If you will let's open the book
of Genesis chapter 25 Genesis chapter 25, I pray we
can put out of our minds Anything other than being here
The trials that we're currently in, put it out of your mind.
The trials that's coming tomorrow, the pain that's gonna come tomorrow,
put it out of your mind. The guilt from yesterday, put
it out of your mind. The big old meal you had on the
ride here in the car, the message you was listening to this morning
before you got here, put it out of your mind, empty your cup,
and pray God will give you a word right now in the flesh, in our
ears today. I pray be with us. I'm overexcited. I'm confident
he will be. I have high expectations. I think
there might be two, maybe even three gathered here today that
God's going to comfort and speak to. My subject this morning is
going to be absolute confusion to those outside of Christ. You
might be able to take some good notes. You might be able to articulate
what these things mean. Oh yes, Spurgeon said this and
Gill said that. All these old dead folks, what
all they said. But you won't be able to say it. Oh, I hear it. We'll see next
hour or two. I hear the prayers of people. You learn a lot about
somebody by the way they pray. And who they pray to. And what
they pray about. And what they ask God for. What
they petition Him for. They categorize it so well. Will
give me studying mercies and all these things. Instead of
a heart that cries out, God save me. We're gonna see some prayers
this morning from two women that are barren. They couldn't have
babies. There was no life in them. And
God put life in them. And then they prayed to God.
And Ananias said, I ain't gonna go down and talk to Paul. You
know who he is? They just changed the letter on his name. I know
that fella. You ain't tricking me. That's Saul of Tarsus. He
persecutes the church. He kills folks. He said, you go down there, Ananias.
He prays. Not pretends to pray, not recites
prayers, not recites Bible verses to God who wrote the verses.
He prays. He cries out to me. You're gonna
hear him. You're gonna walk up to that door, Ananias. You're
gonna hesitate for a second because you've got a flesh that you live
in. You go, eh, I know the Lord told me to. He didn't really
give me a timeline. I can get 15 minutes. Let me hear what
this man has to say. Wait a second. You hear that
man praying? That's my brother. I can tell. I can tell. He's got the same woes I do. He's got the same God I do. Isaac was the promised son. He's
the one God told him, told Abraham, you're going to have a son. His
name's going to be Isaac. He was the one given by God's power.
It was completely unable for Sarah and Abraham to have this
child. God had to do it. She was old. He was the rightful
heir. He was the firstborn of the wife,
the bride, that was given to Abraham. Isaac was worthy. Worthy. He was obedient to God
and obedient to his mommy and daddy. We'll see next hour if
these are all the same. Samuel was obedient to his mommy
and daddy. Them youngins had the mind. He made them, and they
did. They're obedient children, the rightful heir. Well, at 40
years old, Abraham sent Eleazar to go and fetch Rebekah. And
he said, the Spirit's going to go before you. You're going to
know this is her because I'm going to allure her. I'm going
to call her. So to this promised son, there
was a promised bride. To this son that was obedient
and loved and rightful and made in God's power, a bride was given
to him that God ordained. and she was barren. She came to know there was no
life in her. Well, she was alive. She'd been
in religion her whole life. She threw countless babies off
those mountains. She meant it. That took some effort. God made
her realize through his providence she was barren. There was no
life in her. What's going to happen? Isaac
prayed for his bride. This one is a picture of our
Lord Jesus Christ. Praise that life is put into
his bride and that she bears fruit and they have offspring. And after the same means of his
doing, but through the preaching of the gospel, those offspring
have offspring. Those offspring have offspring.
You see that? That's how it happens. It don't happen any other way. Our Lord prayed for all of us
in this day. Isn't that amazing? He said,
I pray for those that shall come. My pastor preached on that this
morning. Those that's going to be. Who's that? You. Me. You that believe. You that
are His. You that were barren and then
God put life in you. Christ prayed for them. He said,
I pray for them, I pray not for the world, but for them which
thou hast given me, for they're thine. He said, Holy Father,
keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me that
they may be one. One. What's a husband and father?
