Lord willing, I'll preach from
here again tonight, but I want to look at one verse of Scripture
here this morning. Psalm 46 and verse 10. Psalm 46 and verse 10. Be still. Be still. And know that I am God. Know that I will be exalted among
the heathen. Know that I will be exalted in
the earth. Be still, be still and know that
I am God. When God says here to be still,
to be still, be still, does it mean for us to not make any movement?
That's not what he's talking about at all. But He's telling
us to rest, to be quiet in our heart, in our soul, in our spirits,
to not be uneasy, to wait on the Lord, not be upset,
not try to take matters into our own hands. And that's what
our Lord told His disciples when He was fixing to go to the cross.
And he told them. And he said, let not your heart
be troubled. You believe in God, believe also
in me. And that's what he's telling
them. Be still. Don't let your heart be troubled.
Be at rest. Be at peace. Be quiet. Be still
in your heart and your soul. Now, when I read this verse of
Scripture, it says, Be still and know that I am God. There's
two things that astonish me in light of this verse. and many
other verses in the scriptures. And one is man's arrogance and
irreverence and presumption concerning God and all the things that concern
his holy things. He said, Be still, know that
I am God. How many people are still before God? How many people
show reverence for God? How many people are always in
a tizzy about things. Look for Psalm 89, just a moment.
Psalm 46. But I tell you, look here what
he says. Psalm 89 and verse 7. That, Lord, when you think about
man's arrogance, man's irreverence toward God,
when God says, Be still and know that I am God. And here man is.
Here he stands before God. He's so irreverent. But look
what he said here. In verse 7 of Psalm 89, God is
greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had
in reverence of all them that are about him. Folks don't want to be reverent.
They want to always be making a lot of noise, always wanting
to be used in God's name one way or another, whether for good
or whether for bad. And it's taking the Lord's name
and counting it as a reverent thing, and knowing God as He
is, as God. The jokes, and the blasphemy,
and the irreverence, and the hand-clapping, and the things
that says. You know, I told you last week
about a man who says that God showed up and showed out. I read yesterday, and I see it
on the video, where a bunch of so-called big-shot preachers
got together to debate some things for several days and answer questions.
And they had this one preacher that in his congregation, this
so-called famous preacher, he played and got a big band in
his church and all that, and they played Highway to Hell. Instead, somebody got converted
under that song, because they're trying to reach the culture and
be contemporary in our day, want to be contemporary, want to reach
our generation as it is. So somebody got converted under
the awfulest, blasphemous, one of the most rebellious songs
that shows rebellion, got converted because he realized he's on the
highway to hell. God don't use songs to save people. He uses the gospel. And when
God makes himself known to a man, he'll be still. He won't be hollering
and shouting and making a lot of noise. And I'll tell you another
verse of Scripture that tells us here. He says, keep thy foot
when thou goest to the house of God. Don't come in rushing
in. Come in steadily, quietly, calmly,
reverently. And be more ready to hear. Listen
to what God's going to say. than to stand up and offer the
sacrifice of fools and tell everything you know and everything you've
done and everything you've experienced. For they consider not that they
do evil. Be not rash with your mouth.
Be very careful what you say about God. Be very careful what
you say about yourself. Be very careful what you say
about the Scriptures. Be very careful what you say
about somebody else. Be not rash with your mouth,
and let not thine heart be hasty to utter anything." Watch this.
Before God, say what you want to another man, but, oh, be very
careful what you say before God. God's in heaven. You're on the
earth. Therefore, when you're talking
about God and before God, let your words be few. Let your words
be few. So that's two things. One thing
is That astonishes me. It's man's arrogance, his irreverence,
his presumption concerning God and holy things. There's a...
John...J.C. Ryle said there's an unholy familiarity
with God and in His Word. There's unholy familiarity in
prayer, unholy familiarity in worship, and very little preparation
when folks are going to come to worship. Very little contemplation
of what you hear and what you think about afterwards. But oh, here's the second thing
that astonished me. Be still and know that I am God.
That God hasn't sent us all to hell for our irreverence and
presumption. That's an astounding thing to
me. And that's why Paul said, oh, the longsuffering of God.
