Let's all stand together and
sing hymn number 39. Number 39. If you don't have
it written in, the third verse, halfway through, the second to
the last line, beginning there, says, this is my father's world.
We'll say, the battle has been won. Jesus has died. God is satisfied. Oh, the wonders of his grace. This is my father's world and
to my listening ears All nature sings and round me rings the
music of the spheres This is my brother's world, I
respect. Of rocks and trees, of skies
and seas, And the wonders raw. This is my father's world, The
birds their carols raise, The morning light, the lily white,
declared their maker's praise. This is my father's world, he
shines bright. ? Rustling grass I hear him pass
through ? ? Speaks to me everywhere ? ? This is my father's world
? ? Oh, let me ne'er forget him ? That though the wrong seem
oft so strong, God is the ruler, yeah. This is my father's world, the
battle has begun. Be seated let's sing hymn number
127 127 Man of sorrows, what a name For
the Son of God who came Ruined sinners to reclaim Hallelujah,
what a Savior Bearing shame and scoffing rude, In my place condemned
he stood, Sealed my pardon with his blood. Alleluia! What a Savior! Guilty, vile, and helpless we,
spotless Lamb of God, were seen. Full atoned and canoned be. Hallelujah! What a Savior! Lifted up was he to die, In his
finish was his cry. Now in heaven exalted high, Alleluia,
what a Savior! When He comes, our glorious King,
All His ransomed home to bring, Then anew this song we'll sing,
Alleluia! What a Savior! Romans 8, Romans 8. Start reading at verse 26 and
go down to verse 31. Likewise, the Spirit also helpeth
our infirmities, for we know not what we should pray for as
we ought, but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with
groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searches the hearts
knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession
for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that
all things work together for good, to them that love God,
to them who are called according to his purpose. For whom he did
foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image
of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate,
them he also called. And whom he called, them he also
justified. And whom he justified, them he
also glorified. What shall we say then to these
things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? I want to mention Debbie Fawcett. She had hip surgery today. And she's doing well. And she had to take her husband,
because he had a stroke, had to take him over to a nursing
home and leave him over there. And it really bothered her, him
going someplace beside home. So please remember her and poor
Jim. But we know, and we'll deal with
that tonight, all things work together. And you know what they
work together for? Good, good, good. All right, let's give thanks
to the Lord. Our Father, oh, blessed Father,
our God in heaven and earth, the God who sits on his throne,
the God who works without moving a muscle, the God who works with
just His word and his power that has an elect people in this
world, that has a people you chose in Christ before the foundation
of the world. You gave us grace in Christ before
the world ever began. Lord, we stand in awe and wonder
at the grace and mercy and love that you've shown towards your
people. Lord, we thank you that you've seen everyone's safe home
again. And we thank you, Lord, that you preserved them, and
we ask you to continue to strengthen their bodies. Lord, make them
where they can come worship with us again. And we pray for Debbie,
for Jim, and poor Pam. Oh, Lord, the dear saints of
God, we pray for them. Lord, you'd cause her to heal
quickly, that she'd be able to get Jim, bring him back home.
