If I were to give you a word
of counsel from a man you know to be wiser than any you've ever
met, would you pay any attention? Wiser than any you've ever met.
Here's his counsel. Trust in the Lord with all thine
heart. and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him,
and he shall direct thy paths. But is it really safe? Is it really wise? for you and
me to trust the Lord in all things, with all things, for all things,
all the time? Is that really wise? Is it really prudent to do so? This I know. Faith in Christ. People these days talk much about
faith. I'm a man of faith. I believe
God. I trust Jesus. Faith in Christ,
listen now, is nothing less than the willing, deliberate, voluntary
surrender of my very life. to the rule and dominion of the
Son of God as my Lord and my Savior. Nothing less than that. Faith in Christ is not walking
down a church aisle and saying, I believe in Jesus. Faith in
Christ is not making a decision saying, I believe in Jesus. Faith
in Christ is not reforming your life saying, I believe in Jesus.
Faith in Christ is nothing less than the willing, deliberate,
voluntary surrender of my very life to the rule and dominion
of the Son of God as my Lord and Savior. It's trusting Christ
alone for my salvation, yes. Trusting Him alone as my sin-atoning
substitute, yes. Trusting Him alone as all my
righteousness before God, yes. trusting him alone to keep me
by his grace and bring me at last to glory. Yes, but faith
in Christ is a heapsight more than a fire escape from hell.
Salvation is more than the hope of going to heaven and having
eternal life when we die. We often speak of saving the
Lord Jesus, saving our souls, but that's not Bible language.
The son of God doesn't save your soul. He didn't die at Calvary
to save your soul. He will never save your soul. Christ saves sinners, body, soul,
and spirits. He will either save you, all
of you, or he will damn you, all of you. The Lord Jesus demands
all of you. The Lord Jesus demands all of
you. If he's not Lord of all, he is
not Lord at all. Put your bookmark, if you will,
at Leviticus 25. I'll get there in a few minutes.
But for now, turn to Mark chapter eight. Mark the eighth chapter. Our savior demands and he deserves
that we trust him with the rule and government of our lives,
that we commit and consecrate and devote ourselves to him entirely. The son of God alone must rule
in the city of man's soul. He will have nothing else. Mark
chapter eight, verse 34. And when he called the people
unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, whosoever
will come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and
follow me. Now there's a lot of speculation
about what that means. If you read the next line, you'll
find out what it means. For whosoever will save his life
shall lose it. But whosoever shall lose his
life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it. As long as you demand and insist
upon having your way, you're going to hell. As long as you
demand and insist upon making your own decisions, you're going
to hell. As long as you decide what you
will do or won't do, as long as you decide where you'll go
or won't go, as long as you decide what's best for you and what's
not best for you, as long as you rule your life or think you
do, you're going to hell. If God conquers you by his grace, you throw up the white flag of
surrender and say, Lord God, please take me and rule me. Please take me and rule me. I'm
calling for you now, this very hour, to give up yourself to
the Son of God, to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, to acknowledge
that you're His, lock, stock, and barrel, and that you are
from this day forward His servant. I'm calling for you to devote
your lives to the son of God, your entire life, all your family,
all your time, all your talents, all your money, everything. Devote
everything to Christ, his service, his kingdom, his cause, his glory,
acknowledging that you have no right to claim anything for yourself. No right to claim anything for
yourself. No right to use anything for
yourself. Or even to have a thought or
will of your own. It'll soon be 54 years. since I lifted my hands to God
as Jephthah of old in believer's baptism and acknowledge myself he is. That's what baptism confesses.
