Mark's Gospel, Chapter 7. Back a number of years ago, we
were hosting our conference, and we didn't have central air. We had a window unit that fed
the duck work through a back office in the wall, and it worked
fine. It's a 35,000 BTU unit. I keep it plenty cool with 300
people in there, as long as everything went well. And one Saturday afternoon,
I left and we went home, came back. When I got back, somebody
had left the door open. It was froze up. It was hot.
The thermometer right beside my chair says 110 degrees. And I said to the folks, well,
if Don Fortner is pastor of Grace Church in Danville, a year from
now, we'll have central air. Well, the Carter Brown walked
out the door and said, if you'd passed the hatch, you could have got
it tonight. But we got the centilare and
it's nice. When you read the scriptures, it's wise to try
to put yourself in the place of the people in the immediate
surrounding passage. Our Lord Jesus had healed the
maniac of Gadara. Just before that, he had sent
his disciples across the sea, and they were caught in a terrible
storm. He came walking to them across the water. He spoke peace
to the storm. Everything went well. The Lord
Jesus had been in the coast of Tyre and Sidon, and there he
had a Syrophoenician woman come to him and said, would you heal
my daughter? She's grievously vexed with the
devil. And he said, it's not right to
take the children's bread and give it to dogs. And she said,
I understand that. And I know I'm just a Gentile
dog. But even the dogs eat crumbs that fall off the table. And
the Lord said, I've never seen such faith as this. He said,
go your way. Your daughter is healed. And
she went her way and found that he had healed her daughter. You
can imagine the stir in the air. How excited people were when
they heard about this man, this unusual prophet, this prophet
who men are saying is the Messiah, the Christ, the woman's promise
seed, this one who's come to redeem and save his people, this
one who declares himself to be God in the flesh. And he comes
in the coast of Tyre and Sidon, and here he continues acts of
mercy, healing one who's both deaf and suffered from a speech
impediment. And his fame was so great that
he simply couldn't be hidden. He went into a house to try to
hide himself, but he told folks, don't tell people. Don't tell
them about this. And the more he said, be quiet,
the more they talked. They couldn't contain themselves.
And there's a huge crowd around him. And when you get to the
end of Mark chapter 7, Here stands this man, this man who is God
in the flesh, who cast out devils, open blind eyes. loosened the
dumb tongue, unstopped deaf ears, raised up the lame, folks who
were just bedridden with palsy, and even raised the dead. Here
he stands in their midst, the Word of God, the power of God,
the grace of God, the embodiment of God. And when they saw him,
this great crowd that had seen all those things, we read in
verse 37, were beyond measure astonished, saying, He hath done
all things well. He hath done all things well. God's given me a message for
me, and I hope for you. Back years ago, I was 26 years
old, Brother Henry Mahan and I were preaching together out
in Appomattox, Virginia, and Henry knew I was scheduled to
preach, and I was a young man, a bunch of older preachers, Brother
C.O. Jackson and Jack Shanks and R.J. Coots and David Pledger. Those old men were all there.
And uh, and he uh, he came up to me at the motel room sat down
visited a little while And usually his way was when he got ready
to leave he'd tell you why he came He got started to leave.
He said brother fortner Find something in that book you need
He said if you need it Chances are pretty good. The rest of
us might If it speaks to you It just might speak to us, but
if you don't need it And it doesn't speak to you, we won't hear it,
and we don't need it. God's given me something I need,
and I'm sure something you need. If these men and women who had
seen our Savior's miracles, all they had done was observe His
miracles. They had seen Him open blind
eyes. They had seen Him calm the stormy
sea. They had seen him unstop deaf
ears. They had seen him loosen the
dumb tongue. They had seen him raise up the
lame. They had seen him give life to
the dead. How much more should we? Whose storm he has calmed. Whose
blind eyes he has opened. Whose deaf ears he has unstopped. whose dumb tongues he has loosened
to praise him, whose souls dead in trespasses and in sins he
has raised up. How much more astonished we ought
to be constantly and declare to his praise, he hath done all
things well. How much more we ought to confess
to God our Savior, to angels above, and to men in this world,
and to wandering worlds around us, and to one another. He hath
done all things well. Now that's my subject. That's
the one thing I had to say tonight. He hath done all things well. And concerning that one statement,
I want to make this observation first. Looking over all the days
of my life, everything I have experienced in these 66 years,
I lift my heart to heaven. And I say to you and to God,
my savior, he hath done all things well. Looking back over the past, if
I could go back and change anything, there's nothing I would change.