God endured with much longsuffering, and He endures this world. that
one of these days he's going to be through with enduring,
and his long-suffering impatience is going to be done. And then
everybody's going to know that I am God. Ain't that what he
says there in that verse? I will be exalted among the heathen. I will be exalted in the earth. And he will. And then in verse
8 it says this, Come, behold the works of the Lord. The works
of God in all His works shows His awful sovereignty. And it's
described before us, He commands all to be still. And God in His
awful sovereignty, we rejoice in His sovereignty. But you think
about one who is sovereign and has all rights and all power
and all authority to do with anybody as he seems good in his
sight. And just because he don't strike
a man dead every time he blasphemes God, and just because he don't
strike a man dead because he shows irreverence for God, that
don't mean that there ain't a payday coming Sunday. That there'll
be a day when it'll all be called into account. And oh, beloved,
when it's all been done, God said, I will. be exalted among
all the heathen, and I will be exalted among the earth." And
let's look at this. I've just got a few things to
say about it this morning. Be still and know that I am God. We need to be still before God,
quiet, restful, peaceful, not to be uneasy under His blessed
providence. God's providence, and what we
call God's providence, it means His governing this world as seen
as good in His sight. Him ordering all things in this
world, and particularly in our lives, whatever it may be. And I said last Sunday morning,
and I told you, I said, God is the first cause of everything.
Riley was in the condition she was in because of God. And she's
in the condition she is in now because of God. But He brought
her to where she was to do one thing, and that makes us all
see utterly and how dependent we are on Him whatever He sends
us in this life. And, beloved, not everyone is
called to honor God in His blessed grace. Not everyone is called
to honor God by believing Him and being still. Very few people
are still in God's providence. When He brings something in our
lives and brings some heartache, some trouble, some trial, some
fiery trial or something, not everybody's still. But we want
to be still. We want to be still whatever
God sends our way, and oh, my soul, how we want to be. But
let's be still before God, but in His providence as to what
we say about His providence. God help us to never speak against
these prominence. To never say you're too hard.
To never say you're too cruel. To never say you sent me something
I ain't able to bear. Like them old silly songs, Lord,
you sent me a mountain this time. If God ever gives you a mountain,
believe me, beloved, He'll get you up it. He'll get you. And
I tell you, if you go through the battle, wherever He's at,
He's going to be there. He don't never call you to go
to anything that He's not in it with you. When those disciples
were in the storm, Christ was in the storm with them. When
they were caught in the storm out on the sea, He come to them
in the middle of the night and said, be a good cheer. Who is
it? It's me. Be a good cheer. Oh, they might
never complain about God's providence. Whatever it may be, whether we're
flat on our back, Whether we get news that we're going to
die in two days or three days or whatever, God help us never
to offer a complaint about it. And let us never justify ourselves
or speak with vanity when it comes to God and His doings. Don't justify ourselves and say,
well, God's not treating me right, God's not dealing with me right,
and I've been living a good life. I've been praying as hard as
I can and as earnestly as I can. I don't understand why God's
doing this. And this, sure, is by our pretensions
or presumption, pretending that we're something we're not before
God, by our presumption. And let's certainly, certainly
look over in Job. Let's certainly not quarrel with
God. Look in Job 2. Oh my. Look in Job chapter 2. Let's not quarrel with God. You
see people quarrel with God all the time. I don't want to quarrel with
God. Look what he said here in Job chapter 2 and verse 7. So Satan went forth from the
presence of the Lord and smoked Job with sore balls from the
sole of his foot unto his crown. If you just have one ball, it's awful. But to be covered
with them, and he took him a potsherd, a piece of a clay pot. to start scraping himself. And
he sat down among the ashes. Now watch this. Then said his
wife unto him, Do you still retain your integrity? Curse God and
die. She didn't like God's providence.
She didn't like God's governance. She didn't like what God had
done. She wasn't satisfied with God. And she's trying to get
Job here to justify himself and get Job to turn against God.
Look what he says here. But he said unto her, You speak
as one of the foolish women speaketh. I'll tell you what, here's one
thing about him, beloved. He wasn't him, Pat. He wasn't
afraid to tell his wife what was so and so. He said here was
exactly what he ought to say to her. You're a fool. You speak
as a fool. You act as a fool. You're a fool
before God, you're a fool before me, and you're a fool before
everybody when you talk like this. Why? Shall we receive good
at the hand of God? Oh, yes. Lord, open your hand.
Give us good cars. Give us nice houses. Give us
nice furniture. Give us a good living. Give us
good health. Give us plenty of money. Give
us, give us, give us. But, and shall we not receive
evil? Get sick? House burned down? Lose your money in the stock
market? Lose your job? And in all this, what's this,
in all this, Job did not sin with his lips. Wouldn't you love to be Job?
