In the Sermon on the Mount, the
Lord Jesus Christ is talking to, he is ministering to his
church, his people, his little flock, his disciples, as they
gather around him to learn of him. And that is an encouragement
to us, surely. For we are like them, and they
are just like us. The troubles that we see the
disciples having are the troubles which we have, and they would
have been well aware of the issues that face us. The wonderful thing
about the Lord Jesus Christ is that he is the eternal word. And therefore that which he said
then applies now. And when he ministered to the
needs of his people in a day gone by, so that same ministry
is applicable and beneficial and comfortable for his people
today. As he speaks, So we get the message
that he is delivering in this sermon. It is all of a piece. It is a message which isn't disjointed
or a gathering together of random snippets and pieces and merged
all together as if it is a complete thing, but really it is all random
and separate. This is a message which comes
to us in its entirety. The Lord declared these truths. He sat down with his people. He sat down with his disciples
and he taught them. The Lord Jesus Christ taught
them what it was to be a blessed people. He taught them where
true happiness was to be found. He showed them that there was
righteousness to be had in trusting in Him. He declared to them that
whether there was a legal dimension to the teaching which they had
learned, that he was the fulfilment of the law and that all that
he came to do would be a blessing to his people. He taught them. what his message was, and how
they were to love one another, how they were to care for one
another, and how the teaching of God would infiltrate their
lives, and how it would blossom in their souls, and how it would
be witnessed and evidence to those around about them. The
Lord Jesus Christ taught them that they were not to worry about
the things that they faced in this life. He taught them that
there was to be a trusting in Him and that that trust would
deliver them from fear and from anxiety. He says, don't worry
about what you should eat. And don't worry about what you
will drink. And don't worry about what you
will wear. Because you are precious to me. He says to his people, I will
take care of you. I am looking after you. I will be with you. I will never
leave you. You are mine. And these words
must have been of comfort to the Lord's people in days gone
by as they comfort his people today. And we've thought about
some of this message in past weeks. And at the beginning of
Matthew chapter 7, here in verse 1 through verse 12 that we have
read together, We see that the Lord immediately, from speaking
about the fact that he is looking after and caring for his people,
he is telling them not to worry, goes on to talk about judgment. And he says, judge not that ye
be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge,
ye shall be judged. And we think to ourselves, well,
where's the connection here between the Lord saying, don't worry,
I'm looking after you, I'm providing for you, and this injunction,
this instruction not to judge one another. Where's the continuity? What is it that the Lord is leading
us into now in this portion of his sermon? Remember, of course,
that the chapters and the verses are not original as far as the
preaching was concerned. This message was given in its
entirety. We don't imagine that there was
a break here. The Lord just continued to speak. The chapters and the verses help
us as we go through our Bible to find the place where we are
reading. But they are a relatively modern
gloss upon the text. So are these admonitions, are
these instructions that the Lord is giving now related to what
has gone before? I think they are. And what I
want to do this evening, as the Lord will enable, is just to
put a view on these verses, which I think will help us to understand
what the Lord is teaching us here when he directs us not to
be judgmental. The Lord has been telling his
people not to become entangled with the world. not to allow
the passions or the attractions of the world to entice them and
to draw them aside. He has been saying, look, make
your focus upon the things of God. Let your mind dwell upon
those things which the Lord has done for you. Do not be motivated
by the things of the world. The world has many attractions. It offers riches. It offers popularity. It offers very many attractive
things to men and women. But the Lord Jesus Christ says
you cannot serve two masters. He says you either have to follow
one or you have to follow the other. He says, don't be preoccupied
with the material things, the fleshy things of this world,
because you are a separate people. You have been drawn out of the
world. You have been set aside from
the world. You have the mark of God upon
you. You are my people. You are my
flock. And as a separated people, you
are called upon to trust the Lord, to depend upon Him, to
rest in Him. And that includes for His timing. That includes for all his ways. That includes for when he sees
fit to do things in our lives. And we have a responsibility
to wait upon him. It's what it means to trust him.
Patience is a grace as well. Sometimes as a people we can
be very impatient. Sometimes we say, I wish it would
happen now. I wish we could get this sorted
now. I wish these things would come
together now. But the Lord says, you wait on
my timing. You rest on me. You trust me
because I am in control of all of these things. You are mine.
