This will be a blessing if the
Holy Spirit is pleased to make it so. That song we just sung, the third
verse, says, Witnesser, pleading for the Holy Spirit's presence,
the songwriter says, Witnesser of Jesus' merit. That's a good
statement. The Holy Spirit is the witness
of the merit, the works of the Lord Jesus Christ. Witnesses
of Jesus' merit speak the word of power to men. The gospel is
the power of God unto salvation. It's a keeping power, kept by
his power. The Apostle Paul was such a faithful
man, and he was faithful, first of all, to God's honor, God's glory, God's word. That's who he said he sought
to please and be faithful to first, God's glory, God's word,
and to the souls of men. Even though he became the enemy
of some for telling the truth, yet he was the best friend they
ever had and didn't know it. He was faithful to the glory
of God and the souls of men. He said, I've kept back nothing.
I have not shunned to declare all the counsel of God to you."
The Apostle Paul loved to preach the gospel, that is. He said,
Woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel. He loved to preach
the gospel, but also he loved those to whom he preached the
gospel, and they must go hand in hand. And his faithfulness
really comes out here in this one verse. I want us to look
at one verse tonight, Acts 20. This may finish out Acts 20. If I get to the second half of
the verse, this will finish it. If not, you'll have to come back
Wednesday. There's so much here in this
one statement. Paul, in his faithfulness, is
leaving them. And they're never going to see
him again. And you might call this Paul's legacy to his loved
ones. Paul's legacy to Ephesians. The
legacy is something you leave somebody. You're not going to
see them again. You leave something with them.
Well, Paul didn't have silver and gold. Silver and gold have
I none. But oh, what he left them. He
left this word, the word of God's grace. He left a letter later
on, didn't he, a letter to the Ephesians? What a legacy, what
a thing to be. He says here in verse 32, Acts
20, verse 32, And now, brethren, he's about to leave, and he says,
Now and now. And I cannot say this like he
said it. with the way it must have come
out. These people he'd spent nearly
three years with and grown to love and so burdened for, he
said, and now brethren. That's a blessed term, isn't
it? Brethren. Not only does this world use,
misuse, well, this world just misuses
every precious Bible word just abuses it, don't they? And that's one that they like
to throw out in a wholesale fashion, don't they? That is reserved
as a dear, dear expression between two lovers
of the Lord Jesus Christ and lovers of one another. We don't
use that word lightly. Have you ever run into them,
these religious people who call everybody brother? Brother this,
brother that. But that's not the way it's to
be used. The word brethren is an affectionate
term, a dear term reserved for the Saints. It's used loosely. It's an affectionate term, isn't
it? Oh, brother. And I don't use it. lightly or loosely, try not to,
but there are times when I'm made to think about various ones
of you, and the love of God is supposed to be shed abroad in
our hearts. At times it does come up for one another. And
I think about a dear brother, and I think, oh, Brother Henry.
What a precious brother, Brother Henry, Brother John, dear Brother
Charles. Brother. It's an affectionate
term, isn't it? And you have a special relationship
with that blood brother of yours? More so with a brother in the
blood of Christ. Brother. Don't use it lightly.
It's an affectionate term. It's a term of equality, too.
You know that? Paul is arguably the greatest
man used by God Almighty. Wrote more of the scripture than
anybody else. God used him as a savior to so many souls, a
great man, great man, chief, chief apostle. But he used this
term, inequality. He didn't consider himself above
anybody. He wasn't. And he didn't act
like it either, did he? Brother. That's a term of equality,
isn't it? Brothers are on the same level,
aren't they? Why? Brethren have the same father. You use the term brethren, and
you don't use this, like I said, with everybody. But those who
believe you have one God, one Lord, one faith, others. But
it's clear that everybody does not have that one faith, that
one Lord, and so forth. Right? But you're my brethren.
Why? Because it's the same Father.