I'm crucified with Christ. I'm buried with Christ. I rose
again with Christ. I now belong to Christ. That's
what I'm calling for. I'm calling for devotion to the
Son of God. Perhaps you think, Pastor, that
sounds good. It seems to be the right thing
to do, but it's just not practical. It's just not reasonable. Surely
God doesn't expect me to totally give up myself to Him. Surely
He doesn't expect anyone to trust Him like that. Again, I ask,
Is it really safe? Is it really wise to do so? I cannot tell you that it is
physically, emotionally, mathematically, economically, or philosophically
safe and wise to trust God. That which God demands can never
be made to fit any human graph or any human scale. In fact,
I must honestly tell you, in earthly terms, faith in Christ
is the most unreasonable thing on the earth. Faith in Christ cannot be reasoned. Martin Luther put it this way,
the first thing that faith does is knock the brains of reason
out. has nothing to lead on except
God. Nothing else, nothing else. Nothing to purchase it, nothing
to strengthen it, nothing to help it, just God. Faith is, humanly speaking, the
most unreasonable thing on the earth. Listen to our Savior's
words in Matthew chapter six. Matthew chapter six, verse 31. I'll sum it up and then I'll
read it. If the Lord God, our father,
watches over and feeds the sparrows, don't you know he'll watch over
and feed you? He who has numbered the very hairs of your head will
meet your every need. If your heavenly father Close
the worthless lilies of the field in all their splendor. He'll
never fail to supply your needs. Trust him. Matthew 6, verse 31. Therefore take no thought saying,
what shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or wherewithal shall
we be clothed? For after all these things do
the Gentiles say, That's what mamas and daddies all over the
world teach their boys and girls to seek all their lives. Make something of yourself. Make
sure you live in the best part of town, in the biggest house,
wear the nicest clothes, drive the nicest car, eat at the best
steakhouse every night. That's what the Gentiles seek
after. Folks who don't know God. Folks who don't have anything
else. That's all they've got. That's
all they got. Why on earth would you envy them?
But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness,
and all these things shall be added to you. Trust Christ, God'll
take care of everything. Believe God, God'll take care
of everything. Or you can take care of it yourself,
whichever way you want. Whichever way you want. Take
therefore no thought for the moral, for the moral shall take
thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the
evil thereof. Can we really be expected to
do that? To put Christ first in everything is not only expected,
it's demanded. I don't suggest, imply, think,
or imagine that this is perfect trust, perfect faith. Far from
it, our best faith, our strongest faith, our highest
measure of faith is so shot full of sin and unbelief it would
sink us to the lowest hell were it not bathed in Christ's blood
and robed in his righteousness. Faith is never perfect in us,
but true faith, True faith is that which trusts the Son of
God in all things and for all things absolutely. Such faith
compels the believing soul to surrender everything to Christ's
dominion. Faith. That means if David Peterson,
Don Fortner believed God, faith. compels us to surrender everything
to Christ the Lord. My life, my welfare, my livelihood,
my children, my wife, my husband, my mother, my father, my health,
my happiness, my well-being, everything! Faith compels me
to surrender all to Christ. I know People think, well, if
I do that, if I trust Christ, so that I devote my entire life
to him, how can I live in this world? How can I provide for
my family? If I allow nothing to keep me
from worshiping God, obeying God, doing God's will, what's
going to happen to my business or my farm? Who's going to get
in the corn? Who's going to take care of the
cattle? Who's going to take care of the business? Is that really
smart? to trust Christ for everything?
Surely not. Let's see. Look at Exodus chapter
34. Exodus chapter 34. I'll get to my text in just a
moment. You remember in the Old Testament, the Lord God required
every male in Israel to leave his land and his herds, his fields,
his business, his house, everything. He was required to leave it here,
leave it down here, and go up to Jerusalem and spend one whole
week worshiping God three times a year. Three times a year, doesn't
matter where you live, in all the land of Israel, three times
a year, every man above 20 years old in the whole nation must
come to Jerusalem and there abide for one week and worship me. Their pagan neighbors would soon
be aware of the fact that these people not only refused to allow
anything to interfere with their daily worship and their weekly
Sabbath days, these Jews were such religious zealots, you could
bank on it, they'll leave everything they've got three times a year,
go up to Jerusalem and worship there for a week. Look at those
idiots. Look at those foolish people.