You are my people and I know the way that is best. Turn with
me briefly to Luke chapter 6. I want to read some verses, just
a few together with you from the parallel passage in Luke,
which is speaking about sections of this sermon. Look at Luke chapter 6 and verse
20. And he lifted up his eyes on
his disciples and said, Blessed be he poor, for yours is the
kingdom of God. And what I want to draw your
attention to here in this verse is simply this, that the Lord,
as he is speaking these words, is looking at his disciples. The Lord is drawing his disciples'
eyes to himself. And the theme of what he is saying
is to stress the separation that his people have from the world,
the distinctiveness that is theirs. He is calling them to have a
distinctive attitude. He is calling them to be different
in their passions, that their motivation in this world is not
the same as the world's motivation. but rather is a motivation that
pursues the holiness of God and the righteousness of God. Their outlook in this world is
different. Now, of course, if you were looking
at that mixed group that were sitting on the hillside when
the Lord was delivering this sermon, you wouldn't have been
able to distinguish between those who were the Lord's disciples
and those others. those who were in attendance,
those who were the listeners, some of whom believed and some
of whom undoubtedly did not believe, some of whom were of his flock
and some of whom were not. You wouldn't have been able to
tell them apart. And yet there was a great distinction. There
was a difference between those people. The point is this. that we are not to be different
by the way that we dress, or the way that we talk, or the
way that we live, or the things that we eat, or the things that
we drink. These distinctions are not outward
distinctions. We see many around about us today
that identify themselves and their group by the way that they
dress. Sometimes it's obvious, like with the Amish or the Hutterite
people that we see, and sometimes it's not so obvious. Maybe it's
just the way that a hat is worn, or the kind of material that
is worn. But those who are in the club
know the signs, and they all know that they are identifying
themselves together as a particular group. There is a distinctiveness
amongst them. But you see, the distinctiveness
of the Lord's people is not an outward distinctiveness. It is
an attitude. It is a heartfelt alteration. It is a separateness that comes
because of what the Lord has done to us internally, that flows
out in the way in which we live and in the way in which we think. So we look further down at verse
27 here in Luke chapter six. But I say unto you which hear. Okay, so who is he speaking to?
His disciples. He is speaking to those who have
ears to hear. He says, love your enemies. Now that's radical. That's radical. Love your enemies. I've encountered since I've come
amongst you. Attitudes that prevail in a wider
population and certainly amongst the Lord's people too. And sometimes
I think, these people, they're almost afraid. They have these
preconceptions, they have these attitudes. where they're afraid
of what's going on in the world around about them. They're afraid
of what their government's doing. They're afraid of what the Muslims
are going to do. I don't know whether you know
any Muslims and yet there's a fearfulness that comes in to our lives about
these things, about what's going to happen. The Lord is calling
his people to be radically different from the attitudes of the world.
And the Lord says, if you have an enemy, I want you to love
them. And I'm not just talking about
an ethereal notion. I'm talking about the way that
you act, the way that you think, the way that you go about the
things that you do. You are to love your enemies. Do good to them which hate you. Maybe there's somebody at work
who's got a bit of a grudge against you. Maybe there's someone that
just likes to take every opportunity to give a snide comment or a
rude remark or to say something that they know will belittle
or embarrass you. Do good to those who hate you. Bless them that curse you. Could it be any more emphatic?
Could it be any more radical? Could it be any more opposite
to the way in which we feel, the way in which we naturally
think? This is the Lord speaking to
those who hear. He's speaking to his own people.
He says, bless them that curse you. Pray for them which despitefully
use you. And unto him that smitest thee
on the cheek, offer also the other. and him that taketh away
thy cloak, forbid not to take thy coat also. There is a lesson here. Give to every man verse 30 that
asketh of thee, and of him that taketh away thy goods, ask them
not again. How do you possibly live like
that? How can you possibly be that
kind of person? But you see, the Lord is talking
about His people and He is directing us in these words to realise
what it is to be different in principle. We talk about conversion. What does our conversion mean?
