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Sunday Morning Sermon July 5, 1970
"Make the Valley Full of
Ditches"
By Dr. Jack Hyles
"And he said, Thus saith the Lord, Make this valley
full of ditches." II Kings 3:16.
I think you'll want to listen to the sermon because
the story itself is a very interesting one. So let me have your mind
completely for five minutes at least.
Three kings with three armies are gathered together
against Moab to battle. This is no problem. Moab will offer no important
resistance to these three kings. Except difficulty arises and the kings are
thwarted by one simple problem. That is, there was no water. God withheld
His rain, and the wisdom and efforts of kings were set at naught once again.
God reminds us, that after all, we are dependant upon Him. So, these kings
find their forces stopped, and their progress stopped. They find the battle
being staid because they have no water. Well, there was a Baptist preacher
in the crowd. (The reason I know he was a Baptist preacher is because he
wanted water.) The kings came, and they inquired of him. His name was
Elijah. They had not given Elijah any attention thus far. He had just come
along for the ride you may say. Now they contact the preacher; and
Jehoshaphat, one of the three kings, asked, "Is there not here a prophet of
the Lord besides, that we might inquire of him?" (I Kings 22:7)
Now, this is a very sad thing. Why didn't the kings
inquire of the prophet of the Lord when they had water? Why do you have to
wait until the famine comes, or the drought comes before you start asking
the preacher's advice? Why is it that you have to turn to God when you are
in trouble? These three kings should have asked the prophet of God a long
time ago what to do. Now they face the battle against the Moabites, and they
have no water. Though they be strong enough to win the battle, God does not
provide water, and now suddenly they say, "We had better call a preacher; we
had better call the preacher."
I recall one day when Diane Hammers came to my office.
She had called and made an appointment. She came in and said, "Pastor, could
I see you for a few minutes?" I said, "Why, of course you may." And as I
almost always say, I said, "What is your problem?" Good night, what do you
want to see the preacher for if you're not in trouble. Diane sat down and
she said, "Pastor, I have made an appointment with you for one reason and
one reason only. I have come to tell you that everything is all right, and
that we have no problems. Everything is fine. I thought you'd like for
someone to tell you sometimes that everything is fine." (Now, please. Let's
don't have a rash of those this week. I don't want a thousand folks coming
by the office this week saying everything's okay.) But, Diane just made an
appointment. She came all the way from Highland, or Griffith, or
Indianapolis, or wherever, and she just came by and said, "There is nothing
wrong. Everything is fine. I'm happy. We're happy. I just wanted you to know
that." And then she said, "I thank God for you." And then she went away.
Isn't it a sad thing we have to get in trouble before
we turn to the Lord? One fellow was dying, or sick, and the doctor said,
"I'm afraid you're going to have to call on the Lord." And he said, "Has it
come to that? Has it come to that?" That means nobody else can help you.
Call on the Lord.
In the Bible, God's greatest men had a sense of humor.
The Bible has a lot of humor in it and one of the funniest stories follows.
Elijah, who said, "Call a little louder. Your god's
probably gone hunting or fishing. He's pursuing or being pursued. Call a
little louder." He had a sense of humor. Well, they came to Elijah, these
three kings. These kings came and knocked on the door of Elijah, the
prophet. Elijah had been neglected. Nobody had asked his advice about
anything, and he was the man of God. Now the kings were in trouble, and they
came—can you feature three kings knocking at the door of the Baptist
preacher? To me, that's funny, but here is something funnier. Elijah came to
the door and said, (this is, by the way, in Hebrew. You won't find this in
the English.) "Hi, fellows. What do you need?" They said, "We want to talk
to you." Elijah said, "I'm tied up right now." Three kings sitting out in
the waiting room waited to see the preacher. The preacher was sitting there
laughing, nothing to do, but he just wanted to keep them waiting for a
while. No, what he really said was, "You kept me waiting, now you birds wait
for a while." (That's in the Hebrew also, "you birds.") He said, "I'll keep
you waiting for a while," and so they sat there. Then the kings came in, and
Elijah said, "I'm not in the mood right now. I think I want to hear some
music. You know any musicians that can come and play for me so that I can
get in the mood to tell you?" Oh, boy. I like Elijah. God bless him.
