That hymn is just wonderful. Isaac Watts, a man after our
own heart, he said in that hymn, so much more than my poor, pitiful
attempt at prayer could, he asked for the Holy Spirit, come Holy
Spirit, help us with groveling here, beloved. In vain we Try
to sing and can't do it. We can't rise. We can't rise
above the earth, above these base things. Lord, help us. Come, Holy Spirit. I hope you
were able to sing that from the heart. Go to Matthew 7 with me. Matthew
chapter 7. Messages from God only come from
God's Word. You mark this down. You mark
it well. Messages from God God speaks through his word period. No man has ever received a message
from God for God's people. Through some experience he's
had. Or some dream or some idea or subject pops into his head
and he wants to deal with it no no no no God only speaks through
his word. And a true preacher reads and
studies God's word, hoping God will speak to him through that
word, and then he in turn conveys that I've been thinking about
a subject sometime. Subject of God's will, knowing
God's will. But I've been waiting on the
scriptures to speak to me. And waiting on it to come up
from God's word. And now it has. Amazingly, I
just started reading there what verses seven and eight of Matthew
seven read with me. Matthew seven seven and eight
asked and it shall be given you seek. And you shall find. Knock and it shall be opened
unto you. For everyone that asketh receive
it. And he that seeketh find it,
and to him that knocketh it shall be opened." Our Lord here is speaking, the
Lord Jesus Christ, and I remind us all that He is speaking to
His disciples, speaking to His disciples, believers. If you
are a believer, this is to you, because they are the only ones
that are going to hear They're the only ones that are going
to ask, seek, and knock. It's just a fact. Scripture says,
How shall they call on him in whom they've not believed? Men
won't. They won't. And I'll say this
to anyone and everyone, though. Call on God for mercy. Ask him to have mercy. Ask him
to reveal himself to you. Call on him. Seek the Lord while
he may be found. It may be. Scripture says it
may be. It may be. A true seeker. The Lord is talking
to his disciples about calling on their Father. That's who he's
talking to. All right? He's talking to his
disciples about calling on their Father for needs, for things
needful. Ask, you receive. Seek, you'll
find. Knock, it'll be opened unto you. And our needs are many. We're poor and needy, Scripture
says. Poor and needy. A unbeliever,
a person who doesn't know God, doesn't know Christ, has one
thing, one need. To know God. Again, I would not ask, but tell
everyone. Seek God. Call on him. Ask him to reveal himself to
you. And God who cannot lie, Christ
who cannot lie, said here, he said, ask and you shall receive.
Seek and you shall find. Knock and it shall be open. All
right, ask for what? He says, Ask and it shall be
given you. Anything and everything? Well,
look here with me. Look at verse 9. He said, What
man is there of you whom if his son ask bread? Do you remember the Lord's, the
disciples' prayer back here? What did he tell us to ask for?
Give us this day. daily bread. That's why I say people who call
here all the time, you know, would you help me with my rent
money? Would you help me with my phone bill? Phone bill? You're calling the church that deals in spiritual, that's
supposed to deal in spiritual things. Where God, where you come to
hear about God, about Christ, about eternity? You want help with your rent? Do you catch the irony and the
foolishness of that? That's what I tell people today.
I say, if you're hungry, we'll feed you. But I tell you what
you need, because next month's rent's going to come up and you're
going to need it again. What you need is to know God. Well. Bread version ten of the
verse ten he said or if he asked a fish. Me. What man is there if his son
asked bread sees talking to his disciples your father and goes
on to say your father we went on to say your father knows what
things you have made up remember that. Even before yet, your father,
your father, what son will ask his father for bread and he'll
give him a stone. Or if he asked for fish, will
it give him a serpent? If you then be an evil. Did you
catch that? Jesus. The Lord Jesus Christ, but nevertheless,
Jesus said, you being evil. Just a breath before that, he
called people dogs and swine. People share air, not knowing
the Word of God, not knowing the power of God. They said,
if you then be an evil, he's talking to his disciples, who
the propensity is there to do anything evil. An evil nature
is still there. Peter proved that, didn't he?