You remember when Here are the two sons, Nadab
and Abihu. God has got to tell them that
there's a fire, a continual fire on the altar, a continual fire
in the censer, a continual fire. And when you move the tabernacle,
you take that fire and you carry it with you. This is a holy fire. This is a fire that's kindled.
It's never to go out. Well, Nadab and Abihu, they went
over here and they built them a fire, and they got them some
ashes, and they took their fire and their ashes, and they tried
to go into the tabernacle with their own fire. You know what
God done to them? Killed them both. He said, I told you I'd
be sanctified. Moses said to Aaron, he said,
you know, God done just exactly what I would have done. You know
what the scripture said? Aaron held his peace. I'm sure he wept. I'm sure he cried. I'm sure he
was sorry. I'm sure he grieved. I'm sure
before God he was hurting in his heart. I'm sure, as sure
as God. No, you can't lose two kids,
and it'll not hurt you. I mean, it hurts you bad. But
he never charged God back. He said, God, you just. My sons
knew better. They knew they shouldn't have
done that. You told them not to do that. And God, I'm sorry,
but oh, He never held it against them. And you remember then when
Eli, his two sons were sons of Galil, and they sat at the gate,
and they drank, and they took brides, and they had women all
on the floor of the tabernacle. Harlots coming there. And God
come to Samuel and said, Samuel, Tomorrow, I'm going to destroy
Phineas and Hophni. I'm going to kill them. They
blaspheme my name." And old Samuel said, Eli said
to Samuel, he said, "'What did God tell you last night?' He
said, "'Oh, I'd rather not say. Tell me what God said. I want
to know.' He said, "'Well, He's going to kill both of you boys.'"
You know what the Scripture says that Eli said? He said, "'It
is the Lord.'" Let him do what seemeth good. Who can say to him, what doest
thou? So let's, in our words, be very
careful with our words. And then let's be still, not
only what we say, but let's be still before God in our actions,
in our outward behavior. It's one thing to be careful
with our words, but what about our actions? What about our outward
behavior? Now look over in Job again, chapter 1. Look in Job
again, chapter 1. I want you to see this too. Job is, oh, we rejoice in God's sovereignty. Oh, we rejoice in it as long
as it doesn't cross our lives, it doesn't cross our plans, it
doesn't cross our purposes. You know, we're going to go here,
we're going to do there, we're going to go this place, that
place, another place. And God said, in Job, James said
like this, if the Lord will, we'll do that. That's what Job
said. If the Lord will. And all that presumption that
we would ever, any time in our lives, we make our plans and
we make our purposes. But we always say, if it's the
Lord's will, and here's what he says, Job said in one, chapter
one and verse 20. When everything he had lost,
everything he had, his children, his cattle, his camels, his assets,
his home, his wealth, everything gone. Then Job arose, released
man from his coat and shaved his head, fell down upon the
ground and worshipped, worshipped. And said, naked came I out of
my mother's womb. and naked shall I return there.
The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name
of the Lord, and all this goes in love, nor charge God for it."
Ha! Oh, Lord, if we could do that.
And let's be still in our hearts. Don't struggle. Don't strive.
with God in our hearts. You know, other people may not
see it, but God sees it. Don't struggle. Don't strive.
Be quiet. Be calm. And God help us to submit
to the sovereign will of God, whatever it may be. Whatever
it may be. Because we know, we know that
all things, and that all things encompasses everything in our
life. It was God's good providence
that brought us to Christ. Do you know that? God knew us
in our mother's womb before we ever was, and we rejoiced in
that providence that brought us to where we heard the gospel,
brought us to where we bowed to Christ, brought us to where
we understood grace, brought us to where we understood our
desperate need of God. That was God's providence that
brought us there. Almost like everything in our
life worked to bring us to where we are right now. And everything is going to work
in our lives until we get to glory. People say, God don't want you
to suffer. Well, then why did His Son suffer for? And let's fill up, the Scripture
says, let's fill up the body of the sufferings of Christ.
And we're the body of Christ, and we're to fill up the sufferings
of Christ. And He says, we know all things work, work, work.