Not one thing. Like you, I've had a few trials
and heartaches. I've had a little bit of pain
and sorrow. I've had some hurt and bitterness,
and I'm ashamed to confess I've caused much more than I've experienced. But my God and Savior had been
so kind, so gracious, so merciful to me that were I to die this
very evening, you can write these words over my gravestone. He
hath done all things well. Here lies a man who was for 66
years the benefactor of unceasing special divine care, and my Jesus
hath done all things well." Sinners redeemed with wonder tale. Christ Jesus has done all things
well. By his great sin, atoning blood,
believing we have peace with God. That one who bought us with
his blood now reigns on high the Son of God. This fact our
every fear should quell. Christ Jesus hath done all things
well. Now tell me, you who know my
Savior, is not your testimony the same? Does your life's experience
verify he hath done all things well? If you're God's, if you
know God, I know it does. From first to last, from the
day of our birth to this hour, from the earliest pangs of sin's
conviction to the blessed thrill of sin's forgiveness, from the
cradle to the grave, From earth to heaven, this will be our testimony
regarding all the way our gracious God has led us. He has led us
in a straight way through this wilderness and in every experience
along the way, he hath done all things well. I know what your
pastor and his family have just been through. And best I could,
I've gone through it with you. And I tell you, he hath done
all things well. I have a very dear sister, who
probably will be dead by the time our conference is over.
As far as I know, she didn't know God. And I love her dearly. And I'm here to tell you, Christ
Jesus has done all things well. Brother Scott Richardson once
made this observation. He said, had we the power of
God, we would change everything. But had we the wisdom of God,
we would change nothing. He hath done all things well
in providence and in grace, in every truth revealed in his word,
in every token of his love, in every stroke of his rod, in every
sunbeam of his goodness, in every cloud that has darkened the skies,
in every sweet morsel he puts into our lives, in every bitter
thing he's mixed into our cup. in everything mysterious, confusing,
painful, and humiliating, in all that he has given and in
all that he's taken away, he has done all things well. That's the sum of it all. This
is, must be, and shall be our grateful acknowledgment in time
and eternity. Our great God and Savior, He
who loved us, chose us, redeemed us, and saved us by His grace,
He who has kept us in all our ways, who is keeping us now and
will keep us tomorrow, has done all things well. He who is our
God. He who is our God is God indeed. He is too wise to err, too strong
to fail, and too good to do wrong. Study God's universe. as best
you can. Study all the affairs of your
own life and all the affairs of history as best you can. Look
at everything as closely as if you were looking through a microscope.
Indeed, with microscopic faith, look into the details of all
things in all God's creation and you will find He has done
all things well. Turn with me, if you will, to
Psalm 119. Psalm 119. I could never find better words
to sum up my life's experience than Psalm 119, verses 65 through
68. Listen to this. Thou hast dealt well with thy
servant, O Lord, according to thy word. Teach me good judgment
and knowledge. God, teach me to understand this.
Thou hast dealt well with thy servant, O Lord. According unto
thy word, teach me to understand. Teach me good judgment and knowledge. For I have believed thy commandments. Before I was afflicted, I went
astray, but now I've kept thy word. Thou art good and doest
good. God, my Savior, has dealt with
me." Isn't that astonishing? That God should deal with you?
Thou hast dealt with me. The angel of the Lord encampeth
round about them that fear him. He pitches his tent around us. all the days of our lives. We
are kept as the apple of his eye. He is like a wall of fire
around us. Thou hast dealt with thy servant. Not only has he dealt with me,
truly thou hast dealt well with thy servant. Those words don't
begin to start telling my astonishment. The Lord God has dealt well with
me. That little word well. is one
of those magnificent little one-syllable words that's just bursting with
meaning. This is what David is saying.
