I want you to look with me here
in Psalm 91 and verse 11. It says, For he shall give his
charge angels over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. I want
to talk about our ways, our ways, his ways, all thy ways. Now,
you know, when our Lord was being tempted and he was hungry and
fasted for forty days and forty nights, This is one of the scriptures
that Satan quoted to the Lord Jesus Christ. When he took him,
he's sitting up on the temple, and he says, I'll give you all
this world and all the kingdoms in it if you'll bow down and
worship me. And then he's written, he said, thou shalt worship the
Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. And he said, well,
cast yourself off of here, because he gave his, he said, he gave
his angels charge over thee, lest thou bow thy foot up against
a stone. So he said, if you cast yourself
off, God will catch you, and you won't even hit the ground.
And he said, Our Lord Jesus says this, he said, Thou shalt not
tempt the Lord thy God. You don't jump off of buildings.
Even the Son of God don't. He lived by faith, just like
we do, as a man, in obedience to the Word of God. But here
in all thy ways, for he shall give his angels charge over thee
to keep thee in all thy ways. Now, the believer has his share
of troubles in this life, but yet God keeps him in safety.
What did he say there? Verse 5, Thou shalt not be afraid
for the terror by night, nor for the arrow that flyeth by
day, nor for the pestilence that walks in darkness, or the destruction
that wastes at noonday. Now, a thousand may be affected
by this pestilence, might be affected by the terror by night.
might be affected by the destructions that's in the way. A thousand
may fall at the right hand and ten thousand at the right hand,
but it won't come near you. As long as I'm watching over
you. And that's what people get afraid of. You know, I'm going
to get this, I'm going to get that, I'm going to catch this other
thing. But listen, you're immoral until God gets through with you.
That's just the way it is. And I'm grateful it's that way.
And I'm grateful that I don't know tomorrow. But I'm grateful
that God said this. This. And, O Beloved, he says there,
because in verse 9, Thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge.
Of course, this is primarily speaking of Christ, a book prior
to us. Even the Most High, thy habitation. This is the place
that you live. We live in God. We live in Christ.
Christ is our life. There shall no evil befall thee,
neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. For he shall
give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.
In all thy ways. Wherever we are, whatever we're
doing, if we're walking in the way, God helped us to do that
by our God. God says that He's going to protect
us, give us the protection of His angels. Now, I want to show
you two things. Look in Proverbs chapter 3 with
me, just a moment. Proverbs chapter 3, talking about
our ways. Everybody says they've got their
own way. Well, there ain't but one way
that a believer's interested in, and that's the ways that
God has. God's way. You know, he showed his mighty
works unto Israel, but unto Moses he showed his way. He showed
his way. There's a difference, you see,
in the works of God and the way of God. And that's why he's talking
about the way of God. Proverbs 3 and verse 5. Look
what it says. I'm in Isaiah. I'm sorry. I'll
get over here in a minute. Verse 5. Trust in the Lord. With all thy heart, lean not
unto the understanding, watch this, in all thy ways, in all
thy ways, acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy path. Acknowledge,
what do you mean? Acknowledge that I have no power,
I have no ability, that I, you know, but he said it's not in
man to direct his own ways. And we directed our ways for
years, and look where it ended us up. Now, beloved, we get up
and we say, Lord, Your will be done today. You take my feet,
You guide my feet, You direct my way, You direct my thoughts,
You direct my heart. And on it says here, look at
Hebrews 1.14. Let me show you this real quick before I get
into the message. Hebrews 1.14, talking about the
angels now. Oh, God promised us the protection
of His angels. He says, You know that our angels
do always behold our Father's face in heaven. Our angels do, he says. But here
in verse 13 of Hebrews 1, But to which of the angels said he
at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies
thy footstool. Now watch this. Are they not
all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them who
shall be heirs of salvation? I'm an heir of salvation. So
God sent angels. According to the Scriptures,
every one of us have one. Matthew 18.10, you look at it.
He says, Dove, take heed that you fear not one of these little
ones, for their angels do always behold the face of our Father,
their Father which is in heaven. And so when he talks about what
does the psalmist mean by thy ways? Thy ways, beloved, are
the ways in which believers walk in this world, the ways of God,
the ways of the Scriptures, the ways of the Word. And let me,
I've got to show you this too. Job 23. Job 23. Set this message up if I can. Job 23. And what the psalmist
means, and what I'm trying to say is, God's ways are our ways.
