We now bring you the Making Much of Jesus podcast featuring the late Dr. Jack Hudson, the founding pastor of the Northside Baptist Church in Charlotte, North Carolina. And now today's edition of the Making Much of Jesus podcast. Let's turn first, if you will, to the Gospel of Mark, chapter number 1, and then we'll be turning to Luke, chapter 13, but Mark, chapter 1. I don't want to confuse you. Mark, chapter 1. Then we'll go down briefly into chapter number 2. And I want you to see some things tonight that I believe the Lord will have us to see. I found this out. One of the things that Christians need to be is to talk the Word of God, that they can understand some things, and the blessings are all good, but the blessings even are learning. Our boys and girls in school, every day is not, in the real sense of the word, a blessing to them, but every day they're learning. And learning is a blessing, isn't it? And that's the way it is, I think, in the church. I don't think we ought to go looking for great blessings every time, but for great truths. Truths keep you from error. Truth keeps you from being moved about with every wind of doctrine. There is nothing that will stabilize you but the truth from God's Word. Nothing. All of your wisdom, all of your experience, all of your people that you may know or not know, nothing of that sort will ever keep you from error. There's only one thing, and that's knowing God's Word. All right, with that thought in mind, let's look, if you will, at Mark 1, verse 40. There came a leper to him, beseeching him, and kneeling down to him, and saying unto him, If thou wilt, canst thou make me clean? Jesus moved with compassion, put forth his hand, and touched him, and saith unto him, I will, be thou clean." Now let me explain something that you probably already know. A leper physically is a type of a person unsaved, an unsaved man spiritually. We're all spiritual lepers. We may not, any of us, have ever even seen a leper, but we're lepers spiritually. That's how abominable we are in the eyes of the Lord when He saves us by His grace. That's what grace is, reason and God. You see, none of us were any good in God's sight when He saved us. We may have been good in our community, good to our families, and good as far as our business associates are concerned, but in the eyes of God, spiritually speaking, we were lepers. And this is what God is speaking to us spiritually. Here was a man who was a leper, and he came to the Lord, and he said, Lord, will you clean me, Lord? Will you heal me? And the Lord said, I will. Be thou clean. And God cleaned him up. Alright. And as soon as he had so spoken, immediately the lepers departed from him, and he was cleansed. charged him, and forthwith sent him away, and saith unto him, See thou say nothing to any man, but go thy way, show thyself to the priest, and offer for thy cleansing the things which Moses commanded for a testimony unto them." In other words, if a man thought he was healed of the leprosy, he had to go to the priest and let him see his skin and see that there was nothing there that was contagious. and could be put back into society. And so he said, now don't you stop and talk to anybody. As soon as you can, you go to the priest and I want you to follow that which is written for you. Let him see that you're alright. As a testimony to the Lord. Did you know one of the greatest testimonies we can have as Christians is going back to where we'd come from. Going back to the people with whom we had associated, we had associated in our sinful life, and letting them know that God had cleansed us of our spiritual leprosy. Let them know that God had cleansed us up from the hog pens of sin in which we had been living. I don't know of a greater testimony of the lost and dying world but to see their friends cleansed and saved by God's grace. Read on. But he went out and began to publish it much and to blaze abroad the matter. You see, I told you this morning, when a man gets saved, he can't keep quiet about it. And God said, now you go to the priest. Don't stop, start preaching on the way. You go straight to the priest and tell him what's happened to you. And he couldn't help it. He couldn't keep his mouth shut. You see, he began to publish it much and to blaze abroad the matter. Brother, he didn't care what anybody thought about him. He didn't care about his business associates. He didn't care about the social functions that he was going to have to turn down. He wanted everybody to know, brother, that he had been cleansed of leprosy, that he was clean now. He was able to associate with the people on the face of this earth. And when we've been cleansed spiritually, we can associate with God's people, we can associate with the Lord Himself when we've been washed in the blood of the Lamb. And so he said, insomuch that Jesus could no more openly enter into the city, but was without in desert places, and they came to Him from every quarter. And literally it means, and they kept on coming. There was just no end to it. Did you know the greatest testimony, the greatest advertisement that a church can have are saved people. The greatest customer, the greatest advertisement that a business can have is a satisfied customer. And the greatest testimony to a church and the greatest testimony of the Lord are people who have been cleansed of their spiritual leprosy and they're praising the Lord every day. Now God says it will bring people in so much that they'll not be wrong. They just kept on coming and they came from every quarter. Now, I think that's meaningful. It meant they came from every strata of society. It meant that they came from the poverty-stricken areas, and they came from the better side of town, and all the places in between. They came from every quarter. It wasn't just one group that came. Everybody got excited about it. Did you know everybody gets excited about the gospel? Everybody gets excited about seeing people saved. There's something