Just real soon. If you then be an evil base,
mankind know how to give. You know how to give good gifts
unto your children. What do you give your children?
Everything they ask for? Well, I mean, many do, and that's the
problem today. But a true parent, a good parent
would not do that, will not do that. They withhold things hurtful
from them. They give them things necessary,
needful things, good gifts, good things, right things. If you
then do that, how much more? Shall your father, see who he's
talking to? See who he's talking to? Your father, which is in
heaven, give good things, good things to them that ask for it. Good things, or what are we to
ask for? Good things. Ask and you will
receive them. What? Good things. You see how wise it is to deal
verse by verse. You can't take a verse out of
context. You see that, Teresa? That's plain. What are we to
ask for? Oh, believe on the Lord, he'll give you a Mercedes Benz.
That'd be the worst car you ever owned in your life. You do not
want one. Believe me, Ron, I've owned one. It cost $4.5 million
for a water pump. Honestly, biggest mistake I've
ever made in my life. I was so glad to take a several
thousand dollar loss on that car, just to get rid of it. Go over to the book of James
with me. James chapter four. James says a whole lot about
asking. Those of you who are familiar
with it know that. You see, the apostles expounded
upon what the Lord taught them. Barbara, the Lord, in private,
told the apostles so many things. And if the books were written
of all he said and did, Scripture says that the world couldn't
contain them. Well, where were they contained? In the mind,
the heart, or the Holy Spirit. and recall these things over
the years to the apostles and they began to deal with them
began to write them the apostle Paul. The things that Christ
said in one sentence he expounded on. James expounds on this thing
of asking. All right look at James four
verse one Verses one through three, he says, from which come
wars and fightings among you. That means turmoil and troubles
and inward struggles. And I want this. I want that. I'm not happy, I'm not. That's
wars and and fightings among you, within you. Come they not
hence, don't they come from your own lust at war and your members
that I've got to have. I want this gun. I've got to
have this. I'm just going to die if I don't
have. That's what he's saying. Verse
two, we lust and have not. That is, we want, we don't have
it, and we'd do anything to get it. Kill, desire to have, but
cannot obtain, fight, war. You have not, yet you have not,
that is, things needful, because you ask not, you ask. I hope
you're reading this one. You ask, we do ask, verse three,
and receive not, because we ask amiss. That we may consume it
upon our lust, our desire. We ask for the wrong thing. We
ask for what we want. What we say is, my will, this
is my will, this is what I want done. Right? If we go against God's
revealed will, there's going to be wars and fighting and struggle
in years. All right. He says, we ask amiss
because we ask for our own personal wants, not God's will and ask
it. And this is ironic. The Lord
said, what son asks for bread and you give him a stone? Well,
we ask for stone when all we need is bread. In other words,
we ask for something that would just do nothing but weigh us
down. I can't carry around a big, heavy rock. Where your treasure
is, that's where your heart is, that's where your troubles are.
Troubles come from all these treasures, don't they? Worry. The saying of worry is
what it is. We've got so much. We ask for things that would
weigh us down. We need bread and we ask for a stone. Isn't
this an irony of it? We need meat and we ask for a
serpent. In other words, we ask for something
or someone, can be someone, that is subtle. Things are subtle.
We don't have to look. It's a cute little snake. That's what Eve thought about
Satan. And we ask for things that will
bite us, will sneak up and bite us and poison us with their worldly
venom. and will die a slow death. Does
that make sense? Isn't that amazing, the irony
of it? See what the Lord, Nancy, what
the Lord's wisdom. He said, ask for fish and give
a serpent. The Father won't do that. We
ask for serpents. Why not what we need is fish.
Bread and fish. What did the Lord feed the people
with? Caviar and filet mignon. fish and bread. What's that a picture of? What's
bread? Who's bread? Christ said, I am
the bread of life. Man doesn't live by this bread
alone, he lives by the word of God. Everywhere. Not choice, particular, pet word. Everywhere. Oh, counsel of God, and fish.