Thou hast dealt most favorably, most kindly, most graciously,
most lovingly, most pleasurably, most sweetly, most prosperously,
most finely, most joyfully, most merrily with thy servant, particularly
These last 49 years, since he saved me by his grace, my God
has dealt well with me as his servant. He's dealt well with
me as his son, as his spouse, as his friend, as the object
of his love. But I take particular delight
with David in saying thou has dealt well with me, thy servant. Unto me, who am less than the
least of saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among
the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. Should you
talk to Brother Moose Parks about his friend Don Fortner, he will
tell you that we went, he and I went to the same high school,
the same college. He'll tell you that If you had
a passage in the yearbook, the most likely to fail, the most
likely to be in jail, the most likely to go to prison, the most
likely to be murdered, the most likely to die in foolishness,
that'd be Don Ford. That'd be him. He'd head the
list. But unto me, who is less than least of all the saints,
God has given this grace. he's allowed me to preach the
gospel of his free grace to sinners around the world since i was
seventeen years old thou hast dealt well with thy
servant it was he who appointed me to the work he who called
me by his grace he who has provided everything for me i told our
folks last night As God's servant, because I'm
God's servant, in all the years that I've been preaching the
gospel of God's grace, I've never asked anybody but God for anything. I've never hinted to anyone that
I needed anything. I don't dare poor mouth the God
I serve. And God provides everything I
need. Everything, just amazingly, amazingly. Give you an example. That truck
out there I'm driving, I needed a vehicle. One day a fella called
me up and said, would you like to have this truck? I said, I
don't know if I can afford it or not. He said, I didn't ask
if you wanted to buy it. I said, would you like to have it? Yeah, it'd
be great. There it is. Been driving it
now for, what, 12, 14 years? That's it. One day, Shelby and
I got ready to plant things in the garden, and we didn't have
stuff for the flowers, and you ladies know what that stuff cost.
We had to buy all the stuff and seeds and stuff for the garden
and tomato plants and all that stuff. And looked out, just looked
out the door on the way to the office, and there was a truck.
made that turn coming in to old Stanford Road right in front
of our church building. And he was trying to make it too fast.
He had missed his turn and tried to make it quickly and turned
that whole thing over. He's going out to Walmart to
unload a whole truckload of flowers and potted plants and stuff.
And I walked out there and the state trooper was there by the
time I got out there. And I said, what are you going
to do with this? He said, I'm fixing to call somebody to clean
it up. I said, can I clean it up? As I called Larry Brown, I said,
bring your trailer. I've got some stuff I need. He
said, what for? I said, hurry and bring it. I've got to have
it right now. How's that? God has all these years opened
the windows of heaven and dropped into my lap everything I've needed
in serving him. Always has. In His provision
and His protection, He has dealt well with His servant. And He's
dealt well with me all my life according to Thy Word. According
unto Thy Word. He's dealt with me and dealt
well with me according to His Word in that book the lamb of
God takes from his hand. We read of in Revelation chapter
five, the book of his sovereign predestination. He's dealt well
with me according to his word of promise. This book right here,
this book right here. Oh, what promises he's proved. Young preacher was visiting an
older lady in his congregation and he started to leave and he
picked up her Bible, gonna find a text of scripture to read and
he just kept them in through it. And every way when he saw,
he saw places marked in Bible, T P T P. And finally, curiosity got the
best of him. Uh, but afraid he said, he said, sister, I see
all through your Bible, your place marked T P. What's that
mean? She said, Oh, pastor, those are
God's promises. Tried improved, tried improved. He's dealt well with me according
to his word. He's dealt well with me according
to his incarnate word, Jesus Christ, the wisdom of God in
all things in Christ, he's dealt well with me. Let me elaborate
a little bit. He hath done all things well. Every redeemed sinner who serves
God with a willing heart acknowledges God's unfailing goodness to him.
Truly he's dealt well with his servants according to his word.
