For it says, O Lord, that I lose
not face with consolation offered me within thy holy word. Help me, Lord, when toil and
trouble feed me, Care to take that from a father's hand. One by one, the days, the moments
fleeting, Till I reach the promised land. Thank you. It's a sweet consolation. Good
choice. Go back to Hebrews 12 with me. Hebrews chapter 12. Let's read verses 1 and 2 again.
Hebrews 12 verses 1 and 2 will be our texts. Wherefore, seeing we also are
compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us
lay aside every weight And the sin, which doth so easily beset
us, let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who,
with the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising
the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne
of God. As with most of God's Word, this
is written to believers and is both a warning and a word of
encouragement. It's both a rebuke and consolation. It's reproof and an exhortation,
both. It's all concerning this life,
this life that we've been given to live. The race, he calls it. that is set before us, or our
course of life. Race is always on a set course,
is it not? A set course, the course of our
life, the time of our existence on this earth. He said, let us
run with patience the race. Why is it called a race? Why does he call it a race? because
of the shortness of it. You're in it, no sooner in it,
till it's over. No matter how long it may seem
during the race, it's only a race because of the shortness of it,
the brevity of it. It's called a race because there's
a finish line. There's an end. There's a goal.
When you're in a race, you're not just running for fun. How
are you? You have a goal. You have a place
you want to reach. It's called a race because there
are many in it. You don't race yourself alone. There are many in it. He talks about a great cloud.
So many people, you look at it from a distance, it looks like
a cloud. The race that is set, the race that is set before us,
ordained by God, wherever you are, whoever you are, whatever
you are, is God's will, set, ordained
by God. We're put here where we are on
purpose, set before us. That is, we've got a life to
live. No, it's before us. We can't
live in the past. We're in this world, but not
of it. We're in this world, this life that we live, this race
set before us, a life to live, and most of us will live the
duration of it. No promise for tomorrow. Yet,
he says, three score and ten is man's days if by reason of
strength, God given bodily strength. It's not vitamins, it's not health,
it's God's strength. He gives you four score, but
then it's over. It's still over. It's an end.
Most of us will live the direction. So this race is set before us
to live in this world, in this world but not of it, to live
in this world that is, Scripture says, full of sin, full of temptations,
trials, troubles, a world of trouble. This is a
world of trouble. This is a world in trouble. This is a doomed world. You know
that? This is a doomed world. There is no future for this work. We have troubles, we have troubles
at home, we have troubles in our family, we have troubles
on the job, we have financial troubles, we have personal troubles,
we have all sorts of troubles. Persecution, our Lord promised,
our Lord promised us persecution, those that is who are true witnesses
are persecuted for his name's sake. He says, given, we read
that, given unto us not only to believe but to suffer for
his sake, for his glory, his honor, bearing his reproach,
bearing his cross. He said this, we have a race
to run, a life, a faith, that's what it is, which many have already
run, and it's over. finished their course. That's
what Paul wrote. He said, I finished my course.
And many from our midst have finished their course. And it says here in verse one,
there are a great cloud of witnesses. You see that? A great cloud of
witnesses. We're encompassed about. The
first thing he wants us to consider, tells us to consider. The first
thing he tells us to consider. In this race that we have to
run, this life we have to live, is to consider all those that
went before you. All those. Greg Clout. Huge throng
of people. Innumerable company of saints. We read that. In other words,
we can't number them. God has them all. Of saints. Who testify. What is a witness? A witness
stands up and says, tells the truth, the whole truth and nothing
but the truth. The witness stands up and testifies what they've
seen, what they've heard. And all of these men and women,
great clout, huge throng of people will testify and bear witness
that God reigns in all things, that truly all things work together
according to His purpose. Everybody in heaven right now
will stand up and say, we know it for a fact. Everything. works together according to God's
always immutable purpose. They testify of God's sovereign
electing love. Oh, how He loved us. Oh, how
He loved them, how long? To the end. God's sovereign electing
mercy and grace. Oh, He chose us. Everybody in
heaven will testify of the absolute fact that God chose them. That God saved them by His mercy