What is the alteration that has taken place? What is the difference
that has occurred in our life as a result of the Holy Spirit
indwelling us? The Lord Jesus Christ coming
into our lives and making us his people. That new creation,
that change, that alteration that has taken place. These words are directed to those
who hear and are directed to those who are separated. There is a separation takes place. It's not because we dress differently,
not because we use a different language from that which is spoken
around about us. Look at verse 22. chapter six, verse 22 of Luke,
blessed are ye when men shall hate you and when they shall
separate you from their company and shall reproach you and cast
out your name as evil for the son of man's sake. So you see
there is going to be A difference, not because we act differently,
but because the men and women of this world realise that these
people are different. They are different because of
the way they think, different about the values that they have,
the motivations that they have. There is a difference. So when
we read in Matthew chapter 7 verses 1 to 5 concerning judge not,
it is not saying here that we are to be a people who are not
discriminating or a people that are careless or thoughtless or
gullible or naive. It is not saying that we are
to be a people that just don't think about the things that are
happening around about us and just go on casually as if it
doesn't matter. Not at all. The believer, in
fact, is judging all the time. A believer is constantly judging. He is constantly judging what
is right and what is wrong, what is true and what is false. Whether
what he's hearing is good for his soul or whether it's not.
Whether what he's seeing is a blessing to him or not. And we are perhaps
the most discriminating of people because God, the Holy Spirit,
dwells in us. And we discover that we are not
at home in this world. This world rubs us up the wrong
way. We feel irritated by this world. We feel concerned by it. And
there is no peace here. There is no happiness. There
is no contentment. We are not at ease in the world.
We are constantly judging those things which are around about
us. But I think that there are three
things given to us here by the Lord which show us the true meaning
of these words, judge not that ye be not judged. What the Lord is saying to his
people is this, because you're separate, because you've been
changed, because you're altered in your heart, in your life,
because your motives are different, Don't live on the world's terms. Don't accept the world's terms. Don't assume that the way the
world is presenting itself to you is the way that it's got
to be. You are enabled, because you're mine, because you're different,
because you're separate from the world, to live differently. You've been chained. You've been
altered, you've been converted and you've not to fall into the
pattern of this world. Don't pursue the world's principles. Don't follow the world's lead. Don't dance to the world's tune. What does the world seek? The
world seeks justice. It seeks fairness. The world says, give me what's
due to me. The world says, if I work hard,
I should prosper. If I'm lazy, I shouldn't be surprised
if I don't get to eat. The world has a perception about
how things should be. It panders to the flesh. It lives for its desires. And it pursues those things which
satisfy its cravings. And the Lord says, don't be like
the world. You are a people for whom if
there is to be a defrauding, you take it in your stride. If
someone will curse you, you bless them in response. If someone
hates you, you show them love. You go out of your way to be
contrary, out of your way to be different. You take opportunity
to make these people think to themselves, I can't get my head
around them. I don't understand how he's acting
like this. I have been as rude, I have been
as offensive, I have been as difficult as I can be with this
person, and still, he buys me a cup of coffee. Still, he's
there in the morning making sure that the lights are all on in
the office before I arrive. He's looking after me despite
the way that I treat him. You see, the world can't help
itself. It pursues its own ways. But the Lord's people are different. You are different. We are not to judge as the world
judges, because if we judge as the world judges, we will be
judged like them. But if we don't judge as they
judge, if we go the extra mile, if we give up our coat when they
steal our cloak, When we give and don't ask in return, then
we are not judging as they judge. And we are living out that distinctiveness,
that alteration, that change and conversion that has taken
place in our life. There's another reason why the
Lord says, don't be like the world. Because the world is better
at judging than we are. The reality is that you're not
good at judging. You think you see what's happening
in the world, but you don't. You think you understand what's
happening, but it's wrong. You see, We don't judge a right
because we've got this mote and this beam in our eye. We think we've got illumination. We think we've got understanding
in the ways of the world. We think we're street smart.
We think we've got a grasp of things. But in reality, we can't
see because we're blinded. There's a smoke screen out there.
There's a deceptiveness. There's a purposeful clouding
of these situations to the extent that even when we approach what
we think is the truth, invariably somebody is hoodwinking us. That's what it is to be the little
guys and the little people in this world. We all have our prejudices. We
all have our bigotries. We all are biased. We all have
our partialities. It's the way that it is. And
if we try to judge as the world judges, we will get it wrong. And the third reason is this,
that the world can't understand us. We are different. We are different and the world
can't understand us. The values that we have as the
Lord's people don't mesh with the values of the people of the
world. The two masters, if you like,
to go back to the analogy that the Lord gave us, they don't
agree. They don't talk to one another.
