Alright, let's take our Bibles
and turn with me to the book of 1 Corinthians chapter 10. 1 Corinthians 10. We just continue
to go through this blessed book and the lot has fallen this day
on this passage. 1 Corinthians chapter 10. The Apostle Paul, at the close
of the ninth chapter, he had exhorted the church at Corinth
to take heed concerning their walk, their walk before others. He told them, he said in verse
25, every man that striveth for the mastery, everybody that's
in the race, in this race, the race of life that Almighty God
has placed every believer in. It's a race. We're running a
race. He said, everyone that striveth
for the mastery is temperant. He's temperant in the use of
their liberty. That is, they're self-controlled,
or they want to be. They desire to be. They want
to be self-restrained. They want to be self-disciplined. They want to be temperate. They don't want to be offensive
to a weaker brother. They don't. They don't. They
realize the Lord has given them some liberty. And they realize
they're free. They're free. They're not under
the law. They're not under the bondage of the law. They're not
working for their salvation. They're free in Christ. But they're
temperate. There's some control. There's
some discipline about a believer. And Paul said that he does this
for two reasons. In verse 23 of chapter 9, he
said, I do, this I do, For the gospel's sake. That's the first
one. For the gospel's sake. For the
sake of the gospel. I don't want anybody, Larry,
to speak evil of the truth that we believe because of my attitude. My intemperance. My lack of control. My lack of
difference. I don't want that. I don't want
somebody to look and say, but I tell you what, if that's the
attitude of a believer, no thank you. I don't. God's going to
call out His people. But God's people are taught something
about temperance. He said, for the sake of the
gospel, and then secondly in verse 23, He said, that I might
be partakers thereof with you. that I might be found, Paul says,
to be a partaker of the benefits of the gospel with them. I want
to be found walking with an attitude that is honoring to the Lord,
honoring to the gospel. And then the apostle Paul said
in verse 27, he said, because of all of this, knowing what
I am inside, I keep under my body, I bring it into subjection.
I give myself a black eye is what it is. You know, I'm the
one that needs the black eye. He said, I give myself, bring
it into subjection, lest that by any means, when I've preached
to others, I myself should be a castaway. I myself should be
a reprobate. after I have been found preaching
this gospel. I've told you before. Now, I
know, I'm convinced that the doctrine of God's free and sovereign
grace in Christ, that's scriptural. I believe. I believe in election. I believe in predestination.
I believe in particular redemption. I believe that Christ died only
for the elect. I believe that all that the Father
has given the Son, I believe they're going to come to Christ.
God's going to save them. And I believe that all that He
saves, He's going to keep. Now why do I believe that? I
believe that because it's scriptural. I can back it up with scripture.
I can back it up. So therefore Paul said, I fight
against myself. I've got an old man in me. that
just wars against the spirit of my new man, my new mind. And
he said, I war. There's a battle that's going
on. Every believer is in a battle. They know it. And they'll give
themselves a black eye. Because they'll say, I deserve
that. I deserve that black eye. So then he starts now in chapter
10. He says, moreover, moreover,
moreover, a four. for. He's just continuing what
he was saying. He's going to warn them at Corinth,
again, to continue being watchful, realizing, you know, with that
body of death that's within, that old nature, that old spirit
of vain presumption and false confidence and indifference,
to conduct and attitude and practice. The Spirit of God moved on the
Apostle Paul to write, and the reason that the Lord sent this
was because of God's love for His people. He loves them. You know, you want to be in a
loving and kind way with your children. You discipline them.
And disciplining them, you want to be truthful with them. Just
tell them, say, you know, that's just not, you know, that's not
the way you act. That's not the way you do. And
you do that, whether it's a verbal or a corporal punishment. You
do it out of love for them. So he wanted God's people, he's
moved upon by the Spirit of God to warn God's people of the danger
of carelessness. Carelessness in their attitude
toward the gospel. Carelessness in their lack of
temperance before others. He wants to teach them afresh
concerning, and he's going to use the example of the nation
of Israel when they came out of Egypt. Now this is how the
Spirit of God moved upon, He's warning the people of God out
of chapter 9 and He never stops. These chapter endings and beginnings,
they're not, they just used to be scriptures. These were just
added for our convenience, you know. This is a continuation
of what he just said. He said, I keep under my body,
bring it into subjection, lest by any means, when I have preached
to others, I myself should be a castaway. Moreover, because
of, for, brethren, I would not that you should be ignorant.
