Thank you very much.
Welcome to Straight Path Baptist Church.
Please find a seat, grab a hymnal, and open up that hymnal to song number 140.
We'll be singing song number 140, We Have an Anchor, and that is song number 140.
We have an anchor to chase the storm, Set fast and sure that the wave goes on,
Fasten to the cloud, reach for the gate, Grab it for it long, and the storm goes on.
We will stand with you till the storm comes down,
Long till the storm comes by, and the storm goes on.
Till the storm comes by, and the storm goes on.
We have an anchor to chase the storm, Set fast and sure that the wave goes on,
Fasten to the cloud, reach for the gate, Grab it for it long, and the storm goes on.
We have an anchor to chase the storm, Set fast and sure that the wave goes on,
Long till the storm comes by, and the storm goes on.
We have an anchor to chase the storm, Set fast and sure that the wave goes on,
Fasten to the cloud, reach for the gate, Grab it for it long, and the storm goes on.
We have an anchor to chase the storm, Set fast and sure that the wave goes on.
I stand with thee.
Sing it out.
I stand with thee.
For my salvation is, I stand with thee.
The love in heaven, will save as we love thy children.
So praise the God of truth, and praise his freedom.
I stand with thee.
O say can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,
O say can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming,
When I speak of love, I'll impress, I'll impress over you.
Just like his love, he loved it before.
He will reject it, will let it go.
Oh, so very soon, when tears are still,
thank God you've gladness will pass over you.
When I speak of love, when I speak of love,
when I see the love, when I see the love,
I will pass, I will pass over you.
Oh, what will pass you?
Go around the sun.
Change us to heaven, change us to shore.
All who can be born, safe from the storm.
No people pass, no pass over you.
When I speak of love, when I see the love,
when I see the love, I will pass, I will pass over you.
This time the offering plays go around.
As the offering play goes around,
follow along with Brother Gabriel
as he reaches those from Mark 15.
And that is Mark, chapter number 15.
Mark, chapter 15, verse 1 of the Bible reads,
And straightway in the morning, the chief priests
had a consultation with the elders, the scribes,
the whole council, the bounders, and carried them away,
and gathered them to Pilate.
And Pilate asked them, Are thou the king of the Jews?
And he answered and said unto them, Thou sayest it.
And the chief priests accused him of many things,
and he answered nothing.
And Pilate asked them again, saying,
Answerest thou nothing?
Behold how many things they witnessed against him.
But Jesus, he had answered nothing.
So that Pilate borrowed them.
Now at that feast, he released unto them one prisoner,
whomsoever they desired.
And there was one named Barabbas,
which laid bound with them, that had made an insurrection
with them, who had committed murder
and the insurrection.
And a multiple, crying aloud, began to desire what to do,
if he had ever done unto them.
For when Pilate answered and sang,
Will ye that are released unto you, the king of the Jews?
For he knew that the chief priests had delivered them
and entered them.
The chief priests moved them, that he should rather
release Barabbas unto them.
And Pilate answered and said again unto them,
What will ye that shall do unto him,
whom he called the king of the Jews?
And he cried out again, Crucify.
And Pilate said unto them, Why?
What evil hath he done?
And they cried out for more, exceeding, Crucify.
And so Pilate, willing to content the people,
released Barabbas unto them, and delivered Jesus.
And he had scourged them to be crucified.
And the soldiers led them away into the hall
across the taurine.
And they called together to hold back.
And they clothed him with purpose,
and laid in a crown of thorns, and put it about his head,
and began to salute him.
Hail, king of the Jews!
And they smote him on the head with a wreath,
and spit upon him, and bowed on their knees, worshipping him.
And when they had mocked him, he took off the purple from him,
and put his own clothes on him, and led him out to crucify.
And they compelled one Simon, Cyrene, to pass by,
coming out of the country, the father of Alexander Rufus,
to bear his cross.
And they bring him unto the place, called Gathol,
which is, being interpreted, the place of sculp.
And they gave him to drink wine, mingled with myrrh,
and he received a knife.
And when they had crucified him, he departed his gardens,
passing lots upon him, whatever he managed to take.
And it was the third hour, and they crucified him.
And the superscripture, his accusation,
was written over him, the king of the Jews.
And with him they crucified two thieves,
the one on his right hand, and the other on his left.
And the scripture was filled with sales,
and he was numbered with transgressions.
And they then passed by a railroad, ragging their heads,
and sang, Ah, thou that destroys the temple,
and build us in three days, and save thyself,
and come down from the cross.
Likewise, also the chief is a moth,
set among himself with his scribes,
and saved others himself that cannot save.
Let Christ, the king of Israel, descend now from the cross,
that we may see and believe,
and that he that would crucify with him will be violent.
And when the sixth hour was come,
there was darkness over the whole land, until the ninth hour.
And at the ninth hour, Jesus cried with a loud voice,
saying, Ye lo, ye lo, thou that sabbath me,
which is, being interpreted, my God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me?
And some of them that stood by, when they heard it,
said, Behold, he calleth Elias.
And one ran, and filled a sponge full of vinegar,
and put it on a wreath, and gave him the drink, saying,
Let alone, let us see whether their lives would come,
did they come down.
And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost.
And the veil of the temple was red and twain,
from the top to the bottom.
And when a centurion stood over against him,
and saw that he so cried out, and gave up the ghost,
he said, Truly this matter is the Son of God.
There were also women looking on the far off,
among whom was Mary Magdalene, and Mary, the mother of James,
the last, and Joseph, the Sloan, who also,
he was in Galilee, followed him, and ministered unto him,
and many other women which came up with him to Jerusalem.
And now the evening was come, because there was a preparation,
that is, the day before the Sabbath, Joseph,
or Abarathai, an honorable counselor,
who also waited for the King of God,
and came, and went boldly into Pilate,
and created the body of Jesus.
And Pilate marveled that he were already dead,
and calling unto him the centurion,
he asked him whether he had been, meanwhile, dead.
And when he knew of it as a centurion,
he gave the body to Joseph, and he bought the fine linen,
and took him down, and wrapped him in the loose,
and laid him in the cemetery, which was huge,
out of a rock, and rolled a stone,
from the door of the cemetery, and Mary Magdalene,
and Mary, the mother of Joseph, who he held where he lay,
but while he was praying for us.
Lord most rest his heavenly Father,
we thank you for this time, to allow us to gather,
Lord God, we ask you to bless everybody here.
We ask you to bless the mind, and the mouth, and pastor,
so that he may boldly preach your word.
Lord God, we ask you to bless our ears, and our hearts,
so that we can receive your word, with all gladness.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
Amen, so I know we read Mark 15 a few weeks ago,
in its entirety, but I wanted to read it again this morning,
simply because I'm gonna be wrapping up this chapter,
this evening, or this morning, rather,
and we've looked at, of course, several things,
regarding the crucifixion of Christ here,
about Barabbas being released,
and all of those things that I've preached
the last couple of weeks,
and I wanna belabor by recovering all that again,
but if you remember, we've gotten to the point,
where Christ, at this point, has been led up to,
as it says there in verse 22,
the place Golgotha, which is being interpreted,
the place of a skull,
and I'd often wondered why they call it that,
why do they call it the place of a skull?
