Through Jordan leadeth me, He leadeth me, He leadeth me, By His own hand He leadeth me. His faithful follower I would be, For by His hand He leadeth me. Thank you, Jeanette and John. Go back to Isaiah 42. Mark this place well. We're going to come back to it. Isaiah 42. Hope and pray this morning that the Lord will just enable me to uphold, to lift up His servant, the Lord Jesus Christ, to hold Him up, set Him forth before you. And I hope and pray that you will be able to behold Him, to look unto Him and be saved. All of you. All of you. That's a good desire, isn't it? Pray for me, would you? And for your children. Pray that someone will hear this who has never heard it before. Look at Isaiah 42, verses 1 through 4. Behold, my servant, whom I uphold, mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth, I have put my spirit upon him. He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed shall he not break. Smoking flax shall he not quench. He shall bring forth judgment unto truth. He shall not fail, nor be discouraged, that he have set judgment in the earth. The isles shall wait for his law. What I hope, what I pray to do this morning is for you to see Christ who came, sent by the Father to be His servant, to serve His cause. And what was the Father's cause? What did He send the Son to do? To save a people that He chose. What are they like? What kind of people? Oh, this is a faithful sinner. and worthy of all acceptation, Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. He didn't come to call the righteous. Oh, there were a few self-righteous that He did save, merciful and gracious, but He came to call sinners, broken-hearted, contrite sinners. And far from like this, I want to show you today that our Lord came not to quench smoking flacks, but to ignite it. Not to break broken wreaths, but to heal them, to deliver the prisoners, to bring them out. Oh, man, that's us. You read with me how He said, my people, they're all spoiled. We're spoiled. You know, the Lord literally came and preached to the poor. He literally fed the poor. That's the people that needed Him. That's the people that hung on Him. And I fear for this, our country. There might be some poor and needy in here this morning. Some bruised reeds and smoking flax. Look at verse 6. The Lord said, I gave Him for a covenant of the people. called thee in righteousness, I will hold thine hand and keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people." The Lord Jesus Christ was a man. God manifested in a man. Born of a woman, made of a woman, made under the law to redeem them that were under the law. Made of the seed of David. but without sin. He became a man, and that's for the purpose of being our covenant head. In Adam all die, with a second Adam. We're going to sing that next Sunday. Second Adam from above. Reinstate us in thy love. The world's going to prove his righteousness. My righteous servant. He came as a man. And I love that. I get great comfort from this in knowing that our Lord was a man. He knows our frame because He became a man. But He's a perfect man. He's a strong man. Though He had flesh, which is weakness, yet He had faith, which is strength. He leaned on His God. He had to live by faith. He was a man. He was the captain of our salvation. Look at verse 13. The Lord shall go forth as a mighty man and stir up jealousy like a man of war. He's the captain of our salvation. Love the story of David going out to meet Goliath, don't you? That's Christ. Only a few people understand that. Most religious people look at that as a story of the underdog, you know, against the great foe and how we can defeat our foe. We can defeat our foes like David. No, well, yes, but no. That is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of David, who came single-handedly, a man of war. David throughout the Psalms says, You've taught my fingers to war. Why? To defeat our foes. To put away our sins by the sacrifice of Himself. He became a man. He had to be held up by God. He had to be supported. He had to be strengthened to the task. And He was. I love that. I love that. He labored to the point of exhaustion. In the garden he sweat, as it were, great drops of blood. And he said, I'm going to die from there. And the Lord sent someone to minister unto him. He can't fail. We're saved by a man. The captain of our salvation, God's servant, sent to save his people. He delights in him. I love that. Brother Tom Hargin preached one of the best messages I've ever heard. In this pulpit, on that verse 4, he shall not fail. He shall not fail. We're going to look at several things he says he shall not do, and some things he shall do, but several things he shall not do, he cannot do. He cannot fail. He shall not fail. He won't even be discouraged. I love that. He set his face like a flint. They