Alright brethren, let's turn
to Exodus chapter 2. The church at Cottageville sent
an offering for the building fund. They wanted to help us
and there's a letter back there, a card with a note in it from
their pastor, Mike Walker. So if you want to read that,
it's back there. It's very nice of them to help
us. Exodus 2 and verse 15. The end there says, Moses fled
from the face of Pharaoh and dwelt in the land of Midian and
he sat down by a well. Now the priest of Midian had
seven daughters and they came and they drew water and they
filled the troughs to water their father's flock. And the shepherds
came, shepherds from a neighboring tribe And they drove them away. They drove them away so they
could have the water that these women had just drawn, put in
the trough. But Moses stood up and helped
them and watered their flock. And when they came to Reuel,
their father, he said, how is it that you come so soon today?
It should have taken a long time to water the flock. How did you
get back so quickly? And they said, an Egyptian delivered
us out of the hand of the shepherds. And he also drew water enough
for us and watered the flock. He delivered us out of the hand
of the shepherds. And also drew water enough for
us and watered the flock. And he said unto his daughters,
And where is he? Why is it that you've left the
man? Call him that he may eat bread. And Moses was content
to dwell with the man. And he gave Moses Zipporah his
daughter. She became his wife and bore
him a son. And then chapter 3 verse 1 it
says, Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father-in-law,
That was his other name, Jethro. He kept the flock of Jethro,
his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock
to the back side of the desert and came to the mountain of God,
even to Horeb. Now, in his first 40 years, Moses
was trained up in the schools of Egypt. Now, in these second
40 years, that we read about right here, he's trained up in
God's school. God had taught him the truth,
doctrinally, and gave him faith to believe. Now God's going to
teach him experimentally and make him useful. The title to
the message today is Three Things That Make a Servant. These are
three things God did to make Moses a servant. God makes a
leader for his people, a servant for his people by humbling him
before Christ, by making him serve, and by making him content. He humbles him before Christ
to obey Christ, to trust Christ, to look to Christ, to wait on
Christ, to declare Christ. And He makes him willing to serve. And He makes him content. First
of all, God makes His servant by humbling us before Christ.
He says here in verse 15, He sat down by a well. Now, it was not by accident that
Moses sat down by this well. There are no accidents in this
world. Everything that comes to pass
is God bringing to pass His will. And he brought Moses to this
well on purpose. And he brings him there and Moses
sat down. This was by God's sovereign chastening
hand. He found him in Egypt, exalting
himself, walking in pride, trying to deliver his people by the
strength of his hand and by his own wisdom. And God chastened
him and brought him out and set him down at this well. Now, spiritually,
that's what God does for His people. He chastens us from our
way and He brings us and sets us down at the true well, at
the feet of Christ, that we might be partakers of Christ's holiness. Why did He do that? Well, when
Moses was acting in pride, when he was supposing that his brethren
would understand rather than walking by faith, when he was
smiting the Egyptian rather than trusting Christ our strength,
when he was rebuking his brethren rather than just speaking the
word and waiting on Christ to make that word effectual, when
he was doing that, he was walking in pride. And God hates pride. Seven things God hates. And the first thing he lists
is a proud look. God hates pride. And what he
was doing in all that, he was doing exactly what the unbeliever
does who rejects Christ. Listen to this from Jeremiah
2.13. This is what you and I do when
we look to our own way and try to make things happen by our
own strength and our own wisdom rather than waiting on God to
do it through His Word. This is what we're doing. My
people have committed two evils. We commit two evils when we do
that. They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters."
And here's the second thing. They've hewed them out cisterns,
broken cisterns that can hold no water. That's the thing we
do. So, why doesn't God just cast
off His people? That seems like a tragic offense
that we commit against Christ. I'm talking about believers.
Moses did that when he was in Egypt. When he did that, he was
dying of thirst. Because he was trying to, he
forsook the fountain of living waters and he was trying to hew
out a cistern himself by the work of his hand. Why doesn't
God just forsake us when we do that? Because God chose his people
by grace. He chose Moses by free unmerited
grace in Christ. looking to the works of Christ,
not to the works of Moses, and not to the works of his people.
