All right, let's go ahead and
we'll turn over in your Gadsby hymn books to hymn number 354. 354. All you people back that way,
look up here. Don't be looking down there,
otherwise it'll be like those churches that watch their preachers
on a big screen in some other location. Hymn number 354. Our eyes gravitate. I find that I've been to concerts
where they got the big screens for people in the back. I tend
to watch the big screen more than I do the actual live action
or a football game or something like that. 354 Saints in the hand of Christ.
We'll sing this to the tune of Amazing Grace. Firm as the earth, thy gospel
stands. My hope, my hope, my trust, if
I am found in Jesus' hands. My soul, can ne'er be lost. His honor is engaged to save
the meanest of His sheep. All that His Heavenly Father
gave, His hands securely keep. Nor death, nor hell shall ever
remove His favorites from His breast. In the dear bosom of
His love, they must forever rest. What a good hymn. I love that
line that says, His honor is engaged to save. That's what
comes down to the root of the matter, to me at least, these
opposing doctrines of salvation, whether it be the true gospel
that teaches a finished, completed work of Christ without any assistance
by man, or whether it is a supposed salvation that's left up to the
will of man. It comes down to this very thing,
the honor of Christ. It comes down to Him. Either
his sacrifice was accepted or it wasn't. Either he's a savior
or he's not. And so, at the end of the day,
it all comes down to a dishonoring of Christ whenever we teach and
preach a gospel that is contingent upon the action or reaction of
man. It just dishonors Christ. It's
saying that he was not enough. He did not finish the job. He
did not do all that he was given to do and agreed to do within
that eternal covenant. And so I love that verse. His honor is engaged to save
the meanest of his sheep. All that his heavenly father
gave his hands securely keep. What a blessed truth that is.
We'll turn with me now, if you would, over to hymn number 369.
Hymn number 369, we'll sing this to the tune of the doxology. How pleasant, how divinely fair,
O Lord of hosts, Thy dwellings are! With long desire my spirit
faints, To meet the assemblies of Thy saints. Blessed are the saints who sit
on high Around the throne of majesty Thy brightest glory shine
above And all their work is praise and love Blessed are the souls
that find a place Within the temple of Thy grace There they
behold Thy gentler rays And seek Thy face and learn Thy praise
Blessed are the men whose hearts are set to find the way to Zion's
gate. God is their strength and through
the road they lean upon their helper God. Does anybody have any him that
you'd like to request this morning? The Lord's laid on your heart
this week or this morning? If we don't, we can learn it You say 487? Yeah. Not one off for me. Which brother? I love the quietness of the morning,
the peaceful beauty of the day. I love to go where to my hour,
and humbly bow my head and pray. O may His grace and mercy guide
me, When life is finished, I can say, when the evening sun is
setting, I have walked with God today. Oh, what a joy and peace
it gives me to talk to Jesus in a prayer. It gives me hope
and consolation. It lifts me from my every care. Oh, may His grace and mercy guide
me. When life is finished, I can
say, when the evening sun is setting, I have what we've got
today. Things seem brighter in the morning,
as God so boldly shows his face. Makes me want to shout his praises,
and thank him for amazing grace. Oh, may his grace and mercy guide
me When life is finished, I can say, when the evening sun is
setting, I have walked with God today. That's a very good song. Enoch wasn't the only one to
walk with God. All his children get to walk
with him. Anybody else have one that you'd
like to sing? How about in your blue book,
in number 59. In number 59, Hallelujah Christ is Risen. You can see there, this is to
the tune of Revive Us Again. The name of the Lord is our great
and high town. We run to Him trusting His infinite
power. I'm sorry, I picked the wrong
tune again. Revive Us Again. The name of
the Lord Somebody want to help me out
with that tune? Let's start with the chorus. I think that will get me going.
Okay. Hallelujah, Christ is reigning. Praise Jehovah, our God. Sovereign Savior, we will praise
you. We trust you, our God. The name of the Lord is our great
and high... I'm sorry, brother. I'm sorry. I get it in my head and I can't
get it out for some reason. I tell you what, let's just say
it, talk it. How about that? Read it in Eucharist.