Lord, we know that This body, this so frail body, it just has
all kinds of problems in it. So Lord, we're thankful that
you have doctors and people that can fix us when we're wrong,
things go wrong with us. We're grateful for that. But
Lord, most of the things we need tonight is your presence. God,
give me the wisdom and understanding to deal with your word, deal
with it as it is, truthfully, honestly, and speak the truth
in love, bring glory to you. Bless the saints that's gathered
here tonight. Meet with us, please. Oh God, for Christ's sake. Amen. Amen. M number 294, 294. Savior, like a shepherd lead
us, Much we need thy tender care. In thy pleasant pastures feed
us, For our youth's trifles prepare. Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus,
Thou has brought us Thine we are. Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus,
Thou has brought us Thine we are. We are Thine, do Thou befriend
us, Be the guardian of our way. Keep Thy flock from sin, defend
us, Seek us when we go astray. Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus,
hear, oh hear us when we pray. Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus,
hear, oh hear us when we pray. Thou hast promised to receive
us, poor and sinful though we be. Thou hast mercy to relieve us,
grace to cleanse and power to free. Blessed Jesus, blessed
Jesus, early let us turn to Thee. Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus,
early let us turn to Thee. Early let us seek Thy favor,
Early let us do Thy will. Blessed Lord and only Savior,
With Thy love our prisons fill. Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus,
Thou hast loved us, loved us dear. Blessed Jesus, blessed
Jesus, Thou hast loved us, loved us dear. I'm gonna try to deal with these
verses tonight. I've looked forward to dealing
with these. I look forward to dealing with
all of it, but especially this last part of chapter eight. It's just got special things for the
Lord's leg, special things for the Lord's people. You know,
he told us there at verse 26, we didn't know what to pray for,
for we know not what we should pray for. as we ought, and sometimes
we don't. We don't know what to pray for,
how to pray for certain things, certain people, but the Spirit,
He helps us, He helps us, and things that He interprets God's
Word makes it known to us. And then he talks about how that
the Spirit of God makes intercession for us according to the will
of the saints of God. And then he comes along and he
says, Now, there's some things we do know. We may not know how
we ought to pray. We may not know that. But he
said, There's some things we do know, and this is what we
do know, that all things work together for good to them that
love God, who are they called according to his purpose. HOW
DO WE KNOW THAT ALL THINGS WORK TOGETHER? WELL,
GOD SAID IT DID. GOD'S WORD SAID IT DID. THAT'S
THE FIRST THING WE HAVE TO DEAL WITH. GOD SAID IT. THIS IS WHAT
GOD HAS TO SAY. GOD SAID THAT. GOD'S WORD SAYS
THAT. OUR PERSONAL EXPERIENCE TELLS
US IT'S TRUE. OUR PERSONAL EXPERIENCES TELL
US THAT THIS IS TRUE. And then by God's dealings with
others, especially His dealings in the people in the scriptures
and by dealings how He deals with other people that we've
known over the years. And not only does we have it
from God's Word, personal spirit, and God's dealings with other
things, and all things are CONTINUALLY, CONTINUALLY working together
for God's good. Now, you're talking about an
encouragement. This is encouragement to me. This is encouragement. And look at the fact of it, it
says that God works, we know that all things work together,
and this word WORKING, you know, God s working, God s constantly
working, and this is the thing that s so mysterious, is that
God works and don t move! He don t move! And yet we know that He numbers
the hairs of our head! numbers of hairs of our head,
that's how intimately He's acquainted with us, and His constant life,
you know, is made up of a multitude of things, a multitude of things. We start out with seconds, minutes,
hours, days, years, and all the things, multitudes of things
happen to us in our life, and sometimes Life seems to be standing
still. Absolutely nothing's going on.
Seems like nothing's going on. But God, even when it seems like
things are standing still, even ourselves, God's at work, at
work. And then look what else it says
about this. The work is comprehensive. Comprehensive, it covers everything.
What does it say? ALL things. Whatever thing it
is, ALL things. All things work together. You
know, God the Father, He's working together for our good. God the
Son. HE WORKS TOGETHER FOR OUR GOOD!
HE ESPECIALLY WORKED TOGETHER FOR OUR GOOD WHEN HE COME TO
THIS WORLD, AND HE COME THROUGH THE WOMB OF A VIRGIN, AND HE
LIVED HIS SINLESS HOLY LIFE, AND THEN SUBMITTED HIMSELF TO
THE HANDS OF SINFUL, WICKED MEN, AND LET THEM DO TO HIM WHAT THEY
DID, AND THEN NAILED HIM TO A CROSS. NOW, THAT'S WORKING! And then
not only that, but since He sits at the right hand of God, He's
our Great High Priest, and He EVER LIVES, EVER LIVES to make
intercession for us. And oh, my! And then the Holy
Spirit, He's working good for us. He's working good, all things
good for us. You've got the Trinity working
all things good for us. And you know angels? I don't
have a lot to say about angels, but every angel in the Bible,
the scriptures tells us in Hebrews 1.14 that God gave us angels,
He gave angels to the heirs of salvation. And you know He told
us, and I think it's Psalm 34, that He gave us angels to charge
OVER us. So every one of us has an angel,
and our Lord said, Be careful what you do to one of God's sheep,
because their angels, His angels ALWAYS behold their Father's
face in heaven. Now, I've never seen my angel,
but I know that he's there. You know why? Because God said
he was! And how many times has He protected us? You know, they've
got this picture. There's a picture, I'm sure some
of you have seen it, that this here guardian angel, you know,
and he's got wings on his back, and somebody's trying to get
across a bridge or something, you know, and that guardian angel's
hovering over him, making sure they get across the bridge. That's
not the way it works. That's not the way it works.
