In there from us depart spirit
of power to the great one in three eternal praises be It's
evermore. It's sovereign majesty. May we in glory speak. And to eternity, love and adore. Alright, let's open our Bibles
back to the book of Exodus. Exodus chapters 2 and 3. Let's read in chapter 3, verses
7 and 8 again. Exodus chapter 3, verses 7 and
8. And the Lord said, I have surely
seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason
of their taskmasters. For I know their sorrows, and I am come down to deliver
them out of the hand of the Egyptians. and to bring them up out of that
land unto a good land, and large, unto a land flowing with milk
and honey, unto the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites,
the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. Now, the Lord spoke these words
to Moses and had him write these words down. for all eternity
to read. He had Moses write these words
down for us to read. And God revealed to Moses here
his compassion for his people. God opens up his mind and his
heart to Moses from the midst of this burning bush. mind you,
and reveals to Moses his compassion for his people. Now, the word
compassion means, and I paraphrase Webster's definition, the word
compassion means to think upon with heartfelt sympathy. to think
upon with heartfelt sympathy the sufferings, the troubles,
the pain of someone else, and to have a desire to alleviate
or to ease or remove that suffering. That's a good word, isn't it?
Compassion. That's the title. That's the subject. That's what
our Lord reveals here in these words. his compassion for his
people. God reveals his heart here. Very special. This will be a
very special and comforting message for all of God's people. If you need it, you need it. But I have to say this. We have
to precede all of this with these words. Most people have a wrong
conception of God, of the love of God, and what they think is
his compassion. Folks believe that God loves
every single human being without exception, without distinction,
that God is the father of every human being when the scriptures
does not teach that. And since most people believe
that, that God is the Heavenly Father of every single human
being and loves every single individual without exception,
and yet they see all of this suffering, they see all of the
horror, they see all the troubles and the pain and suffering throughout
the world of seemingly innocent people. And so they can't understand. They can't reconcile that. If God loves, then why? I wish
more people would ask that question. But what they don't understand,
and what you, the believers in here, do understand, and what
is clearly seen here, what God clearly tells us here, is that
God Almighty's love and compassion is for His He keeps saying that. Let's look
at it again. Chapter 2, and a person would
have to be absolutely blind not to see this. In chapter 2, verse
23, it came to pass in the process of time that the king of Egypt
died and the children of Israel. Now, they're in this country
called Egypt, full of people, Egyptians. God didn't have compassion on
the Egyptians, but God had compassion upon his people, the children
of Israel, which were in Egypt. Do you see that? Verse 23, And
they, the children of Israel, sighed by reason of the bondage. And they cried, and their cry
came up unto God by reason of the bondage. And God heard their
groaning. Was there anyone in Egypt in
going through difficulties. Of course there was. I mean,
the Egyptians. Sure they were. But it says God
heard the children of Israel. They're groaning. And God remembered,
look at verse 24, God remembered his covenant. That is his purpose. His eternal purpose. his electing
purpose, which he made with Abraham, and he goes on, Isaac, and with
Jacob, not Abraham, Ishmael, and so on, but Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob, a particular people, a particular purpose for a particular
chosen people. You see that? Now, you understand
that, but everyone doesn't. And God looked," read verse 25,
"...God looked upon the children of Israel, and God had respect
unto them." That's plain, isn't it? If someone's honest, takes an
honest look at God's Word, God had respect unto them. But someone
says, I thought it says that God is no respecter of persons. He's not. That is, he does not
look upon someone's person because of what they are, how they look,
their race or this and that and the other, their morality, their
this and that and the other, and respect them because of their
person or personality or their character and so forth. No, no,
no, no. But God does show respect or make a difference between
people. Yes, he does. Read on in chapter 3. Chapter
3, verses 6 and 7, God says, I am the God of thy father, the
God of... He tells who he's the God of.
I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob,
particular God of particular people." Verse 7, and the Lord
said, "...I have surely seen the affliction of my people which
are in Egypt." That's clear, isn't it, Teresa?
