All right, I have several passages,
four in particular, to read to you this morning as my text. Turn first of all to Galatians
chapter six, Paul's epistle to the Galatians chapter six. I
have a little bit of a different approach this morning. And as
I read these verses, I will not deal with a lot of the context,
but I do want to give us some counsel from these passages against
what I call that is done by some rationalizing these texts, trying
to wax philosophical concerning these texts. And I'll give us
some warnings concerning that and try to state exactly what
the text is really talking about. So first of all, Galatians chapter
6, and look at verse 3. For if a man think himself to
be something when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. Now, the
warning is this. Some say, well, if a man is nothing,
he ought not think highly. That's not what it says. It doesn't
say if. It says, for if a man think to
be himself to be something when he is nothing, not if he is nothing,
we all are all nothing. So I just want to make sure we
get that clear in the context. For if a man think himself to
be something, when he is nothing, not if, we are nothing. When he is nothing, he deceiveth
himself. That's a choice morsel of God
Almighty's divine truth that never changes. Now, also turn
to 1 Corinthians, turn back to 1 Corinthians chapter 13. This
is what they often refer to as the chapter about love. 1 Corinthians
chapter 13. I will actually just read one
part of verse 12. One part of verse 12. 1 Corinthians
13 and verse 12. For now we see through a glass
darkly. You see that? Now, here's the
warning. There are those who would say,
well, everybody sees through a glass darkly. That is not so.
Some men and women see not at all. This is not a universal
phrase spoken of all the sons and daughters of Adam. This is
talking about the regenerated sons and daughters of Adam, the
converted sons and daughters of Adam. For now, we see through
a glass darkly. But remember, not all men and
women see. Okay, here's the third one. Turn
back a couple more pages, 1 Corinthians chapter 8. 1 Corinthians chapter 8, verse
2. And if any man think that he
knoweth anything, he knoweth nothing yet, as he ought to know. Now, the warning. There are some
who say, well, nobody can ever really know anything. Nothing
is sure. Nothing is steadfast. You say
the Bible says this. Others say the Bible says that.
And nobody can ever really be sure, because after all, Paul
said, and if any man thinks he knows anything, he knows nothing
yet, as he ought to know it. That is philosophy. That's a
lie. That's a lie. The truth is we, God's people,
know some things. But we still don't know it yet
as we ought. And it's simple enough. It's
simple enough. All right, here's the last one.
Romans chapter seven. Turn backwards a few more pages.
Romans chapter seven. A verse and another part of a
verse here. Romans chapter 7, verse 24, Paul writing says this,
O wretched man that I am, now think of that in light of the
other three I've just read. Think of it like, O wretched
man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ
our Lord. Now here's the word of warning.
Some say, well, that's what we as believers used to be before
we were believers. We were wretched and lost and
sinners before God saved us. Paul is writing under the inspiration
of the Spirit of God and is clearly moved from the past into the
present. And while writing as an apostle,
being moved by the Spirit of God, he is still forced to cry
out because of the truth about himself even presently while
he was writing under inspiration and as an apostle O wretched
man that I am." So remember that. Now, consider this. Here's my
title. Thinking, Seeing, Knowing, Wretched,
But Christ. But Christ. That's in light of
the context of the passages. Now, that title, of course, will
make no difference, really won't have much meaning, I should say,
to someone who just sees the title. But do you see what I'm
talking about? Thinking, seeing, knowing. Think about the limitations of
that. What's the conclusion? Wretched. Wretched. All but Christ. Now consider this statement. And think about this, I will
read it two or three times probably. Think about this statement. If
I, and you think about this in light of you, I'm talking about
me right now, but you think about this statement in light of you
as well. If I thought, if I seen, if I knew, as my God does, if, If I thought, if I seen, if I
knew as my God does, then I would never even desire to ever change
anything about everything which has or is or shall ever come
to pass. I would change absolutely nothing if I could think, see, and know
as my God does. Do you understand that? I said
if, but I cannot. That's just the fact. I cannot
and you cannot. Now I'm going to try to illustrate
this. Have you ever watched the news and just become so depressed
that you just don't feel like watching the news anymore? But you know what you're seeing
when you watch the news? You're seeing the sovereign purpose
of God unfolded right before your eyes. Now we're not seeing
the future because you're not going to see the future other
than what's been prophesied in parts and pieces from this book.