And so God will not forsake his people. He said in Isaiah 41,
17, when the poor and the needy seek water and there is none,
and their tongue faileth for thirst, that's what we see in
Moses back there in Egypt when he was in the midst of all that
struggle. He was seeking water, but he was dying of thirst. Because
he was looking, he forsook the fountain of living waters. God
said, when my people do that, I, the Lord, will hear them.
I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them. Why? Because of free grace. So what
did God do? He led Moses to a well. And spiritually,
that's what God does to His people. He said in Isaiah 49.10, they
shall not hunger nor thirst. You remember somebody else that
said that? Christ said that. He that believeth on me shall
never hunger, and he shall never thirst. Why? Neither shall the
heat nor sun smite them, for he that hath mercy on them shall
lead them, even by the springs of water shall he guide them.
Now brethren, why did He do this to Moses? Why does He do this
to you and I? Why does He smite us when we're
in our dry, dusty well looking for water and dying of thirst
and trying to do things by the work of our hands. Why does He
chasten us and turn us from that and bring us and sit us down
at the true well at Christ? Why does He do that? He does
it because God hates pride. And God will only use His servant
when He has made His servant humble. Humble. Humility is not putting on a
show of humility when you're in a church service, and then
walking around with your chest poked out in pride and arrogancy
the rest of the time, expecting your brethren to serve you. That's
not humility. So God's going to have to make
His child humble. And here's how He does it. He
brings us and sits us down by Christ the well, and he does
it so that he alone Christ alone the Lord alone will be exalted
He said in Isaiah 2 11 the lofty looks of man shall be humbled
and The haughtiness of men shall be bowed down and the Lord alone
shall be exalted in that day That's what He's going to do
for His people. He's going to humble us, bring us down from
our lofty opinion of ourselves, so that He alone is exalted.
He alone is exalted. Turn over to John 4. Now you
remember when Christ came to Jacob's well. Scripture says
He came there because He was weary. He was weary. And that teaches us that Christ
knows He was touched with the feeling of our infirmities and
He knows exactly what His people need when we need it. And He's
the only one able to provide it. Well, He goes to that well
and He sits down there on purpose. You know, I just have to think
that Moses, before he went to that well, Christ was at that
well in spirit. Just like we read about in John
4. Well, here came a Samaritan woman. Christ knew her. She's one of His elect. He knew
her, and He knew what she needed. She came there physically drawing
water from Jacob's well. So she was physically thirsty,
but Christ knew she was spiritually thirsty. And this one that said
it that well was able to give her exactly what she needed.
Look here in John 4, verse 10. He said, If thou knewest the
gift of God, who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink, thou
wouldst have asked of him, and he would have given thee living
water. He said, If you'd have known it was me, you'd have asked
me, I'd give you living water. Look down at verse 13. Jesus
answered and said to her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall
thirst again. You drink of this well, you're
going to be thirsty again. It's just natural. You drink
of that well of our flesh and our strength and our wisdom trying
to do what Moses did before, and you're going to be thirsty.
But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him,
Christ said, shall never thirst. But the water that I shall give
him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting
life." Look down here in verse 26. She said, I want this water. I want it. And she said, Who
is it? I know that Christ is coming.
Who is He? Verse 26, Jesus said unto her, I that speaketh unto
thee am He. He revealed Himself to her. Now
that's what was taking place, I just think, with Moses. I know
at least spiritually that's what happens with His people. He brings
His people to Christ the well. And Christ reveals Himself to
us again. And He brings us down. In our
haughtiness, He brings us down. And this is what happens when
He does that. Look. Look down at verse 28. The woman then left her water
pot and took off to the city to tell somebody about Christ.
That's what Christ makes us do. He makes us leave our water pot,
our broken cistern, our way, our wisdom, our works for Him. Now here's the point. When God
finds us in our haughtiness, drinking from a dry well, thirsty,
trying to affect something by our will, He brings us to Christ
and sets us down at Christ the well. And Christ does what He
did to this Samaritan woman. He teaches us, I'm the one who
quenches your thirst, and He quenches our thirst. And he tells
us, I'm the living water who alone can do this. And he does
it and he shows us he alone is the one who can do it. And there's
nothing that humbles you. There's nothing that reveals
to you the error that you were in when you were trying to provide
water and you were trying to affect life in people by the
strength of your hand. There's nothing that humbles
you from that and corrects you and makes you want to walk honorably
before God like having Christ reveal again to you, I'm the
only one that can do that. And He reveals that by doing
it. And God's chasing you so that you're thirsty now for Christ
and really hungry and thirsting after Christ our righteousness.