They're ministering spirits. Angels are ministering spirits.
And they're sent to us to protect us and preserve us. And I tell
you, God used them a lot of times in the Bible, and then I tell
you, not all angels are working together for our good. RULERS! We may not like the way rulers
do, but rulers, rulers in this world, whether they're the Whether
they're a judge in our community, whether they're our senator,
whatever they may be, whatever rulers they are, the scriptures
tell us they're working together for our good. They really are. We may not see it, but they are.
God MEANS that to happen. And then, you know, in ministers,
God gives ministers. You know, ministers are for our
good, and even all evil, all evil beings. work together for
our good. Even Satan works together for
our good. You know, God, you know, I don't
know if any of you read Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, but you know,
he was walking along on his progress and this fellow named Diabolos
got on his shoulder and he couldn't tell whether it was his voice
or that voice. You know, Satan was right there,
Diabolos was on his shoulder. And he was on his shoulders and
said, Now is he talking to me or is that my voice? And that's
what sometimes happens, you know, whose voice am I listening to,
mine or somebody else's? Somebody whispering in my ear.
And all events, and all good events, peace, prosperity, health,
happiness, all what we call good events, oh my! And then all the
bad events, war, famine, sorrow, Oh, some sorrow sometimes, sorrow
so bad, and then sickness, people get sick, and I tell you, death,
all these things work together for our good, not only big, big,
big events, but even little events, even little events. And oh, you
know, and there's a harmony to it, there's a harmony to what
God says, all things, work, and you know what God says? TOGETHER!
TOGETHER! There's two things that I could
show you from the Bible, and I'm going to look over with me
in Genesis, I think it says look at Genesis 45. You all know the
story of Joseph, you know the story of Joseph. Genesis 45, look over here, you
all know the story of Joseph where his brother sold him into
slavery and then went home and told their daddy he died, he
got devoured, and so his brothers come down there in Genesis 45,
and they in front of him and they don't know who he is, and then you know their brother
come near and look what Joseph said here in verse talk to all
of his brethren, there was ten of them, Joseph Benjamin was
still down with his daddy, and he said there in verse 5, Now
therefore be not grieved nor angry with yourselves that you
sold me here, for God did send me before you to preserve life. You know, Joseph, if it had been
me or you, we'd have said, boy, you fellas is in for it now.
I've more than got all the power. But he said, listen, don't be
angry with yourselves. Don't grieve yourselves over
what you did to me. God sent me before you to preserve
life, your life, your life. And then, oh, look what he says
in verse seven, six. And for these two years hath
famine been in the land, yet there are five years, and which
there shall neither be earing nor harvest. And God sent me
before you to preserve you of posterity, to save you in this
world, and to save your lives by a great salvation, by a great
deliverance. And oh, look over in chapter
50, look in chapter 50, down in verse 20, That's why it says down in verse
20. This is what we're talking about,
all things working together for good. You know, they sold him
when he was a boy, just a boy. Sold him into Egypt. He was a
slave. Then he spent time and time in
prison. And then God raised him up. But
look what he said here. But as for you, you thought evil
against me, But God meant it unto good to bring to pass, as
it is this day, to save much people alive. And Joseph is a
type of our Lord Jesus Christ in about 70 ways. But oh my,
all those things work together. Being sold, being in prison,
being a slave, being in prison and then being raised up to the
highest position, EXACTLY the way our Lord was treated, EXACTLY
the way. Our Lord was sold for 30 pieces
of silver, and when they come out to get Him, the Scriptures
tell us that Judas, who betrayed Him, said, Now whom I kiss, that'll
be the one you're to take. they took our Lord Jesus Christ,