exciting about it. But now read on. And, now you see, man put divisions in it, and I'm glad that he did because we can find places. But the and there is not the way you begin a sentence. It's a continuation of it. And because of this, again, he entered into Capernaum after some days, and it was noise that he was in the house. In other words, people made a lot of noise about him, meaning that they were glad it got out. People knew about it. And straightway many were gathered together, insomuch that there was no room to receive them, no, not so much as about the door, and he preached the word unto them." Now, I want you to get the meaning from chapter 1, what it means in chapter 2. It meant that when the Lord got there to preach, there were so many people, they couldn't even get into the house. Why? Because this spirit, this leper who had been cleansed, began to tell everybody about it, and people got excited, and they wanted to see something that was happening. Now, come on down. And then verse 3, And they came unto him, bringing one sick of the palsy, which was born of four. And when they could not come nigh unto him for the press, they uncovered the roof where he was. And when they had broken it up, and let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay, and Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee. But there was certain of the scribes sitting there, and reasoning in their heart. Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies? Who can forgive sin but God only?" And immediately when Jesus perceived in His Spirit that they were so reasoned unto themselves, He said unto them, Why reason ye these things in your heart? Now, I'm not preaching on the four. I'm not preaching on the lepers. I'm taking a thought from it. Now turn in your Bible, if you will, to the Gospel of Luke, chapter 13. Chapter 13, verse number 10. Gospel of Luke, chapter 13, verse number 10. That's page 1094 in your Schofield Bibles. Page 1094. Luke chapter 13, verse 10. And he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. And behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift herself up. And when Jesus saw her, he called her to him, and said unto her, Woman, Thou art loose from thine infirmities.' And he laid his hand on her, and immediately she was made straight and glorified God. And the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath day, and said unto the people, There are six days in which men ought to work, and them therefore come and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day. And the Lord answered him and said, Thou hypocrite, Doth not each one of you on this Sabbath day loose his ox or his ass from the stall, and lead him to the watering? And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, that is a Jew, whom Satan hath bound lo these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day? And when He had said these things, all His adversaries were ashamed, and all the people rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by Him. Our Father, in these few moments that You've allotted us together, I pray that You'd help us to listen with both ears, with our physical ears and our spiritual ears. May the Holy Spirit of God show and say things to people that I don't even know, Lord. I just do the best that I know how, and I pray that the Holy Spirit will implant a God-given truth to every person here tonight. In Jesus' name, amen and amen. Now, I said the title of my sermon on how to make hypocrites mad or why hypocrites get mad. You can say it any way you want to. A lot of times, some of you have had people turn on you, they've rebuked you, they've said a lot of things to you. I've had that to happen to me. Now, there's a reason for it, and if you're going to live for the Lord, and if you're going to live the life that God wants you to, you're going to be rebuked by this world. You're going to be rebuked by the religious people. I want you to get used to that. You're going to be criticized. You're going to hear criticism of your church and your pastor, whether you're a member of this church or some other church. If it's a gospel preaching church getting folks saved, you're going to hear criticism of it. Now, I want to warn you as a Christian, whether you're a young Christian or a matured Christian, I want to warn you, this is something that you need to expect. It's just something that God says that goes with Christianity, you're going to have criticism and hypocrites are going to get mad at you. You mark it down. I want you to understand, notice if you will, the first thing that God shows us here is sinners are set free. That's the thing that makes hypocrites mad. They get mad every time. They can't understand people being redeemed by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. They can't understand why they talk about the Lord. Reminds me of an illustration of Paul Bias, of whom I spoke this morning. I heard him tell an illustration. I'm sure you've heard it. I'd heard it before, but it seemed like the way he said it made a little more impression on me. He said there was a man who went to one of these high steeple and old people's churches and he was sitting there and the man through the sermon maybe said one thing of which he felt was scriptural and spiritual and he said, Amen. He said every head turned around and looked at him and stared him in the face as if what in the world is wrong with you. He said he sat there and felt a little fear, a little chill go over him and he shut up and a little while the man said something again and talked about the Lord and somehow he just couldn't hold it back and he said, Amen, praise the Lord. And one of the ushers came back to him and said, sir, you will have to shut that up or get out. And he said, sir, I can't help it. I got religion. He said, you didn't get it in here. Get out. And brother, that's about the way it is in so many places. I'm not far. I think there's an end of the spectrum on either side. I