seeking for the help of the lord
i direct your prayer for attention to the gospel according to luke
chapter 1 and verse 37 verse 37 for with god nothing shall
be impossible now this is the angel coming to Mary, and having
told her of the Holy Ghost to overshadow her, and the Lord
Jesus Christ then conceived and brought forth, she then tells
her of her cousin who has also conceived a son in her old age. And it's in this context, one
that was old, and that had borne a son, and really the things
that Mary herself had heard was going to happen to her, that
is the backdrop to the angel saying this word of our text,
For with God nothing shall be impossible. Now, we have a real contrast here
and I want to look at several things before we come to some
points but firstly the contrast here is really with what man
with God it is impossible nothing is impossible But with man, there
are those things that are impossible. With man it is. And so there
is a contrast in the ability of what we can do and what God
can do. And maybe you always remember
that. We know in amongst the human
race there is great contrast of ability anyway. Some are very
gifted in music, some are not. Some are gifted in maths and
others are not. Some have ability in physical
gymnastics and others cannot do it at all. And we're used
to having contrasts of ability even amongst men. But a greater
contrast we could not get between man and between God. When we think of in the animal
or insect kingdom, if we were to look at an ant, how would
that ant be able to comprehend what we do, the distances that
we go, the things that we do? The difference would be so great. And yet God has given them skill
and ability, instincts to do many things. But there is bounds
to it, and there's bounds to our knowledge, to our ability,
to what we can do, but with God, nothing. There is no bounds,
and I'll qualify that in a moment, but we have to remember we're
not to limit the Holy One of Israel. Israel seemed in this
way when they first came to the land of Canaan, and they saw
the Canaanites, they saw the giants in the land, and they
feared. They said that they'd be destroyed.
And it is said of them that they limited the Holy One of Israel. They were driven back for 40
years into the wilderness. We think of the time when there
was the great famine in Samaria, and Elisha prophesied of great
plenty. And the Lord, on whose hand the
king leaned, he said, If God would make windows in heaven,
might this thing be? In other words, he didn't believe.
He was mocking. In one sense, he was saying that
God had to work a miracle like that, make windows in heaven
and pour out the food. We know in that case the Lord
caused the Assyrians who compassed the city to hear the sound of
horses and horsemen, and they fled. They left everything behind,
and the lepers went out and found it. So in a way, the Lord was
using natural means, and yet using His power to cause those
to flee and leave those natural provisions. And we have to remember
this when the Lord does those things that are impossible, when
we have impossible cases, to remember this contrast between
God and us, remember the solemn cases of those that limited the
God of Israel, and to be encouraged then to pray and to seek unto
Him who is able to do, exceeding far above, all that we can ask
or even think. now if we know the truth of our
text with god nothing shall be impossible then i want to think
of three scenarios if something is not done so if we are praying
for the lord to appear praying for something to be done, the
Lord to work a miracle, to bring about a revival or to appear
for us in a spiritual way even, and it is not done. What are we to think? It's impossible
with God? He can't do it? No. We are to
hold this truth very, very firmly as an anchor And then we can come to three
possibilities that may be the case. The first one is that it
is not His will. God has a perfect will, His counsel,
and He will perform that. He says, Your time is already
ready. My time is not yet. He has His
perfect will. What shall come to pass in this
world? And He works all things according
to that. And so if he does not answer
our prayer like the Apostle in taking away the thorn in the
flesh, it is not his will that that should be so. He may, like
the Apostle, give something different, something better. And that is
a good thing for us to remember. If something is not given, what
we've asked for is not because God cannot do it, but it may
not be His will, and we may look that He'll give something different,
something that we will esteem as better. The other possibility
is, and we've already hinted at this, that it is His will,
but it is not yet the time. He will bring it about, but in
His time and in His way, the children of Israel going into
the Promised Land, wandering in the wilderness, even in their
time in Egypt, the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full. We read concerning the end of
the world that the fullness of the Gentiles shall be brought
in. that doing that is is God's time
and God's way in every blessing in every favor in every revival
personal and in the church of God always there is a timing
perfect timing we've only got to look in the book of Esther
to find out how important timing is and how God gets it right
perfectly right in every time one second, sometimes later,
and the outcome very, very different. I've had some very sweet times,
a blessing and helps in observing the timing of the Lord when He
brings things to pass. If it had been just a little
before, a little after, the outcome would have been very, very different.