But when you see history, even if it's today's history, or yesterday's
history, or the immediate history of the moment, and you see it
displayed in this world, we are seeing God Almighty's sovereign
purpose unfolded before our eyes. This is what God has done. And
yet I become depressed about it. God help me, I complain about
it. Even while I'm saying, Penny will say something, I'll correct
her. I'll say something, she'll correct me. And we're sitting
there constantly watching the TV correcting one another. Why? Because you can't stay on track
with the truth of God in all that you are for very long at
all. Think about it. Let me illustrate
this. Think about Job. Think of what
God suffered Satan to bring to pass upon Job. And the fact none
of us has went through that much within a matter of just a couple
days. None of us have. And yet Job cried out, the Lord
gave. The Lord taketh away. Blessed
be the name of the Lord. And at times he enables us to
do the very same thing. But guess what? Job's three friends
show up to comfort him. And he ends up calling them miserable
comforters. And miserable comforters they
were. God acknowledged that. But then he starts bragging about
himself and starts complaining about what's taken place. Did
he not read the book of Job? And yet God calls him a patient
man. What, patient in himself? No, patient through the gift
of God Almighty. Mason, to be able to even acknowledge
my faults and my sins takes the grace of God. Hmm. If I could think, if I could
see, if I could know as my God does, I would never complain
about anything because I know it's his wise, sovereign purpose
being carried out. I wouldn't fear the future, but
I do. Our texts reveal the workings
of this reason and its root cause. We don't think like we ought
to think. Not wholly. Not wholly. We don't see as we
ought to see. We don't know yet as we ought
to know. And because of this, we are wretched. Wretched. Ah, but there is hope. There is Hope, and there's only
one hope. When Paul cried out, O wretched
man that I am, being moved by the Spirit of God, having God's
grace poured out upon him and within him, he immediately says,
who? Because he knows God's deliverance
is in a person. It's not in the circumstances.
Circumstances are not your deliverance. Jesus Christ is your deliverance.
And he's there to deliver us, not from our circumstances, but
in the middle of and throughout our circumstances. But first,
let's hear about what God doeth in all things. Look at it. And
you know this, this is nothing new to you all. Turn to Ecclesiastes
chapter three. Ecclesiastes chapter three. And
listen to what the wise man Solomon wrote in verse 14. I know that. Now, I don't think even Solomon
knew it as he ought to know it, but he knew that. I know that
whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever. Nothing can be put
to it, you see it, nor anything taken from it, and God doeth
it, not so that we might know the future, And God doeth it,
why? That men should fear before Him. God Almighty raises up nations
and some of them are abominations even in His own sight and then
God Almighty will bring those nations down. He sets up kings
and He deposes kings. He puts rulers in power and some
of them are cruel tyrants. and he puts others in power that
help out the people. God said, I create evil, I create
good. I create the smith that bloweth. And what does he do? Oftentimes
he blows and he creates instruments of war and death, does he not? Sometimes he creates instruments
of idolatry, which men bow to and worship. But God said, I'm
the one that holds that smith's heart and hand in mine. My sovereign purpose. You know
what God said? I'll bring him up, I'll bring
him down. It's God's sovereign pleasure. All said, that man,
why does God do this? Somebody says, what does this
mean? It means everything that comes to pass, comes to pass
because God Almighty ordained it to come to pass exactly like
it come to pass with nothing left off and nothing added to
it. That's what it says, does it not? That which hath been
is now, and that which is to be hath already been, and God
requireth that which is past. So that's why I say when you
watch the news and you see this is what happened yesterday, I'm
here to tell you that's what God ordained exactly to happen
yesterday. Now God says I do that so that
you might what? Fear. Fear before me. Hmm. So this is the way it is,
but even more than that, think about this. Now that's true,
but here's something else. Turn to Colossians now, chapter
one. Now here, now some men kick up
and rile like a wild ass is cold at that and say, that's not who
God is. Well, that is who God is. That's just the way it is. I am not apologizing for that,
even though I'm here to tell you that I don't think about
that like I should. I don't see that like I should,
and I don't know that like I should, and therefore I'm a wretched
man. But my hope is in Jesus Christ, and there's the kicker.