Why do they leave their mommy and daddy's house when they get
married? They're one. The two become one. What happens to us
when the Lord gives us life? We're one with Christ. He's in
us. His incorruptible seed's in us. We looked at, last Wednesday
night, He says, other sheep I have which are not of this fold, them
also I must bring and they shall hear my voice and there shall
be one fold and one shepherd. There's gonna be one body and
one head. There's gonna be one bride and there's gonna be one
husband. One redeemed and one redeemer. Cause we're all the
same. Jew or Greek, male, female, born
free, it doesn't make a difference. We're the same in Him and we
pray the same. His people do. By the Word of God, life's given.
He commands it. He commands salvation. Let there
be light. We see some light, don't we?
Christ intercedes for his children. And that we have his children,
that we have his church, his bride, those that are produced
through your labors. The Lord's producing some of
his children through your labors. Did you know that? God's saving
some folks through the preaching and the furtherance of the gospel.
He must do all of this. Now, we're the means that he's
going to use, but it's his doing. We're bearing, aren't we? It
says in verse 19, and these are the generations of Isaac, Abraham's
son, Abraham begat Isaac. We're looking at it for a while,
ain't we? And Isaac was 40 years old when he took Rebekah to wife,
the daughter of Bethul, the Syrian, of Panoram, and the sister of
Laban, the Syrian. And Isaac entreated the Lord
for his wife. He prayed to God for his wife
because she was barren. And the Lord was entreated of
him. God heard him. God heard him. And Rebecca, his
wife, conceived. Our great Redeemer, our great
husband, our great bridegroom, he intercedes for his bride.
He said, Father, you hear me always. He's heard of God. He is God. And he prays, Lord,
let there be life in those that you've given me. And he gives
the life. You see that? God put life in
Rebecca. He had to. She was barren. There
was a time she didn't have life in her. And then there's a time
she had life in her. You see that? She'd tell you,
I didn't used to be pregnant. Now I'm pregnant. He put life
in her. This is life she's never experienced.
She's heard about these things, she's read about them in a book,
she'd tell you all about it. I can tell you a whole lot about
first, second, and third trimesters, and when fingernails come, and
all kinds of stuff, biologically, about being pregnant. I ain't
never been pregnant, did you know that? It's a bold statement
every day. A man can't have babies. Nonsense. Fools. She'd never experienced
this. Life was in her. You know what
happens when God saves a sinner? They talk a whole lot about being
saved. They talk a whole lot about being Christians. They
talk a whole lot about worshiping God, and then one day they do.
Something's different, and they'll tell you. They put away those
idols. I wasn't saved back then under that false religion. I'm
saved now because God did something. Back then, that was my doing.
I was playing church, and then he saved me underneath the preaching
of the gospel of truth, not of a false gospel. She said, I wasn't
pregnant. I got butterflies now. She's
got butterflies. This is life. Physically, she'd
never been mentioned in the scriptures before. Do you know that? She
had twins. There was twins in Rebecca. Well, what bountiful
fruit comes through the bride when Christ prays for them. What
bountiful fruit. It says in verse 22, and the
children struggled together within her, and she said, If it be so,
you got life in you, Rebecca. If I do, why am I thus? As a man told
Brother Spurgeon, I was scared to death about being too bold
and too brutal and too plain to people. Old Brother Spurgeon
had a guy come up to me, he said, I have never doubted. I've never
doubted. And Brother Spurgeon said, well,
I've never had a doubt about you either. I've known since
the moment I've met you, you're a hypocrite. Every one of God's preachers
I know, they stand up and they say, if I'm God's man. If I'm
God's man, this is what's gonna happen. If he keeps me, this
is what happens. Rebecca's got life in her and
she said, if it be so. If I have life in me, what's
that mean? Maybe I'm on miscarriage. Maybe
this is cancer. Maybe this is a devil inside
of me. She didn't have Wikipedia, did you know that? She couldn't
go on YouTube and look these things up. There was no Encyclopedia
Britannica she could go, they didn't have ultrasound back then.
She didn't know this, too. No one else could tell her. They
hadn't experienced what she'd experienced. What do you mean?
