Psalm 129, An Afflicted People. That's the title of the message. God's people are an afflicted
people. God's son, God's son was afflicted
and he still is. Did he not say to Saul, he says,
Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? You know, the church is,
in reality, the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, if you
kick me in the leg, I'm gonna feel it. I'm gonna feel it. Our Lord, our Lord feels his
body. When his body's afflicted, he's
afflicted. It's not like he's numb to it.
He said to Paul, why are you persecuting me? Paul was making
havoc of the church. He was afflicting the church,
but in doing so, he was afflicting the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now this psalm fits our Lord. and it fits his children. You know, as I was reading this,
I felt, I felt a little conflicted saying
that I'm afflicted. You know, when I look at the
Apostle Paul and the other apostles and many of those early church
fathers and women, they were afflicted, burned at the stake.
Excommunicated from the families. You know, when a Jew believed
they were excommunicated from the family, they were cut off.
But we are, we are afflicted. You know, I've suffered, and
you have too. You know, when you split here
over 40 years ago, you suffered the hatred of the people that
was against the gospel. You know, I suffered something
of that several years ago. Nasty letters sent to me, people
turned their back on me, wouldn't talk to me. People whom I knew
for years, they turned their back on me in the grocery store.
So I know something about it in that measure, but not in a
measure where I've been thrown in jail and beaten like Paul,
not in that way. I think most of our afflictions
right now is inward. I think I'm more afflicted and
conflicted inward than I am anything. The struggle that I have most
is inward. It's that inward struggle with
sin. It's that inward struggle with
that old nature. There's a constant battle that
goes on from the time I wake up, and I go to bed, and then
I dream. And even my dreams are not any
good for the most part, and yours not either. It's a constant battle,
it's a constant affliction of dealing with that old nature
that we have until God lays it in the grave. Thank God Almighty,
when He lays it in the grave, it will be no more. It will exist
no more. I do look forward to a day when
I'll never have a temptation. When a thought will not pop into
my mind, you're like, where'd that come from? It came from
that old nature you got. That's where it came from. It's
an intruder. They intrude into our minds and
our thoughts. But this fits our Lord because
he said the son of man must suffer. Now he suffered in a way that
you and I won't suffer. I think John Trapp said, we suffer
the splinters of the cross. I like the way he said it. We
suffer the splinters, but he suffered the wrath of God on
the cross. And we just suffer a little bit for Christ, for
being his body. But he said, the son of man must
suffer. He must suffer at the hands of
men, and he did. They hated him without a cause. He suffered at the hands of Satan.
in the wilderness and that temptation in the wilderness, he just had
to deal with him. But listen, the greatest suffering,
and you know this, the greatest suffering that he suffered was
at the hand of God. Over in Zechariah 13, seven,
let me see if I got this mark, listen to this. In Zechariah
13, seven, awake, O sword, that's the sword of justice. Against
my shepherd and against the man that is my fellow, saith the
Lord of hosts, smite the shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered,
and I will turn my hand upon the little ones. Took the sword right out of that
sheath, that sword of justice, and plunged it into the soul
of his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. He suffered. He said, is there
any sorrow like my sorrow? There's no sorrow like his. My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? And I'm looking at the reason
why God forsook his son. He won't have to forsake me and
you who believe. So he suffered. He suffered at
the hands of God. He suffered death. Scripture
said he tasted death for every man. That's every man and woman
that he represented. He tasted death for them. We
will not taste death. We'll die. His body's gonna die. But we will not taste death. That death and that second death.
Not only the first death, but that second death. We'll never
taste it. But he did. He must suffer at
the hands of justice in order to satisfy justice, and he did.
He did. And now what was our enemy is
now our friend. I was reading about Sansom here
the other day, and he gave that riddle of the lion and the honey
and the eater. Honey has come out of this eater. The law was against us. Do you
know now that God's law is for us and justifying us? There's no charge. The law said,
let him go. There's no charge. Honey has
come out of this eater. And the Lord Jesus Christ is
the reason why the law can justify us and set us free. No charge,
no charge. Now I know this, I know there's
a suffering in this life because of sin that everyone partakes
of, everybody does. Everybody gets sick, don't they?
Everybody hurts. Everybody hurts. Everybody gets sick, everybody
hurts. Everybody's heart is broken sooner or later. Everyone, it
doesn't matter if you believe or not believe, everyone is a
partaker of the pain of this life. But there's a suffering
that's special to the children of God. They suffered for Christ's
sake. Our Lord said this in John 15,
20. We saw this last Sunday. If they have persecuted me, they
will persecute you also. The servant's not greater than
his Lord. They persecute you, they'll persecute. They persecuted
me, they'll persecute you. No believer, no believer is exempt
from suffering. No believer is exempt from affliction.