Same Father. And we're both born of God. If
I say my will is what decides, we're not brothers. You were
born of God, you weren't born of the will of the flesh or the
will of man, were you? You were born of God. If I say my will
decides, we're not brothers. We're born of God. Born the same
way, by the incorruptible word, which is Peter's say, which by
the gospel is preached unto you. Born by word. Adopted, we're
brothers by adoption, too. Neither one of us, and I keep
talking to you, Henry, I've mentioned you first, neither one of us,
both of us were unfit, no good, castaway, scallywags like that
child cast out in the field in Ezekiel, right? Anybody who had
any sense wouldn't have anything to do with it. But the Lord of
Glory passed by one day and said to both of us, Live, and adopted
us into his family. Didn't have to. God he did. He adopted that. We're brothers,
aren't we? We're brothers. Adopted, chosen, called. That same mother, who's that? Have you ever noticed the scripture
says in Galatians 4.26, Jerusalem is the mother of us all? Have you ever heard of that?
In Galatians 4.26, Paul said, I've read it and read it and
never noticed it. Jerusalem is the mother of us
all. What does that mean? Well, Jerusalem is another term
for the Church. I saw that new city, Jerusalem,
coming down from heaven. Where were you born? Where did
you hear this gospel? Where did you get your adoption
papers? In the Church. The Church. The
reason we, I love thy kingdom, Lord. the house of Dinah Bow,
the church which the blessed Redeemer saved with his own precious
blood. I love the church. I love the
church, don't you? I'm talking about this building,
talking about brothers. We're brothers, that same mother,
same mother who gave birth to us. We wear the same clothing. Literally, when I was growing
up, I literally wore my brother's clothing. Hand me down, didn't
you? Didn't you? And my clothing was
handed down to me. Wasn't it? It better be. It better
not be one you made. It better be handed down to you
from God himself. We're clothed with Christ. But
we set, the scripture says, the same breast of consolation. What's that? with all of us children,
nursed the same mother. What is that breast of consolation? The milk of God's Word. That's
where we get our nourishment. Same house, lived in the same
house. Brethren live in the same house, don't they? The house
of God, the temple of God, the church. Same head, same head
over that house, Christ the Lord. So he says, Brethren. You start
to think about a word every now and then. A word like that, there's
a lot in it, isn't there? Brethren. Brethren. What makes
us brethren? Well, all of those things. Brethren. So Paul says that in love and
affection, truly, not using that loosely like some self-righteous,
overly pious religion, or Sister Polly. You've heard them, haven't
you? You've been, oh, hello brother,
how are you today? Don't get me there. Don't say
that unless you mean it. Right? Paul means it here. Brethren, brethren, and I'd like
to say that to you like he said it to these people. Our brother,
my dear brother, is about to leave, and listen to this, what
he says, and he couldn't leave for him with anything better. In these five words, and now,
brethren, I commend you to God. I commend you You parents, if you had the power,
if you knew, Charles Ross, if you knew you were going to die
tomorrow and not see your children again, and it was within your
power to leave them leave them in the care of someone. Now, you love your children,
don't you? You love Bob and Lizanne? Sure you do. If you could leave
them under the care and the protection of somebody, ensuring their safety,
ensuring their welfare, ensuring the provisions for them for the
rest of their days, never to be in need, never to be in danger,
who would you leave them with? And Paul says, I commend you
to God. Commending, the word commend
there, is not the word we normally use. That man is commendable. He's got commendable traits.
There's nothing commendable about us. Paul is not saying that. I commend you to God. I ought
to be pleased with you. That's not what he's saying there.
The word commend here is commit. I commit you to God. Jacob, when he was leaving his
children, said the same thing. When he was leaving, when he
was dying, Jacob was giving those blessings to his boys, and he
commended his children to God. Moses, when Moses knew he was
going to die and wasn't going to go into the Promised Land,
he commended the Israelites to God. He said, and the Lord has
provided a man to make sure you get in the promised land to see
your God, Joshua. He's an able replacement. And
Christ, when he was about to lose his children, he prayed,
Holy Father, keep through thine own name those you've given me. keep through your own name."
So Paul, in love with these people and a great show of love to them,
he prays for them. He says, I commend you to God. I commit you to his care and
his safekeeping. Notice a few things with me here
about this. I think I've got two or three
points, two basic points in this thing of being commended to God. The necessity of being commended
to God, the necessity of being commended to God, to God and
to God alone, because he is the only able, loving and faithful
follower and friend and keeper and guide and leader and protector
and provider and just keep on and on with every name you can
name. He is the only one. So the necessity
of being commended to him and him alone. And under that, you
have this subheading. The necessity of being commended
to God is because of priorities. Priorities. Somebody said that priorities
is what makes a man do what he does. In other words, a man will
go to work because he's got priorities. He's got a family to support.