And when I realize these things, it's picked my spirits up, it's
encouraged me, it's helped me. Dear friends, watch the timing
of the Lord. And part of that timing sometimes
is that for many a day it is no. No is not the time. But when it does come, then those
are sweet and blessed times of answers to prayer. There's things
I've watched over for years and years, And then they've come
to pass, things I've prayed for for 10 years and then the Lord's
brought the answer. Some things I prayed for for
months have been so urgent that my Lord must appear and He didn't
and didn't until the last and then He did. And these things
are good to look back on and to really be encouraged and really
be strengthened. in the Lord our God so if the
answer is not given yet it may be not a no but not yet and maybe
that this fits with something that you're going through at
this present time if we are praying people there will be specific
things we are praying for But then thirdly, and this is what
I hinted at at the beginning, when I said that God can do anything
but it needs qualifying. And so, when we read in our text,
with God nothing shall be impossible, when Paul writes to Titus, he
says this, he says, God that cannot lie. God cannot lie. It's impossible. for God to lie. It's impossible for God to act
unrighteously, unjustly, that which is in contradiction to
His character and to His ways. And so we must remember that.
Are we asking for God to do something that if He did it, it would make
Him a liar? Think about that. If the Lord
has promised something, the Lord has brought it about, and we
try and undo it, or if we try and pray that something He said
would come to pass doesn't, there may be those situations
that we actually make him a liar or want him to do something that
would be completely against his character. Think of you perhaps
an illustration in this. Remember when David was fleeing
from his son Absalom and as he was fleeing out of Jerusalem
there was Shimeon the Benjamite going on the other side and he
was casting dust and he was cursing David and I think it was Abishai
it was David's son-in-law or son brother even
a relationship with David and he said let me go over and let
me take off his head why should this dead dog curse the king but david says let him curse
for the lord hath bitten him it may be the lord will requite
me good for his cursing this day and david would not do it you think of how the Lord reacted
when the disciples that were with him and our Lord was going
to face was set towards Jerusalem and because it was set towards
Jerusalem the Samaritans would not receive him so the disciple
said shall we call fire down from heaven and consume them
as Elijah did And the Lord said, You know not what spirit ye are
of. The Son of Man came not to destroy
men's lives, but to save them. And so we need to be very careful
in our prayers, like the disciples, like Abishai, asking the Lord. to do something which is against
his character. He came not to destroy, but to
save. So there's those three things
that may be the case if our prayers are not being heard, if the Lord
is not appearing. Of course, we could add more.
We think of in James where they were praying to consummate upon
their lusts, the very things that they were asking for were
not God-honouring things, they were just sensual things. They
were wanting the Lord to be their servant, just to do what they
wanted. Well, the Lord won't answer that
either. We must pray according to the
Word of God. But we're not to think, well,
is it the will of the Lord I should pray this and be so fearful of
praying wrong that we don't pray at all. no it's better to pray
like the apostle even three times a thorn be taken away and the
lord answer no rather not pray at all so i want to now look
at three points firstly and this is in connection with this with
with our text for with god nothing shall be impossible I want to
look first at the bringing forth of our Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ. And then secondly, the work of
God's grace in a sinner's heart. And then lastly, the resurrection
and bringing us to glory. But firstly, the bringing forth
of our Lord. We read the two passages, one
in Genesis and then here in Luke. If you remember in Matthew, we
have the line to Christ from Abraham right through the kings
to our Lord. On one end of it we have Abraham. We have Abraham where we read
in Genesis 18. And we have the Lord saying something
very similar. Is anything too hard for the
Lord? And the context here is Abraham
is old, Sarah is old, And the Lord is saying He's going to
go against nature, and He's going to cause Isaac to be born, who
shall be the seed of promise, along whose line shall come the
Lord Jesus Christ. And it's always struck me that
this end of the line, this beginning, you might say the promises, yes,
