Number 53, from the hardback
temple, number 53, how sweet the name of Jesus sounds in a
believer's ear. We repeat the last phrase in
each verse twice. Let's all stand together. How sweet the name of Jesus sounds
in a believer's ear. It soothes his sorrows, heals
his wounds, and drives away his fear. And drives away his fear. Dear name, the rock on which
I build my shield and hiding place, my never failing treasury
filled with boundless grace, with boundless stores of grace. Jesus, my shepherd, brother,
friend, my prophet, priest, and king, my Lord, my life, my way,
my end, accept the praise I bring. Accept the praise I bring. Weak is the effort of my heart,
and cold my warmest thought. But when I see thee as thou art,
I'll praise thee as I ought. I'll praise thee as I ought. Till then I would thy love proclaim
with every fleeting breath. And may the music of thy name
refresh my soul in death. Refresh my soul in death. Please be seated. Let's open our Bibles together
to John chapter six, John chapter six. Good evening. I guess most of you all heard
about, uh, Gabe Finby falling Sunday and breaking his arm,
uh, had surgery Monday and he's home recovering. So, um, uh,
Diane is out of the hospital. and is going to stay with Maggie
for a few days. She figured Maggie is more able
to take care of her than Michael, so smart lady. We're glad she's doing better. John chapter 6, we'll begin reading
in verse 27. Labor not for the meat which
perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting
life, which the Son of Man shall give unto you. For him hath God
the Father sealed. Labor not for the material things,
Let's set your affections on Christ and make that spiritual
bread your goal. Then said they unto him, what
shall we do that we might work the works of God? And Jesus answered
and said unto them, this is the work of God that you believe
on him whom he has sent. And they said therefore unto
him, what sign showest thou then that we may see and believe thee? What dost thou work? Prove yourself. Well, that's unbelief. Our Father did eat man in the
desert, as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to
eat. Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you,
Moses gave you not that bread from heaven, but my Father giveth
you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he which
cometh down from heaven and giveth life unto the world. Then said
they unto him, Lord evermore give us this bread. And Jesus
said unto them, I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me
shall never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. But I said unto you that you
also have seen me and believe not. All that the Father giveth
me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no
wise cast out, for I came down from heaven not to do my own
will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father's
will, which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me,
I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last
day. And this is the will of him that
sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son and believeth on
him may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up at the
last day." That's a promise. Let's pray. Our merciful Heavenly Father,
we're thankful that we have a throne
of grace that we can come to. We're thankful for your precious
promises that assure us our acceptance in the Beloved Father, we pray
that you would increase our faith. We confess to you that we have
so much unbelief in our flesh. Lord, we pray that you would
minister grace to our hearts and cause us, Lord, to take you
at your word and believe you with all of our hearts. We thank you for that bread that
came down from heaven. For the way in which you sustain
our souls by the promise of life eternal. Lord, we thank you for Diane and pray that your hand
would continue to be on her and increase her strength and bring
her to full recovery. We thank you for little Gabe
and pray Lord that you would give him a successful healing
for his arm. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen. Let's stand together again. We'll
sing hymn number 229. 229. Tell me the old, old story of
unseen things above, of Jesus and His glory, of Jesus and His
love. Tell me the story simply as to
a little child For I am weak and weary and helpless and defiled
Tell me the old, old story. Tell me the old, old story. Tell me the old, old story of
Jesus and His love. Tell me the story slowly, that
I may take it in. That wonderful redemption, God's
remedy for sin. Tell me the story often, for
I forget so soon. The early dew of morning has
passed away at noon. Tell me the old, old story. Tell me the old, old story. Tell me the old, old story of
Jesus and his love. Tell me the story softly with
earnest tones and grave. Remember I'm the sinner whom
Jesus came to save. Tell me the story always, if
you would really be. In any time of trouble, a comforter
to be. Tell me the old, old story. Tell me the old, old story. Tell me the old, old story of
Jesus and His love. Tell me the same old story when
you have cause to fear that this world's empty glory is costing
me too dear. Yes, and when that world's glory
is dawning on my soul, Tell me the old, old story, Christ Jesus
makes thee whole. Tell me the old, old story. Tell me the old, old story. Tell me the old, old story of
Jesus and His love. Please be seated. Will you open your Bibles with
me to Isaiah chapter 45? Isaiah 45. And I've gotten the title of
this message from a completely different passage of Scripture.