How that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed
through the sea, He said, I'm going to use a bit of history
that you're all familiar with, everybody's familiar with when
Israel came out of Egypt. We all know that account, but
obviously at Corinth, at Katy, at Todd's Road, at Hurricane
Road, obviously there's always God's people that need to be
taught afresh and to be warned, warned. Now listen, I'm telling
you, listen to what the Spirit of God is saying, because if
we didn't need to hear this, we wouldn't hear it. There were
some obviously that were puffed up, puffed up with their knowledge
and their gifts and the privileges that the Lord had bestowed upon
the church at Corinth. Now just stop for a minute. I don't know of another assembly
that has been consistently here as long as Katie. I don't know
of one. I don't know of one. This assembly here has been here
over 60 years. 62, I think. And that duration
of time, you'd think Well, we're all, you know, listen. We came
up, listened to Brother Scott, and been here faithful, faithful,
faithful, man. I've told people so many times,
I never, I never had a faithful pastor till I got here. I never had a faithful pastor
that I sat under till I got here. Never. Never. Brother Scott,
I had a faithful pastor for seven years. Seven years. That was
the duration of mine, Neal. Seven years. And in that seven
years, what the Lord was pleased to teach me, and the one thing,
doctrinally, yes. Doctrinally, but in attitude. People asked me, said, well what
was it like to live under Brother Scott? I said it was wonderful.
Because I was taught something. of humility, meekness, kindness. Before I got here, I was scared
to death of Him, David. I was scared to death of Him.
I didn't know Him. I knew of Him. I met Him. I knew
Him in a face. But to sit here and listen and
watch. And here's the Apostle Paul. And he says to them, moreover,
brethren, I don't want you to be ignorant. I don't want you
to be misinformed. He said, all of our fathers,
those that came out of Egypt, those that many of us here are
descendants of, maybe not, but all who claim to believe the
gospel, claim to and did some, they were all directed by the
cloud. All of our fathers were under
the cloud. that visible manifestation of
God's presence. Exodus 13, 21, And the Lord went
before them by day in a pillar of a cloud to lead them the way,
and by night in a pillar of a cloud to give them light, to go by
day and night leading, guiding, directing, delivering, all for
the sake of God's elect. That's what He was doing. He
sent that cloud. And Paul says to them, he said, And all passed
through the sea, Exodus 14.22, and the children of Israel went
into the midst of the sea upon dry ground and the waters were
a wall unto them on their right hand and on their left. If anybody
had any reason to believe that their salvation was secure, it
was the nation of Israel. They came out, there was a cloud,
a cloud by day that they actually saw in a pillar of a cloud by
night, a fire. And they saw it. It gave them
light. It just lit up everything. They
weren't out there. Can you imagine how dark it would
be out there? You know, I mean pitch black. Not there. It was light. And
God lit them. And when the Egyptians were coming
up on them, there they were between the Egyptians and the Red Sea.
and God opened up the Red Sea. And they walked through, and
God delivered them through the Red Sea. The Scripture says,
I don't want you to be ignorant, that our fathers were under the
cloud, they all passed through the sea. And then it says in
verse 2, and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in
the sea. Now, Paul explained, that the
people were led of God by a cloud, they walked through the Red Sea
on dry ground, and then he says this, and they were all baptized
unto Moses. Now what does that mean? They
were baptized onto Moses. I'm going to show you this by
scripture. I'm going to tell you what it means and I'll show
you by scripture. What it means is the people evidenced that
they believed God by following God's man. Moses was God's servant appointed
By God, to lead the children out of Egypt. Now we know that.
God sent him. Sent him, Pharaoh, you know that.
