our whole crew today, all of
it. Sovereign Grace Baptist Church
came with us today, and so I'm glad to see all of them here
today. And hope you get to know them before the day is done. Well, turn with me this morning,
if you would, to Psalms 126. And if you would, just put your,
put something there to mark the spot. at Psalms 126. And that will
be the main passage that we're gonna look at. But as the Lord
wills, and he'll give others, I would like to bring out a few
things before we get there. I know that the 126th Psalm is
a very familiar psalm to many people. There's been psalms written
about it. I don't necessarily agree with
the song that's written about it, but I'll get to that maybe
later. Brother J.C. brought up several
fine points, and by the way, I didn't believe that that was
the gospel that was preached. What J.C. said was true. The message that he delivered all through God's Word. Matter of fact, the message that
JC brought today began in the garden when we find that God
made Adam of the earth. God didn't make Adam out of spirit. He made him out of dust. We learn
in Corinthians that the first Adam was of the earth, earthy.
The second Adam is the Lord from heaven. The second Adam is spiritual. The first Adam is not spiritual. He was made of the dust, void
of the spirit of God, unable to keep the law of God. made
for the purpose that sin and death might enter into the world.
That was his purpose. You know, Adam didn't trick God. He didn't surprise God. He didn't
make God have to change his plan from one direction to another. I think probably most of us here,
I know y'all pretty well by now, I believe that all of us are
in firm agreement that God has predestinated all things whatsoever
shall happen. God has, before the foundation
of the world, has determined every event, every destiny has,
before the foundation of the world, his purpose has stood,
it will stand, there is nothing gonna turn you, There is no one
who is going to be his counsel. There is no one who is going
to deter him from accomplishing the pleasure of his will. And Adam was a part of that purpose. And sin entered into the world. And death by sin was a purpose
that God before the foundation of the world had already determined.
Now, I could go in several directions even on that, because if Christ
is the lamb slain before the foundation of the world, then
obviously God, before the foundation of the world, had purposed sin
and death to come into the world, because he had already purposed
a slain lamb who was gonna be dying for the sins of his people. But to get back to what JC had
said a while ago, Adam could not receive. Matter
of fact, when Adam was created, he was created without the knowledge
of good and evil. He couldn't know good or evil,
and yet he did that which was evil in God's eyes. Why? Because God had determined that.
Because God had made Adam as a vessel, and that vessel is
a vessel that was created The Bible says that we have been
made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by Him, who by reason of Him did it so that we might be in
hope. I'm not quoting that word for
word, but God has created us in vanity so that God might,
through that vanity, give us hope. And Gypsy said, you can't
know the good if you don't know the bad. If we don't know how
hopeless we are, we'll never see hope. God gives the child
of grace hope. But brother, he does it through
an earthen vessel. He has given us these earthen
vessels so that we might learn and know not only humility, but
that everything that has been given to us has been given to
us because of what Christ has done. Matter of fact, if you
would, turn back to 1 Corinthians 2, where J.C. read this a while
ago. I want to kind of point something out just quickly. In
1 Corinthians 2, in verse 12, We see the duality that J.C. brought out a while ago. He said
we are natural, but we also have another man in us, a new man,
born from above, created in true righteousness and holiness, where
the Bible says that that man cannot sin. We call it the seed
of God. What we have in this earthen
vessel that is vexed with vanity, subjected to its sinfulness,
subjected to its inability. Within that vessel, that vessel
carries a treasure. That vessel carries the very
seed of God that came from God because we were in Christ Jesus
as his generation, as his seed, before the foundation of the
world, before anything was laid, before anything was even brought
out. In the visible, the Bible says
that we were in him. that we were His children in
Him. The Bible says that He knows
His children. He knows them by name. The Bible
says that He has written their names in the Book of Life before
the foundation of the world because He has planned before anything
would ever take place, before sin ever would enter into the
world, He had planned to reveal His Son, Jesus Christ, who would
receive all glory and all honor because He was going to send
His people into an earthen vessel that would be with vanity and
not able to keep His law, not able to show forth His glory,
but yet have that seed in Him, and His Son would come and redeem
that sinful people so that that body of flesh that they are vexed
with until we die or Christ comes again, that body of death would
be redeemed. God is not going to acquit the
wicked. And all we are in Adam is wicked. Something has to be
done through the body. Therefore we will receive a new
body. One that is not vexed with vanity. We will receive a new
body whenever Christ comes again and that new body will be in
conjunction with that man that we already have. But we see here in 1 Corinthians