I've titled it, Only Believe. Only Believe. And in Isaiah chapter
45, This passage begins like many of the passages of God's
Word with just a simple declaration, thus saith the Lord. Thus saith the Lord. Faith believes
what God saith. That's just all it does, it just
takes God at his word. And he's the only one that every
time we engage in conversation with another person, whether
it be with our wife, or our husband, our friend, right now, as I'm
engaging in conversation with you, particularly when you engage
with someone in the world, you're doing two things. You're asking
yourself, is what I'm hearing true? And do they mean what they
say? You constantly do that, either
consciously or subconsciously. You're reading body language.
You're evaluating the information based on what you know to be
true. And you're asking yourself those two questions. Is it truthful? And is it sincere? And it's important that we do
that because We've got to evaluate what we're hearing as to whether
or not it is truthful, and if it's coming from another person,
then there's a chance that it may not be. And of course, none
of us are as sincere as we ought to be about anything. Those two questions never enter
into the believer's mind when he's hearing the voice of God. He's the only one that we can
listen to without ever even beginning to ask, is it truthful? Without
ever beginning to wonder, is He sincere? Does He mean it?
Faith knows that every word that God speaks is truth. And faith
knows that every word of truth that He declares is from His
heart. And so it never has to be questioned.
It never has to be evaluated. It never has to be weighed. We never have to wonder about
it. We just believe God. And so the Lord says, Thus saith
the Lord. And that's all the believer ever
needs to hear is, Thus saith the Lord. Now the means by which
the Lord gives faith is His Word. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing
comes by the Word of God. The only question that we ever
have to ask ourselves is what sayeth the Scriptures. The believers
in Berea were noble because they received the Word of God with
gladness, and they searched the Scriptures to see if what the
Apostle Paul said was true. So, that's what we're doing.
We're searching the Scriptures, believing God. There's nobody
else that we can just put down all our guards, all our resistance,
all our suspicions, and receive His Word with gladness. Now, one of the questions that
we're always asking is, well, what does that person really
mean by what they're saying? And we never have to ask that
about God. Because He means what He says. What he says is so clear. It's so simple. It's not complicated. God just means exactly what he
says. When he says that, if any man
come unto me, we just read that, I will in no wise cast him out.
All that the Father giveth to me shall come to me. That means
what he says, doesn't it? Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness to everyone that believeth? Yep, that's it. I have chosen you in him before
the foundation of the world? You see, men make the scriptures
complicated because they go to the Bible with suspicion. But
those who go to the Word of God with simple childlike faith don't
have any problem with anything God says. And we hang the hopes of our
immortal soul on His Word. Gladly so. Knowing that there's
no place else to go. Lord, where should we go? Isn't
that what the disciples said? Will you leave me also? Lord,
where should we go? You alone have the words of eternal life.