and they led Him away, and they took Him, and I tell you the
way I read it today, I read it again, where it says they began
to spit on Him, spit on Him, and then began to slap Him, and
then began to beat on Him, and He never said a word. And the
first word out of his mouth when he was on the cross, the first
word out of his mouth when he was on the cross, Father, forgive
them, forgive them, forgive these people, forgive them. They don't know what they just
did. But all that happened to save
our sinful souls. So he was there as our substitute,
just like Joseph was down there to save his brethren and to be
a savior and give them, provide for them. Christ went to the
cross to die for us, sold. Where did you get the wounds
of these in your hands? He said, I got them in the house
of my friend. Got them in the house of my friend. Oh, you know, only God, can see
such evil in men, and turn around and bring good out of it." Those
weevil men, his evil brothers, what they did to Joseph, God
turned their wickedness and their evil into good, even for them. And God took what we did to Christ
and all the wickedness we had toward Christ and He turned around
and all that meanness and all that wickedness and all the things
that we did to Him, He turned around and took all that good
out of that evil we did to Him and took that good and all that
our Lord did and made it our salvation. Huh? That's what it means, all things
working together, together. together, and oh my, look at
the blessing, look at the blessing. It goes on to say, we know that
all things work together for good, for good. There in verse eight again, you
know, back over in our text in Romans 8, 28, we know that all
things work together for good. Now what in the world is he talking
about here? I'm gonna tell you what I believe he's talking about,
and I think I'm right here. The meaning here is, is our eternal
good, our eternal good. And the meaning here is not necessarily
our present comfort, our present joy, not things that have to
go on now, but our ULTIMATE GOAL is to be like Christ and being
CONFORMED with Christ, and ALL THINGS are working toward that
end, and God's going to accomplish that and bring us to where we're
conformed to the image of Christ. Now I want you to keep Romans
in your right hand and look over in Ephesians. I want to show
you something over here, Ephesians chapter 1. You know, that's why
David said, I'll be satisfied when I awaken your likeness.
All things work together for good. And you're going to have to wait
until you get to where I talk about when it started working. ALL THINGS WORK TOGETHER FOR
GOOD, OUR ETERNAL GOOD, NOT NECESSARILY OUR PRESENT COMFORT, OUR PRESENT
EASE, OUR PRESENT JOY. GOD, HIS ULTIMATE GOAL IS TO
MAKE US BE LIKE CHRIST, BUT LOOK WHAT HE SAID HERE IN EPHESIANS,
CHAPTER 1 AND VERSE 10, THAT IN THE DISPENSATION OF THE
FULLNESS OF TIME, GOD HAS CERTAIN TIMES SET IN THIS WORLD. and
He has a dispensation set up, and when the fullness of time
is done, when the fullness of time has come, He might gather
together in one all things in Christ, even the things that
are in Heaven and which are on Earth. He's going to get us all
together in Him. There's going to come a time
when God's going to bring those saints from Heaven, going to
take us saints from the Earth, and we're going to all be together,
one, and He's going to gather us together as one in Christ,
and look at this now, in whom also in Christ we have obtained
an inheritance. Now, listen to it, being PREDESTINATED
according to the purpose of him, listen to it, worketh all things
after the counsel of his own will. Why'd he do that? That
we should be to the praise of his glory who first trusted in
Christ. Oh, and the purpose of him who
worketh all things after the counsel of his own will. Oh,
my. All right, back over in our text
again. And you know there's a limit to who this working together
is good, all things working together for good. There's a limit to
who it works for. Look what it says. We know that all things work
together for good to them that, watch this now, that love God.
Not everybody, them that love God. Now we know we first WE
LOVE HIM BECAUSE HE FIRST LOVED US. HE COMMENDETH HIS LOVE TOWARD
US, IN THAT WHILE WE WERE YET SINNERS, CHRIST DIED FOR US.