Let me read you back again over here in Zechariah 13. I just
read that to you in verse seven, but now in verse nine, listen,
I just saw this today when I was reading. Let me go first Satan,
just keep it in context. And it shall come to pass that
in all the land, saith the Lord, two parts therein shall be cut
off and die, but the third part, the third shall be left therein.
And I will bring the third part through the fire and will refine
them as silver is refined and will try them as gold is tried.
They shall call on my name. I will hear them. I will say,
it is my people. And they shall say, the Lord
is my God. He said, I'm bringing you through the fire. and I'm
gonna refine you. No affliction comes our way apart
from the appointment and purpose of God. It's appointed of him,
it's purposed of him. Listen to what Paul says over
Colossians 124, who now rejoice in my sufferings for you. He
was beaten. He was left for dead. He was
stoned and shipwrecked twice. Listen, and he says here, I rejoice
in my sufferings for you and fill up that which is behind
of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake,
which is the church. That doesn't mean that Christ
didn't suffer enough. It just means that the body of
Christ is going to suffer. And Paul says, I'm glad to do
this. I'm glad to suffer for the sake of Christ's body, the
church. I'm glad to do it. And there's a measure. It's given
out of God. It's in measure. It's measured
out of God that every member of the body is going to suffer. You know, I'm 68 years old now,
and I don't think there's a, there's not one part on this
body right here at one time or another that hasn't hurt. I mean,
from my head to my toes, there's always been something that has
hurt at one time or another. And there's always some part
of the body of Christ hurting or suffering right now It may
not be here locally in this church, but it may be the one in Mexico.
It's a part of the body of Christ. It may be one in some other local
assembly that's hurting. Well, I think of Iowa or Joe
Darrell's pastor. They're hurting. They are hurting. We feel it, but not like they
feel it. You know, my wrist was hurting me a few weeks ago, and
I mean, I felt it, I felt it, I felt it, but not like my wrist
was feeling it. It hurt right here in this wrist.
There's just certain parts of the body of Christ that's suffering
more than others at different times. But every part of the
body of Christ will suffer sooner or later, sooner or later. You suffered it 47 years ago,
as I said, when you had to make this split. Families were separated
here. People who'd been friends for
years became enemies. Became your enemies, you didn't
really become their, became your enemies. You wish they had believed
the gospel, I know you do. You wish they'd believed, you
would if God did believe. It's like Paul said to Agrippa,
I would to God. He said, I wish you not all together,
but all together like I am. Not all most, but all together
such as I am, except for these chains. I wish you did know Christ. I wish you were like me in the
sense that God had saved him. He knew the Lord. And he said,
Agrippa, I have no animosity towards you. I wish you knew. I wish you knew. Because I'm
only here by grace. I only believe by grace. It says in 1 Peter 4, 19, wherefore
let them that suffer according to the will of God, commit the
keeping of their souls to him and well-doing as unto a faithful
creator. Now verse one, that was just
the introduction. Sometimes the introduction is
just a message. Verse one, many a time, and this
is pilgrim looking back. This is pilgrim musing, looking
back, meditating upon his past and upon Israel's past. Many
a time have they afflicted me from my youth, may Israel now
say. Our Lord was afflicted many times from his youth. And this
gives us insight into his early years. He was a man of sorrows
and acquainted with grief early in life. Early in life. I think of Jacob, who was later
named Israel. He was afflicted very much throughout
his life. He said, my days have been few
and full of evil is what he said to Pharaoh. And all believers suffer in a
measure for Christ. In Philippians 1, 29, listen
to this. Seeing that you and I are part
of the body of Christ, run to you, it is given in the behalf
of Christ, not only to believe on him, it was given to you to
believe. You believe, you believe, you
believe the gospel. God gave that to you. God gave
that to you. That's a powerful statement.
On behalf of Christ, God gave it to you to believe on him,
but also, he said here, but also to suffer for his sake. To suffer for. And he says here, they have afflicted
me from my youth. Affliction starts the moment
one is born of God. You know, I never had any conflict
inwardly or outwardly. I never had any outwardly either.
I didn't have any inwardly or outwardly. I didn't have anybody
that was upset with me that I knew of. And I had no conflict inwardly.