We know and are sure that thou art the Christ, the son of the
living God. We've got no place else to go. We can't listen to
another man. Never a man spake like this man. Now in Mark chapter
five, A man by the name of Jairus, who was a leader of the synagogue,
one of the leaders of the synagogue, came to the Lord. Oh, he was
desperate. He was broken. And he begged
the Lord to come to his house. He said, my daughter, who was
12 years old, is dying. And the Lord said, I'll go. And
on the way, God ordained for the Lord to be delayed. And in
that delay is the whole exchange with the woman with the issue
of blood, crawling and touching the hem of His garment and virtue
going out from Him. And can you just imagine? Jairus is pulling on Him. Lord, let's go. Let's go. My
daughter, she really is dying. And as soon as the Lord heals
the woman with an issue of blood, someone shows up from Jairus's
house and says to him, why bother the master any further? Your
daughter's dead. Oh, all of his hopes just drained
out of his heart. I mean, he would just, you can
imagine. And the Lord looks at Jairus. Don't be afraid. Only believe. Believe what? Believe me. Believe
me. Paul said, I know whom I have
believed, and I am persuaded that he is able to keep that
which I have committed unto him against that day. He said, believe
me. And the Lord went the rest of
the way to Jairus' house, and there's mourners there weeping
and wailing. And the Lord said, why do you
weep? The damsel's not dead, she's asleep. And they mocked
him. And he put them all out of the
house, and he took the mother and the father into the room
where the child was. and said, damsel arise, 12 years
old, took her by the hand and she rose. Give her something
to eat. Believe me, I'm the bread of
life. You can't believe anybody else.
You can't believe yourself. You'll fool yourself. The heart
is wicked and deceitful, desperately deceitful above all things. We'll
lie to ourselves until we believe ourselves. But here's one that
you can just take him at his word and know that he's sincere,
know that he's truthful, know that every promise that he has
made is for... and that everything he's doing
in this world is for his church. It's for his bride. It's all
for his people. I saw this week on the TV a preacher
from Houston who has written a book, The Case for Christ. And I understand that seven million
copies of it have been sold already. And this is before he got television
coverage. Seven million copies. A case for Christ. And they interviewed
him and he prided himself on the fact that he was a investigative
journalist before he became a preacher. Should have stayed where he was.
But now he's it but he he he set out as an investigative journalist
to prove that Jesus didn't exist And his empirical historical
evidence proved to him that he was wrong, and he became a Christian,
and now he's a preacher, and he's using his investigative
journalist evidence to show the veracity of Christ. And so he's called his book,
The Case for Christ. You know, I thought about that.
All that empirical evidence might, in fact, convince somebody of
the existence of Jesus Christ. It won't make them believe, Michael.
Won't make them believe. Not believe Him. That takes a
work of grace. A man could come back from hell
and would not believe the gospel. Faith is a work of grace in the
heart. And once God gives it to you,
you're just a believer. You can't not believe. And though
you're constantly being distracted by the things of this world,
when God says, Thus saith the Lord, you say, Amen. Amen. I've got no place else
to go. I know that He means what He
says. And I know that what he says
is true, and I can hang all my hopes on his promises. I want
me and you to grow in grace, in faith, and in the knowledge
of the Lord Jesus Christ every time we open God's Word. I want
us to be reminded only believe, only believe. It's not the physical
evidence that will prove you prove it anything to you. It's
the spirit of God taking the word of God and applying it to
the hearts of God's people that will make them to believe. Lord, make me, make me a believer. Now, the Lord has written his
word in such a way as to give us lots of reasons to believe. When you remember in Luke chapter
24 when the Lord met with those disciples on the road to Emmaus,
and did you not know that these things must be fulfilled which
were written in the law and the prophets? And beginning with
Moses and the Psalms and the prophets, He began to expound
unto them those things concerning Himself. And what did they say?