Christ fills you so that you know He's the only one that can. So that you have to wait now.
You know then, I'm going to go forth now and I'm going to preach
His Word and I'm going to wait on Him to give this water to
others like He's done it to me. That's humility. That's meekness. Obeying Him by believing Him,
by declaring Him, and by waiting on Him. That's obedience. That's
humility. That was why Moses was the meekest
man on earth. Right here is where he learned
it. In the desert. In the desert. Christ said, Blessed are they
which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall
be filled. Now, is anybody thirsty? He said to John, it's done. All the work of redemption is
done. Christ has finished the work. He's accomplished redemption
for a particular people. He's brought in an everlasting
righteousness for a particular people. He has purged the sin
of a particular people and justified a particular people. And He's
sending this gospel forth now to be preached and declared by
His prophets, not for us to try to make you believe, but for
us to tell you it's done. And to tell you now, believe
on Him. Believe on Him. He said, I am Alpha and Omega. He's the Lamb slain from the
beginning, from the foundation of the world. He's Alpha and
He's the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believes. He's
Omega. He said, I'm the beginning and
the end. He's the author and He's the finisher of faith. God's
not looking to you and me. to see how faithful we are. He's
looking to Christ. He's the author and finisher
of faith. He authored and finished faith for all His people so that
our piddly little faith that lays hold of Him comes up to
God in perfect faithfulness to God in Christ. Know what He did. And then He says to us, I will
give unto him that is a thirst of the fountain of the water
of life freely. And through that message, you
say, well, if he's done it for a particular people and he's
going to call just a particular people, why are you calling me
then and telling me to believe on him? Because it's through
this message that he's going to give his people a heart to
believe on him. That's how he does it. Speak to these dry bones
and tell them live. Whoever heard of that? He said,
as you do it, I'll be the water of life that comes into them
and gives them life. Now I'm telling you, He says
it's free. The fountain is free. You know
the reason men don't come and drink? They're not thirsty. Not
thirsty. When He makes you thirsty, you'll
drink. You'll drink. I pray He'll make
you thirsty. Now let's, secondly, Christ makes
a servant by making us willing to serve rather than to be served. He makes us a servant. You know,
I mean, I know that almost sounds, it is redundant. How does Christ
make a servant? He makes you willing to serve.
But sadly, this is something a lot of folks miss. Being a
servant is not being served. Being a servant is doing the
serving. Now here these seven daughters come and they come
to this well. God's brought them to this well
like He brings His people and humbles us. And then God's going
to test us. He's going to show the heart
He's put in us. He's going to make us serve. Here these seven
daughters come to the well. They got all the flocks. This
was the job of the women in those days, to come and draw water
and to feed the flocks. And here they come and they're
drawing water. And they had a lot of flocks.
This was a big job. And they're drawing this water,
and they get all the water drawn, they get it poured out there
in the troughs, so their flocks can come and water. And here
comes these neighboring shepherds, too lazy to draw water themselves,
and they see this already done, and they see these weak maidens,
and so they just drive them away so their flocks can have the
water. And what did Moses do? Well, when he was in Egypt and
he saw one of his brethren oppressed wrongly, he stood up and he smoked
that Egyptian and he killed him. And God chastened him. But now,
God's brought him to the well. And God's brought him there to
sit down and to drink of that well. Now before, you know what
Moses was doing before? he was trying to be, he was putting
himself in the place and acting the part of a benefactor to his
brethren. Remember it said he supposed
they would understand that he was their deliverer? Well, what
he was doing was he was, by this act, he was trying to make them
see how much he had benefited them. And that he's their benefactor,
he's their Lord, so that they would come and submit to him
and he would lead them out. Now listen, go to Luke 22 and
look at this. Luke 22, 25. Remember when Christ's
apostles began to argue over who should be the greatest? Look
at Luke 22, look at verse 25. He said unto them, the Lord bid,
the kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them. And they
that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors. They try to make the people think
that you're so benefited by me, you ought to serve me. That's
exactly what Moses was trying to do. He was exercising lordship. He was trying to be a benefactor,
making his people see by his act of killing the Egyptian that
they ought to bow to him. and serve Him. And our Lord said
this, this is who Christ calls great. He says, but He that's
greatest among you. He said, you shall not be so. Verse 26, but He that's greatest
among you. Now this is what Christ calls
great. Let Him be as the younger. You
know we have a problem thinking that by our physical age we ought
to be respected and served. Christ said, you want to be great
in my kingdom, you act like you're younger than the younger. You have that
spirit like you're the younger than the younger. Imagine that
if when all his people have that spirit to treat one another like
we're the younger and respecting our elder. Doing that towards
the younger. That doesn't call strife and
friction. Look at this. And he that's chief,
now here's what Christ calls a true leader, the chief, the
leader, is he that doth serve. He's saying let him be a servant.