Look at those unwise people. Don't they know we've got calendars? Don't they know at the time they
leave, we can go down to their house and take their wives and
their children and their cattle and their sheep. We can take
everything they've got in a week's time. Don't they know that? Read Exodus chapter 34, verse
23. They certainly could, except
for just one thing. Exodus 34, 23. Thrice in the
year shall all your men children appear before the Lord God, the
God of Israel. For I will cast out the nations
before thee and enlarge thy borders. Now you ought to underline this
in red and circle it in yellow and start in blue. Neither shall
any man desire thy land when thou shalt go up to appear before
the Lord thy God thrice in the year. You go ahead and leave your wife,
I'll see to it nobody will want her. You go ahead and leave buckets
of gold sitting on the front porch, I'll see to it nobody
wants it. You go ahead and leave your cattle
fattened in the stall, I'll see to it nobody wants it. That's
what it said. Is that what it said? That's
his promise. When thou shalt go up to appear
before the Lord thy God thrice in the year. Many years ago,
Brother Mahan and several of the folks in the congregation
at Ashland were visiting Brother Milton Howard in the missionary
churches in the lower part of Mexico, down in southern Mexico
in Chiapas. And they decided to go up to
a village way, way, way up in the Chiapas Highlands. Roads
are rough, very rough. And it was at just the beginning
of the rainy season. Usually, they wouldn't even be
down there during that time of year. But just right at the beginning
of rainy season, and they decided to go way up in the Chiapas Highlands. Shelby and I have been part of
the way up there. I've been up as far as San Cristobal, Shelby
and I used to go up to the coffee plantation where Brother Roberto
and his family lived, had a small chapel up there that Roberto
had built. It was only 90 miles, but it'd take almost five hours
to drive it. That's the kind of shape the
roads were in, rough, rough roads. Beyond that, they got worse.
And they're up in the highlands, and it's a horrible storm, and
the roads sliding off here and there. And several of the ladies
and some of the men in the suburban began to express great concern.
Every now and then, somebody screamed suddenly because part
of the road fell off. And finally, Brother Mahan said,
Milton, stop the truck. They stopped, and Henry turned
around, looked at them, and he said, we're here on God's business, doing God's work. for God's people. Everything's all right. Let's
go home. And that just calms everything. Oh, God teach me. While I live
in this world, I'm here on God's business, doing God's work for
God's people. Now, what was it you thought
I ought to be concerned about? What was it ought to worry me?
What ought to frighten me? What ought to disturb me? Nothing,
nothing. All right, let's look at our
text, Leviticus chapter 25, verse 18. In this passage of the law, the
Lord God doesn't require that the children of Israel neglect
their livelihoods for a week, but for a year, once every seven
years. During this Sabbath year, they
were not allowed to gather crops from the previous year. They
weren't allowed to sow their fields that year. That meant
that they had to trust the Lord whom they worshiped, the God
they served, the God whose name they sought to honor. They had
to trust him to miraculously, supernaturally provide for them
food for three years. without them doing a thing. Surely not, let's see, let's
see. Verse 18, wherefore ye shall
do my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them, and ye shall dwell
in the land in safety. And the land shall yield her
fruit, and ye shall eat your fill, and dwell therein in safety. And if you say, what shall we
eat in the seventh year? Behold, we shall not sow, nor
gather in our increase. Then I will command my blessing
upon you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth fruit for
three years. You shall sow in the eighth year,
and eat yet of the old fruit until the ninth year. Until your
fruits come in, you shall eat of the old store. Here, God makes
three promises. Promises assuring his people
they would lose nothing by worshiping him. They would lose nothing
by observing this year of rest. In fact, rather than losing by
their obedience, they would gain much. First, in verses 18 and
19, he says, you shall dwell in the land in safety. He promises them safety. That
doesn't only mean physical security. It means physical security with
the confidence of it. Safety and safety. You dwell in safety and peace. You dwell in safety and at ease. You dwell in safety and you'll
be comfortable. You'll both be safe inwardly,
safe outwardly and inwardly confident and secure. You'll neither experience
evil nor fear it. Here's the second promise, verse
19. You shall eat your field while you're doing nothing except
worshiping and serving me, while you're ignoring your land, ignoring
your fields, ignoring your cattle, ignoring your vineyards, You
will eat your fill. When we're obedient to God our
Savior, obedient to God's revealed will, we may cheerfully and confidently
trust him to provide everything we need. Paul wrote to the Philippians