What men really hate is God Almighty does all of this sovereignty
and predestinating in the person of his son. And this world hates
that more than anything else. Look at it, Colossians chapter
one, he's talking about Jesus Christ and in verse 16, Paul
says this, for by him were all things created that are in heaven,
that are in earth, whether you can see it or you can't, whether
it's visible or invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions
or principalities or powers. And often in the scripture, these
words are used to describe some of the most cruel, vile, vicious
things that ever happened in this world. But yet, who has
this in his hand? Christ does. You see, it powers
and by him, all things were created by him. and for him, so much
so that even the Old Testament prophets, they knew this, they
didn't have to have John Calvin's Calvinism to know this. They
didn't have to know about the five points of Calvinism though.
Our God is in the heavens, he hath done whatsoever he hath
pleased. He said, one of the prophets
said, God shall even cause the wrath of men to praise him. I have a hard time wrapping my
mind around that. Right? And you do too, don't
you? If you're honest with yourself, that God will cause even the
wrath of men to praise him, and the rest of wrath, what's he
gonna do? He's gonna put a belt on it. That's the old, he's gonna
put a belt on it and restrain it. That's what you do when you
put a belt on, you restrain your pants from going down around
your ankles. The rest of wrath, thou shalt what? Restrain. There are things that we would
do But God don't let us do it, because it's not in his sovereign
purpose. We're like the wild asses, Colt. We kick and snuff
at the wind, kick up our heels, but God Almighty still holds
our breath. He still holds us in sovereign control. And that's
true of the elect and the reprobate as well. And this, And this is
what humanity as a fallen whole hates more than anything else,
that God Almighty has done this in the person of His Son. Look, and He, still talking about
Christ, is before all things. That is not just in place, but
in authority. And He is before all things,
and by Him all things, what? Consist. So if it happened, He
was the one holding it all together, right? Mason, if it blows apart,
he's the one that let go of it and blew it to the wind. That's
just the way it is. Now, consider this. No promise
of God has ever failed. No encouragement of God is ever
unnecessary. Think about it. No promise of
God has ever failed. No encouragement of God is ever
unnecessary. But even more, no rebuke is ever
unwarranted, whether that rebuke is heeded or whether it's not
heeded. that our God, that our God, none
of this, no promises failed, no encouragement of God is ever
unnecessary, no rebuke is ever unwarranted, whether it's heeded
or not heeded, so that our God has sovereignly designed and
ordained everything that comes to pass. It is fulfilling his
will. Even the rebellion of Pharaoh
was the fulfilling of God's will. And that's what Romans nine,
one thing men argue and women argue about Romans chapter nine,
Romans chapter nine is clear. When Pharaoh rebelled against
God, that was God's will. And of course, our minds, because
we don't think right. We don't see everything. And
we don't know everything. We say, that's not fair. That's
not right. How can God judge? And Paul's
answer is shut up. Stop replying against God. He doesn't go into philosophy.
He doesn't try to rationalize. He doesn't try to get logical
with this thing. He simply declares this is who God is. Now just bow down and shut up. And we hate to be told to shut
up, I think, more than just about anything else. Remember when
you were young and your mom or dad said shut up? Now some of
us were blessed enough to have one that when you told you to
shut up and you didn't, they'd swell your lips for you. And
they'd make you shut up. Some of us may not have. But
let me give you something. Let me give you something. We
should, I said should, we should never fear. We should never dismay. We should never doubt. We should
never question anything. But we do. And that's just a
fact, right? But we do. At our best state,
we're altogether vanity. Even when we're making our best
statements, our minds are still running. Why? Why? If, if. It's over and over and over. You can state the truth and then
turn around the next moment and be murmuring and complaining
against it. Oh, wretched man that I am. You try to figure this out, You
try to figure out some spiritual equilibrium, and a lot of people
try to do it. I heard Don Fortner say this. Somebody said, well,
how are you going to reconcile God's sovereignty and human responsibility? And Don said, I didn't know they
were at war. I didn't know they were opposed to one another.
They're not. We're the ones, we imagine wars that don't exist.
