Trust in the Lord with all thine
heart, and lead not unto thine own understanding. Now watch
this. In all thy ways, in all thy ways, acknowledge Him, and
He shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes,
fear the Lord, and depart from evil. Now, Psalm 91, verse 11. It said here, For He shall give
His angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. Acknowledge him in all thy ways,
and he shall direct thy steps. He shall give his angels charge
over thee to keep thee in all thy ways." Now I know when we live in this
world, and those of us that live in this world as believers, we
have our share of troubles. Yet God keeps us in safety. He
keeps us in safety. We've not failed, we've not left
the gospel, we've not left Christ, we've not left the church, we've
not left the Word, because God has kept us in safety. Wherever
we are, whatever we do, if we're walking in that way and we acknowledge
Him in our ways, Lord, it's not in me to know which way to go.
It's not in me to know what today will bring forth. It's not in
me. to know what I should do. So, Lord, You direct my steps.
Direct my steps. You direct my life for me. Don't
leave me to myself. Take over and direct my life.
Don't let me go and do and be. And so, see, if we're walking
in the way appointed by our God, He says here that we'll be kept
in our ways, that He'll direct our steps. And He guarantees
us here even the protection of angels. Now, primarily, this
is talking about our Lord Jesus Christ, but also us. Our Lord
Jesus Christ is the angel of the Lord, as He kept around about
them that fear Him. And the Scriptures tell us, be
careful who you offend, one of these little ones, to whom angels
always behold their Father, which is in heaven. Every believer
has an angel that stands and faces God Almighty for them.
And the angels are sent forth as ministering spirits to minister
to them that shall be heirs of salvation, that are the heirs
of salvation. Now, that's what the Scripture
says. And thy ways. What does the psalmist mean here
when he says, he'll keep thee in thy ways? Acknowledge the
Lord in all thy ways, and he shall direct thy paths. What
is this ways that we are? Well, look over with me. You
keep Psalm 89. Look with me on Job, Chapter
23. Believers' ways are different
than the ways of the world, and we'll see that in a bit. What
are the ways in which believers walk in this world? And I know
a lot of people over a lot of years. I mean, Bruce Crabtree
and I met in 1976. I started meeting these men who
believed the grace of God, and some of them here in 1977, 78,
79. And I've been here. I started pastoring this church
as Faith Chapel Baptist Church in 1979. And so here we are after
all these years. We know lots and lots of believers
and lots of people that's going on to be with the Lord. And lots
of them are walking with a very slow step and a very bent over
posture. A lot of them going on to be
with the Lord. We know a lot of believers and their ways.
They all walked the same way. They all had the same goal. They
all had the same objective. And look what is said here in
Job 23.10 when we talk about the ways in which believers walk
in this world. Proverbs, Job 23.10, But he knoweth,
who knows? God knows, the way that I take. When he hath tried me, I shall
come forth as gold. My foot has held his steps, His
way have I kept, and not declined, neither have gone back from the
lips of his commandment. I have steamed the words of his
mouth, not more than my necessary food." What God has to say for
me, where God directs me, I count that more than what I eat and
need for my own body. That's what he said. And that's
one of the last verses of scriptures that Scott Richardson read to
me over the phone one time. He says, this is the way we are,
this world. So the Lord knows the way I take.
And when He's tied me, I'm going to come forth to go. I'm not
turned back from His commandments. I'm not turned back from His
way. I'm not turned away from what He had to say. I look at
His Word and say, Lord, I need Your Word to direct me and guide
me while I live in this world. And I'll say this, beloved, that
God's ways are our ways. God's ways are our ways. Whatever
way that God does, that's our way. He cares for our persons. He cares for our ways. I noticed
a couple of weeks ago, a couple of little robins got out of their
nest. And I found them. And I moved them around so that
the cat wouldn't get them. And I took and hid them. And
then I, in a little while, I seen that big mama come down out of
that nest, the mama and the papa both, and they had, she'd go
and get them worms, you know them robins get them worms and
she'd go where they had them little babies in, and I'm watching,
she'd feed them babies on the ground until they got big enough
to fly. She had them all over the backyard, had them get, and
if a robin takes care of its baby, it can't
get back into the nest, it can't fly. and carries that thing from
one place to another and keeps it here and feeds them until
they get big enough to fly. What do you reckon God do for
us? I thought about that. I said, Mary, look at that rabbit
feed that big old baby. And you can watch them things
grow and grow and grow and grow. Next thing you know, they're
sitting on bottom limbs. Next thing you know, they're
hopping up on the fence. Next thing you know, they go.