Now I've never been to Jerusalem,
I've never been to Israel,
I've never even been anywhere on that side of the Atlantic,
but from my understanding,
from other people that have been there,
where they traditionally say Christ is crucified,
the place that he is crucified,
actually does look like a skull,
and I have seen a photo of that,
somebody I knew went there,
and he showed me a photo of this place,
and no doubt about it, when you look at it,
it looks like a skull,
so I don't know if that was just a coincidence,
or the Romans being such as they were,
at that time thought it would be a nice touch
to crucify people in such a horrible manner
in a place that looked like a skull,
but that is the reason why I believe they call it that,
just because it looks like it,
and that's not uncommon,
we have similar things,
we call certain mountains and things like that,
by different names,
I remember when I lived in Jackson Hole, Wyoming,
with my dad for a little while,
there was a series of mountains called the Sleeping Indian,
because if you looked at it,
it looked like an Indian lying on his back,
with his arms folded,
so that's why they're calling it that,
simply because it just looks like it,
the actual shape of that place,
the geology there, whatever you want to call it,
but notice in verse 23 it says,
and when they gave him,
they gave him to drink wine mingled with myrrh,
and he received it, but he received it not,
so Christ, again,
the Bible is giving us this detail,
is that when he is suffering upon the cross,
he's refusing to take any kind of a pain numbing agent,
he's fully taking on all of the pain of being crucified,
and I don't want to go into great detail this morning
about crucifixion,
because there's a broader point that I want to make here,
but let's not just gloss over the fact
that we're in the midst of Christ,
hanging from the cross,
nails have been driven through his hands,
nails have been driven through his feet,
or on nail has been driven through his feet,
and he is literally being asphyxiated,
choked to death basically on that cross,
people think how do you die upon the cross,
it's from really not being able to breathe,
this is at least from what I've been told
from other preachers,
people cite history or whatever it is,
maybe extra biblical teachings
that teach us when you're being crucified
in order to actually be able to draw breath
you have to raise yourself up,
and of course there's nothing supporting him,
but literal nails that have been nailed in the woods,
so imagine anyone that's driven a nail through their hand,
I don't know that I've ever experienced it,
I've seen other people do it,
I can't remember ever having done it,
but who here has ever pierced themselves with a nail?
Yeah, several hands have gone up,
I remember my dad did the same thing,
of course we're talking much smaller nails
than would have been used to actually hang somebody on a cross,
a full grown man would have taken quite a robust set of nails,
but I remember seeing my dad do that,
he was messing with the nail gun
and one of the nails had shot out
and it went through the meat of his thumb
and it came out and it went into the meat of his palm,
so it had like,
and I remember it because he came around the corner
and he said hey check it out,
he took the rag off
and he slipped his finger back and forth on the nail,
and I was seven, eight years old,
so I'm trying to like let you guys in
to some of my past when I get a chance
so you can help explain why I am the way I am,
okay, so maybe this will start to make more sense
the longer you come here
and I share some of my personal background,
you'll say oh we're connecting the dots,
it's all making sense now, right,
so he does that and then I,
you know, young boy, six, seven, eight years old,
kind of freak wig out, you know,
and then he pulls the nail out in front of me
and then the story goes that I immediately said,
do it again, you know,
and of course I do remember him doing that,
but that's a very painful thing,
I remember seeing other people, you know,
having shot themselves in the hand with nails,
you know, doing carpentry and things like that,
and that, just that little nail,
you know, just, you know,
even us stepping on attack, right,
is we are, suffer pain,
imagine what Christ is going through here
and of course, you know,
if there's ever a time to take some kind of a,
you know, myrrh, the wine,
to try to numb some of that pain,
this, you know, we probably wouldn't blame anybody
for having done that in this situation, right,
but there he is, Christ on the cross,
being crucified for our sins
and even in the midst of that agony,
you know, and even of just trying to draw breath,
having to lift himself up on nails
and he's refusing to take any kind of a,
anything that would numb the pain,
he's taking on the sins of the world,
he receives it not.
It says in verse 24,
and when they had crucified him,
they, speaking of the,
of course, the soldiers that were there,
parted his garments,
casting lots upon them that every man,
what every man should take
and if you would keep something there,
but if you want to go over to Mark,
excuse me, John 19,
keep something in Mark 15
and go over to John 19,
this is something, of course,
that was prophesied in Psalms,
the Bible says they, in Psalm 22,
they part my garments among them
and cast lots upon my vesture, okay?
You know, it would be interesting sometime
at some point in the future
to go through and just look at
all the different ways in which
Christ fulfilled prophecy
and all the, you know,
different parts of his life
and even here in his death,
he's fulfilling this prophecy
that was prophesied, you know,
thousands of years before it happened
that they would part their garments among them
and cast lots upon his vesture.
You look there in John 19, verse 23,
it says, then the soldiers,
when they had crucified Jesus,
took his garments and made four parts
to every soldier apart
and also his coat.
Now the coat was without seam,
woven from the top throughout, right?
So when it's saying they're parting his garments,
I believe what they're taking, you know,
they're taking maybe, you know,
some part of the fabric
and actually dividing the fabric,
actually tearing it up
and, you know, evenly distributing
that among themselves
into these four parts
and that way they'd all have an equal portion,
but then they noticed the coat,
the coat is made in such a way
that you wouldn't want to tear it, right?
So it's not like,
now they have to decide,
hey, well, how are we gonna
divvy up the coat here, okay?
And again, it's quite the scene
that this is what's taking, you know,
this is what these guys are doing
while there's three men being crucified
right next to them
and you can see how this has just become,
you know, just mundane to them.
This is just another day,
just another day of, you know,
crucifying some people
and let's not forget
to divide up their garments, right?
And this gives you kind of an insight
into the type of people
that were surrounding Christ
in the midst of his agony.
He wasn't getting a lot of sympathy
from these folks
and they come to his coat.
Now his coat was out seen,
woven from top throughout.
Therefore, excuse me, verse 20,
they said there among,
therefore among themselves,
let us not rend it,
but let us cast lots for it
whose it shall be
that the scripture may be fulfilled,
which saith,
they parted my raiment among them
and for my vesture they did cast lots.
These things, therefore,
the soldiers did.
So they tear up the fabric
and then when it comes to the coat,
they actually cast lots.
We don't know exactly
what that means to cast lots.
Of course, it was some way
of just by chance determining,
it'd be kind of like drawing
the short straw,
that kind of a thing,
whatever that means exactly,
I don't know, but it's just
some kind of quick, you know,
rock, scissors, paper type of thing
where they, you know,
the winner obviously gets the coat.
Now, one thing that we might forget
is that if these soldiers
are dividing up Christ's clothing,
if they're casting lots for his coat, right,
which would have been his outer garment,
meaning that the rest of the vesture
or what he was wearing
was torn apart,
meaning, you know,
that's what they're tearing up,
meaning that Christ is naked
upon the cross.