The name of the Lord is our great and high tower. We run to him
trusting his infinite power. Hallelujah, Christ is reigning. Praise Jehovah, our God. Sovereign
Savior, we will praise you. We trust you, our God. Our Savior
who died to atone for our sins is exalted on high and he sovereignly
reigns. Hallelujah, Christ is reigning. Praise Jehovah, our God. Sovereign
Savior, we will praise you. We trust you, our God. Though
tempted and tried, we are not in despair. Our Savior is ruling,
so why should we fear? Hallelujah, Christ is reigning. Praise Jehovah, our God. Sovereign
Savior, we will praise you. We trust you, our God. Yes, Satan
may roar, but he cannot devour, for Jesus has broken the serpent's
dread power. Hallelujah, Christ is reigning. Praise Jehovah, our God. Sovereign
Savior, we will praise you. We trust you, our God. God's
sovereign decree and his covenant shall stand, and all who trust
Jesus are safe in his hand. Hallelujah, Christ is reigning.
Praise Jehovah, our God. Sovereign Savior, we will praise
you. We trust you, our God. Amen. Sorry, I just couldn't get that
tune going in my head. Alright, well let's bow and we'll
have a word of prayer and we'll head and start into our lesson
this morning. Gracious Heavenly Father, we
do come to you this morning. We thank you so much for Jesus. We thank you for the time that
we have together together. We thank you for the cool weather
and the rain that you brought our way the last few days, Lord,
and what a blessing it's been. And we ask you this morning to
continue to bless as we gather around your word. I pray, Lord,
for each one that's here that you might minister to their heart
and edify your people. I pray, Father, that you might
govern my speech, that you might help me, Father, to preach the
truth, and that I might not preach the things on my own devices,
but Lord, I just ask that today that everything will be done,
pleasing to you and honoring to you as we gather around this
time together. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Well turn with me if you would
over to 2 Corinthians. 2 Corinthians chapter 2 and we're going to
be reading a passage of scripture here momentarily. couple verses i guess from uh...
second corinthians but uh... secretary is kept is what will
be at first again we're continuing on our subject of the doctrines
of grace and uh... we uh... cover quite a bit of
territory over the last few months and uh... we are uh... now currently
speaking about the uh... preservation of god and the perseverance
of his people and uh... we're going to continue lord
willing in that today and uh... see how far we get i imagine
we'll probably Wrap this up today. I've got a pretty good handful
of verses to look at today. And again, not the most exhaustive,
although some may listen to these and say this is pretty exhaustive,
but definitely doesn't cover everything that the scriptures
teach about these things. But what I really have wanted
to do throughout this whole entire series in the doctrines of grace
is to take each topic or each point and go through and show
How they are found in many, many, many places that we're not just
hen-pecking just a couple of few verses to our liking, but
how these coherently flow throughout all of Scripture and even incorporate
in those verses that seemingly contradict what we believe. But
whenever you see the fuller range of what these topics teach and
why, do we believe that people freely come to Christ? Absolutely.
Do we believe that Christ says, Come unto Me, all ye who are
weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest? Absolutely. Do
we believe that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord
shall be saved? Absolutely. But the context of Scripture
defines and tells us how that is. And a lot of times people,
we like to, and especially in this day and time, we like everything
so condensed down for just so quick a consumption, just give
me the main points quickly. I've got a lot to do, I've got
to move on. And everybody wants to take something that the scriptures
teach and they teach sometimes, you can't go to just one verse
and say there it is, right there. Sometimes you have to see the
tenor of scripture and what it teaches about something and you
just can't just dive in real quick and just say this is what
it means and this is what it says. that you have to look at
it from different angles and different places in scripture
to see that at the end of the day this is what is revealed
about that certain topic or doctrine or whatever it is. And so as
we look at some of these issues the gospel isn't just a quick
little nutshell of Jesus died, was buried, and was resurrected.
Salvation isn't just accepting Jesus Christ and be forgiven
of your sins. I mean, that's not the gospel. The gospel is a whole lot more.