and grace. That Christ did it all. Every
one of them will testify that. Not by works which we did. Oh, but it was by His mercy He
saved us. and kept us all the way." They're
all witnesses of that. And they're all witnesses of
the other things, too. A great cloud of witnesses. Those who
have gone before us will testify of the enmity of this world against
God's truth, against God and God's people. The enmity of this
world. This world is not a friend to
God, and God said that he that is a friend to the world is not
a friend to God, because this world is enmity against God. the enmity of the world, and
we're going to look at it in a moment, I hope, of people that
the world killed. The world killed these people. Every one of these witnesses
will testify of the vanity of this life, every single one of
them, no matter how long they lived. Some of them in the Genesis
lived 900 and some years, didn't they? And, Dan, every one of
them will tell you, it won't last. 900? Boy, if I could live 900 years,
I'd be happy. I'd accumulate. Boy, you'd accumulate
a lot of stuff in 900 years, wouldn't you? It doesn't last
and it doesn't make you happy. It's just all vanity. Every one
of them will testify to the fact. Solomon being the chief witness
saying, it's all vanity. Solomon said, I had it all. It
doesn't do you any good, because you have an end. Every one of these witnesses
will testify of the brevity of this life. What is your life
but a vapor that appears for a time and is over? Every one
of these people, as I said, Methuselah will be the first to stand up
and say, Yeah, he would. 969 years. He'd stand up before us today
and tell you. He said, I was 40. Then I was
50. Then I was 100. Before I knew
it, another 100. Some of us were talking the other
day about how the older you get, you don't think of time in minutes
or days or hours. You think of it in spans of decades. Ten years. Where did the last
ten years go, you say? How old are you getting on that? Every one of these witnesses
will testify of the brevity of life. Every one of them. Every
one of them will testify that God is true. Everything He said
is true. Everything He promised is true.
Every one of them will say to anybody, though we didn't believe
it, He was true. God's promises are true. Everything
He promised us came to pass. Everything. Every one of them
will testify, God's grace is sufficient. Job will stand up
today and say, His grace is sufficient to get you through anything. You just trust Him. Witnesses. Myriads of people. just like
us, living a life just like us, most of them, much tougher. So stand up and tell us His grace
is sufficient. Just trust Him. Go back to chapter 11. He says,
Wherefore? After the whole of chapter 11,
that's what He wrote. Wherefore? after consideration
of all these people, just some of them. He said time would not
allow us to speak of all the people. But let's look at a few
of them briefly, okay? Go back to the beginning, chapter
11, verse 4. He says, by faith, Abel. Abel
is a young man, unmarried. He's a single man. Can a single
man walk with God and be content and happy and living. Abel, by
faith Abel, stood for the truth and he died
at the hands of an evil brother. His brother hated him for the
truth and killed him. Verse 5, by faith Enoch, Enoch lived 365 years in this
sinful world. How sinful was it? How bad was
it? Well, it wasn't as bad as our day. God destroyed it just
a few years after Enoch. That's how bad it was. God said,
I can't take any more. That's how bad it was. We think this world is mad. Enoch
lived in it 365 years. He was a man with a family. He lived 365 years. He accumulated
a lot of children with him. He had many children. He had
a large family. Did he have to earn a living? What would it take to feed a
hundred mouths? How long would you have to work?
How many hours a day would you have to work? How many jobs? Man with a family? Problems? Family problems? He had, and we've noted this
before, Enoch could have had. I sat down and calculated one
day. He could have had in his house,
not only counting his own children, but his grandchildren, great-grandchildren,
as many as 200 teenagers living at home with him. Problems. You've got one child, you'll
have some problem. You've got two, you'll have more
problems. You've got three, four, and on and so on. You'll have
problems, family problems. You'll have children out of store,
rebellious children, this and that and the other. Enoch won't
get caught. And finally, one day he did.
Welcome to the culture. He was virtually alone in this
world, was he not? For a hundred and twenty years,
he built an ark alone. Nobody. Nobody. Everybody. You
think you're right. Nobody. Labor in obscurity. It says he condemned the world. But he became heir of the righteousness
which is my faith. He endured that mockery of an
unbelieving world. My, my. Abraham, verse 8. My faith Abraham. Abraham was
seventy-five years old. Now get a hold of him. Seventy-five
years old. Charles, how old are you now?