There is no problem between the two. The problem is not the two
things. It's us. It's us. So if you try to figure out some
spiritual equilibrium for all of this, you will flounder. Now
go back to Ecclesiastes. I purposely read only a portion
of that. Go back to Ecclesiastes chapter
three now. Remember what I said? If you
try to figure out some spiritual equilibrium, you try to become
a great theologian. Now, there may have been some
great men with God-blessed minds. I believe there's been that,
but just be careful, because I'm not a theologian. God didn't
send me as a theologian. He sent me as a pastor teacher,
and that's what I am to you. Now, listen to what Ecclesiastes,
the wise Solomon said. He said, everything in this world
has a time and a purpose and a season under heaven. Everything,
good or bad. Is that not what he said? Look
at it sometime. I'm not going to read all that. Ecclesiastes 3
verses 1 all the way down through verse 10. Everything that comes
to pass, it has its time. It has its season. It has its
place. Some of it's hurtful and difficult. Some of it's blessed
and joyous. But look at what he says. Verse
10, I have seen the travail which God hath given Oh, is travail
a gift? According to the wise man Solomon,
it is. Now, can I wrap my puny little
bind around that mason? No, I cannot. But I know it's
true because thus saith God about the matter. I have seen the travail
which God has given to the sons of men to be exercised in it. It's gonna be tough. Why? Because
God's ordained it that way. Don Fortner said, he said, if
we had our way, we'd eat chocolate. and candy all of our lives. We're
talking about the Christian life. We'd eat chocolate and candy
all our lives, and God would roll us into heaven on a stroller,
just fat and happy. That ain't the way it works.
That's not the way God ordained it. Now you think it's funny
you blame Don for that, because he's the one that said it. I'll
just quote him. But I agree with what he's, we would, we would,
wouldn't we? We'd like to have all the dainties of this life
and God just, we just kinda go to sleep one night, just wake
up in glory and it'll all be over with. But it don't happen
that way. Some of us will die miserable, hard deaths if the
Lord doesn't come back first, aren't we? It'll be tough. It'll
be tough for some of the others still left behind watching it
take place. But God Almighty has all this
in his sovereign hand. Look, he hath made everything
beautiful in his time. That's the problem. We don't
bow down to his time. We want our time. He hath also,
look, he hath also set the world in their heart so that no man
can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to
the end. So quit trying to reconcile it
all. Quit trying to figure it all out. Quit trying to see how
it all fits. God's fixed it so you cannot. God's fixed it so you cannot. Now hear me now. Our faulty,
self-deceptive thinking, and it's around all too often. That's
what, Galatians 6 and 3, is faulty, self-deceptive thinking. We all
still have it even as believers. Let me should say especially
as believers. All the unregenerate have is self-deceptive false
thinking. Our faulty self-deceptive thinking,
our darkened sight we see through a glass, what? Darkly. Our limited
knowledge, they are never excuse. They are never justification
for our wretchedness. They're never excuse. They're
never justification for our faultiness because we, in our daddy Adam,
plunged ourselves into this mess. But even before we did, God had
already decreed and ordained and had a remedy, Jesus Christ,
the Lamb of God. Hmm. What a thought. What a thought. These things are never justification.
These three binding factors, that is a deceptive thinking
process, a darkened sight, a limited knowledge, these three binding
factors have a root cause. And the root cause is my wretchedness. I'm not wretched because of those
three things. Those three things are true because
I'm wretched. You see what I'm saying? Now,
if I stated that in precisely before this statement, then go
back and mark that other one out. That's the point. You're
not wretched because of your faulty thinking, darkened sight,
and limited knowledge. You have deceptive thinking,
you have darkened sight, and you have limited knowledge because
you are wretched, because I am wretched. My wretchedness is
not only manifest in immoral and unrighteous acts of defiant
commission of sins. They are manifest that way. My
wretchedness is manifest that way. And not only is my sin,
or my wretchedness rather, manifest in slothful omission of good
at best. Because usually we don't just
omit good, we want the evil. We run greedily after sin. But my wretchedness is manifest
in its first cause and its first source, my heart. Because out
of the heart comes evil, what? Thoughts. And if you think wrong,
Mason, you're going to see wrong. And if you're thinking wrong
and seeing wrong, you're going to know wrong. You get it? This is all because of what I
am by nature. and God in his wisdom. God in his wisdom. This is the only way because
God's only going to do what's right. Exactly? God ordained
for us to keep that old nature to have to battle with and fight
with and struggle with until we awaken his likeness and in
no other way will we ever escape it. No other way will we ever
escape it. But child of God, take heart,
because Paul says, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver
me? Christ will. Christ will. And I'm here to declare that
he has, that he is, and that he will continue to until he
changes us and gives us a body that's likened to his own glorious
body. Yes, it's true, we see through
a glass darkly, but think about it, my brothers and sisters.