But she took care of them, kept them here and took care of them.
And if the Lord does that, if the prophet does that, what do
you reckon God do for us? And I tell you, beloved, let's
don't be so much afraid of losing our home, and I hope nobody here
ever does. Let's don't be so much afraid
of losing our health or our liberty, our lives, but do be afraid of
this, of losing your way or leaving your way. It's when we get out
of our ways, The ways of God, the ways of Christ, that's when
we're in great danger. Proverbs 27.10 says this, and
you read that with me. Oh, we don't want to get out
of the way. We don't want to get out of God's way and the
way that we take now. And Proverbs 27.10 says this
about getting out of the ways. We don't want to get out of the
way. And it said here, Proverbs 27.10, 27.8, excuse me. As a bird that wanders from her
nest, so is a man that wanders from his place. Oh my, don't
wander from your place. As a bird that wanders from her
nest, so is a man that wanders from his place. Now back over
here this evening, we'll talk about thy ways and all thy ways. It's said here in Psalm 91-11,
For he shall give his angel charge over thee, to keep thee in all
thy ways." I want to talk about the ministry of angels towards
God's elect is threefold. First of all, they're official.
He shall give His angels charge. He shall command His angels.
He shall do it. God shall do it. This is a capacity
that God gave them. He shall give them charge. And
then it's personal. Over thee. He shall give them
charge over thee. And then it's constant, in all
thy ways, never no wavering, never no wavering. Now notice
that the word ways here, said he shall give his angels charge
over thee to keep thee in all thy ways. That word ways is plural,
not just a way, ways. Let's talk about some of the
ways of a believer, that he keeps his angels charge over to keep
him. I know this is the first way
of a believer, the first way. is the way of faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's the first way. That's
the way we come. That's the way God brought us.
He brought us to where we had faith in Christ and Christ alone. We, beloved, come to God in Christ,
and we believe God. We're like Abraham. We're like
Noah. We're like Abel. We're like Enoch. We're like Noah, we believe God. God made Himself known to us,
and He showed Christ to us, and now our way is by faith in Christ. The Scriptures tell us that the
just, the just shall live by what? Faith. Faith in who? Faith in a person, faith in Christ.
Paul says, we are not of them who draw back unto perdition,
but that they lead to the saving of the soul. And what is it,
the way of faith in Christ? The way of His obedience. I don't
have any obedience of my own that I can go to God with, but
I can go to God with obedience, His obedience. I can go to God,
I can't go to Him in my own righteousness, but I can go to God in the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ put on my tail. I can't wash my own
sins away, but I tell you what, Christ washed my sins away in
His own blood. And by faith in His blood, our
sins have been washed and put away. And He's the way of faith. He, we understand that Him as
our only way of acceptance with God. I never, never get wearier
saying that. That how in the world is a man
going to be accepted with God? If I have to give a reason for
my hope, I would have to say, He, Him, Christ, the Lord, Jesus,
the Son of God, How in the world is God going to accept me? We
are made accepted in the middle of Him. The Lord Jesus Christ
Himself says, no man comes unto the Father but by Me. So if I'm
going to go to the Father, I've got to come through the Lord
Jesus Christ. I've got to come in His name.
I've got to come in His person. I've got to come in His righteousness.
I've got to come in His blood. I've got to come in His work.
I've got to come in Him and Him alone. with nothing else to cling
to, belief in, hope in, trust in, just one person. Oh, and I tell you, He's our
mediator. How are we going to talk to God
through our Lord Jesus Christ? And I know this, beloved, that's
the way of the wise ways, is the way of faith in Christ. We
know nothing, can do nothing, have nothing, and are nothing
without Him. Paul says we walk by faith, not
by sight. If we walk by sight, you know
what happens? Steve said it today. He said, if you walk by sight,
you're going to stumble and fall in the bars real bad. And I tell
you, not only is it the way of faith in Christ, but it's the
way of obedience to Christ. I want to know what we... Dirk
prayed tonight. grow us in the grace and knowledge
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Men pray that way here all the
time. And if we want to grow in the grace and knowledge of
our Lord Jesus Christ, so when He speaks, we want to do His
will. When He says go here, we want
to go back. When He says call on Me, we call
on Him. When He burdens us to do something,
we do it. And look over here in Acts chapter
9. I'll tell you what, the way of
obedience, the believer is like his father Abraham. His father Abraham. Look at Acts
chapter 9, verse 4. When he says, Here am I, when
his master calls. He's like Samuel when he says,
Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth. He that walketh in Christ walks
in the light. He walks as Christ walked. And why did Christ walk? Our
Lord Jesus Christ walked in this world with His face set toward
the will of God, obedient to the Word of God, seeking nothing
but the will of God, and to honor His Father, and to love His people,
and to tell the truth to million women while they were in this
world. And that's what our Lord did. And that's the way we walk
in this world. And Paul, he's on the Damascus
Road. And look what it says here in Acts chapter 9 and verse 4.
