Let's turn in our Bibles to Acts
chapter 27. We face many trials in this world
as believers and we seek very often answers when we enter those
trials. But the answer for us. The way of our peace is found
right here in the Word of the Lord. God's revealed will is
manifest in His written Word. And we all have access to our
Bibles, to this Word. God has been pleased to call
out His sheep to instruct His sheep, to teach His sheep unto
salvation through the preaching of His Word. And He's provided
us a place to come to, to hear the Word of the Lord set forth. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself
is the Word. He is the Word in human flesh. In these last days, God has spoken
to us by His Son. He has spoken to us the Word
by the Word. The Lord came and He said in
John 17, I have given them thy Word. And we are separated from
our unbelief in conversion. We are separated and kept from
the evil of this world as we are taught through this Word.
He said, sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth. You see how important this word
is. This word is so important. And the revelation that He gives
us through this word is that all salvation is of the Lord.
All salvation is of the Lord. He gives us the word to teach
us that God's foolishness And God's very weakness is stronger
than our best wisdom and our best strength. And this is what
we find out the more we hear this Word. Do you hear the Word
of the Lord? Do you believe Him, what He says
to you in this Word? We're very prone in trials and
other things to look to our wisdom, to look to our strength. But
this is why this Word is so important. We're always coming to Christ
through His Word, hearing His Word, and heeding His Word. And
this is how we're going to be saved. This is how it pleased
God to save His people in this world through the Word, Christ
Himself, through the preaching of the Word, which is all concerning
Christ Himself, unto salvation. This is how we're going to be
anchored settled and not tossed to and fro. Now, the title of
the message tonight is the point of the message. And it's this,
Hear and Heed the Word. Hear and Heed the Word. Tonight we're going to see how
important it is to hear and to heed the Word of the Lord. We're
going to see some things, not all the things, but some of the
things, a few of the things that cause us to turn from hearing
and heeding the word of the Lord. We begin here in Acts 27 verse
9. Now when much time was spent, and when sailing was now dangerous,
because the fast was now already past, Paul admonished them and
said unto them, Sirs, I perceive that this voyage will be with
hurt and much damage, not only of the lading and ship, but also
of our lives. Paul had a spirit of prophecy. He had a spirit of prophecy as
an apostle that we don't have in our day. If you look at Acts
27 verse 21. After long abstinence, Paul stood
forth in the midst of them and said, Sirs, you should have hearkened
unto me, and not have loosed from Crete, and to have gained
this harm and loss. And now I exhort you to be of
good cheer, for there shall be no loss of any man's life among
you but of the ship. For there stood by me this night
the angel of God, whose I am, and whom I serve, saying, Fear
not, Paul. Thou must be brought before Caesar,
and, lo, God hath given thee all them that sail with thee.
Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer, for I believe, God, that it shall
be even as it was told me. Paul was a vessel, and he was
sent to declare the word of the Lord. Now, in our text, we have
the messenger of God standing here, and he admonishes these
men in the ship, and he says to them not to leave, not to
loose, and not to sail. But we find a sad word here in
the beginning of verse 11, nevertheless, nevertheless. They wouldn't heed
the word of the Lord spoken through Paul. Now we have here a few
things that ought never to turn us from the word of our God.
Here's the first thing. Glorying in men will always cause
us to turn from the word of the Lord when we glory in men. Verse 11, nevertheless the centurion
believed the master and the owner of the ship more than those things
which were spoken by Paul. Now this master and this owner,
it may be one person or it may be two different people. I don't
know about that. But here is what he was glorying
in. In this man or these men we find
expertise. And this man was the master of
the ship, meaning he was a master sailor who could read the stars
and know the tides, and he was an expert in sailing. And the
second thing we see here is this was affluence. This was the one
who owned the ship, a man of means, just the kind of man we
like to respect and glory in. Now, to the centurion, Paul was
just a prisoner. That's all he was. And worse
than that, he was a preacher to the centurion. But this was
a practical situation. This was a decision of great
importance of which Paul had no expertise. And as this centurion regarded
Paul, this preacher couldn't help him. He couldn't help him
in this decision that had to be made. But who sent Paul and
for whom did Paul speak? Look at Job 38. He wasn't speaking
for one who had expertise to read the stars or for one who
owned a boat, but he's speaking in behalf of the one who created
and owns not just the stars but the whole world. He's speaking
in behalf of the one who not only has expertise to read the
stars but who actually controls the stars and the dominion thereof
in the earth. Now God made Job feel very small
by asking him this. Look at Job 38 verse 31. Canst thou bind... This is the
word of the Lord speaking to Job. Job 38 verse 31. Canst thou
bind the sweet influences of pleads, or loose the bands of
Orion? These are the constellations.
