We're going to work our way back
to Hebrews. It'll be a few minutes. Turn
with me to Matthew chapter 14. We're going to work our way there
too. Someone called the depression
that Elijah went through after being threatened by Jezebel.
This was after that spectacular display of God's power and grace
through Elijah on the mount against the false prophets. After that,
imagine that. After that, after that wondrous
proof of God's power and might that God is God, Elijah gets
word, a messenger is sent and says, Isabel, that wicked queen
is going to have your head before the sun goes down. And he started
shaking in his boots. What do you think of that? Sounds
like he was just like me. But in Romans chapter 11 verse
3, this is Elijah on that occasion. Someone referred to this as the
Elijah complex. Romans 11 and 3, this is what
he prayed. Lord, they have killed thy prophets
and dig down thine altars, and I am left alone. And they seek
my life. Woe is me. Spurgeon wrote a book entitled
Lectures to My Students, to young preachers, and one chapter I
recall was called the minister's feigning fits. He warned against
this Elijah complex that just seems to come from out of nowhere
from time to time. Preachers are especially prone
to that illness. Elijah says, I'm the only one
left. I remember my grandmother telling
me about two men who were Quakers living in a village of Quakers.
and they were having a private conversation between themselves
one day and he said, one said to the other, brother, I think
you, me, and thee are the only true holy people in this village
and I have my doubts about thee. I'm the only one left. This is
how Elijah felt. It wasn't true. It wasn't true. Hmm. But have you ever felt that
way? Have you ever felt I'm alone. I'm alone. I mean, as a believer. I don't have anybody to talk
to. I don't have a good listener. You remember, oh, it was years
ago, I don't even remember who was president, but a little fella
named Ross Perot, is that right, John? Was running for president. And he was known for having pretty
big ears. I mean, you know how they would
make caricatures in the newspapers. Any feature that is prominent,
they make it even explode. It was always his ears. I remember
one night watching the debates, and one of the moderators asked
him a question. He said, I'm all ears. And the
audience just broke up. It's not hard to find folks that
are all mouth. They're pretty common. But it's
rare to find somebody that's all ears. A good listener is
rare, is rare. When you find one that'll listen,
just listen, as you pour out your heart to them, oh, that's
a good friend. That's a good friend. That's
a really good friend. If they're listening to your
circumstances, and you know there's not much they can do about it
at all, could you just listen? Could you just listen? Elijah
said, I'm the only one left. But Elijah came out of his fainting
fit. Elijah came out of his state
of depression. And this is how it happened.
In that same chapter of Romans 11, verse 4. But what saith the
answer of God to him? When Elijah said, God, here's
how things are. I'm the only one left. And Elijah really felt that.
It wasn't true. It was far from true, but that's
how he, looking through those depression glasses, that's how
he saw things. But, verse 4, Romans 11, but
what saith the answer of God to him? I have reserved to myself
seven thousand men, that should have perked him up, who have
not bowed the knee to the image of Baal, like you thought, Elijah.
Elijah, God was telling him, you're not alone. You're not
alone. Even so, Paul makes application
of what God told Elijah. Even so, at this present time
also, there is a remnant according to the election of grace. And
if by grace, if by grace, then it's no more of works. Otherwise,
grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then it's
no more grace. Otherwise, work is no more work. This election is founded on solely
God's sovereign, gracious choice. That's encouraging. That's encouraging. It encouraged Elijah. Man, he
got up, straightened himself out, pulled his bootstraps up,
and said, how about that? 7,000? God's reserved 7,000?