Christ said, My body is meat indeed. All right, what are good
things? Look at James chapter 1. The
Lord said the heavenly Father will give good things to them
that ask for them. Everyone, everyone that asketh. Everyone. From a child to an
adult, everyone that asketh. I hope you're with me. It's going to be so helpful.
James 1, James says, here's the first thing to ask for. James
1, look at verse 5. If any of you lack wisdom, let
him ask of God. Wisdom. First thing he says to ask for. Do you wonder why I read from
Proverbs 8? Wisdom. What is wisdom? And he went on
to say there that he gives God's gifts, that he masks of God.
God's the one, this wisdom, the wisdom I'm talking about comes,
where does it come from? Through wisdom. I'm not talking
about the worldly wisdom, the wisdom that man teaches. Which
is foolishness with God. Wisdom that comes from above. God's the only one that has it.
Pay attention. God's the only one that has it.
We need it. We're fools by nature. We are
fools. And even believers still act
like fools. Act foolish. And are foolish. Until they ask for this wisdom.
Not something that grows on the vine of human nature. It comes
from above. Wisdom. What is wisdom? Here's
Webster's definition of wisdom, okay? Wisdom is the quality of being
wise. It means discernment or having
judgment, being able to understand something. It is, listen, wisdom
is knowledge that you know something and the ability to make good
use of it. Some people may think they know
something, but they don't put it to work, so they're not wise. A person that's wise unto salvation
is a person who hears the word of God and does what? Acts on
it. Does it. A person that deceives
himself, a fool, hears it, doesn't act on it. Everybody hears it. But a person wise unto salvation
acts on it. You need Christ, a person by
the grace of God, Spirit of God, who is wise, runs to Christ. And whatever he says, a wise
person does it, attempts to. Wisdom, here somebody said this,
wisdom is, knowledge is the horse, wisdom is the rider. What good
is a powerful, big, beautiful horse if nobody handles it? Huh? It's of no value whatsoever. If you get a good rider or a
plowman, it's a very useful creature. You see? Knowledge is facts. You learn facts. Facts. And everything in this book is
a fact. It's a fact. Because God said it. That's what
makes it a fact. God said it, and that settles
it, whether we believe it or not. It's a fact. All are going
to know someday, as they've been known, all, all, even unbelievers. They're going to say, God is
God, isn't he? Christ is Christ, isn't he? He says, wisdom, knowledge is
fact, and wisdom is to put it to good use. All right, now he says in verse
six, let him or her, he lack wisdom, let him or her ask God,
who gives to all men liberally, how much do you need? was about to start ruling the
greatest kingdom on earth. He was just a young man. Are you with me on the decisions
we, the decisions he was going to have to make for various people
and himself and all, had far-reaching percussions, had far-reaching
percussions, and so do ours. Ours are not as many to make,
but the ones we make have great repercussions. Do we need the
same wisdom? You better believe it. The same
wisdom Solomon got. Solomon was about to rule, and
he said, Lord, I'm a child. I can't do this. I cannot do
this. The Lord said, ask. Ask! Remember? Ask what you will. I'll give
it to you. What did he ask for? Wisdom. What did the Lord give? Liberally. There's never a wiser
man on the planet than Solomon. He gave it liberally. That's what we need, wisdom.