Canst thou bring forth Maseroth in his season, or canst thou
guide Arcturius with his sons? Knowest thou the ordinances of
heaven? Canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth? Canst thou lift up thy voice
to the clouds that abundance of waters may cover thee? Canst
thou send lightnings that they may go and say unto thee, here
we are. This is God. This is the one
for whom the apostle Paul was speaking. but in light of who
God is and in light of what God is able to do. Doesn't it sound
foolish? Doesn't it seem just like utter
foolishness for this centurion to show a respect to and glory
in this master of the ship? This master sailor and this master
of the ship? Sounds foolish, doesn't it? That's
what it is to glory in men. To glory in men. Why is it that
on television and in ads and magazines and newspapers and
things. Why is it that we see men of
power and affluence and influence used to advertise things? Carnal men will eat and wear
and use the dumbest things on this planet simply because some
athlete or some rich person or somebody of influence said, eat
this, it's good. Wear this, it looks good, I'll
wear it. Drink this, it's good, I'll drink it. And we'll go right
after it and do it just because we're not that hard to turn this
way or that. Not that hard at all. Well, but
God doesn't advertise and attract like the world does. He does
what He does in power. This one who controls the stars
and sets the dominion thereof in the earth and calls for the
lightning and the lightning says, here I am. He works in the hearts of people.
The very Son of God came forth in a body which God made for
Him, formed in the womb of a virgin. And He came forth with a body
that had no visual appearance about it that would make us desire
Him whatsoever. He came forth and He had no family
status. He was born to a poor family.
He had no credentials from men. He had no authority from men. And the gospel that he came forth
preaching in no way whatsoever appealed to the flesh at all. And then he saved his people
from their sin through the most shameful, cursed thing that a
man could ever look upon, and that was a bloody cross. Nothing about him, from the womb
to the tomb, nothing about him was done in a way that would
advertise and cause any man to look at him and say, just from
a carnal appearance and say, oh, I want to eat what he eats
and drink what he drinks and walk where he walks. Not anything.
Nothing. And Paul, who had a good education
and who had money, who was a ruler and had some credentials, was
reduced to being an enemy to his former companions. And he
was reduced to being not only that, but a common prisoner.
And now here he is, shackled in a prison boat, and a centurion
looking upon him and thinking, what in the world would I ever
do in listening to this fellow? Why would I ever listen to this
fellow? Why did God do that? I've told you this over and over.
In 1 Corinthians 1.28, base things of the world and things which
are despised hath God chosen. Yea, and things which are not,
things that are nothing, that's what God's chosen. To bring to
nothing things that are. Me and you who think we are something. He's going to bring us to nothing
with base things and use base things. Why? That no flesh should
glory in His presence. That no flesh should glory in
His presence. God looked and saw. He looked
and He saw, Isaiah says. Not that some would believe.
Not that some had a spark of goodness in them. Not that there
was something about somebody down the road that would cause
them to believe on Him. He looked and saw that there
was no man Nobody. Everybody looking at men and
trying to exalt themselves over men and following after men and
glorying in men. That's what he saw. That's what
he saw. And so he chose whom he would
save. He chose to reveal to them, he
says, because there wasn't any other way they'd find out this
gospel, this word. We had no wisdom about us. We had no righteousness about
us. We had no holiness about us. We had no way whatsoever
of redeeming ourselves from the curse of the law, from fulfilling
the law of God perfectly in every jot and tittle. We had no way
whatsoever of coming before God and being accepted of a thrice
holy God. Not any way whatsoever. God had
to put us in Christ. God has to reveal Christ to us.
And what He reveals is, is that Christ had to perform everything. And that performance by that
person, Christ Jesus the Lord, is the only way God's going to
receive any sinner. The only way. Why did He do that? That according as it is written,
He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. In the Lord. Carnality. is unbecoming to the
gospel. It's unbecoming to the gospel.
