Oh, that was a blessing. My goodness,
that was a blessing. Oh, I'm so blessed. But like
I told Gene, you know, it's time to put up a show. I'm very thankful to be here,
and Shirley and I are very, very grateful. It's always a blessing
to see folks I haven't seen in a long time, Terry and Pat. folks that I hadn't seen in a
while. It's just wonderful, just wonderful. And Robin and Larry's
made us feel so welcome, so welcome. But if you'll turn your Bibles
with me to Psalm 46, Psalm 46. There in verse 10, Psalm 46 and
10, it says this. Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the heathen. I will be exalted in the earth. Be still. Know. Don talked about knowing God. Be still and know that I am God. To be still doesn't mean no movement. That's not what he's talking
about. but it means to be restful, to be quiet, to not be uneasy,
to be anxious, but to wait on the Lord. Our Lord Jesus said
it like this. He said, let not your heart be
troubled. And when I read this verse of
scriptures, two things astonish me in light of this verse and
some other verses. Ecclesiastes 5.1 says, Be not hasty in the presence
of the Lord. Be not rash with your mouth.
Enter not into, you know, he's in heaven, you're on the earth.
Don't enter into his courts and offer the sacrifice of a fool.
Be not hasty, be not rash with your mouth. Because he and we
had to be, and Psalm 89 says he's to be had in reverence of
the Lord. But two things astonish me in light of this. Be still
and know that I am God. Man's arrogance, man's irreverence,
and man's presumption concerning God and holy things. Oh, this
world and religion. I listen to a lot, you know,
we have, I don't know how many preachers on our radio station,
just a little old town we live in. And some of the things that
they say about God is just awful, just awful. One fella says this,
he says, you know, we're a community of believers in Jesus and we
believe we ought to, as believers in Jesus, affect our community
and be all that God dreams for us to be. To talk about God that way, the
irreverence and to presumption, God loves you. and we do too. But all the arrogance that they
think that God actually owes them something, that God moves
when He tells them to, that God acts when He tells them to, but
all the irreverence and presumption concerning God and holy things. There's an unholy familiarity
with God and with His Word They use bits and pieces of it and
build their whole salvation and the salvation of those to whom
they preach on, on bits and pieces of the scriptures. But oh my,
they go to God with prayer. God, we demand of you, we command
of you. And they talk about worship.
And they talk about, you know, it doesn't make any difference.
how we come into the presence of God. But I do know this, that
God cannot be worshipped and will not be worshipped apart
from an infinitely perfect sacrifice. And God will not speak to, as
Scott said, or be spoken to by any member of the human race
apart from his son. Ain't that right? But oh, then
they have their preparation and contemplation. of ours, she said one time, she
said, I love our new preacher. He tells the best jokes of any
we ever had. That's what I'm talking about. Jokes about God, jokes about
religion, very popular today, very popular. And here's the
second thing that astonishes me, that God hasn't sent us all
to hell for it. Oh, the long suffering of God. He endures with much longsuffering,
the vessels of wrath already fitted to destruction. But look
what he says about the works of God here in verse eight. Come, behold the works of the
Lord. Behold his works. What desolations
hath he made in the earth? And this is what happens. You
know, men don't know that there's desolation around. even though
it's desolate, and they won't know it's desolate until it's
too late. But everything in religion's
desolate. Politics is desolate. Their social life is desolate.
Everything in this world that has anything other than the Lord
Jesus Christ is desolate, and they don't know it, and they
don't know it. And all this shows his awful sovereignty described
before us, and he tells us all to be still. and know that I'm
God. And this is the reason, and this
is the way it is, for when it's all been said and done, you know
what God said there in verse 10? Be still and know that I'm
God. Because when it's all said and
done, I will be exalted among the heathen. I will be exalted
in the earth. That's gonna happen. That's gonna
happen. And we are to be still. I got
just a very few things to say. We are to be still. before God
under His blessed, glorious providence. And you know everyone, not everyone
is called of God to honor Him in His grace. Not everyone's
called of God to honor Him in His grace. Not everyone's called
of God to believe Him and be still under His providence. And
His providence just means His ordering our lives in every minute
detail of our lives, that's all it means. God governing our lives,
ordering our lives in his providence. And we need to be still before
God under his providence as to the words that we say, as to
the words that we say. You know, when God brings things
our way, and he brings some strange things our way, he brings a lot
of things our way, and I mean, they just happen that quick.
Just out of the blue, things will happen just like that. You
did it last Sunday morning. Things just happened like that.