chapter 2, it says, now we have received not the spirit of the
world, but the spirit which is of God. The child of grace in
this vessel of clay has received that very eternal life of God
in them, and that eternal life has been given to them by the
spirit of God, and it indwells with them, and the purpose for
which they have been given that spirit is, look at it, that we
might know. That we might know the things
that have been freely, not worked for, freely given to us by God. Turn with me, if you would, to
1 Corinthians chapter 10. In 1 Corinthians chapter 10, look
with me, if you would, at verse 11. We understand all throughout
Scripture, Old Testament especially, but all throughout Scripture,
we see the picture, the title of God's people continually,
forever, all the time, without fail, failing God. Now doesn't that make you feel
good? to know that we are counted among the number of God's people
who still can't keep God's law? Well, if you do know that, that's
a blessing. If you know that you can't keep God's law, if
you've been given to know that you don't measure up, that's
actually a blessing. It's not a curse. It's not a
curse to know the weight of the subjectiveness that we have to
our own vanity. That is a blessing. It was a
blessing for that sinner that was before God in the temple,
whenever he looked up and he said, have mercy upon me, a sinner. It was a cursing to that other
man who stood there who could not see that he was in the same
position, the same boat as that man humbled before God, but yet
this man here stood because he had kept all the law of God and
done all the right things and had an outward show of religion,
but yet he comes and he says, Lord, I am glad that you've not
made me like that worthless sinner that's over here. That was a
curse. So we see all throughout the
Old Testament, we see the children of Israel as they have been obedient
to God in some way or another, but it never fails. All of a
sudden, they do wrong before God, and what does God do? God
sends them into captivity. Now, he sent them into captivity
not just because they sinned, but he had a purpose that they
might sin to go into captivity. Brethren, captivity was a tool
that God used in his overall purpose and plan to teach his
people some things. What always happened whenever
the brethren came out of captivity? They were happy. They rejoiced.
And what did they do? Their hearts were what? They
were turned to the Lord. He has given us the spirit that
we might know he has made us subject to vanity so that we
might have hope. You know a lot of times whenever
we preach about depravity, as J.C. preached about earlier,
a lot of people will say, why do you guys always got to preach
about negative things? You're always preaching what
we can't do, what we can't do. Why are you always talking about
negative things, preaching positive things once in a while? Brethren,
listen, it is a blessing to be known that we can do it. If we think we can't do it, we're
condemned. The Bible says that the letter
killeth, but the Spirit gives life. The Bible says that if
we want to run to Mount Sinai, all we're going to do is put
our hand to that mountain, and we're going to die. Anytime you
think that you're going to be accepted before God, that you're
going to receive Him, and He's going to just take you in because
you've made a decision, or you can just do anything that you
think is religiously possible to keep in right step with Him,
and He's going to say OK to that? I don't think so. In 1 Corinthians
chapter 2 and verse 11, he says, now all these things happen unto
them, and he's talking about the Old Testament and all the
stuff that happened to Israel and their deliverance and being
brought out of captivity. Now all these things happen unto
them for examples, and they are written for our admonition upon
whom the ends of the world are come. So all these things are
written, those types of foreshadows, all the things that we see in
the life of Israel as that nation are all typified to tell us about
God's elect, to tell us about the grace of God in the life
of his people. about letting the Bible say what
it means and I don't think what I'm about to say is going to
negate what he said and I think you would probably agree with
me on this but oftentimes we look at the scriptures and we
read especially the Old Testament and they do have historic value
for us we read them and there that is a historic record of
what took place and we see spiritual things harbor on the
spiritual. That which is spiritual in us
looks to go beyond the letter and look to the spirit. What
does the spirit teach us in this? And when we look at the Old Testament,
there's too many people that's harboring on a group of people,
a nation and a plot of land, which all typify something that
we have right now. It's typifying what we are as
God's people, the true church, the true elect, the true Jew,
the true Israelite, and the people of God as we are the tabernacle
of God, the temple of God. All these things are to show
us in the spiritual the reality of our relationship. to our husband,
our relationship to the sower, the relationship to the one who
has done all things for us, our relationship to our head. He says right here in verse 12,
he says, wherefore let them that thinketh he standeth take heed
lest he fall. And here it is, this is what
I wanted to get to. There hath no temptation taken you but such
as common to man. Now that word temptation there,
that word temptation means several different things in God's word.