think there's a thing where people can have chills sitting in the church and sit there and never open their mouth, never blink their eye, never give one expression that they're enjoying the service. There's the other side, of course, where people completely get into the flesh. I don't believe that God's pleased with either one. I believe that what God wants is the people to be excited about something. I get excited about preaching the gospel. I get excited about seeing people saved. And beloved, when people get saved, and this young man, I imagine he was inexperienced. Don't you imagine when he was talking about what the Lord had done for him? I imagine he made grammatical mistakes. He probably got things out of context in the Bible. Oh, but he was just going... Don't you imagine people were critical? And they said that's what happens when it goes down around that man. I'm saying to you, beloved, that it makes hypocrites mad when sinners are set free. When people get saved by the grace of God, they get mad. They did here. In both of these incidents, the hypocrites, that's what God called them, the hypocrites got mad when people got saved. I want you to notice they came from every quarter. You know one thing I think is wrong with our church? We don't have enough murderers. We don't have enough criminals. We don't have enough former prostitutes in it. We need to get some folk like this and get them saved by the grace of God. And when you think a church is a place where everybody has to be on your social level, brother, when people get saved that's not on that social level, it'll make you mad and you'll reveal your spiritual standing when you don't rejoice when somebody in old clothes, or somebody that's down and out. I remember one Sunday in the old church over there, I've never ceased to thank the Lord for it. Didn't plan it that way, but it happened. One Sunday over there, I baptized a fat lady out of the circus, and baptized a man that was actually in prison, and they were letting him out on work release, and he got saved by the grace of God in our old church. And the man who was bringing him every Sunday said, Preacher, what can we do? He's saved. He's saved. That man's born again. And he's wanting to join this church and get saved. Now, I thought about what I was taught when I was being ordained, and I thought about it in the Bible, and I thought about Paul was a pretty good fellow, but he spent most of his time in prison. I couldn't find anything in the Baptist doctrine, couldn't find anything in the Bible. It says not to take a man and send him to prison if he was born again. And we took him in. And that night, one of the ladies in the church, God bless you, I saw about that 10,000 times, that lady, you know, weighed over 400 pounds, and we had nothing that would fit her. And one of the ladies in our church said, it's alright preacher, I'll make a robe that will fit her. And they made her a robe. And that night I baptized the man out of the a prison and a woman, a fat woman out of the circus. And I said, bless God, that's the kind of a church. Do you know the best? I'll tell you how you can find it. If you ever go into a town and don't know the kind of a church you ought to go to, go down to the jail and ask some of the people where they've been a members or where they've been attending, and you go to the church where they've been. Now if you don't believe that I'm talking about what the Bible says, you read the Bible again. That's the kind of people the Lord dealt with. And that's the kind of... I don't mean exclusively, I don't mean altogether. I'm simply saying that the church that's reaching people for Jesus Christ, and reaching down into the lower strata, and reaching out on the bus ministry, and bringing in little ragged boys and girls, and ragged men and women, and getting them saved, hypocrites don't like it. And if you want to find out if a man's a hypocrite, ask him what he thinks about the bus ministry and he'll reveal to you his spirituality. You don't have to run a document on it or get a blood test. Ask him what he thinks about your bus ministry. Ask him what he thinks about some old drunk coming in getting saved by the grace of God. Ask him what he thinks about prostitutes getting born again and becoming members of the Northside Baptist Church, and you'll find out what kind of a person they really are. And if you feel in your mind if a group of folk like that had come tonight or next Sunday and get saved in this church and want to join it, and if you could feel a slightest little chill of resentment, brother, something's wrong with you. And in God's eyes, you're a hypocrite. God says, you say them. God said, I think in the book of James, I can't think of any stronger place. The Lord said, if there come a man into your assembly wearing goodly apparel and a gold ring, and you say to him, oh, sit down here in this good seat. And there comes a man in poor arraignment, and you say to him, sit there in the footstool. Get over here out of the way so people can't see you. He said, are then you not partial? Are you then not sinners in the eyes of God? I'll be honest with you, beloved. In the eyes of God, God doesn't mean for anybody to be dirty. God doesn't mean to be anything. God wants everybody, but first of all, they've got to be born again of the Spirit of God. And here was a man that was a leper, physically a leper. His clothes were covered with old putrefying stuff that had run out of his body. His body was disfigured. But oh thank God Jesus saved him by his grace and said, now you go up into that big high saluting temple and you tell the priest what's happened to you. Did you know I've learned something in the Word of God? And I've learned something through the years. And I'll tell you a slight mile old little. Did you know my responsibility and your responsibility is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. Whether anybody gets saved or not, we're still to keep on preaching. We're not to judge it. Now, oh, thank God for people who get saved. And I'll tell you, God gives you one every once in a while just to give you heart. But I guarantee you this, did not Noah preach 120 years? The Bible says in the book of Peter that Noah was a preacher of righteousness. And 120 years he preached righteousness. Only had seven people saved. Every one of them was members of his family. Noah and himself, just eight, went into the ark. Noah and seven people. 