Now, I don't know
what kind of undergarments
might have been back then.
I don't know if they're worthy
or that type of thing,
but that's an aspect
that we don't often think about
when it comes to the crucifixion of Christ
is that not only is he being publicly executed
and being through great pain,
but he is to at least some extent,
you know, exposed to the elements
in his nakedness,
and of course, the Bible teaches
that nakedness is a shame,
and that's not even really something
that the Bible has to bring
to our attention.
You know, we all,
if we're normal people,
you know, experience shame
whenever we find ourselves,
you know, hopefully we never do,
but if we ever did,
you know, if we were ever exposed
in that way,
we would be very
embarrassed about that.
We would, you know, seek cover.
We would try to cover ourselves
and hide our nakedness, right?
So, again, that's just another aspect
of the crucifixion of Christ
that maybe we don't often think about.
Yes, there's the pain that's involved.
There's the callousness of those
that are there
just kind of casually,
you know, going about their business
dividing up as garments,
but that being the case,
meaning that his garments
are not upon his body,
and he's being put to an open shame
before everybody.
And let's not forget the people
that he's being put to shame in front of.
You want to go back to Mark chapter 15.
Of course, those that had been his enemies,
those that had caused a lot of this
to come to pass are there,
and they're openly, verbally mocking him
in this, of course, you know,
his hour of greatest pain and suffering
that he's going through.
It says in verse 25,
And it was the third hour,
and they crucified him.
And the superscription of his accusation
was written over the king of the Jews.
And with them they crucified two thieves,
the one on the right hand
and the other on his left.
And the scripture was fulfilled,
which saith,
And he was numbered with the transgressors.
And they that passed by
railed on him,
wagging their heads,
and saying,
Ah, thou that destroys the temple,
and buildest it in three days,
save thyself,
and come down from the cross.
So they're not saying this.
They're not pleading.
They're not asking him to do a miracle.
They are railing on him, the Bible says.
They are mocking him.
They're wagging their heads.
They're kind of, you know,
I don't know exactly what that means,
but, you know,
we all have certain gestures
or body language.
You know, when we start to mock
or become sarcastic,
you know, people start to take on
even certain physical gestures,
non-verbal communication, right?
So that's kind of the wagging of the head.
You know, I don't want to make light
of what's taking place here,
but that's kind of like, you know,
maybe the noodle-necking
or something like that.
Who knows exactly what that means,
but it just shows that
they're being very open.
They're being very vocal
about their mocking Christ,
and, of course, consider the fact
that it's while he's being crucified,
and they're saying,
Come down,
save thyself, verse 30,
and come down from the cross.
Likewise, also the chief priests mocking
said among themselves of the scribes,
He saved others.
Himself, he cannot save.
So, again, they have delivered Christ
for envy's sake.
The Bible makes that very clear.
They've been envious of Christ
and all the works that he's been doing
and the multitudes that have
begun to follow him.
And, of course, all the times
Christ has publicly put them to shame,
and rightfully so.
He's put them in their place,
in the temple, multiple times.
I mean, Christ has, you know,
really taken it to them.
Now they're kind of seizing
upon their opportunity
to mock him in return.
And, of course, Christ doing it
was a righteous thing
because these are wicked people.
These men, I believe,
that are mocking him,
and I can't speak for the whole group,
but at this point,
you'd have to imagine that
many of these people are reprobate,
that he's being surrounded
by several of these, you know,
the chief priests and others,
his enemies, I believe,
were even reprobate.
So there's many aspects
to the crucifixion of Christ
that we don't always think about
beyond just the physical suffering
that he endured, right,
and the fact that he took on
the full brunt of it,
not receiving the myrrh
and the wine mingled,
the fact that he was naked
to some degree,
probably to a great degree,
if not altogether,
exposed to the elements,
which is a shameful thing.
He's been beaten.
Of course, we don't often
maybe always consider
the fact that he's being surrounded
by some of the worst people, okay,
and not just the soldiers.
Obviously, the soldiers, you know,
when you're not giving them a pass,
what they did was wicked.
They're evil.
They're battle-hardened people,
but I don't believe that these guys
will see here that a centurion
that's standing by
gets saved at this point,
that believes on Christ
during the crucifixion
and as things become to pass.
However, there are others
that are there,
the Jews, the chief priests,
that I believe, if not all of them,
at least probably the vast majority of them,
were reprobate,
and, you know,
I do want to take a minute
to kind of remind us of this doctrine
because it is an important doctrine, okay?
You know, it's interesting.
I've heard recently, you know,
one of the criticisms
that often come across
or come our way
as those that may be preachers,
you know, in the new IFB
is that, you know,
we just talk so much about reprobates,
you know, and it's like
every sermon we bring up reprobate,
I haven't been keeping track.
I don't know, maybe others have,
but I don't think I bring up reprobates
every single sermon.
However, when I'm here in Mark chapter 15
and you see what's taking place,
you have to kind of come up
with an explanation
and I think it's a convenient time
to be reminded once again
that there are people in this world
that cannot be saved.
And again, it's important
because we have so many Baptists today,
so many Christians today
that want to reach out to people
and waste their time
trying to reach people
that cannot be saved,
that are a reprobate
concerning the faith.
They are rejected of God.
That's what it means
to be a reprobate.
If you would, go over to,
I'm going to be in John
a couple times this morning,
but go over to John chapter number eight,
John chapter number eight.
I'll remind us of some other
passages in John.
Then Jesus said unto him,
except you see signs and wonders,
he will not believe.
So there's these people here
that are mocking Christ.
They're saying, oh, he saved himself.
Others, he cannot save.
Let Christ the king of Israel
descend now from the cross
that we may see and believe.
And they that were crucified
with him reviled him.
Of course, we know later
one of those thieves
later believed on Christ.
But notice what they're saying.
They're mocking and they're saying,
hey, come on down.
If you would just come down
from the cross
and let us see you do that,
if you saved yourself
like you saved others,
you know, we would believe.
But the fact is, is that
even if Christ had done that,
I don't believe that those men
would have believed
because of the fact
that they were reprobates.
Let's not forget the fact
that Christ did many wonderful works
in front of their very eyes.
Christ has done amazing things.
In fact, in John 10,
Christ speaking to them,
implores them to believe on him
because of the works.
He said, if I do not
the works of my Father,
believe me not.
But if I do, though you believe me not,
believe the works,
the works that he's already done.
Look, Christ has already done
and preached and said enough
for anyone to choose to believe on him.
He's proven who he is.
And many obviously
have believed on him.
That's why I do not subscribe
or believe that if he had
come down from the cross,
which of course he couldn't have done
because he had to fulfill
the work that was given to him,
which is why he said
before his death it is finished.
But even if he were able
to come down from the cross,
these men that are mocking
and wagging their heads
and railing on him
would not have believed.
They would have come up
with some other reason
and they would have said
get him back up there
and they would have tried to find
some other way to destroy him
because they are reprobate
concerning the faith.