told him, Lord, don't go to Jerusalem. They're trying to kill you. No man taketh my life from me. Set his face like a flint. Then when it came time, he knew. Then when it came time, when it pleased God, God's going to kill him. God's going to bruise him. He set His faith like a plan. Oh, and as He is, so are we, people. We're in Him. We're kept by Him. He's our covenant head. In Christ all be made alive. Well, where am I? Verse 7 says, He came to open blind eyes. Oh, we read that, didn't we, in Isaiah 29? The great work of our God is to open blind eyes, bring prisoners out of prison. You ever been in prison? I'm ashamed to admit that I have. But all of us have been. All of us have been held captive. Scripture says that. People don't believe this. They don't even believe there's a devil. They think that's old, you know, mountain lore. No, our Lord said that. Our Lord's the one that spoke more of our adversary than anybody would. And we're so captive by it, we don't know it. Paul told young Timothy, maybe, peradventure, he preached to them, Timothy, peradventure God will give them deliverance, that they may recover themselves out of the captivity of Satan. They're held captive by Him at His will. Our Lord came to deliver the captives. If He did not, we'd be captive still to this world and things of it. Look at verse 13. They came to travail, like a travailing woman. Our Lord came to give birth to a people. All right, go to Matthew. Matthew's Gospel, Chapter 11 with me. You know, these verses are quoted right after our Lord did some things here in Matthew's Gospel. What made me think of this was, well, something happened. A friend, a brother broke something on my desk. And everything's a sermon. Spurgeon said the whole world's a sermon. And you remember the little sheet I told you about where on my desk, little black-faced sheet? And I had been there a long time, and I just threw it in the trash can. You remember that? And it was robbing, wasn't it? Found it in the trash can, put it back on the desk. And I came and said, there it is. I threw that thing away. I casted out a sheep. I thought, you can't cast out one little sheep. So by God's grace, it's going to stay on my desk forever. Well, I have a figurine on my desk that I put there years ago to remind me of my job. It's a figurine of a dog, a watchdog, a Scottish Border Collie, watching over three little lambs. Three little lambs. He's got his ears pricked for. He's got his nose, he's got his eyes set like that. He's looking for the wolf. He's watching over. He's guarding. He's protecting these three little lambs. Well, lo and behold, someone was cleaning my dad and knocked it open. And one of those little sheep was completely severed from the watchman. And another was broken to pieces. Ear broke off, leg broken. And I thought, I can't throw that away. I got to fix it. I got to restore it. This came to mind. These verses came to mind. Bruised wreaths, smoking flags, brokenhearted, he will not despise. He won't cast away one sin. This is why he came. This is who he came for. He didn't come for the whole. He said the whole don't need a position. He said, I came for the broken. Am I broken in here this morning? This is why Christ came. Behold my servant. And in all these verses here in Matthew 11, this is why he came. In chapter 9, it says, verse 35, that he went throughout the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing every sickness. He healed every disease among the people. In the villages, he went into the remote places, little places. He stayed in one place called Capernaum, where this is quoted. Capernaum was a little seaside village. Remember, we just looked at that. He came down to this place called Capernaum. And he stayed there a long time. He found a few of his disciples there. But he healed everybody that needed it. That's why he came. That's why he came. to heal the sick, raise the dead, cast out devils, every sickness, every disease, to forgive every sin by every single sinner that comes to Him. Matthew 11. Now this is where he's in Capernaum, verse 23. Now he's been there a long time preaching, and he warns them, as he warns us, this little village, Rocky Mountain, and other little villages all over, Fairmont, little places. Thou Capernaum art exalted unto heaven, thou be brought down to hell. If the mighty works which have been done in thee had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. I say unto you, it would be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for thee." And at that time, here's what we quoted earlier, at that time the Lord answered, as He's always speaking to His Father. and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and the prudent, and revealed them unto me. Even so, Father, it seemed good in thy sight. Then he said to whoever was around him, All things are delivered unto me of my Father. No man knoweth the Son, but the Father. Neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son. He to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him. Come unto me." After those words of warning, Yet he says this, Come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me. I am meek and lowly in heart. You shall find rest unto your soul. My yoke is easy, and my burden is light." Our Lord is the faithful righteous one that he is, warned, lest we presume, and yet he gave blessed promises, lest we despair. Come unto me. Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden. Then, look at verse 12. See, Isaiah is quoted after all of this. Then the Lord went through, on the Sabbath day, through the corn. His disciples were hungry, And they began to pluck the ears of the corn and to eat. We preached on this years ago. I remember Brother Cody and I were talking about it. It was such a blessing, such a blessing. The Pharisees didn't like it. That's not lawful. You can't walk through this corn field on a Sabbath day. And he said, have you not read verse 3, what David did when he was hungered and those that were with him? to the house of God and did eat the shelled bread that was not lawful for them to eat, nor them that were with him, only for the priest? Have you not read?" I said, you can't do this. Well, they did it anyway. You can't. You say, who is this? Malachi said, The Lord whom ye shall seek shall suddenly come to his temple. Who? The Lord. Psalm 24, that David said, The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and they that dwell therein. Here he came walking on his earth. His earth. This is his earth. He walks where he will. Saves whom he will. That was his field. That field didn't belong to anybody. It belonged to Him. We don't own anything. We borrow it. It all belongs to the Lord. What's it for? His people. For His glory. Those are His disciples He's chosen. And He brought them... I thought about that farmer. You know, it could be that his field prospered that year and nobody else's did. Could it? Could be. Some of you, Amy, you gave us a bunch of tomatoes this year, didn't you? Gave us a bunch of tomatoes. You know, my garden didn't produce one tomato. Not one! Why did this farmer's field flourish with all this corn? The Lord needed it that day for Himself and for His disciples. He came walking through there. And that's in Deuteronomy, by the way. It says that whoever's hungry may walk through whoever's field. It doesn't matter whoever's field it is. You're supposed to let them walk through and pluck it. Don't get baskets out and store it, but pluck it. You see, He gives us every day our daily bread. He has caused this country to prosper. Why? For your sake. I gave Egypt for you, Ethiopia and Sabaeth for thy ransom, since you were precious in my sight." Feed the world, but yet it's principally to feed his people. He came walking through his earth, through his field with his disciples, and this was on the Sabbath. They said, you can't do that on this day. This is my day. They didn't have a clue what the Sabbath was about. He is the Sabbath. How many people know that, Brother John? You know that, don't you? So many people are worshiping a day. Paul said that. They worship a day. They don't know the Lord of Sabbath. So many people worship Saturday. Some people worship Sunday. What's your Sabbath? What does Sabbath mean? It means rest. What are you resting in? He said, I'm their Sabbath. I'm the Lord of the Sabbath. I own this field. I own these people. I own this day. I own it all. I'm the Lord. They'll do whatever I tell them to do. Whatever I let them do. They can have whatever I say they can have. These are mine. I've made this place for them. He kept saying to them throughout this chapter, you're not mine. John said, you're not mine. Mine, all mine, are thine and thine are mine." He said, if you had known that, verse 7, I will have mercy. See, he came to have mercy, not sacrifice. These people draw them here with their lips through ceremonies and sacrifices. Oh, he said, the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath day, verse 8. He departed thence. He went into their synagogue, verse 9. He went into their synagogue. The Lord, oh my, I read to you how He went throughout the villages, cities and villages, big cities, little cities, villages, and He would bind in their synagogue. Bless the Lord, oh my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name. Christ in you, Christ in your midst is the hope of glory. He's entered this blessed little synagogue. Thank God. Thank God. Thank God. Thank God. That's what Isaiah 42 says. Sing. Sing. Sing, ye blind. Sing, ye deaf. Sing. Why? Christ is in the midst of you. Right now, this day, Christ is being preached. I