Now, listen to this scripture. Exodus 14, 31. And Israel saw
that great work which the Lord did unto the Egyptians. They
knew God did that. And the people feared the Lord
and believed the Lord and His servant Moses. So whenever we
have a confession of our faith by water baptism. Now we know this, water baptism
does not save a sinner. Well we know that. It's water. What is baptism? It is an act of obedience. It's
an act of obedience in accordance with the Lord's will. It's something
that we do not for salvation, but because of salvation. The Lord saves His people, and
what does He command them to do? To be baptized. And so that's
what we do. We're baptized. That baptism
is an outward manifestation of what's in our heart. Nobody can
see what's in the heart of somebody else, but you can see what they
do. You can see the manifestation
of it. So baptism is this, so when the Spirit of God moved
upon the Apostle Paul to say they all were under the cloud,
they all passed through the sea, and were all baptized unto, not
by Moses, it didn't say Moses baptized them. They were baptized
unto Moses as being in obedience. In obedience. They followed Moses. As the cloud moved, Moses said,
cloud moving, let's go. God told Moses, take your staff
and put it over. And God sent a wind and part
of the Red Sea and Moses led them across. They were baptized
unto Moses by their action of following Him. What they're doing
by saying, we're with you. We're going with you. We fear
the Lord and we believe that Moses is the servant of God. That's what we're doing. So they
followed him as the cloud moved, as the Red Sea parted. So they
were all baptized. So they all came out of Egypt.
They all followed the cloud. They all went through the Red
Sea. They all acknowledged that it was the Lord that led them.
It was that God's man was Moses. They followed Him. And then it
says, verse 3, and did all eat the same spiritual meat. Everyone that came out of Egypt
ate the same spiritual meat. Now what meat was that? You know,
Exodus 16, 15. When the children of Israel saw
it, they said one to another, it's manna, it's manna. In my margin, here's what it
says, here's what that means. What is it? What is it? It's
a little wafer. For they wist not what it was. And Moses said unto them, this
is the bread which the Lord hath given you to eat. All the people
were said to not only come out of Egypt, follow the cloud, go
through the Red Sea, acknowledge Moses to be God's man, that God
was using to direct and lead them and guide them. They all
ate the manna. They all ate of it. Everybody,
everybody went out. They all ate of that manna. The
same manna that Moses ate, Caleb ate, Joshua ate, that manna that
pictured The Lord Jesus Christ, that was manna, that was the
spiritual meat, the heavenly bread, that food that was not
naturally made, it was miraculously provided. The frost would come,
it would be frost, and when the sun would come up and burn off
the frost, there it was. It was manna. They just went
out there and picked it up. Every day, wherever they were,
that's where the manna. That's where it felt. You know,
it was a manna that they gathered every day except on the Sabbath
day, the day before the Sabbath day. And it would sustain them
if they tried to keep manna. If they tried to get a little
bit too much, you know, I'm going to put a little bit extra. You
know, I might want something early in the morning before all
the frost has gone out. Worms got in it. It stunk and
it was rotted and stuff like that. They couldn't do it. They
had to live by faith every day. But the day before the Sabbath
they could gather for two days and it didn't spoil. Likewise, they all ate that same
spiritual meat. Likewise, where the gospel is
faithfully preached, all that sit and listen can be said to
eat of that same spiritual bread. But I'm going to elaborate on
this in just a second. But everybody is sitting here
listening to the same message. I'm only preaching one message
and everybody's listening to it. And then he says in verse
4, And did all drink the same spiritual drink. For they drank
of that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. Now that same spiritual meat
all drank the same spiritual drink. From that spiritual rock
that followed them, that rock was Christ. Now this account
is found in Exodus 17. I'll just turn there if you want
to turn. It's Exodus 17 verses 2 to 6. And the scripture says,
Wherefore the people did chide with Moses. What they began to
do, they began to grumble. They chided with Moses and they
said, give us water that we may drink. And Moses said unto them,
why chide? Why are you grumbling with me? What you're really doing is you're
tempting the Lord. He said, you're testing the Lord.