My people, and they're in Egypt. My people. And I have heard their
cry, and I know their sorrows." And he said, "...and I am come
down to deliver them." Now, go to chapter eleven, and I'm going
to one more verse along this line here. Exodus chapter eleven,
you must see this. Exodus chapter eleven, "...throughout
the Scriptures nothing is more clearly revealed." Throughout
the scriptures, it's so clear that God makes a distinction
between persons, between people. God makes a distinction between
His people. They're called the elect. I don't
apologize for that. It's amazing mercy and grace
that God would choose anyone, let alone so many. But yet God
makes a clear distinction throughout this book between his people
and the world, all through this book. And as I said, a person
would have to be blind to not see that distinction. And it
has to be understood. Why do I say all this? Because
it has to be understood to understand his compassion and his love,
and who he does what for. All right? Verse 7 of chapter
11, Exodus 11, verse 7, when the children were leaving town,
when God was taking them out of Egypt, it says, verse 7, I
love this, "'Against any of the children of Israel shall not
a dog move his tongue.'" God would not even permit a dog to
bark at his people, or bark at an Israeli dog. "'Against man
or beast,' he says. Oh, what a type, what a picture
that is of who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect.
It is God that justifies. God's chosen nobody. Nothing
can lay any charge to them, condemn them. Who is He that condemns?
He goes on to say, read on with me, that you may know, everyone's
going to know, God said, that you may know how the Lord doth
put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel. The Lord doth put a difference.
Who made the difference? Were the Israelites better than
the Egyptians? No, Paul said in Romans chapter
3, in no way. Are we better than they, he said?
Not in any way. Later on, as we look at this
story of the Israelites in the wilderness, we're going to see
how really they seem in a lot of ways to be worse than the
Egyptians. How could they sin against God who did so much for
them? Yet they did. Most ungrateful,
rebellious, stiff-necked. Moses said, you're a bunch of
stiff-necked people. After all the goodness and mercy
of God to them, yet they still sinned against Him. No, they're
not better than the Egyptians, not by any means. What's the
difference? What makes the difference then?
Why does God have respect to one and not the other? It's in
God's purpose. It's seen good in God's sight.
According to his good pleasure, he chose them. God, and I think it's, I forget where the verse is,
but anyway, God, the Scripture says, who maketh thee to differ? Speaking of all of God's chosen,
who maketh thee to differ from another? I tell you who God does. Sovereign, electing, sovereign,
loving God Almighty. He doth put a difference. And
our Lord so many times says this about his people. He says, They
are not of the world. Talking about his own, he said,
I don't pray for the world. I pray for them which thou hast
given me. They are not of the world, even
as I am not of the world. Father, keep them. So that needs to be said, doesn't
it? It certainly does. It needs to be clarified. God's
compassion is for his people. Now, for those of you, for those
of you who, who believes this? Who believes what I just said
about God? No, let me rephrase that. Who believes what God says about
God? Who believes what God said right
there? What he said about his people? Who believes that in
you? Then you must be one of these elect. This is the voice of God, the
word of God, the truth of God. Whatever God said is true, and
God's people believe it, and they bow to it, they submit to
it. Not only that, they love it.
You love the fact that God is God. You love Him being God. his rights as God. Jonathan,
only God's people love him. They insist upon and are zealous
for and argue for the rights of God to be God. While the whole
world is arguing about man's rights and man's glory and what
man ought to have coming to him and what the power man has, not
God's people, but what they're really interested in is the glory
of God, the honor of God, his rights as God. that his will
be done, that his purpose be fulfilled, that he be glorified.
That's the difference. That's the whole difference in
a nutshell in true God-worshippers and the rest of the world. So if you believe this and love
to have it so, then the rest of this message is for you. God's
compassion for his people. I have nothing to say to anybody
else that that doesn't believe it. But this is to God's people,
God's compassion upon his people. Chapter 2, verse 23. It says
that the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and
they cried. Now, the children of Israel were
in Egypt by God's purpose, weren't they? They were there on purpose.
They didn't just happen to be there. They were there because
God brought Joseph there, and then Jacob and his sons, and
they were there, and they dwelled there on purpose. And they were
in bondage and misery according to God's purpose. If God hadn't
purposed it, it wouldn't have happened. He's God. And every child of God, every
single child of God is born into this world. They're born into
this world, this present physical world. Egypt has always represented
the world in the Scripture, always, always represents the world.