went into their synagogue. Behold, there was a man, verse 10. It all goes together. There was a man with a withered hand. They saw this. They saw it coming. They knew He healed everybody that was broken. Everybody that needed healing, they saw Him do it. He didn't heal them. They weren't broken. Those Pharisees and scribes, they weren't sinners. But they watched Him heal everybody that had need of healing. And He'll do that today. You need healing every time you hear the gospel. You know that? You need blind eyes open. You need your deaf ears open. You need your lame feet to walk again. You need a broken heart. Yes, you do. And I'm preaching to you the balm of Gilead. I'm preaching, behold the Lamb. They didn't need it. They were watching Him and they said, it's not lawful. Is it lawful to heal on a Sabbath day? They're going to accuse Him. Verse 12. Verse 11, he said, what man shall it be among you that hath one sheep? One sheep if it fall into a pit. You know, our Lord doesn't have one single sheep that hasn't fallen into a pit. In fact, every one of them were in a pit when he found them. And fall in again. And again, don't they? And they cry with David, deliver us from going down into the pits. He said, remember the pit from which you were digged. Christ came to deliver them that fall into a pit. Snares and pits and traps and snares of the devil would fall into it. What man having one sheep? What he's saying is, is this man with a withered hand is one of my sheep. I came all the way to this place for this one sheep. What good is it? He's got a withered hand. What good is it to me? To Christ. He's going to bring glory to Christ by healing it. He said, I tell you, if he fall into a pit on the Sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it and lift it out? He lifteth it out of the deep miry clay. sitteth my feet in a straight and narrow way, lifteth me out, up to a heavenly place, O praise his dear name, lifteth me up." Now, verse 12, how much then is a man better than a sheep? Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the Sabbath day. Then saith he to the man, stretch forth thine hand. Now, President, a withered hand. You've seen people with withered hands. They can't work, can they? They can't do anything. They can't even really dress themselves. They can't really feed themselves. They can't provide for themselves, right? Well, that's us spiritually speaking. You know that? All our faculties in Adam withered. When he came to that pool of Bethesda, it says there was a great multitude of people, blind, haught, lame, withered. And that's us by nature. Our minds are withered. You're struggling right now to listen to the Word of Life. You're struggling right now. Whereas you sit and listen to the most vain and ridiculous and useless things on earth and you sit there riveted to it. Who's that? Satan. That's captivity. That's spoiled. He's spoiled. We can't sit this as Words of Life. Pay attention! Pay attention! What's wrong with us? Withered! Our hearts, our feet, find a hard walking by faith. Our hands, serve ourselves. Pull in a withered hand, that means bring it into yourself. Scripture says to stretch out our hand. A withered hand. The Lord came for this man with a withered hand and all like him. Anybody? Did I describe anybody in here? All like him. The Pharisees wanted to accuse him. They were religious hypocrites. They weren't poor and needy. They were rich and self-sufficient. They were critics. They were fault-finders. They were righteous. They weren't sinners. They were finding fault with what he was saying and doing, as some do with what I say and do. But all sinners that are withered. Behold, my servants. And he says, Stretch out your hand. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Believe. Come unto death. You can't. You said they can't. They do. They're lame, but they do. How? He fetches them. Oh, stretch forth thine hand. And he did. Those who couldn't, those who wouldn't, they did. He did. Then, verse 14, they held counsel how to destroy him. And the Lord knew, and he withdrew himself from them. He withdrew himself. Great multitudes followed him. Yes, and he healed them all. He charged them that they should not make him known, that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken of by Isaiah the prophet, saying, Behold my servants. And he went on to quote that. All of this was to show us who it is that came and why it came, to fulfill the Scriptures, to fulfill God's Word, who is Christ, fulfilled by the prophets. Now go back to Isaiah 42. Go back there. Let's just look for a few more minutes at who this is and why he came and who he came for. Okay? This is written of all the prophets. Our Lord said, they are they which testify of me. Me. Moses wrote of me. To him give all the prophets witness. Isaiah is