That's why whenever Jesus told that first church, he said, go
into all the world and make disciples." And he said, teaching them all
things whatsoever I've commanded. I was sharing this with my dad,
my stepdad, yesterday. Me and him was visiting a little
bit before they left. And I said, you know, whenever
he says teaching them all things whatsoever I commanded, he's
not saying teach them my commandments. Only he's saying everything that
I've commanded you to teach them. See Jesus spent all that time
with his apostles in that first church as they were gathered
together and walking around and spending the times together that
they spent the times together gathered. He was instructing
not only the apostles as the layer and foundation, but he
also was teaching the other brethren these doctrines and It was the
whole of everything that he was teaching them that he said, that's
what you're to teach these people. Whenever they come, whenever
I have sovereignly given them life and they have been brought
by me, then you teach them all the things whatsoever I've commanded
you to teach them. And they diligently did those
things. And brethren, I can tell you, it wasn't in just an afternoon
that they were able to teach those things. I mean, there was
a residual gathering. There was the assumption that
they would be brought back into the fellowship of all those Christians
and be shared with and edified by each brethren. And they would
be taught the things that Christ had commanded them to share with
everybody as the Gospel went out from Jerusalem. in Jerusalem
and then out from Jerusalem and so we can't just stand here and
just say well we believe in preservation and here's one verse that backs
our thing because the person who believes in free will or
the person that believes that someone can lose their salvation
can go and find a verse to counteract that one and say, well, here's
my verse, and it counteracts your verse. And so here we are all
day long shooting back verses of Scripture back and forth to
each other. Most of the time, though, we find that they take
them out of context. You know, choose you this day
whom you will serve. They take that out of Ezekiel, or excuse
me, Joshua, the account with Joshua. Ezekiel, you know, God doesn't desire the death
of the wicked. and uh... these types of things you know
they take about a context you can have a counter verse which
counter verse needs to be in context so my my hope of my thought
as as uh... gathering all these verses is
to show that it isn't just one or two little segmented verses
but it is the whole tenor of scripture teaches this and as
we look at inability as we look at election, as we look at atonement,
as we look at the giving of grace, as we look at preservation, as
we look at all these aspects of grace, we find at the very
heart of that is a finished work of Jesus, a purpose of God, a
finished work of Jesus, something that is taught throughout all
the scripture. The total inability of man is
taught from beginning to end. The unconditional election of
God is taught from beginning to end. The successful atonement
of Jesus Christ is taught from beginning to end. The overcoming
grace of God in the hearts of men are taught from beginning
to end. And the preservation of God's
people predicated upon that finished work of Jesus Christ is taught
throughout all of Scripture. So I hope that what little surface
that we have scratched has been edifying and helpful in our understanding
of these things. 2 Corinthians chapter 4 and verse
14 we come down today again as we continue in preservation a
verse of scripture that says knowing that he which raised
up the Lord Jesus shall I'm sorry 2nd Corinthians 2 14 now thanks
be unto God which always causes us to triumph in Christ and maketh
manifest the savor of His knowledge by us in every place." So here
Paul is giving thanks to God which causes us to triumph in
Christ Jesus. So the point of this here is
that it is God working in us that causes us to triumph in
Christ. It isn't us holding ourselves
up. It isn't us choosing to let God. This right here says, thanks
needs to be given to God because God causes us. If you remember back earlier
in some of our verses that we looked at, we've seen that He
gives us a new heart and causes us to walk in His statues. So the cause of us choosing to
do God's will, choosing to do His obedience, the obedience
to what the Bible says, all still comes from God. That's governed
by God, enabled by God, powered by God, purposed by God. And here again we find that it
says the same thing here in the New Testament. The Holy Spirit
has given Paul to say the same thing that He gave Ezekiel to
write down. It is God which always causes us to triumph in Christ,
and maketh manifest the savor of His knowledge by us in every
place. As Paul and any of the other
apostles or any other preacher of the Gospel, or any other saint
that shares the testimony of Scripture, goes about and shares
these things, it manifests the savor of the knowledge that was
given to you by God. Here again, not only does this
show the preservation of God, but it also shows that the in-working
of God and even the knowledge of God is something that can't
be done except He do it. It is God that causes us to triumph
in Christ and make manifest the savor of His knowledge. The only
reason I can get up here and share the knowledge of what this
scripture says or the knowledge about Christ, if it be the truth,
is because God has caused me to do that. If you're to share
with a loved one or a friend or a relative or an acquaintance
that you know or someone you come in contact with any kind
of truth that is the true knowledge about Christ and about His Word,
It's because God has caused you to manifest the savor of His
knowledge. It isn't because we're just good
orators or it's because of our studious abilities, but God has
done that. There's a lot of times that I've
prepared sermons in the past where I've written in length
little transcripts for me to follow to keep me on board and
on track and all the thoughts down that I want to get in. And
by the end of that, I've went off track somewhere. And a lot
of times, it's just not good. And there's a lot of times that
I've not done any of that, but God has brought those things
to my understanding and my memory. And truth was told. And so if any truth is told,
it's because of God. I don't stand here and I don't
think anybody would. Brother Larry would probably
agree to this. You know, he just mentioned a
while ago about all the messages that he's put on Sermon Audio.