If he didn't have a family to support, he might not do it.
If he had only himself to care for, he might not be willing
to work so hard and do what he does. But he's got priorities.
He's got people he cares for, so he does that. And there's none so fit to care
for a child than a father. Whose priority will a child Who
will be the greatest priority? Whose priority will be the greatest? That child will be the greatest
support? A father. Right? A father. God's called
our father. God, by general mercy and goodness
and grace, cares for all of his own. He made the world, and he
cares for it. Scripture says the rain falls
on the just and the unjust. The rain fell on my neighbor's
garden as well as mine today, didn't it? And God Almighty caused
that. My garden needed rain. God sent
that rain from my garden. Can you believe that? He did. But it causes the rain when it
falls, it falls on the just and the unjust. Now, I'd better give
him all the thanks for it. Give God all the thanks for it.
This man over here is not. All he's saying is, it sure needed
to rain. That's all he's saying. And he'll probably end up cussing
because he's got too much. That's generally the way it is.
But I'd better give credit to him. That's going to add to his
condemnation. God's just raining and causing
my garden to grow. But he causes the rain to fall.
He says that he is good to all his creation, basically. He feeds
the sparrow in the woods that he made, and he also feeds his
children in a special way. But his special mercy, God's
special care and special mercy and special goodness and special
grace and his special care is upon his children. I remember
an article, Brother Maurice Montgomery wrote one time. He said he went
to the schoolhouse one day to pick up his kids. And he said,
you know, I love children. I love children. And he said,
I was sitting there in my car and watching those little, you
know, it was really not, well, he said, I was sitting there
watching those little fellows run around there. And he said,
but my, ah, I was looking for and had my eye on one special
child in that group. I was after that one child. And
that's God Almighty. He has his children. He has his
children. And he has his special eye of
mercy upon his children who are his by birth, like I said, by
adoption, by redemption. They're bought with a price.
It cost God a lot, didn't it, to make me his child? He said,
You're not your own now. You bought with a price. By regeneration,
created in the image of Christ by promise, God said, I'm going
to have you. I've determined to have you.
I'm going to have you. You're mine. That covenant it would be. So
God is none more qualified to be committed to than our God,
our Father. You know, God said in the scriptures,
a man is worse than an infidel if he doesn't care for his own,
didn't he? Remember that? If any man provide
not for his own, he's worse than an infidel. Do you think God
will provide for his own? Sure he will. Secondly, the necessity of being
commended to God Almighty is because of priorities. We are a God's special priority.
Secondly, we need to be commended to God, and Pilate does the right
thing here, because of the enmity against us. Because of the enmity that's
against us, or all of the enemies that are against us. But a tarot
read back from Psalm 25 tonight, that David prayed to the Lord,
he said, Consider mine enemies, Lord, there are many. They hate
me with cruel hatred. Oh, he does. Oh, he does. Ah, he said touch, not mine and
all of it. What would you do? Steve Park,
what would you do if somebody was going to attack your children? What would you do? How would
you be if you knew that your children had enemies and they
were waiting to do them great harm? Would you be at a state
of readiness? You'd never let them out of your
sight, would you? We've got a lot of enemies, a
lot of enemies. Christ said the world will hate
you, didn't it? So he says, I'm the good shepherd.