That's what it is to glory in men. It's unbecoming to the gospel. It causes strife and it causes
vainglory. Whether we're talking about matters
of our eternal salvation or we're talking about everyday matters,
what we'll eat and drink and wear and put on. Glory in men will turn us from
hearing and heeding the word of the Lord. It will. This is what the Lord says to
us. This is the word of the Lord. Be of the same mind one to another. Do you believe you're a maggot?
Do you believe you're a maggot? Be of the same mind. Do you believe
salvation is of the Lord? If you believe, we ought to glory
in none but God only. Be of the same mind. Mind not
high things. but condescend to men of low
estate. Be not wise in your own conceits. Paul told those carnal men and
women in Corinth, he said, therefore let no man glory in men. God,
can you imagine how this centurion would have gloried if God would
have allowed him to have his way and to have smooth sailing
along the way like he planned to do. Do you know how he would
have gloried in himself? And how he would have gloried
in the captain of that ship and the owner of that ship? And how
he would have said, Paul, see what we told you. It would have
been all glorying in men and no glorying in God whatsoever.
Well, here's the second thing we see. inconvenience will turn
us from hearing and heeding the Word of the Lord. Verse 12, And
because the haven was not commodious to winter in. They could have wintered in the
fair havens. They could have stayed there.
But it wasn't the best place, it wasn't convenient, it wasn't
commodious or fit in their eyes, brethren. This word, Licia, there,
where they were, that city that was close by this Fair Havens,
means shaggy. It means shaggy. And that word,
Phoenicia, where they were trying to go, means palm trees. They didn't want to stay in that
shaggy place. They wanted to get to where the
palm trees were. Well, so it is with Christ. The Word of God will always go
against the pleasures of the flesh. Always. The flesh wants
to be rich in the world apart from being rich in Christ Jesus
the Lord. This is what the Word of the
Lord says. Labor not to be rich. Cease from thine own wisdom.
How clear is that word? Simple, isn't it? But seek ye
first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these
things shall be added unto you. Christ our King is the only treasure
of the believer. The flesh wants to be its own
wisdom. do its own seeking, do its own calculating, found out
the way to God by itself, by its own searching. You know what
those carnal brethren in Corinth had come about? You know what
they had come to the point of saying? Some were saying, I'm
of Apollos. Some were saying, I'm of Paul.
But there were some there that were saying, I'm of Christ. I
don't need anybody to teach me. This is what the word of the
Lord says, be not wise in thine own eyes, fear the Lord and depart
from evil. That's evil. That's evil. Christ is the believer's wisdom.
It's not commodious to confess our nothingness. It's not commodious
to suffer the rejection of men against the flesh that will come
for confessing Christ. That's just not commodious to
us. to dwell in this one whom the world regards as shaggy and
not enjoy the pleasure of those palm trees that we so much enjoy. We'll want to focus our attention
on man. We'll want to do it out of a
pretense of love and a pretense of tolerance. claiming that it's
what's going to be far greater for the furtherance of the gospel,
but it's really a fleshly desire not to be in the shaggy place,
but to be amongst the palm trees. Today, this is what men are saying. Men who claim to preach the sovereign
grace of God are saying this, let's don't make such a big deal.
about a doctrine like particular redemption because it'll cause
a separation between our brethren who believe in universal atonement. If particular redemption is only
a doctrine to you, then you'll feel the same way as those fellows
that say that. But it's the very glory of God
in the face of Christ Jesus. Particular redemption is the
very reason Christ is called the Redeemer. Take away His fully
successful, finished accomplishment of redeeming every child chosen
of God and given to Him before the foundation of the world,
and you take away His name! He's no longer the Redeemer. The successful redemption of
a particular people is not an issue, it is the issue. His name is Jesus, for He shall
save His people from their sins. Faith believes that when Christ
redeemed His chosen people, He declared Then, prior to us knowing
anything at all about it, He declared right then that God
is both just and the justifier. Because that's what happened.