speaking not of himself here, but another. And God says through Isaiah, Behold my servant whom I uphold, mine elect, and whom my soul delighteth. God from heaven said this about his Son twice, didn't he? This is my beloved Son and whom I'm well pleased. Well pleased. Look at verse 21. The Lord is well pleased. for his righteousness sake, he will magnify the law and make it honorable." Well, please, a man approved of God. Well, please, for his righteousness sake. And the Lord God sent him to be our righteousness. Can I say this again? Shall I say this again? Oh, dare I not. Because you see, this is what sinners need. This is what broken-hearted sinners that mourn over their sin and pour. This is what they say. This is what he said in Isaiah 45, Surely shall one say, In the Lord have I righteousness. And they say with Isaiah in chapter 64, All my righteousness is a filthy rag. I try to be good. I try. I can't do it. Behold, my servant, God said, he's your righteousness. That's his name. He came to be made under you. Wisdom. Saving wisdom. Righteousness. He's well pleased for his righteousness sake. That's good news. Good news. Well, please, He'll magnify the law. You broke it. He'll magnify. He'll make it honorable. You dishonored it. He'll make it honorable. He did it for you. That's why He came. Lawbreakers, He came to keep it. His righteousness, He shall. Look at verse 1. It says, I put my Spirit upon Him. That means the Christ, the Anointed One. He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. That's us. That's us. Romans 1 talks about the Gentiles. Romans 2 talks about the unsaved Jews. Romans 3 says they're any different. No, they're all unsaved. None good. None right. None understand. None of them know the way of peace. Nobody fears God. They hate God. None of them, by nature, Jews or Gentiles. None of them. But Christ came to save Jews and Gentiles. He's so merciful, He said, go to the Jews first. The ones that killed me. The ones that spit in my face. That's who I came for. That's why I came. Behold what a servant he is. And the Gentiles. Far away places. Verse 4 says that isles shall wait for his love. What isles? What isles? There's a set of islands in the North Atlantic off of Europe. He used to call the islands of the ocean, and it began to be called the British Islands. They're going to wait for his law. The law works all the way from that little place over there in the middle of the Middle East. How's it going to get there? We don't have internet. Persecution of the church. Seeking his sheep all the way over the isles. Oh my, what the Lord did over there. And you know where we get it? We're Gentiles! We're a bunch of Gentiles! Anglo-Saxon Gentiles! Heathen, that's heathen. Gentiles are heathen. People, my origin is the Celtic people, Irish. We were naked, running around naked. Mad men, wild men. They don't have any understanding. They're without understanding. That's what he said. Gentiles don't have a clue. Don't know who God is. Worship the sun, worship the stars, worship God's, not God's. He said, I'm going to give them an understanding that they might know me. But I'm God. There is none else. Judgment. Not reprobate. Judgment. Give them understanding. And justice, this man. Justice to the Gentiles by being their just one and justifier. Look at verse 2. He shall cry, not cry. He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. This tells us who Christ is and why He came and who He came for, right here. He shall not cry, nor lift up His voice. The Lord didn't go around the streets of Jerusalem and Galilee crying out, Somebody come, please. Will somebody believe me? Never. Never. Never. He stood and cried a few times, I'll tell you in a minute. But he didn't cry. He did not cry. He shall not cry, because he came without fanfare. He came quietly, born in a stable. He wasn't born in Jerusalem. He was born in a stable. Oh, there came a multitude of heavenly hosts, all right, to cry out aloud. Who'd they tell? Who'd they tell? Who heard it? Three shepherds on the hillside. The Lord sent the whole multitude of heavenly hosts to shout out, and nobody in the world heard it but a few shepherds. What does that tell you? It came from out on. They're going to hear it. But it came with quiet and a stable. He worked quietly for 30 years and nobody was hidden. Sealed up. Working quietly, walking around, working in his shop like David. Remember, keeping the Father's sheep. What's he doing all those 30 years? He's keeping sheep. Oh yeah. He's keeping Israel. Then he came to a wedding. Remember, his first appearance, he came to a wedding. He might turn that water into wine. You know what that meant. You were here. You know what that meant. He shows that to his servants, like the ones at the wedding. His disciples, not everybody, what that water to