You've heard me tell about the Mayor of Hammond
calling our office and Mrs. O'Brien answering the phone. The Mayor said, "Is
Jack there?" This is Joe." She said, "Jack who?" He said, "I want to talk to
Jack; this is Joe." Mrs. O'Brien, to make a long story short, wouldn't let
him talk to me until he asked for Brother Hyles – I mean, the Mayor. (That
just tickled the fire out of me.) So finally, he asked for "Brother Hyles,"
and she let him, but she wouldn't let him talk to "Jack" because I don't
care if it's the Mayor, or a garbage collector; it's not "Jack," it's
"Brother Hyles."
So Elijah said, "I want some music. I'm not in the
mood right now." These three kings—I'm sure they were fuming and fussing and
stewing and smoking. (Not the kind of smoking you do, but the other kind.)
And angry—said, "Well, why can't he talk to us? We're kings. Now, let us
talk to you. We want water." "If you want water, go ahead and get the
water."
So they had to go back and get Elijah some musician to
come back and play to him to get him in the mood. Then Elijah said, "Make
this valley full of ditches." "Make this valley full of ditches? Why?"
"Because water is going to come. You will not hear the wind; you will not
see the rain, but God is going to give you water, the prophet said so. Make
this valley full of ditches." I can just see the kings going back and lining
up their men to start digging ditches and making the whole valley full of
ditches. Now, here's the thought. "Make this valley full of ditches."
1. Prepare for the blessings of God. Get ready for the
blessings of God. I'm convinced as much as I am that I'm standing behind
this pulpit that one reason God does not do more for us is because we don't
dig enough ditches for his blessings. We don't expect the blessings of God.
We don't dig ditches until the rain begins to fall. We don't make the
preparation until the rain is falling, and then it's too late. The ditches
overflow.
God told the man of God, "Tell the kings to make the
valley full of ditches. Get ready for the water." And God sent the water.
Before the Nile River begins to rise, you'll see the
Egyptian people preparing for the rise of the Nile River. A long time before
that great river begins to lift out of its bank, you'll see Egyptian people
doing several things. You'll see them deepening the channel. You'll see them
enlarging the reservoir. They will make small canals and minor pools. From
the river to the channel, to the reservoir, to the canals, to the minor
pools, they prepare contributories. Why? Because they know the Nile is going
to rise. They know at the time of rising, the great river will rise; if
they're not prepared, their crops will not be irrigated. So they dig the
ditches and reservoirs, and minor tributaries, preparing for the rising of
the river.
Our God is saying here, "I would love to bless you. I
would love to give you My blessing, but you do not get ready for it. You do
not dig the ditches. I want so much to bless you, but you do not prepare to
receive My blessings."
You recall the story of the Apostle Peter. When Peter
was catching no fish, the Lord said, "Let your nets down over here." And you
recall that Peter didn't let his nets down. The Bible says that he put his
net down over here, and his net did break. Why? God said to get nets. God
said, "I've got a lot of fish for you." And Peter said, "Just one net is all
I'll need." And because just one net came or was let down, the net broke,
and the fish were all lost. Why? Because God said, "Dig ditches. Get ready
for my blessing." But Peter didn't do it, and the net broke.
You folks who know about farming, check with the
farmer just before the harvest time as he cleans the barn and prepares for
the gathering of the harvest. He's getting ready for God's blessings. Check
when a vessel of cargo is to come into the wharf; the wharf is cleared. Why?
The cargo is coming in. "Get ready for it," say the helpers. "Get ready for
it. Clear the wharf." Why? Because the cargo is coming in. Maybe a cargo of
coal is coming in; clear the wharf. Why? Get ready for it, and that's what
God is saying here.