Did you ever have a dog growing up as a child? I did. We had a lot of dogs, but the
one I remember the most was a St. Bernard. I had a St. Bernard
that I could ride. I could get on his back and literally
ride. He weighed 210 pounds. had to weigh him on the scales
down at the railroad station. He was that big, huge. I used
to put my head in his mouth like a lion. That dog, I remember
sleeping out in his house with him. We had a house that was
about the size of a small condominium for it. Sleep out in his house,
and mom and dad or somebody would get mad at me, I'd cry on his
shoulder. He was just my best friend. Nobody loves me but you. and he'd have that head. I think he sensed at times that he had been placed in a
certain place of protection over me, this young twelve-year-old
boy. I'd sit out there at night in
the dark with my arm around him, and he'd be looking out, sniffing
the air. The scripture says in Psalm 23,
God has two sheepdogs. You know what? Two faithful watchdogs
that are going to watch over his tender sheep. And he named
them, Goodness and Mercy. He said, Now, you dogs, he sent
them to follow us all the days of our lives. Don't let anything
happen to them. Watch over them. God's faithful
sheepdog. They'll follow us all the days
they'll never die. My old dog, he died in my lap. Right now I'm thinking about
that old dog. He died in my lap. My best friend. The priest will never die. And
this is just a picture of Christ. We're not talking about dogs
here. We're talking about Christ himself. His goodness and his
mercy. He said, I'll never leave you,
nor forsake you. He's not only following us, he's going before
us. The Lord goes out before him. And we have many enemies,
many enemies, and we need a faithful and able friend, don't we? We
need a faithful one who is never going to leave us and one who
is able to do something when the enemy arises. Right? Lord in that same prayer, that
blessed, blessed high priesthood prayer, he said, Father, the
world hates them. Remember that? The world hated
them. Father, and the Lord commends
us to his God. Lord, keep them. It's the same thing Paul is here,
commending us to his God. Is that important? He's our intercessor, John. He's
our mediator. He always hears crying. And he
says, what he said about you, about John Davis. He wasn't just
talking about John the Apostle. He was talking about John Davis.
Yeah, he was. He said, Father, keep John Davis. He said, I didn't pray for them
only, but them which shall believe through their word. Right? Is
that you, John? You believe? He's praying for
you right there. Father, keep them. The world hates them. The
world hates this old boy. They used to love him when he
ran with them, but now he doesn't run to the same excess of riot
with them, therefore they hate him. And they're out to get him.
Put him out of bed and keep him. Go and keep him. Keep him. You know, a little lamb, and
we're called his little lambs, aren't we? I love that passage
in Luke 12 where he says, "'Fear not, little flock, it's your
father's good pleasure to give unto you the kingdom.'" I forget
the first time I read that, really read it. It made me shout for
joy. Fear not, little flock. That's
me. Fear not, little flock, little believer, little weak believer.
It's your Father's good pleasure to give unto you the kingdom.
What if he just turned us little lambs? He said that Satan is
like a roaring lion walking about the earth, seeking whom he may
devour. Right? That's what Christ said. Christ
once said that. He's seen him. Christ said, I've
seen Satan, Lucifer, fall from heaven like a star. He was powerful,
too. Christ was tempted by it. He
knows the power of this one, but we are not any match for
him. He's a roaring lion, and we're
little, weak lambs. What if he just turned us loose,
left us to ourselves? What's a lamb among lions? What's
a lamb among lions? And did we in our own strength
confide, our striving would be losing. You know the rest of
the verse? We're not the right man on our
side, the man of God's own choosing. Just ask who that may be. Christ
Jesus, it is him. That means the Lord of hosts.
He can take care of a host of people as well as he can one.
Satan is no match. He must win the battle, the Scripture
says. He must. He will, but stronger
than he is here. Satan is no match for him. He's
a lion, yes, but the lion of the tribe of Judah hath prevailed. He's a prince, Satan's prince
of the power of the air, but the King of kings and Lord of
lords, the prince of the prince of the power of the air, is for
us. So who can be against us? A roaring
lion is no match for a little lamb. A lamb slain, that is. The lion of the tribe of Judah,
he hath prevailed. You know, one old writer said
this, he said, Listen to this. The old enmity
between the serpent and the woman. You notice? Who did he tackle first? Who
did Satan tackle first? Adam was a picture of Christ,
was he not? The first man. Christ is called the second Adam.
He knew. Adam was not deceived. And the
scriptures say that, Roberta, Adam was not deceived in the
transgression, a woman being a transgression. Who did Satan
tackle first? He, the woman. And he got to
the man through the woman. This old writer said, The old
enmity, that old enmity between the serpent and the woman is
not over yet. It's still there. It's still
there. And that's the reason I say,
ladies, we're not the right man on your side. I'm not talking
about your earthly husband, either. He's no match for him, either.