Thank God we see. Turn to John chapter six. Think
about it. Yes, we see through a glass darkly. Mason, that just
accentuates my wretchedness. It adds to my difficulty. It
adds to my trouble. But we do see. And look at what
our Lord Himself said in John 6 and verse 40. And this is the
will of Him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son
and believeth on Him may have everlasting life, and I will
raise him up at the last day. Oh, you remember the fellow that
was blind? I think he was blind from birth.
And Christ gave him his sight back. And we was asked, how did
this happen to you? He said, there's a man. He came
along, and he gave me my sight. And they said, well, that man's
a sinner. He's not of God. He said, I don't know much about
that. Isn't that what he said? He said,
but this is one thing I know. I was blind. Now, I'm paraphrasing. I was blind, but bless God, now
I see. Thank God that you see any at
all because he's narrowed your sight to one individual person. Mason, that makes it easier.
It makes it easier. It doesn't take away all the
difficulties, but it makes it, because with the eye of faith,
he's narrowed that down to where faith has one singular object,
not this whole Bible. I can't make this whole Bible
fit. I've tried in some areas of study, and I can't do it.
But I'll tell you this, when I see Christ, I'm seeing him
who to see is to see everything. Because Mason, after all, he's
the one that's holding this all together. Think about our thinking. Our
thinking is God-honoring when we think about Christ. Turn to
Philippians chapter 2. Our thinking is God-honoring
when we're thinking about Christ. Philippians 2, if there be. if
there be therefore any consolation in Christ. Now that's not a there
might be, there might not be. But I'll tell you what, in this
life sometimes you wonder there must not be, is there much? Now
isn't that the truth? I know this religious world talks
about pie in the sky and everything's great when you come to Jesus
and when you give your heart to Jesus. But that's just not
the way it is. If there be, therefore, any consolation
in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the
Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, fulfill ye my joy, that ye be
what? Like minded. having the same
love, being of one accord, of one mind, let nothing be done
through strife or vainglory, but in loneliness of mind, let
each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man
on his own things, but every man also on the things of others."
And when I hear that in and of itself, I'm thinking, oh, wretched
man that I am. I can't do that. You ever been
there? Sometimes the harder I try, the
worse I fall and fail at it. But look at what he says. Let
this mind be in you. See, he's still talking about
the mind, about the thinking. Let this mind be in you, which was
also in Christ Jesus. So what's he saying, Mason? Yes,
these are things we're to strive for, to run after, but keep your
mind on Christ. Do you see it? Quit trying to
make yourself do these things. Just look to Christ. It'll come
in God's good time. Even while you're failing along
the way. Look at it. Let this mind be
in you which was also in Christ Jesus. Aren't you glad he didn't
say conduct yourself like Christ Jesus did? He said just think
about this. Think about his mind. Think about
him, who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to
be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, and took upon
him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men,
and being found in fashion a man, he humbled himself and became
obedient unto death. And then it's not just a nice
quiet death in your bed. even the death of the cross. Wherefore, God also hath highly
exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name, that
at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven,
of things in earth, and things under the earth, and that every
tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory
of God the Father. Wherefore, now just keep on doing
what you've been doing. And now go read it. Why? Because
God Almighty is going to work in you both the will and to do
of His good pleasure. You see, again I say, our thinking
is God-honoring when we think about Christ. You start thinking
about yourself, you're gonna see what you truly are. Wretched. Wretched. But even that has its
proper goal. What's that gonna do if you're
truly born of God? It's gonna force you to run back
to Jesus Christ. That's what it's gonna do. That's
what it's going to do. How many of us, even if we had
it, when our kids ask us for this and for that, for this and
for that, and we may could have given it to them, but we knew
it wasn't for their good. And we withheld certain things
from them because we understood, even on our level, that we don't
need everything. We just need what's absolutely
essential. And let me tell you something,
God gives us everything that is absolutely essential, even
if one of the things is repentance. Even if one of the things is,
I'm saying take heart my brothers and sisters, it's okay. It's
okay when you see Christ. It's okay when you're thinking
about Christ. If you're looking at and thinking
about something else, you're gonna remember, oh wretched man
that I am. And even when you're thinking
about Christ, and even when God has your eyes on Christ, He's
going to, even when things are going well, He's going to remind
you about you every once in a while. He's going to let a Satan or
something come along and sift you like wheat and you'll fall
flat on your face. But then you will find yourself
in the dust of repentance. And that's a good place to be.