In addition to the immeasurable riches of his grace in Christ,
our God has constantly loaded our days with his goodness in
providence. We read in Proverbs 12, 21, there
shall no evil happen to the just. There shall no evil happen to
the just. I've been slandered and lied
about. I've been attacked physically
and verbally. I've had cancer. I was born with
a defective heart valve. I've had some falls and broke
some bones. I've wept some tears. And I've never experienced an
evil thing in my life. All that God has done, He has
done for me, not against me. And He has done for me in dealing
well with His servant, not dealing evil with His servant. I look
back upon things, Things that, at the time, you look up and
say, well, this is bad. This is evil. This is not good. This is not good. But now on
this side, I look back at it, that was good. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Oh, what good God has brought
from this. It's good to acknowledge the
good when we see good in it. Knowing that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are the
called according to his purpose. But it's better to acknowledge
the good when no good can be seen except with the eye of faith. When you lift your heart toward
heaven, with tears burning your cheeks and your eyes swollen
with weeping, and speak to God and say, thou hast dealt well
with thy servant. Then you speak in faith. Thou
hast dealt well with thy servant according unto thy word. Let
us his praise and wonders tell. Sing for our God's done all things
well. Through Jesus' sin-atoning blood,
sinners are reconciled to God in grace and providence as well.
The triune God does all things well. Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,
the triune God in whom we trust has promised and has proved it
good that he works all things for our good. In grace and providence
as well, the triune God does all things well. Let sinners
loved of God and bought, who by free grace have been sought
out, love Him who has made us His choice. In joyful praise
lift up your voice. In grace and providence as well,
the triune God does all things well. Back before time began, in eternity,
He did all things well. The Lord Jesus, God's darling
Son, stood forth as our covenant surety, and He volunteered to
assume all responsibility for our souls. And the Lord God gave
His elect to His Son, and said, Go and redeem them. And He trusted
Christ with our souls. He trusted Christ with His glory. He trusted Christ with His purpose. And the Lord Jesus drew nigh
to God on our behalf. His delights were with the sons
of men. His heart was upon us and he
pledged himself to redeem and save us and gave himself for
that purpose. And the father struck hands with
the son as a surety in covenant grace. And he ceased from everlasting
to look to me for anything. Can you get hold of this? God
doesn't look to us for righteousness. He doesn't look to us for satisfaction. He doesn't look to us for obedience. He doesn't look to us for sanctification. He looks to Christ and it's Christ
who's responsible for his own, not we for ourselves. He said,
Pastor, surely you're not denying that we have responsibility before
God? Oh, no. No, no, no. I wouldn't think
about denying that. I'm fully aware of that. But
blessed be God, we could never meet the responsibility Christ
has. You got that? Christ has. My
brother Harry Graham, who's with the Lord, he used to say to me,
he said, this thing of responsibility, he said, that's our response
to his ability. Turn over to Ephesians chapter
1. Let me show you this. This work was done before the
world began. Ephesians 1, verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us. Now look at
it. He hath blessed us. That's at one time in the past
with finality. He hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings. What is that? That's everything
God can give a man. That's everything God will give
a man. In time and eternity, all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places, how? In Christ. How did He do
that? According as He hath chosen us
in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before Him in love. He blessed us with
all these blessings of grace, according as He chose us in His
Son, Christ Jesus, for the purpose of us being holy and without
blame before Him. Now, if you read commentators,
you read a lot of gobbledygook. They say He chose us in election
that we should live a holy life. Well, you ought to do that. I
ought to do that. That'd be a good trick if you
could, but you can't. Which of you have ever done anything
holy? Or even thought anything holy?