They're not haphazard. Things just not by luck. What
would we have done if we believed in luck, chance, or faith when
some of the things just happened to us in this life? If we didn't
have God to go to. If we didn't have God and Christ
to go to and pour our hearts out before us and rest before
us and put it in His hands and say, Lord, it's You. You're the
only one who can do anything in this. You're the only one
that can help us and strengthen us and meet our needs. And all
things work, work, work, work, work. God's working. What's God
doing? He's on His throne. He's working
without moving a muscle. But they're working together
for good! Good! You remember that story Jack
Shates told us that time about that fellow who shot his finger
off and said, that's good. Jack said everything was good.
And he come to find it was good. And who's it good for? To them
that love God and to them that's called according
to His purpose. Not everybody, but them that's
called according to His purpose. And oh beloved Lord, why should
we be still? Why should we be still? Because
he said, I'm gone. That's why we need to be still. Because he said, I'm gone. Because
he's done. That's why we need to be still. That's why we need to rest. I
remember Brother Henry here preaching one time several years ago, and
he went over to a verse script. I can't remember where it's at,
but it's in the Psalms. It says, God neither slumbers, the keeper
of Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps. He says, so why in the
world should we stay awake if God never slumbers and He's going
to take care of us? So just go home and sleep. He'll
take care of it. But oh, boy, we don't do that
very often, do we? But oh, beloved, we're the creatures.
He's the Creator. We're on the earth. He's in the
heavens. It's He that made us, and not
we ourselves. He made us. He made us His children. He made us His sons. He made
us His elect. He made us His beloved. He made us new creatures. He
made us new hearts. He made us new souls. He made
us new spirits. He did all that. It's not we
that made ourselves. And I realize, listen, I thought
about this this morning. I could stand here this morning
and name you a dozen things, but can you not Can you count
the mistakes you have made by taking matters into your own
hands, jumping the gun, not waiting on the Lord? By saying, well,
I'll just wait. I'll wait for the Lord. I'll
rest about this matter. I'll be quiet about this matter.
I'll be still about this matter. Come to me and let me know just
exactly what to do. But boy, we get impatient. We want this.
We want that. We feel like we ought to do this.
We feel like we ought to buy that. We feel like we ought to
borrow this. We feel like we ought to go here. The next thing you
know, we're in a mess. Have you ever done that? Oh,
my goodness. I couldn't tell you the times
I took things into my own hands. And yet, He's delivered us time
and time and time and time again. And look over here in Isaiah
45. He said for us to be still. That's
why we're to be still. Because God told us to be still.
And because He's God. Look in Isaiah 45 and verse 9. I'll get it right here in a minute. Isaiah 45 and verse 9. Here's
what He said about this. unto him that striveth with his
maker." You see how that's capitalized? That's one of God's titles. That's
one of His names. And He's talking about us now.
Let the postures of the earth strive with the postures. Let
the clay strive with the clay. Let old broken pots strive with
broken pots. Shall the clay say to him that
fashion is it? What makest thou o'er thy work? He hath no hands." Oh my! Aren't you a scribe against God?
And I tell you, why should we be still? Because He's God. Because
He said for us to be still. Don't scribe. And I'll tell you
another reason why we're to be still. Because His will is going
to be done, whether we like it, whether we submit to it, or whether
we rest in it. His will is going to be done.
Now that's just the way it is. It's going to be done in my life.
It's going to be done in my home. It's going to be done in my marriage. It's going to be done in my ministry.
It's going to be done in this church. It's going to be done.
God's will is going to be done. He has declared the end from the
beginning. And nothing in this world is
going to happen. Works all things out to the counsel
of his own will. And his will is going to be done.
Now we can just, we can just, you know, we do like, we want
our children to matter. We want our children to submit
to our will. Especially when they're little.
And we see such rebellion, we see such argument, we see, you
know, and killers saying no, children tricking their parents,
Oh, you see, this horrible thing. But we, as parents, want our
children to submit to our will. And sometimes, beloved, there
is times that you'll just see a look on their face and say,
if you don't get that look off your face, I'm going to give
you something to make a face about. Don't you stand to such
a day. Don't you dare. And you can tell
by their countenance that they may be doing what you say, but
they're not liking it. And they'll argue with you. They'll
debate with you. And that's what we would, when
we, we don't want our children to do us that way. Well, what
about us doing God that way? And I'll tell you one thing that
gives us great comfort. Whom He loves, He rebukes and
He chastens. But His will is going to be done.