Isn't it amazing? Repentance is a great thing.
And people, preachers, demand it of everybody, but they don't
talk about the very fact by default, if repentance is a good thing,
sin's got to happen first. Or there's no need to repent.
There's no blessing of repentance when you've not got the need
to repent. Oh, wretched man that I am. It's
tough. But you know what? To know you're
there. To know you're there, that's a good place to be because
most folks have no idea that they're a wretched man. Go ask
them today. Go up here to the mall and just
go, are you a wretched man? Well, they'd probably call the law
on you. They'd be running you out, would they not? Some nuts
loose in the mall out here. Our knowledge is, I said it is,
our knowledge is God honoring knowledge when Christ gifts us
with a sovereignly bestowed knowledge of both sender and sent. Think
about it, now turn to John 17. You probably already know the
passage. John chapter 17, verse one. These words spake Jesus,
and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is
come. Glorify thy son, that thy son also may glorify thee. As
thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give
eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. And this is life
eternal. Here it is that you might know
all about eschatology. that you might understand the
ins and outs of millennialisms. What's right, what's, is that
what it's really all about? It is not, yet this world that
professes to be Christian runs after these things with their
whole hearts, and they don't know that they're miserable men
and women. Look, and this is life eternal, that they might
know thee. No, let me tell you, if you think
you know anything, you know nothing yet as you ought to know it.
But thank God, thank God for the fact that he give you a knowledge
of himself and his son. Do you see it? That they might
know thee. This is not about this knowing
doctrine, it's knowing the person. The one, and the doctrine, that
will flow when you truly know him through the gift of eternal
life. And this is life eternal that
they might know thee, the only true God, and you don't just
stop, I believe in God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. If Christ is out of the equation,
your knowledge is not just partial knowledge, it's no knowledge
at all. To know things about God apart
from knowing Jesus Christ only adds to a man and woman's condemnation.
And that's just the way it is. Well, Pastor, it sounds like
you're saying that seeing Christ, thinking on Christ, and knowing
Christ is the relief to all of our wrong thinking, all of our
dark insight, and all of our limited knowledge. Yes, I am.
It don't alleviate it, but it is relief to it. You see, if
you see Christ, the One who holds all of these things in His hand,
and you know that He's given you sight to see Him, His Father,
you see Him in His love and compassion, then he is working everything
for your good. And we are bound by the scripture
to say, and we know all things, but we do not understand how
all things work together for good. But we do know all things
work together for good to them that love God, to them that are
called according to his purpose. Everything that's happened in
my life thus far, and some of it was miserable, I would change
it today. I would still change it today.
And I hope something like that never happens again. It will
if it's for my good. And you know what? If it happens,
it is for my good. All things work together for
good. Now think about this. Jesus Christ said, come unto
me all ye that labor and are heavy laden. I will give you
what? Rest. Take my yoke upon you and
learn of me. That means both things. One,
he gives the knowledge, he gives the learning, but he's the one
that we're learning about. He's the one that's the central
theme that all of our thinking, seeing, and knowing is about. Come unto me, I will give you
rest. Now I'll give you an example of this. Turn to Mark chapter
nine, and I will start to wind this down. But I want to give
you this. I thought about this. Turn to
Mark chapter nine. That way, if you want to follow
along, I will make a few statements and then read some passages of
scripture. Here's the first thing. There's
an example of what I'm talking about. This is going to be my
summary. When men fail. And they will. They will. You watch the news, you see it
all the time. Failure. On every politics, government,
home life, in the streets, going shopping, people fail all the
time. When men fail, not if men fail. Have you watched the news? They
always fail. And we get discouraged about
it, and yet we talk about total depravity. We ought to believe
it. It's a part of what we confess
to. When men fail, even God's men. Even God's men. Trust Christ. Trust Christ. Why do I say that?