But as to words, not speaking against God's providence or complaining
about God's providence, whatever happens in our lives, good, bad,
or ugly, as they say, we are not but to ever complain about
them and ever speak against God's providence except in the most
blessed and glorious ways. It's the Lord, let him do what's
even. and let us never, ever justify
ourselves or speak words of vanity when we think, we think that
we understand exactly what's going on. Instead, when God puts
his hand against us or puts his hand to lift us up or bring us
down, to weaken us or strengthen us, to strip us or clothe us,
let's say not justify ourselves and say, oh, now I speak in great
words of vanity. And let us never use words of
pretension or presumption. To act like we're something we're
not. And do something that we're not doing. Or presume that God's
gonna come and do this thing or that thing because I'm in
this situation. And especially not quarreling
with God. You keep Psalm 46, look over
here in Leviticus. Leviticus chapter 10, just a
moment. Leviticus chapter 10. This is
what I'm talking about. This is what I'm talking about. Leviticus 10. You know, I heard, you know,
God is not, God is not this easy going fella that a lot of people present
Him to be. Sometimes He can be very, very, almost And I don't
wanna say it, I don't know how else to say it, but sometimes
he can be, you think, boy, that's awful brutal. But you know what
he's doing? Men don't be still and do what
he says things to do. They're gonna pay the consequences
of it. They're gonna pay the consequences of it. Look here
in Leviticus 10, in verse one. Nadab and Abihu, the sons of
Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein. They had this, sons of priests,
and they had fire. They had censers to carry fire
in. And they took this incense, and
they offered strange fire before the Lord, which he commanded
not. What in the world are they talking about? Well, there's
only one place that you could get fire that God would accept.
That's off God's altar. So they went out here and built
themselves a fire and took them some ashes and some coals and
put it in their censer. People used to do that all the
time when they was building fires. They had a censer and they would
keep fire and they'd carry it into the kitchen and start a
fire in the kitchen. And they'd start a fire in the fireplace.
And they'd have ways to carry fire. And that's what these fellows
did, build them a fire, put it in their censers, and they went
to offer Sacrifices and they offer strange fire, what God
do. And that went out of fire. Judgment,
our gods are consuming fire from the Lord and devoured them and
they died before the Lord. Now wait a minute. Then Moses
said unto Aaron, this is that that the Lord spake, not Moses
spake. This is that that the Lord spake,
saying, I will be sanctified, set apart wholly, by them that
come near me. And before all the people, I
will be glorified. And listen to this, and Aaron
held his peace. Aaron held his peace. Oh my,
Job, Satan smote him with balls. and he was sittin' in the ashes,
and he had a piece of a pot, and he was scrapin' himself,
scrapin' himself. He was in such misery, scrapin'
himself. And his wife looked at him and
said, oh, Job, Job, why don't you, why do you just keep holdin'
on to your integrity? Why don't you just go ahead and
cuss God and die? You know what Job said to her?
You're a fool. If we not received good at the
hand of the Lord, shall we not also receive evil? And all this
Job sinned not with his mouth. That's what I'm talking about.
Who can say to him, what are you doing? Here's the second
thing. Oh, be still as to our words.
God puts his hand heavy on us. David said, I poured my complaint
out before the Lord. If we got anybody to complain
to or anything to complain about, let's tell him. Don't tell anybody
else. Don't tell anybody else. Don,
I've been this way for years and years. No matter what anybody
asks me, they say, how you feeling? I said, I got no complaints.
And I don't. I don't. And then look what he says. but
be still in our actions. Not on what we say, but how we
act, how we do, in our outward behavior. You know, Job is right
before the book of Psalms. Look in Job chapter one. Let's
look at this together. You know, the scriptures is the
best thing to illustrate scriptures with. And we be still in our
outward behavior. We rejoice in God's sovereignty. Oh, how we rejoice in God's sovereignty. Our God reigns in the heavens.
But I tell you, we do that, and a lot of people do that, as long
as it don't cost their lives, as long as it don't cost their
plans, as long as it don't cost their purposes. But I tell you,
we should never have a life, or never have a plan, or ever
have a purpose, unless we say, if it lest it be the Lord's will. That ought to be the first words.
Oh, if it's the Lord's will, we will. If it's the Lord's will. But oh, our outward behavior.