Let me ask you a question today, just as seriously and
sincerely as I can. Is there something you want? Now, don't misunderstand
me. I mean is there something that you want? You were spiritual. You were
living for God. You were living in the will of God, and suddenly you wanted
to delight in something. "Delight thyself also in the Lord; and he shall
give thee the desires of thine heart." (Psalm 37:4) All of a sudden, you
believe God gave you an appetite for something. I mean God gave you a desire
for something. You were serving God. No, I don't mean you connived, and I
don't mean you were out of the will of God. I mean you were in the will of
God and all of a sudden, without your own seeking, God gives you an appetite
or a desire for something while you were delighting in Him. You believed God
wanted you to have it. All right, then work and pray and prepare your
ditches and get it. You see, ladies and gentlemen, God wants us to dig our
ditches and get ready for His blessings.
I recall a story in the book of I Kings. (Maybe it's
II Kings, I'm not sure, but anyway.) Jehoshaphat joins Ahab, and he says,
"Ahab, there's a certain spot that's a very strategic spot on the hilly side
of the Jordan River. That spot is ours. It belongs to us. It's called Ramoth
and Gilead. It's a high place. It's a coveted place. It's on that the King
of Syria promised to give us, but after the battle was over, he didn't give
it to us. Now, we're bigger than the King of Syria; let's join forces," and
Ahab and Jehoshaphat joined forces. This question was asked. "Know ye that
Ramoth in Gilead is ours, and we be still, and take it not?" (I Kings 22:3.)
Oh, God has so many things He wants to give us if
we'll dig our ditches. Prepare for His blessings. The staff here know that I
can get hard-boiled sometimes. Now, usually, I'm a kind and loving and sweet
fellow like I am in the pulpit, but I can get hard-boiled sometimes. One
time I do get hard-boiled is when we don't have enough slips to take the
names of all the folks who come forward—I think there are a few staff
members who still have marks on their bodies where I beat them—because we
are going to get the ditches ready.
One Sunday, I read the names, and we had all the names
on a little prepared slip, then I got one on a white card, then I got one on
a piece of paper torn out of a book somewhere, then I got a name written on
the back of a card, and one was written on an envelope. After the service, I
called that staff member in, and I said, "Now, wait a minute." I said, "Why
didn't we have enough decision slips?" She said, "I didn't expect to have
that many people saved." I said, "Then expect it."
Look. God's blessings are wrapped up in our faith. And
our faith is determined by our expectancy, and our expectancy is determined
by our preparation. Dig your ditches!
Here's the prophet of God, and the kings say, "We need
rain. How can we get rain?" Elijah says, "Let me have a little music. I'm
not in the mood right now." He gets in the mood and says, "Thus saith the
Lord, make this valley full of ditches." (II Kings 3:16) Prepare for it.
Prepare for it.
2. Prepare largely. Make the valley full of
ditches—full of ditches! "Now, we don't need that much water," a king could
have said. "We just need one big ditch down through the valley; that's all
we need." And Elijah said, "Make the valley full of ditches." That means a
ditch in the street in front of your house, a ditch in the alley, a ditch
between the houses. Every place you've got room, I'm going to give you
blessings. Now, he said, "Make it full of ditches."
When I thought about this, I thought about the story
of Elijah and the little lady that had a cruse of oil. The man of God came
and said, "God's going to give you some oil," and the cruse got full. The
Bible says she got every pan she had in the house. In the Hebrew it says,
"She got the jars, and she got the buckets, and she got all of the peanut
butter glasses that she had, and she got all the pots and pans, and so
forth." And the oil kept coming. And it kept coming. And she said, in the
Hebrew, "Good night in the morning, wheat am I going to do with all this
oil? Oil just everywhere." It kept coming and kept coming. So she told her
son—this is also in the Hebrew. It says she had a son or two or three
sons—"Do something. Get this oil. It's coming. I'll go next door." She went
next door, and she asked the lady next door if she could borrow her vessel.