We don't want to look at the Scriptures and make the Scriptures
fit in and mold them to our what we think about them, and we want
to decide the way we want to go, and the way we want to think,
and the way we want to believe, and the way we want to walk.
We want to walk in His ways according to His Word. And look what Job
23 and 10 says. But he knoweth the way that I
take. Who does? God does. When he hath
tried me, I shall come forth as gold. My foot hath held his
steps, his ways have I kept, and not declined. You see that?
His way. Neither have I gone back from
the commandment of his lip. I have received the words of
his mouth more than my necessary food. I can do that a lot of
things, but I can't do it like God. God says He knows the way
that we take. And so God's ways are our ways. And, beloved, there's
lots of things we don't want to lose. We don't want to lose
our home. We don't want to lose our health.
We don't want to lose our liberty. We don't want to lose our lives
by a terrible way. We don't want to lose our way
or leave in our way. It's when we're out of the ways
of God that we're in trouble, that we're really in trouble.
Now, let me give you three things here. The ministry of angels,
and he said, he shall give his angels charge over thee to keep
thee in all thy ways. The ministry of angels towards
God's elect is threefold. First of all, they're official.
He shall give his angels charge. Who does? God does. He said,
this is what I charge you to do. I give you charge. I give you
a commandment. I give you this charge. And watch
this. And then it's personal. She'll give His charge over who?
Over thee. Are you one of these? Are you
a thee? Give Him over thee. And then watch this. And it'll
be constant. To keep thee in all thy ways. Not part of your ways. Not 9%
of your ways. Or 50% of your ways. All your
ways. In other words, He's going to
keep you in the way and in the ways of God. And all of them. That's encouraging to me. Knowing
me, that's encouraging to me. Notice the word ways. It says
to keep you in all thy ways. That word ways is plural. Plural. Not just way. Ways. Ways. Well, now, there's lots of ways
for a believer. Let me give you the first way
that he keeps us in. He keeps us in the way of faith
in Christ. Oh, he keeps us in the way of faith in Christ. That's
what I want, don't you? I want to keep believing and
cleaving to the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why Paul exhorted them,
cleave unto the Lord Jesus with all purpose of heart. And they
were preaching faith and beloved. And that's what we do. And you
take Hebrews 1 or Hebrews 11. It says this, that the faith
is the substance. Faith is the substance of things
that you hope for. You know, we hope for eternal
life. We hope for this righteousness.
We hope for justification. We hope for eternity. We hope
for glory. We hope for the end of this world.
We hope. And yet, faith is the substance
of things we hope for. But it's the evidence. Faith
gives us evidence that the things that we don't seek, we're going
to get them, that we've already got. That's why the scripture
says these all died in pain, having not received the promises.
And then he goes on to say that by faith Abel offered a more
excellent sacrifice. By faith, Noah reported an ark
to the Savior. By faith, Abraham went out not
knowing where he was going. By faith, Abraham took Isaac
upon the mount. By faith, by faith, by faith.
And then they said, by faith, they was looking for a city whose
builder and maker was God. And so the just, what do they
do? Let's look at Hebrews 10 with me. That's why he keeps
us in this way. You know, faith. He shall keep thee in
the way of faith. The just shall live by faith.
Hebrews 10.38 says this. Now, the just To live by faith. Now watch this. But if any man
draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. And there
are people that draw back all the time. How many have I seen
draw back over the years? How many have we seen? If they
go back, how many have quit? How many have said, I'm tired
of it? How many have said, I just don't care anymore? But watch
this. But we are none of them who draw
back under perdition or under damnation, back under sin. But
we are them that what? Believe? How long we believe? To the saving of the soul, to
the time we're in glory, when we're plumb saved. That's what
it is. And we live this the way of faith,
that just shall live by faith. Faith in His obedience. Now,
when it talks about His ways there, I know this much. The
only way in the world I can please God and be in the way of God
is, first of all, I've got to be perfectly obedient to the
law of God. I've got to obey this Word perfectly. How in the
world am I going to do that to another? By one man's disobedience,
I was made sinner by the obedience of another. I was made righteous. In that righteousness, I didn't
do nothing to give it. He gave it to me, and beloved,
my faith is not what caused Him to give it to me. He gave it
to me and brought faith with it. Oh, faith in His blood that
washed away our sins. Faith in the power of that blood.