He didn't know it, did he? And Paul says God's done the
same thing today. In Paul's day, like Elijah's
day, in our day, like Paul's day. That's encouraging, I repeat. I've had people say, if I believe
what you believe, election I wouldn't preach. And I think, you fool,
you fool. I wouldn't preach if I believed
anything less than that. If I believed it was up to a
man's will, I'd say shut the doors and let's just turn it
into a goat barn or something. But because God has reserved
to himself an elect, Paul said, I endure all things for the elect's
sake, that they too may obtain the salvation of God that's in
Christ Jesus, that's encouraging. In the Gospel of Matthew chapter
14, did you find that place? I'd like for you to read it along
with me. Matthew chapter 14, we have another story about another
great prophet, the last of the prophets, John the Baptist, the
forerunner of Jesus Christ. What about that? Some even thought
at the time when John first came on the scene that he was the
Christ. Are you the Messiah, they asked? He was even compared
to Elijah by Jesus Christ himself afterwards. But here in Matthew
chapter 14, verse 3, we read this concerning John the Baptist. For Herod had laid hold on John
and bound him and put him in prison for Herodias' sake, his
brother Philip's wife. For John said unto him, It is
not lawful for you to have her. And when he would have put him
to death, he feared the multitude, because they counted him as a
prophet. But when Herod's birthday was kept, the daughter of Herodias
danced before them and pleased Herod. Whereupon he promised
with an oath to give her whatsoever she would ask. And she, being
before instructed of her mother, said, When Herod ask you that,
you tell him this. Give me here John Baptist's head
in a charger, right now, right now." And the king was very sorry,
verse 9, nevertheless for the oath's sake, and then would sit
with him at meat, he commanded it to be given her, and he sent
and beheaded John in prison, the forerunner of Jesus Christ. And his head was brought, verse
11, in a charger and given to the damsel, and she brought it
to her mother. How disgraceful. How tragic. It seems like a strange and sad
ending, doesn't it? It seems like a sad and strange
conclusion to the life of the forerunner of Jesus Christ. In Luke chapter 1, when John's
father was ministering in the temple. The angel came to him
and said, your prayers have been heard. Elizabeth, even in her
old age, is going to have a son. And many of the children of Israel
shall he turn to the Lord their God. Speaking of John the Baptist,
and he shall go before him. Oh my, what a privilege. What
a privilege, Billy. He, John the Baptist, shall go
before Him, the Messiah, God Almighty, the Word made flesh. John's going to introduce Him.
We'll go before Him in the spirit and power of Elias, Elijah, to
turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the disobedient
to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared
for the Lord. And when Elizabeth was six months
pregnant, After the visit of the angel to Mary announcing
the birth of her son, Mary visits Elizabeth. And Mary goes in and
says, Behold the handmaid of the Lord, she says to the angel,
be it unto me according to thy word. And Mary arose in those
days and went into the hill country with haste into the city of Judah. This is in Luke chapter 1 as
well. and entered into the house of Zacharias and saluted Elizabeth. And it came to pass, when Elizabeth
heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb,
John the Baptist. Leaped in her womb, verse 41,
and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost, and so was that
baby in her womb, filled with the Holy Ghost. And she spake
out with a loud voice and said, Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. And whence is this to me
that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For lo, as soon as
the voice of thy salutation sounded in my ears, the babe leaped in
my womb for joy." And when John, that babe in the womb, became
a man and began preaching that the Christ of God was coming,
he was still jumping for joy. Still jumping for joy, even more
so. John chapter 3, we read this,
verse 27. John answered and said, a man
can receive nothing except it be given him from above. You
yourselves bear witness. I said, I'm not the Christ, but
I'm sent before him. He that has the bride is the
bridegroom, but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth
and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice.
This my joy, therefore. is fulfilled. Nothing makes me
happier. Nothing makes me leap for joy
as to hear the bridegroom's voice. He must increase, and I must
decrease, but I must decrease, and that's all I want," John
said. I wouldn't have it any other way. He deflected any hint
of anything other than being a voice crying in the wilderness,
he would deflect it from himself. No, no, no. Don't look at me.