Let him serve. You want to be the leader among
God's people? You ought to be the chief servant. Serving above
everybody else. ministering above everybody else.
That's what it is to be Christ's leader, His chief. For whether
is greater he that sitteth at meet or he that serveth is not
he that sitteth at meet by the world standard. It's he that
sits at meet. But that's not how it is in God's
kingdom. Not in God's church. I am among
you as he that serveth. So now God's chasing Moses. He's
humbled him down at Christ the well. He's taught him he alone
can effect obedience in his people. He alone can quench the thirst.
He alone can give the water of life. So now what's Moses going
to do when these cruel shepherds come and take advantage and oppress
these helpless daughters? What's he going to do now? Well,
it says Moses stood up and helped them. and watered their flock. Moses stood up, but he didn't
stand up this time to smite them, like he did the Egyptians. This
time, he helped them. He helped them. He ignored the
evil shepherds and helped them. He served them. We know what
He did in verse 19. They said, an Egyptian delivered
us out of the hand of the shepherds. He helped them by recovering
them out of the hand of those shepherds, by taking them away
and taking them to safety and to refuge. And not only that,
then He served them by going back and drawing water Himself. and serving their flocks. Now
that's serving. That's serving. It wasn't serving
to attack the Egyptian that was oppressing. It would have been
serving if he would have taken that oppressed one and delivered
him out of the hand of that smiting Egyptian. And here that's what
he did. He delivered him out of their
hand. And then he drew the water himself and fed the flocks. You
know, God our Savior, when He took the form of a servant, He
said, the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto. You know,
we use the term minister. We've lost the meaning of that
word. He's a minister. Is He really?
Is He really? Or does He expect to be ministered
unto? A minister is like Christ. Christ,
the Son of Man, came not to be ministered unto. but to minister,
to serve, to give His life a ransom for many. Do you realize everything
Christ did, He did for others? Everything Christ did was a sacrificing
of Himself and of His desires and His want for the good of
others. That's what He did. Everything
He did. Do you think it was His desire,
just natural heart, to want to go to a bloody cross and suffer
like He suffered at the hands of wicked men and the devil,
and then be forsaken of God in the room instead of His people?
He said, Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me. But
he knew it was not possible. He knew it was the will of God.
And so he taught us what being a servant is. He taught us it's
not possible. That's the only way my people
could be redeemed. That's the only way God could
be declared just and the justifier. And so he said, Father, not my
will, but Thy will be done. He did what was necessary for
his people. Because that was what it was
to serve them. He drew water for his people. He drew the water
of life for His people. You know how? Out of His wounded
side, blood and water flowed. Righteousness and sanctification,
righteousness and holiness came out of His wounds for His people. And now He just tells you, now
you just give My people a drink of cold water when they need
it. He don't say, bear wounds for
them. He says, just give them some
water. Just serve them. Just serve them. And how can
we not? When that's what He did for us.
And that's what He makes you. When you behold Him at the well,
and He's humbled you, and He brings one of His saints by,
and that saint's oppressed, or he's got a burden on him, He
gives His servant a heart. to really serve, to go and do
whatever it takes to deliver them from that burden and take
that burden off and serve them rather than wait to be served. One of the things I hate to see
is I hate to see folks, I never liked this when I was managing
in the workplace, to see folks stand around and do nothing while
other people are working. You know, when you go in one... I learned this working in a restaurant.