120 years he preached. I'd have quit a long ago. I'd have given up. But God says, your job is to preach. And they came from every quarter to hear the gospel and folk get out, get to bragging about the Lord. And I tell you, that's something we need, brother. I want to tell you something. You will never build a steeple too high, but that God doesn't want the unsaved coming in. You will never get your carpet so thick that God doesn't want the unsaved, the ragged, the infirm, the lepers of this world to be saved by the grace of God. And we ought to pray for them and deal with them with great compassion. Then not only were the sinners set free, but when all this began to happen, the hypocrites got mad. Look in verse 14. of the 13th chapter of Luke. Listen to what it says, verse 14. And the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation. That means he was mad. That's what it means. He answered with indignation because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath day. In other words, he had done something a little unorthodox. He got mad. In other words, he had preached two minutes past 12 o'clock, and boy, that upset him tremendously. And he had a song just before the offering instead of a song just after the offering, and boy, that tore him up. We're creatures of habit a lot more than you think we are. Brother, we like everything just like it's always been. And Paul, I can almost see him as he stands with the fire flashing from his eyes and he says, lean not to the tradition of men. One of the greatest curses in Christianity is we lean to the tradition of men. Well, it's always been done this way. That's why it's failing. We need to do it God's way. And he was filled with indignation and said, you're healing on the Sabbath day. And the Lord said, you even give your donkeys and your oxen a drink of water and you think I oughtn't to heal this woman? Beloved, I'm trying to say to you, there isn't a time when souls shouldn't be saved. I'll put that in a negative that way. I believe it would be good to get souls saved in funerals. Amen? I believe it would be good to get souls saved in weddings. Can I tell you something tonight? I don't know why, I've been kind of confessing all day. Weddings kind of do something to me. I just never have been a pink dolly, you know, stick out that finger, and I just never have been that kind. I know weddings are scriptural, and I know they're right, and I know everything else, but they get too highfalutin for me. They're getting to where a pastor is a necessary evil. They have all their plans, they have everything, and mama goes on a diet and sees she wants to be just the right size. When she gets that dress on and she puts on her corset, she takes her deep breath before she starts, and she doesn't breathe till it's over. Mamas, you know what I'm talking about. And they satiate down that aisle. Boy, and they can't breathe. They can't move. And they come down. And Papa, you know, I never will forget, we were having a wedding over in the old church. And I don't know, I liked that old man. But a grandfather came in. Now, he was a good country man. He didn't know anything about all that thing. I shook hands with him and felt like I had five logs in my hands, you know, just big old roughs. And he was a grandpa. And they came down, you know, that fellow, that little doody thing, and he came pressing down, you know, just in step, you know. I always wanna, you know what I've always wanted to do? You want me to tell you a deep longing in my heart? You know how a preacher walks out, first one, and you stand there. Everybody sits there. I've always wanted to say, Boom! No, scare them half to death. I mean, some difference, you know, just something. But this old fellow, and he came down, and you know, and this usher walked, he sashayed down, you know, and he got the grandmother by the arm, and he started down, and Grandpa got behind him. Well, Grandpa hadn't been in one of those things before, and he didn't know what to do. And just as loud as I'm talking now, he passed a fellow, he said, John, how's your corn doing? I said, thank God for somebody to break up one of those cold, formal things. Everybody's dad when it's over. Man, if I'd ever get married to one of those things, I'd sure think twice before I got a divorce because you might have to go through it again. Whew, man. Everything so stiff and formal I believe it ought to be a time when you can preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and tell did you know one of the greatest blessings of it would you take this woman whom you hold by the right-handed and that would you forsaken all others keep the only unto thyself as long as you both shall live brother that's like Jesus the Holy Spirit of God coming and saying would you take Jesus as your Savior and will you forsake this world and will you take his name and Will you love him in health and in sickness? and in poverty and in wealth. Brother, that's what Jesus asked of us. Did you know it? You say, I will, I will. Brother, I don't know of anything that's a greater preaching testimony than a wedding. But I'm saying these folks were so formal. Boy, they got all upset because something was just a little off, you know. And the soprano sang two notes instead of one. And all day, they got them all upset. But they had to take three tranquilizers before they got out of the church. And the Lord says, you can tell hypocrites because they get all upset when something's just a little different. There's