Eighty! That's right, we just had your
birthday then. Eighty. Where'd the last ten years go? But think about what if right
now God called you and said pick up all your family belongings,
all your family, leave. Where? I'm not telling you. Just leave. Tough. Tough. Problems. So he dwelled in tents the rest
of his life. Dwelled in tents. Can you imagine the problems
he had with his wife? Honey, when are you going to
build me a house? I don't mean to make fun, it's
just the facts. How do you live in this tent? Moses, verses 24 through 27,
Moses, it says, by faith Moses when he was come to years, refused
to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to
suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasure
of sin for a season, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater
riches than the treasures of Egypt." He had respect under
the recompense, that is, the consolation, the end. That's
where he was looking. True reward. Moses, a young man
with the whole world before him. I mean the whole world before
him. Could have been the greatest man on earth. Pharaoh. They offered
him the throne of Egypt. Fame, riches, everything. Everybody
aspires to. Moses could have had it all.
What did he do? Refused. I don't want it. I don't want it. Why? I'd rather be a
doorkeeper in the house of God. I'd rather be a nobody in the
kingdom of God than be somebody in this world. I'd rather have
nothing, fear of the Lord, than great treasure, because there's
lots of trouble with it. Lots of trouble. Children of Israel, verse 29,
By faith they passed through the Red Sea, as by dry land the
Egyptians were after them. Can you imagine having such...
Have you ever had somebody after you? An enemy? I remember a young
boy and somebody mad at me a guy wanted to fight me. It's a horrible
feeling. You know, you think you're real
tough until somebody's after you. Somebody bigger than you. And in my case, it was everybody. The children of Israel pursued
by an indomitable army on chariots. We're going to kill you. We're
going to kill every last one of you. I mean, we're going to
slaughter you. Were they fearful? Had to get out of it. And one of them had a sword.
Not one of them had a sword. Had to get out of it. Stand still. God said through Moses, and see
the salvation of the Lord, not to the strong, not to the swift,
not to the mighty, but by my Spirit. Stand still and watch
me work. See the salvation of the Lord. And they walked through on dry
land. They had all these miracles happening
around them, and they still couldn't believe it. That water's going
to come down. I know it is. They're walking. You know they thought that it's
going to fall any minute moment. Kept you all these years. Lest we think we have troubles,
read on. Read on with me. Verse 33 and follow. Who through
faith subdued kingdoms wrought righteousness, obtained promises,
stopped the mouths of lions? Who's that? Daniel. Is your God
able, Daniel? Is your God able to deliver you
from such a fearsome foe as a lion? He's not only able, he did it. Daniel will stand up and testify.
Let him throw you to the lions. God is able. God is true. Read on, verse 34. Quench the
violence of fire. Who's that? Three of my favorite
characters. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
That's a fiery trial, isn't it, fellas? Yeah, but you'll come
out without even any smoke on you. We were afraid, yes, we were.
You're human, but God. How'd you get through it, Shadrach?
You know, as soon as we went in there, Is somebody else in
there with us? You too, Meshach? Yep, fourth
man. Our salvations are with the fourth
man. He was with us all the way. He
stayed in. We came out, he stayed in. Verse 34, out of
weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight
the armies of aliens. Gideon marched around town blowing
trumpets. George, these walls aren't going
to fall. Yes, they are. Read on. Women received their
dead raised to life again. Hopeless, isn't it? The mother of that child dead,
Dorcas, the mother of that child. Hopeless, isn't it? She's without
hope. She's dead. There's no hope for her, is there? She'll stand up and tell you
right now, as long as the Lord lives, there's hope. He just has to speak the word. Shabbat witnesses. Read on. Others were tortured,
not accepting deliverance. Don't you preach in His name
again. You can kill us, but we can't
help but speak the things we've seen and heard. Read on, that they might obtain
a better resurrection. Others had trial of cruel mocking,
scourging, bonds in prison, stoned, sawed, cut in half, tempted,
slain with a sword, wandering about in skins, goat skins, sheep
skins, destitute, afflicted, tormented, the world wouldn't
worry them, wandered in deserts and mountains, and they all died. Right now, at the right hand
of the Majesty on High, with the Lord, with each other,
rejoicing with joy unspeakable, and the former things are not
remembered, nor ever come to mind, and not a moment of unhappiness
or fear. Everyone, I'm going to tell you.