That's why Christ when he's saying
hey, believe the works,
that you may know and believe
that the Father is in me
and I in him.
And of course,
there were many Jews,
many of the Pharisees
that did get saved,
but there were also others
that could not believe.
Again in John 14 he said
believe me that I am in the Father
and the Father in me
or else believe me
for the work's sake.
Why are they mocking him
and saying oh, if you would just
come down from the cross,
we would believe?
Because they know
he's not going to do that
and they don't even believe
that he could do that
and even if he could,
they wouldn't have believed
because he's already done
so many works
that should have been
convincing enough.
I mean isn't that what
even atheists say today?
Why doesn't God just show up?
If I could just see a miracle,
I would believe.
You know what?
A wicked and adulterous generation
seeketh after a sign
and no sign shall be given
except for the sign
of the prophet Jonas.
For as Jonas was three days
and three nights
in the belly of the whale
shall the son of man
be three days and three nights
in the heart of the earth.
That's the only sign
that we are given today
is the sign of Christ's
death, burial, and resurrection.
You either believe that
by faith or you don't.
Now, there are no works
to be done today
to convince people
because that's not faith.
If you look at John chapter 8,
if I had you go there,
I believe I did.
Verse 42, Jesus said to them,
If God were your Father,
you would love me,
for I proceeded forth
and came from God.
Neither came I of myself,
but he sent me.
Why ye do not understand
my speech?
Even because,
don't miss this,
ye cannot hear my word.
Now, is it because
he's speaking to a bunch
of deaf people
that he said this?
No, obviously they're hearing
what he's saying in this moment,
but he's telling them
they're hearing him say the words,
ye cannot hear my word.
So what he means by that
is you cannot understand my word.
You're hearing it,
but it doesn't make sense to you.
It's not registering with you.
Ye of your father the devil, right?
And the lust of your father
ye will do.
Now, here's something
people need to understand.
We either are children of God
and then there's the children
of the devil,
but then there's people
that are neither, right?
Your typical just unsaved person
is not automatically chalked up
as a child of the devil,
a son of Belial,
as you would see often
in the Old Testament, right?
Just because somebody
is unsaved does not make them
a child of the devil.
That's an important thing
to remember because I think
sometimes some Christians,
those that get saved
and start living for the Lord,
they just start to chalk
everybody else up as, you know,
just some horrible,
wicked sinner, okay?
Obviously, we've all sinned,
but, you know, there's probably
even unsaved people out there
that maybe even live
a godlier life, so to speak,
than a lot of Christians
that are saved.
That's certainly possible.
There's probably a lot of people
that have put their faith
and trust in a false religion
like Catholicism and others
that are probably living
a more squeakier, clean life
than a lot of even
of God's own people.
Does that make them
a child of the devil?
No, it just makes them unsaved.
What he's saying here
of your father the devil,
what he's saying is
you're a reprobate.
You have been born
into his kingdom.
You have your father the devil
and the lust of your father
he will do.
He was a murderer
from the beginning
and abode not in the truth
because there is no truth
and when he speak of the lie,
he speak of them as alone
because you have a liar
and the father of it
and because I tell you the truth,
ye believe me not.
If you would,
go to John chapter 12.
John chapter 12.
The point I wanted to make
there in John 8 in verse 43
was that he said,
ye cannot hear my word.
Ye cannot hear it.
If you were of my father,
you would hear it.
But because you were
of your father,
you can't hear my word
and you will not believe.
In fact, Jesus says
that there's some people
as was prophesied in Isaiah
that could not believe
meaning it is not possible
for them to believe.
John chapter 12 verse 31
it says, now is the judgment
of this world.
Now shall the prince
of this world be cast out
and if I be lifted up
from the earth,
will draw all men unto me.
This he said,
signifying what death
he should die.
The people answered him,
we have heard out of the law
Christ abideth forever
and how sayest thou
the son of man must be
lifted up.
Who is the son of man?
And Jesus said unto them,
yet a little while
is the light with you.
Walk while ye have the light,
lest darkness come upon you.
For he that walketh in darkness
knoweth not whither he goeth.
While ye have the light,
believe in the light,
that ye may be children
of the light.
These things spake Jesus
and did hide himself from them.
But though he had done
so many miracles before them,
yet they believed not on him.
So Christ,
it's not, you know,
they're sitting here
wagging their heads,
they're railing on him,
they're saying,
oh dude, come down
and we'll believe.
But yet he's already done
so many works
and they believe not on him.
They've been given opportunity
after opportunity
after opportunity,
miracle after miracle
after miracle
to believe on Christ.
So much has been done
and said already in his ministry
that it has just been evident
that he is the son of God
and that they should believe on him.
So why didn't they?
Well, verse 38, it says,
but the saying,
well, let's back up again
and read in verse 37.
But though he had done
so many miracles before them,
yet they believed not on him.
Why?
That the saying of Isaiah,
Isaiah the prophet,
might be fulfilled,
which he spake,
Lord, who hath believed our report
and to whom hath the arm
of the Lord been revealed.
Therefore,
they could not believe
because that Isaiah saith,
that Isaiah saith again,
he hath blinded their eyes.
So in Isaiah,
it's prophesied
and it's being fulfilled
here in Christ's ministry
that there are a group of people
that could not believe.
It's not possible
for them to believe.
Now, does God want all to,
God is willing
that nobody should perish,
that none should perish
but that all should come
to repentance.
He said whosoever believeth on him
should not perish,
should not perish
but have everlasting life.
God wants all men to believe
and yet there are some people
that are not going to believe.
They have hardened their heart.
And I think, you know,
some people have a hard time
with this doctrine
because they cannot,
they can't understand the idea
that there's some people
that God is not gonna
permit to be saved.
Well, I thought God
loves everybody.
Yes, for God so loved,
loved, right,
past tense the world
that he gave his only begotten son
that whosoever believeth on him
might have everlasting life.
He did love everybody
at some point
but like Pharaoh
in the Old Testament
in Moses' day,
people when they're given
opportunities to believe on Christ,
they reject him,
they choose not to,
they begin to harden
their own heart.
People, as it says in Romans 1,
we can go read it that,
you know, even as they did not
like to retain God
in their knowledge,
God gave them over
to reprobate minded.
So they started it with God.
They're the ones that decided
that they're not gonna
believe on Christ,
they harden their heart first.
And that is why I believe
many of these people
that Christ's crucifixion
that are mocking him
and even saying things like,
oh, come down and we'll believe.
They wouldn't believe
even if he did
because they're reprobate
because they've been
given opportunity
after opportunity.
So many miracles
have been done before them
and yet they did not believe.
And it got to the point already
by the time they get
to the crucifixion
that their hearts
have been hardened
and God has rejected them
and the prophecy of Isaiah
has been fulfilled.
Therefore, they couldn't
Therefore, they could not believe.
And the other point I want to point,
Mike, I want here is
who's doing the blinding here?
Isaiah said again,
he hath blinded their eyes
and hardened their hearts.
