spirit of God convicts that life we've made great tragedies there and now we're reaping the harvest of it and that's why 85 % of the professions of faith in southern

Baptist churches are church members why they don't know bless their hearts they sitting there thinking they saved and they lost why you can't find half of them 400 on the road 200 forget they never there we don't know where they are they're those non -resident members we call them whatever that is let's just keep the numbers up do you know that some church rolls have people that are dead still on them and they can't take them off until certain times of the year that's that's their rules

I've been in churches some brothers sons I said well why don't you take them off he said we can't because you have to wait a certain time of the year we don't do it once a year we clean the rolls once a year

I said you don't care a dead man on your rolls for six months that's the good answer isn't it

I'd get you out of trouble it just doesn't bring the blessings of God God never blessed him you don't bless anything dead

God bless his life well what's he say what I'm saying to you simple is this the

Holy Spirit in the book of Acts gave witness that the Isaiah the prophet saw the cross and that he knew the cross and he knew the

Lamb of God and he knew about what God was telling him now turn to me the last verse turn to the book of John and show you what

John said now Philip said it Luke wrote Acts and he said it evidently

Philip and Luke talked about this Luke wrote it but John said the same thing look in John chapter 12 verse 41 these things said

Isaiah when he saw his glory and spoke of him what's he talking about verse 38 that the saying of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled which he spoke

Lord who hath believed our report and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed John's quoting

Isaiah 53 1 then verse 40 he hath blinded their eyes and hardened their heart that they should not see with their eyes nor understand with their heart and be converted and I should heal them that's

Isaiah chapter 6 verse 10 he's quoting from the two major sections of Isaiah where the liberal prophets tell us that Isaiah was written by four or five different men and yet John says they were written by one man and he quotes from both of them and so did the

Lord Jesus Christ so what's he saying he said Isaiah saw the glory of God and he knew it now let me share something with you about this cross one of the most interesting things to read about the life of Jesus Christ you're here tonight may

I share something with you no matter what your problem is and I'll promise you out of this great number of personalities because we are so many different personalities we have different needs we're all different stop trying to clone everybody dear people don't try to make people like you

God has enough problems with you why would he want two of you that's been one of my problems

I've been trying to get everybody to be like me God forbid God wants you to be you he died for you you don't have to be anybody else you can just be you with God and God has a particular way of working with you and God has particular things he wants you to do no one can do them just like you

God can get them done but they won't be done just like you can do them and more than that you'll miss the blessing of being used by God but I'll promise you that in this auditorium tonight there are some of you that's got a hurt heart some of you your heart is heavy you may have lost a loved one there may be financial difficulties there may be all kinds of problems going on physical problems it could be any number of things

I don't know what's going on in your heart I don't know the trouble that's there I don't know the agony that may be going on in your mind you may be sifting through all kinds of problems you may have many decisions that you're trying to make all sorts of things going on in your life if you're a

Christian if you're not a Christian there's nothing going on in your life with God except he's trying to get you saved nothing else

God doesn't teach lost people like he teaches a Christian God wants to save you but let me share something with you

I can point you to him who has all the answers and nobody ever died in the presence of Jesus Christ there is not one instant in scripture where anybody ever died in his presence that man on the cross could never have died until Jesus died first Jesus died and then he died but as long as the son of God lived my dear people there's no way in the world they could and because he lives you too have life he said

I am the resurrection and the life he that liveth and believeth in me though he were dead yet shall he live and she said

Lord I know in the last days you know the story of Lazarus and John 11 Lord I know in the last days he'll be raised from the dead and Jesus said no that's not what

I'm talking about you think he's dead but he's alive he's alive you may close your eyes in what the world calls death but God calls it sleep because you're going to awaken that body's coming back out of that grave one of these days but before it ever does your spirit will be in the very presence of Jesus Christ on the authority of the word of God it is so now let me ask you a couple of questions sweet people if you are a