And I could see him with a high hand. He didn't bother me in
any way, shape, or form, as long as mom and dad didn't find out.
As long as they didn't find out, I was OK. But boy, once you're born of
God, that battle starts. That inward conflict starts.
That struggle starts. And then you have it not only
inward but outward. People don't want your company
no more. People don't want your company. As I've told you, a
friend said to me one time, he said, I wish you hadn't got saved.
That's the way he saw it. I wish you hadn't got saved.
We didn't run together no more. We didn't go to the same places
no more. He went his way, and I went God's
way. I went God's way. But this affliction
starts early, early in life. Remember Joseph and Mary? I bet
you their life was quiet until they had the Lord, until he came
along, and she gave birth to the Lord Jesus Christ. And from
that time on, their life was not quiet no more. You know,
whenever he was about two years old and under, you know what
they had to do? They had to flee to Egypt. Herod wanted to kill
them. He wanted to kill him. And so they had to flee to Egypt.
And they were on the run. They were on the run, all because
of Christ, all because of their connection to him, their union
to him. And you know, the first one to die in this world after
Adam fell, the first person to die, died for the faith, Abel,
King Sluy's brother, Abel. because he hated him. And he
hated him because he hated Abel's God. He hated the Lord Jesus
Christ, and that's why he killed his brother. Verse one, to die,
die for the faith. But we know this, they cannot,
he tells us here in the next verse, they cannot ultimately
prevail. I want you to look at 2 Corinthians.
I may not get all through this, but 2 Corinthians. I'll tell you where it is when
I get there 2nd Corinthians chapter 4 verse 7 Paul said, but we have this treasure,
this gospel treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of
the power may be of God, not of us. We are troubled on every
side, yet not distressed. We are perplexed, but not in
despair. Persecuted, but not forsaken.
Cast down, but not destroyed. Always bearing about in the body
the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might
be made manifest in our body. Cast down at times, but not in
despair. We don't despair. The battle's already won. The
victory's already won. It's just a matter of us going
through what the Lord has purposed us to go through, and in a little
while, we'll be home. We will be home, we'll be out
of this God-hating world. So they can't prevail. Because
Paul said this in one place, we are more than conquerors through
him who loved us. We're not defeated, we're conquerors.
Now, when the Lord Jesus Christ was nailed to the cross, And
he looked, I mean, he was visage, it says his visage was marred
more than any man. He couldn't tell what he looked
like, it beat him so bad. Was he failing? Was he losing
the battle? He was winning. What looked like loss to the
human race was winning. He's defeating Satan. He put
in away sin once and for all. Nobody can put away sin. There's
not a drug, there's not a medicine, there's not a psychiatrist that
can put away sin. But Jesus Christ, through his
blood and righteousness, put away sin. And those sins belong
to someone. They belong to everyone of his
elect. Scripture says they are as numerable as the stars. and
he put all their sins away. Can you imagine that? Didn't
miss a one of them. Did not miss a one of them. Every
idle word that you've ever spoken, every idle thought you've ever
had, he put it away. You can't even remember what
you thought of probably today, let alone yesterday, but he can. God can. God can remember. God
knows the thoughts of every heart. And every person outside of Christ
is gonna be brought into judgment and all of that's coming back.
It's all coming back. It says, and the books were opened. And they were judged out of the
books. Things people forgot, didn't even think anything of,
forgot years and years ago. All of a sudden it's coming back
up because God's justice is very strict. It lets nothing go, nothing. That's how wonderful the redemption
of Jesus Christ is. That's how efficacious his blood
is. It puts away all our sins. Verse two, many a time have they
afflicted me from my youth. Yet they've not prevailed against
me. They've never prevailed. They didn't prevail against our
Lord, and that's why they'll never prevail against us. If
they didn't prevail against the head, they're not gonna prevail
against the body. It's not gonna happen. But he
repeats here many a time. He repeats this for emphasis.
Many a time they've afflicted me, but yet they've not been
victorious. The church is still present. Here we are, 2024. 6,000
years has gone by. And the church is still here.
God still has a people on this earth. God still has a people
that believe him and take him at his word. You still believe
this book is the word of God, don't you? I believe it's God's
word. I don't care if they call me a nutcase or what. I believe
this is God's word. I believe it. I believe what
God has to say in his word. God floated the earth, I believe
that. I like what Donnie said, I heard him say once, he said,
if this book said that Jonah swallowed a whale, I'd believe
it. Wouldn't you, if that's what
it said? It's the truth, this is God's word, it's the truth.