So who did the blinding?
Who did the hardening?
God did.
Who's the he there?
The Lord.
The Lord hardens people's hearts
and the Lord will blind
the eyes of some
that they should not see
with their eyes
nor under stare with their heart
and not be able to hear his word, right?
And be converted
and I should heal him.
These things that Isaiah
when he saw his glory
and spake of him.
Of course, that was
and even Isaiah's day,
you could have applied that
to many in Old Testament Israel,
to those who he was preaching with
at that time,
but it was also prophetic
to the time of Christ
and it's showing us that
it's teaching us this doctrine
that there are people
that God blinds.
There are people in this world
of whom God's heart,
he hardens.
God hardens the hearts
of some people
and usually it's those,
it's always those in fact,
they begin to harden
their heart first.
And if you're struggling with this,
I don't want to take the time
to go to Romans 1
and read all of that.
I think many of us understand this.
They don't want to retain God
in their knowledge
and therefore God gives them
over to reprobate mind.
They don't want to believe
on the teachings of Christ.
They don't want to believe
the miracles that he's doing.
They're envious
and they begin to harden
their hearts so God says,
okay, well, I'll just blind
your mind altogether
and you will not be able
to believe.
This is the danger
in rejecting the gospel.
If you look at,
I'll just read to you
in Psalms 14, the Bible says,
the fool has said in his heart,
there is no God.
It's a foolish thing.
Well, one, because
it's just dangerous.
It's dangerous to begin
to harden your heart
towards the things of God.
It's dangerous to reject Christ
because we can get to a point,
well, unbelievers,
those of us that are saved,
we're safe from this,
but unbelievers can get
to a point where God
just gives them over
to reprobate mind.
You say, well, where is that?
I don't know, right?
We don't want to get
in a hair trigger
and start deeming every person
that rejects the gospel
as a reprobate,
but no doubt every time
you reject the gospel,
you are a little bit
closer.
You're a little bit closer
to rejecting or to being
given over.
I believe that,
that there is a point
that people will cross
where they will become
reprobate,
and that's a scary thing.
It's a foolish thing to say
that there is no God,
and what's foolish about it
is one, not just because
it's dangerous,
but because of the fact
that God, it's so evident
that there is a God.
I mean, think about
how evident it was
to these people
that Christ was the Son of God.
I mean, how much more,
I mean, that's what
Christ is saying.
If you don't believe me
for my word's sake,
believe me for my work's sake.
I do the works of my Father.
Believe me for the miracles.
Right, what he's saying
is it's obvious who I am.
I've made it perfectly plain
that I am the Messiah.
That's what he's saying.
And, you know, if you remember
even early on in Christ's
ministry, many times
he would silence the devils.
He would not allow himself
to be made known abroad
because he didn't want
to be thronged, right?
But later we'd also see
that he did allow him
to be published abroad.
At this point,
everybody knows about him.
People are anticipating him
in Jerusalem just days before
waiting for him to come
and to show himself
for the Passover.
They know who he is
and his miracles have been done
and people have rejected him.
And the same thing
is true today.
The existence of God,
I can't prove it
beyond a shadow of a doubt,
but why should we have to?
This is why it's such
a foolish thing to say
there is no God.
Because the Lord,
it's just so evident
that there is a God,
that there is a creator.
And it's always interesting to me
when you hear people who,
you know, don't,
who subscribe maybe to,
you know, evolution.
They don't believe in a creation,
like a literal creation.
And yet they can't help
themselves often
when they're speaking about,
you know, human biology.
They'll still use this
determinate, this terminology
where they'll say things like,
well, the way we're designed,
the way we're built,
the way we're made, right?
But it was like,
well, wait a minute.
I thought there was no God.
I thought we all just,
we weren't designed.
This is all chance.
You can't say we were made
this way or designed that way,
you know, but they just
can't help themselves, right?
Because that's just,
they say it.
And then a lot of these people,
they're not,
they don't believe the Bible.
They don't believe
the creation story.
They believe that, you know,
we all came from some
single-celled organism
billions and billions
of years ago
after everything exploded
out of nothing, right?
But we're the wild,
we're the ones that believe
crazy nonsense, right?
You know, we just believe
in the beginning God said,
right, and you believe
in the beginning nothing
and then everything, right?
Everything came out of nothing,
including the space
that everything expanded into
in a nanosecond or whatever.
Like, you know, it's,
it takes more faith
to believe that
than just to believe
the Bible, my friend.
That's why the Bible says,
the fool has said in his heart,
there is no God.
You just look around at creation.
The Bible says that the Lord
is known by his judgment,
which he executed.
I love that verse,
Psalm 9, verse 16.
You know, the Lord's known
by many different ways, right?
We can look at, you know,
evidence for the flood.
We can look at just the balance
of everything in nature,
just the way everything is
just held in perfect harmony
and how everything is
just so finely tuned
and just the magnificence
of creation,
just the overwhelming evidence
of a creator in that
it just can't be by chance
that things just happen, right?
Everything is just held
in just perfect harmony, okay?
And if things were just off
a little bit here and there,
none of it would work.
It's amazing.
But what I like is the fact
the Bible says that God is known,
the Lord is known
by the judgment,
which he executed.
You know, the evidence
of the flood,
and that's not just
the evidence of God.
That's the evidence
of God's judgment,
the evidence of Sodom
and Gomorrah being rained on
with fire and brimstone
from heaven.
That's just the evidence
of God's existence.
That's the evidence
of God's existence
in that God is a wrathful,
vengeful God who executes
judgment upon the earth.
This is why it's such
a foolish thing to say
there is no God,
one, because it flies
in the face of so much
that it's just apparent
in creation,
but two, it's foolish
because you're saying
that there is no judgment,
that God is not a God
that executes judgment
in the earth.
And he is a God
that judges in the earth,
and he does execute
judgment in the earth.
The wicked is snared
in the work of his own hands.
Let's go on through our story,
though, and go back to
Mark chapter 33,
or 15, verse 33, excuse me.
As I said, I do want to
wrap this up this morning,
this chapter at least.
Coming into the end
of the book of Mark,
what do we see here
at this crucifixion?
Well, we see not just,
of course, Christ's suffering,
which is evident.
We all understand
that the crucifixion
was a brutal, merciless way
to die.
It was a slow, painful death
that we could probably
just spend the whole morning
contemplating.
But beyond that, maybe
some of the aspects
we don't think about,
the shame of his nakedness,
the cruelty of those
that were there,
those that were callous,
just kind of going
about the business
with the Roman soldiers,
not really having any
compassion for the plane
that they're inflicting
upon these people,
and Christ in particular,
but also that there are
these reprobates that are
surrounding him, mocking him,
and railing on him.
Not exactly the people
you want around
the deathbed.
A bunch of reprobates,
but that's another aspect
of his suffering
we might not always think about,
and how foolish those people are
to mock Christ in such a way,
and yet we have so many today
that mock Christ
in kind of a similar way.
Oh, there is no God,
or they want to make God
into an image of their own mind,
and they harden their hearts,
and they're fools for it.