The word temptation out here means to try, to test, to prove. It's not a lustful alluring away,
it's a testing or a proving, to try, We can see this word if you want
to turn with me to 1 Peter chapter 4, verse 12. 1 Peter chapter 4, verse 12. It says, Beloved, think it not
strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you as
though some strange thing happened to you. It doesn't matter who you are,
where you live, what your upbringing is. It doesn't matter how much
you know, how much you don't know. It doesn't matter how long
you've been on the road to the kingdom. There is no temptation
that befalls you that is not common to man. This is the plot. This is the life. This is the predestinated walk
that God has determined for the child of grace to walk, that
he might his whole entire lifetime be exercised in the vanity of
the flesh and the spirit that's within and the warfare that comes
between them. That is God's lot for every child
of grace. Now, listen, there's a lot of
trial and temptation that is put upon the reprobate, but it's
not like the child of grace. I mentioned my church a few years
ago, and I was very nervous. I've told our church this before. Not that I'm the only one that
has said it, but I have not heard it and I've never preached it,
but the Lord had surely put it upon my heart or I wouldn't be
saying it. But I mentioned to the church one night in a Bible
study that we were having, I said, the child of grace's sin is different
than the reprobate's sin. Now, sin is sin. We know the
biblical definition of sin is the transgression of the law.
What does the word sin actually mean? Where does that word come
from? It means miss the mark, right? It means miss the mark. Brethren, we have been placed
in a body that cannot hit the mark. Brother J.C. said it a while ago, there is
nothing that you can do, even your righteousnesses are filthy
rats. That everything that we do, everything
that we say, everything we think, our most best efforts and deeds
that we do, the Bible says, miss the mark. There's no hope in
us. There is no hope in anything
this flesh will produce. It misses the mark. He says here, if you look in
1 Peter, chapter 4, verse 12, he says, think it not strange
concerning the fire trial which is to try you as though some
strange thing happened to you. It's not a strange thing. It's
a common thing. These trials and these provings
and these things that we have to experience by warring with
this flesh, these are common to us. You're not alone, brother. You're not alone. And I can guarantee
you, everyone here that you might look to as the more spiritual
one of your bunch, they deal with these same problems. They
deal with the fact that they try and they fail. They try and
they fail. They try and they fail. And that's
what's been given for us. You say, well, what could really
come out of that? Really, what could come out of
being put through that yo-yo of lives. Sometimes we're up,
sometimes we're down. Sometimes we feel the love of
God, sometimes we don't feel the love of God. Sometimes we
know that we are in and doing and thinking and trying to be
what God wants us to be and sometimes we don't. Why is it sometimes
that things seem so cold in my heart? Why is there this besetting
sin that I keep going to God for and ask Him, can you remove
this sin from me? And He keeps bringing it back
and He keeps bringing it back. Why does He continue to let me
feel the evils of my heart? Why does He continue to pursue
this worm to death, as the hymn says? That we might rejoice, look at
verse 13. that when his glory shall be
revealed, he may be glad with all, or excuse me, also with
exceeding joy. God's predestinated purpose in
your exercise in the flesh, warring against the spirit, is to keep
you subjective to that vanity that you might be filled with
hope. But when hope finds its end,
we will rejoice with exceeding great joy to know that this was
God's plan, this was God's purpose, this was God's, how should I
say this? This is God's way in which he
conformed us to his image. I think if we asked for a raise
of hands around here, everybody would probably raise your hands.
Would you like to be conformed to the image of God? Would you
know that that's what you're predestinated to, if you're his?
There's no way it's not gonna happen. There's no way. Brother JC said something to
me many years ago, and it stuck with me, and I've said it a lot.
If you ever listen to us or watch anything, I've even put it in
some articles. J.C. said one time, he told me,
he said, we are gonna sin every sin that Christ died for, no
more and no less. And I agreed with him. He was
right. He didn't write about a few things. I had to correct
him a few of them. I added something to that, though.
We are also gonna work every work that God has ordained for
us And we're gonna walk in that work, no more and no less. So what does that mean? That
means that every sin and every work has been ordained of God.
That whether it's us doing the work that God has done in us,
or whether it is us doing the sin that is so much in us, either
way, it is God's work, and it is God's doing, and it is God
bringing us to himself. That is the path to conformity. that He has allotted for you.