You're calling into question the Lord. That's what you're
doing. Things not going your way? He said, now you're trying
to prove and not prove in a good way. You're trying to prove God's
unfaithfulness. He said, why? Why are you mad
at me and tempt the Lord? thirsted there for water. And
the people murmured against Moses. They grumbled and said, Wherefore
is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt to kill us
and our children and our cattle with thirst? Now this is the
same people that came out of Egypt, followed the cloud, went
through the Red Sea, said, The Lord has done this. This is God's
man, and God has provided spiritual bread for them, and now here
they're grumbling because they're saying, Moses, what are you doing? What seems to be the situation? And Moses cried unto the Lord,
saying, what shall I do unto this people? And they'd be almost
ready to stone me. They're mad at me. And all I've
ever done is, I've done, Lord, what you've commissioned me to
do. I've let them out. I followed the Lord. When the
cloud moved, I moved. You opened up the Red Sea, we
went through. Lord, you sent the manna. And now they're mad
because they don't have anything to drink. And the Lord said unto
Moses, Go on before the people and take with thee of the elders
of Israel in thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river. Take
in thine hand and behold I will stand before thee there upon
the rock in Horeb and thou shalt smite the rock and there shall
come water out of it that the people may drink. And Moses did
so in the sight of the elders of Israel. What happened was
the people began to grumble because when they got to a point they
didn't have anything to drink and the Lord had withheld that
water The Lord is not going to bring them out there and withhold
anything that is going to be for their good. This was a picture
of the true church going through the wilderness of this world
and the need. Do we ourselves, now here again,
I mean, we're all guilty. How often do we grumble and gripe
when things don't seem to go our way? And you know, we just
say, you know what? I don't even know if the Lord
even knows what I'm really going through. And they began to go,
and they couldn't get to God, so they started grumbling at
God's man. That's the first thing they do,
you know. It's your fault. It's your fault. And Moses cried
to the Lord and the Lord told him, he said, you go and you
strike the rock. I take the staff and you strike
the rock. And the scripture says back in
1 Corinthians 10, they all did drink the same spiritual drink.
They drank of that spiritual rock that followed them and that
rock was Christ. Now, let me say this, whether
the rock And I'm perfectly, whichever way the Lord did it, that's the
way it was. I can't tell you whether or not,
and I'm going to read a scripture to show you why I can't tell
you exactly what happened. I can't tell you whether the
rock actually physically moved when they moved, which right
here, if I If I read exactly what was written right here,
it followed them, then that's the way it was. When they moved,
the rock moved. Wherever they were, the rock
was there, and water came. Now I can't tell you if that's
exactly, and the reason I can't tell you is because of Psalm
105 verse 41, and here's what it says. He opened the rock,
and the rivers gushed out and they, that is the rivers, ran
in the dry places like a river. So I can't tell you. I don't
know. Somebody said, well did the rock
move, really physically move, and the water just came out and
there it was right there and they just came to the rock. Or
was it the rock was still in the same place that it was but
out of the rock flowed rivers and wherever God sent them, that
river went that way and provided water for them. How was it? I
don't know. But I can tell you this, however
God was pleased to give them water in the wilderness, that
rock from which that water flowed was a picture and a type of the
Lord Jesus Christ, who is the water of life himself, who supplies
all of the need of his people. That fountain of living water,
that is his precious word, the water of the word of God, his
precious blood, that precious, that glorious river of life. that continually flows for the
safety and the comfort and the spiritual refreshment of God's
people. How is it today, right now? I don't know. There's a river
that flows. A river of life. And we drink
from it. Right now, spiritually, we drink
from it. Somebody says, I don't see it.
Well, a believer does. A believer sees it. And we eat
of that spiritual meat The bread of heaven Himself. All of the blessings and the
manifestations of God's love to His people. Here's what Paul
was saying. He said, Brethren, I want you
to be aware. Be advised. Be careful. Give
yourself a black eye. War, war with yourself. The battle
is really here, right here, here, here. It ain't here. It ain't
here, here. It's here. He said, you know,
remember, they all came out. They all, the cloud, the Red
Sea, the manna, the rock. But here's what happened, Paul
says. Verse 5, but with many of them,
God was not well pleased. How do you know? How do you know?