But that's not to say
that there weren't those there
that did believe.
In fact, I think
this is an interesting point
in this story,
in this account here.
It says in verse 33,
when the sixth hour was come,
there was darkness
over the whole land
until the ninth hour.
Of course, this is
the middle of the day,
late in the afternoon.
This is out of the ordinary.
This is catching
everybody off guard.
Now, that's a very foreboding thing
when darkness just
falls on the land,
and I don't think it's
just talking about
it got overcast.
It was a noticeable anomaly.
This is something
that was abnormal,
this darkness that came.
Maybe the sun was
just dimmed supernaturally,
and it's just this darkness
comes over the whole land
until the ninth hour,
so three hours of darkness
during the crucifixion
of Christ.
And yet, despite that,
they're saying,
oh, come down from the cross.
Then there's just this
supernatural eclipse,
or whatever you want to call it,
takes place, and they're
not going to believe that
because they haven't believed
all these other miracles,
and yet there's some people
there that see these things
happen and hear the words
of Christ and end up believing.
It says that at the ninth hour,
after this darkness,
it says Jesus cried with
a loud voice, saying,
Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani,
which is being interpreted,
my God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me?
Another aspect that we
could consider about
the suffering of Christ,
the fact that because
he became sin for us,
who knew no sin,
that God could not
look upon him,
that there was a separation
at this point,
him becoming sin
and having been
forsaken by God.
God allowing these things
to happen to him.
And some of them that stood by
when they heard it said,
behold, he calleth Elias,
and one ran and filled
a sponge with vinegar
and put on a reed
to give him to drink,
saying, let alone,
let us see whether Elias
will come to take him down.
So obviously, you say,
what's going on here?
Well, they're hearing him
say these things,
they want to hear
what else he has to say.
Or maybe they want him
to clarify, what are you saying?
Right?
So imagine Christ has
probably been without water
for many hours, right?
The dehydration
that has set in.
And anyone, you know,
we know something about that
a little bit here
living in the desert,
that's a very real danger.
But anyone, you know,
you know, if you get
to a certain point
where it's hard to even speak,
right, if you,
you can get so parched
that you can't even get
the words to form
in your mouth.
And perhaps that's
what they're thinking
that's going on here, right?
But did they go give them
a nice, cool glass
of water to drink?
Oh, here, give them some water.
It would not be what you want
if you're parched,
if you're to the point
where, you know,
you've gone so many hours
without water
and you've lost all this blood
and suffering,
wouldn't a nice,
cool drink of water,
or at least, you know,
even if it was just,
you know,
room temperature water,
wouldn't that be
what you would reach for?
You know, if you came in
from some hot, you know,
afternoon out working all day
and I said,
you can have a glass of water
or a glass of vinegar,
I'm guessing everyone in the room
is reaching for the water.
Right?
I know some of us
might mix a little vinegar
in our drink, you know,
for the health benefits
from time to time,
but I don't know
what any one of us
is just chugging vinegar.
Right?
Another aspect of, you know,
this is, oh, give them
something to drink,
give them some vinegar.
Right?
And people will say,
oh, well, the vinegar,
they give them that
because it really cuts
through the thirst.
Like, no, water's what you want
if you're trying
to quench your thirst.
You know, I think water
would have been done
just as good a job.
Right?
Say, why vinegar?
Because it's cruel.
Oh, you thirsty?
Here, have some vinegar.
And probably, you know,
in that condition,
you're so parched,
you probably would
drink the vinegar.
Right?
But they're not
giving them water.
They're not soaking
that sponge in water
because this is another
aspect of the cruelty
that's involved.
Oh, you're that thirsty?
Here's your last beverage
on the way out.
Vinegar to drink.
And it says,
and one ran, verse 36,
to fill up a sponge
and put it in a rain
and gave him to drink,
saying, let alone,
let us see whether
Elias will come
to take him down.
And they're saying,
you know, leave him alone,
and they're doing
things along.
And Jesus cried
with a loud voice
and gave up the ghost.
This is interesting.
Verse 38,
in the veil of the temple
was retin-twain
from the top to the bottom.
And I spoke a little bit
about this a couple
weeks ago, I believe.
This is a, you know,
some people might say,
well, this is when we go
from the Old Testament,
the New Testament.
That's a pretty good
argument, too.
You know, I kind of believe,
I tend to believe
it was at the Last Supper
when he's giving,
he's saying,
this is my blood
of the New Testament.
This is my blood
of the New Covenant
that I make with you.
That's what I personally
believe.
But you could kind of
just say, well,
this whole event
over this course
of time here,
these hours,
this whole thing represents.
And you could make that,
you know, but you want to say,
you can make that argument.
Some people want to get
real pedantic and say,
what was the exact moment?
Right?
Well, you could point
to this one, too.
Let's say it was when
that veil into the
holiest of places
was rent-and-twain,
signifying that that way
had been made for us
through Christ.
But what I want to focus on here
is that in the midst of this,
where Christ is suffering
and he's surrounded by people
that are mocking him,
the people that are railing on him,
people that are,
I believe,
reprobate concerning faith,
those that have not believed
the miracles,
those that have fulfilled
the prophecy of Isaiah,
and having hardened their hearts
and having their eyes blinded
so that they could not believe,
those that could not
understand Christ's word
reprobates.
They're there.
This is all taking place.
But it's interesting
that when these final events
take place,
it says in verse 39,
and when the centurion,
which would have been
a Roman soldier,
a Roman officer,
which stood over against him,
saw that he so cried out
and gave up the ghost,
he said,
truly, this man was
the son of God.
He's confessing Christ.
Now, you say,
did he get saved?
That's how I interpret that.
This man is believing
this is the son of God.
And maybe if he didn't
get saved in that moment,
maybe someone's gonna
explain to him
what this all meant.
But it's interesting
that it's a Gentile.
It's not,
the Bible says he came
unto his own
and his own received him not.
But to as many as received him,
to them gave me the power
to become sons of God,
even to them that believe
on his name.
He comes on to the Jews.
He comes on the Pharisees.
He comes to those that
had the oracles of God,
and they reject him.
And yet, it's the man,
you know, I don't know
what the centurion was
part of those four
that crucified him,
or he's just overseeing it,
or he just happened
to pass by later.
But he's in the same ranks
as those men,
the ones that literally
drove the nails
into Christ's flesh,
whether he was one of them
or not,
that's their, you know,
that's their,
his colleagues,
if you wanna put it that way.
Right?
And yet,
he's the one that's believing.
He's the one that's
seeing everything and saying,
truly, this man was
the son of God.
And not also forget
that there were also
those that already believed.
There were also many there
that also already believed.
There, verse 40,
there were also,
excuse me,
also women looking on afar off,
among whom was Mary Magdalene,
the mother of James,
and the last son of
Joseph and Salome.
Also, it says there,
and now, verse 43,
Joseph of Arimathea,
an honorable counselor,
which also waited for
the kingdom of God,
came and went in
boldly into Pilate
and craved the body of Jesus
and Pilate marveled.