And every child of God, every one of his elect are born into
this world. It's a world of sin. It's a world
of misery. It's a world of bondage. They're
born in sin. They come forth from the womb
speaking lies. They're born in bondage to sin
and under the bondage of the God of this world. Aren't they? You know it's so. If you're here,
and you're one of God's people, you know it's so. You're born
in sin, and you're in bondage to it, seemingly, and the God
of this world who's the author of it. All the sons of Adam. Now, all the sons of Adam are
born in sin. Every human being is born in
sin and in misery to some degree. Every single person who lives
in this world, this sinful world, is in some degree of misery,
or will be. Yet, every person does not acknowledge
God, every person does not feel that misery, or that is, the
bondage of sin and so forth. But God, in sovereign, electing,
saving, mercy and grace, makes known to some of these sons of
Adam He comes to them and reveals to them who He is, like Moses
saw in that burning bush, which is a picture of Christ crucified.
That's how God is known, through Christ crucified. And makes known
unto them who He really is, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
sovereign, electing, particular God, the living and true God,
not an idol, not a man-made God, but the God of the Bible. reveals
unto them who he is, reveals unto them what they are, sinners
in a sinful world in bondage, the bondage of corruption, the
scripture says, and makes them miserable here, makes them miserable
with themselves, makes them feel the misery and the bondage and
the corruption of their own hearts and minds and souls, makes them
feel their That's what we're talking about.
This is a spiritual book, and it's a spiritual story. God Almighty,
you know, it's the mercy of God to make you feel miserable about
yourself. This is where religion has got
it all wrong. And this is what's confusing
people to no end. Preachers standing up telling
everybody how much God loves them and how pleased He is with
them, how everything's just so wonderful and He has a wonderful
plan for their lives, yet they're going through all this misery.
Why? Because it's a lie what they're telling them. Sin, all of this misery, is the
result of sin. All of the agony and the pain
and the suffering is the result of an angry God against sin,
the judgments and the wrath of God. One fellow has borne the
hatred of a lot of people for saying that AIDS is the judgment
of God against a perverse lifestyle. It is! It is! You have to be absolutely blind
to see—not to see the judgments of God against sin throughout
this book. And all the suffering in this world is due to sin. The wrath of God and the indignation
of God against sin. And it's mercy, though, and grace,
great grace and mercy of God Almighty to make us come to realize
our sinfulness. You can't feel, you're not going
to hear the good news. The gospel is not going to be
good news until you've heard the bad news. A free, unconditional,
eternal pardon only means something to people on death row. If I would go down to the county
jail and fellows who are serving a thirty-day sentence for my
misdemeanor and tell them I'm giving you a full, free pardon,
well, they might. Well, thank you. I appreciate
it. But if I would go to San Quentin to Death Row to a fellow
who's about to be electrocuted and tell him, listen, you're
free to go. Now that's good news to that
fellow. So it's mercy of God, the mercy of God and great grace
of God to make us feel this misery called sin, to feel that we're
in bondage to it, and to cry out unto God to help us. We're
not going to cry unto God. How are they going to call on
him whom they've not believed or heard? They're not. Men aren't
going to cry unto God for mercy and salvation unless they see
that they're lost. They're not going to cry unto
God for blood sacrifice unless they see that God is not happy
with them. They're not going to cry for
righteousness unless they see that they don't have it. Look
with me at Psalm 38. Go over to Psalm 38, and we could
just turn anywhere throughout the Psalms and see this cry of
God's people. It says the children of Israel
cried, they sighed by reason of the bondage. Every believer
in here sighs constantly, don't you? Huh? Just every day, day
in, day out, hour after hour. You know, your sin comes to mind. Don't you? Huh? Some of you know
what I'm talking about. And sometimes you audibly sigh.
Why am I like that? And you cry unto God. Whosoever
shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. That means
so much, the name of the Lord. But God's people, by reason of
this bondage, they cry unto God, this bondage of sin. Listen to
the cry of a true child of God. In Psalm 38, this is the cry
of God's people. He says in verse 3, David, there's
no soundness in my flesh because of thine anger. Neither is there
any rest in my bones because of my sin. My iniquities are
gone over my head. They're a heavy burden. They're
too heavy for me. My wounds steep and are corrupt
because of my foolishness. I'm troubled. I'm bowed down
greatly. I go mourning all the day long. My loins are filled
with a loathsome disease. There's no soundness in my flesh.
God help me. God help me. God have mercy. on this sinner. That's David,
the man after God's own heart. But you know how he feels now.