It's going to be done. Whether we like it, whether we
submit to it or rest in it. And I tell you why we ought to
be still, because what he does with those who don't be still.
He told Pharaoh, Pharaoh, let my people go. Be still and do
what I tell you. Pharaoh said, well, who is the
Lord? Do you know what God done to Pharaoh? Drowned him in the
Red Sea. What about me diving in the bayou?
Well, if we don't care what God said about fire, we don't have
to make fire. We know how to make fire. We're
priests. We've got the answer to everything.
We know what to do. I know my daddy, you know, he's
done told us what to do. But listen, we'll do it our own
way. Look what happened to them. What
about Cain? What did God do to him when he
did? God told him, he says, you know, the seer lies at the door. If you bring the wrath, sacrifice,
he says, I'll accept you. But Cain wouldn't do it, so God
cursed him. What about Esau? Esau was born
with the birthright. And you know what he thought
about God and his birthright and God's will? He said, I'll
sell my birthright to you and all my authority and all my blessings
from God for a bowl of soup. Ah, would you do that? Men do it for a lot less. I tell
you, old Barnard said men go to hell for ten cent sins. Israel
asked for a king. Oh, he does what he does. He asked Israel to ask for a
king, because the other nations had a king. Well, the Scripture
says, God in His anger, He says, don't you want me to rule over
you? Don't you want my word and my
will? No, no, give us a king, give us a king! God, in his anger,
gave him a king. His name was Saul. And you know
why they chose him? Because he stood head and shoulders
above everybody else. He must really be something.
Look how tall he is. Look how handsome he is. Look
how strong he is. And God said, when you get a
king, you know what he's going to do? He's going to tax you.
Because he's got to keep up his house. He's going to take a bunch
of servants. Next thing you know, he's going
to need an army. And he's going to take his sons and daughters
and put them in the army. And then the next thing you know,
when you've got an army, you're going to be fighting wars. And
then the next thing you know, God killed him and they didn't
have nothing. They didn't have God, a king, or nobody. Boy, be careful what you ask
for. And I'll tell you why we need to be still before Him.
Because there's no peace of heart. No peace of heart. No rest of
soul. Till we be still before God. And do it gladly. Gladly. Not grudgingly. Not grudgingly. Not gritting our teeth. Not doing
as the English say, keeping a stiff upper lip. No, the Lord is the
Lord. Father, I know this is you. It's been dark for three months.
I ain't felt your presence in a month. I can't get nothing out of reading
your word. Seems like you've just turned your back on me. But Lord, I'll just be still
here and wait. There's always darkness, but
there'll come a joy in the morning. There'll come a time. And I'll
tell you, beloved, and I'll tell you this much about it, we are
living by the will of God right now. Every one of us in this
building, and everybody we know, my daughter, my son, my grandchildren,
in their sin, they're living by the will of God. They're living
by the will of God. But we live by it in this sense,
that He's our Father. He gave us the life we have.
And He loved us so and did so much for us, and because He's
our Father, He gave His Son for us. And do you think for one
minute that He would do us any harm, any hurt, unnecessarily? That He'd put anything in our
hearts or in our lives that's not for our very best? Huh? And I'm glad. I'm glad that this
way. This is freedom from worry. This
is freedom from anxiety. You know, you've heard this illustration
before, but you see these rugs. They make these beautiful, beautiful
rugs. Gorgeous rugs. These Persian rugs. Got all these
designs and things in them. You know, you live in your house.
And they make those things. And you see them. On the top,
they look wonderful. But, boy, underneath them, all
that stuff that it took to make them, all those different strings
hanging down until they're all cut. You look at that and you
could, you look at the bottom of it and you say, boy, this
is a mess down here. This is a mess. There's nothing but strings
and all them different color strings. How are they going to
make anything out of this? And then you looked at the top of it and
you said, boy, that's beautiful. And all we could see off the
top is the bottom of the rug. But oh, the top is going to be
gorgeous. And I'll tell you another reason
why. Oh, let me, be still. in our words and our actions.
Be still, because He's God. Be still, because He told us
to. And the only way, and let me
tell you this, and I know this without a shadow of a doubt.