Hold on. He says that we should be holy
and without blame before Him. And that's only in His Son. That's
only in Christ the surety in love having predestinated us
unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ To himself according
to the good pleasure of his will to the praise of the glory of
his grace wherein he hath made us Accepted in the beloved in
whom we have redemption through his blood even the forgiveness
of sins according to the riches of his grace look at verse 12
that we should be to the praise of His glory who first trusted
in Christ. Who first trusted Him? The triune
Jehovah trusted God, man, our Savior before ever He assumed
our humanity when He stood forth as our surety in the covenant
of grace as our mediator before the world was. Then in the fullness
of time, when God sent forth his son made of a woman made
under the law to redeem them that were under the law, when
the son of God came down here and took on him the seat of Abraham,
he hath done all things well. As a man, the Lord Jesus came
into this world to work out righteousness. To perform righteousness. To
bring in everlasting righteousness. What is that? That's what God
requires of you and me. Perfect holiness. Perfect righteousness. Walk before me and be thou perfect,
God says. He didn't say be as good as you
can. He said be perfect. He said be ye holy for I am holy. He didn't say be as holy as you
can. He said be ye holy. God will not accept. God cannot accept anything less
than perfection. But we can't give it. Now hear
me. Whatever God requires of you,
God gives to you. Whatever God requires of us,
God performs for us. And Jesus Christ came here not
to perform righteousness for himself. He didn't need any.
He came here to obey God as a man. And he said, Lo, I come to do
thy will, O my God. He taketh away the first, that
he may establish the second, by the which will we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Christ came down here to fulfill
and bring in everlasting righteousness, just like God told Daniel he
would. Everlasting righteousness. He came into the world without
the aid of a man, through a virgin's womb, the woman's promisee, with
no corrupt nature, with no defilement, with no sin. And he came into
his mother's womb and had hope in his mother's belly, so that
from the very beginning, this man is perfect and walked before
God for 33 and a half years in perfect obedience. Perfectly
loving God. Perfectly doing God's will. Perfectly
loving his neighbor. Perfectly obeying the law. Perfectly
believing God. Perfectly. When the scripture
says we're justified by faith of Jesus Christ, now this becomes
a shocker to most folks. That's what it means. Not justified
by our faith in Christ. That's a different story. When
it says we're justified by the faith of Jesus Christ, we're
justified by His faithful obedience. We receive that justification
by faith in Christ. But the work was accomplished
by Him. He came down here, living as
a man for 33 years in perfection, not for himself, but for us,
and brought in a righteousness of infinite worth and infinite
merit as the substitute and surety of God's elect. He became the
Lord, our righteousness. Of him are ye in Christ Jesus,
who of God is made unto us righteousness. He who knew no sin was made sin
for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. And here we stand now robed in
the garments of salvation with Christ as our righteousness.
So that in Jeremiah 23 verse 6, His name is called the Lord
our righteousness. So really and truly is he made
of God unto us righteousness. That in Jeremiah 33 and verse
16, he calls us by the very same name, the Lord our righteousness. We are really and truly one with
Christ. When Christ Jesus obeyed God
as a man, When he loved his neighbor as a man. When he loved God with
all his heart as a man. When he believed God perfectly
as a man. When he walked before God perfectly
as a man. I did all that in him. You understand that? Perfectly obeyed
God. But God requires not only that
we have a perfect nature of righteousness, He requires that we have holiness
within. Follow peace with all men, Hebrews 12, 14, and holiness
without which no man shall see the Lord. What's that talking
about? Well, you work real hard, be
real holy, and you'll get to see God. No, no. When we were
born by nature, We had imparted to us the nature of our father,
Adam, the nature of our father, Adam. I, uh, I knew Fred's dad
before I knew Fred. And, uh, I, I know Fred a little
better, but I knew his dad before I've ever met Fred. And, uh,
I'll tell you something about your pastor. He's got his daddy's
nature. He looks like him. It looks like
it. You've got it day to day. How
come? Well, that's just the way things are by nature, isn't it?
No. Can't help it. That's just the way they are.
We have our father Adam nature imparted to us by natural generation. In the new birth, In sanctification,
we have our Savior, the last Adam's nature imparted to us
in regeneration. So that we are born of God and
we have created in us a new man in righteousness and true holiness. We have in us that new man that
cannot sin, that new man that always does righteousness, that
new man warring constantly with the flesh, but that new man,
Christ Jesus, dwells in his own. Ralph Erskine said this, if you
would have righteousness, you must have it in and from Christ. He has to give you both. and
imputed righteousness for justifying you, and an imparted righteousness
for sanctifying you. Christ in you, the hope of glory,
that's that holiness without which no man shall see the Lord.