They don't reconcile together. And so we cannot give holy things to dogs. Now
that sounds rude and it sounds offensive, but what the Lord
is saying there is that these two things will never come together.
The dogs will never appreciate the holy things. And if you try
to be shoulder to shoulder with the world, given that you're
my people, given that you're a separate people, you will discover
that they just don't understand the things that you regard as
important. You can't give perils to swine. Men and women of the world say,
give me what's due to me, give me what's my right, give me fairness,
give me parity. But believers, they don't use
the courts, they don't use fleshy powers. They don't use the things
of this world to impose their will or their principles upon
unbelievers. It'll just never work. Now you
know that. You know that as far as your
own children are concerned. You can try and bring them up
in the faith and admonition of the Lord. You can try and show
them a good example of the things that you believe, but sooner
or later you discover that there's a waywardness about them, that
these things don't mesh, these things don't come together. And the lesson for the Lord's
people, the lesson for the Church of Jesus Christ is this. Don't
try to employ the politics of the world. the ways of the world
to achieve your ends. It'll never work. Don't endeavour
to use fleshy power to change the world. Don't think that you
can fight fire with fire or use the devil's tools against him. I often, in days gone by, would
hear people and There was a time when perhaps as a younger man,
you liked to contend a bit more than I'm at ease doing now. But in the days of the contentions,
when we used to argue these things through, people would say, no,
we're staying. We're staying in this denomination. We're staying in this church.
We're staying in this group. Why is that? Well, we're going
to win it. We're going to win that group for the Lord. We're
going to do things in there that will be like a fifth column or
be like a rear guard action. We're in it to win it. And people
think that they can use fleshy tools in order to moralize. the world or a society or even
a church that is going away from the position that perhaps they
once held. We speak about the Christian
coalition or a moral majority or about the Christian right
as if there is some sort of political lobbying that can be done to
keep this nation of ours on the straight and narrow. It won't
happen. It can never happen. It's already
not happened. We can put in our efforts, we
can put in our energies, we can work, but the Lord says, don't
judge. Don't judge. Whatever you do
to judge them, they will simply bring that back on you. You don't
know what's happening out there, so how do you think you can change
it? Don't throw your perils before swines. It's already a lost cause. There is nothing good in the
flesh. You are a spiritual people, and
therefore you are to walk spiritually. In 2 Corinthians chapter 10 verse
4, the Apostle Paul uses the same sort of picture when he
says, So I say to you, don't worry about what your government
is doing. Don't worry about trying to support lobby organisations or moral
organisations, or trying to attack those things which you say are
permissive and liberal, as if by attacking a way of life or
a lifestyle you're going to in some way improve the society
in which we live. It's not your fight. And in fact,
the reality is that you will probably find yourself fighting
against God because God is bringing these judgments upon our society
and this is his way of destroying those things which are set up
in opposition to him. Someone once said, it's a little
bit like getting into a spitting contest with a skunk. you'll be smelly when you come
out of that encounter. Okay, if the Lord is telling
us here in this passage that we're not to be mixing with the
world, that we're not to get involved with the structures
of the world and the values and the principles of the world,
even to the contending against them, then what do we do? How are we to live? How do we
engage in this society? Why has the Lord left us here?
Why are we still in this world? If this world is so contrary
to us, why does he just not take the church up immediately and
take us home to glory? How are we to stand in these
days? By what principles and by what
practice do we live in this society and in this world? Well, look
at verse 12. Verse 12 of Matthew chapter seven. Again, this is all part of the
Lord's presentation to us here. Somebody has called this the
golden rule of life. Therefore, all things whatsoever
ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them, for
this is the law and the prophets. The Old Testament used to say,
an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. Get what's due you,
get even. Get what you can out of this
world. Somebody hurts you, you hurt
them back. You defend yourself. But that's
not the principle that the Lord gives to his church and to his
people. Therefore all things whatsoever
ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them. For this is the law and the prophets. One wonders when we read these
words, if it is possible to improve upon that statement as a word
of advice to anybody living in this world. The Lord Jesus Christ
has given us an amazing statement there about how we are to live
with men and women around about us. Do to them as you would have
them do to you, not as they do to you do to them, as you would
have them do to you this do. What a principle to live by.