who sent him some goods while he was in prison. They were poor
people. But they managed to get together
some stuff and send it down to Paul to take care of him. We're
not even told what it was. I suspect, if I could put it
in today's vernacular, they knew that the prison folks down there
didn't feed him very well, so the ladies baked him some cookies
and cakes and stuff he could have for a while. And they fixed
him some warm clothes he could have in the wintertime. And they
sent it down by the pastor to give them to Paul, take care
of him, let him know we're praying for him and this is what we could
do. And Paul was overwhelmed. They, out of their necessity,
out of their great want, had given him great supply. And he
said, but my God shall supply all your need according to his
riches in glory by Christ Jesus. He said, you go ahead and do
that. You take care of me. Just as
Elijah said to that widow, fix me a cake first. And my God shall
supply all your need, not out of his riches in glory, but according
to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Now, if Don Fortner should
decide to adopt a child and promise to supply that child's needs
according to my riches, where that child could expect just
about what my child expected. We'll do best we can. We'll get
along all right. But if Don Fortner's name, what's
that rich fellow's name who, is it Zuckerberg? Is that one
of the rich fellows? Gates? His name's Bill Gates. I'll adopt
this boy. and I'll supply all that he needs
according to my abundant wealth. Well, he's not going to go hungry.
He's going to be all right. This man got plenty of money.
Hear me, my brother. Hear me, my sister. You walk
with God. You devote yourself to the son
of God who loved you and gave himself for you, and my God,
shall supply all your needs according to his wealth, according to his
riches in glory by Christ Jesus. And then thirdly, he promised
that we would lack no provision. During this whole year, these
folks wouldn't lack any provision. He said in verse 21, I will command
my blessing in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth fruit
for three years. Here was a standing miracle.
A standing miracle. Every seven years, on the sixth
year, as they approached the seventh year, I don't care if
they had a drought the summer before. I don't care if the last
year's cattle didn't bear many calves. I don't care if they
only had one ear of corn every third stalk of corn the year
before that. On the sixth year, there was
enough food provided to carry them until the ninth year. Because God commanded it. Because
God commanded it. The blessing of God upon our
provision makes little go a long ways. Our Savior still multiplies
loaves and fishes for his own. He who gave manna every day of
the week, but gave none on Saturday, or on Friday rather, gave twice
as much on Friday as would be expected on Saturday, on the
Sabbath day. So the people on the Sabbath
day could give themselves to worship. His promise is, them that honor
me, I will honor. All of these things are written
in the book of God to encourage us to devotion, to zealous commitment,
to wholehearted consecration to God our Savior. Let me show
you four or five things from these few verses of scripture,
and I'll be brief. First, verse 18. Learn this. Our faith is to be obedient. And obedience always follows
faith. God demands obedience. The scriptures
speak of the obedience of faith. And obedience always follows
faith. Verse 18, wherefore, ye shall
do my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them, and ye shall dwell
in the land safely. Throughout the book of Leviticus,
the Lord God calls for his people to obey him, to do that which
is revealed in the book. And it does it upon one basis.
Throughout the book, it's repeated again and again, and finally
repeated in this last verse of this chapter. The Lord God says,
unto me, we got it there, verse 55. Unto me, the children of
Israel are servants. They are my servants, whom I
brought forth out of the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your
God. God says, you're my servants. I'm the Lord your God. I made
you. You're my servants. Not only
that, I bought you. I bought you with blood. Not
only that, I brought you out of bondage. You're my servants. I'm your God. The Apostle Paul
puts it this way. Know ye not that the unrighteous
shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived, neither
fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, that's
sodomites, nor abusers of themselves of mankind, nor thieves, nor
covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners shall
inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. You'll
find God's people in all of this mess except for the effeminacy,
except for the sodomites, which is a mark of reprobation. Yes,
that's what I said, because the book of God says so. Mark of
reprobation. Oh, you can't say that. Read
Romans chapter one and tell me I can't say that. Mark of reprobation. And such were some of you. but
ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name
of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. What? Know ye not that your body is
the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which ye have
of God, and you're not your own, for you're bought with a price.
Therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which
are God's. We belong to God, flock, stock,
and barrel, everything. I read many years ago. A businessman who was quite successful
in business, had to travel a lot, as men used to do, be gone months
at a time, sometimes years at a time. The man had left his
family for many, many months. His boys were just young boys. And just before he came home,
just a few days before he came home, the boys were suddenly
killed in an accident, just 8, 9, 9 or 10 years old. And the
wife didn't know how she was going to break the news to her
husband. She knew he would be devastated.
So she had the boys laid out in the living room. They called
it a parlor in those days. And knew when her husband would
be coming home. And she met him at the door.
And they chatted for a little bit. He said, where are the boys? And she said, I've got something
I have to ask you first, honey. He said, well, what is it? Where
are the boys? She said, while you were away, An event came
up where I needed to borrow some jewels. And the neighbor let
me borrow jewels to wear to this event, special dress event. And
he said, they're so beautiful. And I just fell in love with
those jewels. And I'm wondering, do you reckon
it'd be all right for me to keep them? He said, what? What's the matter with you? Of
course not. They're not yours to keep. He said, where are the
boys? So she took him by the hand and
walked into the parlor, and there they laid. And she said, God
gave us two jewels. And we borrowed them now for
nine and ten years. And last week, the Lord came
and took them back. That's all right, isn't it? Of course it is. There he is. You and I are His. Lock, stock, and barrel. Everything is His, if indeed
we're His. You see, obedience to the will
of God is always costly. It always causes problems. It
always involves pain and injury. It always requires choices. Choices
that are sometimes very painful. But God still requires obedience.
And he's going to get it from his. As we obey him, he takes
care of the problems that arise because of obedience. One day
he met Moses in the end in Exodus chapter 4. And he said, Moses,
I've had enough of this. You've gone all these years by
circumcising those boys. You're gonna circumcise him right
here, or you're gonna die right here. One of the two. One of
the two. And finally, Zephoiah took a
sharp rock and circumcised the boys, and threw the forks at
Moses' feet, said, you're a bloody man to me! And the Lord sustained
Moses in the midst of it. God gives faith, and faith always
produces obedience. Here's the second lesson. We must never allow the cares
of this world to keep us from the worship of God and obedience
to God. Worldliness, what a great danger. And when I talk about worldliness,
I'm not talking about dressing in stylish clothes or wearing
jewelry or makeup or not wearing jewelry or makeup, I'm not talking
watching television or going to a picture show or going to
dances or even playing cards. That's not what I'm talking about.
I'm not talking about having a glass of wine with your meal
or drinking a beer with your hot dog. That's not what I'm
talking about. I'm talking about the love of the world. Nothing
is so dangerous. Nothing is so poisonous to our
souls as the care of this world and the deceitfulness of riches.
The love of the world, more than anything else, keeps people who
profess to love Christ, who profess to be believers, more than anything
else, the love of the world keeps such people from doing what they
know is the will of God. What they know is best for their
souls. What they know most serves the interest of God's kingdom
and God's glory. Love not the world. Love not
the world. Love not the world. Love not
the world. If any man love the world, the
love of the father is not in him. It is my constant prayer for
you, for my children, for my wife, and for me, that God will
not set the world in our hearts. It is written of the reprobate,
he hath set the world in their heart so that no man can find
out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.