J.C. Philpott wrote, if once I catch
by the eye of faith this glorious truth, that Jesus Christ is of
God made unto me righteousness, The soul receives internally
what Christ has done externally. We receive by faith what he accomplished
for us as our substitute when he lived on this earth. But God
requires more than righteousness. God requires more than obedience. The Lord God requires satisfaction. So the Lord Jesus took our sin and made it his own. And I don't have any idea how,
but I know it was real. He cried with broken heart, oh
my God, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless,
not my will, thy will be done. And God drew forth the dreadful
sword of justice and smote his son. Now listen to me, listen
to me. Because he fully deserved to
die. God cannot be just and punish
one who doesn't deserve to die. He punished his son as our surety,
as our substitute, because his son was made sin for us. Now, us having his righteousness
made ours, the Lord God gives us that righteousness and makes
us righteous in Christ in exactly the same way as Christ was made
sin. completely, fully, and perfectly. Look yonder in glory. You see
the man yonder bearing the scars of crucifixion? The man in our
nature who is God in our nature? You see him yonder? Does he deserve
to sit there? Has he earned the right to possess
all things? Has he earned the right to enter
into heaven by obedience unto death, by satisfying justice?
Is he worthy to sit there? Oh yes, preacher. If you're in
Christ, you too. worthy of heaven's glory may
meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. So that
God accepts us in the totality of our lives in union with Christ
and says He says, this is my beloved son,
in whom I am well pleased. Now let me get as personal as
I can. You know the unbelief that's
plagued your heart today and yesterday. You know the lust
of your flesh. You know the corruption of your
nature. You know your coldness toward everything good and holy
and righteous. And your grasping after everything
that's worthless. You know that. How then do you
expect God to look on you and say, well done, thou good and
faithful servant. Because this is my beloved son. In whom I am well pleased. I'm in his son. Not with whom,
in whom. I'm in his son. Read the ninth
chapter of the book of Ecclesiastes. The wise man says, he said, you
go and enjoy the labor of your hands in all this vanity. That is in all this world. And
enjoy the wife of your youth. For God now accepteth thy works. You men and women here, you who
are gods, you are just as much God's servants as I am your pastor
is. And God accepts you in the totality
of your lives because he accepts you in Christ. So that we bring
to him our whole being. and God accepts us and rewards
us with perfect righteousness on the basis of justice satisfied
and righteousness brought in through Christ Jesus the Lord.
The only claim we have to our heavenly inheritance is Christ
our righteousness. But blessed be God, we need no
other claim. Christ has satisfied the law. Christ has brought in everlasting
righteousness. And this is God, my Savior. Thine anger is turned away and
thou comfortest me. And the Lord, oh, he hath done
all things well in his grace. He came and brought conviction. Conviction of sin, because I
didn't believe him. Of righteousness, because he
had fulfilled it all. Of judgment finished, because
the prince of this world is judged. He called me. He called, blessed
is the man whom thou choosest, and calls us to approach unto
thee. The calling of God. is not an
invitation, it's a cause. The calling of God is not an
offer, it's a work. The calling of God is not a proposal
or proposition. When God calls, sinners come. Blessed is the man whom thou
choosest and causest to approach unto thee. We try to talk folks
into believing, and that's right. We try to, I want you to believe
on God. I pray those children, God, God
save you. God give you faith. You must believe Him. And if
you refuse to believe Him, you're going to hell and it's your fault.
But you can't. And faith in Christ is not so
much a decision or determination to believe Him. You just one
day find yourself by an irresistible force you can't possibly explain,
believing God whom you despised a moment before. You just find
yourself believing him. That's the wonder of his grace.
He comes and you've seen the picture of what's supposed to
be Jesus standing at a heart's door and they tell you there's
no handle on the outside, the heart has to be open on the inside.