always been a mean streak in me and I'm not proud of it. I have to ask the Lord every day of my life to help me to get over it. Sometimes I preach to five minutes after 12 just so I won't get in a rut. God bless you. I tell you, I don't mean it's good to do it. I think sometimes I preach this 5 minutes to 12. I have never done it, but I think sometimes I will. Next Sunday, I may preach and quit and dismiss you at 5 minutes to 12. I'm not promising that, but I may do it. You can't tell. I hate for somebody to put a stopwatch on the service and say, now, let's see, I'm not there, but it's 1120. They're singing the doxology, you know, and so on. And they go on down the line with all these things. Now, I want to tell you something. Did you know one of the ways salvation is a testimony against unsaved people? Did you know it? And hypocrites are getting mad unsaved people don't like to be around saved people. They somehow get married, they just don't do it. I'll tell you what I'm trying to say. Did you know a lot of times when folk get married, they still have their friends, still admire them, but they don't quite have the same fellowship that you had once before. You have different things to talk about. You head in a different direction. That's why we have a Sunday school class for the college and careers and then one for the young married couple. Brother Logan, we're doing all I can to get you into that second one I just mentioned, but maybe the time's not right yet. But there's a difference is what I'm saying. There's a difference in the college and careers and the young married. They talk about different things. Now, when a person gets saved and you go back around the unsaved people, there's going to be a difference. And I'll tell you something else. I told you this morning, I never go over the tithing records. I couldn't tell you to save my life who tithes in this church and who doesn't. But I guarantee if I need to know, I can find out. I don't have to call the secretary either. I can find out. I get around you and start talking about tithing. I'll tell you exactly what you do if you don't tithe. You will change the subject. You will change the subject every time. If you tithe, you'll say, oh man, that's one of the greatest blessings in the world. And you'll start talking about it. You're not ashamed to talk about it. See how quiet it got? You know what everyone will be doing right now? Let me remember the last time I talked to you about tithing. You can find out. We were in a room working one time over at the old church, and it goes way back, and you won't know anybody, and I wouldn't tell you if I did, but we were in a room, there was about four or five of us in there working, some of the men were painting, and one man, he said, you know, Brother Hudson, God bless, he said, not long ago, God convicted me about tithing. He said, I started tithing. He said, man, God's blessed me, and he started, he was rolling paint on the wall just talking about tithing. One of the other men spoke up and he said, you know, I've been tithing. He went on talking about how God had blessed him for tithing. I noticed a man over in the corner. He never said a word. Then it was almost like I was going around the room. One of the other men spoke, you know, he began to talk about, ask me questions. He said, Brother Hudson, do you tithe on what you draw or what you make, you know, before deductions and so on? We discussed it a little while. The other man never said a word. Did you know I knew something when I went out of that room? I knew that man didn't tithe. And God acknowledged that, because two or three weeks later, that man came forward, tears in his eyes, and he stood and told me, when I went down then to the front, and he said, Brother Hudson, I haven't been tithing, and he said, God's convicted me, and I want to get right with God. You can find out if people tithe by talking about tithing. Tell you something else. I tell you how I can find out if people's faithful. Start talking about faithfulness and how God blesses you for being faithful. And if they're not faithful, they'll change the subject every single time. If they're faithful to their positions, they'll talk to you about it. They'll tell you, maybe they'll go back and remind you or remember when it was that God convicted them of what faithfulness really meant. Regardless of what may be going on around them, anything else, they're faithful to their position. That's what God called them, and they're going to be there, and they'll talk to you about faithfulness. Sometimes they'll give you a reason, an excuse for them not being faithful, but they'll tell you, and you don't have to run a blood test or run it through a computer to find out. You can talk to them about faithfulness. That's what these people did. I'll tell you something else. Have you ever thought about faithfulness, how people are about the church, and the difference between their church and their work? In the order of priorities, which is most important to you? I'm not going to ask you to say anything, but ask your own heart this question. Just kind of like the fellow said one time, he said, I wonder what he thinks about when he's by himself. He said, I don't know. I never have been with him when he's by himself. But you're by yourself tonight. I mean, in your heart, you're by yourself. Nobody here but just us now. That's all. I want to ask you a question. Ask it in your heart. Which in the order of priority is most important? Going to church on Sunday or going to work on Monday morning? Now, you'll have to answer that in your heart. If you think in your heart, well, Brother Hudson, I know, but I've got to be at work. If I don't go to work, I may lose my job. And that means I won't have an income and it means I'll have to get out and find another job and get in with different people and so on. But I want to tell you something, brother. When you've finally settled it with the Lord, church is more important