Now yours might be different than mine, but it's gonna be
the common salvation and it's gonna be the common subject to
vanity and hope and exceeding joy that we all will have. Some of you may give grace to
see that quicker than others. Some of you may see it to see
it as lovely. Some of you may see it as despair.
Some may see it as without hope, but brother, if you're a child
of grace, that hope will shine through. He says, but rejoice in as much
as you are protectors of Christ and his sufferings. Look with
me, if you would, at Romans chapter seven. Romans chapter seven. was Paul at the height of his
apostleship. And guess what, brethren? Paul's
no different than you, no different than me. Paul wasn't some superhero. Those apostles weren't superheroes.
God didn't choose them because they were more than anybody else.
Matter of fact, they was less than most people. Some of the
disciples went to go preach at one time and they said, who are
these men, they're unlearned. How do they know that stuff? I thank God that he uses unlearned
men. I've been accused of not being
able, you shouldn't listen to that guy, he's not lettered.
I thank God that he uses unlearned men. I thank God that he uses
men that he might get the glory. He uses the base things of the
earth to reveal those things. In Romans chapter seven, Paul
writes these things. Verse 17, excuse me, verse 18. For I know that in me, that is
in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. For to will is present
with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good which I would, I
do not, but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that,
I would not, it is no more I that do it but sin that dwells in
me. I find then a law that when I
would do good, evil is present with me. I've mentioned this
to my folks at the church before, I'm convinced that he's not talking
about that whenever I do good, evil is over here like a little
devil on my shoulder telling me to do bad. I think Paul is
realizing that every time I go to do good, it's not good, it's
evil. Because my sin is ever in me,
and ever with me, and dwelleth in me. And all that my flesh
can do, because he just said it right before that, that he
says, I know that in me dwelleth no good thing. And my flesh is
horrible, it's sinful, it misses the mark. Brethren, if we could
hit the mark, Christ didn't need to come. The whole purpose of
Christ coming was to hit the mark for His people as a substitute. He hit the mark for them so that
they wouldn't have to hit the mark, so that they wouldn't have
to try to keep hitting the mark. There's a difference between
that, by the way, if you didn't catch that. So that we don't
have to hit the mark, He did it for us. but also so that we
don't, through our whole entire life, have to continually, under
the yoke of the law, to keep trying to hit the mark. We arrested
Christ Jesus and what he has done. But guess what? The old flesh comes up and says,
you don't deserve it. You don't need it. You need to
get out there and get them fig leaves on. You need to get out
there and do what's right. You need to be doing this. Look
at all those admonitions in the Bible. Don't you think you ought
to be keeping them? Remember, brethren, have ye begun
in the spirit? Are ye now made perfect in the
flesh? He says, I find them that law
when I would do good, evil is present with me because my flesh
is everywhere I go. For I delight in the law of God
after the inward man. Now there's that seed we were
talking about, that one that's perfect and righteous and holy
and does not sin, he cannot sin. Why? Because it's the seed of
God. and it's created in true righteousness and holiness. It
can't get any better. It can't be improved upon. It
is perfect. That's what's in us. But what's
on the outside cannot do anything. It can't be improved upon. It
don't get any better. The flesh can't get any better
and the spirit never can get worse. And so there's the war
between us And Paul says, I delight in the law of God after the end
were banned, but I see another law in my members, warring against
the law of my mind, bringing me into, here's the word I want
you to pay close note to, bringing me into captivity to the law
of sin, which is in my members. Brethren, the lot that God has
for the child of grace is that we might be brought into captivity
to the law of sin in our members. You say, well, did God die to
take care of our sin problem? Absolutely he did. Here was the
thing that I told my church that night. The child of grace's sin has
a different relation to God than the non-elect. to the non-elect,
their sin or their missing the mark is only condemnation. It's only condemnation because
there is no hope for the wicked, but for the righteous. That's
those who have been made righteous, by the way. Not by impartation,
but by imputation. Those who have righteousness
laid to their account Their sin is in a completely, totally different
relationship to God than that of the nonelate. The relationship
of the sin of the child of grace is there for their learning,
is there for their exercise, is there for their hope, is to
continually to keep them in the dust so that their eyes are continually
in hope looking to Christ Jesus. Every time I It continually points
me to Christ. It continually reminds me that
I missed the mark. I missed the mark. And if I have
no hope of hitting the mark, then I have to look to one who
has hit it for me. And he says, this has been freely
given to you, and I've given my spirit, and it's in you, and
it's there so that you might know these things. And so he says that, I see another
law in my members warring against the law of my mind and bringing
me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members.