wine is. That's the Word turned to blood, the Word of Christ to Him crucified. Everybody didn't see it. He's not trying to get everybody to see it. He's not trying to get people to believe on him. He didn't stand out in the street with somebody, please come to me. No, no, no, no, no. He said, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me. And he went looking for them. He went looking for them and found them up a tree on purpose. He found them by the well, so come unto me. Found them in a boat, come unto me, follow me. This is the And this is what I'm saying, if He's come to you, and if you come to Him, bless His name, bless Him, you must be one of His servants, one of His elect. Oh my, bless His holy name. Come for you. He won't cry. I lift up His voice in the street. But now He did cry. He did cry when He was hanging on that cross. Finally. He cried so heaven, earth, and hell could hear him. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? A loud voice, it says, a loud voice that shook heaven and earth. Earth did quake. What's going on here? This is why He came. This is my servant. What is this? Behold the Lamb of God. John stood up. His disciples stood up. His prophets stood up. The Lord told them in Isaiah 40, Lift up your voice. Cry aloud. Spare not. What? Behold the Lamb. You know, you cry when you want to be heard. That's what we do. Christ could do it with a still, small voice, didn't He? But on the cross, God shut Him out. He'd become us. He'd become our substitute. He became sin. He cried out, this is hell. God won't hear you. This is hell. Forsaken by God. He cried with a loud voice. My God, isn't it significant? Isn't it coincident that you hear the world saying this collectively? Oh my God, huh? Is that coincident? Do we hear what we're saying? But you, and you, and you, do you know why Christ cried that out loud? He was you. My servant, He's come to be you. Covenant He is. And He cried out. God spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all. And then the last thing He said was with a loud voice. Do you know what it was? He cried with a loud voice, do you know what it was? This is the gospel. This is your salvation. This is it. He said, it is finished. Salvation accomplished. Sins pardoned. Satan vanquished. The judgment of this God of this world. My people brought in an everlasting righteousness. I'm the one who came to do this for my people, and I finished the work." And he bowed his head and gave up the ghost, and heaven erupted. Am I certain? And look at this. It said he came for bruised wreaths and smoking black. He said, a bruised reed shall he not break. Stay with me a few more minutes, would you please? I don't know how long. This is good. Okay? This is good. If you're a bruised reed or smoking flack, you're going to love this. He said, a bruised reed shall he not break. Smoking flack shall he not quench, till he brings forth judgment, justice unto truth. The truth, the gospel. You shall not think, no. A bruised reed, what is that? A reed is a little, weak, frail, feeble, slender, tender plant. A little tender plant. Those of you who plant garden, you know, you plant little plants or seed. And these little plants grow up, real little tender, young, either young or just slender stalks, don't they? The Lord said every plant that my Heavenly Father doesn't plant will be rooted out. But every plant that He plants will never be rooted out. I planted a garden, I told you, my tomatoes, I think it was year before last, I planted six or eight of those heirloom tomatoes. And I was really looking forward to it. I came out, and they were all growing pretty good, but somehow or another, it was kind of broken. It was bent. It was falling over. And my first thoughts were, hey, I'll pull it up. So I had to prompt it up, prompt it up. It came out again, you know, weeks later, and all the other ones were full of tomatoes. Not last year, the year before. All of them were full of tomatoes. But this one, it's about that big around, it had one, one little green tomato that big. Pull it up. No, sir. That's food. That's proof. That tomato is as alive as this. So you know what I did to that one? I left the others alone. Oh, I just dunged it and I nurtured it and all that. And you know what? It ripens and I got one tomato. What's my point? You say, I don't have much faith. Do you have any? Do you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ? I don't have much fruit. I don't have much love or joy or peace or gentleness or goodness or faith or meekness or temperance or longsuffering. I don't have any fruit. I can't even see any fruit. Do you love the Lord? Do you love His people? That's what the Lord said. Do you enjoy in the gospel? Do you rejoice in the gospel? Anybody, are you getting anything out of this? Do you find any peace