I've seen this happen. Just recently, a woman got real,
real sick. And a believer that's been in
our congregation for years and years and years and years, she
fell all to pieces. She just absolutely, I had to
pray for her over the phone and try to get her calmed down and
everything. And she just, and it was sad. She couldn't help
it, I reckon. But yet, how are we supposed to act when we get
bad news? If mama gets sick and mama gonna
die, or wife's gonna die, or brother's gonna die, or we get
the news that we're gonna die, and you ain't got but six months
to live, how are we supposed to act? God go out of business
because we got that news? That's what would have happened
to Job. Job said, oh, listen, he had three bad news. Boom,
boom, boom, boom, boom. They come and got all your sheep.
They come and got all your camels. They come, your sons, a whirlwind
come through here and killed all your children. Verse 20. Then Job arose, ran his mantle
right over his heart, shaved his head, and fell down on the
ground, and I love this word right here, worshiped. Worshiped. That's what old Brucie says,
we gonna go worship. Worship. And oh, listen. And
he said, naked came I out of my mother's womb. And naked,
I'm gonna leave this world. I ain't taking a thing with me.
The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name
of the Lord. In all this, Job sinned not,
or charged God foolishly. And oh my, we must be still in
our hearts. God make us still, peaceful,
restful in our hearts. Don't struggle, don't strive,
be quiet, be calm. Submit to the sovereign will
of God, whatever it may be. All things We know, there's a
lot of things we know. We know that there's no condemnation
in Christ. We know that all things, everything
works, works, works, works together for our good, for our good and
his glory to the call according to his purpose. And why should
we be still? Why should we be still? Because
he's God. Because he's God. Huh? He's the creator. What are we? Creatures. We're on the earth. He's in the heavens. We're in
the flesh. He's absolute pure spirit. It's
that he that made us and not we ourselves. What can we claim
that we have that he didn't give us? What can we claim to know
that he hasn't taught us? What can we claim to have that
he hasn't given us? And oh my. Can you, can you,
I know I can't, can you count the mistakes and failings and
fallings that you've made by taking matters into your own
hands? Boy, I tell you what, years ago
I'd make a decision I was gonna do something and I'd talk myself
into it. I'd try to talk myself out of
it and then I'd end up doing it. And then I'd have to say,
Lord, save me from this mess I just got in. I could not tell
you how many times, especially when I was young. Like you said,
Don, we didn't have no sense when we was, I didn't have no
sense until I was 25. How in the world people endured me when
I was a 30-year-old preacher, I don't have no idea. But they
did. But oh my, Lord, save me from
this situation. If you get me out of this, God,
if you'll keep me and teach me and help me, I won't get in that
again. But I'd get in something else.
I've got myself in some financial messes, physical messes, and
spiritual messes, trying to take matters into my own hands. But
you know what he's done every single time? He has come and
saved us out of every single one of them. And you know what
he's done? He's never once knocked us in the head like we should
have been, whipped us like we should have been whipped. And
you know what else? He kept what we did just between him and us. Ain't that wonderful? He don't run around and say,
Lord, you see what a mess Dr. Bill made? I can't believe Donnie
done that. Well, you just hang around. You've
been around me long enough, it'll be easy for you to believe it.
But oh my, and I tell you, we should be still because he's
God and because he said to be still. Look in Isaiah with me,
45 in verse nine. What a verse of scripture. Isaiah
49, 45 in verse nine, excuse me. 45 in verse nine. Oh listen,
because he's God, we're the creatures, he's the creator. He's in the
heavens, we're on the earth. Oh my. Look what he said here
in verse nine of Isaiah 45. Woe unto him that striveth with
his maker. striving with his maker. Let
the potter strive with the potter's of the earth. Shall the clay
turn around and say to him that fashions it, what have you made? Or to the work, he hath no hand. Oh my. Tim James one time, years
and years ago, we was in a meeting. He went to the Walmart came out
of somewhere and bought a big glob of clay. Great old big glob
of clay. He brought it to the service,
and he's preaching out of Romans 9. So the thing formed to him that
formed it, why sayest thou, why'st thou made thou me thus? Who art
thou, old man, that replies? And he took that clay and laid
it up here. He said, I'm going to give you an object lesson.
He took him a piece of that clay, and he began to work with it,
and he said, you know, I bought that clay. That clay belongs
to me. I can do whatever I want to with it. I can throw it on
the floor. I can stomp it. All the things he said he could
do with that clay. And he said, that's the way we are in God.
He's the potter. We're the clay. and he puts us
on the wheel and he can make a beautiful vessel out of a person
or he can make an ash tree out of another. He can make a beautiful
pot and put grace in it and put flowers in it and put love in
it and put gentleness in it and kindness in it and desire after
God to know God or else he can take a man and put nothing but
hatred and enmity and meanness and corruption and hatefulness
and hating You can do it either way, you can do that. You can
take one and make it real soft, you can take another and make
it as hard as a rock. And that's what he's saying here.