I know this as well as I know my name. The only way we can
be still before God, and the Scripture says here, be still
and know that I am God. The only way we can be still
before God is to know Him. You can't be still if you don't
know Him. You can't do it. If you don't know Him, you won't
be still. You know what you'll be doing? You'll be all the time
trying to impress Him. And every time something happens
in your life, you say, well, I've got sin in my life. Remember
how it was like back then in those days when you didn't know
God? You'd be trying to please Him,
you'd be trying to pray, and you'd be trying to tithe, and
you'd be trying to live right, and you'd quit this sin, quit
that sin, dress this way, dress another way. And you was all
the time trying to please Him. And then when something happened
in your life, if you was going somewhere and you had a fat tire,
you'd say, oh my goodness. Something happened in your life,
you'd say, oh Lord, show me my sin in my life so I can get rid
of it. So you'd get back to them. Remember those days? Any of y'all
remember that? But now we know Him as God. This
is eternal life, that we might know Thee, the only true God.
True God in Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent. Look in 1 John
5 with me, just a moment. 1 John chapter 5. You see, the
only way we can be still before God is to know Him as God. To know that He is God, and He
does whatever He pleases. that he works all things up to
the counsel of his own will, that he does what he pleases
in the sea and in the heavens and the earth and in
the sea and all deep places. But look what it said here in
1 John 5, 20, talking about what we know. And we know, oh, we
know. We're not hoping, we're not thinking.
It's not wishful thinking. There's no ifs, ands, or buts
here. And we know that the Son of God has come. Come where?
Come to us. Come to us by the Holy Spirit,
because it said that he's come and he has given us an understanding.
He came to us in the gospel, came to us by the Holy Spirit,
came to us through preaching. We know that the Son of God has
come and has given us an understanding. Now, why did he give us to understand?
That we may know him. That is true. We understand and
know Him that is true, and we are in Him that is true, even
in His Son, Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and He's
real life. Oh, that's why we can be stilled.
You know why? Because we know Him. God is God,
and that's beyond reason. And oh, it's beyond reason, it's
beyond sanity to resist Him or His will. Just be still. And
God doesn't give an account of His ways to no one. And to know,
oh, not only do we know Him as God, but to know that He's unchangeable
in His nature? He's unchangeable in His purposes?
He's unchangeable in His promises? What if we could get Him to change
His will? What if we could get Him to change His mind, as people
say all the time? You know, God changed his mind
about this. God changed his mind about that. God decided, you
know, and that's what some of these doctrines out there, they
say, well, God offered the kingdom to Israel. Well, they rejected
it. So now you're going to give it to the Gentiles. And then
when that Gentile turns up, Christ's going to come back into this
world, going to sneak some of these people out of here. And
then he's going to come back, go over to Israel. They're going
to be saved, have to go through tribulation seven years. And
he's going to go back over to Israel, sit on a throne over
there. To think that God would have to change His mind? I've heard preachers say, oh,
if we pray hard enough, we can get God to change His mind about
this, get God to change His will about this. Oh, my! What kind of God would change
His will? What kind of God would change His purposes? What if
He changed His purpose toward us? He had an eternal purpose toward
us. He purposed us. Salvation in love. He purposed us to be to the adoption
of His children's promises. What if He didn't give His promises?
Won't His promises change? What if His covenant changed?
No wonder David said it. Oh, you've got to see this. I
tell you, look over at 2 Samuel 23. Back to your left. 2 Samuel
23. We've got to see this. I remember
Floyd talked about this so many times. He loved this first scripture.
He loved it. And I believe every one of us
loved it here. That's why God says, you know, I am the Lord,
and I changed not. Therefore, you sons of Jacob.
And he said there in the psalm, and I read it to you. Oh, the
God of Jacob is our refuge. That's why, and look what he
said here in 2 Samuel 23, that he's unchangeable. Now, these
be the last words of David. David, the son of Jesse, and
the man who was raised up on high, the anointed of the God
of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel, said, look down in
verse 5 now, Although my house be not so with God, and his house
means all of his descendants, all of his children, his Brothers
and sisters, although my house be not so with God, yet he hath
made with me an everlasting covenant." Look, it's ordered in everything
about it. And it's sure. Sure. God's very many things were sure
in this world, but this is one thing that's sure. God made with
us an everlasting covenant. He ordered it, all things in
Christ. And it's sure! And David said,
and oh, this is all my salvation. I've got nobody else to turn
to. This is my salvation, this covenant that God made. And this
is all my desire. I don't desire anything else
but what God's done for me. Although He may never make it
to grow in my house, I'm going to rest in Him. I'm going to
rest in Him. And, O beloved, this is the anchor
of our soul. And to know God, to know God,
to know that He's omnipotent, that I've heard once, yea, twice,
that all power belongs unto God, to know that He's able to deliver
us and save us to the uttermost, to know that He's able to perform
what He promised, That He's able to keep that we've committed
unto Him. We sung it this morning. I know that He is able to keep
that that we've committed unto Him. And He's able to present
us faultless before His glory and His presence through our
Lord Jesus Christ. We know God. Know He's omnipotent.