She got all of her pots and pans. The oil kept coming and kept coming and
kept coming. Well, good night, lady! If God's going to give you oil, God's
going to give you oil! Consequently, she wasn't prepared, but God kept
giving it. And Elijah said, "Make the valley full of ditches."
I get so weary at little piddling blessings folks seek
from God. I get so weary at people who don't want the big blessings of God.
I get so wear of going to churches, and they run a hundred in Sunday School,
and they say next Sunday we're going to try for 120. I get so weary of that.
I get so wear of going places and a fellow says, "Our goal is to baptize 50
next year." I get so weary of that. Why don't you make the valley full of
ditches? I mean, open up the windows of Heaven with God. He would, if we
would prepare for His blessings, and so make it full.
This morning, I was thinking about the time when I
wanted to be a soul winner in East Texas. I wanted so badly to be a soul
winner. I'd go out and knock on doors, and I couldn't win anybody. I'd beg.
I'd plead. I'd argue, and I'd get mad, and I'd cry, and I'd beg folks to get
saved. It was like Joe Boyd's dog. Joe used to have a big old dog that had a
bushy tail. Everybody stepped on the tail. Never missed it. Never missed it.
Everybody stepped on the tail. So the dog got to where when company would
come, it would lie right at the front door, stick his tail out so that they
could stomp on it and get it over with. And that's the way I was. I would go
out soul winning and I'd say, "You wouldn't want to get saved, would you?"
You know, and one day—I'll never forget it—we were having a city-wide
revival in Marshal, Texas. A fellow named Buckner Fannon, a very well-known
young preacher, one of these glamour-boy type preachers—he was preaching at
the Marshal Baseball Stadium, out in the fairgrounds. A city-wide revival,
and we weren't having anybody saved. Nobody. I mean, that well-known
preacher, and he had a white jacket and a red tie. That ought to get a lot
of folks saved, but he even had on suede shoes. I thought surely we'd have a
big crowd saved, but nobody was getting saved. Nobody. And all the churches
were cooperating, and great crowds were coming, but nobody was getting
saved. One night behind the Grand Stand I said to myself, "Good night, if
they won't get them saved, then I will." And then I said, "Who said that?" I
didn't expect anybody to get saved. I went alone myself that night and I
said, "Dear God, You may as well bless me. That fellow, he's famous, and
he's not getting anybody saved. You may as well bless me." I took off the
next day for the first time in my life, I expected to see somebody saved. I
won 12 adults to Jesus Christ the next day. I carried that revival. I mean,
they had 37 people saved, and I won 36 of them, and the whole revival was
mine. Why? Because I decided to dig the ditches and make the valley full of
ditches. I decided to believe God could use me in soul winning.
I told you about Yetta James a few weeks ago. She's
the deaf lady I mentioned. I went out to see her in the south side of
Hammond. I think on Beech or Chestnut or Birch or Elm or Oak or Fir or Apple
or Peachtree or something—one of these streets out in the south of Hammond.
I knocked on the door, and her married daughter came to the door. I said,
"I'm Brother Hyles, pastor of First Baptist Church of Hammond. I've come to
talk to you about Jesus." And the daughter said, "Don't say that word here."
Well, I didn't know which word she mean—Jesus or Brother Hyles. And she
said, "Don't say that word. The last one. We don't' mention His name here.
We're orthodox Jews." "Orthodox Jews," I said, "I'm half Jew myself." I've
told that story all across the country. Put it in print. I am half Jew
myself. And she said, "Half Jew yourself?" You don't look like it or sound
like it." (And the other half is Texan, by the way.) I said, "Well, it's
because I haven't always been a half Jew. For the first 11 years of my life,
I wasn't a Jew at all. I became half a Jew when I was 11." She said, "You
did what?" I said, "But don't worry. Any day now, I'm going to become a
full-blooded Jew." She said, "How can you do that?"
I told her how I was a sinner, and at 11, I received
Christ and God made me a spiritual Jew. I told her that any day now, Jesus
was going to come, and He was going to rapture me in this robe of flesh.