those are promises in the Garden of Eden, but in the promise of
Abraham's seed, we have almost identical situations we have
a woman that was a virgin we have with john the baptist his
mother was old and childless and we have sarah old and childless
and in both cases the Lord is making promises and he's reminding
and saying that is anything too hard for the Lord or in our text
for with God nothing shall be impossible and so almost you
could say that the coming of our Lord from promise to fulfillment
is hedged in by this this text of is anything too hard for the
Lord is with God nothing shall be impossible and when we think
of those three sets of 14 generations in Matthew 1 and the kings all
the history that went through and how God, who is not the author
of sin, but the Sovereign God, brings about through men that
have a free will and a free range, but He's completely overruling
it, the same as at Calvary, Ye who took by wicked hands, crucified
and slain, He was delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge
of God. A great mystery to us, but a
wonder that the Lord should use such thing. You know, if an engineer,
when I was in engineering, I could cause something to be made, but
the iron didn't leap up and run away. it didn't have a mind of
its own, it was passive, nothing, it wasn't like we are rebellious
and stubborn and dead and sinful and scheming, you think of all
of those kings and all of the things that happened and the
Lord brings it to pass, well might be said in that for with
God nothing shall be impossible already up to this very point. It had been proved like that
right through the pages of Old Testament. You know, in this
Gospel day there's a great treasure laid up in store in the preaching
of the gospel to look back to the old testament and we have
God saying look this is what i can do this is what i have
done through all the scenes of time this is the abundant heavens
we might think well we just look at the miracles and things the
lord did while he was on earth and they did they bear witness
to who he was the eternal son of god But to bear witness to
God and His plan and His ability to perform, you go right back
through the Old Testament. And all that He's done, He said
He would do. And the plan is being carried
out in spite of men. And all of their lies and all
of their schemes and all of their designs, the Lord overrules them
for good. To bring forth of our Lord, coming
up to this time, and then bring him forth. What a miracle! No, Job, he puzzled, didn't he? How can a unclean thing come
out or how can a clean thing come out of unclean yet in mind
the seed of the woman but everyone born into this world is tainted
with sin how can it be how can this be fulfilled we know how
it is has been fulfilled joe couldn't he puzzled that in the
same as solomon puzzled the heaven shall God indeed dwell upon the
earth? The heaven of heavens cannot
contain thee, how much less this house that I builded." He couldn't
work out how God would do it. We know because it is here on
the pages of Scripture, but they couldn't see. And there are many
things that we do not know, we cannot fathom. But when we look
back at this, and how the Lord has done it, and When we look
back we marvel at how he's done it and how he's performed it.
And so the miracle of Immanuel God with us contracted to a span. The eternal Son of God made flesh
and dwelt among us to be brought forth in the fullness of time.
Abraham saw my day and rejoiced at it. He saw through all those
generations, 14, 14, 14, and he saw the coming of the Son
of Man. With God nothing shall be impossible. He is able to bring forth His
beloved Son spotless, cause Him to be born, cause Him to grow,
cause Him to be brought to ministry, cause Him to do His Father's
will, to be obedient. You know, what a mystery of godliness. the Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
one God in three Persons. If you've seen me, you've seen
my Father also, the Holy Spirit, a Person, but it is the Lord
Jesus Christ that is given the preeminence and that we look
upon and see that we know him. How long have I been with you,
Philem? Hast thou not known me? Hast
thou seen me? Hast thou seen my father also? This great mystery, that which
is impossible with men, not impossible with God, not with God, nothing
shall be impossible And so with their Lord he comes forth, and
he stands at last before Pilate, and he says, For this cause came
I into the world, to bear witness of the truth. He says to Pilate,
when Pilate says, Knowest thou not that I have power to crucify
thee, and power to release thee? The Lord says, Thou couldst have
no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above. Again, the Lord in control. Bring about what was to happen. Put up thy sword within its sheath.
The cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it? That which is impossible with
men, with God nothing shall be impossible. And our Lord's life
and ministry, His death, what was accomplished there? What
was to be done? What was impossible? No man can
redeem his own soul. No man can put away sin, but
God's plan devised a way. He purposed that it should be
a substitutionary offering. The surety, that which was known
in Judah, I will be surety for him. That provision, a near kinsman,
that which was seen in Boaz. all of these types all of these
provisions cursed is everyone that hangeth upon a tree all
of these these statements that you think what why is it said
that made a curse for us the lord jesus christ because of
that word told so many thousands of years before was to be fulfilled
in the Lord, hanging upon a tree, a death. Those years ago, David's
years, a thousand before Christ, they didn't know that form and
way of death, of crucifixion. And yet our Lord is described
as being crucified in Psalm 22 and 69, and the scourging in
Psalm 129. These things are not impossible
with God. He brings about redemption. He
brings about the putting away of sin. He brings about God and
sinners reconciled. He brings about a way of escape
from the wrath to come. He brings about how God can be
just and yet the justifier of the ungodly. How He can do what,
without the Lord Jesus Christ, he could not do because it would
be against his holiness. To pardon without blight he cannot
do. Just to pass by the transgression
of the remnant of his heritage without the bloodshed, without
the sacrifice of our Lord, he could not do. But he makes it
possible to show mercy and grace makes it not only possible but
absolutely necessary that he should show mercy and grace to
those for whom he died. If the debt is paid, then those
who are under that condemnation must be set free, and the Lord
will ensure that. And when we look at then all
what the Lord did on earth, then his ascension into heaven is
sitting at the right hand of the Father and praying the Father
that he'd give the Holy Spirit. All of this was done and all
of this shows that with God nothing shall be impossible. In time,
in these Gospel days, we are privileged to see what happens
now, we can look back to what happened before, and we can believe
by faith of what shall happen in time to come. In the Lord's
Supper, this doing remembrance of me, ye do show forth the Lord's
death that is in time past, but we're showing it forth now, until
He come, time to come. The Lord's Supper is showing
these three elements, bidding us look back, bidding us live
in time in remembering, and in obedience, and then looking forward,
expecting that though all seems impossible, Though it seems so
unlikely, though we cannot see how the Lord will work, what
He will do, or how He will do it, yet knowing that with God
nothing shall be impossible. So I want to look then secondly
at the work of grace. i speak reverently but if the
lord had done just what he did at calvary and then left it to man to save
himself said well i'll present this to you and it's up to you
to believe of your own accord to raise yourself to spiritual
life to carry on a work of grace to keep your own souls unto the
end, that would be impossible. Our Lord says so. No man can
keep alive his own soul. And the dead, they know nothing.
The Lord insisted in John 3, he must be born again. To quicken
a soul into life is impossible for us is not impossible with
God, but with us it is. Ezekiel was shown a valley of
dead bones. They represented the whole house
of Israel. But the Lord said to him, Can
these bones live? He was very wise in his answer.
He said, Lord, thou knowest. to all looking at how could that
if we saw such a valley or disjointed but he began prophesying you
might say preaching and they began to come together and then
there was laid on them sinews and flesh they stood up a great
army but there's no breath in them and then God made him to
prophesy again to the Spirit, to the wind, to put breath, to
breathe upon these slain, that they may live. And they lived,
an exceeding great army. What a picture! What a picture
of fallen man, dead, scattered, bones all dried, and the Lord
coming and under to please God through the foolishness of preaching,
to save them that believe, And He comes and He does what we
view as impossible, and it is impossible, but with God it is
not. This is the work of God, that
ye believe in Him whom God has sent. Of all the things that
we should really view as not impossible with God, it is the
work of grace from the first quickening into divine life,
right through right through to the end he that endureth unto
the end shall be saved kept by the power of god through faith
unto salvation says peter the power of god remember what i
said with the the lord on whose hand the king leaned he was thinking
well there must come this from heaven. Yes, it is God's work. It is God's power. But He's going
to use means. He's going to use men. He's going
to use the Word. He's going to use preaching.
He's going to use these means to quicken. Faith cometh by hearing,
and hearing by the Word of the Lord. The two join together. You think of when the children
of Israel came out of Egyptian bondage, and then Amalek came.
Then came Amalek. How did they fight him? Was it
just Joshua with the sword? Was it just Moses lifting up
his rod? No, both together. Joshua with
the sword fighting, Moses lifting up his rod, Aaron and Hur holding
up his hands. When he let down his hands, let
down the rod, then Amalek prevailed. When he lifted them up, then
Israel prevailed. What a picture! of using the
means but using prayer dear friends remember this God does use means you might say well in these cases
did he well i've no doubt he did with Abraham and Sarah the
normal means of procreation he did Here with Mary, the overshadowing
of the Holy Spirit, it was a miracle, but so much a miracle, that one
that is barren should be able to bear. We have the pictures
so often, don't we? The case with Hannah, bring forth
of Samuel again, that which is impossible and in answer to prayer
is given. So with the work of grace, in
all the teaching of the Lord, They shall all be taught of the
Lord. Great shall be the peace of thy
children. They shall be taught, they shall
be kept, they shall be guided, they shall be brought on their
way. All that happens to them, that
is the Lord's doing. This is the Lord's doing, is
marvellous in our eyes. Within your providence, it's
hard to separate that from grace, isn't it? what the Lord does
in Providence, where we are born, the parents we have, where we
live, our jobs, our wives, our children, all of these things
are ordered. He decreed the very place where
He would show triumphant grace, where we would hear the Word
preached, where we would be fed, where we would be in this world. that is all under the Lord's
hand. He that will observe providence
will never lack a providence to observe. May we remember that. My life's minutest circumstance
is subject to His eye. May we expect to see in the things
that happen in our lives that there is the hand of God in it,
holding back, drawing on, causing it to come. He causeth it to
come. Those things we are to watch. The working for good in Romans
8, 28. We know that all things work together for good to them
that love God, to them that are the called according to His purpose. This is something that is for
the present for the people of God. Many of the Lord's people,
they're praying for their children. they're praying for their grandchildren
and they're watching and sometimes what they see is very dismaying
because there's not a relish for the things of God, not a
taste for the things of God. I always remember with our son
can remember so clearly, standing, preaching, and come to the hymns,
he's holding his hymn book down, he's not gonna sing, not taking
any interest, showing every sign that he was finding it very irksome
to be in the house of God, he didn't want to be there at all. And one day, he sat us on the
set, he said, Mom, Dad, your religion's not mine. I don't
believe in the God that you believe in. He said, I find it really
hard going to chapel. Can you make it easier for me?