We were worried without cause, because God reigned. God reigned. They all ran this race. Here's
the point. Wherefore, seeing all these witnesses right now
with the Lord, ran this race, lived this life, living testimonies
right now of God's sovereign grace, God's providence, God's
truth being true. Let us. Let us. Who's us? It's us. Every one of us. Let us, all of us, lay aside. All right, here's several things
he gives us. Let us lay aside every weight. Let us lay aside every weight.
In a race, John, you used to run, didn't you? You don't still
run, do you? No, you're married now. Well, that time. You run
to the store for IRA. But when you used to run, did
you wear combat boots and a heavy overcoat and four or five sweaters
and several pairs? As little as possible. As little encumbrance as you
had to carry, because everything just gets in the way. Only what
is necessary. Too much this or that will weigh
you down, be a burden to you. And I quoted it a while ago,
Proverbs 15, 16 says, Better is little with fear of the Lord
than great treasure, because what do you have with great treasure? Trouble. Trouble therewith. It's a sad fact that when treasures
increase, so do our troubles. That's just a fact. The more
we have, the more we have to worry about. And because where
the treasure is, that's where your heart is. That's where your
concerns are, your desires, your worries, your problems, and so
forth. He says, let us lay aside every
way, every encumbrance. Anything or anyone, for that
matter, that keeps you from this course is not worth it. It's
just not worth it. Anything that keeps us from this
course is not worth it. It's an encumbrance. Dead weight. And the same look at it and the
same which does so easily the fact that same what same the
same. You study the same as we. Heard
them call the same well the thing that most easily the sets every
one of us because we're human. Because we're limited. In our
understanding. Is unbelief. In we just Have
trouble believing God? No. And for that reason, the
slightest trouble comes up, we're ready to quit. The bigger the obstacle, I quit. Go back. Ready to hop. But who was it that said, I'm
ready to hop? That is the thing that most easily
besets all of us. unbelief, but we don't have to
be full of unbelief. God's written a whole book to
dispel it. No, we don't have to be. God
has written a whole book. And it's full of true promises. We don't have to be full of unbelief. According to this, we're full
of this. And this sin which doth so easily beset each one of us
is different. What may be a problem for you
might not be for me. What's a problem for me is not
a problem for you. And so on and so forth. Each
case is different. Sins that easily beset us. Things
that tempt us. Each of us is different. Lay it aside. I mean, put it down. That's what
he tells us. Put it down. He tells young Timothy,
flee youthful lust. Just run from it. Youthful lust.
What's that? Whatever young people go after
you. Ambition, things, pleasure. Run from it. Lay it aside. Put it down. Lay
it aside. Esau, he tells us about a fellow
named Esau who loved to hunt. And came back from hunting. That
was his life evidently. And he came back, and he was
so hungry that he sold his birthright. He sold his birthright. And verse
17 says that afterward he would have inherited the blessing he
was rejected, and he tried to change. He tried to change. He
cried. He wept. He could not find change. He
wept for losing what he lost, not for what he'd done. That's
a difference. He wept for the trouble he got
into, not the trouble he caused. That's a big difference. True
repentance that needed not to be repented of. They're a base thing. Gives their life
to it. Gives their exchange for their
soul. All right, how do we run this race? How do we run this
race? There have been lots before us. Same race. Same problem. Exact same problem. How are we
going to make it? Samuel, how are we going to get
through it? Looking unto Jesus. When I read that, I just... Well, the first thing he says
is, run with patience. Let us run with patience the
race that's set before. Run with patience. It's an endurance
race. It really is. Now, it's not to
the swift, not to the strong, but I'll tell you who it is to. Christ said this. Jesus Christ
said this. Not John Calvin, not whoever.
Jesus Christ said this. He that endureth to the end shall
be saved. What Christ said. These all,
in this chapter 11, died in faith. That's what the whole book is
talking about. Let us hold fast. Let us hold
fast. These all died. Hold with patience. Race with
patience. What is patience? Waiting. Waiting, isn't it? Patience can
be summed up in one word, waiting. Waiting on what? Waiting on the
Lord. Waiting on the Lord, day by day. And with each passing
moment, we sang a song. Day by day. Waiting on the Lord. Believing, trusting, acting.