But he says in verse six, this is important, let him ask in
faith, let her ask in faith, nothing wavering. He that wavers
like a wave of the sea. He goes on to talk about a double-minded
man or woman, they're unstable in all their way. What's he talking
about there? Faith and without wavering and
all that. Believing God, that a person asks, not wavering,
this is what, Lord, I need this, I need something. Ask, ask. Without wavering, believing,
trusting what God tells you is so, and act upon it. That's what
faith, faith without works, is dead. Oh, I believe, and act
contrary. No, you don't believe that. You
don't believe that. Right? A person, I believe that,
and act contrary. They didn't believe that. Faith
without works of faith, the just shall live by faith. Not sight. Well, I believe this, but this
is what I think. This is what I see. That's sight. The just live by faith. Faith in what? Faith cometh where? By hearing,
hearing the Word of God. How does God speak? Well, I'm
getting ahead of myself, getting way ahead of myself. All right. We ask for good things. He tells
us to ask for good things. Who among you, if your son would
ask for good things, would you not give it? God says, I'll give
it liberally. Wisdom is one of the many good
things that we need. Wisdom. Talked about bread and
fish, which is Christ. Wisdom is Christ. Read that Proverbs
8 again for yourself and substitute Christ's name there. He is wisdom. He is made unto us wisdom. When you see Christ, that Christ
is all, you'll be wise. Truly wise. You'll see Christ
is all. You'll see everything. There's
really nothing at all. When you say Christ is all together
lovely, everything else will start losing its luster on. That's
my my wife, when she first laid eyes on me and vice versa, we
we lost sight of everybody else. It's fat, that's true love, that's
what true love and that's what a person that's in love with
Jesus Christ. It's exactly what happened. That's
exactly what happened. They got all together. All right,
good things. Let me elaborate on a few good
things. The Lord says, ask for good things. Mercy. I wish preachers all over the
planet would go around telling everybody not so much that God
loves them, not at all, not that at all. We tell them that God
is a consuming fire, God is holy, God is sovereign, God doesn't
have to do anything. God doesn't have to save anyone.
God is not alive just to wait on mankind. God is holy, God
is self, is efficient, self-existent. God doesn't need anyone or anything. You need God and the thing you
need at the hands of God more than anything is mercy. It's
of the Lord's mercies that we're not consumed. We need mercy. Who? Every son of Adam till the
day he dies. Right now, we need mercy upon
us. We're listening to the Word of God Almighty. You know, and for some, it might
as well be a ball game. God is angry God is not just
in love with the human race. He's angry with it. We need mercy. Believers need more mercy than
anybody. Why? We sin against mercy. We
sin against love. We sin against grace. We sin
against knowledge. We need mercy. Saying we need
mercy until the day we die. Solomon was a white... He needed
mercy. It was of the Lord's mercy that
he didn't cut Solomon off. Look what he did. Mercy, mercy,
and mercy is sovereign. God doesn't have to show mercy. By definition, it's sovereign. Mercy, by definition, is not
something you deserve. It's something you don't deserve,
and whoever has it must bestow it. Oh, what a good thing it is.
Lord, help—all men and women mostly do is when they mash their
blooming thumb with a hammer and say, Oh, Lord have mercy.
And that's abominable, God Almighty. What men ought to be doing down
underneath, crying to God to spare them from His wrath, not
His love, His wrath. They that believe not, John 3,
36, says the wrath of God abides on them. God doesn't love human
beings. The wrath of God abides upon
me. God, have mercy! You fed me,
you clothed me, you watered me, you give me the breath I breathe,
and what do I do with it? Kiss you! Complain about everything that
comes my way with the very breath I'm breathing that you give me.
What's keeping my heart beating? God! Lord, have mercy upon me. Hell is full of people that didn't
give God a thought. That's what hell is all about.
It's not for rapists and murderers and all that. It's for anybody
that could care less about God, the God who clothes us, the God
who feeds us, the God who protects us. Mercy. Lord, have mercy. I'm not mad at you, I'm mad at
me. I need mercy. I need more mercy
than anybody in here. I would have known better than
anybody in here, yet I still sin against God. I need mercy. If God doesn't have mercy on
me, I'm going to fall worse than Solomon. If God doesn't have mercy on
this church, it's not going to last two years. Why should it? Why should it? What have we done to deserve
it? Grace. Here's a good thing. Grace. What does grace mean? A gift. A gift. You know, everything's
grace. It's all a grace. Who's got it? He's called the
God of all grace. Number one, salvation is by grace. The Lord saved me or I'll perish. If He does, it'll be infinite,
matchless, amazing grace. You're looking at a prodigal
son who shook his fist in the face of his dad and the face
of his daughter. A prodigal son. No, you're looking at amazing
grace. You're looking at an object of
God's amazing grace. You didn't know me before. None
of you in here knew me before. If you had and you see me now,
you'd say, this is amazing. If your old cronies would see,
you'd say, that's not the person I used to know. What happened?