And we said to him, well, the Lord's Day, in a Christian home,
you must come to the house of God, family worship. We must bring up our children
while you're under our roof. This is part of being here. But the midweek service, that's
not specifically commanded, you don't need to come out. We won't
pressure you to come to the midweek service. We said to them, we've
been in your place. We felt just as rebellious. We
felt it hard. We struggled as well. Our natural
mind, we didn't like the things of God. And we left home. Then he went away. He got a job
130 miles away. But when he began courting and
his girlfriend wanted to still attend a chapel when they met
up together, then they went. Went from one place to another
until they heard street preaching in Salisbury. Thought, well,
that is like what we're used to. They went to Salisbury. And
the Lord began. He worked in our son's heart,
called him by grace. He is now an elder in that church. And what was so softening to
me when I went down there after they married one Wednesday evening,
and he took the family worship and gave thanks for the privilege
of going out to a midweek service. I thought, is this the same lad
that wanted to be excused from the midweek service. And I mentioned,
because we regularly meet with his pastor in fraternal meetings,
and I told him some of this. He said, I just cannot picture
your Tom like that. I can't believe that he was like
that. But we saw it. We knew it. And we've seen the
difference. And it's a lovely thing to see
the Lord's work. What is impossible with man,
with God nothing is impossible and especially in a work of grace
it is of a great comfort to those that look on and prayed for these
things it's a great comfort for those that are the subject of
it to look back and say this is not my choice and the word
of god it says we are born not of blood it doesn't run in families
not by the will of the flesh it's not that it's not that we
should have a faithless spirit never do that never go away from
the word of god away from the preaching of the word thinking
well if i'm one of god's then he'll bring me back and he'll
do this until then i'm just going to go my own way well God would
be just to leave you go your own way and to perish eternally. You forget the judgment day,
you forget the solemnity of eternity, and how quickly one can be taken
away. I think only just recently, a
young man, well a couple of years ago, I think he's only just come
to to court. Nineteen-year-old, just got his
license, three young friends, one only sixteen, in the car,
speeding. He killed the three of them.
Now he's sent to two years jail, and he maimed others in the other
car as well. And who would have thought? Sixteen-year-old,
young person, suddenly into eternity, suddenly in the presence of God.
One dying thief, in the article of death our mercy that none
might despair one that none might presume never assume god would
be just to just take what you were and say that's your choice
you go that way but for those who know the value of the soul
it is good to really have our mind set upon what is possible
with God, who changed the heart, renewed the will, turned the
feet, to Zion's we're healed. Hymn 76, a beautiful hymn as
to the working of God's grace. You think of the Apostle Paul,
the change that the Lord brought in him. I wonder how many in
that early church was actually praying that he might be converted
Or maybe they thought, well, if the Lord struck dead Ananias
and Sapphira because they lied to the Holy Spirit, what are
they going to do with this man Saul when he's persecuting men
and women and hailing them to prison? What are you going to
do with him? We converted him, made him a
preacher and an apostle. The Lord is able to do that.