I mean, yeah, they moved. Well, they're kicking on this
side and it's kicking on this side. What in the world's going on? I don't
know what to tell you. Maybe there's demons fighting inside
of you. You know what the first thing happened to? When there's
life put in her? I know a little bit about this.
She got sick. Morning sickness. Violently ill. Remember when God saved you if
he has? What happened to you? How was
sin? Was that palatable? Did you like eating sin after
that? Was that a good dessert for you? You saw what you were
and you were sick. You didn't change clothes. You
didn't get out of the bed. You just hugged the toilet. Ill. Sick. Morning sickness. You know
what? There's a term now in the medical
arena. We like to label everything in
our society, don't we? You know what it's called? That
stage when you first have life put in you? In the first development
of the embryo inside of a woman, it's called the quickening. Where'd
they get that from? Life's given where there wasn't
life before. God did something. Can you imagine
those wet nurses? There's wet nurses and dry nurses.
We'll see that next time. Imagine those wet nurses. Oh,
honey, you think you're in trouble now. You just wait till that
baby's born. Did they know what they were
talking about? Maybe they should have kept her mouth shut. Take
the instruction. Hear what I have to tell you.
They didn't know what they was talking about. They had never
seen twins on this globe before. You just wait. You just wait.
Not so. Not so. They've been wise to
keep their tongues. For the first time ever recorded in pregnancy,
there was life put in her, but there was two babies. There was
two babies on this one. Well, the Lord's taught us some
things about Sarah. Was Sarah barren? We've seen this. Was
Rebecca barren? What about Jacob's wives? There
might have been one or two in there bearing. What about Hannah?
Was Hannah bearing? A lot of bearing women in the
scriptures, wasn't there? We have to see we are unable
to have life in us. God must do it. What are we going
to learn next? God puts two people in us. Well,
the mother of twins. Well, hush. And you deal with
what the meal served today. He put two lives in her, didn't
he? Two lives. There's an old man and a new
man represented here. That's what that represents.
There's the flesh and the spirit. I don't hear that often, but
that is a phrase in common usage in my home, where I dwell. I say it to you. I don't know
if that's my flesh or my spirit. I hope it was the spirit speaking
to you. Boy, my flesh wants to do something.
My flesh wants to just go chop somebody's ear off. Take that
fisherman's knife out and cut Malchus's ear off. My flesh wants
to do this. My flesh wants to do that. I have a desire for
this world. There's things I want in this
world. There's things that catch my eye. And I can walk around
so pious and so holy acting and self-righteous and say, oh, well,
I'm not. I'll put those sins away until a motorcycle drives
by. I'm like, what, was that a Honda? You men, you get older. You think,
well, I'll finally get away from these sins. I'll finally put
these sins away. You go back to the sins when
you was a teenager. Might not happen as often. Does it happen?
You want your thoughts put up on a screen? People act like
they're so holy they can't see straight. Makes me sick. They're
lying. They probably don't have two men in them. They don't have
two natures in them. Rebecca had two. I have a flesh
and I have a spirit and they're homogenized together just like
whole milk we get nowadays. You can't distinguish the fat
from the skin. Am I that old man? Yes. Am I that new man? Yes. Which one's named Kevin? Yes. They're intertwined. They're intertwined. One's accusing and the other
one's excusing it. One of them is holy, without
blame, unreprovable, for God and love. And the other one does
nothing but sin. Paul was being, he waxed bold
when he said, who are you? Who do you think you are condemning
somebody if God's shed his blood for them? Well, they're doing,
oh yeah, no, they're doing stuff they ought not do. He teaches
his children how quick we are to have our noses high up in
the air looking down at people and we'd drown if it rained. He was waxing bold because they're
both The same person. There's two people dwelling inside
of those. There's a big difference between confusion and conflict.
Natural man's confused. They're confused. You know what?
I was talking this morning. Lies on the way here. Lies are complicated,
ain't they? And they don't make sense. I've
said it before. People believe in infant baptism.
No, you don't. You buy a fire truck and you go spray everybody
walking up down the street. Man called me yesterday and was
so kind and then chewed me up one side down the other for a
couple of minutes. I didn't get a word in edgewise.