Now Saul, he fell to the earth, and he heard a voice saying unto
him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, Who art
thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus,
whom thou persecutest. It's hard for thee to kick against
the pricks. Now the Lord told him who he
was. I'm the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm the one you've been persecuting.
I'm the one you hate. I'm the one you despise. I'm
the one who you think's an imposter." And then it says in verse 6,
"...and he trembling and astonished." I was astonished, too, when the
Lord put me down. I was astonished, too, to find
out I'd been religious without Christ. I was astonished, too,
that I didn't know Christ when Christ was made known. I was
astonished, too, that I knew so much about the Bible, but
didn't know that Christ was the message of the Scriptures. I
was astonished, too. And he says trembling and astonished,
he said, Lord, here's the first thing you said, what wilt thou
have me do? And he says, Lord, and the Lord
said unto him, Arise, and go in a city. And he said, and he'll
tell, I'll tell you what you must do. And, beloved, that's
what the Lord, Lord, whatever you will, that's what I will.
What you say, that's what I'll do. And, oh, beloved, that's
what we want more than anything else. He that comes to God must
believe that he is and that he's a rewarder of them that diligently
seek him, that he'll give them what he promised them. And not
only is our way the way of faith in Christ, the way of obedience
to Christ, but the way of trust in our Lord's providence in this
world. When we talk about God's providence,
what we mean is this, that God governs everything in this world,
especially in our lives. And that's what we mean by providential
rule. You know something will happen
that will be real good. You say, boy, that's God's providence.
It had to be God's providence. Well, it's God's providence no
matter what happens. It's God's providence if you
get a bad diagnosis from a doctor. It's God's providence if you
win a million dollars. It's God's providence that if
whatever, it's God's providence. There's nothing that happens
if God don't govern in this world. And especially, and that's why
Romans 8, 28 says, for we know Something we know. We're not
guessing about it, we're not wondering about it, we're not
pondering about it. We know. How do we know? The Spirit of
God taught us. The Scriptures taught us. God
taught us this. We know that all things—what
is all things? Well, everything. All things
work. They're working. God's constantly
moving and working in our hearts and in our lives and in this
world. And all things work, they work together. They all come
together. All things work together for
our good, to them who are the called according to His purpose.
And beloved, without suffering, I'll tell you something, I know
this, that without suffering, you're not going to enter into
glory. You're not going to do it. That's just everybody in
this world suffers. Everybody suffers. But when believers
suffer, they suffer. And well, let me just show you.
Look with me in Romans chapter eight. I'll tell you exactly
what I'm talking about. I talked to men about it back there this
evening. A dear sister called me about
a preacher friend of I love so much and his son's in trouble. His son's in an awful bad condition
in a hospital and they're in there. burdened about it, worried
about it, she called crying about it, and said, you know, he puts
on a good show, but I know he's hurting and he's hurt. And I
know this, it's said here in verse 18 of Romans 8. Now this
is the difference in believers in the world. The world, their
suffering, their suffering will always end in suffering. But
Paul said, for I reckon that the sufferings of this present
time, whatever that time is, and the sufferings you're going
through at this present time. And all of us at one time or
another, there's going to be a present time when we're suffering.