You know, probably a lot of those, there was some preparation for
that. A lot of that probably was for the lack of an expression,
shooting from the hip, but it's the things that the Lord teaches
us. So that's another thing that I've learned to understand about
the people of God, especially the preachers that God has called
to preach, is that He gives them to know this Word, and it's something
that they know. It isn't something that they
regurgitate, necessarily. It isn't something that they
have to go and line out and make sure that everything, all their
P's and Q's are in the right thing. They know it and they're able
to get up and preach it and teach it and talk about it at any time,
at any place because they know it. It's something that the Lord
has taught them and given them to share. And that's with everybody,
not just with preachers. I just was specifically using
preachers in an environment where they will be up teaching and
preaching before a congregation or something. But all of us,
you know, God has given us that knowledge, but He's caused us
to have that knowledge. It isn't just something that's
innate in us. He's given us that knowledge. But I love it because
Paul gives thanks to God. He didn't thank the Corinthians. You know, we see a lot of people
in modern day Churches good morning We see people in a lot of modern-day
churches and a lot of Thanksgiving and praise goes to The preacher
goes to the singers goes to the teachers or whoever you know
As a matter of fact, we were somewhat joking about this a
few weeks ago, but it actually happens. You go through a lot
of churches and you see dedicated to this person, to this person,
all these little plaques of everything praising the person because of
their supposed duty to the Lord, their service to the Lord. What
did Paul do? Did they triumph in Christ? Yeah, they did. Did they have
a knowledge and share that knowledge of God? Yes, they did. But who
was the thanks given to? It wasn't the thanks to the apostles
or to the Corinthian church. The thanks was given to God.
He said, Thanks be unto God that you have triumphed in Christ
and maketh manifest the savor of His knowledge Brethren, we should do that.
And I've preached at a lot of Bible conferences before, and
people like to come and shake your hand and tell you thank
you and share with you that that blessed their heart or something
to that effect. And I can understand that. Whenever somebody has preached
something or shared something and it has touched me, I know
that the Lord has done that, but I still like to go and shake
their hand and tell them how much I appreciate that message. And I'm not necessarily
against that kind of stuff. But boy, I tell you what, a lot
of times we parade things around Like it's all about us and it's
all about what we've done and about all about how good we Proclaim
the message and all this kind of stuff and it's not about that
And really to me. I'm awkward in those situations.
I I get a little Nervous in those situations because I don't I
don't want that credit I I don't want that credit. That belongs
to the Lord. If I did say anything of the
truth that ministered to your heart, that was the Lord. That
wasn't me. Sometimes shaking hands out there,
I understand the sentiment there. But the only thing I can think
to do is just when people do that, I just say, well, praise
the Lord. I mean, because that's all I can say. I mean, I can't
say, well, you're welcome, because it wasn't from me. It was from
the Lord. You know, it's it's all about
him. And I think this is what Paul
is getting across here, that any time that A child of grace
is caused to triumph in Christ or to manifest the savor of His
knowledge. Thanks should be to God for that. He is causing us to persevere. Any questions or any comments
on any of that? 2 Corinthians chapter 4, if you
would please. 2 Corinthians chapter 4. Starting in verse 1, let me read
down. It says, Therefore, seeing we have this ministry, as we
have received mercy, we faint not, but have renounced the hidden
things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the
word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth,
commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight
of God. But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are
lost. In whom the God of this world
hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light
of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should
shine unto them. For we preach not ourselves,
but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus'
sake. For God, who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in
earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God and
not us." We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the
excellency of the power may be of God and not of us." And then
he goes into this. He says, "...we are troubled
on every side, yet not distressed. We are perplexed, but not in
despair. Persecuted, but not forsaken. Cast down, but not destroyed.
Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus,
that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.
For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus'
sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our
mortal flesh. So then death worketh in us,
but life in you. We, having the same spirit of
faith, according as it is written, I believed and therefore have
I spoken, we also believe and therefore speak. knowing that
he which raiseth up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also
by Jesus and shall present us with you. For all things are
for your sakes that the abundant grace might, through the thanksgiving
of many, rebound to the glory of God. For which cause we faint
not? The glory of God, that is. The
which cause is the glory of God. For the which cause we faint
not? But though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is
renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which
is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and
eternal weight of glory, while we look not at the things which
are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things
which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not
seen are eternal." Now, that whole chapter there is talking
about the persevering of the child of grace. And if you'll
notice in verse 5, Paul makes this statement, For we preach
not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord. We see that he says
in verse 7, But we have this treasure in earthen vessels,
that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not us. And then we find in verse 15,
down towards the end, we see that all of this, all things
are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through
the thanksgiving of many rebound to the glory of God. and for that cause we faint not."
Brethren, the whole reason that God causes us to persevere is
for His glory. I mean, you think about that.
If God has already spoken in times past and even currently,
just not long before this was even written through Jesus Christ
about the work of salvation that He was going to do, how He was
going to save His people from their sins, how in three days
that body was going to be taken down and then it was going to
rise again, and that He was going to build His church, that He
was going to gather His people, He was going to teach them, and
that that message was going to spread throughout all the known world. I mean, there's something there,
some promises that not only the Old Testament taught, but also
Jesus in the New Testament was telling about this so great salvation. And for that to be left to the
inability of man to perpetuate is crazy. enlist all of these things that's
going to take place to that child of grace and to give those over
into the hands of fickle man, to give them into the hands of
a man who always looks to the arm of the flesh apart from Christ,
who thinks he can do it, who thinks he can complete it, who
thinks he is able, but yet the Scripture is clear that he's
not able. I mean, that right there is not wisdom. I mean, even in my tainted wisdom,
I can see that that is not wise for God to leave anything to
spiritually dead man. Or even to spiritually alive
man who still is housed in the flesh. These things are not wise choices. And we know that
God is all wise. But we see here that all these
things are for His glory. The whole purpose of our persevering
is for Him to be glorified. And as I was beginning to say,
if He left that to us and we did not attain to that end, then
there would be no glory there. Matter of fact, there would be
shame. There'd be dishonor. We was talking about this a while
ago about the hymn that we were singing. To me, it all comes
down to the honor of Christ, the glory of God. And I know,
I hear people say it all the time, that they believe that
God is honored and glorified even in letting us have choice.
That He is still sovereign even in letting us have choice. Guys,
at the end of the day, that's hogwash. That is hogwash. God cannot relinquish His control
to anything. He is actively caring about all
of His purposes. And He is the one who is doing
it. faithful is He who called you, He will do it." I'm kind
of jumping ahead, but He will do it. You're not going to do
anything. If you do anything, guess what? We're going to pat ourselves
on the back. We have room to glory. Rightfully so, we have
room to glory. If we keep ourselves in the faith,
We have room to glory. If we bring ourselves into salvation,
we have room to glory. If somebody did that, I would
say that that is to their glory. Hey, if you made it to heaven
without Jesus Christ, hey buddy, you need a trophy of some kind.
Because none of the rest of us did. None of the rest of us could
do that. The Bible says that He'll share
His glory with no one. Even those who He loves, He's
not going to share that glory with anyone. Are we going to
be glorified? Absolutely we'll be glorified.
Are we joint heirs with Jesus? We learned that last week. Yes,
we are joint heirs with Jesus. But brethren, don't think that
we are going to be on the same level as God. That we are going
to be worshipped by all of creation as God. No sirs. No ma'ams. We are not. We are
going to be falling on our faces before this God and thanking
Him as Paul did for the grace and the mercy that He's given
to us. Troubled on every side, but not distressed. Perplexed,
but not in despair. Persecuted, but not forsaken.