God justly justified His people. Now, that applies to everyone
for whom Christ died and to everyone for whom Christ died alone. You remove this and it's not
just removing a difference of opinion, it's removing the heart
of the gospel. As much as it is to take the
heart out of a man and say, let's don't regard him as dead just
because he don't have a heart. Particular redemption. at the
cross is the death blow to every lie of the serpent. The lie that
there's some goodness in man. The lie of decisionism, that
it is just he's done all he can do. Now the ultimate end all
and be all will be what you decide to do with him. It's the end
of free will worship altogether. It's the end of self-sanctifying
worship. It's the end of Fullerism. It's
the end of Arminianism. It's the death blow to these
things. Of all the other names that men dress up and come in
calling it grace. It's the end of all of it. It's
declaring it is the dividing line between works and grace. And by the same token, as particular
redemption is the heart of the gospel, universal redemption
is the heart of works religion. It's the heart of free will religion.
It's the heart of those circumcisers who would have you circumcise
the flesh in order that you be accepted with God. It's the heart
of those who worship the creature more than the creator, universal
atonement is. And these two are not varying
opinions, they're different gospels. And Paul didn't say what men
in our day are saying. Paul said, brethren, if I yet
preach circumcision, why do I suffer persecution? For then is the
offense of the cross ceased. He said, I would that they were
even cut off which trouble you. That's a little bit stronger
than what fellows say in our day, isn't it? Yet if you won't
winter in Christ, in this fair haven, in this place that this
world calls shaggy, if you won't winter here, then you'll perish
in the storm of God's wrath. That's just how it is. What it
comes down to, you're going to either have to bear the reproach
of men or bear the wrath of God. One of the two. One of the two. And just because it's inconvenient
for this flesh Just because you might consider
it not commodious. God give us grace to drop anchor
right here in this harbor and say this is where we stay in.
We're going to let the cold winds blow. This is where we stay in,
right here. Here's the third thing that will turn us from
hearing and heeding the Word of God. Peer pressure. Peer pressure. Verse 12. And because the haven
was not commodious to enter in, the more part advised to depart
thence also. When it comes to trusting all
your eternal salvation into the hands of another, into the hands
of Christ Jesus the Lord, the more part always advises you
to depart from that harbor. Always. In Acts 24, 25, Felix
trembled and answered, go thy way for this time when I have
a convenient season, I'll call for thee, Paul. In verse 26-24,
Festus said with a loud voice, Paul, thou art beside thyself,
much learning doth make thee mad. Verse 26-28, Agrippa said
unto Paul, almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian. The more
part will always advise you, just, you know, don't get too
serious. Don't get too serious, but don't
be dogmatic about anything. If it comes between you and your
family, If it comes between you and your education, if it comes
between you and your career, if it comes between you and your
pleasure, if it comes between the Word of God and other classics
and good books, don't get too serious about this thing. Now,
don't, don't. The Moor Party advises you to
take safe haven just a little ways out of this harbor. We'll
fix and see in a moment. Where they were going was just
at the other end of the island. They just want to go to the other
end of the creek, that's all. The Moorpark will advise you
just to move out of this harbor just a little ways and you'll
find a little more commodious place to winter, to take refuge. Turn over to Hebrews 11, 24. The more part's going to advise
you to go just a little way out of this harbor and trust in self-will,
trust in self-righteousness, trust in intellectualism, trust
in worldly riches, in the lusts of sin, live it up, you've got
all your life. The more part's going to advise
you. Listen to this, Hebrews 11, 24. By faith, Moses, when he was
come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter."
Do you know what he turned down? Pharaoh, the president of Egypt. The number one man in Egypt,
the most powerful, rich, influential man in Egypt and he's the son
of his daughter and he refused to be called the son of his daughter.
What did he choose instead? Choosing rather to suffer affliction
with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for
a season. Esteeming the reproach of Christ
greater riches than the treasures in Egypt. For he had respect
unto the recompense of the reward. What is that? God Almighty is
Christ the Lord. He heard the word of the Lord
and he heeded the word of the Lord by God's grace. By faith,
by faith, by God-given faith, he left Egypt. He forsook it,
not fearing the wrath of the king. Why? He feared the Lord
God. He heard him. For he endured
as seeing him who is invisible. You think of what great things
God records for us in his word about Moses. All the great things
God records for us about Moses. All the riches that was given
to Moses. And he's still right now enjoying
those riches, right now, more than, more than, and think of
what's recorded about Pharaoh. And those others who chose to
serve Pharaoh. What's mentioned about them? Nothing. Nothing. Well, here's the fourth thing.