Look at Mark 9. Look at verse 14. And when he
came to his disciples, go back and read the, he was just, in
the verse before he'd just been with his disciples, something
happens between verse 13 and verse 14, we're not told what
it was, but we know that Christ had left the disciples. Because
it says, and when he came to his disciples, he saw a great
multitude about them, and the scribes questioning with them.
Now get this picture in your mind. Think about it. He's returning
now. He sees the disciples surrounded
by a mob, right? And these religious leaders,
they're right in the middle there, questioning his disciples. You
see it? He sees this taking place. And straightway, all the people,
when they beheld him, were greatly amazed, and running to him, saluted
him. They usually do that in the beginning,
until you start talking. until you start preaching, until
you start giving testimony or witness to the truth of God.
And look. And he asked the scribes, what question ye with them? And
one of the multitude. Now look at it. One of the multitude. This is the man who had the trouble
to start with. Had a son that was in trouble.
He's the one that answered up. Look. And one of the multitude
answered and said, master, I have brought unto thee my son, which
hath a dumb spirit. And why? Because your disciples
couldn't do it. You see it? You see it? And whithersoever
he taketh him, and teareth him, and he foameth, and gnasheth
with his teeth, and pineth away, and I spake to thy disciples
that they should cast him out, and they couldn't do it. Isn't
that what it says? They couldn't do it. They failed.
Now I'm going to tell you something. It's never an excuse to not trust
Christ, even when those that God sends fall flat. Yeah, even if they fall, no,
even, not if, no, even when they fall. Linda, these disciples,
they've been casting out demons before. They run up against the
wall on this one. You see it? So again, think about
it. When men fail, and they will,
even God's, when we fail one another, oh, that's no need not
to trust Christ. Now look at it. Take it to Christ
even when He rebukes you. Now look at it. Take it to Christ
even when He rebukes you. He answereth him. He's answering
to the dad. Now He gives it in a general
way, but He's answering who? The dad. And He answered him
and said, O faithless generation, How long shall I be with you?
How long shall I suffer you? Bring him unto me. Let me tell
you, the one good thing this man did was he continued to seek
out the Master. Do you see it? Now his disciples
were getting the what for? Can you imagine? What's wrong
with you fellas? Where's your leader at? He's
left yet. He's gone and when he's gone you can't do nothing.
He's a huckster. Do you see what very well could
have been taking place? And look, he said, bring him
to me. And he said, they brought him
unto him. And when he saw him straightway, the spirit terror
him. And he fell on the ground and wallowed foaming. This boy
went into a fit because of this demonic thing he had. And he asked his father, how
long is it ago since this came upon him? And he said of a child. and oftentimes has cast him into
the fire and into the waters to destroy him. But if thou canst
do anything, now you see, he's got a little reason to be suspect
because the disciples done tried and couldn't do it. Right? Right? But if thou canst do anything,
have compassion on us and help us. Jesus saith unto him, if
thou canst believe, if you can, All things are possible to him
that believe. He wasn't trying to get him to
believe. He wasn't trying to talk him
into believing. He said, can you? Can you believe? And look what it says. And straightway,
the father of the child cried out and said with tears, Lord,
I believe. And he took no hope in himself
whatsoever. Lord, I believe. Help thou my
unbelief. When you don't think right, don't
try to fix it yourself. Cry out unto Him. When you don't
see properly, quit trying to fix it yourself. Hand it over
to Him. When you don't know as you ought
to know, quit trying to know. Hand it over to Him. Lord, I
believe. Oh God, I got unbelief. And only you can fix that. You
see it? Only you can fix that. And Jesus
saw that the people came running together. He rebuked the foul
spirit, saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge
thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him. And the spirit
cried, and wren him sore, and came out of him. And he was as
one dead insomuch that many said, Well, you really fixed this one.