in the gospel? Do you find any peace when you hear about Christ coming for peace? Do you find any peace? You say, but I don't have much peace. As soon as I leave here, I leave my book. Do you find any? Any? A little bit? That's life! That's faith. It's faith. A reed is also a small, slender device or piece used in a musical instrument. Jeanette will tell you, she plays the clarinet and other woodwind instruments that need this little slender reed, a little slender, it's a very small thing, a tender wood, made out of wood, and you put it in a musical instrument and you blow on it. And what it's for is to resonate through that instrument to bring forth sounds of music and pleasure and, you know, to make a joyful noise. But if you've got a broken reed, what's it going to sound like? It's supposed to be in key. It's not in key. It's supposed to be joyful silence. It's just hurting my ears. Throw it out! No. Anybody murmur? Complain? You know, some people, that's all they do. You know, we're supposed to make a joyful noise. We're supposed to contribute to this heavenly choir. We're supposed to be, you know, for His glory and honor. But we find ourselves, oh, woe is me. Oh, poor me. Poor me. Me, me, me, me, me. Somebody help me. We're supposed to be for the sound of the bell. I'm like broken reeds, aren't I? I'm a broken record. It's constantly, constantly, woe is me. Anybody? You know what the Lord ought to do? We're all here to praise Him, aren't we? No, no, no. You know it's quenching the spirit when you come in here in a bad spirit. I've done it. Haven't you? It's grieving the Spirit. Other people are happy and you're not happy. It's grieving the Spirit. Bringing people down. Anybody? The Lord ought to cast us out, shouldn't He? He ought to cast us out. No? He said no? Any mercy? No? Okay. I'm going to work on that read until it brings forth some praise. Brings forth some honor, some glory unto me. Kept by the power of God. Then there's that smoking flax. If you read the margin, it says, a dimly burning fire. Candle, that's what it is. Flax is a candle, a wick of a candle. Candle. This is a dimly burning candle is what it is. We're supposed to be the light of the world. You and I, aren't we? Are you? I wrote an article last Sunday asking, who have you talked to about the gospel? Who have you brought to hear the gospel? Anybody? How much light are we? Well, I'll cast this out. Hear the light of the world. Dimly. No light that anybody can see. Smoking. A stench in the nostril. You know, a smoking candle, a smoking fire, We go camping and, oh, how many hates a fire that smokes. She'd rather not have any fire than one that's just smoking. Get it in her nose. And it is obnoxious. But I'll never let it go out. I keep, I'm going to get some fire out of this thing. I'm going to make this thing burn. I lit it for our enjoyment. I lit it. That's why God saved His people. Here's some reasons why black smokes are a fire. A young and tender believer, like a newly lit candle, doesn't produce much. Doesn't produce much. A young candle just doesn't produce much. But, given time, given grace by the Lord, it'll catch fire. And then there's those that are real old. The candles burned way down. I got one on my desk. It burned way down. The little wax was almost gone. It just started smoking. It's still burning. And old people think this, that I have no use. There's no use for me. What can I do? Still burning. And then there's things in the world that dampen that fire, that flame, that enthusiasm. If you have no love, if you have no joy, if you have no peace from this gospel, it could be and probably is that the world is the cause. It generally always is. It deadens. It quenches. It quenches that fire. Yet the Lord in mercy says, I won't quench it. And then there are strong winds that blow and blow out the flame, don't they? And it just sits there in smoke. Trials and afflictions and fierce winds and temptations and the light seems to go out and the Lord says, it's not out. It's not out. There's a flame there. There's light there, and I will not quench it. I will not cast it out, under no circumstances, by no means will I put it out. I'm going to blow on that. I'm going to blow. When that fire goes out and starts smoking, you know what I do? I get down there. Don't you? Come, oh, north wind, and blow, oh, south. And blow on thy garden, these bruised reeds, that the spices, the fruit, might come out. Come, Holy Spirit, heavenly dove, come. And come, you sinners. Poor and wretched. Weak and wounded. Sick and sore. The Lord Jesus ready stands to save you. Full of pity, joined with power. He's able. He's able. And He's willing. Doubt no more. A bruised wreath. A smoking flat. He won't put it down. Alright. Brother John, come and lead us. What number? 323. 323. 323. That's all stands.