And I'll tell you why we should be still, because his will's
gonna be done whether we like it, submit to it or not, it's
gonna be done. It's gonna be done. His will's
gonna be done. His will, you know, who in the
world's gonna keep him from doing it? He does according to his
will in the armies of heaven. And his will's gonna be done
whether we like it, submit to it, or rest in it. And I'll tell
you another reason why we ought to be still, because he's God. But you know what he done with
those who wasn't still? You know what he said to Pharaoh?
Pharaoh said, who is the Lord that I should obey? He found
out. He found out. God said, you know I raised,
you know the only reason you is on the throne? That I might
show forth my power, my authority in you. Oh, he stood up against
God, but oh my, what it cost him. Nadab and Abihu have already
showed you. Cain and Esau, these are men. who wouldn't submit to God, didn't
like his providence, didn't like the way he ordered things to
be done. And Israel asked for a king. I preached on this Wednesday
night. They asked for a king. God gave him a king and his anger
turned around and took him away in his wrath and told him what
a miserable king he'd be to start with. And here's the thing, beloved. There's no peace of heart. There's no rest of soul till we are still before God. And do it gladly, not grudgingly,
not stoically, but say, Lord, when you put your hand out, let
me kiss that hand that that prophet is. Bless your holy name, your
God. And I'm glad you are. I'm glad
you are. You know, I'm gonna tell you
something. Has anybody ever told you all
that preach the grace of God the way we do? Boy, I said, man,
you all, You all act like you're nothing but robots. God's gonna
just do whatever He wills with you. I wished I was. Wouldn't
you like for God to take absolute, complete control of you? Your
thoughts, your hands, your actions, your words, your heart, your
thoughts, your intents, your motives. Wouldn't you love Him
to have complete control of you? One of these days He's going
to. But I wish it was that way. And we're living right now by
the will of God. And the will of God, this God
we're talking about, he's our father. And he gave his son for
us. So I'm glad, I'm glad that he's
God. I am so glad he's like he is. I wouldn't change him for 10,000
million worlds like this if it meant the salvation With all
of my children and grandchildren, and all the children that would
come after them, God's perfect the way He is. And so when He
says, be still, it's just rest, be calm, be quiet. Oh, this is
freedom from worry, freedom from anxiety. And the only way in
the world we can be still before God, you know, the only way you
can be still before God, you gotta know Him first. You can't
be still if you don't know him. You can't be still if you don't
know him. Oh, we know that the Son of God hath come and given
us an understanding that we might know him, Jesus Christ, for this
is the true God. And oh, he's made us know himself.
To know that he's God, and does whatsoever pleases Him. He works
all things after the counsel of His own. He does according
to His will in the seas, in the heavens and the earth and the
seas and all deep places. Oh, I tell you, I know you all are this way too.
You can't hardly go anywhere and see something glorious Just
the fact that it's what we heard tonight. Do you know what a blessing
it was to hear what we heard tonight about wisdom, righteousness,
and sanctification, and how we became that way? God made us
that way. And he made us that in Christ.
Why wouldn't you want to be still for God like that and done everything
for? You're just absolutely perfect before. Oh. To know God, and he does
whatever pleases him. And if it pleases him, it just
absolutely tickles. I'm as happy as if I had good
sense. Listen, God is God. And it's beyond reason. It's
beyond sanity to resist his will and not be still. Oh, thank God that he does this.
He does not give account of his ways to nobody, to nobody. He don't have to give an account.
He got up this morning like he always did, still the great I am. And I say
that not in a literal sense, but God was, is, and shall ever
be. What he was, he is, and what
he is, he always has. Oh my. And he don't say, well
listen, I'll tell you what I'm going to do. Nope. No, he don't
do that. He gave us an account of salvation,
gave us an account of his son, but he don't give us an account
of his will, what he's working out in our lives. And oh, to
know that not only that he is God, does whatever pleases him,
but know that he's unchangeable in his nature. He's unchangeable,
he cannot change his nature. His purposes, his promises, his
covenant. You know what David said? He
was an old man, his lame or his deathbed. And this is what he
said. He said, the Lord hath made with me an everlasting covenant,
ordered in all things. And you know what else he said?