And you're suffering at this present time. They're not worthy. These sufferings are not worthy
to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
Our Lord Jesus told His disciples, He said, Ought not Christ who
has suffered to enter into His glory? Now you think about it,
you see somebody suffering, and they're hurting, and then they
go from here, from their suffering, and they go to glory. Do you
feel sorry for them, leaving here in that body, wracked with
pain, and wracked with sickness, and wracked with suffering, and
wracked with disease, for it to go from here to that? That
suffering here, that's not even, don't even mention it, compared
with what we're going to have in glory. And that's what we're
talking about. The believer's heart attitude
is in all things submission to the will of our Lord Jesus Christ
as things happen in this world. It may be painful. It hurts. It'll bring tears. It'll bring heartache. It'll
bring to where you can't breathe. It'll make you feel like you're
going to get sick. It'll take your sleep away from
you. But in all those things, we say, it's the Lord. Let Him
do what seems good, and He will give grace no matter what happens
in this world. And I'll tell you, He works all
things out to the counsel of His own will. And the only thing
you can say is, would you rather have His will or your will to
govern your life? Would you want to know what tomorrow
is going to bring? Or the day after tomorrow? But
God knows exactly what we need when we get it. And I'll tell
you something, beloved. The Lord's people, they do. They do. I mean, they kiss God's
hands in Providence. And they may be suffering deep
inside. They may even be questioning
the Lord. They may say, Lord, I can't bear it. I just can't
bear it. I just can't carry this. I can't deal with this. You may
say that to yourself, but I tell you what, in your heart of hearts,
you say, Lord, God, forgive me, help me, have mercy on me. Please
let my heart submit to you and help me not to murmur, not to
pray and to question. Now, we've been there. And let me tell you something
else about the ways, our ways, that we acknowledge in our ways. It's the way of honesty and uprightness
and integrity. The Lord's people are an honest
people, an upright people, and people who have some integrity.
When they tell you something, you can take it as the old saying
goes, you can carry it to the bank. You know, the Scriptures
tells us, Paul says, we want to live honestly in the sight
of all men. I mean, when it comes to money,
want to live honestly. When it comes to our homes, want
to live honestly. When it comes to the ministry,
want to live honestly. When it comes to taking care
of the affairs of other men, want to live honestly. When it
comes to opening up the Bible, want to face it honestly. Oh,
that's what the Scriptures tells us. Be, oh God, live honestly
in the sight. I'll tell you, there's four places
in the Scriptures that that's what it says. Live honestly in
the sight of all men. as much as life and living honestly.
Psalm 26, 14. 2 Corinthians 8, 21. Romans 12, 17. Hebrews 13, 8.
2 Corinthians 1, 12. All these things we renounce. We just renounce the hidden things
of dishonesty. We renounce it. When as a person,
whenever you get to where you can't trust somebody, it's awful
to lose trust in somebody. It's awful to be able to not
take somebody at their word. It's awful when you know somebody,
when they're opening their mouth, their lips are moving, you almost
mark it down that they're not telling the truth. It's awful
for people to be like that. But we're not that way, and we're
not going to be that way. The believer's a man honest in
all things. He's honest in all things. He
pays his bills. He speaks the truth. If he tells
you something, you say, well, you know, and there's people
in this building right now, if they told you something, you
say, boy, he said it, it must be so. That's the way you are
about people. You know that they're telling
you, he pays his bills, he speaks the truth, he walks up brightly. And let me tell you who he's
honest with. The first person he's honest with, he's honest
with God. We're honest with God. We got to be honest with God. The Lord knows us. I thought
this, Lord, and You know I thought this. Lord, You know I said this.
Lord, You know I felt that. Lord, You know that pride. You
know that envy. You know that jealousy that I
have. You know that time that I thought this and I said that.
So we're honest with God. We're honest with His Word. If
the Word condemns us, the Word finds us guilty, the Word hits
us right in our heart, right where we're living, we say, it's
God's Word. That's just the way it is. And
not only that, but we're honest with men's souls. If we have
an opportunity to ever talk to somebody, we tell them the truth
from the Scripture, what God says about men and women. And
I'll tell you something, old Barnard, and Brad mentioned it
to me the other day. He said, honest men don't go
to hell. Honest men don't go to hell. They don't. And you say, well,
there's a lot of honest people. No, no. How many people you know
are honest with God? How many people you know are
honest with His Word? Of all the people you know, how
many of your family members are honest with God's Word? And you've
got a lot of folks that's in religion. That's in services
somewhere. How many people you know would
be honest with a man's soul and not try to win him to Jesus,
but just convince him of a few words? How many people are honest? I mean, honest with God, honest
with His Word. And that's why I say that a believer's
way is a way of uprightness and honesty and integrity. And not
only that, but a believer's ways They're a way of consecrated,
dedicated service, commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ for
the glory of God. I mean, we want to live to the,
we want our lives committed to Christ for the glory of God.
Paul said in Romans 12, verse 1, I beseech you, brethren, by
the mercies of God. That's a pretty good motivating.