You've got a husband. Your maker is your husband. He's
the only one that can resist this one. You're no match for
him. You're no match for him. So we need to be commended to
God and God alone, don't we, because of the enemies against
us? And thirdly, under this heading, the necessity, thirdly, is because
of our helplessness. We're not able to take care of
ourselves for one minute, are we? Huh? Not for a minute. And
we need to be commended to the care of somebody else, don't
we? Huh? We're helpless, and that's
the kind of people that get help. We're homeless. You know that
God brings in all the homeless? Huh? Not like the United States of
America. He brings in all the homeless. He sure does. All the
empty. Everybody hungry gets fed by
God Almighty. Okay? That's what he said. Blessed are they that are hungry
and thirsty. They'll be filled, every last one of them. The weak,
the weak get his strength. And helpless we are, Old Peter
was pretty strong when Christ was around, wasn't he? Then when the soldiers came to
take Christ in the garden, Old Peter, the soldiers and that
band of a big, big group of people, he was twelve apostles, eleven,
eleven apostles, and the Lord in that garden. That big mass
of soldiers came with spears and swords and a big, huge throng
of people, and Peter got out a sword and fought them off,
wasn't he? And tried to cut the head off
of that high priest's servant's ear, or cut his head off and
missed and got his ear. If the Lord hadn't been standing
beside him right there, they'd have cut Peter's head off, wouldn't
they? They'd have hauled him off to
jail immediately. Why didn't they do that? It's because he was
standing beside Peter. And Peter knew he was real bold
when the Lord was beside him, wasn't he? Now, I'll never leave
you. Well, Peter, if I leave you,
though, you'll leave me. You can count on it. Well, a
little while later, the Lord was gone, and a little maiden
came up, and Peter went running like a scared rabbit. A little
girl. Right? We were real bold. when the Lord
is with us. Christ said, that's the reason
he said, without me, you can't do anything. Huh? You can't do anything. The scriptures
even says this, listen to this. He said in 2 Corinthians 3, he
said, not that we are sufficient of ourselves to do anything. You remember that? We can't even think anything
of our own. I dare you, I defy you to think
for 60 seconds on the things of God without any outside thoughts. Right now. How many of you have
thought on everything that's been said tonight? For 60 straight
seconds have entered into everything that's been said. You can't even
think. That sounds pretty simple, doesn't it? Why are my thoughts
running like this? I'll be praying sometimes, and
my thoughts will run in the most vile direction. I think, where
did that come from? I can't even think for a minute
without your... That's the reason you need to
be praying, not just when you're back in the study. But when you're
sitting there in that pew the whole time, Lord, help me. Help
me, Lord, or I'm going to perish. I'm not going to sit here and
perish under the sounds of the words of life. I'm going to sleep
right on through when the announcement is made. Keep quiet! I'm not
going to have oil in my lamp. I commend you to God, and you
do well to commend yourself to God. How do you commend yourself
to God? Prayer. Lord, Lord, help me. I can't think for a minute. I
can't think. I can't sing a song unless you
help me. Prayer is mighty important. You
know that? It's mighty important. Christ has placed a lot of importance
on this thing of prayer. He sure has. Lord, we're such
pitiful, helpless creatures. Anything and everybody could
spoil us. It wouldn't take much at all.
A thought will spoil us. The Lord save us or we perish. Do you see the necessity of being
commended to God and constantly commending ourselves to him in
prayer? So Paul says, Brother, I commend
you to God. I commend you to God. Turn over
to Exodus 34 real quickly. I've got about ten more minutes. Exodus 34. Look at this, this
is good. Do you remember an ancient morality
named Alexander the Great? I read a big thick book. Barbara,
you like to read books sometimes. There's a book in the library
about that big, about Alexander the Great, about his conquests
and so forth. A young man, started out when
he was about 20 years old, and he just literally conquered the
then-known world. It was a true story about Alexander
the Great that one time he conquered this nation, this country, and
when you conquer, you conquer the king. Once you have that
country's possession, he apprehended the
king, you have that country. And he conquered this country
and had this king under him. And he was feeling pretty good
that day, Alexander, feeling pretty benevolent and kind and
merciful. He was no good drunk. He died
of some kind of sexual disease. And he was feeling pretty good
that day, though, and had this king in his possession, and he
was feeling kind of merciful. And he said to the king, an older,
wiser man. He said to him, he said, Now,
you don't have the power to put you to death, do anything I want
to do to you. I can treat you as I please. And he said to that
king, he said, But I'm going to be generous. I'm going to
treat you how you want to be treated. And he said, How would you like
to be treated? And the man said, like a king." And Alexander thought for a minute,
and he said, You don't have any special request?