Know that He doesn't change. And to know that He's omniscient,
that He knows everything. He sees all and He knows all.
He says, the hairs of your head are numbered. And let me tell you something,
beloved, to know He knows our persons. He knows us personally.
They say, well, you make Him your personal Savior. No, He
made us personally His children. I loved you with an everlasting
love. I know you and called you by
name. I gave you grace from your mother's womb. He knows our persons. And oh, beloved, He knows what
we are at any given time, where we go. He knows our cases. What's
your case? What's going on in your life?
He knows it. Troubles? You got troubles? He
knows it. And oh, look here back over in
Psalm 46 and look in verse 1. Oh, He knows how to hide us and
shelter us. He said in verse 1, God is our
refuge and strength. Listen to this, a very present
help in the time of trouble. He's not a guy that's far off.
Very present, right now. That's why you go to Him, just
like that. When something's going on, you go to Him immediately.
You know why? Because He's always present.
You don't go off and start hollering and screaming like, you know,
that's what they say. That's why the Bible says, if you're
caught off on a journey somewhere, it's so far off they can't hear
you. And the Lord just said, sixty-three words, and the fire
fell. Huh? Oh, listen, He knows He's
our present help. And I haven't said this in a
long, long time, but He's too good to be unkind, and He's too
wise to do wrong. And to know And to know that,
though it looks like the wicked are in control, and it does,
it looks like the wicked are absolutely in control. Look over
in Psalm 37. And things look black and things
look bleak. Things look black and things
look bleak. But he'll be exalted in the earth. And look what God
said here about it. He said, Prayeth not thyself because of
evil doers. Now, I need to lay that to heart,
because I certainly do that. I've fret about evildoers. I've
fret about our government. I've fret about social issues.
I've fret about morality. I've fret about a lot of things.
Fret not thyself because of evildoers. Don't be envious against the
workers of iniquity. Watch what happens. For they
shall soon be cut off, cut down like the grass and wither like
the green herbs. Though the vows be removed, be
still." Ain't that what he said? And
then let me give you a sweet consolation in closing. Be still and know that I am God. Be still concerning your past. That's one thing that I can,
things that I've done when I was 13, 14 years old come up before
me sometimes. And I find myself saying, Lord,
I'm so sorry. But those are gone. They took
care of. Christ put them away. Because our sins are gone. There's
no condemnation. He put our sins far, far, far
away. Blotted them out. And we can
say, praise the Lord, praise the Lord. My sins are the glorious
thought. My sins are not in part, but
the whole is nailed to the cross. And all beloved is well with
our souls. And then, be still concerned
in the present. Has His grace not been sufficient
for us in everything we've ever been through? When your children's
sick, when your family members die, when you're going through
sickness and trials, has His grace not been sufficient? Huh? Has He ever put any more on you
than you're able to bear? And in His wisdom, He orders
our trials, the God of all grace. After you have suffered a while,
strengthen, establish, strengthen, and settle you. And be still. Be still. And I'll show you this
in 1 Peter 4.19, and then I'm done. Be still concerning the
future. Oh, my, what a future we have.
You know, Paul said this, let your moderation be known unto
all men. For the Lord is at hand. And
when he says that, let your moderation be known unto all men. Don't
be up and down. Don't be claiming and this, that
and the other. Just be still. For the Lord is at hand. That
means that the Lord is at your right hand. He's right there
by you. That don't mean the Lord is fixing to come. His presence
is fixed. That means that He is at your
side. He's at your right hand. And
look in 1 Peter 4.19. Wherefore, let them that suffer,
now listen to this, according to the will of God, commit the
keeping of their souls to him, in well-doing, because he's going
to do well by him. It's not your well-doing, it's
his well-doing. Commit to keeping your souls
unto Him in well-doing as unto a faithful Creator. Be still. Be still. And you know, I can say this
honestly. I can't say I have, but I can
say I've seen many of you do it. I can say I've seen many
of you do it. And I tell you, it gives me something
to emulate.