They were overthrown in the wilderness. That's how you know. They were
not well pleased. Paul declared that Israel in
the wilderness, obviously they were a privileged people. They
were a taught people. They witnessed some things that
were revealed in the New Testament to be types and pictures. I mean
they actually saw. They saw that manna. We read about it. And we know
what it pictures. They saw it. They really saw
that water. They really saw the Red Sea open
up. They really saw God drowned all
the Egyptians. They saw that cloud, that pillar
of fire. They saw that. And they had all
of these privileges. Yet, all of those who enjoyed
those privileges were not all believers. They were not all
pleasing, but with many of them God was not well pleased. I think about the passage of
scripture when the Lord said, this is my beloved son in whom
I'm well pleased. And for any of us that the Lord
be well pleased with, what's going to have to happen? We're
going to have to be in Him. Because I'm going to tell you
something, outside of Him, God's not well pleased with any of
us. Because we're all sinners. We're sinners. But God was not
well pleased, and here's an amazing thing. God was not pleased with
many, many, but with many of them. I looked that up to just
find out what does that word many mean. And here's what it
meant. The greater part. That's what
it means. The greater part. God was not
well pleased. How many came out of Egypt, I
don't know. All I know is what people speculate,
so it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter whether it's
600,000 or 2 million. I don't know. They say, well,
some say, but the scripture doesn't say. It doesn't say how many,
but I can tell you, I can tell you this. Of all of them that
came out, if you were 20 years old and older, When you came
out, if your 20th birthday had already got there on the day
that you came out, you were 20 years old and older. And you
came out of Egypt, there was only two of you, Caleb
and Joshua, that went into the Promised Land. All the rest that
were 20 years old and older died in the wilderness. And God was
not pleased with them. Twenty years old and older. Forty
years. When God had sent the spies,
Caleb and Joshua, into the Promised Land to spy it out. They came
back. A bunch of them went out. A bunch of them went in, spies.
Only two, Caleb and Joshua, said, we can take them. Because God
said we can take them. All the others said, no, we can't
take them. We can't do that. They were over there forty days.
And for every day that they were in their spying out the land,
they stayed in the wilderness for a year. One year. Because many of them said, we
can't do it. They're big. We're just grasshoppers. These guys are giants. Caleb
and Joshua came back and said we can. Of all of them, 20 years
old and older, they died in the wilderness. But they all came
out of Egypt. They all ate, they all drank, they all went to the
Red Sea. Many God was not pleased. And
how do we know this? Because they were overthrown
in the wilderness. They died in the wilderness.
They never entered the promised land. With that sobering revelation
of this truth, I want us as we wind this up, I want us to consider the reason that Paul was moved
upon to write that. It's because we need to hear
it. We need to understand that there was not one of them that
came out that didn't truly believe. I'm God's child. I'm a child
of God. I believe in my heart that I
believe this. I believe in my heart that I
believe this gospel. I believe I do, Mike. I believe
I do. But I'll tell you this. You know what will prove it?
Time. Time. Time. He that endureth
to the end is going to be saved. I'm not standing here this morning
with an attitude of this. I don't really believe this.
I do believe this. I believe God has given me a
heart for it. The Lord gave a parable concerning
this very thought right here in the book of Matthew 13. Matthew
13, verses 1-9, it was a parable about a sower, a preacher. And
he sowed some seed, Matthew 13, 1-9. As I read and re-read and
re-re-read this passage over and over and over, I had this
message prepared. I had 13 verses of this message
prepared. I'm going to try to stop at 6.
Because the more I read it, the more I thought, this is so sobering.
This is so needful to be heard. I don't want to be found presumptuous. I don't. Listen to what our Lord,
the Lord Matthew 13 verse 1-9. The same day when Jesus went
out of the house and sat by the seaside, And great multitudes
were gathered together unto him, so that he went into a ship and
sat. And the whole multitude stood
on the shore. And he spake many things unto
them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow. And
when he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside. And the fowls
came and devoured them up. Some fell among stony places,
where they had not much earth. And forthwith they sprung up,
because they had no deepness of earth. was up they were scorched,
and because they had no root they withered away. Some fell
among thorns and the thorns sprung up and choked them, but others
fell into good ground and brought forth fruit, some hundredfold,
some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold. He who hath ears to hear, let
him hear. And then the Lord gave an explanation
of what he said in verse 18. Hear ye therefore the parable
of the sower, when any One heareth the word of the kingdom, and
understandeth it not. Then cometh the wicked one, and
catcheth away that which is sown in his heart. This is he that
received the seed by the wayside." Whenever somebody hears it, it
makes no impression on them. The gospel makes no impression.
They hear it, take it or leave it, wayside. But he that received
the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word,
and anon with joy, Receiveth it, what he does with anon, immediately,
that's what it means, immediately, with joy, with gladness. He receives
it, and yet, he hath not rude in himself, but dureth, that
is, he appeared to be consistent for a while, dureth for a while,
and when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, by
and by, he is offended, he stumbles, He stumbles at the teaching.