What a lovely, comforting, encouraging principle to have in life. It's not mean in any way. It's
not offensive in any way. It doesn't hurt, it doesn't grieve. It is generous and kind and it
is loving. and it blesses those that curses
us, and it gives to those who withhold from us, and it is generous
to those who would be mean-spirited to us. Men live by lust, and by greed,
and by self-superiority, by discrimination, by hatred, and by pettiness,
and this is the result of sin in the world and in their lives.
But if men lived by this rule, what a better place the world
would be. And this is the rule to which
the Lord calls his people to live as examples before the men
and women of this world. This requires meekness. It requires gentleness. It requires
humility. It requires love and thoughtfulness
and sensitivity, one for another. Someone will say, well, won't
we be vulnerable and exploited? Won't we be hurt? our homes and
our families be jeopardised if we take this kind of attitude?
Rather than judging, rather than defending ourselves, rather than
saying, what's fair, what's right, what's for me? Our homes could be overrun, our
lives could be pillaged. Have we no faith? Don't we trust the Lord? Isn't
it the Lord who is saying, live like this? Isn't it he who is
our King that is calling his people to be different, to be
separate, to be radical? And whom do we trust? Do we trust
in the Lord or do we trust in the sheriff? Do we trust in the Lord or do
we trust in the educationalist? Do we trust in the Lord or do
we trust in the government? The Lord says, I will never leave
thee, nor forsake thee. It's a beautiful little passage,
just a little verse, and I could have used so many verses, but
this one I settled on, and I just want to leave it with you. It's
a picture of Ruth. Ruth as she was out seeking to
glean those few pieces of corn that had fallen from the reapers
as they were going through the fields. And she was observed
by Boaz as she was obviously nervously and cagely picking
up a few pieces of corn. And Boaz goes to Ruth in Ruth
chapter 2 verse 9 and he says to her, let thine eyes be on
the field that they do reap. You watch where they're reaping
and you go into where they are reaping, right into the very
field where they are reaping, right in amongst them where they
are. And go thou after them. Have I not charged the young
men that they shall not touch thee? And when thou art athirst,
go into the vessels and drink of that which the young men have
drawn. Look at verse seven of chapter seven
in Matthew. Here's what the Lord says should
be our approach to the ways of this world. Ask and it shall be given you. Seek and ye shall find. Knock
and it shall be opened unto you. Do we feel vulnerable? Do we
feel exposed by taking such a radical attitude to the men and women
of the world? We don't have to fill our thoughts or our minds
with the grand things of government and international affairs. how
do we deal with our neighbour? How do we deal with our workmate?
How do we deal with those interpersonal relationships that we have one
with another? How do we deal with our family
and our friends and our church members? How do we deal with
those around about us that would cause us trouble? If we feel
vulnerable, if we feel exposed, if we feel at risk by endeavouring
to fulfil these things that the Lord directs us to here, to Do
to men as they, as we would have them do unto us. If we feel as
if that's going to cause us trouble, then what is the answer? Not
to do it? No. The answer is to take those troubles
to the Lord. Ask and it shall be given. Seek and you shall find. Knock
and a door will be opened to you. Ask, seek, knock. Ask and it will be given. You
shall find. These are promises that the Lord
gives to his church and to his people. And what a tremendous
encouragement that is for us to go to the Lord, to pray to
him, to bring our petitions and our needs, to seek his help,
to ask that he will defend his people in the situations into
which we come, to seek wisdom and understanding about how we
should speak and where we should speak and what we should say
in these particular situations. Lord, how should I deal with
this person? What am I going to do? What about
the anxiety that builds up in my soul because of this situation? to take these prayers, these
requests, these pleas for help to the throne of grace with the
promise that He will deliver us. Knock upon the doors of opportunity
to serve those who are in need. The Lord says, where your treasure
is, there will your heart be also. How are we going to live
in this world? How are we going to serve one
another in this world? How are we going to be useful
as a church of God, as the people of Jesus Christ in this world? The Lord has kept us here to
be servants to those around about. And the application of these
verses implies persistence. We approach the Lord in faith. We believe. Faith isn't Prayer
is key to us receiving the blessings of the Lord. Indeed, it's the
very key that opens the door of God's goodness. When a poor
soul finds grace and mercy to help them in that time of need. Our Lord's design in these verses,
I think, is to express to us the nature of our prayer, the
fervency with which we are to go before Him, and the constancy
that we give. Come to Ephesians chapter six