Look over at Psalm 51. Oh, Psalm 51. This was the favorite psalm of
most of the martyrs as they went to a fiery grave or whatever. They would quote this chapter. Psalm 51. Oh my, verse 4 and
5, David says, Against thee and thee only have I sinned, and
done this evil in thy sight, that thou mightest be justified
when thou speakest, and clear when you judge. I was shapen
in iniquity, in sin did my mother conceive me. I am nothing but
sin through and through. He goes on to say, Wash me, purge
me, help me, Lord save me. So this is the cry. Go back to
our text. This is the cry of all of God's
people. You know what I'm talking about?
What he's talking about. Our reason of this bond. Right
now you're struggling to hear this. My, my. This is what we need more than
anything. This is life and yet worship. Like the children of
Israel, for a while they were rich and increased with goods
and didn't realize how bad they had it. I mean, they were in
bondage. Well, they cried by reason of
bondage, and it says God, verse 24 of chapter 2, says God heard
their groaning. God heard their groaning. I love
that verse in Romans 8. It says the Holy Spirit makes
intercession for His people with groanings that cannot be uttered.
I hear all these professional religious fellows making all
these pies prayers, and I think they don't impress me. I'm sure
they don't impress God. If you're like me, most of the
time, about all you can do in praying to God and calling on
God is groan. You don't know what to say. You don't know how to say it.
Your words seem so hollow. God heard their groanings. Chapter 3, verse 7, he says,
I have surely seen the affliction of my people, and I have heard
their cry. I have surely seen the affliction
of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason
of their taskmaster, by reason of this bondage, by reason of
this tyranny that they seem to be under. Now, listen with me,
okay? This is pure mercy here, compassion of
God for his people. This has reference, God saying,
I have surely heard, I have surely seen, and I have surely heard.
I have seen the affliction. I see. Now, this has reference
not only to sin. that God sees our need of salvation,
but this has reference to everything, people. Child of God, believer,
this has reference to everything. God sees. God sees. David wrote
this, How Lord Sees Me. You're watching me. This has reference to everything
in regards to God's people, God's adopted children whom He loves
more than we love our own children. Now that's, people, that's so. That God loves his people, his
children, more than we love our own. And when he says this, I
have surely seen the affliction of my people. And I've heard them. I've heard
their groanings. This is a word of reassurance
from our Almighty Sovereign God and loving Heavenly Father who
says, I am watching. I'm watching over you. And I'm listening to you. I see a smile, and I'm going
to preach to that person. Good. God says, our loving Heavenly
Father says, I'm watching you. Yes, I am, and we're going to
see how it's more than just observing. And I'm listening to you. I'm
hearing you. When God says, I see, He says, that means I see everything. concerning you. Everything that goes on, I see
it. Now, since our God is in absolute
control, the Scripture says, and I quote this so much, but
I'm glad. I like it. Known unto God are
all his works from the beginning. Since known unto God are all
his works from the beginning. God just doesn't jump up when
we think he ought to. God just doesn't move and do
things and handle things immediately because we think he ought to.
It should be comforting. It should be enough for us to
know he sees. I see. He sees every fault of every
one of his children. Every fall they take, every time
they stumble and fall, every ditch that they fall into,
every net they caught up in, everything they get into, He
sees them. He's watching them. He does two things. Our God sees
every injustice that's handed out to his people, his children of Israel that were
in every crack of the whip by an Egyptian taskmaster. God saw
that. Every injustice, every pain inflicted
upon them. And the Scripture says, every
sin shall receive a just recompense of reward. God marked it down. God sees it. Nothing is going
to go unpunished. Nothing is going to go undealt
with. I see that. Don't you say, don't you cry
unto God, children of Israel? Don't you cry unto God at all
the injustices in the world? Don't you? Now, you know how
I preceded everything with what I did. Now, I'm talking to God's
people here. Some of this sounds similar to
what fellows are saying today. I'm talking to God's people,
and the world is full of injustice. Full of it. This world is not
fair to God's people. It never will be. The Egyptians
were not fair to God's people. They were cruel, hard, test-mastered. God said, I see. I see. Well, do something. I will. You've got to love this about
God, that, you know, we take things, we jump up and see. If God allowed us to act on every
emotion that we come, we'd make fools of ourselves, we'd
hurt those we attempt to help, wouldn't we? We'd mess up everything,
wouldn't we? wisely, sovereignly says, I've surely seen it all. Right, the stuff that's going
on today makes me sick. That's the reason I preach so
often like I'm mad. I am mad. Mostly religious leaders,
I'm mad. I really wish, like the disciples
of old, I could call them fire from heaven on these impostors,
these people who are blaspheming my God and butchering this book
and butchering souls by the thousands, money-hungry proselytizers. I'm looking right now, mad. God's angry with the wicked every
day. God's angry. Don't you know He's angry? He's
going to burn this place up. That's how angry. But it's anger
is not like mine. He knows. You know, I want to
do something now! Don't you? Didn't you see that? Do something! Did you hear that? I see. I saw. You like this, Gabe? I see. He sees all, he beholds all,
because, as we quoted, known unto him are all his works from
the beginning, because all things are working together, even evil,
even sin, even injustices, even those things we think are the
worst thing that could happen, especially to us. It's working
together to fulfill this all-wise purpose of God. He purposed it,
or it wouldn't have happened. Lord, why? David prayed all through
the Psalms over and over again. Why? Why? Why? Because that's
the way it is. And you'll know why someday.