than your job. That's the order of priority. Let me tell you businessmen something. Now let me help you with something. I want you to listen carefully to what I'm saying. I've had many businessmen, and I appreciate their confidence in me and coming to talk to me as their pastor. I appreciate it. I'm not in any way saying I don't want you to do it. I want you to keep on, but listen to me. I've had a lot of men come to me and say, Brother Hudson, I've been offered so much more money if I go up to so-and-so, you know, change to another town, take a job. It'll pay me more money. I said to many of them, what I'm saying to you now, suppose I get up in this pulpit tonight, and I'd say, folk, I want to give you a 30-day notice or a two-week notice, whatever it is you want. A church up in New Jersey has offered me more money than you've been paying me. Now, what would be your thought of me? You'd say, oh, my, I didn't know Brother Hudson was preaching for the money. Now, businessman, I want to tell you something. Your first obligations to your church and to your family being in that church A job ought to be secondary. I could point out men in this church right now that's turned down lucrative positions. They've talked to me about it. I know a man right now that drives many, many, many miles every single weekend. Gets up at 4 o'clock. He'll get up at 4 o'clock in the morning and drive way off because he said, I'm not going up there. My children are in a Christian school. I'm in the church where God wants me and I'll not do it. He's been with the company 17 years. He said, I'll leave the company before I do it. I could go on and tell you others. You know why God's blessed them and why they're happy in the Lord is because they've gotten their priorities right, and church and school is first to them, and the world is second, and that includes their job. Now what I'm saying is, you get around folk and start talking to them about that, they'll change the subject. There's a lot of people, and I think you ought to go where you make the most money. Go where the advancement is. But beloved, I believe this from the bottom of my heart, I believe if you stay with God, I believe God will stay with you. And I believe if you stay with God, God will see that you are taken care of, and God may take that second place and make it more, a better place, more lucrative than perhaps that first place that the devil offered you. Have you ever thought at all about what the devil said to the Lord? The Lord, he said, if thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. That was a pretty legitimate thought, but the Lord knew that wasn't the way to do it. And the Lord refused it. And when immediately the angels came and ministered unto him, and don't you believe that that angel food wasn't a whole lot better than turning some rocks into some old hard bread. I've been in Italian restaurants and I think I've gotten some of the rocks that they were talking about. I knew those old hard rolls and you take it and hit it with your knife and it bends the knife, you know. You've had them a little hard bread. But I'm simply saying to you, I believe if we keep God first, and I'll tell you how you can find out about them, When you start talking about things like that, you'll make the hypocrites, you'll make the people uncomfortable around you because they think you ought to go anywhere you can make more money, anywhere we can have a bigger house, anywhere we can have a better car. Brother, God doesn't teach that. And God will bless you for doing it. Then, I want you to notice something here, if you will. Look in verse number 17, if you will. The adversaries were made ashamed. And when He had said these things, all His adversaries were ashamed. It tells us over again, and I'll not turn there, but did you know I found this out about sin? Now I want you to listen carefully with me tonight, will you? And may the Holy Spirit help you to understand what I'm saying. It may sound simple, but I believe it's a deep spiritual truth. Did you know I found out one of the things that sin does is make you ashamed? You know the song we sing on a hill far away stood an old rugged cross? the emblem of suffering and shame. You see, sin carries with it shame. When sin is exposed, there is always shame. I want to tell you something. Listen to me carefully. Sin is going to make somebody ashamed. Sin is going to make somebody ashamed. Now parents, if your children are doing something of which you are ashamed, I believe that you ought to talk to them. I believe that you ought to get it right with them. I believe that you ought to stay on God's side and God will stay on your side and deal with them to such an extent because it's going to make you ashamed if you don't. If you've got somebody in the church that's doing something that makes you ashamed, that embarrasses you because it happened, I believe it's a lot better to put the shame where the sin is. Not somebody else have to take it. Not the pastor, or a Sunday school teacher, or a choir director, or a bus worker. I believe that when there's sin that makes you ashamed, I believe you ought to deal with where the sin originated. That's what the Word of God teaches. Now these people, they got mad. But when they saw God working and God explained it to them, the Bible says, and they were ashamed. Sin always makes people ashamed. And we need to put it in its proper place, I believe that. Some of you men maybe ought to pray over your wife wearing them modest dresses, short dresses, maybe too short, embarrassing you. And if it makes you ashamed, you ought to go to her and tell her that. Tell her that it makes you ashamed and talk to her like you love her. And say, it makes me ashamed, honey, for you to go around dressed like you're dressed, and I wish you'd put on some more clothes. And I believe if you say it in love and say it with the authority that God's given you in your home, I believe the shame ought to be put back on