Don't look at me. Look at the one I'm pointing you to. And
when Jesus Christ came on the scene, can you imagine what joy
it was for John, knowing that that was the Son of God? that
that was the Messiah that all the prophets were talking about. He's coming. He's coming, they
said. And John said, He's arrived. He's here. Let me point Him out
to you. Behold the Lamb of God. I knew
Him not, but He that sent me to baptize, that is God. Told
me upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining on,
that's Him. That's Him. And John said, I
saw and beheld. This is the Son of God. Behold
the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. Listen in Matthew 11 what Jesus
himself said about John the Baptist. In verse 7, as they departed,
Jesus began to say unto the multitudes concerning John, What went you
out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind?
But what did you go out to see? A man clothed with soft raiment?
That wasn't John. Behold, they that wear soft clothing
are in kings' houses. But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I say unto you,
and more than a prophet, verse 10, Matthew 11, for this is he
of whom it is written, behold, I send my messenger before thy
face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. Verily I say
unto you, among them that are born of women, there hath not
risen a greater than John the Baptist. What an honor it was
for John to point out the Lamb of God. I remember when John,
not John the Baptist, not the Apostle John, John back there,
John Copeland. I remember some years ago when
John was teaching through the book of Matthew. I remember when
he made this statement that as far as he could determine, and
he was right, that there were only two men whose births were
foretold in the Old Testament Scriptures. Only two. And one
was Jesus Christ, and the other was John the Baptist. What about
that? Wow. Malachi, the last book,
the last prophet of the Old Testament, we read, Behold, I will send
my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me. And the Lord
whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger
of the covenant, whom ye delight in. Behold, he shall come, saith
the Lord of hosts, John the Baptist introduced him. And now back
to Matthew 14, we read in verse 11 again, and his head was brought
in a charger and given to the damsel, and she brought it to
her mother. Again, again I remember when
John was teaching from the book of Matthew from this chapter,
thinking about what John said concerning that verse, his headless
body. And after the lesson, before
the message I was to bring, I remember talking with John, because I
couldn't help but thinking while John was teaching that concerning
the death of John the Baptist and the burial of his headless
body, I said, John, you know, John the Baptist's body may have
been headless in a tomb, but his glorious head, the Lord Jesus
Christ, was still alive and well. I thought of what the apostle
John learned on the Isle of Patmos, when his glorious head as well
appeared to him. In chapter one we read, John
heard a great voice as the sound of a trumpet, saying, I'm Alpha
and Omega, the first and the last. And John said, I turned
to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven
golden candlesticks. And in the midst of the seven
candlesticks, one likened to the Son of Man, clothed with
the garment down to his feet, and girded about the paps with
a golden girdle. His head and his hairs were like
white like wool. Yes, our head is high and lifted
up. As white as snow, and his eyes
were as a flame of fire, and his feet likened to fine brass,
as if they burned in the furnace they had. And his voice is the
sound of many waters. Never a man spake like this man.
And he had in his right hand seven stars, and out of his mouth
went a sharp two-edged sword. And his countenance was as the
sun shineth in his strength. He sure doesn't sound like the
poor, pitiful, helpless Jesus most people hear about today,
does he? John didn't think so. And when I saw him, I fell at
his feet as dead. Dead. I was overwhelmed at the
sight of my great God and Savior. The mighty God appeared to John.
The everlasting Father appeared to John. The ruler over all appeared
to John. He that has all power in heaven
and earth appeared to John. And John said, I fell down like
a dead man. And he laid his right hand upon
me, saying unto me, fear not. I am the first and the last.