You'll know as you've been known. You'll know why. Someday when
you know as God knows you now, you'll know why. And you'll thank
God to high heaven He didn't change that. Oh, Brother Scott
Richardson, I've told this many times. For those of you who don't
know Brother Scott, he's a preacher, 80 years old, a pastor of a church for 50-some
years, and man's been I can't tell you some of the
heartache he's been through. I'd like to be able to emphasize
this point. Man, he's been through some tough
times. Saw his first and only daughter die, stricken with cancer,
and on. I could just go on and on about
the difficulty of the man. I mean, the toughest trials have
been lately. But he said this. He said this. He said, if you and I knew what
God knows, we would order our lives exactly
like God did. People wouldn't change a thing. But we don't. So we have to trust
him, don't we? And so we say, Lord, didn't you
see that? Aren't you going to do anything
about that? I see. I see. Isn't that comforting? I see. And he says in verse seven, chapter
three, verse seven, he says, I've surely seen. And he said,
and have heard their cry. I hear them. I hear them. And you know, all of this
stuff going on today, all the chaos and clamor of religion,
all this boasting and bragging. What do you hate more than anything
to hear from people? Bragging, don't you? Don't you
hate to hear these athletes and whoever it is bragging about
how great they are and beautiful they are? So forth. I hate it. God hates it worse
than anything. Pride hates it. Why? Because everybody, anything anybody
has, God gave it to them. A woman is beautiful, more beautiful
than somebody, it's because God made her that way. She ought
to be more worshipful. She ought to be more thankful.
She ought to be more humble than anybody. But they're not. A man's stronger than anybody
else. Why? Why is he not in a wheelchair? Why is he born with strength,
a strong constitution, and not with polio or whatever? God made
him. So for that man to brag and boast,
God hates that. And on and on we could go. Let
not the wise man glory in his wisdom. Let him the glory of
glory in the Lord. God hates pride. And I hear all
this boasting and bragging. And it makes me sick. Doesn't it you? Sure it does. It makes you sick. But more than all that, religious
talk, all these lies, it makes me sick. It hurts my ears. It hurts my
ears. It grieves me. And all the time
I say, Lord, didn't you hear that? Drive by a sign, a so-called
church, supposed to worship God? to glorify God, and they have
something that absolutely just reduces God to a frenzy. It's blasphemous to God. I say to my wife, do you see
that? Do you hear that? Lord, do you hear that? Do you
hear what they're saying about you? I hear. I hear. Every word. But now this is to
us. God says, I've heard every groan
you've ever uttered. Every word you've ever uttered. Every cry of pain and sorrow
and suffering you've ever uttered. Every one. Every single one.
Every plea for help. every single plea for help. David,
oh, David, he said, Lord, is your mercy clean, God? He got
in such a predicament, he said, Lord, why aren't you listening
to me at all? Oh, yes. Oh, he never quits listening. Uh-uh. No, he always hears. I
hear every prayer you've ever prayed, every plea for help you've
ever uttered. And God has done, is doing, and
shall do something about everything concerning that. Let me ask you
mothers here. You mothers, when your children
were real young. This is the best illustration
I can come up with. When your children were just
babes in a crib. How much did you sleep? Huh? I remember when Hannah was, and
fathers, too. You're a good father, you hear
it, too. I remember when Hannah was in her, just a babe, just
an infant. Oh, she would just roll over.