Logic. Logic. Fleshly reasoning will
turn us from hearing and heeding the Word of the Lord. Verse 12.
Acts 27.12 And because the haven was not commodious to winter
in, the more part it vies to depart thence also, if by any
means they might attain to Phanesi and there to winter, which is
a haven of Crete, and it lieth toward the southwest and northwest. Now what were they saying? Here's
how logic reasons. Phanesi wasn't that much further
away. We're not talking about trying
to make the voyage all the way. We're just talking about going
to the other end of the island. And logic reasons this way, that
harbor at Phineas, the way it's positioned, the way it runs,
and the way it curves, and the way it's all positioned in that
harbor, is much better than where we are right here, Paul. We can
get our ship there, we'll be protected from the storms of
winter, and we can anchor down right there. But God's Word is
based on this, not reason, not logic. Thus saith the Lord. Thus saith the Lord. Logic says,
well if God's chief end for creating His children was to reveal His
glory in them, in the person of His Son, by saving them from
their deadly fall into sin, Why didn't He just create His children
from the beginning, like He did the angels, and reveal to them
what He did to the angels, and just spare doing all this other
stuff? Making the world, and allowing
sin to enter in, and overruling all things, and sinning. Why
didn't He just... Because it pleased the Lord to do it the
way the Lord wanted to do it. And faith says, it's the Lord. Let Him do what seemeth Him right.
Logic says, why when he delivered Israel out of Egypt and they
were right there, just straight across was Canaan. Why didn't
he just take them right across into Canaan instead of taking
them down there and getting them hemmed in between a rock on one
side and the Red Sea on the other side with Pharaoh's army coming
down, raging down upon them with no way to escape. Why did he
do that? Why didn't He just bring you home when He revealed Christ
in you right from the beginning? Why did He leave you in this
place and cause you to be hemmed up and hedged about with all
your enemies pursuing you in deadly force with no way of escape
for you? Why did He do that? It pleased God to do it. that
He might show you His glorious glory in a glorious fashion by
continually keeping you from the evil from this Word of this
Gospel, through Christ the Word. Logic says, when we behold the
Son of God taking a human body in the womb of a virgin, why
didn't He come on a mighty steed? Why did He come just a little
baby in a manger? Logic says, why did he grow up
as a man and just look like everybody else? Logic says, why did he
go to the cross and allow himself to be nailed to a cross and treated
shamefully as he was and be spit upon and be mocked in the way
he... Why did he do that? This one
who owns heaven and earth, this one who could speak and more
than twelve legions of angels could have come to his rescue.
Why did this one do it this way? It pleased God. That's why the
Word of the Lord was, this is how I'm going to save. Faith says, Lord, I believe,
help thou mine unbelief. Logic says, you mean to tell
me that you really think there is a man, flesh and blood, just
like you are, seated in the throne of God in heaven? Wherever in
the world that is? You mean you really believe that?
Faith says, yes Lord, I believe. help thou mine unbelief." When the Lord, when His Word
comes to the believer where he is, and he's just hemmed in every
way, and there is absolutely no way out. There is absolutely no way to
deliver ourselves from the trial. There is absolutely no way, absolutely
no way we can find to get any peace in the situation. Absolutely
no way we can remedy the situation. Absolutely nothing we can do
to fix the situation. And the Word of the Lord comes
to us and He tells us to seek His face, to patiently wait on
Him. that He will deliver. The Word of the Lord comes and
the things we hear sometimes make no sense logically to us
whatsoever. None whatsoever. It comes to
us like this. Cast your net on that side. Lord, I fished all night. I know how to fish. And I fished
all night. And I've caught nothing. But that goes out the window.
And faith says, nevertheless, Lord, as thou hast commanded,
let down the net. This thing is not about logic.
It's about what does the Lord say? The Lord says, the world
says, let conscience be your guide. You know what the word
of the Lord says? He that trusteth in his own heart
is a fool. That's the absolute opposite
of let conscience be your guide. He that trusteth in his own heart
is a fool. But whoso walketh wisely, he
shall be delivered. What's that wisdom? Nevertheless,
Lord, at Thy Word, I will let down the net. It might not make
any sense to me. Nevertheless, Lord, at Thy Word. Alright, here's the fifth thing.