And it's sure. Well, what do you think about
that, David? This is all my salvation. And this is all I desire. I don't
look for nothing else. He is the Lord and he changes
not. This is the anchor of his soul. And to know not only that
he is unchangeable, but that he's omnipotent. God got all,
I've heard Psalm 62, 11 said, I've heard once, yea, twice,
that all power belongs unto God. We heard it with this ear, and
then we heard it with that spiritual ear. Found out by experience
that all power belongs to him. He's able to deliver us and to
help us. He's able to perform what He
promised. He's able to keep what we've committed unto Him against
that day. And here's one of the most blessed thing that He does,
present us faultless before His glory and His everlasting, at
His coming, present us perfect faultless before Him at His coming. Not only know that he's omnipotent,
but know that he's omniscient. Now this is one of this, I love,
I love everything there is about God and I, but this is one of the things
that I think is one of the most blessed things about God that
there are. His omniscient, that he sees all and he knows all.
Right now, right this moment, right this moment, He sees every
single one of us. He knows what we was going to
think before we thought it. Knows what we was going to do
before we did it. You know you can't see through
that glass because of that water in it. You know I can't see you. But listen, God can look through
us just like looking in a clear glass. And that just, that thrills
me. I tell you that thrills me. and
see the thing about it is, is that you can't hide from him. You can't hide from him. You
know, you can't say, well, God won't see me if I go over here
and do this. God won't know that I've done that. Listen, there
ain't no place. He knows our persons. He numbers
the hairs of our head. Shows us how careful he is about
us. He knows our person. He knows
our cares. He knows our troubles. And here
in Psalm 46, look what he said in the verse one. God knows how
to hide us. He knows how to shelter us in
the storm. God is our refuge and strength. And listen to this,
a very present help in time of trouble. Not one way off, but
one present, very present. That means he's right there,
right there. So what are we gonna do about
it? Well, we're not gonna fear. Let the earth be removed. Let
the mountains be carried into the midst of the seas. Oh, my. God's too good to be unkind,
too wise to do wrong. And to know this, that it looks like the wicked
are in control. It does. I mean, as far as this
world's concerned, it looks like the wicked's in control. I was
glued to television all day long yesterday. Well, I'm sure some
of you are. And look like the wicked's in
control. Things look black, things look blue. But you know what
it said? Be still and know that I am God.
I will be exalted among all the heathen and I will be exalted. Just hold on. And oh my. And then a sweet, sweet consolation. Be still. Be still. concerning your past. You know, I've done some awful
things in my life. And I'm ashamed of them, very,
very ashamed of them. And every once in a while I'll
wake up at night and I'll remember things that I've done when I
was 13, 14, 15, 16, just a teenager. And I, you know, oh, it's awful. You're so ashamed of them, but
oh, be still concerned of the past. You may remember them,
but God says they're gone. Your sins are gone. We sing that
little chorus. They're all, my sins are gone. They're all taken away, away. They're all gone, gone, gone,
gone. Where they gone to? Christ took
them away. Christ took them away. with all
of his blood, sins are gone, no condemnation. We're saying
it's well with our souls, and it really is well with our souls.
They may come and torment us at times, but oh my, that's why
I love to come hear the gospel. That's why I love to come hear
the gospel. When I'm listening to the gospel,
I have more assurance when I'm hearing the gospel than I do
at any other time while I'm on this earth. Right while I'm listening
to it, I am just, whoo, I can come up and holler. Sometimes
I do sometimes. But all my sins are gone. Like
you said, righteousness, holiness, oh, that's well with our soul.
And then a sweet consolation, be still, concerning the present.
We don't know what tomorrow's gonna bring in the morning. We
don't know what's gonna bring tonight. But we do know this. His grace is sufficient. You
say, well, man, I don't know how I'm gonna do it. His grace
is sufficient. You don't know how I am. His grace is sufficient. And I tell you what, He orders
all our trials in His wisdom. He sees the end of them before
you ever start. God establishes you, perfects
you, and holds you by His grace. And be still concerned in the
future. Commit your souls unto Him as unto a faithful creator.
Paul told the Philippians, Rejoice, I say, in the Lord. Again, I
say, rejoice in the Lord. For the Lord is at hand. And you know what that means?
That don't mean He's coming right then. That means He's right there
at your right side. And I'm gonna tell you something
that blesses me, is that goodness, goodness is over here and mercy's
over there, right behind. And the Lord Jesus is right there.
He's at hand, he's right there. He's by your side, at your right
hand. Oh my, Lord, your will be done. Just help us, and I want to,
no matter what it is, to be still, be quiet, be calm, whatever you
send our way, as a congregation, as a husband and a wife, as a
parent with our children, as grandparents with our grandchildren. Be still. and know I'm God and
I'm going to do right by Him. Amen. Amen. Thank you very much.