I am he that liveth and was dead. And behold, oh, God helped Larry
to behold. To hear this, I'm alive, Christ
says, I'm alive forevermore. Amen. And have the keys of hell
and death. Back to John 14. The next verse,
verse 12. And his disciples came and took
up the body and buried it. Can you imagine how confused
they must have been? Can you imagine how broken hearted
they must have been to see the headless body of their teacher,
their rabbi, their prophet, their friend, their hero brought to
this? Can you imagine the state of
mind they must have been in? But they didn't only bury the
headless body of John the Baptist, verse 12, of Matthew 14 ends
with these very instructive words, and they went and told Jesus. They went, Matthew 14 and 12,
they went and told Jesus. The old hymn that we'll close
our service with today is called, I Must Tell Jesus. I Must Tell
Jesus. And I know I've told you the
history of this. I'm going to tell you again. It was written
by a man named Elijah Hoffman in 1894. He was visiting a woman
whom, and these are his words, that God had permitted many visitations
of sorrow and affliction. Coming to her home one day, I
found her much discouraged. She unburdened her heart. Concluding
with the question, Brother Hoffman, what shall I do? I quoted from
the word, then added, you cannot do better than this. Take all
your sorrows to Jesus. You must tell Jesus. You must tell Jesus. He wrote,
for a moment she seemed lost in meditation. Then her eyes
lighted as she exclaimed, yes, I must tell Jesus. As I left her home, I had a vision
of that joy-illuminated face, and I heard all along my pathway
the echo, I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus. And when he
got home, he wrote that hymn. The refrain says, I must tell
Jesus, I must tell Jesus, I cannot bear my burdens alone, and I'm
a fool for trying. I must tell Jesus, I must tell
Jesus, Jesus can help me. Jesus alone. I must tell Jesus. There are so many texts, isn't
there, that I could use to illustrate that, both in the Old Testament
and the New Testament. Because all who follow the Lamb
of God in this God-hating, Christ-rejecting world are going to suffer persecution. Just being known as a believer
rubs them the wrong way. If you're just religious, that's
not a problem. If you just made a decision for Jesus, that's
not a problem. You'll get along fine. Oh, but
if you've really taken up your cross and you're denying yourself
and you're following the Lamb, it just rubs this religious world
especially the wrong way. So it doesn't matter where you
live or when you live. All that will live godly in Christ
Jesus will suffer. In the world, you'll have tribulation. There's no exceptions. But the
greatest battle, the greatest battle for a child of God, is
that one that Paul described in Romans 7, when he said, I
know, I know that in me, in me, that is in my flesh dwelleth
no good thing. For the will is present with
me, but how to perform that will To do that which is good I find
not, for the good that I would not do, 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 dwelleth in me." You
see, the greatest battle for a true believer is not with what's
out there, but what's in here. John, I can't escape myself. I can't get away from myself.
If I could find some so-called utopia and live there, I would
still have the battle with Seth. That's my greatest problem. I
can't escape from him. And as I was thinking along these
lines in the wee hours, I thought, oh man, Paul, you sure spoke
the truth. Oh, wretched man that I am, and
I thought I didn't think about Paul, I thought about Larry.
I'm not the husband to you, Robin, that I ought to be. I'm just
not. I want to be, but I'm not. I'm
not the father to my children that I want to be. And I'm not
the pastor to you that I want to be. And I'm not the believer
that I want to be. I want to be, but I can't. I'm
not the servant of Jesus Christ I want to be. My soul, he's done
so little, so much for me, and I receive so little in return.
So little devotion, so little love, so little thankfulness,
so little gratefulness. And that makes me cry with Paul.
Oh, wretched man that I am. Is it always going to be this
way? Will it ever get any better? Oh, wretched man that I am. She'll
deliver me from this body of death myself. What must I do? I must tell Jesus. I must tell
Jesus. And that's exactly what Paul
did. In Romans 7, he answers that agonizing question of verse
24 with this blessed answer. I thank God through Jesus Christ
our Lord and ignoring Please ignore the chapter break there.
I think it was in an unfortunate place. From the last verse of
Romans 7 to the first verse of chapter 8, just ignore that.