I'll drop and rise and seize the everlasting prize, and I told her that I'd
become like Christ. Then in a few minutes, that married daughter was sweetly
saved. Now, I said, "Let me talk to your mother." She said, "You can't talk
to my mother. She's deaf. The only reason she came to First Baptist Church
was because there are deaf people there, and somebody to talk to with sign
language." She said, "I'll call her in." She called her, and I think she was
65 at the time. That daughter turned to her mother, and I said, "Tell her
what you just did. Tell her what I just told you. Tell her that she's a
sinner. Tell her how that sinners are lost. Tell her that Jesus died for
sinners. Tell her how to be saved." And that lady who had told me not to
mention the name of Jesus, in just a few minutes was using her hands in the
sign language to talk to her mother, and she won her mother to Jesus
Christ—an orthodox Jewish deaf lady.
They sat back here one Sunday night, and down the
aisle they came. They were baptized the next Sunday night. And what
happened? Now, the lady, Mrs. James, the older one, died and went to Heaven
last night—that deaf lady. She can hear today. She's hearing my voice for
the first time. She's hearing the music of our church for the first time.
Her ears have been unstopped, and now she can hear the chorus of Heaven.
Why? I'll tell you why. Because a long time ago, I said, "Let's dig the
ditches. Let's make the valley full of ditches." If you want the blessings
of God, dig ditches.
The prophet said, "Prepare and prepare largely." He
said, "I want you to prepare now. Dig the ditches now." There was not a
cloud in the sky. He said, "You won't hear the wind; you won't see the rain,
but dig the ditches. Make the valley full of ditches. Do it now." God wants
to bless you now. Now, you say, "Brother Hyles, what do you mean?" I mean
this. Now, listen. God wants you to have what you began wanting while you
were delighted in Him. Did you hear me? When you delight in the Lord, and
are living for Him, and meditating in His word day and night, and serving
Him; then, if you have a delight from Him, He wants you to have it. He wants
you to get ready for it and work to get it. And so, the prophet said,
"Prepare now." Not in a little while.
I've told this story many times here about my Aunt
Octa, and it's so appropriate here. Uncle Roy, one of the finest men I ever
met, has been in Heaven now for a number of years. He was my mother's
favorite brother, and probably there's never been any closer brother/sister
relationship on the face of the earth than my mother and her brother, Roy.
His wife, Octa, is still alive. O-C-T-A. They had some dumb names back
there. Octa. Coystal. My mother's name is Coystal. God bless them. They've
called her that all her life. Not even Crystal—could have been Crystal—but
Coystal. They call her Coys for short. Anyway, my mother's brother, Uncle
Roy, was not saved. They tried to get him saved. They'd send a preacher
around, but they couldn't get him saved. He'd go to revivals, but he
wouldn't get saved. He'd go to preaching on Sunday, but he wouldn't get
saved. One day, he decided he would go to the afternoon baptizing. So they
were baptizing out in the creek in the afternoon—back in those days you had
to baptize folks occasionally in the creek. Uncle Roy looked at Aunt Octa
while they were baptizing, and he said, "You know what?" He said, "If I had
a change of clothes, I'd get baptized right now." And my Aunt Octa said,
"You do have a change of clothes." And he said, "No. No, I don't." She said.
"Oh, yes. I brought it for you. I brought it for you." And Uncle Roy was
saved and baptized that afternoon. You know why? She prepared. She dug some
ditches. She dug some ditches. She expected it.
I haven't told this story in a long time, but I want
to hear it. I was in a church out at Boise, Idaho, and a preacher met me at
the plane--and this is such a perfect illustration. Very seldom do I ever
have any perfect illustrations. I've got to use it again. Anyway, the
preacher met me at the plane, and he took me to the church. I said, "I would
like to see your baptistry." We walked in. They had a curtain up there over
a big hole I thought. So I opened the curtain and looked in and my head hit
some sheetrock. Drywall. I couldn't see, and I said, "How do you see the
baptistry?" "Well," he said, "We have drywall over it." He said, "You go
back to the back. The hole is back there." Well, I went back behind and
looked. Oak floor was laid over the baptistry. Oak floor.