OH, MY! YOU KNOW, GOD, THIS IS ONLY WORKING
FOR THEM THAT LOVE GOD, AND I TELL YOU, YOU KNOW, AND WE DO, WE
LOVE HIM, AND WE REALLY DON'T LOVE HIM LIKE WE SHOULD, DON'T
LOVE HIM LIKE WE'RE GOING TO ONE OF THESE DAYS, BUT WE DO
LOVE HIM, AND SIN AND WICKEDNESS WORKS GOD'S WRATH. All is against
the man who is without Christ. God's love, God's holiness, God's
law, God's holiness, God's character, God's judgment, all of them are
against men that's without God, without Christ in this world.
But this working is only for those who love God, those who
love God. And I'll tell you what, God's
got to put the love of God in our hearts. or we couldn't love
him at all. But look what else it says, not
only them that love God, but to them who are called. And I
love this word right here, his purpose. It works together for them to
love God, who he called This fills me with such joy.
Oh my, oh my. You know why we, this is why
we love God. All things work together for
good. It's God's purpose. God does things on purpose. That's
how I learned the gospel. One verse of scripture, God gave
me one day, I was sitting out in the woods squirrel hunting.
I mean this has been, I was just a very young man. And I was sitting
there, and of course, I carried a Bible with me everywhere I
went, and I got my Bible out to read, and boy, just like a
light come on, one verse of Scripture. And it's 2 Timothy 1, 9, and
everybody knows this verse. God, who hath saved us and called
us, now listen to this, with a holy calling. He calls us to
holiness, and He calls us holy people, according to His holy,
not according to our works, but according to His purpose and
grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.
Two questions was answered for me in that. Is holiness something
we do or is it something God gives us? His works have anything
to do with our salvation? No. He saved us according to
His purpose and grace, not according to our works, but His purpose
and grace, giving us in Christ Jesus before the world began.
And ever since I found out God does things on purpose and He
done it before the world ever began, it changed my WHOLE LIFE! And it changed it for good, that
worked together for my good. That worked together for my good,
and then it's worked together for good to people I've been
privileged to preach to over the years. Oh my, and then he
talks about God's purpose. Now look what he says now in
verse 29. This is God's purpose here, this
is why all things work together for good. For whom he did foreknow. What in the world does that mean?
Oh, my! Those who loved God, they were
foreknown. And you know, THIS is when things
started working for us. God foreknew us. He had intimate
acquaintance with us. He KNEW us before we ever were,
and He started working in God's intimate love and acquaintance
with us before we ever were. Do you know, you can look at
this yourself in Jeremiah 1.5, it says this, God told Jeremiah,
Jeremiah, before you was formed in your mother's belly, I knew
you and I called you and ordained you to be a prophet. He didn't
know it, but God did know it. Paul said it like this, here's
a man that hated Christ, hated God, and then God had to put
him down on the Damascus road, saved him by His grace. He said,
when it pleased God, Galatians 115, when it pleased God who
separated me from my mother's womb and called me by His grace. I tell you what, that's exactly
the same way He did us. Before I was ever born, and this
is the conclusion you have to come to, according to Jacob have
I loved, Esau have I hated. Before either one of them was
ever born, before they could do any good or any evil, the
election of God according to purpose might stand. And here's
the thing, before we were in our mother's womb, God said,
I knew them. And I'm going to separate them
to MYSELF! They may be 30 years old, they
may be 15 years old, they may be 60 years old, and like Herman
was, 75 years old! But there's coming a time that
God, He does that from the mother's womb, and He sets us apart, and
everything that happens in our life works together to bring
us to where we trust in Christ, and in Christ, and believe Christ,
and have faith to believe everything He done for us. It starts in
the womb. You know why my name's the name
it is? And I've said this a time again, because it's the name
God gave me. Now, when we get to glory, He
says He s going to give us a new name, and I don t care what it
is, He ll know it! He knows how to call me here,
He ll SURE know what to call me up there! Oh, my! And then look what else
He goes on to say, Not only did He foreknow them, He also did
predestinate. TO BE CONFORMED TO THE IMAGE
OF HIS SON. NOW, THAT'S WHAT PREDESTINATION
HAS TO DO WITH. GOD IS WORKING EVERYTHING TOGETHER
FOR GOOD, BECAUSE HE FORENEWED US AND HE PREDESTINATED US AT
THE END OF THIS WAY TO BE CONFORMED TO THE IMAGE OF HIS SON. AND
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE CONFORMED TO THE IMAGE OF HIS SON? WELL,
HIS SON LOVED HIM WITH ALL OF HIS HEART. HIS SON OBEYED HIM
WITH ALL OF HIS HEART. HIS SON WAS SINLESS. HIS SON
fulfill the law, and that's exactly what we'll be doing. We'll be
sinless. We'll obey God perfectly then.