I believe it, and I stand on this word. This is the foundation
for all that I believe. This is the foundation for all
that I believe concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, his word,
his word. The church is still here, though
she's been afflicted many times throughout the centuries. Some
more, as I said, some more afflicted in local places than others,
but she's been afflicted. The gates of hell has not prevailed
against her. The Lord told Peter that. He
said, upon this rock I'll build my church and the gates of hell
shall not prevail against her. It will not hold, keep the gospel
out. The gates of hell cannot keep
the gospel out. Satan does not have that kind
of power. He doesn't have that kind of power. In fact, the more
the church has been persecuted, the stronger she gets. Acts 8, 4, therefore they that
were scattered abroad from the persecution they were going through
went everywhere preaching the word. The Lord sent that, listen,
the Lord sent that persecution. Now the ones who were doing the
persecution are gonna be held responsible. But he let it come,
he sent it in order to break them out of their comfort zone.
We don't like that. We like to stay in our comfort
zone. But he broke up that comfort zone and sent them throughout
the world and preaching the gospel. And everywhere they went, they
went preaching the gospel. They didn't shut up. They spoke
up. And there's no new sufferings.
I'm not going to feel like a martyr. Woe is me, I'm suffering. You're
not suffering anything that no one, no other believer has ever
suffered, that hasn't suffered. James 5.10 says this, take my
brethren the prophets who have spoken in the name of the Lord
for an example of suffering, affliction, and patience. And
Peter said, whom resists, speaking of the devil, who goes about
as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. He says, resist
steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions, there's
nothing new. I'm not a martyr. I don't need
to get a martyr complex. There's nothing new what we're
going through. Church has gone through it for years. Millenniums
gone through it. Knowing that the same afflictions
are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. Here's our hope. I thought about
this as I was writing that scripture down and looking at this. Our
Lord said to the sea, hither shalt thou come and no further.
And that's exactly what he says concerning our afflictions. They
have a purpose. They have a time. And when it
has served God's purpose, it's run its course, he puts a stop
to it. He puts a stop to the affliction
and gives us rest. Gives us rest. But we need those
afflictions. Sometimes we get too comfortable.
We get too comfortable. I have to say this, and I say
this sincerely, I want to know I have faith here. I don't want
to wait till I die. I want to know that the faith
that I have, the faith and repentance I have is genuine, that it's
of God. I pray that for me. I pray that
all the time. For me, I pray it for Vicki all
the time. I pray that the Lord will make
us to know that the faith we have is genuine. It's real. It's not fake. I don't want to
find that out when I die. I don't want to be in that line
where he says, depart from me, I never knew you. I wanna hear
that. And then notice here the violence
of those who bring affliction. In verse three, the plowers plowed
upon my back, they made long their furrows. You know something
that jumped out at me here, the plowers, they're not the sowers,
they're the plowers. God uses them to plow his garden. We're God's, we are God's vineyard.
God uses them to plow his garden to break up the fallow ground.
That grace may grow. That we may grow in grace and
in knowledge of Christ, but God uses them. But did you notice
something here? The plowers, he doesn't give
them a name, does he? The rich man went to hell. Lazarus,
by name, went to heaven. I know my sheep. I know them
by name. He names his sheep. Lazarus,
laying at the rich man's gate, but what do you know about the
rich man? You know this, he was a rich man. So he don't know
his name. You don't know his name. But
you know the name of God's sheep. He calls them his sheep, and
he calls them by name. You know, when he heals, many
of them he healed, he called them by name. Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus,
come down. He didn't say rich man, come
down. Zacchaeus was rich. He was a crook, but he was rich.
Most crooks are. But he said Zacchaeus, come down. Lion Bartimaeus. We know his
name. He calls his sheep by name. Those that are not his, the Pharisees. Every now and then he'll give
a name, but the disciples will give it like John did when he
talked about Simon the Pharisee. John gave his name, but the Lord,
he calls his sheep by name. And here he says, the flowers
plowed upon my back. They made long their furrows. If you'll note here how the persecutors
are described, they're described as plowers, people who put that
plow deep into the ground and break it up. And we note their
violence here. They made long their furrows.