Christian isn't it true that perhaps you're sitting here tonight and you love

God with all of your heart I would never doubt it if I said to you individually wouldn't you as an individual want

God's best in your life you'd want God's blessings in your life and home you'd say yes but may

I ask you what about that root of bitterness that's down in your heart someone said something to you a long time ago and you've never forgotten it and today you don't have any fellowship with them today you can't look them in the eye and say you know you and I disagree on a lot of things but I love you in the

Lord I thank God that we're brothers and sisters in Christ no no no you see we're so easily offended they're young people

I go to churches young people they'll date one another and thank God for date life but they'll date one another they'll break up and their families never talk to each other some sit on this side and some sit on that no they don't talk to each other well he treated my daughter in such a manner well that little hussy you know what she said

I know how it goes let's face it but God's never going to do in your church what he wants to do until you get the bitterness the unforgiveness and let

God work in your heart you don't have to worry about anybody else I don't know you but my dear people don't worry so much about working for God know

God know God and if you don't know God God will take care of all the work you don't have to worry about that now what is it that bothers you in your life you know the little song we sing

I love it so much turn your eyes upon Jesus look full in his wonderful face and the things of earth just grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace the little things of earth don't mean so much when you start comparing them to him some of you folks

I'm just telling you your problems that's what you brought me here for if I told you how sweet and kind you was you'd know I'd be lying to you some of you are all of you are gracious but you know hasn't there been a little gossip here and there well

I don't want to talk about him but I don't want to say anything about her but well I don't mean to criticize but you see it is not criticism when you and I give it it's discernment it's wisdom but if they give it it's gossip it's backbiting bickering there's nothing that will tear your church apart quicker than anything that I know than spreading a rumor about a brother and sister in Christ if you got a problem with your brother and sister in Christ you go to them and you talk to them about it in the

Lord then if they don't make it right you go get you two more and go to them and talk to them about it in the Lord then if they don't make it right then you go get the pastor or deacon you take somebody with some authority from the church and you go talk to them again then if they don't do it then you bring it before the church and say

I've tried to make things right and you follow Matthew 18's pattern that and God will bless you but when you start trying to defend yourself dear people,

God will just let you and it will cause you problems now dad you need to swallow your pride and become a

Christian dad and be a spiritual father some of you men don't pray you'll pray in church but you won't pray at home you'll read your

Bible in church but you won't read it at home you'll come down here and if I think you're sweet and kind and lovely you go on the job and they don't know whether you're saved or not what is that?

that's role playing and I've been there brother I know I'm a master at that I got that down but your wife knows you like a book your children know you you demand these young people be holy and right with God and make excuses for yourself excuse me we demand the pastor walk with God you demand your music lector you demand your youth director you demand these people walk with God spend time in the

Bible spend time in prayer you demand it but do not demand it of yourself that's wrong what

I demand of you I've got to demand of myself it's the same book same book now grandmother what is it in your heart that you've not been able to forgive what is it in your heart you've not even gone and talked to them about some of you young couples you've never started your home off with God your wife has never seen you pray sir she's never these young people they don't see mom and dad opening the

Bible and just reading a chapter or two and thanking God for their home thanking God for each other they don't see that may

I share with you something that's happened to you listen to me carefully and then we're going to sing a song here's what's happened you and I have become so familiar with the cross that it doesn't mean anything anymore it's a fact of history it's a song we sing it's a story we read it is not real it's not real it ought to be as fresh as if it happened yesterday he died just for you and he says live for me but until you die you can't live you must die to yourself live unto

God and God will bless your life so here's what we're going to do listen carefully I'm very specific about this and I will be

I'm going to ask that our brother come in the morning in a moment and he'll sing and he'll tell you what number he's going to sing it's an invitation song and by that I'm going to invite you to only do that which

God has spoken to your heart about now if we had continued reading the story of the

Ethiopian eunuch he said do you believe that Jesus Christ is he asked him the question he says