fourth chapter of the book of
James together, James chapter 4, and then I'll focus my attention
and yours on just one phrase in this chapter. James chapter
4, from whence come wars and fighting
among you? Come they not hence even of your
lust that war in your members. You lust and have not. You kill
and desire to have and cannot obtain. You fight and war, yet
you have not because you ask not. You ask and receive not
because you ask amiss that you may consume it upon your own
lust. What a summary James gives us of all the trouble we experience
in this world, in ourselves, with ourselves, and with one
another. We seek our own lust and seek
to consume that which God puts in our hands upon our own lust. Ye adulterers and adulteresses,
that's what it is to take your love from your husband and give
it to another man, to take your love from your wife and give
it to another woman, to take your love from God and give it
to the world. Ye adulterers and adulteresses,
know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a
friend of the world, is the enemy of God. Do you think that the
scripture saith in vain, the spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth
to envy? Surely you're not so foolish
as to think the scriptures didn't mean for us to take that just
as it's stated. The spirit that's in us, what we are by nature,
lusts all the time to envy. Oh, thank God for that little
word. But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth
the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Submit yourselves
therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will
flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will
draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners,
and purify your hearts, ye double-minded. Be afflicted and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to
mourning and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight
of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. Speak not evil one of
another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his
brother and judgeth his brother speaketh evil of the law, and
judgeth the law. But if thou judge the law, thou
art not a doer of the law, but a judge. There is one lawgiver
who is able to save and to destroy. Who art thou that judgest another?
Who are you? Who am I? Sit around talking
about our brethren, our sisters, judging them, holding court over
them. Oh, God forgive us. Dare we set
ourselves up as God? Dare we set ourselves up as God?
Go to now, ye that say today or tomorrow we will go into such
a city and continue there a year and buy and sell and get gain. How deplorable this fact is,
David. We live all the time acting as
though we're God. We live all the time. acting
as though we're God. We won't bridle our tongues because
we think we have the power to judge other folks. We can't bridle
our thoughts or our tongues because we think we have the right and
the ability to sit in judgment over the character of others,
especially God's people. Not only that, we dare presume
to go about our lives making plans as if God didn't exist. Go to now ye that say to Mark
today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a city and
continue there a year and buy and sell and get gain. Whereas
ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor, just a mist,
a brief fog, that appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth
away. For that ye ought to say, if
the Lord will, we shall live and do this or that. But now
you rejoice in your boastings. All such rejoicing is evil. Therefore to him that knoweth
to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin. If the Lord will. If the Lord will. Those four words in verse 15
have arrested my mind for weeks. If the Lord will, if the Lord
will. Nothing in this world is so important
as the will of God. Nothing so desirable, nothing
so beneficial to our souls. This was the one thing that consumed
our Savior while he walked on this earth as our representative
our mediator, our substitute, as Jehovah's righteous servant.
He was utterly, utterly consumed with the will of God. Utterly consumed with the will
of God. Oh, how blessed it would be for
me, how blessed it would be for you, if we might by God's grace
be utterly consumed with his will. If the Lord will, that's
my subject this evening. In the 40th Psalm, I read back
in the office, you can look at it later, our Lord Jesus made
this statement. He said, I delight to do thy
will, oh my God. Let us rejoice. to know that
Jesus Christ, our substitute, our mediator, our representative,
our covenant surety, on our behalf, in our room, in our stead, has
completely, perfectly, totally fulfilled and satisfied the will
of God by His doing and dying in our place. He fulfilled all
the will of God revealed in His law, all the will of God's purpose
and the redemption of his people, all the justice of God, all the
righteousness of God, all the will of God, which is the saving
of his elect. Jesus Christ, God's son, finished
our redemption and by his obedience to the will of God, when he sat
down in heaven with his own blood at the right hand of the majesty
on high, he had obtained for us eternal redemption. But those
words in the 40th Psalm are not only the words of our Lord Jesus,
they truly were the words of a man after God's own heart by
the name of David. A sinful man. A man of passions
like ours. A man whose heart was constantly
warring in himself just as James described here in James chapter
4. A man whose pride caused him to take another's wife and have
that man murdered. A man whose pride caused him
to sacrifice much to try to cover up things for his own namesake.