Supposition. Supposing will turn us from the
Word of the Lord. The young people today call somebody
who's a pretender, a poser. You know that phrase? You call
them a poser. Well, the Lord says those who
are just pretending, who jump to the conclusion without waiting
on the Lord and taking it to this Word and seeing if what
God says, if it lines up with what God says, is a supposer.
A supposer. Look at verse 13. And when the
south wind blew softly, supposing that they had obtained their
purpose, loosing thence, they sailed close by a creek. Not
long after, there arose against it a tempestuous wind called
your Rockland. Now you think about this. I looked
at this and looked at this and I went back and looked at this
again. And I think finally, in the last last when you called
Michelle, this is what I was looking at. This was the last
staff. I think I got something here for you. Be careful. Be careful that when the south
wind blows softly, you do not suppose that you have obtained
that which you seek. Now listen, always take the soft
wind to the book and see if this soft wind agrees with what the
revealed will of God is in the book. Now, what do you mean by
that? Well, I'm going to give you an
example. You've tried to get a meeting for so long at your
job with that new client. You've done everything. You've
worked and worked and worked to try to get a meeting with
that new client. Well, finally, the soft wind blows. And he calls
you up and he says, I'm ready to meet with you. And he's excited.
And he's talking good things. And it sounds like You fix and
get what you've worked so hard for." And he says, now let's
meet together Sunday morning from 10 to 2 out on the golf
course and we'll talk about it. Well, do you suppose, because
you got that call, do you suppose that you have obtained your purpose? Is that what you're supposed
to do? Do you start saying, oh, the Lord has blessed me. The
Lord has blessed me. I've been trying to get this
door open and He's opened this door for me. The Lord's blessed
me. Do you let loose and set sail?
Is that what you do? Always take the soft wind to
the book and see what the Lord's Word says. What's He revealed
in His Word? This meeting is going to take
me away from hearing the Word of the Lord. And He has said,
seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. It's
going to force me to be absent from brethren who are going to
be encouraged by gathering together and encouraging them in the worship
of the Lord. He said, redeem the time. He said, don't forsake the assembling
of yourselves together as the matter of some is, but as you
see the day approaching, even more and more gather together.
And let nothing hinder you. We got more enemies right now
in this world under the guise of religion. That's what's so
deadly about them. We got more, the day's approaching and we
got more enemies now. We need to huddle up like sheep
in a pasture. More and more. This is what his
word said. Now, I could justify it. I'm
not forsaking the assembly. This is just one time. You could do that, but what does
the word say? You can do that on anything whatsoever. You can do that. There's not
a criminal sitting in the prison that won't tell you why he was
justified in doing what he did. Not a one. whether it's a little
thing or a major thing. We can justify it. We don't go
to the book trying to find out, now, can I figure out some loophole
to get away with doing this? We go to the Word and we see
what the Word says, what God has revealed in His Word. We
hear what He says and we heed it. And this really is the, this
is the, and I'm not just talking about something like that or
missing a day of worship. I'm not, it could be anything.
This is the thing. If Christ was standing here, Would I be so bold and say to
him, well, I know your word says that, but here, I'm going to
do this anyway, because I'm not really doing, I'm not really
going against your word. Would we be that bold and say
that to Christ face to face? He says, wherever I've gathered
my people together, I'm meeting with them. He says, Lo, I'm with you always.
He says he's in the presence of his people continually. When
I'm sitting there all by myself and nobody's around and I'm trying
to justify my rebellion, he's standing right there with me.
Just that real. So why did that soft wind blow? Why did it open up? Why did it
open up like that? To prove whether or not you will
hear and heed the word of the Lord." The same Lord who sent
the soft wind. Who sent that soft wind? The
Lord did. The same Lord who sent His servant
with His word saying, anchor down right here, don't loosen
that sail. The same Lord who sent that Word,
the same Lord who wrote this book right here, will open up
that soft wind, whatever it is, and cause it to blow, to prove
whether or not His people are going to go to this Word, and
hear His Word, and heed His Word, or whether they're going to say,
well, I know it says it, but I'm going to do what I want to
anyway. The Lord sends the soft wind
for that purpose. You take this soft wind to the
Word of the Lord, and if the Word of the Lord says no, then
no matter how pleasant the breeze may be, we have to agree with
the Lord. We have to agree with the Lord.