I beseech you, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present
your bodies." You know, when they offered sacrifice, they
brought a body under the law. They brought a body. And they brought that body to
offer it as a sacrifice, to burn it, to offer it as a burnt offering,
to offer it as a peace offering. And that's why Paul said, I beseech
you, brethren, to present your bodies, but not as a sacrifice
to be burned, but as a living sacrifice. And holy, W-H-O-L-L-Y,
completely. And that's just your reasonable
service. That's just, that's the reasonable thing to do. And
don't be conformed to this world. Don't be conformed to it. And
I'll tell you, Paul was getting ready to go preach, and they
sent Barnabas and some other brethren with him, and the Scripture
says they sent men with him that hazarded their lives for the
Lord Jesus Christ. Hazarded their lives. Hazarded
their lives. I know the believers are persons
whose heart and life is consecrated to Christ. I know you go out
and you work, you do, you get up in the morning, you go where
you go, and you do what you do. But how far is Christ from your
thoughts? How far is Christ from your heart? How far is Christ
from your life, when you're just going on about your daily life? Our hearts and lives are consecrated
to Him. When Christ, who is our life,
shall appear, He is our life. Paul said, Christ is my life,
the life that I now live in the flesh. I live it by the faith
of the Son of God, who loves me and gave Himself for me. Now, it's not perfect. It's not
a perfect consecration, but it's sincere, and it's growing. It's growing. Hopefully, it's
growing. And let me tell you another way
of the Lord's people. It's a way of separation from
the world. Look with me in 2 Corinthians 6. It's the way of separation
from the world. Now, when we talk about the world,
we're talking about not We're talking about a system, a nature,
a way of thinking, a way of living, a way of acting. The way of the
world is a way of pride and arrogance and presumption and ambition
and avarice, a way of sinfulness and self-will
and pride and self-aggrandizement and everything that's contrary
to the grace of self-promotion. The way of the world is a way
that's just, it's everything against God and everything against
Christ. And we go out in the world, we
own cars, everybody, we wear cars, we wear clothes, we go
to eat, and we try to dress nice, we don't. It's not the fashion
of the world. It's the way the world thinks,
and acts, and moves, and its ambitions, and its lies, and
its deceptions, and its power, and its prosperity, and its materialism,
and its covetousness, and its greed, and its presumption, and
its arrogance, and its self-will. It's everything that's contrary
to the grace of God and God Himself. It's against God. It's against
God. And the believers are separated
from that world. He don't want to be in that world.
He don't want to be in that place of such competition, and ambition,
and pride, and self-will, and anger, and such sinful ways. And people anymore, we're, you
know, they're... You know, homosexuality now,
the fact that it would be brought out that homosexuals could be
married, men could be married to men and women to women, that
should never be mentioned in public. And now it's the way
of the world, that's what I'm talking about. It's the way of the world that
men and women don't get married, they just live with one another.
And glory in it. And brag about it. And we're separate from that. I don't want to be mixed up in
a world like that. I've got to go out there. Like
old John Newton said, when we go out in the world to do business,
we go out like a fella's going out in a rainstorm. He goes out
there and stays and get in and out just as fast as he can because
he knows he'll get soaked and wet. But oh, look what it said
here in 2 Corinthians 6.14. Thee not unequally yoked together
with unbelievers. You ever seen a horse and a mule
yoked together? Yoked together? The door. An
ox and a horse? That's what he's saying here.
You just do not do that. And he says here you take a believer
and we're yoked with Christ. We have this yoke with Christ.
And so you're a believer, don't you be unequally yoked with unbelievers.
Why? We're unequal. We're unequal
in our standing. We're unequal in our state. We're
unequal in the way we think, the way we look at things. In
our hearts, we're new creatures. We've got a new nature. And they
don't. So we'll be unequally yoked up with them. For what
fellowship has righteousness with unrighteousness? Here we're
righteous people. What fellowship are we going
to have with the unrighteous out there? In what communion
have light with darkness? What fellowship and union has
light and darkness? I'll turn out the lights, and
there'll be dark coming, but it gets real dark to turn out
the light. The light's gone, so let the light and darkness
kick well together. And look what he says, in what
concord, what alliance has Christ with Belial, the devil? For what part hath he that believeth
with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple
of God with idols? And you're the temple of God.