Ignore that chapter break. When Paul cries out, he answers
to his question, I thank God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
after confessing, his own righteousness, his own sinful nature, his own
battle with himself. In the same breath, he says,
therefore now. There is therefore now. Right
now, Paul. You just confessed what a wretch
you are. And yet you say, now, while I'm
struggling in my sinful nature, even now while I'm warring with
the old man and confessing my sin that I just can't help but
do, even now, there's no condemnation? Oh, glory to his name. Why? There's
no condemnation to those that are in Fairmont Grace Church?
Or any other church? No, there's no condemnation to
those who are where in Christ Jesus. Oh, glory to His name. No condemnation now or ever will
be to those who are wrapped up, who are in Christ Jesus. Oh,
one with my great Redeemer, one. Who walk not after the flesh,
but after the Spirit. What does that mean? who walked
not after the flesh but after the Spirit. Now I knew some old
ladies, just sour pusses, no wonder they were sour pusses,
because their whole concept of serving God was touch not, taste
not, go not, wear not, smile not, enjoy not, do not. Everything
was a sin except going to church and looking sad. And they thought
that was walking after the Spirit. No, no, that's not what it is.
You know what walking after the Spirit is? It's simply believing
Jesus Christ. It's simply trusting in the Son
of God. That's what it is. That's what
honors Him. The old hymn says, tempted and
tried, I need a great Savior, one who can help my burdens to
bear. I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus, He all my cares and
sorrows will share. As we read a moment ago, a few
moments ago, Hebrews 4, We're told, let us therefore come,
verse 16. The chapter concludes with this.
Seeing that we have such a great high priest, seeing that Jesus
Christ is in the heavens, seeing that he was once here on earth,
touched with the feeling of our infirmities. That enables him
to identify with us because he was made like unto his brethren. He's not aloof. It's not something
he's not aware of. You know why? Because he's experienced
what you're experienced. He knows what rejection is. He
knows what it was to be alone. They all forsook him and fled.
I've tried the wine press alone, he said, and there was nobody
with me. My own friend, my own familiar
friend, lifted up his hand against it. He knows what lonely is,
Billy. He knows what lonely is. That's what makes him such a
comforting high priest. And the writer says, let us therefore
come to him. Let us just come boldly to the
throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to
help in time of need. Brothers and sisters in Christ,
let's just join hands. Let's just join hands this morning
and go together. Let's just go together to the
throne of grace and find that Jesus Christ is able to lift
us up in his arms and wipe away all our tears and give us grace
to help in time of need, no matter what your need might be. I must
tell Jesus. Mr. Spurgeon said, millions of
spirits before the throne all bear witness to the trustworthiness
of Jesus Christ. He did not fail one of them.
Mary Magdalene, or the thief on the cross, Saul of Tarsus,
or even blaspheming Peter, they all have found him able to save
to the uttermost them that come unto God by him. While I come
to the throne of grace, as Peter said on one occasion, Lord, where
else are we going to go? To whom shall we go but to you? Let us tell Jesus. Brother Don, I knew we had a
hymn with this subject. It's not in our Songs of Grace
book, but I went online and found it. There is a throne of grace. Savior to us assembled here,
reveal your smiling face. Let us your blessed presence
share around the throne of grace. With hope and joy for grace we
come, Those sinners we confess, thankful to know through Christ
there's room before the throne of grace. We left each one both
heart and voice in our united praise, with gratitude to you
because there is a throne of grace. I read this as an illustration
the other evening. The man said that he saw a sign
in the window of a florist. And it said, ugly corners made
beautiful. And of course, what the man meant
was that he could beautify any ugly spot or a piece of landscape,
a corner of the yard. He could trim out the weeds,
like I done, plant the flowers and the shrubs, and transform
it into that wilderness rather into a garden. That's what grace
does. That's what grace does. As a
matter of fact, in the Song of Solomon, it uses that very illustration. I've come into my garden, my
beloved. Come, come. In Isaiah chapter
60, verse 21, thy people also shall be all righteous. They
shall inherit the land forever, the branch of my planting, God
says, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified. Why must
I tell Jesus? Who else can really help us?