O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body
of death? And brethren, that's when the
warfare will finally be over. The warfare will finally be over.
It will be over one of these days, but not until we put down
this body of death. But he says, I thank God through
Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind, I myself
serve the law of God. That's the inward man. We cannot
keep from not keeping the law of God. Did you understand what
I just said? We cannot not keep the law of
God. That inward man cannot sin. And brethren, listen. Do we continue
to sin in this flesh? Absolutely. I'm not saying that
we've ceased from sinning. Don't get me wrong. Don't misunderstand
that. We have not ceased from sinning. We continue to sin. But brethren, that sin is gone.
It's not looked at. It's not beautiful. It's not
regarded as our account. Amen. Our account is clean. Yes. Amen. It's true. The banner
that is over us is righteous. Matter of fact, the Bible even
tells us, they even give us the name. He said, they shall be
known as the Lord our righteous. We are so righteous that God
has called us righteous, but it's not in and of ourselves.
It's because of our union with Christ Jesus, who is the righteous
one. He says, I thank you, Jesus Christ, our Lord. So then with
the mind, I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh, resigned within himself, that
this is the lot that God has given to the child of grace,
that the child of Adam and the child of Christ are gonna be
at warfare against each other. And it's been like that since
Genesis, by the way. His seed is gonna have enmity
against that other seed. Jacob and Esau, Ishmael and Isaac,
There are always gonna be the consternation between that which
is of the flesh and that which is of the spirit. And God has
given that to us so that we might have hope. Now turn with me if
you would to Psalms 126. view in your eyes after what's
been said. I believe that we ought to believe
what the Bible says, like J.C. said. And what I meant to start
saying before I got sidetracked with the rest of the stuff I've
said, is that sometimes whenever we're looking at the Bible, we
got to see beyond the letter and look at what the Spirit is
telling us about some things. The 126th Psalm is surely a historical
account of the deliverance of the people of Israel out of captivity
of Babylon, coming back into the land to rebuild. There's no doubt about that.
But I don't wanna look at the letter, I wanna look at the Spirit. I see the tithe, I wanna see
the anti-tithe. I see these words and it's good
to have knowledge of history. But how does that help my experience?
I'm thankful that there have been men throughout all the ages
that has held to the word of God and I can look at these history
books and I can open them up and I can see what they've said
and I can look at their confessions and see what they've confessed
and I can see how they were persecuted and all these things and I can
look at all that history and that's great. But how does that
affect my experience with God? How does that encourage and edify
me as far as the warfare that I'm experiencing? Have you ever
thought about that? Have you ever felt that? You've
seen Brother So-So over there, man. It looks like he's on top
of the world all the time. God just never does have to give
him any trials and tribulations because he's just always on it.
The bullet pour on me over here, he just has me in the dirt all
the time. Well, why don't you open up your
history book and look back at it, and a lot of people marvel at it. Praise the Lord for the witness
that has been before us. There's a great cloud of witness
that has went before us that has been there, and taught, and
preached, and held, and stood, that God has used. But how does
that help me in my experience? whenever the flesh is warring
against the mind. And the mind is warring against
the flesh. And I want to do the things that
I know I should do, but I don't do them. And the things I don't
want to do, that's what I do. Whenever I fall on my knees and
say, Lord, I came again to that sin. I've been praying about
this sin for years. Can you please help me? Paul
prayed. remove this thorn from my side
over and over again. But what did God say? I've subjected
you to vanity, that by reason of him who subjected you, you
might have hope for my grace. Psalm 126 says this, and when
the Lord turned again, the captivity of Zion. If you look there in
the Hebrew, the word turned again, that means to turn, return the
returning. It means to return the returning.