Faith in the effectualness of that blood. And are we to wear
faith in Him as our only acceptance with God? Oh, how are we going
to be accepted? Oh, are we going to keep us in
this way? God keep us to know that there's only one way that
I can approach You, only one way I can call on You, only one
way that I'm accepted of You, and I cannot approach the Father
except through Your blessed Son. Our Lord Jesus says, no man can
come unto the Father, but by me. By me. One mediator. And he's not in
Rome. One mediator. He's not in a pulpit.
One mediator. He's not on television. One mediator. He's at the right hand of God
and he's the one that takes up our case and allows us into the
very presence of God. Oh, He's the only way of acceptance
with God. The only way that our prayers
are heard. The only way that our lives are heard. The only
way that anything we've ever done is accepted. We know this. This is the people's ways. This
is just one of His ways. We know that without Him, we
can do nothing, know nothing, have nothing, are nothing. Huh? We walk not by sight, but we
walk by faith. Walk of faith, huh? And I'll
tell you another way that we walk. What are these ways? Another one of the ways of a
believer is ways of obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh
my, we want to obey Him more than anything. You know, without
faith it's impossible to please Him. He that cometh to God must
believe that He is and that He's a rewarder, that He keeps what
He promises to them that believe on Him, come to Him, trust in
Him. The believer is like his father Abraham. When God said,
Go, take your son. All right. Okay. He's like Samuel. When God spoke
to him at night, he said, Speak, Lord, for thy servant here. It's
like Paul, when Paul was struck down on the Damascus Road. And
our Lord Jesus told him, It's hard for you to kick against
the pricks, Samuel. He said, Who are you? He said, I'm Jesus
of Nazareth, whom you persecuted. And oh, the first next word out
of his mouth, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? You know,
I thought of this today when I was looking at that again.
If that would have been me in that situation, the first thing
I would have thought was, he's going to send me to hell. And
he struck me down. But as soon as he said, and I
saw him as Jesus and as I said, there ain't no hope for me. I've
hated him. I've despised him. I've got warrants
in my pocket, that now, to go get his people and put them in
jail. I'm on my way to Damascus to arrest his people. And if
Christ appeared to the first thing I'd have thought, judgment's here. Judgment's here. But with that revelation of Christ
to his heart, that day on the Damascus road, he didn't say,
Are you going to send me to hell now? What's my judgment? What's
my punishment? No, he knew right away. God gave
him with that call. The belief in that revelation. That I've got something for you
to do. He said, what will you have me do? Whatever it is, I don't care.
Whatever it is, I'm going to do it. Isaiah said, when he saw the
Lord high and lifted up, who shall I send? The Lord send me.
Send me. And then I'll tell you another
way, one of the ways of a believer here is that they should bear
their be up in their hands. He shall give his angels charge
over you, keep you in all your ways. Another way of a believer
is the way of trust in our Lord's providential rule in our lives. His providence over us. You know
what providence is? All it is is God's government
in this world. Him making all His will being carried out in
this world. That's all providence is. You know, when something
good happens, people say, God, that's God's providence. It's
God's providence no matter what it is. You know, things don't
happen without God's providence. What providence is, is God's
just governing thing. And that's what we, you know,
for we know, we know, this is something we really know, that
all things, that's comprehensive, that don't mean, that means everything
that happens, all things, All things in the world, all things
in our lives, all things in our homes, all things on our jobs,
all things wherever we go, all things from the day we're born
till the day God takes us, all things work. They're moving,
they're manipulating, they're going on, there's something going
on actively all the time. And they work together, all together,
for good! But not to everybody. To them! Who loved God? Why did we love
Him? Because He first loved us. And
secondly, there's a call. For whom He did foreknow, then
He also called. He called us with a holy calling.