He dead. You killed him. Isn't that what
they were saying? You killed him. Wouldn't it be good to be
killed by God? To kill all your pride, to kill
all your malice, to kill all your wrong thinking, your wrong
seeing, your wrong knowing, but he didn't kill him, did he? Jesus took him by the hand and
lifted him up and he arose. Here's my last point. Christ
alone is the only one prepared to deal with all your troubles
in life. You hear what I said? Christ
alone is the only one prepared. Where was He at? Between verses
13 and verse 14. Clearly go back and read. He
left. He was somewhere praying and fasting. He was already preparing
for this incident. Do you see it now? He was already
preparing. Look at it. He took Him by the
hand. He rose up. He lifted him up and he arose.
And when he was come into the house, and we don't, I suppose
it was the man's house, but we don't know for sure. His disciples
asked him privately, why could not we cast him out? They were
still worried about themselves, wasn't they? They weren't rejoicing
in the fact that he'd just done it. Oh, how quick we forget,
don't we? Now look, and he said unto them,
this kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting. So
where was he between verse 13 and 14? He was already preparing
to deal with this situation. Was he not? Mason, you don't
start fasting by just taking your green beans off your plate.
He'd been spending some time with the Father preparing to
engage in this situation. Thank God he's doing the praying
for you. Thank God he's the one that's
denying himself so that he might act on your behalf. He is right
now in heaven. He's not just sitting up as well.
Well, I'm glad all that's done He's up there interceding for
you and I like he prayed for Peter that night when Peter fell
miserably Mason he's still up there praying for you and me
right now. He's praying for you all you believe God. He's praying
for you all He's there taking care of you not to take you out
of all your troubles But to sustain you right in the midst of them
so that when it comes down to the end, it can be said of you,
this person died in faith. And that's what it's all about.
Oh, Father, teach us these things because we need to be constantly
taught, constantly taught. We thank you in Christ's name,
amen. All right, I have a song. Of
course, you know the song very well. Turn to 330, but I want
to say a few things before we sing this song. 330. Go ahead Ellen, get it ready
there. Now you see what the song is?
Just as I am. You see who wrote that song?
Charlotte Elliot. Charlotte Elliot lived a couple
hundred years ago. You forgive me if my facts are
a little off. She lived a couple hundred years ago. Her parents
were believers in Christ. And they lived in Brighton, England,
and the Swiss preacher and songwriter, Pastor Cesar Millan, had been
invited to their home to stay. I don't know how long he was
there, but he was there in their home. And as Cesar Millan, the Swiss preacher,
was talking with Charlotte Elliott's mother and father, and they were
talking about the grace of God. And I'm talking about the grace
of God, not religion, the grace of God, the mercy of God, and
the compassion of God. Well, Charlotte was a spinster. She was in her 30s when this
incident took place. she'd had at least a series of
illnesses to where she now was an invalid, never been married. Now she's laying flat on her
back and she's there in the living room evidently and Cesar Millan
and her parents are talking about the grace and the mercy and the
compassion of God and Charlotte evidently had become very bitter
and anger against God and it's said that she went into an outrage
against her parents and against Mr. Milan because they were talking
about the love and compassion and mercy and grace of God. She
said, if God was merciful, if God was compassionate, if God
was gracious, if God was loving, he would not have let this happen
to me. And we don't know all that took
place, but it was evidently so bad that her parents were so
embarrassed before their honored guest, they had to leave the
room and retire for the night. Mason, they didn't know what
to do. They didn't know what to do. But they said old Cesar
Millan hung around there for a moment and said he began to
talk with Charlotte and said, Charlotte, your problem is yourself.
Your problem ain't God. Your problem is you're tired
of yourself. It ain't about God. And it's
sad that she said, well, what can I do? Look at me. Look at
the state I'm in. Look at my life. Look at what
it's all about. It's nothing. I have nothing.
I'm an invalid, laid here 30 years, don't even have a husband
to love. Nothing. I have nothing. And he said,
the very one you hate is the only one that can help you. And
that's Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. And what you need to
do is flee to him just like you are. And it's said by that next morning
she had. And around 15 years later, she was evidently recalling
this, what we call, you know, her conversion. And she wrote
this song. Now I know, we've had to listen,
well I say had to listen. I know you've probably heard
or seen the Billy Graham Crusade and they just, they sing 800
verses and I am being, I'm stretching it. They sing verse after verse
after verse of Just As I Am and because of that I've let myself
get away from this. This is a good song. Especially
when you know the background of Charlotte Elliott and what
went through it. Now I don't know if I can sing
it but let's stand and sing this song. 3.30.