Did not our hearts burn within us as He spake with us along
the way? And so the Lord used the evidence of His Word. And
that's all preaching is, isn't it? We're taking the spiritual
and comparing it to the spiritual. And God uses his word in order
to give faith to his people. 200 years have yet to be from the time
of Isaiah chapter 45 to when Babylon falls to Cyrus and Darius and Cyrus come in and
send the children of Israel from their Babylonian captivity back
to Jerusalem It's all for the church. It's all for God's people
The Lord is going to give very detailed Information about what's going
to happen 200 years from now And he even gives us the name
of the man that is long yet to be born. His name is Cyrus. He's a Persian. Now, in the book
of Daniel, when this event actually takes place, you read about Darius. Darius is the Mede. Darius was
Cyrus' uncle, and they took their two kingdoms and brought them
together, and that was the world In that day, the Medes and the
Persians ruled the world. And the Lord says, there's a
man I'm going to raise up. He's my anointed. He's my servant,
as are all men. All men are God's servants. Every
one of them. He uses them to his purpose,
for his glory. And even the wrath of man will
praise Him and the remainder He'll restrain. In other words,
whatever He can't use for His glory and for the salvation of
His people, He won't let happen. He won't let it happen. Why? Because everything that's
taking place in this world is for His glory and He's most glorified
in the salvation of His people. And so the Lord says, thus saith
the Lord. Isaiah is prophesying of something that's going to
happen in 200 years. And look what he says. Thus saith
the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have
holden. I have strengthened him. Now,
you remember in Daniel chapter two, where Nebuchadnezzar has
a vision of a statue. And the statue has a head of
gold, it has a breast and arms of silver, a belly and thighs
of brass, legs of iron, and feet of clay mixed with iron. And
he gets all of his soothsayers together and wants to know what
it is, what's the interpretation of this dream. And they can't
tell him. And so, They said, well, there's
a man that is able to interpret dreams. His name was Daniel.
They brought Daniel in. Daniel interpreted it. And Daniel
told Nebuchadnezzar, you're that head of gold. But there's another
one coming in behind you that's going to overthrow your kingdom.
another one that's going to come in behind him and overthrow his
kingdom, another one that will come in behind him and overthrow
his kingdom. And in the history of the world,
there's only been four empires that have ruled the world. It
was the Babylonians, the head of gold, the Medes and the Persians,
the chest and arms of silver, the belly and thighs of brass,
which was the Greek Empire, and the Roman Empire, which was the
two legs of iron. And we now live in The error
of the feet, iron mixed with clay. Men have tried to rule
the world. Genghis Khan's tried it, Hitler's
tried it. It's never going to happen. There's
never going to be another world empire. Why? Because God said there wouldn't
be. There's gonna be wars and rumors of wars, and there's going
to be nations fighting against nations, and there'll be men
that'll rise up that'll try to take over the world. It's not gonna happen. Until
God takes, with his hand, cuts a rock out of the mountain, you
remember the rest of that story, and the rock comes and smashes
the figure, and then that rock grows into a great mountain,
which is the kingdom of God. So that's what we are. And now,
and Nebuchadnezzar is the same one who in the next chapter,
these men ruled the world. They had wealth beyond imagination. Matter of fact, Cyrus, and this
helps in understanding this passage, Cyrus had so much gold. that
he built underground bunkers to store it in, and secret places
where there were just tons and tons of gold stashed away. They ruled the whole world and
they brought all the wealth of the world to themselves. And
so the Lord is going to tell them about that. Now why did
God raise up Nebuchadnezzar? and the Babylonian Empire to
take the children of Israel into captivity for 70 years. Babylon
is the world in which you and I live. And that 70 years of
Babylonian captivity is symbolic of every believer's life in every
generation. And then why did God raise up
Cyrus and Darius? To bring the children of Israel
out of Babylonian captivity and to allow them to reestablish
worship in Jerusalem and to build the temple and to build the holy
city. And then what happened? God raised up a man by the name
of Alexander the Great. He only lived to be 32 years
old, but in his short life he conquered the whole world. And
what did he accomplish during that? Well, he took the Greek
culture throughout the entire world and Hellenized the whole
world and everybody spoke Greek. Why? Because the gospel was going
to be written and communicated in the Greek language. And as
soon as he conquered the world, God killed him. And then the Roman Empire, right
before the coming of Christ. And all roads lead to Rome. And
what was the purpose of the Roman Empire? Well, first and foremost,
to crucify the Lord Jesus Christ. on a Roman cross, and second
of all, to establish a system of roads and communication and
transportation so that the gospel could be carried throughout all
the world. What I'm saying is that God is
telling His people, this is what I'm going to do. But it's all
for the sake of the gospel. And what does that say to you
and to me? If you being evil know how to
give good gifts unto your children? We not your heavenly Father?