And it's kind of a silly picture. He's supposed to be the light
of the world and he's there holding a candle. And he's knocking at a man's
door, begging for entrance. No, no, no, no. When Christ comes,
he knocks the door down, bolt and bar, and you don't even know
what's going on until he's already on the inside and you're glad
to have him. He comes and brings his welcome with him. He comes
by almighty, irresistible grace. And when he does, he causes sinners
who kept excusing their sin. who kept trying to cover it up,
who kept trying to hide it. He causes sinners to rip open their hearts to Him
and confess their sin. It's what I am. And then we meet
with temptation and trouble and trial. And He preserves us and
keeps us in His way. The just man falls seven times
and raiseth up. Why do you reckon that's what
the wise man said? The just man falleth seven times
and raiseth up again. Proverbs 24, 16. Why didn't he
say the just man falls seven million times? We have. Why didn't he say he falls a
hundred million times? We have. Why does it say the
just man falleth? That's present continual tense. That's the linear tense. The
just man is constantly falling, constantly falling. He messes
up in everything he does. He falleth seven times. That
is in the totality of our lives, brother Fred, we're failures.
We fall and we fall and we see it and we said and the Lord raises
us up Because faithful is he that calleth
you who also will do it When I was just 17 years old Hadn't been converted long I've
done a little bit preaching and I I'd gone through something
that, at the time, I thought was just devastating. It was
kind of like a baby walking and falling down, you know, he scrapes
his knees and cries himself to death. But that's all it was.
I thought it was the end of everything. I thought, this is over. This
is over. Satan's won. It was all a farce. It was all
a joke. And I fell on that passage of scripture in 1 Thessalonians
5, 24. This is the will of God in Christ
Jesus concerning you. Faithful is he that calleth you
who also will do it. He which began a good work in
you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. You see,
our being preserved in grace is no more our work than our
original calling. We're kept by the power of God
through faith that he gives us. kept in grace, kept in love,
and kept in the continual overwhelming revelation of his love. And then
in providence, in providence, he who gave his darling son for
us, who delivered him up to death in our stead, how shall he not
with him also freely give us all things and indeed he has
indeed he does of his fullness have all we receive and grace
for grace back uh... how long has it been since douglas
faith got married forty five years nope more than that nope
forty five is that right? Tell me. 25 years. Yes, she's 45 years old. 25 years. About 26 years ago,
my son-in-law, Doug Hacker, came to the house, and I had a pretty
good suspicion of what he was doing there. He and Faith had
been dating a while, and he was coming to ask for her hand in
marriage. And it's just the father's responsibility to make the fellas
as uncomfortable as possible, so I tried to do so. But I was
prepared. And, uh, they got married. I
married them. They came back from their honeymoon,
and I had a package for them. It had, uh, something I don't
own or anything. It cost me insurance. That's
it. We don't own a thing. That had the insurance papers,
and, uh, had a key to the house, a key to my truck, key to both
cars, and, uh, to the car, and, uh, keys to the garage, and toolbox. I said, uh, whatever we got here
is yours. It's yours. You you're welcome to it. Just
just take it use it. Have you don't have to tell me
anything about it? Let me know where it is. So if
I need to know where it is, but it's yours Somebody I said told
somebody that one time they act like they're shocked Even you
gave him keys to everything. Yeah, I Just gave him my daughter
You reckon I wouldn't give my hammer Oh God Who gave us his soul? How shall he not with Him also
freely, abundantly, without constraint of any kind give us all things? That's God's providence. That's
His good providence. And when He gets done, heaven
too. He had done all things well. Years ago, Shelby and I and a
couple of other preachers and their wives, we used to take
about a hundred kids to camp every week. And one year we had
invited a fellow to come from Norman, Oklahoma. to preach to
the young people and to us. And we were all young, and the
facilities, they weren't much. They just weren't much. And Brother
Lasilius got there, and I apologized to him. From the time I picked
him up at the airport, I started apologizing. And we got to the
campground, and I was apologizing. When we started to go to his
room, I showed him his room, and I apologized. And then I went
back and got him for supper, and I apologized. He said, Brother Don, all of
this and heaven, too, and heaven too. He hath done
all things well. If you don't mind, pastor, I'd
like to lead us in a hymn, because I never get to lead this hymn.
It's number 21. We'll sing it to the tune of all 4,000 tongues. I don't know a thing on earth
about music. I took a pastoral conducting course, but it didn't
take me. So we'll just sing this to the tune of all 4,000 tongues.