He got mad at me because I didn't go door knocking. He said, why
don't you door knock? I said, as soon as God starts
saving folks by door knocking, I'll knock every door in this.
I've kicked a whole bunch of doors in before. I'll do it again.
I said, until then, I'm going to keep preaching the gospel
because that's how he saved sinners. If he saved by reading, I'd be
a book producer. He got mad. He said, I've been
knocking doors for 41 years. Well, good luck casting devils
out. Tell me how it works for you. I'm going to go preach the
gospel. I'm going to do what God told me to do. The big difference
is confusion. Confusion's in lies, because
it don't make sense. Well, this one's bad. Okay, well
let's replace it with another bad one. They're all bad, ain't
they? The truth's simple. The truth's plain. It ain't complicated. God has to give you ears to hear
and a heart to believe it, but it ain't complicated. Man's confused. He has strong delusions. He believes
lies, and some of them's dumb. Little kids like that, they think,
It's deranged. It's confusion, but it ain't
conflict. People may be real disappointed in how they live.
I know I've done wrong. I got caught. You think a heroin
addict don't know they probably shouldn't do heroin or fentanyl
or whatever the drug is this week, acid or something? Law's
written on their hearts. They know that. They have some
confusion. They're rubbed wrong a little
bit, but this is conflict. Conflict, confusions of man.
Paul wrote to us and said, for God's not the author of confusion.
We did that all by ourselves. Because we got crossed our wisdom.
This is man's doing. And they were unaware until there's
new life in them. This is absolute assurance for
those that have no assurance. Those that are, or not, that
do have doubt. This is good assurance. Good
for them. Those that are struggling with
the struggling. I hope this is comfort to you. Paul had this,
do you know that? Or David, King David. He said,
my confusion is continually before me. The shame of my face has
covered me. He knew he was confused. He knew
he had sin in him for the first time. People said, there's a
conflict now. He's praying to God about it.
He said, in thee, oh Lord, I put my trust. Let me never be put
to confusion. Don't let me have little skirmishes.
Don't let me have little unpleasantries in this thing inside of my life.
Give me some conflict. If you are absolutely mourning
over your sin and there's no way, you say, if it be, could
I be alive? How in the world could I be a
child of God and think what I think? How in the world could I be a
child of God and do what I do or say what I say? You got two
human beings and you and her fighting right now. You didn't
have that before. You didn't mourn over sin. It
wasn't as disgusting to you. And then God saved you and put
life in you. If you don't have that, you pray to God, he puts
life in you. He prays, shows you, convicts you of the sin
that you are. That sin, that's important, because
that's what Christ came to die for. He convicts you of that
and shows you what you are, and that'll shut your mouth up, and
that'll drop that rudder off that boat James was talking about
that turns a big old boat so easy. You'll be shut up to sin.
Then you'll cry to Him. You'll cry to Him. There's a
reason we're thus. Have you ever thought that, if
it be so? Oh, there's a war going on. Struggle here. It says the
children struggled together in verse 22 within her. And she
said, if it be so. If this really is life, why? Why am I this way? This don't
make sense to me. Why don't you just make me holy
and I'm just a good person from now on. I'm a good little Christian.
And I don't cuss, and I don't drink, and I don't smoke, and
I don't remind people what to do, and I don't say bad words, or whatever.
Nonsense! She said, why? Why am I thus?
If it be so. But the children, those two natures
in her, they struggled. Does that mean that they warred
a little bit? Here's the primitive root of struggle there. To crack
in pieces. Literally and figuratively. To
break, to bruise, to crush, to discourage, and to oppress. You
know what we do until God doesn't work in us? We crush and bruise
and destroy and oppress everybody else until He doesn't work in
us. And now the problem's on the
inside. Just moan and cry out. If I have
life, Lord, why? Like those boys on the boat.
They're doing what God told them to do. They're going where the
Lord told them. Nothing, they're about to drown.
Why? Why'd you bring me out here? Why'd you bring us to the desert
to kill us, Lord, and starve us to death? Why am I thus? How could I think the way I think?