And of course,
we know he sends the
centurion to go confirm
and they went to break his legs
and he was already dead,
so they didn't break
any of his bones.
And he comes back and confirms,
yes, he is dead,
and they give Jesus,
or give Joseph of Arimathea
Christ's body.
So there's other people,
Joseph, these Marys,
others that are there
that are already believers.
But there's also
the centurion there
who, during all this mocking,
during all this pain,
during this execution,
believes on Christ.
And he believes by faith.
Yeah, he saw some things there
at the end.
He saw the sun darken
for three hours.
I don't know if he could
see the veil being rent
or heard about it.
Obviously, he couldn't see it,
or maybe word had gotten around.
But whatever happened,
there's something happened
to that man's heart
where he said,
this is the son of God.
And this is the application
that I want to make.
If you would,
go to Psalm 58.
Psalm 58.
Because yes, you know what?
We do preach the reprobate
doctrine here.
And we're not ashamed of it
because it's Bible.
And you know what?
Maybe I go a little heavy
on it sometimes.
Maybe sometimes,
me and my friend,
maybe we preach it
a little too frequently
than some people would like.
But maybe it's just
because we've got to make up
for all the lily-livered pansies
behind a bunch of pulpits today
with big yellow stripes
down their back
that won't touch it
with a 10-foot pole.
I could never preach
the reprobate doctrine again,
and I'll have preached it more
than multiple pastors combined
will ever preach it
during their entire career
as a preacher.
Maybe we're just
making up for that
which is lacking.
And it's an essential
doctrine today
for people being brainwashed
to just accept the filth
that comes along
with being a reprobate.
And yes, this is part of that story.
Those people were present.
And we do preach hard on that.
But you know what?
That's not to say
that we aren't without compassion
for your average, everyday sinner.
Yeah, we go hard
after the reprobates.
We preach against
the sodomites here.
But you know what?
That doesn't mean
we're not without compassion
for people who are
just like the centurion.
Who as Jesus,
and it's not recorded here,
but elsewhere in parallel passages,
says, Father, forgive them
for they know not what they do.
I understand that there's
people in this world
that reject Christ,
that don't believe on Christ,
that aren't reprobate.
And those are the people
that we want to reach.
And I get it.
We don't want to spend our time
fixated upon the reprobates
of this world.
There's a time and place,
and I think it's something
that should be touched upon,
and something that should
be preached against,
with some, you know, regularity.
It should occur.
It should happen.
You know, June's a good time
to preach on that topic.
In my book, anytime's a good time.
I love that doctrine.
But, you know,
we need to preach on it,
but let's, I understand,
let's not go to this extreme
where we just start
beating everybody reprobates,
and we become more fixated on,
you know, the Jews and Pharisees
of this world, right,
such as were present
at Christ's crucifixion,
and just become so fixated
on seeing them get theirs
that we forget about
the centurions of this world,
that we forget about
those that already believe,
that forget about our own brethren
and the work that we have
to do together.
Let's not forget about the people
that will get saved,
that will say,
This is the Son of God.
Truly, I do believe the Bible.
Look at Psalm 58 and verse 10.
The Bible says,
The righteous shall rejoice
when he seeth the vengeance.
The vengeance of what?
When God takes vengeance
upon the wicked,
because verily God is a God
that judgeth in the earth.
That's what he says.
Verse 11,
So that a man shall say,
Verily there is a reward
for the righteous.
What is the reward of the righteous?
Getting to see God take vengeance
upon those that hate God.
That's a reward that we have coming.
And look, I'm not going to get up here
and say that I'm not looking forward
to seeing that,
because I am.
I'm looking forward to the day
when God is going to judge
the wicked of this world,
judge the reprobates,
judge those that are working
abominable iniquity in his sight.
I say, Amen and Amen.
And I understand that sometimes
in our flesh,
maybe we can't fully agree with that.
Maybe we don't understand that.
But I'm telling you,
when you're in the new man
and you're standing there
on that great day of judgment,
and you have the mind of Christ,
there will be zero objections
on your part.
You'll say, Thou art righteous,
O God, to judge.
And you will say,
Verily he is a God
that judgeth in the earth.
Not just then,
but he even judges now.
That is our reward to the righteous.
So yeah, I am going to preach it.
I am going to preach,
Hey, there are people
that got it coming.
You want to be a reprobate?
You want to harden your heart
towards God?
You want to be a fool
and say there is no God?
You're going to get yours.
You know, and some people
that maybe aren't fully given over
to a reprobate mind,
maybe that'd be enough to scare them.
You know, maybe we're doing as Jews,
we're trying to save some with fear,
pulling them out of the fire,
hating even the garment
spotted by the flesh.
And it is our reward.
And we shall see the vengeance
that God is going to execute
in the earth and upon the wicked.
But what I want to point out here
is that yeah, you know,
those guys that are mocking Christ
during his crucifixion,
you know, when they see him come,
those that pierced him
shall see him come in power and glory
with his holy angels.
They're going to cry
and ask the rocks to fall upon them
and they're going to get it coming.
They're going to get what's coming.
That's going to happen.
And we want to see that,
but let's not forget
there's the centurion there.
Let's not forget
the centurions of this world.
Let's rejoice
when we see the vengeance, right?
And I want to point out here,
it says,
the righteous shall rejoice
when he seeth the vengeance, right?
We're not the ones executing it.
We're not the ones
carrying out vengeance.
That's God's business.
He said, you know,
I am the Lord.
I will repay.
Vengeance is mine, sayeth the Lord.
I will repay.
You know, that's God's business
to handle the wicked of this world.
You know, that's why
I don't get all caught up
trying to expose, you know,
all the dark occultic practices
of the reprobates of this world.
You know, one,
that's a rabbit hole
you'll never,
you'll reach the bottom of.
You know, that's just,
there's so many tentacles
that Satan has out there
to just keep us distracted
with that stuff.
And the Bible is just
straight up says
it's a shame to even speak
of those things
which are done of them in secret.
But look,
they will get what's coming
and we'll rejoice
when we see it.
When it does happen,
I'll say amen.
And he shall wash his feet
in the blood of the wicked.
You know, the Lord
is going to trample them
in the winepress
of the wrath of God, okay?
And we shall rejoice
when we see it.
What we need to be focused on,
what we need to be working
in this world now,
the people we need
to be concerned with
are those that are not reprobate,
with the unsaved,
with the centurions
who maybe aren't exactly
the godliest
and most caring of people,
that maybe are in some ways
a little calloused
and hardened by sin itself.
I mean, the centurion there,
I mean, again, I'll point it out,
when Pilate turned Christ over
to have all this stuff done to him,
he chose men of war,
men that had been hardened,
and men that were used
to suffering and inflicting pain
and doing this.
But that doesn't mean
that those people are necessarily
given over to reprobate mind.
We've got to be concerned about
even just your average sinner,
your hardened sinner,
reach them before the day of vengeance.
Reach them before they become reprobate.
We'll rejoice then
when we see the vengeance,
but right now, let's reach them.