Like that old blind man that they said, well, it looks like
him. That's not him, no. It can't be. He was blind, deaf,
and dumb. He was sitting on the street
corner in the gutter. That can't be him. It is. What
happened? Grace. Amazing grace. Saving grace. Sovereign, electing,
saving, keeping, quickening, cleaning. Grace. And everything about Him is grace.
All that He knows is grace. All that He is is grace. It's
all grace. A gift. A man can receive nothing
except it be what? Given from above. Do you need
grace? Oh, my. Do we need grace? Restraining grace? Do you need
restraining grace? Do you feel like sometimes if
God did not restrain me, I'd be the next monster? I'm capable
of anything. Lord, do we need restraining
grace? Ask for it. I remember my mother. Saying
that she when I was a young rebel, she. Quit presuming upon. You know, I didn't deserve to
be saved. She knew that because I was a
preacher's son. I didn't deserve that and mother. But, Lord, restrain him. Just
restrain him. Restrain him, Greg. Oh, I got
to go on. There's so many good things.
I've got a bunch and not enough time. Pardon. Forgiveness. What's the good thing in it?
I tell you, those that have been forgiven much love much. Love what? Love this gospel.
Never get tired of hearing about pardon. I have pardoned you. I bet you, oh, the old thief
on the cross, he never got tired of hearing about pardon. Never. What subject are you going to
preach on today, preacher? Pardon. My favorite subject. God hadn't
pardoned me. Pardoned me. That means sparing
a death row inmate. Pardon. Not just forgiving some
faults. Peace. Oh, that's a good thing.
Peace. Peace of heart. Peace of mind.
Peace of conscience. Conscience. Peace of conscience. Our past just absolutely fills
us with guilt. And there's nothing we can do
about it. And our consciences just smite us constantly. Oh, if the Lord will give peace
of conscience. There's only one thing, John,
that will give peace of conscience. What's that? There's only one
thing the Lord said will cover all that. Only one thing that
will completely blot all that out to where God doesn't remember
it anymore. Blood. I hope the Lord will just sprinkle
our conscience with the blood. Lord, I remember it, but thank
you for the blood. Thank you for the forgiveness. I remember, Lord, I can't seem
to forget my conscience sprinkled with thank you, thank you, thank
you. Peace. We have peace with God through
the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's a good thing to ask for.
Good thing. Comfort. Comfort. I like to read these spy books
about super agents, you know, from the CIA or whatever, that
counter-terrorists that go after the scumbag terrorists all over
the world. You know, super agents. Kind
of reminds me of myself, you know. How about you, Stan? No,
I dream, we men dream, you know, being like, when I read these,
you know, and I don't know why I read them, because I start
thinking they're out there. Terrorists. They rock them out,
surely. Those foreigners that... If you look around you, look
at the news, Brother Domdale likes to watch the news. I never
watch the news, for this reason. I never watch the news. But he
had it on the whole time I was there and I started, and I started,
oh, this is awful. The world, it's awful. It's scary. What are we going to do? We better
get, come on God, let's get our guns. No. No. No way. Of whom shall I be afraid? The
psalmist said. God is my refuge. Who reigns? Osama Bin Laden can't wiggle
his fingers that God allows him. And he's accomplishing God's
purpose. Now, that'll give you comfort. Say unto the people,
Thy God reigneth. Turn the news off. Comfort. Courage. Wisdom. We looked at
that. I'd like to have Brother Henry
come up here now and tell us about patience. He's seventy-some
years old, I'm sure, by now. He's got lots of it, doesn't
he, Roberta? What are you laughing at? We're
going to need patience. We're going to have to learn
patience until the day we die. What is patience? Waiting on
the Lord. Waiting on the Lord. Waiting on the Lord. Waiting
on the Lord. What does it mean to wait? It's
not take off. Wait. Patience. Faith. Faith's a good thing. You need faith. I don't have
mustard seed, I don't think. Just a little bit of faith. Oh,
I'd love to just really trust God, wouldn't you? Faith, meekness,
temperance, on and on. He said, ask and it shall be
given you. Good. Where does it come from? God's
word. It doesn't come out of the blue. It doesn't come from experience.