When you go after something, take something with you. And
when you come back with that thing, bring something back with
you. You know, and when there's nothing to do, look for something
to do. And be looking ahead. What's that person going to need
done next? And go ahead and do that to help them with the next
step, you know. Well, the Lord says, don't purloin. And He teaches you and me not
to do that among His people. Not to stand around while there's
things that need to be done and put it all on the load of another.
He says, help My people. Help My people. And He gives
His servant, particularly that He's going to use to lead His
people, a heart to do it. And He has to do it. And you
know the things He does to serve, most of them are not seen and
they must not be noticed. They cannot be noticed. There's
things that He shows you in innumerable ways. He shows you this is going
to be best for this brother, and that brother, and the other
brother. And a pastor just can't do the things other people can
do. He'll lose his witness if he does. His wife can't do the
things other people can do. He'll lose his witness if he
does. If something comes along and you have to correct somebody
on something, and first thing they'll do is say, well you did
it, or your wife did it. To serve them means you're going
to have to deny your lust and not do some of the things that
you ordinarily would, that you're free to do. But you can't do
them because it's not good for your brethren. That's serving
them. And there's a lot of ways like that you do it, and nobody
ever sees it. Nobody ever notices it. And it
shouldn't be noticed. It must not be noticed. Now, is that pleasing to God?
Is it pleasing to God when His people lord over them and expect
others to see them as their benefactor? Or is it pleasing to God when
His people serve others? Well, whenever Moses did what
he did in Egypt, you know what God did? He shut it down. He
chastened him. He shut it down. You know what
God did here? He opened the door for him and
provided him a home. provided him a family, provided
him a wife, provided him a son. Scripture says, God's not unrighteous
to forget your work and labor of love which you've showed toward
His name. How? In that you have ministered
to the saints and do minister. That's not the reason we do it.
We don't do it because we're hoping God will be indebted to
us. You do it out of a motive for Christ only, constrained
by what He's done for you. But He tells us in His Word,
God, don't forget it. And you know, we shouldn't forget
it. When others serve us in some way, we shouldn't forget it.
We ought to do as God does and remember them. And He says here,
God remember, because it's showing faithfulness toward His name
to minister to His saints. He said, Paul said this, I'm
full. I've received of Epaphroditus
the things which were sent from you. Telling the Philippians.
They brought him a gift. They sent him a gift by this
servant. He said, I received it. And this is what he called
it. An odor of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well-pleasing
to God. And then he tells us in Hebrews
13, 16. Do good and communicate. Don't forget that. Do good and
to communicate, forget not. For with such sacrifices, God
is well pleased. God is well pleased. Don't you
want to please God? Don't you want to please God?
There's our motive. He said this is what pleases
Him. Right here. Serving His brethren. That's
what Christ did. And He said, this is My Son whom
I'm well pleased. And being made complete by Christ.
He gives His people a heart to serve Him. Now lastly, I'll move
along on this one. Lastly, God makes a servant by
making us content. God makes a servant by making
us content. Exodus 2.21, And Moses was content
to dwell with the man. Exodus 3.1, Moses kept the flock. He was a shepherd. Where? In the backside of the desert. But he did that, came to the
mountain of God. Now, for 40 years, Moses dwelt
with Pharaoh as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. Everybody knew him.
Everybody knew Moses. He was somebody in Egypt. He
was somebody in Egypt. Now, Moses is made content to
dwell as a stranger in a strange land. He named his son Gershom
because it means, I've been a stranger in a strange land. He was content. Is that not what Christ did for
His people? He came here and He was a stranger in a strange
land. The only one who knew no sin. I've said to you before, you
drive into a dangerous neighborhood and sometimes you go into places
you can be a little scared in places. And the reason is, is
obviously the people aren't like you. Well, nobody was like Christ. Where He walked, anywhere He
walked, He was among robbers and thieves. He was among immoral,
ungodly people when he walked amongst sinners. Even the best
were at their state altogether vanity. To be faithful, to be a faithful
servant is to exalt the name of our triune God in Christ,
being faithful for Him to be exalted, not for our name to
be exalted. John said, He must increase,
I must decrease. And you see a decreasing here
in Moses. He brought from that lofty place
where he was, down to the well, down to being a servant, down
to being content, out in the back side of the desert. That's
the progression of true holiness. That's the progression of growing
in grace. Down, that Christ might be exalted. God forbid that I
should glory, Paul said. Saved in the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto
the world. That's what's happening to Moses.