I said, "Well, look. Where's the hole?" He said,
"Underneath the oak floor." I said, "Well, how do you baptize?" He said, "We
don't." He said, "We baptized seven years ago once." He said, "We haven't
had an invitation in seven years." And I said, "What? Well, what if you had
to baptize tonight?" He said, "We will saw it out." I said, "Get a saw."
That night I preached. Right before I preached, there was sitting over here
on the side a little adding room like, and the preacher come over to me, and
he was as nervous as I ever saw a man. He said, "Brrrrrother Hyles." He
said, "The bbbbbiggest atheist in BBBBBoise is sittttting on the frrrront
row. Whhhhaaat are you goooooooing to do?" And I said, "I am goooooing to
prrrreach." So I walked out, and there he sat, a big old ugly-looking guy.
He had his arms folded like he came to blow up the building, and he looked
like he was Chairman of the Deacons. Invitation time came. Would you like to
know who the first person that got saved was? The town atheist. The biggest
atheist in Boise and nobody ever thought he would get saved. Numbers of
folks got saved. Did you know after the service that night, ladies came by
the dozens and said, "Tomorrow night my husband is going to be here. If that
man gets saved, my old man can get saved too."
The next night, we had that place packed and jammed
with folks sitting in the aisles and standing back in the back with folks
outside looking in windows. We had hundreds of people. The State Attorney
General was there. The State Comptroller was there. The State Legislatures
were there, a dozen or more. The biggest atheist in the whole county got
converted, and they were there. That night we had 26 people saved. We had
politicians saved. We had grown men saved. One lady started shouting at the
altar. So when the invitation was all over, the pastor stood up and he said,
"Well," he said, "I don't know what to do." I said, "What do you mean?"
"Well, it's been seven years," he said, "What do you do with these people
now?" I said, "You might start off taking their names." He said, "Anybody
got any paper?" And very kindly, I said, "I'll tell you how you can start
off. The first thing to do is sit down and let me take care of it." I had to
get up and get the names, and read the names, and talk about baptism, and
talk about church membership. Why? He didn't even have one single hole dug
for the water to come in--not a ditch.
No wonder God doesn't bless us. Elijah said, "Make the
valley full of ditches and do it now. Today."
3. Prepare vigorously. Vigorously! Did you know ditch
digging is hard work? Now, I never have dug a ditch, but I've dug a fox
hole, and I broke an all-time record digging it too. I wasn't in combat, but
on maneuvers one time. They said, "We're going to start shooting machine
guns right through here in so much time." They put a deadline on it. "And
the best thing for you to do is figure out someplace to be." They gave us a
shovel. My hole was deep with room to spare before they started shooting
those machine guns. Now that's work! They gave me a little shovel not much
bigger than a tablespoon, and it's work.
He said, "Make the valley full of ditches. Do it now."
Look. Church after church could have the blessings of God if they would make
the valley full of ditches. Sunday School departments and classes could grow
if they would make the valley full of ditches. Folks could be saved if they
would make the valley full of ditches. Sunday school trench. Soul-winning
trench.
May I say this to you folks this morning? You folks
who are not saved, and I say this lovingly. Did you know that we've prepared
for your coming? We have made the valley full of ditches for you. You know
right now—ladies that take the names, would you raise your hands, please?
All the ladies. These ladies all over the house, they are prepared to take
your name when you come forward. Would all the deacons raise your hand,
please? All the deacons. We have trained these men to talk to you about
Christ. Name takers, do you have your decision slips? How many do you have?
We expected you to come. Don't you see what I'm saying? We've made the
valley full of ditches. We're ready. We want to see you saved. We don't want
you to die and go to Hell. We don't want you to live a life without God. We
don't want you to perish in the fires of eternal damnation. We don't want
you to spend eternity without your loved ones who are saved. We want you to
go to Heaven. We've asked God to saved you. We've asked God to speak to you.