Not only did He call us, but He does it on purpose. You know, as you know, and I
tell you, beloved, This is what our Lord said, if we are as with
Him, that if we suffer with Him, we shall also be glorified together
with Him. And whatever God sends us in
this world, whatever goes on, whatever suffering, there's glory
to the Father. Christ entered into His sufferings
before He entered into His glory. And whatever God sends our way
in this world, whether it's bitterness or honey, we bless His hand for
it. The believer's heart attitude
in all things, is submission to the will of God. That don't
mean that we do that perfectly. Oh, we want to. We grieve because
we don't. We know that He works all things
out to the counsel of His own will. And when we grieve that
and He says He works all things out to the counsel of His own
will, wouldn't you rather have His will than your will? Would
you rather have His will working out in your life, and providence,
and governing your life, and deciding what happens in your
life, and choosing your life for you, than your will choosing
it for you? Huh? Wouldn't you? There's folks
here. That they've decided, this is
what I'm going to do. I'll bring this to the Lord's
will for me to go here, go there and do that. And the next thing you
know, they find out, oh, that wasn't God's will. So they, they,
you know, but that they've got it in His providence to let you
go so far to teach you that you're going to trust me. You're going
to leave. And oh my, I'm going to learn
before I get out there, don't you? I'm going to learn before
I get out there. And oh, I'll tell you another
one of the ways of the Lord's people here that the angels give
to keep us in. It's the way of honesty, the
way of integrity, the way of living to the glory of God, watching
our character and conduct in this world. You know, Paul said,
I'm willing before God, I labor to keep a conscience, a void
of offense toward God and toward man. And when we're talking about
honesty, we're talking, well, look over here at 2 Corinthians
8.21. Just a moment. 2 Corinthians 8.21. You know, he said, Provide all
things honest in the sight of all men. What does that mean? That means whatever you say,
whatever you do, be honest. Just be honest. 2 Corinthians
8.21. You know, And when it says be honest in
all things, that just don't mean when you're trading cards or
you're trading nickels or something. I mean, in everything you do,
be honest. Just be honest. Be honest if
you're in a store. Be honest if you're talking to
your wife. Be honest to whatever you're talking with. Whatever
you're doing in this world, be honest. Be upright. Be honest. Just be true. Just
be true. Somebody asks you a question,
tell them the truth. When you're before God, be honest
before God. Do you know what I mean? Tell
God, be honest with Him. I was telling the preacher this week, he has
a hard time, and I was talking to him, and he was telling me
about some things, and I said, do you know what you need to
do about that? He said, tell you what you need to do? I said,
you need to tell God that. I said, just be honest with God
and expose your heart to God, your fears, your anxieties, your
ups and your downs, and your troubles, and how you think and
what you feel before God. Just tell God. I said, just, you know, you want
to know how... I said, just let Him... God knows what you're
thinking, He knows what you're feeling, He knows your gifts,
He knows your motives, He knows your desires. So just go ahead
and tell Him. There's things I don't like,
I say, Lord, I don't like that. There's things that happen, I
say, Lord, I want to be able to submit to it, I don't want
to be mad about it, I don't want to be hard about it, I don't
want to be critical about it, but I want you to know how I
feel about it. And that's what he's saying here
in 2 Corinthians 8.21. Providing for honest things. Honest things. Keeping everything
above board. Everything above board. You know, let me give you this
illustration. What if somebody, if you got
through some kind of trust or some way or another, you got
a hold of somebody else's money. And they have lots of it. You
know, like this Michael Jackson thing. Everybody's fighting to
get a hold of his estate. Whoever gets hold of that money
can do it, you know. Now let me ask you something.
If you had control of somebody else's estate, all their money,
all their property, how honest would you be with
them? How much would you spend for
yourself? How much would you watch out for yourself with?
And that's what it means here. And beloved, what do we have
for what God gave us? I can't take care of my own
affairs much less take care of yours. So I got to be honest
with myself. I got to be honest with you. I got to be honest
with my business dealings. Got to be honest with the people
at the bank. Got to be honest with the people in the store.
Got to be honest with my wife. Got to be honest with my kids.
Then that's what he says, to be honest with all things. Got
to be honest when I look at the Scriptures. And the Scriptures
nail me. When the Scriptures nail me,
I've got to be docile just to say, oh! Huh? That's what he says, providing
for honest things. Now watch this. Not only in the
sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men. Oh, my! That's a horse of another color. The believer is honest in all
things. He wants to speak the truth. He wants to walk uprightly.
He doesn't want to deal with the Word of God deceitfully with
himself or with anybody else. He wants to be honest with his
Word. He wants to be honest to people he deals with. And then let me tell you this.
Another one of his ways is that he teaches us this. is the way
of our being committed to the service and to the glory of God.
One of our ways is we really want to be committed to God,
to His glory, to His service, to His service. I heard a fellow
preaching here a while back, and when he got through preaching,
the only person who seemed like he was interested in the glory
of God and serving God was himself. But, you know, all of us are
that way. I know we fall far short of it, but still it's our
desire, ain't it? Don't we want to be committed to the Christ
and His church and His people? And, you know, the believer's
a person whose heart and life is consecrated, committed to
the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, it says there in Acts 15,
26, these men hazarded their lives for the sake of Christ
and the gospel. Paul said, I beseech you by the
mercies of God that you present your bodies, a living sacrifice,
holy and acceptable unto God. That's just a reasonable thing
to do. I don't know how many of y'all remember Lance Heller.