Then remember this. Moses goes out there now and
he's made a shepherd. He's gone and he's made a shepherd
to shepherd another man's flock. Isn't that what God's going to
use him for one day? He's going to shepherd God's
flock. Somebody else's flock he's going to shepherd. So God's
training him for that. In his school here, he's training
him to shepherd another man's flock. But now Moses, remember,
was raised in Egypt. And do you remember? He was raised
to think like the Egyptians think. Do you remember how Egyptians
regarded shepherds? Listen to this. Genesis 46, 34
says, Every shepherd is an abomination unto the Egyptians. Moses was
raised to look at shepherds as an abomination. And now he's
content to be one. God's made him content to be
one. To be that which is lowly and despised by the world, and
be content to be that is what God makes his people. Christ
was content for God to make him a shepherd. He was despised and
rejected because he was a good shepherd. He said, I'm the good
shepherd. And the good shepherd gives his life for the sheep.
And he was content. Christ in you makes us content
to abide in whatever calling he's put us in. That was the
point he was making to the servants and the masters. We don't rebel. Our weapons are not carnal. We
don't rebel with carnal weapons. He said abide in the calling
wherein you were called. Therein abiding with God. That's our contentment. God's
with me. He told the women at that time,
he said, don't throw off your head cover. That's like a women's
liberation movement. That's like you trying to make
a statement and a stand by throwing that off. Our custom in the churches
of God is not to be contentious like that. Why? Because we don't
war with the weapons of our hands. We abide in the calling God's
put us in. The man abides in the calling
of being the husband and loving his wife as Christ loved the
church and gave him for it. And the woman abides in her calling
from a humble heart, serving her husband and waiting on him
and looking to him as the church does to Christ. And whatever
custom, if we live in the United States of America, a woman can
show that custom by dressing modestly, wearing a dress and
dressing like a man. All this stuff you see going
on right now, how is it that the world wars after the flesh
when they are trying to blur the lines between male and female?
Men start dressing like women, women dress like men. You know,
all these things. He says, keep those distinctions. Keep those distinctions. And
do it because you see that Christ is the head, and the husband
is serving Christ, and the woman is serving the husband, and all
are serving God. This is the order God has. But now, if I throw off whatever
the custom is of my day, you know, in this generation, you
know, People don't know what the custom is of a head covering
in this culture, but they do know the customs that are customary
in this culture. So if all of a sudden a woman
shows up wearing a three-piece suit and acting like a man with
her hair cut like a man, then it's obvious to us, okay, she's
trying to wear the pants in the family. He says, don't do that. Show from a humble spirit. Abide
in the calling God's put you in, being content knowing God's
abiding there with you. And that's our contentment. God's
abiding there with me. Let your conversation be without
covetousness and be content with such things that you have. Here's
the other reason, because He said, I'll never leave you nor
forsake you. So I can abide in this calling knowing I'm abiding
there with God and knowing God won't ever leave me or forsake
me. That's where Moses was content
as a shepherd, which before he abhorred. And then remember this,
at the end of these 40 years, in Midian. In his first 40 years,
he was known, he lived in luxury, he was in the palace. At the
end of these 40 years in Midian, we find Moses shepherding another
man's sheep, unknown, on the back side of the desert. He's
not even seen by anybody. And yet, he's content to be there. He's content to be there. Because
when He goes to deliver these people, it's not going to be
by Him being front and center and being seen. It's going to
be by God's hand being seen, and God's name being declared,
and God being exalted, not Him. You know, I traveled and preached
for seven years. And I was not content. I wanted
to be a pastor. And it would almost come to where
people would call me to be a pastor, and they wouldn't, and I just
couldn't figure out, you know, Why is the Lord not, maybe He's
just not going to do it? I was not content. And then the
Lord gave me contentment. I realized God's put me in a
faithful church, given me a faithful pastor, and this is where I'm
serving God. This is the calling He's put
me in to serve Him. This is what He's given me to
do right here. He's given me a good job. And it was a job
most people wouldn't want. I was crawling under houses and
amongst bugs and creeping, crawling things. It was something most
people wouldn't... I was content to do it. I thought,
when I was doing that, my thought was, I'm going to make a lot
of money. And I'm going to give this to
the church. I want to. I really want to. I want to further
God's cause. And he had given me a place where
I was teaching in the morning meeting. I was teaching the Bible
class before Chris got up to preach. And then my pastor said,
I want you to go in the back, unknown, unseen, and I want you
to teach the young people. We had a bunch of young people
at that time. Whereas a lot of folks in the congregation made
comments to me that they felt like, you know, that was almost
like being demoted. I said, I think it's an honor
to be able to lay a foundation for these young people and teach
them. That's a great honor. And I was
content to do it. And for the first time, I thought,
this is how God's going to use me. And I'm content being right
where I am. And that's when I got a call
asking me to make one trip up to New Jersey to preach. Moses was brought to that place
of contentment on the backside of the desert and that's when
Christ appeared and said, now go deliver my people. Here's what I'm saying to you.