God's word. Lord said, ask, you shall receive
the next thing, seek and you'll find. Seek, would you go to Psalm
34 with me, Psalm 34, seek. And you should ask your receipt,
seek and you should seek what? What does it mean to seek, first
of all, what does it mean to seek? Have you ever really searched
for something? That's what the word seek meant,
to diligently search. All three of these words are
present tense. It doesn't say anyone who has
sought me. Those seek. Ask. Knock knock ask of seek of continual
present. Ever sought or searched diligently
for something was it me. If you really search for something
you're not going to give up until you find that's just the fact. Now, there have been times when
I go look for something, and I will, you know, I will. It'll turn up sometime. I didn't
need it, did I? I didn't need it. Or leave it
to Mindy. Most of the time I do that. Mindy,
where'd you put mine? I know you put it, lost it somewhere.
You could find it for me, wouldn't you? I didn't need it that bad. If you really need something,
you'll seek it until you find it. What do we seek for? Look at Psalm 34, verse 10. It
says, young lions do lack and suffer hunger. That means young,
out in the wild, they get hungry and they go hungry. But they
that seek the Lord shall not want any good. The word thing is in italic. The Lord has been talking about
good things. David seek the Lord, did he not say in Matthew 6,
seek you first. What? The kingdom of God. And he is the kingdom of God. That is the king who reigns and
he is righteous. Seek first. That means with all
thy seeking. Look at Psalm 27. Go back there
real quick. Psalm 27. Look at this. Here's
what David said. Here's what David said, I want
to be like David. You know, I would love to be just like David. What
David said in Psalm 27, 8, when thou said, when you said, seek
ye my face, my heart said unto thee, thy face, Lord, will I
seek. Hide not thy face. What does that mean? You seek
the Lord. What does it mean to seek the
Lord? It means to seek his will. It means to seek his word. The
Lord is in his word. The Lord speaks through his word.
The Lord is found in his word, his presence. To seek his face
means to seek his approval. It's like as a boy, all you young
boys, and even when we get older, we want to please our dads. We
do, don't we? No, we're wrong. We catch ourselves,
50 years old, still seeking the approval of Dad. We do. That's all right. That's good, because that's my
illustration here. God, is this what you will? Are you happy with me? Am I accepted? His face, His will, His word,
His presence, His smile, His approval, like a loving child.
Now many times, now listen, listen to this. I'm just going to give
you a few more minutes, all right? But this is too important to
quit. Many times, if not most times, we seek God's approval
for what we have already decided to do. that is not seeking the Lord
or his will. All of us guilty, starting right
here. Go to John 7 with me. John 7. God's will can and will be known
by those that seek it. Did he not say, seek and ye shall
find? And our Lord says here, it's
known by them that are willing to do it. There's the key. John 7, look
at this with me. It says here, verse 17, if any
man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine. A person who wants to know God
who really wants to know the truth they'll know what they'll
find it. When God speaks through the word
they'll believe it yes sir absolutely they'll know as people say this
is why I say people I'm looking for a church who think you want
to go anywhere. Well. By that, they mean social
club. I'm looking for a singles club.
I'm looking for a place to, you know, quit my meanness and straighten
my life up. How do you want it all like that? I'm looking for
the truth. You know, that's different. That's not everywhere. Seek, you'll find. Ask, you'll
receive. Any man will do his will, all
right? You hear the truth, and boy, it's playing. Remember,
it's all playing to him to understand. The person hears it, like my
father-in-law. My dad recounts this all the
time, and I love it. I love to tell it. He was in false religion for
years. God began to operate on him through
whatever word he was reading. I remember he told his so-called
preacher one time, he said, I don't know what I'm not hearing, but
I'm not hearing something. That's what the Holy Spirit began
to do to a person, makes them dissatisfied with, they're not
getting anything. And anyway, a man named Ed Stevens
told him what he believed and told him where to come hear it.