I mean, surely there's something special. And he said, No, it's
all contained in that word. If you're treated like a king,
you have everything. Look at this. God says, I'm going
to make my name pass before you. Exodus 33, verse 19, he says,
I'll make my goodness pass before you, I'll proclaim the name of
the Lord before thee. Now look over to Exodus 34, verse
6. And the Lord passed by before
Moses and passes by before us in the gospel and proclaims the
Lord, the Lord God. You see, it's all in that name,
isn't it? Paul says, I commend you to God. How do you want to be treated?
Who do you want to be commended to? It's all in a name. You see
that? If you're commended to God, if
you're in Christ, that's another thing. If you're in Christ, it's
all right there. How are you going to be treated
by God? When you come to God Almighty and he says, How do
you want to be treated? You say, In Christ. And you're a joint heir with
him. You have all things with him. You're a king. He's made
us kings and priests. It's all contained in the word.
You see that? It's all there. It's all in that name. Paul says,
I commend you to God. He says a lot in that one phrase.
Have you ever thought about that? I commend you to God. God, who
said, I'll keep you through my own name. Do you remember when
Christ said that in that passage? Father, keep them through thy
own name. What's his name, John? The Lord Merciful. He's mercy
endureth forever. If you're kept by God, if you're
commended to God, he's merciful. He'll never quit showing mercy
to you, John. I commend you to God. Gracious,
long-suffering, a brimful indifference, and truth, keeping mercy for
thousands, forgiving iniquity. Terry read that again in Psalm
25 back there. David prayed, Lord, don't remember
the sins of my youth, remember them no more. Hebrews 10 verse
13 says there, iniquity stands in iniquity. I'll remember no
more. He answers prayer. He answers prayer. If God keeps
you, one old writer said, if God keeps you, none can hurt
you. And if God keeps you, all will
help you. Can you just think about that,
Nancy Park? You'll hear another thing said tonight, if God keeps
you, none can hurt you. If God keeps you, everybody's
going to help you. It's all for you. It's all for
you. He can turn the wrath of man
into praise. He'll turn your enemies into
your best friends. He can turn water into wine. He can make
opposites, can't he? I commend you to God, and the
last point is because God is commendable. He's commendable. Let me tell you a little bit
about his commendable characteristics. I'll say about a man like Stan. He's a fine man. He has commendable
characteristics. He's got some commendable traits. He's kind, he's gentle, he's
sweet, he's meek, he really is, that's sure. She'll tell you.
She lives with it. Anybody who knows she will. He
really is. He really is. He has some commendable characteristics. He got them all. What did he
have that he hadn't received? He got them all from his Lord. Let me tell you about his commendable
characteristics. His love and affection. our God's
love and affection. Now, I commend you to the love
of God. I commend you to the love of
God. And I know this is another thing. This is the reason I get
angry when I preach and think about these things that they're
saying about the love of God and the blood of Christ. I get
angry. Why? These things are the glory of
God Almighty. His love is glorious. It's my
salvation. Do you hear me? It's my salvation. It was the love of God that sent
Christ into the first place, and he said, I will love thee
with an everlasting love, and it will never quit. Now, if you
tell me God loves me one minute and kicks me in hell the next,
what good is that love, huh? It's no good at all. That's the
reason I get mad when I think about what they're saying. I
commend you now, Roberta Sword, to the love of the everlasting
God who never changes. that love that never fails. I
commend you to it. My daughter right there, all
of her protection, Hannah, all of your protection, all of your
care, everything that you need is ensured by this. I love you. All of your care, you're going
to be provided for. Why? Daddy loves you. You're
going to be protected. Why? Daddy loves you. It's all right there. You see
that? I love you. And nothing, she'll never like
for anything. She'll never want anything. No
one will hurt her as long as I'm able. Right? But now, Hannah, honey, I'm going
to die someday. And really now, I commend you
to God, if God loves you. You see, I'll take care of her
and provide for her as long as I'm able, but this day I'm going
to die, and really I'm not able to do anything. But God is able. Isn't He? And when God says He
loves you, You see that? You see that, Erlene? That's
all your care. That's all your protection. That's
all your assurance. I commend you to the love of
God Almighty. Huh? Does God love me? How do
I know God loves me, Doug? He spared not his own son. Ain't
that good enough? And secondly, I commend you to
God, not only God's love, but God's special care and protection. Who's called by this name? You
ever thought of it? I'd like to preach on this one sometime.