Bring the returning again. They've returned once, then they've
been taken away again. and they're being brought back
again. It's a cyclical thing. Just like
the war of the flesh and the spirit is a cyclical thing, there'll
be days that we feel the love of God and the work of God in
us. And then there'll be days that
we don't. We feel us trying to work for
God. It says here, when the Lord returned
the returning, the captivity of Zion, We were like that in
that dream. You feel that wonderful, your
heart's been burdened, you've felt the weight of your sin,
you know your inability, you know how you have lost it. And
God returns you back, and He returns you back, and you come
back with glad tidings and saying, praise the Lord, rejoicing. And
those who haven't heard, man, I tell you what, it was the most
wonderful thing to feel the presence of God once again in my life,
and working in my heart, and bringing me to His Word, and
bringing me to do what He wants me to do. Keeping me from that
sin and keeping me from that sin and keeping me from losing
my temper and losing my head and all this stuff. Keeping that
flesh down. It was wonderful. Verse 2, it
says, then was our mouth filled with laughter and our tongue
was singing. Then said they among the heathen,
the Lord hath done great things for them. They were proclaiming
the great works of the Lord and what he has done for them all
over the place. Turn again our captivity, oh
Lord, as the streams in the south. You know, south of Judah there
was places that was dry and barren for long periods of time. But
whenever the rain seasons come, those rains would come down and
the way the mountains were there, they would come down and they
would flood the whole entire plain. And it would just cover
everything in water and then all of a sudden all these blooms
would come up and grass would come up and all kinds It's like
everything came back alive again. And this is what they're saying.
Whenever the Lord restrains this flesh, whenever the Lord brings
me back from the captivity of sin, the law of captivity to
sin, when he brings me back from that, it's as if the waters have
flooded the plains and the flowers has come up and everything is
so beautiful and wonderful. It says, turn again our captivity
where the Lord has the streams in the south. And he says, verse
five, they that sow in tears shall reap in joy. Brethren,
listen, all the tears that you cry over your inability, all
the tears you cry over how much you fail God, all the tears you
cry when you see the wickedness of your heart and the captivity
of sin that we have, all the tears that you cry, listen, one
of these days they are going to be reaped in joy. You're going
to see that all the things that God has brought me through in
the subjectiveness to vanity was for my conformity to the
man, Jesus Christ. Weeping may endure for the night,
but joy comes in the morning. If you would, look with me at
Psalm The psalmist writes, oh, that's
the salvation of Israel. Again, we're not just looking
at the letter. We're not looking at a group
of people over in a little country chosen by God way, way long time
ago to be an instrument of his using. We're talking about the
spiritual people of God. We're talking about every child
of grace. Oh, that the salvation of Israel,
and by the way, Christ being the first Israel, we're Israel
because we're in Israel, by the way. Oh, that the salvation of
Israel were come out of Zion. Who's Zion? The church? The people of God. Zion represents us. All that
the salvation of Israel might come out of Zion, that which
is worked in the heart, that which is the seed that is in
you, that which has been planted within you, all that it might
come out. Yes, brethren, there are gonna
be seasons where the sin of captivity is seen, but praise God, the
seed that is in you remains. And that salvation will come
forth. Faith, belief, repentance, understanding, joy. temperance, faith, all these
things. All these things are the fruit
of the Spirit of God. And they are as the flowers that
bloom whenever they've been watered, have been bloomed. The things
of salvation come forth from us. But look what he says here. He says, oh, that the salvation
of Israel were to come out of Zion when God bring it back,
the captivity of his people. When God brings us back out of
that time of captivity that he's let us go into, where we're tapped
into the sin of the flesh, whenever he brings us back, he says, Jacob
shall rejoice and Israel shall be glad. Look at Psalms 85 verse one. Lord, thou hast been favorable
unto the land. Thou hast brought back the captivity
of Jacob. We see this as an ongoing thing
in these people's lives. And as it pertains to the things
of the spirit, we see this as an ongoing thing for us, brethren.