We don't live by sight, we live by faith. Faith on what? Faith
in what? Promises that God that cannot
lie gave them. Now, listen to me. Three people,
John, we studied 1 John and in it he said the young men, children,
babies, young men and fathers in the faith. Young men start
out this race. Young people start out on fire. And that's good. That's good. And they start out the Lord by
the Lord's mercy and grace don't they're not they don't have too
many troubles. Which is good. Real soon. And they start out thinking this
is fun. This is easy. Come up across some old fellow
that's been running for years. And he said, why don't you pick
it up a little bit? It's fun, isn't it? Man, no, I can't say it's fun.
Once you got it to run. How long have you been running? Fifty
years now. Oh. That long? Midlife. Get to midlife. In the midst of the years, that's
what Habakkuk cried, revive thy work in the midst of the years.
The middle years are really dangerous years. Start living a life of
a mundane existence. Day-to-day existence. Same old,
same old. Day-to-day. Go to work. Come
home. Go to sleep. Eat, sleep, work
up, work, sleep, work, sleep, work, sleep. Get a week's vacation.
It's gone. Back to work. Mundane existence. Everybody's got to do it. There's
been a whole cloud of witnesses before. Got to do it. Got to
work while there's twelve hours in a day. Midst of the year,
and multiple distractions in the middle of the year, too.
Multiple distractions. Well, you know, just to enliven
my existence, I go after this. No, you've got to go. Keep, keep,
keep. Old. Old people. Been in it for a
long time. I think, how much longer? Don't you? How much longer? David
said that in his old days. He said, how long, how much longer
have I got to go? Until he tells you it's over,
keep running. I don't want to keep going. How? Looking unto Jesus. Why is he called Jesus all the
way through this book, Hebrews? Have you ever noticed that? All
the way through the book of Hebrews, he's called Jesus. It's the only
book really where he is. Why? Well, he starts out in chapter
1 by saying, He who came in the express image of God, to whom
God said, Thy throne, O God, became a man made in the likeness
of sinful flesh. It behooved him. to become like
unto his brethren, to dispel all their fears of death." Death! He was made in their likeness
to come down and dispel their fears. He said, look at me. He
lived by faith. By the things he suffered, he
learned obedience. He lived by faith. God became
a man and had to live by faith, not by sight. He was named Jesus. Now, the first reason we're to
look to Jesus, because His name means Savior. Look unto me and be saved. All the ends of the earth, His
name means Savior. How'd you get here, witnesses?
Jesus saved us. His name's called Jesus because
that's what it means, and that's what He hath done. He hath saved
us. Look unto Him. Peter was going
down under the waves, wasn't he? Peter was going down, going
to drown, going to die. Where was his hope? Lord, save
me or I perish. And nobody going down that's
cried and looked to him, he didn't raise up. Not one. Looking under,
Lord, save me, Lord, help. And nobody, nobody's ever called
on him. He didn't. That's right. Look
at him, Jesus. That's what his name means, Savior.
Lord, save me! As not one human being in this
world has ever asked the Lord Jesus to save them, he did save
them. Not one. Not one. That would make him
a liar, wouldn't it? Not one. Call his name Jesus. Look to
Him, Savior, High Priest. Confess it all. Go to Him, confess
it all. He's the High Priest. He's the
only one. Jesus is His name. It's not Benedict. It's Jesus. He's the only High
Priest. Go and confess it all. Tell Him
all of it. Tell Him everything. Pour out
your heart out. Cast your care upon Him. You
know what He can do and does? Put them away. Forgive them all. Wipe the slate clean. Cleanse
us from all unrighteousness. Boy, that's who I want to go
to, don't you? That's the high priest I need. Sacrifice, mediator, soul winner. He's the soul winner. I thought
about that preparing this message. There's only one soul winner.
His name's Jesus. He's called the author and finisher
of our faith. That means he, what he started,
what God had begun, he finished. You start out trusting Christ,
he finishes. The reason you believe is by
the working of his mighty power and that which God hath begun,
he'll perfect it in you. He'll finish. He's the author
and the finisher. Don't look to anybody else. Don't look to
yourself. Look to Him for your strength. Looking unto Jesus.