the Lord of Hosts." Dan, he's called that so many times throughout
the scriptures, the Lord of Hosts. It's as if he takes great pride
in being able to care for so many. It's not hard. It's not any harder for him to
save 100 zillion, as it is one. It took the same pride. It's no harder to keep them,
either. The scripture says, He that keepeth
Israel shall not slumber or sleep. You know, the one that's keeping
you never goes to sleep. Never goes to sleep. Your daddy
goes to sleep every now and then, doesn't he? And something frightens
her in the night. She has to come wake me up. My
Father never sleeps. He that keepeth Israel neither
slumbers nor sleep. And he sends his angels. He says,
you know that one angel is going to destroy a fourth of this earth?
He's going to send four angels to destroy it all. One angel
could destroy it all. But he says he gives his angels
charge over thee. Think about that. And then the
scripture says, if that's not good enough, you're in God's
hand. He says, you're in God's hand. Christ said, My Father which
is greater than all, no man can pluck them out of my Father's
hand. We're in his hand. And lastly, let me commend you. It looks like we're going to
work on this Wednesday night, doesn't it? Lastly, let me commend
you to the will of God and the blessings of God. So often in the scriptures we're,
just give me a couple more minutes, OK? This is important. Sammy,
this is important. It's not that Sammy wasn't paying
attention and I just picked on him. Somebody else wasn't and
I'm picking on Sammy, talking to them. Everybody, this is important. So often the scripture says that
we're to pray, we're to do things, we're to ask for things according
to his will. Right? And Paul says this in
the, I commend you to God, that's at God's will. That's contained
there, I commend you to God's will. If we're in his will, if we're in his will, everything's
going to prosper. everything's going to be all
right, if we're in his will. All the earth depends upon the
blessings from heaven, don't they? If God withholds the rain,
we know this well. If God withholds the rain, it's
going to dry up. It's just going to dry up, and the grass is going
to crunch. How's your yard doing? It's crunching. Dry up, it'll die. If God withholds
a son, nothing is going to grow, right? The success of all we
do, listen to me now, would you listen to that, Polly? The success
of all we do, everything, depends upon the blessings of God Almighty.
If the Lord build not the house, they labor in vain to build it. Boy, if anybody ought to listen
to that, Rick Williams ought to listen to that. That really
ought to drive home, shouldn't it? If the Lord build not the house,
let the Lord build the house. They labor in vain. Whatever
we do is going to be in vain if the Lord doesn't bless it,
right? Doesn't it behoove us to commend
everything we do to the will of God? Lord, God, is this your
will? Is this your will? Lord, show
me a way. Lord, lead me. Lord, guide me. And like I said,
he can turn things. He can turn things. He can turn
the wrath of man into praise. He said that, the wrath of man
will praise you. He can turn a bad situation into
a mighty good one. He can, committed to it, commended
to it. Your mind, your will, your heart,
your life. In closing, read these verses
with me in Ephesians 3. Paul says in Ephesians 3, read
these and I promise you will. We'll close with this. God can
turn sickness into glory, God can turn trials into blessings,
God can turn bad situations into your greatest blessing. Yes, he can. Commit it to him. I commend you
to God. Ask him, Lord God Almighty, according
to your will and purpose, make this turn out for your glory
and my good. Let me walk in thy will, in thy
way." In Ephesians 3, let's read verses 20 and 21 in closing. Now unto him, and this will be
our benediction. Stand with me as we read this. Over in the Old Testament, when
they found the book that people stood as the preacher read from
the words of the book. And they were all exceedingly
joyful when they heard the words of the book. Verse 20, now listen
to these words. Let's read verse 20 and 21. Now
unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we
ask or think, according to the power that work within us, that's
faith, unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus, that
church which is kept by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world
without end. Amen.