We're going to face different circumstances and different states
of being while we're serving the Lord. You're going to be
in sorrow sometimes and in joy sometimes. You're going to be
in plenty sometimes. You're going to be in want sometimes.
You're going to have people rejoicing with you at times and people
despising you at times. But you have to be made to know
whatever the times, whatever the situation, whatever the environment,
that's not my contentment. If that is your contentment,
you'll never find happiness. You'll never be content at all. You find contentment in Christ
knowing He abides with me right now in this state And He'll never
leave me nor forsake me right now in this state. And He's providing
this state for me and everything I need in this state. That's
how Paul could say, I've learned in whatsoever state I am in therewith
to be content. I know how to be abased and how
to abound everywhere. and in all things. I'm instructed
both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer
need. I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me."
He told Timothy, Godliness with contentment is great gain. If you're content and you have
God, that's the greatest gain you could have. You've got everything. If you're content and you have
the Lord, you have got everything. Listen to this. We brought nothing
into this world. It's certain we can carry nothing
out. Having food and raiment, let us therewith be content.
Having Christ our bread, and Christ our raiment of righteousness,
and having the food and the clothing that Christ has provided right
now. What else do you need? What else
do I need? Well, I'm going to need something
for tomorrow. Who said you're going to be here tomorrow? Did Christ provide it today?
He said, I'll provide it tomorrow. Don't you be worried about tomorrow.
There's enough evil today. Let's try to take your eyes off
me. He says, you trust me. He's promised us grace for today. But what happens if we start
wanting more than Christ, more than food and rain? Here's what
happens. They that will be rich. What
is it to want to be rich? To want more than Christ and
more than what He's provided right now. That's what it is
to want to be rich. They fall into temptation and
a snare and many foolish and hurtful lusts which drown men
in destruction and perdition because the love of The desire
for, the heart being covetous for money is the root of all
evil. Not money. Sin's not in things. It's the love of money. It's
the covetousness for it that's the root of all evil. That's
what'll make you do sneaky things and lying things and hurtful
things. The love of money. And he says,
which caused many to err from the faith. You can't believe
on Christ and believe He's providing and that He's put me in this
state and He's given me everything I need right now in this state.
You can't be content and be wanting more. It's impossible. You can't
believe Him and be content and be wanting more at the same time.
We have to be made to trust Him and be content right now with
what He's given me. That doesn't mean, brethren,
that you necessarily are happy all the time. We're not happy
all the time. But we're content all the time.
That's what I heard from Winna. When she was talking to me, even
though she was sad, she was content. That's because Christ is our
contentment. So he says, flee these things,
O man of God. That's what you're called to,
flee these things and follow after righteousness and godliness
and faith and love and patience and meekness. Wouldn't it be
something if we fought for those things and strove for those things
like we do for things that we covet? Go after righteousness
and godliness and faith and love and patience and meekness. Fight
the good fight of faith. And it's called a fight because
it's a fight. It's hard. Fight the fight of faith. Lay
hold on eternal life. These are the things we're unto
we've been called. This is our calling. Not to go
after stuff. This is our calling. This is
life. So God makes His servant, number
one, by humbling us before Christ the fountain, to believe Him,
trust Him, declare Him, and wait on Him. By giving us a heart
to minister rather than to be ministered unto. And by making
us content with Christ wherever He's put us, whatever state He's
put us in. I pray God bless it. Do that
for us. Amen. All right, brethren, before we
close in prayer, I want to make a quick announcement.