Back here in Leviticus 25. Here's the third lesson. The promise here given of God's
special providence, teaches us that the Lord God, our Savior,
pledges his providence to protect and provide for us
as we seek to worship and honor him. Verse 18, wherefore you
shall do my statutes and keep my judgments and do them. And
you shall dwell in the land in safety and the land shall yield
her fruit. and ye shall eat your fill and
dwell therein safely. Verse 21. Then I will command
my blessing upon you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth
fruit for three years. Clearly, our Lord Jesus refers
to this passage in Matthew chapter six and in Luke chapter 12, where
he tells us to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. In those two passages, our master
tells us that our primary purpose on this earth is and must be
to do the will of God. Our primary purpose is and must
be the glory of God, the kingdom of God, the worship of God, the
service of God, the people of God. and he assures us that he
will take care of us. Your heavenly father knoweth
that you have need of these things. Lindsay, our father, knows what
we need. He knows what we need. Now, you
and I would expect our children to be perfectly calm with that,
wouldn't we? We expect our grandchildren to
be perfectly calm with that. I know what you need. Be quiet,
son. I know what you need. No more crying now. I know what
you need. I'd expect that from my children,
wouldn't you? Why shouldn't God expect that
from his children? Your father knows you have need of these
things. And yet how often we're overcome
with fear, fear of losing money or losing friends or losing the
good opinion of family or a little joy or a little toy. And if we
devote ourselves to his cause, it's going to cost too much.
How little we credit God's faithfulness. We ought to leave to his hands
all things. including the difficulties caused
by obedient faith. Leave it to his hands. He does
everything just right. He who spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also
freely give us all things? Besides, it's God's blessing,
not our industry or skill or long hours of work or foresight. That's the source of our safety
and of His providence. No, no, no. It's God's blessing. There's nothing to sustain faith
except the assurance here given that God is able and willing
to meet our every need. Look at verse 20. Here's the
fourth lesson. It's the hindrance of fear, the hindrance of fear. More often
than not, it's the hindrance of fear that keeps us from obeying
our God without hesitation. And if ye shall say, what shall
we eat the seventh year? Behold, we shall not sow nor
gather in our increase. If I worship God rather than
working today, I may not be able to meet my bills tomorrow. If
I worship God rather than spending time this evening in frivolity
with my family and friends, they'll think I'm a zealot. If I give
my money to support the gospel of Christ, how can I wisely and
prudently be expected to provide for my family? That doesn't make
any sense. Explain that to me, preacher.
Turn over to Jeremiah chapter 38 and I will. Jeremiah chapter
38. I'll explain it real clearly.
Zedekiah was the whining, wimpish, cowardly, sissified prince, king
of Judah. And he discovered that he would
have been far more safe, far more wise to obey God than to
have kept himself from obedience. Jeremiah 38 verse 17. Then said Jeremiah unto Zedekiah,
thus saith the Lord, the God of host, the God of Israel, if
thou wilt assuredly go forth unto the king of Babylon's princes,
then thy soul shall live. And this city, Jerusalem, shall
not be burned with fire, but thou shalt live and thine house.
But if thou wilt not go forth to the king of Babylon's princes,
Then shall this city be given into the hand of the Chaldeans,
and they shall burn it with fire, and thou shalt not escape out
of their hand. And Zedekiah the king said to
Jeremiah, God's prophet, I'm afraid, I'm afraid of the Jews. I'm afraid of the Jews that have
fallen to the Chaldeans, lest they deliver me into their hand
and they mock me, I'm afraid. Look at chapter 39. In the 11th
year of his reign, Babylon invaded Judah and destroyed Jerusalem. Chapter 39, verse seven. Moreover,
he put out Zedekiah's eyes and bound him with chains to carry
him to Babylon. And the Chaldeans burned the
king's house and the houses of the people with fire and break
down the walls of Jerusalem. He was afraid of the Jews, afraid
of the Babylonian princes, afraid of men around him, and he should
have been fearful of God. Number five, verse 21, Leviticus
25. Here, God gave his people assurance
of his grace and teaches us that we will never impoverish ourselves
or suffer any loss by honoring him. Then will I command my blessing
upon you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth fruit for
three years. David wrote something that I've
experienced in my life. He said, I have been young and
now am old, yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken. nor his
seed begging bread. I've been young and now I'm old.