Who else can really help us? Give us what we really need. I must tell Jesus all of my trials. I cannot bear these burdens alone.
In my distress, He kindly will help me. He ever loves and cares
for His own. Every promise is built upon four
pillars. God's justice and holiness, which
will not allow Him to deceive us. His grace and goodness, which
will not allow Him to forget us, His truth, which will not
allow Him to change, and His power, which makes Him able to
accomplish everything He promised. I must tell Jesus, who else loves
men like He does? That night just before He went
to the garden where He knew He would be betrayed, where He knew
Judas would come, He knew it all. knowing all things that
would come upon him. Prior to that, we read in John
13, 1, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them
until the end. Loved them until the end, which
were in the world. Paul in Ephesians 2 said, at
that time you were without God, without hope in the world. But Christ said, you're in the
world, but you're not of the world. Why? Because I chose you. I've chose you out of the world. Gary Sprecher, he's in the church. You remember he was here several
months ago and preached. I don't know how many times that
man texted me or called me and said, Larry, thank you for the
honor. Thank you that he would ask me. I said, John, or I mean,
Gary, thank you for coming. He said, oh, it's an honor. It's
an honor. I'm looking forward to it. And I told you prior to
that visit that he was battling cancer, lung cancer. And he's
deteriorated since then. He writes hymns like Don did
each Sunday for the church at Crossville that Donnie Bell pastors.
Gary's a faithful man. He helps Donnie a lot. But he
had to stop leading the singing, not because he didn't want to,
he's just not able to do it anymore. He just can't do it anymore.
He still writes hymns. He can't lead the congregation
in the singing of it, but he wrote it. Here's one he wrote
for today, the service there today. Be still my soul, be still
my soul, rest in the Lord. My God is in control. He upholds
all things by his word. He careth for my soul. I get
discouraged and afraid. I get discouraged and afraid.
Is my God really there? All the promises that He made
steals my soul, shows He cares. All the temptations that I face
are purposed by the Lord. He watches o'er me by His grace.
I'm at rest in his word. Be still, my soul, I'll trust
God's might. Christ never will fail me. He
supports my soul in its plight. From all my cares, he frees me. Oh, having loved his own, he
loved them to the end." Another thought I must tell Jesus, who
else is able to do for us exactly what's best needed? Not what we think's for our good,
John. Do we ever get that right? Do we ever get that right? How
often do we, and we all do it, and I'm not criticizing. I'll lead the path. Lord, why
is this happening to me? Why me? What was me? Elijah, I'm like Elijah. I'm
the only one left. Nobody knows, nobody cares, nobody
understands. He does. He does. He knows exactly what we need. He told his disciples again that
night, I'm the true vine, and my father is the husband. Every
branch in me that beareth not fruit, he taketh away. And every
branch that beareth fruit, he purges it, that it might bring
forth more fruit. One fellow wrote this. I think
it's good. Listen to it. Concerning those verses I just
read, this man said, our father is the gardener. We are the branches
under his care. No hand but His ever holds the
knife." Not the devil's, not your worst enemy. No hand but
His, our Heavenly Father. And this man said, we really
need to go no further than this. A strong abiding confidence that
all the trials and sorrows and losses of our lives are part
of our Father's prunings. This is all we need to know. This is a quote So far as I'm
concerned, whatever is best for the glory of Christ and the good
of his people, that is what I want. When he is done with me, I shall
be happy to lay aside this troublesome, worrisome robe of flesh." Brother
Don, my pastor, Brother Don, wrote that. You remember when
that heathen king commanded that Daniel be thrown in the lion's
den? And they sealed the tomb. Signed
it, sealed it, nobody dare break that. Signed, seal of authority. And he went back home, he couldn't
sleep. He loved Daniel, but he made an oath, and Daniel broke
it, broke the law, so he had to be cast into the Den of Lines. It was all a plot by those who
hated Daniel. But we're told that that heathen
king couldn't sleep, he just tossed all night long. And the
next morning early, he went to that den and he cried out, Daniel,
was you God able to deliver him? Was you God able? If he's God, he is. And Daniel answered and said,
oh, King, rest easy. Just live forever. I'm fine.