How could I say the way I say things? Here's one of the most
honest, yet assuring questions a believer asks. If it be so,
if I'm yours, how can I believe so little? How can I believe
so little? Unbelief wasn't a thing until
you believed. Unbelief is like, eh, until you
believe. When God's given you eternal
life, that's what that's called, that unbelief is a burden. Why
don't I trust the Lord? That's the root of everything,
is my pride and unbelief. That's all my problem, all my
worry and everything. Lord, why can't I just trust
you and believe your word? Why am I thus? Why am I thus? That's what experience is. That's
the experience of a believer. I've lived it. An unbeliever
will not honestly have a war, a struggle, a tearing apart,
an oppression that makes you just want to hide your face from
loved ones and especially hide your face from believers, from
your brethren. I can't even look at them. I
can't even look at them. That's a war going on. What do
you think Paul was talking about in Romans 7? I'll be quick. I didn't
get halfway through my note. That's what Romans 7 is about.
He said, for I know that in me that is in my flesh, there's
a spirit and there's flesh. In my flesh dwelleth no good
thing, for to will is present with me. I want to serve the
Lord. You think he did? He labored more than them all,
didn't he? What'd he say? He didn't say
how much he did for God. He said, it's present with me
to do the will of God, but to perform it, I can't find out
how. I want to do the will of God, and I don't know what it
is. I don't know how to. Paul had that. Why? Do we have
something in common? Could you hang out? Could you
spend a weekend with that apostle? Could you spend a weekend with
that great King David? If we ain't proud, could you
spend a weekend hanging out with Rahab and her associates? Or we just wiggle, hide her,
check my wallet's in my back pocket and you pull your purse
up close to you. Something in common. between God's people
and those people. Isn't it? That bride's the same. Paul said, I find a law, this
ain't a guidance, this ain't a theory, this ain't a it happens
60% of the time, it happens every time. It's a law. When I would
do good, evil's present with me. For I delight in the law
of God after the inward man, but I see another law in my members,
warring, struggling, opposing, bruising against the law of my
mind. Let this mind be in you, the
mind of Christ, that new spirit. And bring him into captivity
to the law of sin, which is in my members. Oh, wretched man
that I am. That's the moaning of them two
going at it. Who shall deliver me from this body of death? Who'd
Rebecca cry to? The Lord. When this war is going
on inside of Paul, who'd he cry to? The Lord. Who's going to
deliver me? Save, Lord. I thank God through
Jesus Christ, our Lord. So then with the mind, I myself
serve the law of God, but with the flesh, the law of sin. I hate it. And this is the breeding
ground. This is where God planted his incorruptible seed. This
is old dirt. This is Adam. This is red clay, isn't it? And
God came with his plow, and he plows the hearts of men and women
when he sees fit. And that seed's broadcasted.
I don't know where he's plowed and where he ain't. My job is
just to throw the seed out. Cast the net. gospel net. I throw the seed and he sees
fit. The farmer that owns the land
is the one that decides where a path is and where you leave
them bushes or you cut them out or where I'm gonna put my garden.
I know where I'm putting my potatoes. Worldly, I own that ground and
I know where I'm planting potatoes here in a couple weeks. I put
them where I want them. The Lord plows us and it's body
of death and it's dung. Good fertilizer, isn't it? That's
where he puts his incorruptible seed, and he gives life and it
grows and produces fruit. Isn't that something? Paul said, put on the whole armor
of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the
devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against
principalities and against powers and against rulers of the darkness
of this world and against spiritual wickedness. What's the highest
part of my body? In high places, my mind. Inside
of myself, isn't it? Would that be true if he's alone
on a deserted island? If you're God's child, it is.
You're at war inside of you, isn't it? Verse 22 says, And the children
struggled within her, and she said, If it be so, why am I thus?
And she went to inquire of the Lord. What's that mean? God did this, she went to the
Lord's house. I'll tell you that. Who's still alive? You know Abraham's
still alive? Abraham was, he didn't die until
Esau and Jacob were 15 years old. Do you know that? That's
true. You have to hire somebody to
go study it all week, find it out for you. And so, she could
have went to Abraham. That's her father-in-law. He
said, you're God's prophet. The kings, everybody knows that.