We'll love God perfectly then. We'll do His will perfectly then. And that's what our Lord did.
That's the mark we're pressing toward. That's the mark we're
pressing toward. That's what the scriptures tells
us. Paul said we're, you know, being found in Christ and working,
and he says we press toward the mark of the high calling of God
in Christ Jesus. You know, I've told you this
before, that as a fellow went in an old country store, and
a fellow's sitting there by the old potbelly stove, and he's
carving. And he had some of his carvings around that store, up
on shelves and things. And they was dogs. And he had
them painted, you know, some of them spotted, some of them
black, some of them white, had them all painted up. And that
fellow sitting there said, how in the world do you get them,
take that piece and make it look like that? He said, I cut off
everything that ain't like a dog. It don't look like a dog. And
that's what God does for us. He's cutting off everything that
ain't like Christ. Everything they like that's why
things are working together for our good because he's making
everything go away Weaning us off his world. Oh My hmm, he
gonna whip he gonna whittle off everything it ain't like your
son And here you don't imagine what
the finished product is gonna be All right, I've taken too much
time. All right, let's go down to verse 30. I And for whom He did foreknow,
moreover whom He did predestinate, them He also called. You know,
called them. And you know every bit of this
in the past tense. You know, it's an effectual call. It's an effectual call. Our Lord
said, My sheep shall hear My voice, and they shall follow
Me. Now like a Zacchaeus, he saw
Zacchaeus come down out of that tree. How did he know where Zacchaeus
was, and how did he know Zacchaeus' name? Because he separated him
from his mother's womb. Oh, Zacchaeus come down. And
when Lazarus died and he was in the tomb, Mary was sitting
there just crying and crying and crying. Somebody walked in
and said, Mary, THE MASTER CALLS FOR YOU, AND SHE GOT UP AND WENT
TO THE MASTER, WENT TO THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. NOW, LET ME TELL
YOU SOMETHING, THIS IS NOT AN INVITATION, THIS IS A CALL BY
THE POWER OF GOD, THE PURPOSE OF GOD, THE PREDESTINATING PURPOSE
OF GOD. YOU KNOW, IT SAID IN ACTS 13,
48, ALL WHO WERE ORDAINED TO ETERNAL LIFE, YOU KNOW WHAT THEY
DID? THEY BELIEVED. ORDAINED TO ETERNAL LIFE, THEY
BELIEVED. You know, let me tell you this,
we didn't become sheep by hearing his voice. That's not how you
become a sheep. You hear his voice because you
are a sheep. He said, my sheep, not the goats, my sheep, shall
hear my voice. And they'll follow me. Well,
listen, I'm listening for that. They got a sign on one of the
churches we go by. going home, and one sign that
says this on one side said, Christ saves to the uttermost. The other
side of the sign said, Jesus is calling, will you answer?
Oh, yes, if He calls you. Yes, Lord! Oh, my! And then look what else it says
here. Not only did He CALL them, He also JUSTIFIED them. Moreover,
He justified. Now, that word justified means
to be cleared of all guilt, all shame, all sin, and for God Himself
to look at you and cannot find any fault in you whatsoever.
God looks at you and says, I justify them. There's nothing against
them. They've been acquitted in the
court of heaven. There's no sin against them,
no guilt against them, no shame against them, nothing against
them. I justify them. I justified them, and ain't that
what it says there in verse 33? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's GOD that justifies them. Oh, my! And then look what else
it says now. Not only did He call them, He
justified them, and listen to this, and this is in the past
tense, them He also glorified. You know what that means? Remember
back up there, you know, he says, if we suffer with him, we shall
also be glorified together with him. That was future. This here is past tense. That's
what's going to be in the future. This here is in the past tense.