Cast down, but not destroyed. Why? Because the glory of God. We faint not. He will cause us to persevere.
Look with me at verse 14 there. It says, "...knowing that He
which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise us also by Jesus
and shall present us with you." Now is that a promise of God? He said, Knowing this, this is a knowledge
that was given to Paul, that was given to the Corinthians,
and I'm sure to every other congregation that Paul preached and laid these
foundational truths to, something that they knew. We were talking
a while ago, teaching them all things whatsoever I have commanded
you to teach them. Paul was teaching them and had
taught them that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise
up us also by Jesus and shall present us with you." See, that's
the hope that we have, brethren, that one of these days that we
may die in this lifetime, but we will be raised up. And we
will be presented to Christ Jesus. He will be our Savior, our Lord,
our Husband, and we will be presented to Him. And Paul had this confidence
that not only him and the apostles and all those who were apart
from this church here in Corinth, but everyone in that church too
would be presented all together as one people to God for His glory. Now if that's
a promise of God, do you believe that the promises of God can
be broken? These people that believe that we can lose our
salvation and fall away from the faith and apostatize, how
can that be so? Again, as I said last week, that
doesn't mean that they're not going to be sometimes seasons
of doubt, seasons of backsliding. But brethren, they're not going
to stay that way. You know, we even talk about whenever someone
goes out of the church with Peter and he says, you know, they went
out from us because they were not of us. If they go out from us,
I guarantee you the Holy Spirit will bring them back. The Holy
Spirit will bring them back if they are the child of grace.
They cannot fall away. Any thoughts on that? I just find it overwhelming in
this chapter, all the things that, and I didn't really harbor
on all the particulars that are going to come against us, but
I mean you look at that, troubled on every side. Let me
ask you, have you been troubled on every side? We have a lot
of troubles in this life, but can you say you're troubled on
every side? Perplexed? I've often been perplexed. Persecuted? Very much so. I've been persecuted a lot. Not
to the point of physical torture or death, but yes, there's a
lot more persecution that goes on than just that. Cast down? Absolutely. We see
these things are turmoils of this life. I'm reminded of what
Jesus said, in this life you'll have much tribulation. He said that if they hate me,
they're going to hate you. That this isn't going to be an
easy road. These faith and health and wealth guys on TV that preach
that Christianity is all a bed of roses, and piles of cash are
sorely mistaken and ignorant of scripture, if not completely
and totally a reprobate and a false teacher of God or false teacher
of Satan. I find that we in this life,
as Jesus said, encounter a lot of tribulation. And that whenever
we stand for the truth of God's Word, we stand for the Christian
principles, the things of Scripture, that there will be persecution.
People will hate us, even among the religious people. Matter
of fact, mostly by the religious people, we're going to find that
persecution. But yet, in all of this, He has
promised that we will be held up. Troubled on every side, yet not
distressed. Let me ask you, whenever you're
troubled on every side, do you get distressed? We are perplexed, but not in
despair. Persecuted but not forsaken.
You know, I find that a lot of times Christians seem to have
those characteristics when things come. You know what the antidote
for that is? Other than God's grace in you,
keeping you from that. But you know what one of the
best antidotes for that is? Is to think on these things.
One of the best antidotes to distress, despair, is looking
at what God has promised, looking at those great and precious promises
of God, thinking upon His predestination, Brother, I've mentioned it here
many times that whenever I began to see the scripture overwhelmingly
teach the absolute predestination of God, what a comfort it has
been to my soul. That doesn't mean I don't get
frustrated throughout the day when things don't quite go my
way. That still happens. Do a little home improvement.
You'll know, I think that right, Larry. The flesh seems to find
its way to murmur and complain. But brethren, all it takes is
just a little reminder that all things are for our good and that
God has predestinated all things whatsoever that should take place.
And it brings our mind back to these things where we are not
distressed, perplexed, but not in despair. This is how He keeps us. This
is how He does that. And the reason is for His glory.