What's wrong with me? And he's probably said, pray
to God. Lord teach you. He's gonna teach his own. What
if she went to her husband Isaac, his picture of Christ, this one
so obedient, so faithful, and worshiped God, and every time
you find him, he's next to a whale. And he dug wells, and he's praying
to God out in the field, communes with God. She goes to her, and
it's her husband. Honey, what's wrong with me? Ask the Lord to
teach you. I could tell you, but you ain't
gonna hear a word I say unless God makes it effectual. Go to
him. Who do you think she probably went to? I'd say she had an affection
in her heart for Eliezer. That's the man the Lord used
to preach the gospel. Isn't that right? If God uses
an earthen vessel, you don't care about the earthen vessel.
You need the water that's in it. But I tell you what, you
ain't gonna forget that vessel, and you ain't gonna throw it
away, and you ain't gonna kick it. I don't care what my pastor's
done, don't you dare talk to me bad about him. We'll fight
it out in the parking lot, and then afterwards we can talk about
it, but don't you dare go against him. She went to the Lord, better
than all those, better than God's prophet that's there with them,
better than her believing, loving husband, and better than her
pastor. God answered her. Which if they
all had a lick of sense, if the Lord's worked in them, they'd
say, ask the Lord. Take your burden to the Lord and leave
it there. Have God talk to you. I haven't experienced what you've
experienced. Until that happens, you talk to the Lord. God answered Rebecca's prayer
and he taught her. We ought to listen. Do you think
we ought to? Do you think the theologians ought to listen?
Do you think those in the seminaries right now that's arguing these
things out ought to listen? Do you think those heretics that
some people listen to and their smorgasbord of junk that they
download and support and everything else, they might not hear what
God has to say, instead what a man has to say about it. Verse 23, the Lord said unto
her, two nations, two nations are in your womb, and two manner
of people shall be separated from thy bowels. And the one
shall be stronger than the other, and the elder shall serve the
younger. Two nations, two totally different cultures. Two totally
different languages. They don't talk the same. Two
totally different approaches to life. Two totally different
ways of thinking. One's very weak, and one's very
strong. Those two's gonna be separated
from your bowels. What's that mean? Whenever I lay down, I
shed this body of death. It's gonna go into the dirt,
and it's gonna go back. Worms gonna eat it. Something's gonna
be separated from me. That new man's gonna be with
the Lord. Until he raises his body up in perfection to be conformed
to His image made like Him. What's that like, Kevin? How
about let's just thank God for His Word? I don't know. I'll
tell you someday. God's people will tell you. Meanwhile,
those two different things, some people say they have sin, you
have sin, you need to stop this, do, don't. Don't you drink that,
don't you drink this, you ought to drink this. Don't touch, not
taste, not handle, not..." What did John say, the aged apostle? Boy, could you trust him? He
had a life of experience and he walked with the Lord and the
Lord taught him. And he said, if we say we have
no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If
you say there ain't an old man in you, you're lying and you're
making God a liar. If we say we have not sinned,
we make him a liar and his word's not in us. Now wait, that's in
1 John 1. Now what about in 1 John 3? Did
he flip script? He said, little children, let
no man deceive you. He that doeth righteousness is
righteous, even as he is righteous. You're as holy as God. If you
believe on Christ and love the brethren, he's given you a heart
to love him because he's first loved you. You're as holy as
he is. But I thought you said we? Yeah, both. Both. I gotta get to the why. How could
this be both? If you're God, as he said in
1 John 4, if you are of God, little children, you have overcome
them, because greater is he that's in you than he that's in the
world. What's the strongest of the two, Esau or Jacob? We would
all gravitate to Esau. I would. He's a deer hunter.
Manly man. He's a hard-working. And Jacob's
a mama's boy. A weak little fella. Conniving. You stay in the house all the
time. What's wrong with you? You got sacks of sun on you. He didn't
leave the coop. I don't like Esau. Esau's bigger. He's stronger.
He could have beat up Jacob. That's just our eyes judging
the way this world judges it. Who was the victor? Jacob. Why? Christ dwelt in him. Christ
didn't dwell in Esau. He didn't. God hated him. He
didn't dislike him partially. He hated him. and he loved Esau. Where am I right now? I'm in
the world. Where's Christ? If you're His, where's He at
right now? He's on His throne. Ruled and reigned and interceded.