with me, please. Ephesians chapter six. Look at verse 10. My brethren, be strong in the
Lord and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armor
of God that he may be able to stand against the wiles of the
devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against
principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness
of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Therefore,
wherefore, take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye
may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all
to stand. Stand therefore, having your
loins girt about with truth and having on the breastplate of
righteousness, and your feet shod with the preparation of
the gospel of peace, above all taking the shield of faith, wherewith
ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. and take the helmet of salvation
and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, praying
always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto
with all perseverance and supplication for all saints. Ask, seek, and
knock, because we are engaged in spiritual activities The Lord
knows what we have need of before we ask. He knows about what you
need to eat and what you need to drink and what you need to
wear. He knows about all the circumstances
of your life, but he calls his people to be radically different,
to serve him and his purposes in this world. to love our enemies,
to bless those who curse us, to give and not seek in response. In such a way, the Lord will
use his people for the accomplishment of his purpose. And he promises
an answer, for he says, everyone that asketh receiveth, and he
that seeketh findeth, and to him that knocketh it shall be
opened. And then the Lord gives a lovely
example here in these final verses of our passage. He says, what
man is there of you, whom if his son asks bread, will he give
a stone? Or if he asks a fish, will he
give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know
how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall
your Father, which is in heaven, give good things to them that
ask him? Our Father, which is in heaven. This speaks of his covenant love
towards us. It speaks of his interest in
us, his defence of us. It speaks of he who is omnipotent,
who is able to do everything and who is defending his people
and comforting his people. It speaks of him who is omniscient,
who knows every eventuality and exactly what is required when
and in what circumstances. He will give good things to them
that ask him. We ask in faith, we ask trustingly,
we ask with perseverance, we ask humbly. In conclusion, Turn with me to
Psalm 84. I want to read a few verses from
the end of this passage about how we go before the Lord to
ask, to seek, and to knock. Look at Psalm 84 and verse 8. O Lord God of hosts, hear my
prayer. Give ear, O God of Jacob, Selah. We're asking the covenant God,
the one who has said, your father, which is in heaven, he will do
all that you need. He will give, he will provide,
he will help. Verse nine. Behold, O God, our
shield, and look upon the face of thine anointed. How do we
approach God? We approach him on the basis
of the Lord Jesus Christ, his anointed, and all that he has
done. We approach him as our intercessor,
he who speaks for us in heaven. We approach him as the mediator
who stands between God and man, and we say to God, oh God, hear
my word, look upon the face of thine anointed. and for his sake
whom thou lovest. Hear the concerns that we have,
hear the needs that we have, hear what concerns us. Verse 10, for a day in thy courts
is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper
in the house of my God than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. Tents of wickedness are the places
of judgment in this world, but we are a people who are separated
from these tents of wickedness, and we are content to be humble
in the presence of our God. We are better off by far in the
Lord Jesus Christ than anything that this world could ever offer
us. Verse 11, for the Lord God is
a sun and shield. The Lord will give grace and
glory. No good thing will he withhold
from them that walk uprightly. The Lord God is a sun and a shield. He is the sun of righteousness,
who riseth with healing in his wings. And he is a shield and
a defender for his people. and he will bestow everything
that is needful upon us as he is content to deliver us out
of this world. Verse 12, O Lord of hosts, blessed
is the man that trusteth in thee. Blessed is the man that trusteth
in thee. The Arminian, with his free will,
trust, thinks that once you've trusted in the Lord, that that's
the job done and it's sorted. Are you saved? Yes, I'm saved.
I trusted in the Lord 30 years ago. I'm not interested in hearing
about your 30-year-old trust. I'm interested in knowing whether
you trust the Lord today. I'm interested in knowing whether
you trust the Lord moment by moment in this life. It's a day-to-day dependence
and reliance and resting upon the Lord. We claim as his people to trust
him spiritually. And we trust him spiritually
for the greatest blessings imaginable. We trust him for grace and we
trust him for glory. If we are going to trust him
for these things, can we not show some evidence in our day-to-day
life that we trust him for the little things too? May the Lord
enable us to do so. Amen. Closing hymn is 118. 118.