And he did. And sat and listened for a long time. Dad recounts
that, you know, Ed would sit back there. And if you knew him,
you know, he always looked like that, even when he was happy. And Dad said it needed to look
like that. And then he kept preaching, kept preaching, looking at his
watch. And he'd go, he'd leave, and
Dad would greet him at the door. And he'd say, Ed, come back. And he said, I might. I might.
And leave and come back. He came. You know why he came?
Because Mindy loved what she was hearing. Mindy was nine years
old. And she told him and everybody,
she said, that man's preaching from God's word. Tell me about
God. One of her snooty little friends at the Belfont Country
Club asked her one time, said, well, who goes down there? She
said, me and my preacher, and he tells me about God. As if that's all that matters.
God used that little maiden like the one with Naaman. Anyway. And I'm not preaching his funeral,
but this is it. Anyway, the Lord began to, through the word, speak
to that fellow. And Dad said he saw his countenance
just soften. And until finally, one day, he
greeted him at the door. He said, Ed just ran back there
to shake his hand. He said, Ed, come back. He said,
I'll be back tonight, Wednesday night, every time you have a
story. He said, I see. Now I see. It's all plain to him to understand.
He will do his will. God's word plainly says, It's
clear, it's all plain to him to understand it. And now listen to this. Because
things turn out all right, we often say, well, it must have
been God's will. Now that's awful presumption.
Awful presumption. God, when we talk about God's
will, listen to me, there's two things that you need to consider.
God's revealed will. What is that? In other words,
it's what God clearly says that's obvious. It's very obvious. It's written in black and white. What's that? Right here. Who
has it? Everybody in here. It's plainly,
clearly, as clear as a nose on your face. Just look at that.
God's revealed will. What should I do? Look at that.
I want to know God's will. It's already written. Very clear. And if you have any trouble understanding
it, that's why God sends pastors, preachers. Let's look at this
together. It's deciphering. Let's rightly
divide it. See what it says. Revealed will. Then you have
what's called God's permissive will. God permits things to happen.
God permits people to go against his absolute revealed will. Every time that happens, there's
nothing but trouble. Now the end, if that person is
a believer, and it's terrible presumption on the part of that
person, It's presuming upon God's mercy, God's grace, to presume,
well, it'll be all right. I'm going to go against what
I exactly see, that it'll be all right. It's the height of
presumption to say, I see this says this, but if it turns out all right in
God's permissive will, That he allows a person to go against
what they absolutely see and know to be very plain from God's
word is reveal where and the troubles are not worth it. The troubles, the pain, the repercussions
are so many. It's not worth it. Not worth
it. Whereas, they just trust God. And if any man will do his will. Are you with me? Quite often, what we know to
do, what we know is God's will, we will not do it because, as
James said, we have our own lusts and we hope it turns out all
right, but there's no promise that it will. This is what I
want, but this is what it says, so this is what I'm going after. But this is what it says, but
I don't care. I'm going after it. you might
not get it. But. Everyone. Do not apply this to anyone but
you said OK do not do not do not. I hope I. Position here by. God, if you want, you want to
know what you can ascertain God's absolute will in everything,
give you some general rules. You want to jot these down. I
mean, this is these are the general principles through God's word.