That's right. And He's in you. We're in this world. I live here.
I'm going to have to eat some meals today. I'm going to have
to go to work. I'm going to have to do some
things. I'm going to have to take a shower. I live here. I'm
going to have to get gas. But Christ dwells in me. Both
of those. God and human flesh spoke to
both natures of his apostles. Did you know that? He told Peter,
he said, get behind me, Satan. Was Peter his? Yes, he was his. Those at the Mount of Transfiguration,
Garden of Gethsemane. He said, you stay awake and pray
with me. And he went to the father and said, father, if it be possible,
let this cup pass from me. Yet not my will, but thy will
be done. And he turned around and there's a sleep. And he said, couldn't you pray
with me an hour? He said, watch and pray that
you enter not into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing,
but the flesh is weak. He said, you got a spirit and
you got a flesh. And he admonished them. They needed that instruction.
Perk up. You drank water and do pushups
till you wake up. The Lord said, you watch and pray because your
spirit wants to. I know that. but your flesh can't,
and it won't. And then he went and prayed again,
and he come back, guess what, to his sleep. He said, well,
I'm gonna do the praying for him, just as Isaac prayed for
Rebecca, wasn't it? He said, sleep on, that's all
right. Get you a nap in, buddy. Judas is coming up a hill. You're
gonna need to rest up, son, because he did it for us, for us. John the Baptist had the Holy
Ghost in the womb, The last of the Old Testament prophets. He's
the only one in human flesh that saw the Spirit of God. Did you
know that? He saw the Spirit descending
like a dove. And he sent his disciples there towards the end
when he was locked up in prison. He said, go see if that's Jesus or we look
for another. You didn't know? You have some doubt, John? The
only hope we have is being united with Christ. Us in Him and Him
in us. Paul told us in Colossians 1,
"...to whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory
of the mysteries among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you." New
creation, fighting with Olam, the hope of glory. He's the strong
man, isn't he? That's good news for a struggling
sinner, and that's what we preach. That's what we tell people. Paul goes on in the next verse,
whom we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in
all wisdom that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. The Lord said, there's two people
in you, two nations, two manner of people that shall be separated
from thy bowels. And one people shall be stronger than the other.
And the elder shall serve the younger. The elder is going to serve the
younger. I'm going over, but I have to. This old man, this
old flesh, just burn it. Do away with it, right? It's
gross. It hates God and it's wretched. Wretched. It's going to serve
the new man. Isn't that something? Boy does
he. Even in little things. Did the
incorruptible seed of God shave my face this morning? That old
man did. That small, tiny life inside
of me. Christ that dwells in me. Did
it drive me to church this morning? Nope. That old man did. God made
him. Which one's stronger now? I have
to serve him. If you have life in you, you
don't want to go to church. You don't want the gospel. You
need it. Christ is life and death. You
have to have him. Well, you got some important stuff going on.
There's a whole lot of people in this county right now that's
got something important going on. If you got new life in you, that
old man's got all kinds of important stuff going on. If you got new
life in you, this is important. There ain't nothing else more
important. I'm hungry, I'll eat later. I can make it 12 hours,
I'll be all right. I'll eat after service. Life
and death. That seed he gives, it lands on the
good ground and it yields fruit. It springs up and it increases.
And it brings forth some 30 and some 60 and some 100. But if he plants a seed, there's
going to be fruit. This is a real struggle inside of Rebecca physically. She thought she's going to die.
We have this war in us. And a lot of times we think it's
going to kill us. I'm going to die. I can't make it through
another day. But the Lord's put two nations of people in her.