Do y'all remember Lance Heller? He was here a few years ago,
missionary to New Guinea. Well, his father's down there
now, his father and mother. And he's home now, getting his
kids all in school. They're going back the first
year, him and his wife. They, there's no way, if you're
going to go anywhere down there, you know, to go just to the closest
town, it takes eight hours and it's just a few miles because
the roads are there. And they go up in those mountains
up in Yondu to preach to those tribes and walk up in there. And I said, well, what if y'all
was to get caught out on the road and your truck or something
had to stay in your truck? He said, oh, no, no, we can't ever do
that. He said, it's too dangerous for white people, especially
white women. But him and his wife and his
baby daughter is going back down there again. They hazard their
lives for the cause of crime. And I mean, you're talking about
people that it ain't been too many years ago that they discovered
people down there that they didn't even know existed in those mountains
down there. That's where they sat on anthills
and he danced. And they got on enough clothes
to, I mean, just don't think nothing about it. That's what
he preached, who sits on a white bucket and sits under some leaves
and preaches to one or two people at a time. And just, they can't
hardly wait to get back to doing that. Can't hardly wait. And that's what I'm talking about.
Our life is dead. and hid with Christ in God. This
world and all it is, we're strangers and pilgrims here. And you know,
when Christ shall appear, who is our light, shall we also appear
with Him in glory. That's why Paul meant it, he
said, I'm crucified, I'm dead with Christ, nevertheless I live,
and yet the life that I now live in the flesh, I don't live in
by my power, by my will, to my own glory. He said, I live it
by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself
for me. Now, our consecration, our commitment
is not perfect, but it's sincere. And I believe it's growing. I
believe the older we get, the more it grows, because the less
we are connected to this world, God's weaned us from it. And
one of these days, He's going to wean us plump from it. And
bless His name, what a day that'll be. Huh? And I'll tell you, here's
the last thing, and I'll talk about it. He said, He shall keep
thee in all thy ways. The ways of faith in Christ,
the way of obedience to Christ, the way of the providential government,
the way of honesty, integrity, of commitment to the glory of
God, and then the way of the cross. The way of the cross.
Look with me now in Luke 14. Luke 14. It's the way of the
cross. Now, what do I mean by that? Well, I'll show you right here
in a minute, Luke 14. You know, the way of the cross
is a way of death. The way of the cross is a way
of death. Our Lord Jesus Christ said, except a man deny himself,
take up your cross and follow me, he cannot be my disciple. Now, the way of the cross is
a way of death, a way of slow death, not immediate
death, slow, lingering death. It's a way of shame. It's a place
of rejection. It's a place of suffering. And here, look what our Lord
Jesus said here in Luke 14.25. And there went great multitudes
with him, and he turned. Now multitudes followed him,
and he just turned. And when he turned, no doubt
they stopped, and he said unto them, If any come to me, and
hate not his father, and his mother, and his wife, and children,
and brothers, and sisters, and his own life also, he cannot
be my disciple." What does he mean by that? He
means this. that if you'd rather have a relationship
with your mother, your father, your brothers and sisters more
than me, then you're not worthy of me. You know. They left him. When he called
John and James and Peter out of that boat, he says, follow
me. And they left their nets and their father and got out
of that boat and walked away and followed Christ. And that's what he means. He
means just that. Now, you're going to, you know, people say,
well, you can't You know, I love my mother and I love my dad.
I love my brothers and my sister. I love my kids. But they're not
going to keep me from coming to Christ. I'm not going to stay
home and go to hell with them. I'm not going to listen to what
they think about Christ and why His gospel and His Word. If they want to become a believer
in Christ, then we'll have wonderful fellowship, but I'm not going
to perish because I'm going to listen to them and follow them
and stay home with them, well, they're going to hell. I'm not
going to do that. That's what our Lord means by that. Now,
if you're going to put your relationship with your mother above your relationship
with me, you just stay in the house. Just go on home right
now is what He's saying. That's what He's saying here.
And whosoever doeth not bear his cross, and come after me,
cannot be my disciple. Now, we all got a cross. Every
one of us has got a cross. There's things about us that
it's painful for us and we have to carry it. It's a burden. It's
identifying with Christ, identifying with His death, identifying with
His cross, identifying with His shame. Saying that cross that
our Lord Jesus Christ died upon, that's the only hope I have.
The one who died on that cross, not the time that it took place,
but who it was that died. I'm going to take up that cross.