Look at Hosea chapter six and verse 11. That's us. He hath set, and here
I want you to pay close attention to what it says here. He hath
set a harvest for thee when I returned the captivity
of my people. There's been predestinated a
harvest that comes from the exercising of the captivity. And I hope
what JC said, I hope you're understanding what I'm saying. Only the Spirit can give us understanding. I can't give it to you. So I
pray that the Spirit's giving me an understanding of these
things. But brethren, this captivity or this continual exercising
of the flesh and the Spirit is something the Lord gives because
there's a harvest that comes from that. There's something
that comes forth from the exercising of the vanity and the righteousness of the
seed. that longs. Yeah, the Bible says that it
lusts after each other. Back in Psalms 126, he says,
he that goeth forth and weepeth. And oh, how many times have you
gone forth weeping? How many times has the Lord brought
you through these times? He goeth forth weeping. bearing precious seed. Now I mentioned to you a while
ago that this vessel of clay is the house for treasure. This
earthen vessel has a treasure hidden within it, the seed of
God. This Hebrew phrase, precious
seed, actually means a seed box. a container for seed. He that goeth forth weeping,
bearing a seed container, shall doubtless come again, rejoicing. We go forth weeping in this seed
box, that is flesh, it cannot please God, that profits nothing,
that is a continual warfare with the Spirit of God that is in
us. So much so that it brings us in captivity to the law of
sin, But yet the law of God in our mind continues to lust after
it, and wars after it, and God gives us sweet, precious times
of victory, but yet lets us go back into captivity. See, those
were all planned by God. All those captivities of Israel
of old were all planned by God. Yes, there were circumstances
that brought him along the way, but that was the overarching
purpose of God before the foundation of the world, that he would send
them into those captivities. God, he has sent us into our
captivities in this sea, Carter. But he says, we shall doubtless
come again. You know, a lot of times how
I know a child of grace is a child of grace. You know, faith is
not seen, right? Faith is the substance of things
hopeful, but the evidence of things not seen. I have a hope
that's been given to me. You can't see that hope, but
what happens is that hope makes itself evident by faith. Whenever
I continue to look to Christ, whenever I look to Christ alone,
not all the other alums JC was talking about that shouldn't
be there. Christ alone, that is an outward show of that invisible
faith that we've been given. That is what we come rejoicing
with. We come rejoicing knowing that
though my outward man perished, yet my inward man is renewed
every day. Though this flesh will be stripped
away, I have one waiting for me in heaven that the Lord has
gone to prepare, and whenever he comes again, that's gonna
come back with him, and I will be made like him. This seed carrier is gonna fall
apart so that the seed that is in here can be put in the right
cart. You remember back in the Old
Testament, They wanted to put the ark on
a cart. That wasn't how God designed it to be carried. But yet it
was carried like that, right? And what happened? There was
a lot of things that took place because of a cart holding the
ark. But whenever the ark was carried
by the staves, the way that it was intended, the proper way,
then everything was great. Brethren, listen, in this life,
things are not going to be great because the cart, the seed bearer
that is holding the seed is a flesh and it is not what God has given
for us in the future. It's what he's given to us now. He that goeth forth and weepeth
bearing precious seed, shalt thou as come again with rejoicing,
bringing his sheaves with him, bringing the fruit of what God
has done in him. Going to come rejoicing for everything
that the exercising of this vanity has produced by God in God's
plan, in God's purpose, in the predestinated will of God. All those things that has preceded
us that has been for our understanding, that has been for our learning,
that has been for our knowledge of the one true God, the one
who is sovereign over all things. He has exercised that in the
vanity of man so that we might have hope and that we might look
to Him. It brings forth praise, it brings
forth love, it brings forth joy, it brings forth all those works
of the Spirit that is in us. So I pray that whenever we go
through these fiery trials, we might not think we're the only
one. I remember Jeremiah kind of whining to the Lord, thinking
he was the only one. Sometimes we think we're the
only one. But brethren, there's nothing that's happened to us
that's not common. It's not uncommon. It's common to every one of us. that in due season, we will reap.
In due season, I don't know when your season will be. You may
be many nights. I remember in the song of Solomon,
he said that there was many nights that he wept and cried out, thought
that the Lord had left him. Just a song in the night. Praise
the Lord, he's giving us a song. Amen. The hope may be small,
but He's given us the hope. As J.C. said, everyone else doesn't
have hope. There is no hope. Their sin is
only there to condemn them. Yet your sin has been given for
you to continue to feel. You know, God has forgiven every
one of your sins. Every sin that you're going to
do from today on forward. I don't know how many I'm going
to have. I don't know what I'm going to do. But every one of
those sins has been forgiven. before I even get to them. So
that tells me that if I sin tomorrow, that sin must have been predestinated
because Christ died for that sin. And I just did that sin
before I ever did it. Christ died for it. So that must
have been predestinated. I know people don't like that. I know they don't like that terminology
that goes along with it. But brethren, If we don't believe
that God is sovereign over all things, and that he works all
things after the counsel of his own will, then we're worshiping and preaching
another Jesus, another God.