We've made the valley full of ditches. Now, you come and say, "Yes," to
Jesus Christ.
I can go a step further. The baptistry is filled. We
expected you to come. We have people now in the baptistry dressing rooms
getting ready for you. We expected you to come. We have robes and towels all
hanging up there, jus ready for you. We expected you to come. We have
prepared for you. We have made the valley full of ditches. Why? Because we
want to see you go to Heaven. You say, "You're trying to make a Baptist out
of me." I wouldn’t get up in the morning and drive my car to this church and
spend my time in this pulpit to make a Baptist out of anybody because you
can go to Hell from the Baptist church roll just like you can from a tavern
if you're not born again. I want to see you saved. I want you to go to
Heaven. We have prepared for you. We have made a valley full of ditches.
But I'll go a step further than that. Some more
ditches are prepared for you. God looked down when eternity passed and saw
1970, and God saw that you were a sinner. God said, "I don't want him to go
to Hell. I want that person to be a Christian." And God began to dig ditches
for you. God began to dig ditches, and He'd dug the ditch of sending His own
Son. In Bethlehem's manger God looked down and said, "There's a person in
1970 sitting in the First Baptist Church of Hammond, Indiana, who is lost. I
don't want him to go to Hell. I'll leave my Heavenly throne. I'll come to
earth. I'll become man. I'll live 33 years on earth, homesick for Heaven.
I'll do it because I want to dig ditches." God is doing that preparing this
morning for you. God's kept on digging. God and Christ went to the cross,
and as we said awhile ago in the song and also in the Lord's Supper, God, in
Christ paid the penalty for you sin on the cross. He looked down and saw you
sitting out here in 1970, a lost sinner, not prepared to die—without God,
without hope. God said, "I don't want them to go to Hell," and so God gave
His Son, and His Son gave His life on the cross as a sacrifice for your
sins. What was He doing? He was making the valley full of ditches.
But that isn't all. God rose in Christ from the dead
after three days and three nights, and He ascended to the Father. God said,
"I want to sit at the right hand of the Father. I want to intercede. I want
to be the lawyer, the attorney. I want to be the intercessor or the
mediator." And Christ today is at the right hand of God. He offers Himself
as your mediator and as your lawyer or your attorney, before the throne of
God. God said, "I want to make the valley full of ditches."
But that isn't all. He sent His Holy Spirit to tell
you that you ought to be a Christian. He sent the Holy Spirit to walk up and
down these aisles, in and out of these pews, and say, "You ought to be
saved. You've got to die one of these days. You're going to go to Hell if
you don't get converted. You know you're not happy without Christ. You ought
to receive the Savior. You ought to get saved today. You may not live till
next Sunday. Hey, you folks over here. You've got to die. You've got to face
God. You've got to meet. You've got to stand judgment."
The Holy Spirit of God was sent that He might convict
you of sin. God prepared ditches for you. Now, wait a minute. While we sat
here this morning, up yonder somewhere in the Eternal City of God, our Lord
is preparing a place for you. He wants you to go to heaven. He's been
digging ditches for you since eternity. He loves you today. Everything He's
ever done was to get you saved. Everything he's ever done was to make it so
that you who have fallen in sin could be saved from an eternity without God
and the priceless Hell. God loves you, and everything God has done has been
for making the valley full of ditches.
By the way, Mrs. James, the deaf lady, this means
"yes" in sign language. I'm quite a linguist. I guess this means "no." I
don't know. But I know this means "yes." I saw her daughter turn to her. I
couldn't understand what she was telling her, but I saw her do this. That's
the Jesus Book—the Bible. The nail prints, and the hand, and the book, and I
saw her daughter in the sign language tell that lady, up in years, about the
Jesus Book and what it says. Then she pointed to her heart, and she pointed
to the heart of her mother, and then she asked her mother in some way if
she'd trust the Savior. The mother did like this, and then the mother went
like this.
Today, won't you today look to the Jesus book? Won't
you say yes? Let Him come into your heart? You have got to die someday.
Let us pray.
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