You know, hatred is never satisfied. You can't satisfy hatred. You
can't do it. Somebody hates you, I don't care
what you do, you can't make them happy. They hate you, they hate
you. I mean, they hate you all the way to the bone. And he says
here that they made long their furrows. This was fulfilled in
Christ. They whipped him. By his stripes
we are healed. The plow was plowed. His back
looked like somebody took a plow and just went right up his back. If we could really get an image
of the reality If we could grab hold of the reality of our Lord
being whipped and beaten in such a way that you couldn't even
recognize Him. It's like they stuck that plow in His back and
just made long, long their furrows. But it's by His stripes we are
healed. We are healed. And this was fulfilled
and is still fulfilled in his disciples. Look over Matthew
10. In Matthew 10, let's, let me see
what I've got written here. Matthew 10, look in verse 17. But beware of men, for they will
deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in
their synagogues." And they did. They did. I've got several other
scriptures you could turn to, but they, as I read it to you,
Paul said, we were oppressed and beaten, and he said, but
the Lord delivered us. He delivered us. But the Lord,
in verse four, the Lord is righteous. He's righteous in the afflictions
He sends our way. He's righteous, isn't He? He's
righteous. I deserve everyone. I deserve,
I deserve everyone. I deserve a lot worse. I deserve
a lot worse. But our Lord is righteous. He's
righteous in the afflictions He sends our way. He's righteous
in the ones He uses. He can do no wrong. If he wants
to use the world to do it, he's righteous. He can do no wrong.
But I'll tell you this, the Lord is righteous and in his time
he has cut asunder the corges of the wicked. He's broken their
power. It's only for a time. Whatever it is, it's only for
a time. He's righteous in permitting these afflictions to come upon
us. He's righteous. We have no complaints. We should
have no complaints. We should have none. He's righteous
in that he keeps his promise and he delivers his people every
time, sooner or later, sooner or later. Many are the afflictions
of the righteous, but the Lord delivers them out of them all,
all of them. and is righteous in cutting asunder
the power of the wicked and laying them in the grave and putting
them in hell. You know, God is righteous when he sends a man
or woman to hell. He's righteous. It doesn't matter
who complains about it, he's righteous. He can do no wrong. He's only doing what's right.
And he says, let them be confounded or ashamed. and turn back that
hate Zion. Why such a prayer? Why such a
prayer? Let them be all ashamed and turn
back that hate Zion. Let them be turned back into
hell. First of all, they have no foundation
for such hatred. Did the Jews in our Lord's day
when he walked on this earth, did they have a reason to hate
him? Did he ever give anybody a reason to hate him? Has he
ever given anyone a reason all the way up to this day, a reason
to hate him? No. Everybody enjoyed the sunshine
here today, didn't they? Whosoever shall call on the Lord
shall be saved. Call on him. No, I don't want
to. I got other things I want to
do. I got other stuff I like better, other people I like better.
Well, then don't complain when he sends you to hell. Don't complain. He said, I called and you refused.
That's what he says. And when your calamity comes,
he said, I'm going to laugh. He said, that sounds harsh. No,
that's just doing what they deserve, giving what they deserve. There's no foundation for such
hatred. The Lord went about doing good
and his people preach a gospel of peace. They are a peaceful
people. There's no more peaceful people in this community and
in this world than you are who believe God. You are a peaceful
people. And listen, the presence of the
church ensures the world's continuation. Everything that the world enjoys,
they enjoy it because of you. They enjoy it because of you.
When God takes you out of here, when he takes the church out
of here, then they're going to know what it's like not to have
the church around, not to have you around. They're going to
find out. They're going to find out this little group right here
that was hated by most of the community, they're going to find
out that they were blessed because you're in this community. You're
in it. Those who hate Zion hate their
own good. They forsake their own mercy.
Who hates Zion? They do. Here's the seriousness
of it. To hate Zion is to hate Zion's
God. To hate the Lord's body is to
hate him, isn't it? I mean, you can't hate my body
and love me. That don't work. It doesn't work. Love starts with the head. You
don't love just a, you don't love a body. You love the head,
that person. Now, you know, I am who I am
right here, right here between my ears. Personality and everything,
right here. You take the head off and this
body just drops dead. There's nothing to it. So to
hate Zion, to hate the body of Christ, is to hate Christ. And there is such a thing as
righteous indignation against those who hate the Lord's body.
Paul said this in Galatians 1, if any man or an angel preach
any other gospel than the one I preached to you, let it perish. That's what Paul said, that's
hard. He said that's hard. Well, you don't say that. There
are those who would say that's hard. No, it's not. If a mad
dog came in this room and one of you shot it, would that be
hard? No. That'd be a mercy. That'd be
a mercy. You know, God casting the wicked
into hell is a mercy towards you. Because they'd corrupt you. They'd corrupt you. And listen here in verse six,
and I'm gonna wind this down here. Let them be as the grass
upon the housetops which wither afore it grows up. They've got
an elevated position, but no root. No root. Their existence is fleeting.