her, not on you. And if your husband's wearing his hair, doing something that makes you ashamed, wife, I don't believe you ought to go around all the time being ashamed. I believe you ought to go to Him and talk to Him about it. I believe you ought to explain it to Him and explain it to Him in love. And thus saith the Lord. And I believe God will give you victory of it. Somebody is going to be ashamed of sin, and I don't believe it ought to be the innocent person. I believe it ought to be the one that's guilty, and that's exactly the way God deals with it. God never punishes me for your sin. God doesn't punish you for my sin. Perhaps indirectly, but not punish you for it. God deals with what makes people ashamed. God deals with that sin. And I believe that story, we ought to deal with it. Then I want you to notice, look in verse 17, And when he had said these things, all his adversaries were ashamed, and all the people rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by him. They glorified, they were glorified, they got rejoicing. And then in the Gospel of Mark that I read to you in chapter 2, And verse number 12, I'll read it to you, listen to what it says. And immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went forth before them all, insomuch that they were all amazed, and glorified God, saying, We never saw it on this fashion. You see, these same people that were embarrassed, and these same people that were hypocrites, when somebody stood and said, Thus saith the Lord, and dealt with them in the way that God wants them to do, in every instance you can find in the Bible, I've only read two of them, the Bible said they began to rejoice when people got right with the Lord. I tell you this, there could be some rejoicing in the homes if you'd take this as which the Lord has said tonight. If you'd realize in your heart and mind how we give ourselves away. We don't go around and put a sign on a mine. We may justify it in our hearts. We may build excuses in our mind for not being faithful, for not tithing, for not witnessing. You may have every excuse in the world, but none of them will stand, I'm telling you, at the judgment seat of Christ. And you can reveal it to anybody. You don't have to be psychologically superior to them. You don't have to be. You don't have to have some kind of a sixth sense. You don't have to have that. All in the world you have to do is just ask some questions, and you will find out quick enough they'll change the subject. And beloved, if there's anything along these things that I mentioned tonight or some things that I haven't, that you couldn't talk about without being embarrassed, you ought to make it right with God. You ought to make it right with the Lord so that you can be that witness that God wants us to have, so that we can rejoice. See, these folks didn't rejoice when they had the sin in their life. They rejoiced when it was over. And God wants you to be rejoiced. You know, I ask myself this question just as I'm asking you tonight. Do you believe that God wants you to be happy or unhappy? It's pretty obvious, isn't it? I believe God wants us to be happy. Then who is it that wants us to be unhappy? Well, of course, it's the devil. Then where does unhappiness come from? It comes from the devil. Now then who do we need to deal with when we have unhappiness in our life? We need to go to the Lord and tell him that the adversary is causing us unhappiness and God can deal with it. God said, my joy I give unto thee. Now his joy is far deeper than happiness. It's that long deep down inside that takes care of us through the worst kind of adversity and the worst sort of conditions it takes care of us and still keeps us weak. He'll still lead to him. We can still see the bright and the morning star. God wants you to rejoice tonight. Now, the thing that'll make people criticize you are some of the things that I've mentioned tonight. There are many others. But they'll criticize you, they'll talk about you, because perhaps all they've got is religion. Now, the thing to do is not to get mad at them, is not to be critical, or not to be self-righteous, but to be loving, to be kind, to be honest with them, and try to tell them the truth just as the Lord Jesus did. I found that a long time ago it's a lot easier to criticize somebody than it is to go to them and talk to them. But in talking to them and dealing with them honestly and openly, they'll never forget you. You think right now. Do you remember some time when somebody came to you in great love and sat down and talked to you? And maybe had they not done that, your life tonight could have been so confused that the Lord, about all he could have done was taken you home. Maybe you owe that to somebody else. And beloved, it may be that you need to go and give a testimony like this man that was healed of his leprosy. He went out and began to noise it abroad. He couldn't keep it quiet. And people came in that there wasn't even room for them. I believe this is what we need to do. Let's stand together with our heads bowed. Our Father, I thank you tonight for the truth that's in God's Word. And oh, God, I pray that every one of us tonight may really pray that our priorities will be in the right place. Many times it is God's will to move people, maybe to move them to a place where they can be like a missionary, be a testimony with God's grace. But oh, Father, I pray that not one person here will ever move because of material circumstances or because of a better social standing. May they be moved just as a missionary is moved from one field to another, just as a pastor is moved from a church to another. But, oh Father, I pray that we may get our priorities right. May faithfulness, our Father, be that which is above everything else. May we be faithful of that which God's called us to do. Lord, we may not be able to do all the things that other people can do, but we can be faithful. And we can be witnesses, we can know as abroad what the