Look unto Him for your strength. Don't take a step. Don't take
a step. You've got a race to run, but
don't take a step. Because He said, without me,
you can't do nothing. Don't take a step. You've got
to run a race. You're going the wrong way. Isn't that what we do, Kelly?
Okay, I'm going to do something. Whoa, wait a minute. Say, Lord,
show me. This way. Thank you. I love you. Without me, you can do nothing.
You can't take a step in the right direction. Not a step.
You can't even think a thought. Right thought. This is what I
think. You're all wrong. This is what I believe the Lord
says. That's right. Your strength look to him for
your strength. Look to him. How do you look to him? How do
you actually look to the Lord? You look to him right now. This
is what you're doing. You're coming and looking to
the Lord to speak to you through his word. This is how the Lord
chiefly speaks. Is it right here? We forsake
this. If we forsake this, we've forsaken
our own mercy. You know that? My father used
to do most of his instruction and so forth around
the table. Around the table. That's when we talked. Now this
is important. Now this is where it's at. It's
where the father instructs the children. How do you look to the Lord?
You look to Him personally. through his word. The children of Israel had to
gather manna every morning, and when the Lord said, Give us this
day our daily bread, he told us to pray that. What does he
mean? Food? Oh, man doesn't live by bread
alone. That just goes out in a draft.
We live by every word that comes out of the mouth of God. Give
us this day. Speak to me. How? Am I going
to do it in the stars? Through his word. You look to the Lord in prayer.
Lord, talk to him. If I needed my dad's help, I'd
go to him. Talk to him. That's the reason we're told
to pray without ceasing. You look to him in prayer. This is
unbelievable, but somebody was talking to an older believer
recently, and they were full of troubles, and they had Advise,
counsel the person to, every morning, get up and open God's
Word and call on Him in prayer. And the old believer said, I'm
just, I'm not going to do that. I'm just not going to do that. That's what it meant. You're
not going to have any help. Forget it. That's how you look
to the Lord. That's how you look to the Lord. That's how you look. He's not
visible. He's not physical. He doesn't
give an appearance. He does speak though. One way. We can speak to Him. He does hear. He hears us. Worship, fellowship. Look to Him, you look to Him,
and I've got to quit. You look to Him as your end,
looking unto Jesus as your end. Paul said in Philippians, for
me to live is Christ, and to die is gain, to be with Him.
To be absent from the body is what? To be present with the
Lord. Scripture says, comfort one another
with these words that we will all rise together to meet the
Lord in the air. And so shall we ever be with
the Lord. There are certain people on this
earth, and this room is full of them, that I just love to
be around. I hope it shows. I love to be
around. You're my companions. I love to have you over, and
I love to come over and visit you. You take all these people
and just multiply all their Christlike qualities a million times. No more than that. Multiply into one person. And may I use this? You'd invite
him over every night. Every night. Just love to be
around him. Sit and talk to him. And you
wouldn't do the talking. That's the Lord Jesus Christ.
We're going to be with him. There's going to be silence.
All of us, we're all a bunch of talkers. You know that? We're
all given the right to talk. Talk, talk, talk, talk, talk.
There's going to be silence in heaven for the space of thirty
minutes. Only time in history. Total silence. Why? He's speaking. No man speaks like this. He's the end. He's the end. All that was very poor illustration.
Trying to describe someone. You see, I hadn't seen, or hadn't
heard, none of us. All the apostles, they heard
Him. They touched Him. They handled Him. They said, we want to be
with Him. We miss Him so bad. We want to be with Him someday.
We're going to. And we're telling you this that
your joy might be full and you might have fellowship with Him.
Just wait until you see Him. Wait until you hear Him. At the
right hand of the Lord of pleasure. Just being around Him. Look to Him as your end. My, my, the Lord make me to know
my end, Moses said, make me to know my end, David said it too,
teach us to number our day, Moses said that, that we may apply
our hearts to wisdom. What's that? That's Christ's
wisdom. Look to him as your example,
because that's what it says here. He said that back there, we read
it. He did this for an example in verses 2 and 3, says, He endured
the cross, despised the shame, sat down at the right hand of
the throne of God, so will we. Consider him that endured such
contradiction of sinners against himself, lest you be weary and
faint and want to quit. So, you've got a race to run. You've got
a life to live. Whenever God is set down. Listen. Don't look back. Don't look back.