He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth
the word, and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness
of riches choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful. But he
that received seed in the good ground is he that heareth the
word, and understandeth it, which also beareth fruit, and bringeth
forth some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty. So what Paul was teaching in
1 Corinthians using the nation of Israel. He said, I want you
to understand something. They were an example. We're going
to look at that Lord willing next time. They were an example.
They were an example. God had all of that happen to
them to be an example to us. They all came out. He said, now
listen. Beat up yourself. War with yourself. Be honest with yourself. Be honest
with yourself. Marvin, be honest with you. Don't
have that attitude, this will never happen to me. That's presumption. That's presumption. Every believer
that is truly one that has some assurance. And God's people do
have assurance. Let me tell you right now. I
know I think I said it in this message. If I didn't, it's in
the next message, but I'm going to say it again anyway. Every believer
can truthfully say, I know whom I have believed. And I'm persuaded
that he's able to keep that which I've committed unto him against
that day. I know that. I know. I love him. Peter, you
love me. Lord, you know all things. I
love you. Lord, I truly love you. I know
I don't manifest that as I ought, and I am so sorry. But Lord,
I do love you. Every believer loves you. But
I'll tell you this, every believer that has that attitude also has
an attitude that examines himself if he'd be found in the face. It's there. It's there. They're
not presumptuous. They're assured and they examine. They examine themselves. You
know, those that came out of Egypt, this is what happened. Paul is saying that Moses preached
the gospel to them just like the sower preaches the gospel. And some of it in Egypt, out
of Egypt. Some fell on that wayside here. Some of them, they were just
like us. Some, it just had no effect.
Oh, they ate the manna, they went through the Red Sea, they
drank the water, they followed the cloud, they did. But some
of it fell on stony ground and it appeared for a while to be
joyfully heard until they realized that that message is going to
cost them everything. that their life is going to be
Christ. Their life is Christ. Some may hear for years, but
it was on thorny ground. And after a while, the cares
of this world, just more and more, just seemed like more and
more, just got more and more stuff, things and mess and stuff
became more important than hearing the gospel. And after a while
it just chokes out the word. Paul said, wake up. Wake up. Give yourself a black eye. Is
this me? This is what God has to say about
it. And that seed that falls on good
ground, it brings forth fruit. Paul said it. One that hears
the gospel truthfully, out of a good heart, a good ground. Made so by the grace of God,
you know, we didn't do that. But it's one that's tender, and
soft, and receptive, and it stays, and it continues. There's a continual
warring against that old man that would say, you know what,
you're okay, you don't have to, you know, no, no I do. I do have
to war. There is a battle. He realizes,
he's kept there by the grace of God, he sees that proud presumptuous
attitude of his old man and he's still fighting against that.
But that seed that fell on good ground, fruit was brought forth.
That which falls upon good ground, prepared
by the grace of God, it is going to bear fruit. It will always
be there. The fruit of God's Spirit. That,
you know, love. Affection for God, for His people,
for His Word. Love. Joy. That is a cheerful,
glad, delightful attitude. Peace. What is that? Resting. Resting in the Lord. Long-suffering. Forbearing. Impatient. For Christ's sake. Somebody say,
man, I tell you what, I don't see those things in me. But a
believer wants to. I want that. I desire that. Gentleness. That is useful, gracious,
kind. Goodness. Virtuous acts for the
benefit of others. Goodness. And faith, that is,
reliance upon the Lord for all things. Meekness. Humility. Humility in believing God. And
temperance. Self-control. Paul said, and
I'm going to just read this, verse 6, back in 1 Corinthians
10. Now these things were for our
examples. To the intent that we should
not lust after evil things as they also lusted. Lord willing, I'm going to pick
up right there this next time. Paul said, I'm writing that which
the Lord has laid upon my heart because this is what happened
to them. They were examples. They were
examples. They all came out. They all appeared so. But time
has a way of manifesting some things. And he said, brethren,
War with yourself. We ain't no battle against everybody
else. Man, I'm telling you, I'm so
thankful I could just be here with you. But I'll be honest
with you, the battle's here. Here's my battle, right here.
And you that believe, the battle's with you. You're warring with
yourself. Paul says, look, like I find
myself beating myself up, there's a good reason for that. There's
an old man in me. And he said, believe me, the
propensity for me to rebel against God's there. It's there. The
only reason it doesn't dominate is because of the grace of God.
May the Lord bless these words to our heart for His glory and
our good. Amen.