Started up there in the future and ended in the past tense.
That's why when a believer goes to glory, we say, oh, he's gone
to glory. That's what we say. He's glorified. He's going to be with Christ.
Oh my, this is what faith believes, this is what faith receives.
We have eternal glory, this is what we've been talking about.
Eternal good, eternal inheritance, eternal glory. Romans 4.17 says this, God calls
things as if they don't exist. HE CALLS THINGS WHICH BE NOT
AS THOUGH THEY WERE. HE CALLS THINGS THAT DON'T EXIST,
THAT DON'T SEEM TO BE POSSIBLE, DON'T SEEM TO BE THERE, BUT THEY
ARE. YOU KNOW, WE'RE NOT GLORIFIED, BUT AS FAR AS GOD'S CONCERNED,
WE ARE! WE REALLY ARE! WE'RE JUST WAITING
FOR THE CALL! OH MY! And I'll tell you, we
rejoice, we rejoice. As two believers walking together
one time, and I'll tell you what, I've talked with some folks and
they pretty much acted this way a time or two. Two believers
walking along, talking about their experience, experiences. And one of them said, boy, I'll
tell you, it's hard. It's so hard to trust God and
realize his hand in my life when it's dark, when I'm going through
a real dark passage in my life. The other one said, well, brother,
let me tell you something. If you can't trust a man out
of your sight, he's not worth much. And if you can't trust
God in the dark, you don't trust him at all. That's the truth. We trust Him when we can't see
Him. We trust Him when we can't feel Him. We trust Him when everything
seems to be against us. We cannot do anything else. As
old Todd used to say all the time, we cannot not believe. We cannot not believe. And I
want you to see this and then I'm done. Where am I at here? Ah, boy. Here it is. I found it. Look with me. Psalm 91. Now I'm gonna wind
this thing up. Psalm 91. That humidity's awful
in here, eh? Psalm 91. I want you to see this. We're talking about trusting
God. You know, believing God. Trusting Him in the dark. And
oh my, there's been some dark, dark, dark, dark days in my life. Some terribly dark days. But
God's never failed me. Look what he says here. He that
dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High, God's got a secret place for
us, shall abide or lodge under the shadow of the Almighty. Oh,
just under his shadow. And look what he says, I will
say, this is what I'm gonna say about my Lord, He's my refuge. I've got a place that I can go.
And He's my fortress. I mean, He's a fort around me.
And my God, in Him will I trust. Surely He shall deliver thee
from the snare of the fowler and from the noise of pestilence.
Now watch this now. He shall cover thee with His
feathers. And under his wings shalt thou trust. Now it doesn't
say under his wings we shall see, but under his wings we shall
trust. And God help us to live in the
wonders of his love and in his grace. Oh my, life gets dark,
but love can still see. Life gets difficult, But love
can understand. Life gets sad, but love can rejoice,
waiting for that day when we won't be looking through a glass
darkly, but face to face. And that's why he said in verse
31, What shall we say then to these things? What are we going
to say? Huh? Blessed be the Lord our
God. Huh? Oh, my. Didn't know what to pray for,
but we know this. We know this. I pray that it's a blessing. Oh, our blessed, blessed Savior,
how wonderfully gracious and kind you are to us. You're so
patient with us, so long-suffering with us, so loving, so forgiving. And oh, Lord, we thank you for
your great patience with us and give us the ability to wait on
you, to acknowledge you in all and everything, to acknowledge
you in everything in this world and everything in this life,
especially in our lives. Lord, you saved us from sin.
And Lord, help us not to sin against light and love. Help
us to bring glory and honor to your holy name. Lord, thank you
that you blessed us tonight and let us learn from your precious
word. Bless it to our hearts, bless
it to our understandings. Bless it to our Lord, we believe
it with all of our heart and souls. And we honor you and bless
you and glorify you and your son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen,
amen. Oh, how merciful, how merciful,
blessed Lord, how merciful Thou art to me. Oh, how merciful, how merciful. Blessed Lord, how merciful thou
art to me. See you Sunday, God willing.
No service next Wednesday night, and I'll tell you why. Our meeting
starts a week from Friday. A week from Friday. So no certain service next week.