So far in these 69 plus years, I've not seen the righteous forsaken
or his children begging bread. Have you? If you have, raise
your hand. I'll sit down and let you talk.
I've not seen it happen. I get telephone calls, sometimes
several a day. Folks find my telephone number
on the internet or wherever they find it or somebody else gives
it to them, I don't care how they get it, but I get calls.
Folks stay at this motel, stay at that motel, stay at that motel.
Do you pay for motel rooms? Do you help people with their
groceries? Do you help with light bills? And my first question
is always, where do you worship? I think the name of the church.
Always, always. Never fails, never fails. I've
never seen the righteous forsaken. I've never seen his seed baking
bread. I've never had a call from a righteous man baking. Not one time, not in 69 years. The Lord Jesus said to his disciples,
when I sent you without purse and script and shoes, lacked
ye anything? And they said, nothing, nothing. Our God has promised safety in
the path of faith and obedience, and he's promised plenty. Plenty. I said, God didn't promise you
plenty. You read this chapter again.
Plenty. You'll have all it takes to fill
you. All it takes to satisfy you.
Plenty. And God is as good as his word. That fact ought to eliminate
forever fear or hesitancy or disobedience in you and me. I've observed things over the
years. I recall when Faith was just a baby, I'd been selling
shoes, making $2.25 an hour, and I think I got 2% or 3% commission
on shoes. It wasn't much. It wasn't much.
I'd stuff papers on Sunday morning, stuff the coupon papers in the
Thunders and the Winston-Salem Journal and the Sentinel, and
pick up odd jobs here and there. And I went down to apply for
a job in a plane trucking company. The only place in Western Salem
where a fella working part-time can make $4.25 an hour. $4.25
an hour. Buddy, let me tell you, that was money back in 1969. That was money. $4.25 an hour. And so I went
down and applied for a job. And the fella, I guess he took
one look at me, figured I couldn't move a lot of freight. And he
hired me right on the spot. No questions asked. I said, now,
just one thing. I'm a preacher. I can't work on Sundays. This
is what he did with the application. He stood in the trash can. He
stood in the trash can and I said, I'm sorry, I can't work on Sunday.
Well, what about your daughter? I don't matter, I can't work
on Sunday. Now, don't misunderstand me, I'm not suggesting that's
true for everybody. Some of these factories are open
seven days a week. I'm not suggesting we're only working on Sunday,
but not for a preacher. I can't be free to go preach,
work on Sunday. Can't do it. What are you gonna do? I tell
you what I'll do. I'll work any hour you want me
to work. From 12, 30, Monday through Friday,
all day Saturday, all night Saturday night, I'll work Sunday night,
all night long. I just can't work on Sunday."
He reached down, picked up that application. He said, you'll
work anytime I call you. I said, anytime. Well, we'll
give it a try. Do you know to this day, as far
as I know, I'm the only part-time help ever been hired by that
trucking company, didn't have to work on Sunday. How come? God said, I'll give you all you
need. I'll take care of you. I'll take care of you. Brother
Walter Groover, 57 years ago now, decided the Lord
had called him to be a missionary in Mexico. So he packed his wife
and his children up, quit his job at Armco Steel, and moved
to Mexico. Moved to Mexico, having no idea
how he was gonna live. Well, didn't he go on deputation?
No, no. Faithful men don't have to go
begging for money, and they won't. I wouldn't dishonor God going
to beg for money in his name. It ain't going to happen. I'd
rather eat dirt than shovel manure. It ain't going to happen. It
ain't going to happen. What happened? Walter went to Mexico and somebody
sent him a little money. Somebody else sent him a little
money. First thing he knew, the church started sending him some
money. Then his brother's church started sending him some money.
Had been in there 57 years and never had to come back and raise
money. Never had to come back and raise money. How come? My
God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory
by Christ Jesus. Now, this is what I'm calling
forth from you. Believe on the Son of God. Give yourself to
Him in wholehearted, utter devotion. And watch what God can do. Amen.