If we believe God. Now listen, get the glory in
this now. If we believe Him, if we believe
God, Our God is able to do exceedingly more than we ever imagined with
that client. You understand that? But if we glory in man, oh, but I can't turn that man
down. If I turn that man down, I won't
ever get this opportunity again. Who's ruling his heart? The same
one who opened that door to prove whether or not you trust him.
And are you going to suppose if it's not commodious for me
to heed the word of the Lord, well, it just seems like this
is the convenient time for me to do this. Well, Who opened it up? Who brought
it to you? If we succumb to peer pressure, oh, you mean to tell
me you're gonna skip out on this meeting you waited so long for
and go, you could go worship the Lord next week. What's your
life? It's a vapor. This might be the
last day. How do you know you're gonna
be able to go next week? How do you know? You have another
opportunity to hear and heed the Word of the Lord. If we use fleshly logic, well,
I hear what you're saying, but now you're being too dogmatic. Listen, logically, there's things
we've got to do. Who's providing for us? Who's
providing everything for us? If we jump to conclusions and
start supposing, oh, I'm blessed, I'm blessed. You might be. Maybe
He has blessed you. Or maybe the trial just started. But I know how we can find out.
We can hear the Word of the Lord and heed it. But if we don't, we do these
things. To be sure of this, if you're a child of God, You can
be certain, you can be certain if you've seen it in the Word,
if you've heard it in the Word and you have not heeded it, you
can be certain of this. Our faithful Heavenly Father
will see to it that not long after there's going to be a storm
of His mighty hand chasing us and bringing us back. We always like to get a little
fatalistic when it comes to things like this. Well, the will of
the Lord's going to be done. It is. It really is. And he's
going to overrule our rebellion and bring to pass that which
he determined before to be done. And if we've willfully rebelled
against him, he is going to chasten us. There's no doubt about that.
But do we really, we want our children in our homes to do that,
to take that approach? Well, Let's see, I'm gonna go
out here and do this thing. And I know my daddy said not
to do this. No, I see that. He's told me
clearly not to do this. But you know, my father, he's
he's gonna he rules his house. He rules his house. And if he
doesn't want me to do this, then then he'll turn me I'm gonna
go ahead and do it anyway. Is that how we want our children
to heed our word? We want them to consider, we've
said don't do that, so don't do it, don't we? And we save ourselves a whole
lot of, and we tell our children this, son, you'd save yourself
all these tears and all this crying if you just hear what
I've taught you and do what I say. That's profound, isn't it? Isn't it? Be careful to seek
the word of the Lord even when it appears the soft wind's blowing. Now, we see a few of these many
ways that we're turned. This is just a few of them. But
the way we're going to be kept and the cure for all this is
to keep our minds and our hearts stayed on the Lord. And the way
that's going to happen is giving ourselves to hearing and heeding
the Word of the Lord. This is what he says in Isaiah
26.3. Thou wilt keep him in perfect
peace whose mind is stayed on thee. Because he trusteth in
thee. The man whose mind is stayed
upon the Lord is trusting the Lord to keep him in perfect peace.
And because he's trusting the Lord to do it, the Lord is not
going to disappoint those who put their trust in Him. He's
going to keep him in perfect peace. Trust ye in the Lord forever,
for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength. I talked to different
ones at different times, and tell me about some trials and
things, and I had somebody tell me recently about the worst trial
I could possibly imagine anybody going through. And my advice to them was, immerse yourself in the Word
of the Lord. That's the Lord's Word to us.