Forget the things of the past. Forget it. Look forward. Look straight on. Don't look
to the right. Or look. Take your eyes off the
end. Oh, would you? Don't do that. Straight on. Don't look down.
Oh, but look at me. You'll drop. You'll fail. You'll get tired. You'll quit. Don't look at others. Oh, he's really running. She quit. You remember when Peter,
when the Lord told Peter what he was going to do with him? Be crucified. Remember that?
And Peter looked at John and said, what about him? Doesn't
he have to go through this? And the Lord rebuked him and
said, what's that to you? That's my business. Don't look
to him. Don't look to anybody. You got
to set before you what I've ordained. Why are teenagers so miserable?
Because they're the most selfish people on earth. It's not hormones.
Don't blame it on hormones. They wake up thinking about me. They've lived
a whole life. Somebody's fed them, clothed
them, cleaned them, given them all the money and everything
for them. And they could give a big flip. That's why they're miserable.
Selfish people are miserable. I'm bored. What's there to do? Man. Lift up the weak hands. Strengthen
the feeble knees. He's going down. Who? Your brother's going down. He's
on one knee. Come on, buddy. Keep going. We're going to make it. By God's grace. Ain't nobody in here been through
something that nobody else has been through. There's nothing
you've been through that's not common to me. Every one of you
teenagers, you sound like I'm picking on you. Every adult in
here was a teenager. Every adult in here thought their
parents didn't understand them. Every adult in here had feelings running through
them as a teenager, not knowing what these hormones, you want
to call it. They're full of life, you want to call it. Every single
one of them. Your dad, you can't believe your dad was a teenager.
You can't believe it. All he wanted to do was rip and
roar and snort. Is that right, Stephen? Let me
add it and every one of them will tell you the source of their
trouble was themselves. Don't blame it on the world.
Don't blame it on mom and dad. Itself didn't give a thought
to dad. Dear old dad that loved me. Oh,
loved me. Laid down his life for me. Here's
your mama. Here's your mama, teenagers.
She went through excruciating pain. I wish Jennifer was here
to testify of this. We've got a great cloud of witnesses
to testify of this excruciating pain it took to bring us into
this world, some of ours. Someone had to cut their bellies
wide open and scarred for life, scarred for life, to give you
life. Little teenage girls are so,
oh, how I might look. Mama, scarred for life. wipe your dirty bottom, days
on end, go without sleep, hours on end, feed you. All they got to think
about when they wake up is putting some food in your mouth. Daddy's
got to work several jobs to give you money to waste. And you're He said, I'd be happy if it wasn't
for him. He'd be dead if it wasn't for
him. I'm telling you from experience. And it doesn't stop as a teenager. We maintain a lot of that as
we get to be adults. That's what we dealt with in
the morning hours. Self. Self. Let this mind be. Which was in
Christ. Key to happiness is submission
to the Lord and service to others. You write that down and you go
think about it. The Lord will not, there is no
peace for those who live for themselves. And the Lord will leave them
alone and they will turn to anything and everything and will be miserable
people. They'll die miserable. Okay, let's sing in
closing number 333. May the mind of Christ my Savior
live in me from day to day. Sing all six verses. It's a short,
a short, and young people, I'm not mad
at you, but I'm one of you. I've been there. I needed a good slap in the face.
I'm mad at myself for being so foolish and being so ignorant.
Now, you don't have to be. You don't have to be. If God
will open your ears and your eyes and your heart, you don't
have to be ignorant. And I talked to a teenage girl
the other day. I said, you call on the Lord.
You ask the Lord to show you yourself. I won't ask you to
do for you, give you. Show you your sound. Ask you
for mercy, but that's what you need. Okay, 333, let's sing. Save the mind of Christ my Savior,
live in me from day to day. By His love and power controlling
all I do and say. May the word of God swell richly
in my heart from hour to hour, So that all may see I triumph
only through His power. May the peace of God my Father
rule my life in everything that I may become to comfort sick
and sorrowing. May the love of Jesus fill me
as the water fills the sea. image of thee, self-evading,
this is victory. May I run the race before thee,
strong and brave to face the foe, looking only unto Jesus
as I onward go. May his beauty rest upon me as
I seek the lofty winds, And may they forgive the channels being
only his. you.