Look with me, if you would, 2 Corinthians 9. Verse 8, And God is able to make
all grace abound toward you, that ye, always having all sufficiency
in all things, may abound to every good work. Brethren, that's a precious promise
to highlight and to go back whenever you're in those places that we
just read. And God is able to make all grace abound toward
you that ye, having all sufficiency... That means everything that you
need. Having all the things that you need may abound to every
good work. What a preciousness that God
is able to do that. But what about it in my times
of doubt? His grace is sufficient. What about in the times whenever
I want to turn away and walk away, go back? His grace is sufficient. What about the times that things
aren't going the way that I want them to go? His grace is sufficient. You just take the all things
out and put in any situation and it's going to read the same.
God is able to make all grace abound toward you that ye have
an all sufficiency in laying sticky tile as a border
in your kitchen may abound to every good work. I mean, I don't mean to make
light the things of God, but brother, all things. And just
so you'll know, me and my wife tried to lay some sticky towel
border in our kitchen this last week, and it was trying on my
patience more than on hers, but mainly on mine. Sometimes you've got to preach
to yourself, brother. What kept me from just giving
it all up and saying, well, God's abandoned me in this? You can ask my kids as well.
Why every time do I try to do any kind of home improvement
does this happen? And I'm always reminded of these
things. God has a purpose in that. But in and through it all, He
doesn't let me go away. He doesn't let me curse God and
die. He doesn't let me just throw up my hands and say, well, God,
you haven't helped me in this situation. You didn't let this
situation go the way I thought it should go. You didn't make
this turn out good in my eyes. And so because of that, I'm giving
up on you. I'm turning away. I'm not thinking
about you anymore. Matter of fact, I don't even
know if you're even there. If you're even real. If somebody comes to that point
and walks away, it's because they never was of God. because here in all things His
grace will be sufficient for them." It doesn't mean that He's
going to remove them from every situation, but it says that He's
going to do that. Paul had that same situation,
didn't he? He said, three times I prayed that God would remove
this thorn in my flesh, and each time he said, my grace is sufficient
for you. My grace is sufficient. He didn't
remove it. He said, my grace is sufficient
for you. You know, I think a lot of times
if we just think about it, whenever those times that doesn't seem
to be those thorns in the flesh that doesn't get removed, when
we pray about it, ask the Lord about those things, the thorn
in the flesh may not be removed, but He gives us the ability to
deal with that thorn. He gives us the ability to deal
with the thorn. To come to grips that the thorn is there, and
it may never be removed. See, whenever Job prayed to God
and said, the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away, blessed
be the name of the Lord, he didn't know that God was going to restore
multiple what he took away from Job. He didn't know that at that
time. Job didn't even know that he was going to get out of that
alive. All he knew is that everything that he had and knew and cherished
was taken away from him. But how did Job stand? The Lord
giveth, the Lord taketh away, blessed be the name. He was concerned
about the glory of God. The glory of God compelled him. That's what Paul is teaching
us here. That the glory of God is the thing that causes us to
faint not. If this is for the glory of God
that I go through these situations and experience this time of hardship
and trial and depression and disturbing, it may be going through
a time where you don't even think God is hearing you. You've not
heard anything from God. You've not felt His presence.
You've not felt a communion with Him. You've went and you've opened
up these words and you've read these words, and it just seems
like you're reading another book. And I hope we're not all so pious
in here to say that's never happened to me. It happens to us all. But what keeps that going? The
glory of God. If it's the glory of God that
I experience these things, then blessed be the name of the Lord.
His grace will be sufficient for me. And whenever He brings
me out, David taught that, Yea, though I walk through the valley
of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. Why? For thou art
with me." In all those times we have His promise that His
grace is sufficient for us and that He is there with us. He'll
lead us in and He'll lead us out. It may not be until He leads
us out of this lifetime, but He'll lead us out. And so we
have these very precious truths. And because of the work of God
and His preserving us, we persevere and we're not cast down and we're
not found, as we see here, just giving up. But we have and
find all sufficiency and abound to every good work. Anybody got
any comments or anything on that? Alright, let's pause and take
a break and we'll use the restroom and get whatever you need and
then we'll come back in here and look at a few more of these.