Bend the hardest heart and turn a soul unto Him. With God nothing
shall be impossible. One quiet word, one working of
providence, ordering of His way. Sometimes it can be what someone
says or maybe what is heard in the preaching. The Lord uses
all these things. May we be then really encouraged
to pray and to watch the Lord's hand. Those that live round about
us, our neighbours, our friends. Many times I fear I limit the
Lord. I don't speak as I should. Don't
set the Lord before those round about me. Hide my light under
a bushel, not be salt and light. Sometimes it is a lot to do with
our witness, how we walk, what we do, but it is also what we
say and testify to others as well. With the heart man believeth,
But with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. The Lord
wrought a wonderful miracle in the conversion of the mad Gadarene. Who would have thought that man
that no man could tame, that cut himself, lived amongst the
tombs, whatever could ever be made in his right mind, and then
a preacher and an ambassador to Christ. He wanted to be with
Christ. But the Lord said, No, go home
to thy friends, and tell what great things God hath done for
thee, and had mercy upon thee. The best ones to speak and to
testify what the Lord has done is where we can say, This is
what He's done for me. And especially when those to
whom we go knew our former life, they knew what we were, Paul
says, I'm not worthy to be called an apostle because I persecuted
the Church of God. And he says of the Jews, they
would testify if they would, they knew me, my former life,
my conversation, what I did in persecuting, they knew me, they
know the change. And it's a great thing to be
able to have that in our cup of salvation, a change that the
Lord has wrought, some great, some less, but nevertheless a
change from darkness to light, from death to life. This is the
Lord's doing. This is what God does. And he says with God, nothing
shall be impossible. On to look then at our third
point, which I put as the resurrection. Been quite a few funerals lately,
and to see the coffin lowered into the grave, and just the
lifeless body there, and know that it shall return to the dust,
there's been many in the seas, and consumed, and there's no
evidence of there ever, ever being upon this earth. And yet
the Lord is able, He knows where all His people are. When He comes,
the dead in Christ shall rise first. Dear Job, living all those
many years ago, He says that in my flesh shall I see God. I shall see him for myself and
not another. He shall work that miracle. This
time of year we see many miracles, don't we? The daffodils coming
up, the bulbs springing up, each with their own body, each with
their own beauty. Life from the dead, everything
dry and barren, and then suddenly there is green coming. You don't
hear any commotion, you don't hear any noise, but the power
of it happening, you can't stay it, you can't stop it. And this
is God's creation. And you think of what the Lord
says, then he make a new heavens and new earth, wherein dwelleth
righteousness, and he shall raise the dead. When we think of that,
While we're on earth, may we know some of those things that
are set forth, with God nothing shall be impossible. May we really
believe that the Lord will work that, so that in our flesh we
shall see the Lord, not as someone else, but as ourselves. As much as we've been able to
touch and see and hear and smell and taste, can't be worse in
heaven must be more real this is the types and shadows paul
says then shall we know even as we are known that's a thought
isn't it that we are known clearly the lord knowing our thoughts
knows our affections knows where we are what we're doing his timing
often shows that very very clearly but in heaven without a veil
between. Now we see through glass darkly,
but in heaven we shall see it exactly. We shall see the Lord. Dying Stephen, he saw, he looked
up before he was, when he was in death really, and saw the
Lord standing to receive him. These things are real things. This is God's world. He has in
it His creation. He has in it His own people,
a new creation by grace, and He is working in it while time
remains, His plan and His purpose, and nothing is going to stop
that. He is not bound by the laws of nature. The laws of nature
are there and for the most part the whole world revolves around
them. But we're told that by Him all
things consist. He makes sure those laws abide,
that they work, that they are consistent, as He is consistent. But He is not bound by them.
He can change them. He can divide the Red Sea and
bring His people through. He can stop up the River Jordan
and bring His people over. He can do these things. He has
done these things. He can rain manna from heaven
and feed them for 40 years. A company that must have been
one and a half, two, three million. 600 fighting men alone. Let alone the Levites and mothers
and children, old people. A big assembly. All fed and watered. Water out of a rock. In that
wilderness, all that journey through. What a miracle, what
an amazing thing. We have all these things that
are set before us that show the truth of this word. With God,
nothing shall be impossible. May we have those things and
record those things in our own life. We are able to say this
is the Lord's work. And when we look forward to heaven,
we look forward to being brought there. It is not our effort.
is not our ability. Our outward man perishes, but
our inward man, renewed day by day, renewed by God, strengthened
by God, to trust in Him and lean upon Him and look to Him to perform
and do what only He can do. May this word be an encouraging
word, a strengthening word to us tonight. The Lord bless you
and bless your age. Amen.