Lord's done for us. And Lord, when the critics criticize us, and when they make fun of us, Lord, let us not retaliate, let us not lash back. But rather, Lord, let us just remember, they're just revealing their priorities. And so help us to take consolation in this, and help us to be faithful to the Lord. While heads are bowed and eyes are closed, I'm going to ask you a very personal question tonight. How many of you, maybe from your family or your neighbors or somebody, has been suffering, maybe you've been suffering a little criticism because of your stand for the Lord? I want to be very honest with you tonight. That's all I'm going to ask you. But would you slip up your hand if you've been suffering some criticism? God bless you. God bless you. All right, thank you. Pull them down. Expect it, brother. Don't run from it. You stand, be kind, be gracious, be tender, be loving, but keep your priorities right. Be sure that you're not telling them to do something that you're not doing yourself. And then the Bible says they'll appreciate you and they will rejoice. They'll rejoice. And because of your testimony, they'll come to where the Lord is in such numbers that there wasn't room to get them all in the building. That's a promise of the Lord. Now God wrote it, I didn't, God wrote it, that's God's priorities. And if you're being criticized for being at church so much as they say, giving all your money, quote, unquote, all your money to the Lord and all these things that the critics do, you can always remember, they're not faithful, they're not tithing. And many of the things that I mentioned tonight, just remember that, but be faithful to them. I wonder how many tonight, and maybe this is a little unusual invitation, but I wonder how many tonight got somebody maybe that's so critical that maybe you realize it's a good sign. Usually they get critical before they really come to you for help. Sometimes the most critical people are the ones that are under the greatest conviction. And maybe there's somebody critical of you tonight that you want to win to the Lord. Why don't you slip out of your place and come down here and just say, Lord Jesus, I'm praying for that person. I realize now, I realize now why perhaps they've been critical. It's because they're not saved, perhaps, or because they're not... It's spiritual. They're not witnessing. They don't like to talk about it. They criticize me because I witness. They're not tithing. Maybe they criticize me because of tithing. They're not faithful and criticize me because I'm faithful. And Lord, all these other things, whatever it is, oh God, but yet I love them and I want to pray for them. I wonder if you'd slip out of your place and come down here tonight. That's what God wants you to do now. God will help you, show you. Come on, right now. You've got somebody like that, or a group of people, or maybe the neighbors, or somebody that's so critical. You'll win them, I guarantee you. The most critical ones that you know tonight, perhaps the ones under the deepest conviction. And you can win them to the Lord, if you'll just stay true to the Lord. Ask God, claim them for God. Claim them for God. I tell you, this is the best way in the world to do it. That's it, come on. Come on. Don't get so stiff and formal. Let's go out and win the jailbirds, and let's win the down and out, as well as the up and outs. Let's win them all. Don't ever put a tag on them. They came from every quarter. A quarter means a fourth. That's a whole. It means they came from every part of the city. It means the rich and the poor. It means the educated and the uneducated. It meant the well and the sick. It meant all of them. Oh, I'm so glad there's been so much response. I talked to you, burden of my heart, Wednesday night, about beginning of class for retarded children. And the response, some of these ladies and men have come with such burdens, and I said, I don't want anybody unless they feel they can't live unless they do it. And oh, they've got a compassion, and I thank God for it. There's other areas that need the handicapped. Oh, God knows there's so many. If they had a way, if they had a way. And you say, oh, I need to do something like this. And maybe God's speaking to your heart along those lines. and to the death. Oh, my heart's been burdened. And I followed Brother Champion's advice, as I mentioned Wednesday night, and just absolutely stopped it to let it all, everything die down, clean it out, and start it all over fresh. It's about time now. But I wouldn't want to start it unless somebody's willing to die for it, and just say, I can't live any longer unless God gives me deaf people for the Lord. I'm not asking you to do anything, just pray about it. Maybe there's not but one, but there ought to be somebody concerned about them. Don't worry about your critics. Don't worry about them. They'll probably do you more help than your friends will. They criticize you because they know you're doing something. I've never seen anybody in my life get up in the middle of the night and go out and kick a dead dog. They will want us barking, but they want a dead one. And if you haven't had any criticism, lady, maybe you're not living for God. Now, don't seek it. But if you're living for God, you're gonna have some criticism. It'll come your way. Criticize you for being independent. Criticize you for sending your children to a Christian school. Criticize you for coming to church every Sunday night and Wednesday night. Criticize you for giving. Criticize you for going to the Southwide Baptist Fellowship and all the meetings. They'll say, do you go to church all the time? I know, I know, I know. I just want you all to pray for it. The Bible says, pray for them that despitefully use you. Pray for them. We thank you for listening to the Making Much of Jesus podcast. If this sermon was a blessing to you, please share and invite others to listen. And join us next time for the Making Much of Jesus podcast. you