Absolutely. You can count on it. You've got
a decision to make. You've got whatever you're faced
with. You need wisdom. And to give you five things real
quickly. OK, five things. I hope you've
got a good memory or else jot it down. All right? And it's clearly, these things
are clearly revealed in God's revealed Word, will, to be applied
in every situation. Number one, God's glory. Everything
is for His glory, God's glory. Everything, we're created for
His glory. Everything we do is for His glory. He's going to
adapt. So everything we're faced with, we need to consider, is
this going to bring God more glory? Is this for God's greater? All right. Number two, the good of the church. Of which remembers remembers
of a body, no member serves itself if it's truly a member, if it's
truly a member, it does what? It serves the body. My finger
never does anything without thinking about my body. Where does it
get its instructions? Where does my finger get its
instructions? Does my finger ever say, I think
I'll do this? Everything here serves, comes
from the head and it all serves the body. Serves the body, good of the
church. which I remember number three. My family's spiritual. If you don't have a family the
next thing applies but if you do your to consider them you
husband's your primary consideration is not. Well. If you don't provide
for your own, you're worse than an infidel. Man, that doesn't
provide food and all of that and doesn't work. Don't let him
eat and so forth. But the thing they need more
than anything is spiritual guidance. They need to be under the sound
of the word, under the sound of the gospel. He has no husband
at all. He does not have his family under
the sound of the gospel. But my family's spiritual good. That's primary. A man can be
a good dad, seemingly a good dad and husband, taking his family
here and taking them there and buying them this and that and
the other, but if he doesn't have them under the sound of God's Word, he's worse than an infidel. He
is an infidel. Number four, my spiritual good. My spiritual
good. This is my primary and first consideration. It's concerning
me. My spiritual good. Is this going
to be good for me spiritually? Is this going to feed me spiritually?
Is this going to cause me to grow in grace and the knowledge
of the Lord? Or is it going to have the opposite effect? Or
is it going to bring me down? Or? You can apply this to anything. God's glory, the good of the
church, my family's spiritual good, my own spiritual good,
and lastly, and there are other things, but testimony to the
world. Testimony of the Word. Am I saying that Christ, the
gospel, Christ, God's people are really my life? That's when people start to listen
to you. Seek and you'll find. Knock and
it'll be open, he says. Knock and it shall be open. Seek
the Lord's will. It can be known. Knock and it'll
be open. What does that imply? Knock. Is the door closed? Closed door. You know, everything
is closed until it's open. The door of mercy is closed until
God opens it. The door of grace, Christ is
the door. Until God opens the heart, puts
Christ in you, it's closed. God's will, God's mind's closed. How do you get in? Have you ever... Not means, you look up the word,
it means bang. Have you ever been locked out
of your house? What did you do? How did you
get in? He didn't have the key. How did
you get in? He knocked. Did you just... Oh well, no one's
home. Our Lord gives an illustration
of that. A fellow who goes to a friend and says, let me in,
let me in, I need something. And the fellow says, don't bother
me. He lays in bed. Don't bother me, I've gone to
bed. What's the fellow do? He keeps knocking until the fellow
in bed says, oh, all right, I'm coming. What does that do? That tests
resolve, doesn't it? That tests earnestness. That
tests seriousness. Are you really serious? You want
in? Knock! And don't go away till it's open. Don't try to open it. Now, he'll open it. Ask, seek,
and he went on there in that last verse. Did you notice that?
Some of you, I'm sure, did. Or he says, and every one of
you, likewise, therefore, whoever asks of you, and I better not
misquote it. He says, likewise, therefore,
all things whatsoever you would that men should do to you, do
ye even so to them. This is the law and the prophethood.
What does that have to do with what he just said? meaning that
God Almighty, whenever, whoever, whoever asks, receives. The chief of sinners. I ain't
going to give it to him. He's a worthless, they're all
worthless and no good. And it's great mercy when God
gives it to the chief. That thief on the cross was the
worst of mankind, he asked. Lord, remember me. Well, the Lord did it. Now, Lord, would you open to
me your kingdom? You're coming, can I come in?
Today. Anybody. Likewise, whoever asks you, what? Anything. Do good unto all men. This is the golden rule. We get
the golden rule from this. And it's a good one. He says,
whoever asks you, anything, do good unto all men, but especially
Especially our primary reason for being here is the household
thing. I took a long time, but I hope
you'll carefully consider these things. Ask, you'll receive. Seek, you'll find. Knock, it'll
be opened unto you. Good things. Good things. All
right. Brother Gabe?