Run in there. What's wrong? Something wrong
with you? Oh, she's okay. Let's go back to bed. You remember
that? Every cough. Oh! You just wait and. Every peak every other don't
you yes sir. Yes ma'am. God says. You've never. I know. I know. their sorrows. I know what they're
going through. You know, there's only one way
you can really know what somebody's going through. You know? There's only one way
you can really empathize or sympathize or really have true, heartfelt
compassion on somebody. And that's to go through what
they've gone through. And God says, I know. How? Look at verse 8. Because I'm
come down. He came. For 4,000 years, God Almighty
spoke to the sons of Adam. Marvelously, wondrously, mercifully,
graciously spoke to, sent men. Listen to this. God sent men
like Moses. Wouldn't you like to have a man
like Moses leading you? Wouldn't you have loved to have
been under the leadership of Moses? Well, the Israelites took him
for granted. Anyway, men like Moses, the cream
of the crop, Joshua. God sent men like Joshua down
to speak on his behalf. David. Wouldn't you like to be
under the kingdom of David? Solomon. He says of Solomon,
every man dwelt under his own vine and fig tree. There wasn't
anybody there, Gabe, that didn't have a vine to fig tree. Solomon,
the wisest, kindest, most wonderful man who ever lived, received
anybody. You remember the size of his
table, don't you? How big his table was and how much food.
We know why. But if anybody was hungry, they
could come sit there. Sit at the king's table. You
and I have a hard time getting a reservation at Outback. But now, when Solomon
was king, anybody could come. What chair do you want? What
seat do you want? Oh, I'll just take the lead. How about sitting
right beside me? Oh, yes. Solomon. What a man. Oh, I'd
love to have known Solomon. Elijah. Elijah. Wouldn't you like the men standing
on Mount Carmel that day that Elijah was facing all those false
prophets? As he was preaching, you back
there said, Yes, yes, yes. Preach! Men like that, Paul, and on and
on. But now, wait a minute. One day, two thousand years ago, God came down. God came down. God says, I've
seen for 4,000 years. I've heard, and here I come. How do we know God has compassion
on us? How do we know that God really
knows, that God really sees, that God really hears, that God
really is going to do something about it? How do we know God
came down in person? God was manifest in the flesh.
Call his name Immanuel, which, being interpreted, is God's with
us. Thomas said, My Lord and my God. God came down. That's the ultimate,
final, absolute proof of his compassion, that he knows, that
he hears, that he sees, God in human flesh. He came down, he
said, I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians.
I am come down, Christ came down to deliver us from the bondage
of sin, to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself, to put
away the curse of the law, to bring in an everlasting righteousness. That's the principal reason,
that's the first and primary reason why Christ came, to make
an end of all transgression, to put away this bondage of corruption
that we're under. Put it away. He came the first
time to deliver us from our sin. Know it or not, that's our greatest
need. He also, though, He also came
to allay all fears. All of us who've been subject
to fear, bondage, Hebrews said. in bondage, in the fear of death
and the unknown. We don't know what's going to
happen tomorrow, do we? We don't know what's going to
happen tomorrow, and so we're fearful. We're worried. You can't help
it if you're human. I said before, we talk about
a friend like Lee over in Iraq, under such danger and so forth. It's not sin, per se, to worry. It's love. It's love. If you love somebody, you're
worried about them. Every time my daughter gets in
the car at 5 a.m. to go to Roanoke, I worry about
her. Why? I don't believe God? Of
course I do. I love her. I don't want anything
to happen to her. Right? I have to absolutely commit
her and trust her. entrust her to God Almighty.
That's who has her anyway. But it's not sin and unbelief. Don't let anybody tell you that.
It is to worry anxiously and without any faith at all. And we're fearful. We don't know
what's going to happen tomorrow. Bless God and our Heavenly Father. Thanks be unto His holy name.
Like a father, pity of his children. So the Lord pitieth them that
fear him." He knows our frame. He knows that we don't know.
He knows that we don't know. He knows that we worry. He knows
that we're afraid. The disciples, oh, bless their
hearts. with the Lord for three and a
half years, all that they went through, all that the Lord did
for them sovereignly and miraculously, all that he provided them with.