As God has said, I'll dwell in them and walk in them and I'll
be their God and they'll be my people. If we're the temple of
God, what agreement would our temple have with any kind of
an idol? And that's what he's talking about. The believer willingly
separates himself from the things of the world, the ways of the
world, the people of the world, and especially the religion of
this world. To be a friend of the world is
to be at enmity with God. And then let me tell you lastly,
the way that the Lord keeps us in the way of a believer is the
way of the cross. Look with me in Luke 14. The
way of the cross. You know, this is our way. We're talking about, He shall
keep thee in all thy ways, acknowledge thy ways, and the Lord shall
direct thy steps. The way of the cross. The way
of the cross. And you know the way of the cross,
you know what happens to people on the cross? They die. They
die on the cross. It's a way of shame. It's a way
of death. It's a way of being identified
with our Lord Jesus Christ. He said here in verse 25, our
Savior speaking, it's a way of death and shame and rejection.
And there went great multitudes with him, and he turned and said
unto them, If any come to me, and hate not his father, and
mother, and wife, and children, and brothers, and sisters, yea,
and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple." What do you
reckon our Lord means by that? That means that you must absolutely
come to me with lots, stock, and all everything you've got.
You can't say, I want my mother more than I want Christ. You can't say, I want my sister,
I want my brother. I mean, beloved, those, as much
as we love them, when it comes to this business of Christ, it's
just you and Him. That's what our Lord's saying.
It's just you and Him. How many of you got unconverted
loved ones, husbands and wives, and yet you keep coming, coming
and coming and coming? Why do you do that? Because you
know that you must have Christ. You must have Christ. Because
these earthly relationships is coming to an end. But this relationship
is eternal. And once you ever have to have
Christ, you've got to have Him, regardless of whatever else happens
in this world. And look what Elmer says, And
who doeth not bear his cross, and come after me? He can't be
my disciple either. I can't teach him nothing. I
won't teach him anything. That's what a disciple is, a
follower, a learner. And then he gives us an illustration
of it. He says, you know, which of you intending to build a tower
says, knock down first, and he counts the cost, whether he has
enough to finish it. If not one of us had ever started
to build a barn, or started to build a shed, or started to build
a house, started to build a garage, and we didn't sit down and say,
now how much is this going to cost me? And if you didn't have
it to do it, you didn't start it. And that's what our Lord
says, if you don't follow Me, you count the cost. And then He goes on to say, after
He's laid the foundations, not able to finish it, everybody
says, boy, that guy was a fool. That fellow was a fool. He started
this house. He started this place to dwell
in. And he didn't count the cost, and there it is, it's half finished,
and he ain't got nowhere to live, and now it's all just a shambles
now, because he has walked off and left, and he couldn't finish.
And everybody said, boy, that guy, man, I tell you, he's not
very bright. And this man began to build,
not able to finish. And then he goes on to say, give
us another illustration. And he said, what king? going
to make war against another king. He says down first, he calls
his generals in, calls his warriors in and says, now, will we be
able to meet 10,000? We got 10,000 and there's 20,000
coming to meet us. That's two to one. You reckon
we'd be able to meet them? You reckon we'll be able to win
this war? You reckon we'll be able to stand off this army?
Or else, while the others are a great way off, he sends an
ambassador. And he says, listen, it's two to one. We can't win
this war. I want conditions of peace. I want to make peace. And that's what our Lord said,
and this is what he said, so likewise, whosoever he be of
you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple. And let me tell you something.
And a person will do that not being aware that he's ever done
it until he's done it. You don't know you've done it
until you've done it. You don't even think about things like
that when you come to Christ. But that's what our Lord says.
It's the way of the cross. The believer willingly takes
up his cross and follows his Master, day by day, regardless
of cost or consequences. He sees to do his will and puts
his life, his home, his home, his children, everything he has,
he puts it at the will of Christ and under His subjection to do
with it as He will. Your home? My home is His. My body's His. My marriage's
His. My children's His. My grandchildren's
His. My life's His. My finances are
His. What is not His? And that's just
honest. What in the world do we have
that He didn't give us? Huh? So whenever you come to
Christ, you don't sit down and say, well, well, well. I don't
know if I can be a believer or not. I don't know if I can do...
When you come to Him, you just come. Don't you? Oh, Savior, Savior, Savior, Savior. Oh, our Savior, our Savior, our
Savior. Our Lord Jesus, O our great God
and Savior, how blessed, how glorious, how
holy, how gracious, how kind, how compassionate, how tender,
how patient, how gracious You are to us, to Your dear saints
in this world. And, Father, You always keep
us, always keep us. Even when we don't know which
way to go and sometimes take the wrong step, You keep us. And we turn around and acknowledge
our ways. And so, Lord, we don't want our
way. We don't want our will. Direct our steps. Order our lives. as seemeth good in Your sight.
We ask these things in Christ's holy name. Amen. Amen.