Reach now and rejoice then.
You know, the reprobate doctrine
is an important doctrine.
It's one that needs to be preached.
And you know what?
I can understand some criticism
of people that that's all
they want to focus on.
That's all they want
to direct all their energy towards
is just, you know,
they're just fixated with the fact
that there's people in this world
that are reprobating.
It's kind of like, you know,
once you figure that out,
okay, great, check.
You know, the Bible makes sense.
The Bible's true.
I get it.
There's some people
that are reprobates, you know,
and it's an important doctrine to understand
because that'll actually help
some people get saved.
When you actually explain to a sinner,
hey, actually, you know what?
These child molesters
and these sodomites,
these predators,
the Bible says that they,
you know, they've been given
over to reprobate mind.
That's why they are,
they do those things
which are not convenient.
That's why they're given
over to strange flesh.
They don't have a chance
of even making it to heaven.
They're damned.
You know, that will actually
help some people get saved
because there's some criticism
out there of the gospel
to say, oh, you Baptist.
You just say, you know,
all a person's got to do
is believe on Christ
even on his deathbed
and no matter what they've done
in their life,
they're going to go to heaven.
Yes, but there are some clauses there.
If you're a reprobate,
that ain't going to work
and some people's criticisms are,
are you going to tell me
rapists and child molesters
are going to go to heaven?
No, they're not.
No, they're not
because they're reprobate
concerning the faith.
That's why they do those things.
So, yes, you know,
it's important to teach these things
but let's not get fixated on it
and I can understand
that there are some times
when people do become
overly fixated on these things
and some of these criticisms
might have, you know,
a grain of truth to them
and that's why I say
rejoice then.
Wait, when the vengeance comes,
we'll rejoice.
But what we need to be fixated on
and I think we do a good job
of it here,
is reaching now.
Going out in the highways
and the hedges,
going out in the lanes
and streets,
going out into every nook
and cranny of this town
and reaching those
that will be saved.
You know what,
and here's the thing,
we're going to run into
some centurions
when we're out there.
We're going to run into
some people that maybe
are a little bit hostile
towards the gospel.
We're going to run into
some people that might
come this close to,
you know,
leasing their pit bull on you
as we did yesterday.
Chalk another one up
for the pit bulls, right?
Knock on this guy's door
and you can hear the dog
and all of a sudden
the door opens about that wide
and there's just this
big pit bull head
like just trying to get out
and the guy's going
and he's like,
careful, careful.
I said, yeah, I'm going to go.
You keep him there.
He's like, yeah, get out
and we went out the gate.
But you know,
he came out afterward
but he was kind of a rough guy,
right brother Gabriel?
And he was probably a guy
if you said the wrong thing to
you're going to have your
hands full, right?
With or without the pit bull,
right?
But you know,
even though I got over
my disdain of that breed,
I got over the rough exterior
that the gruff mannery had
and tried to preach in the gospel
but you know,
he just wasn't having it.
And we're going to,
and I'm just using it
as an example,
just kind of came to mind.
Look, I'm trying to say is
we're going to run into
people like that.
We're going to run into people
that are kind of like
the centurion in the story.
I mean,
we all probably agree that
the Roman soldiers,
whether the centurion
is one of them or not,
are not exactly, you know,
the gentlest of creatures,
right?
These aren't Grandma Betty
that we're, you know,
you're not going to find them
in the old folks' home,
you know, all sweet and nice
and ready to hear the gospel.
These are hardened men.
Give them vinegar.
Here's the nails, right?
Let's divvy up his clothes.
These are hardened guys.
Look, you're going to run into
hardened people in this world.
Don't be quick to just say
reprobate, right?
And people do this, you know.
You know, I've seen people,
they go preaching the gospel
and some will say,
oh, I'm not interested.
I'm going to reprobate.
And it's like,
well, what do they do?
They just said they're
not interested.
It's just not their day.
You know, it's like,
sometimes I think back,
how many times did I have
to hear about the gospel?
How many times did God
have to work in my heart
years before I was finally
ready to receive it?
And that's probably the
testimony of many people.
There's probably many people
in this room that say,
hey, I had to have the gospel
preached to me several times
before I believed it, right?
That's generally the case.
Not everyone gets it
the first time.
But it's funny how some people,
and maybe, you know,
maybe give a little bit of
justification to this criticism
that they're just a little too
fixated with the reprobate doctrine
where just like every person
that rejects them at the door
is a reprobate.
You know, or every relative
that mocks them a little bit
or makes fun of their
newfound Christianity
is clearly a reprobate.
No, you know what?
They just might be
a little hardened.
And you know what?
If they're saying there's no,
yeah, they might even be
a little foolish to mock God
and say there is no God.
And maybe they will get
to that point one day
where the only thing
they got coming is vengeance.
Let's not rejoice over that now.
Let's rejoice over that later.
Let's focus on reaching those
before it's too late.
You know, what can we do about it?
Preach the gospel.
Get out there and get people
that maybe are on the precipice
of going over to being given
over to a reprobate mind.
And look, I don't believe
that's the, you know,
that's probably a very
small segment of population.
The vast majority of people
are just unsaved sinners.
Whether they choose to
believe it or not, you know,
they're just more concerned
with the cares of this life.
You know, they're more concerned
with just living their lives
and enjoying the pleasures
of sin for a season.
You know, that doesn't make
them reprobate.
Let's try and reach them
as often as we can.
Let's go ahead and close
the word of prayer.
Dear Lord, again, thank you
for the great sacrifice
that was paid for us
and your son.
And Lord, help us to always
be mindful of the suffering
that was endured, Lord,
far greater physical suffering
than any of us will likely
ever know.
And Lord, not to mention
the emotional, Lord,
the spiritual anguish
and torment that Christ suffered
at the hands of sinners,
hands of people, Lord,
not much different
than our own selves.
And Lord, help us to see
the lost around us, Lord,
not as God-hating reprobates
unless that's clearly
what they are, Lord,
but that they're sinners
like we are, and Lord,
that they can be
as we are now, saved,
born again through
the blood of Christ.
Give us compassion
for those around us,
we ask in Christ's name,
amen.
All right, we'll go ahead
and sing one more song
before we are dismissed
this morning.
Please grab a hymnal
and turn that hymnal
to song number 187.
If you're singing
song number 187,
Jesus Loves Me,
give me that song
number 187.
Let's sing,
God's Will-O's.
Jesus loves me
yes I do
for my marriage
has restored
whether us
never even loved
three of me
could be
Yes, Jesus loves me.
The Bible tells us to do.
Jesus loves me.
We can cry.
Heaven's into open fire.
We can wash away my sin.
Let his religion go on.
Yes, Jesus loves me.
The Bible tells us to do.
Jesus loves me.
He loves me.
Close beside me, love the way.
Now that's when I find the way.
I will pray to the Lord.
Yes, Jesus loves me.
The Bible tells us to do.
Yes, Jesus loves me.
Yeah, Jesus loves me.
Mm-hmm.
Mm.