They went three and a half years without working a job, without
making any money, without cooking a meal, without providing any
clothing, without any permanent dwelling place or shelter. They
had no lease, no rent, no anything. The Lord provided for them every
day. for three and a half years, yet
he was about to leave. And they were just distraught. They were distraught. Lord, don't
go. He said, I'm going away the way
you know. He don't know the way. We don't
know the way, Lord. That's what, was it Phillip said
that? We don't know the way, Lord. We don't know where you're
going. I am the wife. You know me. That's enough. I'm going, he said, I'm going
to prepare a place for you. I'm going to prepare a place
for you. In my Father's house are many dwelling places. And
if it were not so, who would have told you? And I go to prepare
a place for you. If I go, I'll come again. receive you unto myself." And
Christ came to allay all fears of the unknown. He came to allay
all fears of death. We fear death. Everybody in here
fears death. Yes, you do. This is the reason
human beings don't want to die. They'll fight it. They'll fight
it. They don't want to die. And we are human, and we don't
either. But when the time comes, God
will give that grace and make you ready. Like Paul, I'm ready
to depart. But he knows that we fear that.
It's unknown to us. We've never been there. We don't
know what's out there, Jamie. We don't know what's out there.
When somebody goes in a grave, really now, we don't know what.
But he does. How do we know? He died. Jesus Christ, God in human flesh,
came down here, and Peter and James and John and Thomas and
Donahue and Matthew and all of them said, we saw him. We saw
him take a spear and rip his side out. And all the blood flowed
out of his body, his lifeless body, dead. And take him down from that cross
and put him in a tomb and put a stone over it, no air, no possibility
that anybody could live in that. No, he's dead. We saw him, but
bless God, John and Peter and James and all of them said, we
saw him alive. He came out. Yes, and to emphasize
that, for forty days he stood on his herd and said, it's me,
it's me, it's me. I, and in Revelation he keeps
saying, I am he that was dead, but I am alive. And he said,
He that liveth and believeth in me shall never die. You believe that, Nancy Parks? Whew. Oh, I feel better about
death. Don't you? What have I got to worry about? I wouldn't have known unless
Christ came down. He died and He lived. He said, see, I wouldn't have come out of that
grave if I'm not who I am. And that makes everything I said
absolutely so. Absolutely. He said heaven and
earth will pass away. Not one word I've said. He laid all fears. Fear of judgment. John, he allayed all our fears
of judgment. Like to that woman, you know,
caught in the act. And we're caught in the act daily.
Daily. We're sinners. Daily. Caught
in the act by God's all-seeing eye. This is the reason David
said, against you, and you only are doing that. Men may not see
it, but God sees it. That's the reason it's against
Him. I see that, but God says, I don't condemn you. I'll go and sin no more. John,
that's what God says to us every time we sin. I don't condemn
you, but don't do it again. To allay all fears of judgment.
There is now, there is therefore now no condemnation. no condemnation to them that
are in Christ Jesus. No. Your past in God Almighty's
book and in God Almighty's mind and eye, your past, no matter
how bad, no matter how corrupt, no matter what it is, no matter
what it was, is gone. I mean, it's... But if you have
a shady past, this is wonderful. It's gone. Scripture says he's
going to look for it in the latter day. The iniquity of Israel shall
be sought. It's not there. Not there. It's gone. Every day, start with a clean
slate. Oh, man, that's shouting ground. I hear, I see, I know, and I
came now. And lastly, He came the first
time to do all that and more, to deliver us from the bondage
of sin, to put it away, to establish that righteousness, to allay
our fears, fears of death, judgment. He's coming again, coming again. Coming a second time, oh yeah,
He came the first time like He said He would. And he's coming
again. He's coming again to take us
completely out of Egypt. Completely! Came the first time to take away
our sin and the wrath and the curse and all. Gali's coming
again to take us home to a land flowing with milk and honey.
A large place. That means a lot of people can be there. Flowing
with milk and honey. The Hittites, Perizzites, all
that, that's a good picture of every tribe, kindred, nation,
and tongue under heaven going to be there. The people of the
world, yes. The people out of the world,
everybody. From Corn Valley to wherever
you're from, they're going to be there. Isn't that wonderful?
All right, I see. I hear. I know. Okay. I'm coming again. OK, well,
again, you've got to. Him number two ninety nine was
Stan. You sing the first and last verse. Day by day and with each passing
moment Strength I find to meet my trials here Trusting in my
father's wife he's shown I've no cause for worry or for fear
He whose heart is happy on all measure, Gives unto each day
what he deems best. Lovingly is part of faith and
pleasure, Fingling toil with peace and rest. Help me then in every tribulation,
so to trust Thy promises, O Lord. That I lose not face with consolation
offered me within Thy holy words. Help me, Lord, with toil and
trouble beating, Here to take as from my Father's hand. One by one, the days, the moments
fleeting, Till I reach the promised land. you. you.