The Lord's put two nations of people in you if he's been pleased
to do so. That's an answer, isn't it? Why am I thus? I put two
people in you. You got a new man now. You didn't
have that. You've been born again. Rebecca got her answer. She understood. She had peace from the word of
the Lord. God spoke peace to her. I've
done this. And I just couldn't get over
this all week. You know what happened as soon as the Lord
said, I've put two nations of people in you. This is my doing. She got kicked by two natures,
didn't she? Didn't go away. When's this going
to be over when we die? When's the war going to stop
when we die? Why am I thus? The Lord saw fit to do it. And
it's on purpose. There's a reason. I got to tell
you why. Why are we thus? First, it's for us to continually call
on the Lord Jesus Christ for mercy, for strength, for instruction,
for relief. If we did not If he didn't do
it, you'd forget him in a heartbeat. Does that make you uppity around
your friends? If he teaches you that, it'll
shut you up, won't it? Oh Lord, I'd leave you. I'm prone to wonder.
The only reason I'm here this morning is because you made me.
I can promise you that, can't I? The only reason I'm standing
here this morning is because God made me. It's his doing. If he blesses you with it, it's
his doing. It ain't me. We have to call on him. we'd
forget so quickly. Our pride would grow and grow
and grow. Don told, Don sorted somebody
out one day, and he looked at real brother Scott Richardson.
I think after I take a wind out of his sails, I'll snuff his
pride, pride, bring him down a peg or two. And Scott said,
yeah, not for long. That's like a weed, isn't it?
That comes back quick. Those hairs grow back quick,
don't they? We have to struggle. So we'll inquire of the Lord
how rarely we cry out. We say a bunch of prayers. We
talk to the man upstairs. People do that all the time.
People have prayers. They say, the Lord makes us inquire
of him, beg of him, call to him in desperation. We have to have
a struggle in us and be at war so we can have comfort that there's
two inside of us. I forget so fast. I'm just miserable. And I thought, well, if I was
of the world, I wouldn't be miserable. I told a man that one time, he's
thinking about, he said, I'm gonna go to a vacation in Hawaii,
and while I'm there, I'm gonna decide if I'm gonna move. I said, that's
a bad place to make that decision. It's gonna be yes. He said, would
you move there? And I didn't even think. And
I said, well, if I was like you and didn't have a God, I'd move
there, yeah. Gospel ain't there. And I knew him a long time, and
I said, I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have said that to you. He said,
well, you didn't lie to me. I said, no, but I should have
been kinder. I have two, there's an old man, I know that. I'm
well acquainted with the flesh. There's a new man in me, and
I know it. That's comfort. That's comfort. We must go through
this gestation and this labor of these warring twins. Rebecca
was the first one ever had twins. What happened next time somebody
had twins in her camp? She'd go to them and say, I've
had twins. I know what's going on inside of you. Let me tell you
what happened. Let me tell you what's going
to happen. She'd give comfort to her brethren. Couldn't she?
Why do I have to go through this warring? So that way, if God
ever is pleased to save some of you all and you have a war
going inside of you, I could say, yes, that's how I live every
day. Bombs are going off and people knocking at the door.
Lord's got it. He did this on purpose to teach
us some things. Keep us calling on him. We can
comfort one another, can't we? Those younger ones coming up.
I've lived it. I've lived it today. Had a war
going on. I cried out, Florida, I'm yours.
If, if, if I'm yours, why am I thus? He said, I put two nations
in you. I'll separate them when he sees
fit. Is that right? Let's pray. Father, thank you for this hour. The Lord be with us. We struggle. There's a tearing apart and a
warring and a bruising. inside of us all by ourselves. Lord, thank you for that. You've
done it. You've done the work. You've made us cry out to you,
and you've given your word of peace. Lord, last of remember
that the second after will we still have this war going on
last to look to Christ, our Redeemer, our great husband that prays
for us until you're pleased in that appointed hour to remove
us from this world. till we've served your purpose. Lord, there's so many times we
struggle and we ask, as our Lord did, has he prayed for us? If
it be possible, let this pain go away. Let this trial stop. Yet, it's not our will, but your
will, Lord. I ask to remember this. Thank you for the salvation you've
given us. Thank you. For the trials that you sin,
Lord, thank you. Everything in your will and providence,
it's perfect and holy and just. And forgive us for what we are.
It's because of your son. Because of our great bridegroom,
we ask these things. Amen. All right, brother. I'm probably a lot shorter next
hour, so.