Seek those things which are above, where Christ is seated at the
right hand of God. Turn your attention fully away
from everything else and seek the Lord. Hear of Him. Learn of Him. Read of Him. Study
Him. Pour out your heart to Him. Embrace
Him. Immerse yourself in His Word. Casting all your care upon Him,
for He careth for you. This is the only place where
our minds are going to be stayed in perfect peace. It's by casting
all upon the Lord. We have the Word to read. We can approach His throne of grace
in Christ and pour out our hearts unto Him. We live in a day where
we have the easiest access to gospel preaching that we've ever
heard or ever had in any age. I'll tell you something. An iPod
is a good purchase. If you can download some messages
and listen to that on your commute to work, it's a whole lot more
profitable than music. Much more. When we have a place to worship,
come to the place and immerse yourself in this privilege God's
given us and hear his word preached. When the songs are being sung,
do you look at the words of the songs? I don't want any distractions
from the words of the songs. Because the words of the songs
are the gospel. Listen to those words. When one
of the men stands up to pray, lift up your heart with them
in prayer to God as they're praying. When the scriptures are read,
I think it's better to pick out a short passage of Scripture
and read that passage of Scripture and put all the right emphasis
in the right places and just read it and listen to it. Really think on what is being
read to you. This is God speaking. And then
when the message is preached, You know, get in and get seated. I know it's hard on a weeknight,
but get in here Sunday morning. Get seated. Read that bulletin
and get yourself settled in here and ready to hear the Gospel
preached. And when you hear it, really
enter into what's being preached. Really hear the Word of the Lord. and heed that Word. And don't
run out with a ton of things planned to do so that it's just
carried away immediately. Plan yourself some time to actually
meditate on what you've heard. Don't sit down to eat and drink
and rise up to play. Hear this Word and meditate on
this Word and really ask God to teach you this Word to make
it effectual in your own heart. And think on it. Go through the
week thinking on it. We have children. We can sit
down with our children. We can read these scriptures
to them at night. It's a whole lot more profitable
than Dr. Seuss. They can learn a great deal more
from just hearing a psalm read. They can learn everything they
need to learn from an educational book as far as reading goes from
hearing this Word. but read these things and meditate
on these things and hear these things. We start thinking about
folks out there and we start thinking about, well, what you're
doing and you're not doing and you ought to be doing and how
you ought to be going here and doing that, doing this for them.
When's the last time you sat down with your own child in your
own house and said, son, I don't, we're not, we're not going to
the ball game and we're not going to the to the movies and we're
not doing, we're going to read the word of the Lord. This is
what's important right here. Immerse ourselves in the word
of the Lord. And heed it. Heed it. It's going to take the grace
of God working affectionately in their hearts for you to even
get up and walk out of here and for this word to even be with
you 20 seconds once you're gone. It's going to take the effectual
work of God's grace speaking this word into our hearts to
make us to know this is essential. This is life eternal. These are the words of eternal
life. It's not just... It is the important
thing. And He promises that He will
set them, He will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed
on Thee. We wonder why we got so many,
why are we so troubled? Why am I so troubled? Why am
I up and down and perplexed? Why am I so troubled? Thou will keep him in perfect
peace whose mind is stayed on Thee. Because He trusteth in
Thee. God won't disappoint. He won't.
And He'll do exceedingly more than we could ever imagine in those things that we've forsaken. That's right. The God who sends
the soft wind sends the hurricane. And He's able to send His Word
and cause it to be effectual in the heart of His people and
cause His people to rest and be in peace. It doesn't matter
what the situation. Let me read this last word to
you. Isaiah 43. Turn there with me. I love this. This is what we're going
to find out if we seek His Word and we hear Him. This is what
we're going to find out about Him. Isaiah 43, 1. But now thus saith the Lord that
created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, fear
not, for I have redeemed thee. I've done all the work. I've
called thee by thy name. That's how you came to know me.
I did the calling, and thou art mine, my purchased possession. When you pass through the waters,
I will be with thee. And through the rivers, they
shall not overflow thee. Seems like they're going to sometimes,
don't it? When thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned. Neither shall the flame kindle
upon thee. How's that gonna be brought to pass? For I am the
Lord thy God. the Holy One of Israel, thy Savior. Before the storm, hear and heed
the Word of the Lord. Though many try to turn you,
hear and heed the Word of the Lord. Though the soft winds begin
to blow, hear and heed the Word of the Lord. And in the midst
of the storm, hear and heed the Word of the Lord. That's all By God's grace, in that situation
with that ship and all those wise fellows that was looking
to their own wisdom and their own strength, do you realize
that is the only thing the Apostle Paul could do? He couldn't jump
ship. He couldn't argue with them.
He couldn't do anything to change what they determined to do. Here's
a man in bonds. He can't do anything. Oh, but
thank God he's God's bondservant. And all he could do was trust
in the Lord. You know what you can do? You
know the only thing you and I can do? Trust in the Lord. That's it. All right. Amen.