I'm just fine. I bet Daniel slept better than
he did, don't you, John? He probably just laid back on
them old lines and just slept like a baby all night long. Daniel
said, my God, whom I serve, shut the mouth, sent his angel and
shut the lion's mouth, and they did me no hurt. They didn't hurt
me. Child of God, your troubles,
your trials, your heartache, they're not going to hurt you.
They're going to purge you. Oh, I didn't say they're not
painful, but they're going to purge you. They're working together
on the potter's wheel, forming you into the image of his own
son. Now, what could be better than
that? Daniel's God must be the true and living God. That God
that has his way in the world of wind and the storms and the
clouds are but the dust of his feet. That one who comes walking
on my trumpet seat time and time and time again and I think I'm
gonna drown and I say, Lord, don't you care, I perish. And
he says, there it is, I. Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. On one occasion, David was in
trouble and suffering at the hands of his own son had rebelled
against him. And David's enemies come around
and say, hey David, hey David, where's your God now? Where's
your God now? And David said, well, I don't
know about your gods. They're like you. They're pretty
much useless. You made them. But you ask me
where my God is? Let me tell you, my God's in
the heavens. And he hath done whatsoever he had pleased. That's our God. And when David
lay dying, he looked back over his life and he said, my God
is able. He was able when he chose me
from all my brethren in my father's house. He was able when Saul
did everything in his power to stop it. I still ascended the
throne of Israel. And he's able now, when I'm laid
down, because he's made with me a never-lasting covenant,
ordered in all things and sure. This is all my salvation and
all my hope. As child of God, let's all look
up. Let's all look up. Let me get
done with this. I read this story, and I think
it's good. I want to share it with you.
Look up. because your redemption draws
nigh. This man told the story of a boy who one day found a
gold coin laying in the street. And every time after that, Robin
smiles because she told me her son Brian, when he was a little
boy, they were driving somewhere and he looked out the window
and said, Daddy, stop the car. I saw some money. Oh, you didn't see
nothing. I saw some money. Sure enough,
backed up, and I forget how much it was. But man, yeah, she said,
after that, every time they went out, he's looking for money. That's what happened to this
young boy. He found that gold coin, and during the rest of
his life, even when he grew up, he was looking, and he found
the number of coins. But meanwhile, he never saw the
flowers or the trees which grew such wondrous beauty everywhere.
He never saw the hills, the mountains, the sweet valleys, The landscapes,
he never saw the blue sky. To him, this lovely world meant
only a dusty road, dreary and unbeautiful, merely a place in
which to look for coins." And here's the application. This
really is the story of the life of most people. They never let
their eyes off the earth. They live only to gather money,
to add field to field, to scheme for power and to find pleasure,
Or if their quest is a little higher, it is still only for
earthly things. And they never let their eyes
to God. There is no blue sky in their
picture. They cherish no heavenly visions. They are without God
in the world. Oh, God forbid that that should
describe a child of God. If ye then be risen with Christ,
seek those things which are above, where Christ setteth on the right
hand of God. Set your affections on things
above, not on things down here on the earth. For you're dead,
and your life is here with Christ in God. When Christ, who is a
life, shall appear, then shall ye appear also with him in glory. And until that blessed day comes,
Jesus Christ says to each of his own, come unto me, all ye
that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take
my yoke upon you, and learn of me. I'm meek and lowly and hard,
and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and
my burden is light. Now let's pray as we sing that
song. Pray that God will enable us
and our hurting brothers and sisters to do that very thing. I must tell Jesus. Amen. God bless you.