It's fleeting. And they have no lasting influence. God's just using them. to guide
his people correct on whatever needs to be done. He's using
them, but they're nothing but grass. And the grass on the housetop,
elevated position, but no roots, no good ground. They're not in
the good ground, not at all. Which withers before it grows
up. There's no strength, short-lived, short-lived. You know, everybody
on this earth is short-lived. I saw a man on, this is D-Day,
Memorial Day, and anyway, they was interviewing me, 104 years
old. Had a brilliant mind, better
mind. Had a better mind than I got. But he's gonna die too. He's gonna die too in a little
while. And it'll just be a short-lived life. He said, wherewith the mower
filleth not his hand, nor he that bindeth sheaves his bosom. There's no substance, no value.
It's just grass and it withers before it grows up. It produces
no fruit. There's nothing to it. There's
nothing to false religion. Nothing to it. There's no substance
to it. No saving substance at all. It's
only good for burning. You see, wherewith the mower
fills not his hand, or he that binds sheaves his bosom. Neither
do they which go by say, the blessing of the Lord be upon
you. We bless you in the name of the Lord. Let me give you
what John Gill said on this. The sense is that those wicked
men would have no blessing on them from God nor man, that no
God, that no God's speed would be wished them, but that they
were like the earth that is covered with briars and thorns, which
is nigh unto cursing, and its end is to be burned. You remember in the book of Ruth,
to give you an example here of what's not going to happen to
them. and what not to say to them. And behold, Boaz came from
Bethlehem and said to his reapers, the Lord be with you. This is
how they used to greet. The Lord be with you. And they answered
him, the Lord bless thee. And he's saying here, don't say
that to them. Don't say that to them who hate
God. Listen, 2 John 1, if there come any unto you and
bring not this doctrine, this gospel, Christ, receive him not
into your house, neither bid him Godspeed. Don't tell him
to have a good day. Now, it's one thing if you're
having a conversation about something, but if it becomes the gospel
and they deny the gospel, don't tell him to have a good day.
Don't do it. Don't bid him Godspeed. For he
that biddeth him Godspeed is partaker of his evil deeds. That's what he's saying here.
Neither do they which go by say the Lord bless, the blessing
of the Lord be upon you. We bless you in the name of the
Lord. You ain't gonna bless anybody that hates God. I'm not gonna
ask somebody, I'm not gonna say the Lord bless you and you stand
there and you hate God? Now, I pray that the Lord may
have mercy on you like he's had mercy on me. Now, if you believe another gospel,
if somebody's preaching another gospel, I'm not gonna, I'm not
gonna say the Lord bless you, have a good day, have a great
day. No, you're not. You hate God. You hate God. We gotta be careful with that.
You know, it's one thing to be friendly. as believers to be
friendly. I'm friendly with everybody that
I meet. But it's another thing when you start, when you start
compromising. You're okay, you know, I'm okay.
No. There was a man said to me one
time, and this just, this just depressed me, this man believed
the gospel. And I believe he did. But he'd gotten cancer. And he
said that someone he had worked with met him and they found out
about all that. And he was Pentecostal, Pentecostal. He didn't believe the gospel
at all. And he said, let me pray for you. And he said, you know,
he said, okay. And he did. And he said, you know, he said,
that man prayed a beautiful prayer. And I can't, he said, I just
can't believe that God didn't hear him. I thought, oh, I can't
believe you just said that. The Pharisees said beautiful
prayers. They had long prayers. I mean, you could write a book
on them. But God didn't hear them. God
is not going to hear someone who believes another gospel,
another God, another Jesus, another spirit. He's not going to hear
it now. I don't want nobody else praying for me that doesn't believe
the gospel. I don't want no Catholic praying for me or anybody else
praying for me. I want a brother in Christ praying
for me. Doug, you can pray for me. You
can pray for me. All of you. You can pray for
me. I don't want any of these other
places right here praying for me. They calling on another God I
don't know anything about. I like it. I believe it was Doris.
I believe it was Doris. She was in the hospital. There
was a Catholic lady who was going there to King's Daughters, going
to pray for her. She said, no, I appreciate it
if you don't. That takes a backbone. Now, that's
standing up for the gospel. That's standing up for it. But
God's people aren't afflicted people. They are, and they always
will be. Always will be. Most of our afflictions, I think,
come from within, but who knows what's coming down the road.
All right.