I mean, I own the cattle on a thousand hills. I own the hills too. I
own everything. You need a job? I happen to know
every available job in Central Florida. Ask me. You have not because
you ask not. Trust me. Believe me. Believe me for your soul. The
work is finished. And believe me for your life. Why do you fret? I'll take care
of you. Consider the lilies of the field.
Solomon in all of his glory was not arrayed like they. Consider
the birds in the air. They don't fret. They don't worry
about where their next meal's gonna come from. Doth not your
Heavenly Father love you more than them? I've raised up kings
for you. I've brought down nations for
you. I'm certainly capable of meeting your daily needs. Trust
me. Believe me. I've promised that I would do
it. and I have proven myself to be
faithful to my promises time and time and time and time again." Is that not true? Thus saith the Lord to His anointed. He's calling, sorry. Now look
at the last part of verse 4. I have surnamed thee, though
thou hast not known me." Cyrus was a pagan. He didn't know he
was being used by God. And no pagan does. Every pagan
is in the hand of God. The heart of the king is in the
hand of the Lord, and he directs it witherth however he wills.
Like the watercourse, he directs it wherever he wills. Your boss
is in his hand, isn't he, Adam? Every single person. And all
God's saying is, believe me. You can trust me. Why do you doubt? Oh, you have
a little faith. Cyrus is going to be my anointed.
He's not gonna be he's not even been born yet. He's great-great-grandfather
Nebuchadnezzar hasn't been born yet But fear not I've got a I've
got it all worked out Cyrus whose right hand I have
holden to subdue nations before him Now I've read the nations
that he conquered It was the world. It was like 40 or 50 significant
names of nations that you would recognize that he conquered.
And you remember in Daniel chapter 5 when Belshazzar, who was the
grandson of Nebuchadnezzar, is having a feast with a thousand
of his servants or his lieutenants or whatever they were and they're all drinking wine
and partying and he finally gets this bright idea to pull out
the golden vessels from the treasury that had been taken from the
temple back in Jerusalem and he brings the the sacred cups
into his party and begins to pour wine and drink out of those
cups. And the scripture says that he's mocking Jehovah by
worshiping the gods of gold and silver and wood and stone while
he's drinking from these goblets that came from the temple in
Jerusalem. Now the Lord would have left
him alone had he not done that. But as soon as he brought the
Lord's name into it, the scripture says that on the wall there was
a man's hand writing. And in Daniel chapter 5, There's a verse of scripture
that says that the joints of his loins were loosed and his
knees Smote one against the other I Mean he lost it He lost it
And he starts calling for his soothsayers to come in and interpret
the writing for him and nobody can eventually Daniel comes in
and And Daniel reminds him of his grandfather, Nebuchadnezzar,
who had been turned into a beast, and how the Lord had humbled
him. And it was Nebuchadnezzar that
said, you know, there in Daniel chapter 4, when he said that the Lord Jehovah
is God and he hath done whatsoever he wills with the armies of heaven
and the inhabitants of the earth and all men are accounted as
nothing before him. He makes a glorious confession.
And Daniel reminds his grandson, Belshazzar, who's now king of
Babylon, of his grandfather's experience. He said, you forgot
about your grandfather. And here's what God says. You've
been weighed in the balance. You've been found wanting. And this night, your life shall
be required of you. And as soon as Belchazar rewarded
Daniel for having interpreted that, guess who comes through
the door? Cyrus and Darius. and kills Belshazzar, and the
Babylonian kingdom falls, and the Medes and the Persians, and
then Darius sends Ezra and Nehemiah back to Jerusalem to rebuild
the temple. Now here's the prophecy, look.
Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I
have holded, to subdue nations before him, I will loose the
loins of kings." His loins were loosed and his
knees banged together. Oh, what fear, Cyrus. God brought into the heart and
Cyrus came in and killed him. to open before him the two lead
gates, and the gates shall not be shut." Now, historians and extra-biblical
history shows us that there were iron gates leading into Babylon
near a river that were left open that night. And Cyrus came in
through them. And I will go before thee and
make the crooked places straight and I will break in pieces the
gates of brass and Cut us under the bars of iron and I will give
thee the treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places
That thou mayest know that I the Lord which call thee by thy name
in the M the God of Israel now Cyrus is the one who ended up
digging up all of all of Belchazzar's gold that he had hidden and Why am I going to do it? Am I
going to do it for Cyrus? Am I going to do it just so we
can have another kingdom ruling the world? No, look at verse
4. For Jacob, my servant's sake. I'm doing this for you, child
of God. I've done everything for you. I laid down my life
for the sheep. Greater love hath no man than
this, that he lay down his life for his friend. I've done everything
for you. I've called you. I predestinated
your salvation in a covenant of grace before time ever began.
I redeemed you. I satisfied the demands of God's
law for you. I've put away your sin by the
sacrifice of myself once and for all. It's finished. Everything
that's happened in this world from the beginning, I did it
for you. The man in Washington right now,
he's there for the church. The man in North Korea right
now, he's there for the church. The man in Russia right now is
there for the church. They're puppets in God's hands
just like Cyrus. And whatever wealth they enjoy
in their brief period of life, God's using them for the salvation
of his people. He's doing everything for his
children. For Jacob my servant's sake,
and Israel mine elect." You're Israel. You're a prince.
I've made you to be princes and kings in the family of God. You're
a child of God. What are they? And what's the child of God say,
oh Lord, why me? Why me? Out of all the billions
of people in this world, why would you have mercy on me? Why
would you choose me? Why didn't you leave me to myself? Why didn't you let me do what
everybody else does, just satisfy myself with the temporal things
of this world and deceive myself with man-made religion? Why would
you speak the truth to me? Because you're mine. Because you're mine. I take care
of my children. For Jacob my servant's sake,
and Israel my elect, I have even called thee by thy name, I have
surnamed thee, even though thou hast not known me." Cyrus, you
don't know me. You don't know who I am. You
don't know what I'm doing. But just like your grandfather
and just like his father, it's all for Jacob. It's all for Israel. Everything that's happening right
now is for you and me. Believe it. Why? Because God said it. I am the Lord, verse 5, and there
is none else. There is no God beside me, I
girded thee though thou hast not known me. He's still talking
about Cyrus. That they may know from the rising
of the sun and from the west and that there is none beside
me, I am the Lord and there is none else. I form the light. Let there be light, and there
was. And light shined out of darkness.
And that physical light is symbolic of the spiritual light that shines
in our hearts in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ when God
decides to say, let there be light. I form the light, and
I create darkness. What I shut, no man can open. What I open, no man can shut. I make peace, I create evil. I, the Lord, do all these things. Everything that's happening in
this world, God, our God, our Heavenly Father, our Savior,
He's the first cause of it. And his purpose is to glorify
himself through the saving of his people. It's all for you. And what does the world say to
all of this? Well, look at verse eight. Drop
down ye heavens from above and let the skies pour down righteousness. And that's what happened when
the Lord Jesus Christ was made man and entered into this world.