I'm going to let everybody know I've got that cross. I want everybody
to know that I identify with that cross. And who it was that
was on that cross. It's not the cross itself, but
what the cross represents. I'm going to identify with that.
I want everybody to know that this is my only hope. When somebody
starts talking about, yes, I believe salvation is by grace, but no,
no, no, Christ! When I think that good people
say, well, I thank God for deliverance. No, it's Christ that put our
sin away. We identify that there, oh, God's
going to punish you for your sins. Not if you're in Christ,
He's already punished you. God's judgment's going to come
on us. Listen, God's judgment's already on this world, but I'll
tell you one thing, it's not. It's not on me and you. We're not going to bear the judgment
of God. We're not going to do it. Why? Because we're bearing
that cross. We're standing at that cross. We're bearing that
cross. We're bearing the shame of it. We're bearing the glory
of it. We're bearing the power of it. We're bearing the witness of
it. And that's what he goes on to say. And he said, and this
is the way it's going to be. Because if you're going to follow me,
it's going to cost you something. You know, folks, they'll get
along with you fine until they find out you believe in election.
or you believe in absolute sovereignty, or you believe in the total depravity
of man, and then all of a sudden, they'll say, where in the world
did you come up with that act? You mean, you say you're one of the
left? You say you're chosen? Yes, I
am. Who chose you? God did. Well,
what made you so special? Nothing. Chosen me by grace, from Christ.
And so they started, that's owning the cross. That's why they had
to bear that cross. That's what it means. That's
what Paul did when they said, you know, except you be circumcised
and keep the law of Moses, you cannot be saved. Paul bore his
cross, bore the cross of Christ, and so did Simon Peter and said,
you can't do that. He said, if we take the cross
and preach anything besides Christ and His cross, we take the offense
out of it. And we're not going to take the
offense out of it. And that's why he said, which
of you intend to build a tower, since thou first don't count
the cost, that you've got enough to finish it? Oh, folks say,
that's what our Lord said. He said, if you're going to follow
me, it's going to take something. And oh my, if he's not able to
finish it, everybody begin to mock him. Well, that fellow started
out, I thought he was a Christian. I thought he really was a believer. I thought he was really something. But he quits. He came by the
cross. He don't understand the scripture.
He don't understand what took place at the cross. He thinks
it's all in him when he came to do it. He just quits. Or he
hears what salvation is and he finally hears the message and
he just quits. And oh, watch this. And saying
this man began to feel able, not able, began to feel not able
to finish. Joaquin going to war. Don't sit
down and say, I've only got 10,000, 20,000 are going to come meet
me, so should I send an ambassador and ask for conditions of peace,
or am I going to go to war? And so likewise, our Lord said
in verse 33, so likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not
all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple. And what he means
is forsake all he hath. Now, how much have we forsaken
for Christ? I'll tell you, we forsook all
our righteousness, didn't we? We forsook our false professions,
didn't we? And that's what he'd forsake
all, forsake all hopes, all aspirations, all self-confidence, all self-righteousness. He didn't tell us to leave our
homes. He gave us our homes. When people hear us say, oh,
they think you've got to walk away and leave everything. We're
leaving everything. That's what Paul said. I count
everything but done for Christ. Everything else is lost. That's
what he said. I count everything but lost for
Christ. And that's what we do. We just
cast everything else away and cast lots with Him. And we don't
bring none of that back in here. We've walked off and left our
former lives, our former hopes, our former dreams, our former
righteousness, the things that we used to glory in, we're now
ashamed of. That's what he's talking about. And the believer
willingly takes up his cross and follows his master, day by
day, regardless of cost or consequence, as he seeks to do the will of
the Lord and put himself in subjection to him. Not my will, but thine
be done. He shall give His angels charge
over thee, and He shall keep thee in all thy ways. Our Father, in the blessed name
of the Lord Jesus Christ, thank You for Your Word. Thank You
for the truth as it is in Christ. God bless the Word to our understanding
tonight. Bless it to our faith. Bless
it to our hearts. Cause it to Pray forth fruit
in us, Lord. We acknowledge, O Lord Jesus,
that we can do nothing without You, absolutely nothing, and
we look to You for all things. And Father, we thank You that
You, in sovereign mercy, brought us to that place where we count
all things but done, for loss, for the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus our Lord. to be found in Him, to win Him,
to know Him. God, we bless you for that. We
know it's not natural. We know it's a supernatural act
of God in our hearts and lives. God bless you to the heart tonight,
for Christ's sake. Amen.