The skies opened and righteousness came down. And let them bring
forth salvation and let righteousness spring up together. I the Lord
have created it. There's the resurrection. Woe unto him, here's the world,
woe unto him that striveth with his maker. This isn't fair. This isn't right. God's not being
generous. He's not being gracious to me. He's not being right to me. You listen to people all the
time, every time there's a tragedy in the world. Well, you know,
it's man's free will. God didn't have anything to do
with that. Woe unto him that striveth with
his Maker, let the potsherds Now that's a little clay pot,
that's what a pot shirt is, it's a little useless clay pot. He says, let the pot shirts of
the earth Strive with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay
say to him that fashioned it, what makest thou? Or thy work,
he hath no hands. Woe unto him that saith unto
his father, what begettest thou? Or to the woman, what hast thou
brought forth? Thus saith the Lord, the Holy
One of Israel, and his Maker. Ask me of things to come concerning
my sons and concerning the work of my hands, command ye me. Now
that just means ask me. Ask me. Everything I'm doing
is for my children. It's for my children. Ask me
and I'll show you. And I'll provide everything. Let's close with Matthew chapter
6. Will you turn with me there please? Verse 25, therefore I say unto
you, Matthew chapter 6 verse 25, take no thought for your
life. Be anxious for nothing. In all
things by prayer and supplication let your requests be known unto
God. And the peace of God that passes understanding will keep
your heart and your mind in Christ Jesus. Take no thought for your
life. What you shall eat, or what you
shall drink, or yet for your body, what you shall put on,
is not the life more than meat and the body more than raiment?
Labor not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat
which leadeth to everlasting life. Behold, look at the fowls
of the air. For they sow not, neither do
they reap, nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feedeth
them. Are you not much better than they? Which of you, by taking
thought, can add one cubit unto its stature? And why take ye
thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field,
how they grow, they toil not, neither do they spin. And yet
I say unto you, that even Solomon, in all of his glory, was not
arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothed
the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast
into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you? O ye of little
faith, O Lord, I've got such little faith. Every time something
doesn't go right, I just start fretting and worrying. I get
so disquieted so easily. I think things aren't going to
happen and come together like I want them to, like they need
to. It's mind belief. Therefore take no thought saying,
what shall we eat or what shall we drink or whether shall we
be clothed? For after these things do the Gentiles seek. The unbeliever
lives his life like that. And when you start thinking like
that, you're thinking like an unbeliever. For your heavenly Father knoweth
that ye have need of all these things, but seek ye first the
kingdom of God and His righteousness. Look to Christ. Set your affections
on things above. Make your spiritual meat your
primary important thing in your life. And all these things, all these
other things, they'll be added unto you. I got it. Take therefore no thought for
the morrow, For the morrow shall take thought for the things of
itself sufficient, sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. Now all that verse is saying
is be responsible with the opportunities and responsibilities that you
have today and don't worry about tomorrow. The Lord's got that. Do what's right now. and trust the Lord for tomorrow. Our Heavenly Father, we're so
very thankful for Your promises and we're thankful for the faith
that You put into the hearts of Your children to believe You. We confess to You, Lord, that
we're filled with unbelief and so much of our flesh calls us
to doubt You. Forgive us, Lord, for Christ's
sake. And grow us in your grace. And increase our faith. For we
ask it in Christ's name. Amen. Number 224, let's stand together. I know not why God's wondrous
grace to me he hath made known, nor why unworthy Christ in love
redeemed me for his own. But I know whom I have believed
and am persuaded that he is able to to keep that which I've committed
unto Him against that day. I know not how this saving faith
to me He did impart, nor how believing in His Word brought
peace within my heart. But I know whom I have believed
and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I've committed
unto Him against that day. I know not how the Spirit moves,
convincing men of sin, revealing Jesus through the Word, creating
faith in Him. But I know whom I have believed
and am persuaded that He is able to To keep that which I've committed
Unto Him against that day. ? I know not what of good or
ill may be reserved for me ? ? Of weary ways or golden days before
his face I see ? ? But I know whom I have believed and am persuaded
? ? That he is able to keep that which I've committed unto Him
against that day. I know not when my Lord may come
at night or noonday fair, nor if I walk the vale with Him or
meet Him in the air. But I know whom I have believed
and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I've committed
unto Him against that day. Oh, that's a drought.