He lusted and desired that he might consume even Uriah and
his wife, even Israel if necessary, upon his own lust until God intervened. A man like you. A man like me. And yet this man David says,
I delight to do thy will Oh, my God. And here am I, a man like David. A man just like David. Just like
David. In all his weaknesses, just like
him. In all his sin, just like him. In all his pride, and passion
just like him. A man just like David, born again
by God's grace, washed in the precious blood of Christ, given
the very righteousness of God in his darling son and made to
be the righteousness of God in his son. I say to God, I delight to do thy will, O my
God." Nothing on this earth is comparable to the will of God. Nothing on this earth is comparable
to the will of God. I delight to do thy will, O my
God. Our Savior taught us to pray
like this. And God, the Holy Spirit, graciously
teaches every heaven-born soul to pray like this, Thy will be
done. Thy will be done. Now I promise you, I promise
you, when the rubber hits the road,
and things are tough, that won't be the first thing come out of
your mouth. Well, it might be the first thing come out of your
mouth, but it won't be the first thing in this heart. That's not gonna happen until
God graciously bows us to his will. But God, the Holy Spirit,
if we're his, does and will teach us from our hearts to bow before
him and pray, thy will be done. With the believer, this is not
a religious cliche. It's not something that we tack
on the end of our prayers and we ask God to do something so
if it's your will. I deliberately in public prayer
seldom use those words. I seldom use those words. Deliberately,
in public prayer, I seldom say, in Jesus' name or in Christ's
name, I pray. And I seldom use those words
for a reason. Because they have become just
religious clichés, tacked on the end of prayers, so as to
excuse us asking God to give us what we lust after, rather
than bowing to God's will. Rather, when we pray, And I'm
not saying don't use the word, don't misunderstand me. I'm not
saying, I'm not scolding you who do. Please don't misunderstand
me. But Meryl, when we pray, let
it be our hearts cry, thy will be done. According to thy will, if the
Lord will, if the Lord will. When the believing heart cries,
I delight to do thy will, O God, this is what we mean. My Father,
my God, I delight to fulfill your purpose. I delight to do your pleasure. I delight to obey your precept. I delight to fulfill your purpose. I delight to do your pleasure. And I delight to obey your precept. Now let me make three observations
and try to answer two questions briefly. First, understand this. It is our duty and our responsibility
It is the duty and responsibility of all people, men, women, and
children, to obey the will of God revealed in His precepts. I don't much like the word duty,
but duty is what it is. The scriptures reveal God's will
made up in three parts, His precepts, His pleasure, and His purpose.
God's precepts are those things which he commands of his creatures. God's pleasure is that in which
he delights, and God's purpose is that which he's determined
to accomplish. These three things God has shown us plainly. They
never contradict one another. They're never at odds. They're
always in perfect harmony. They are together the will of
God. Let's look at them plainly. First,
that which God has revealed as his requirements, as his command,
that which he has revealed to be his will and pleasure is to
us a precept, a law, a command, something we're responsible to
obey. God's will of command, his precept,
is made known to us and that's our duty. It's given to us in
his word. God gave the law to the children
of Israel and he gave them ten commandments, commonly referred
to as the Decalogue or the moral law. Someone rightly said those
are not ten suggestions, they're ten commandments. They reveal
what God requires. Now our inability to fulfill
them, In no way, in no way diminishes our responsibility and our duty
before them. God requires these things. Those commandments are written
on our minds and consciences by God's creation so that every
human being knows right from wrong in his conscience, in his
mind. It's stamped on his conscience.
And no matter how hard he tries, by whatever means he tries, he
cannot erase or silence the voice of God in his soul. The conscience
constantly accuses or excuses him. And then God's command is
that which God reveals to us personally. would have us do. I quoted something to you Sunday
morning that Bunyan said with regard to his imprisonment in
Bedford concerning him preaching the Gospel. He said, I would
rather lie in this jail until moss grows over my eyelids than
disobey God's command. Do you find me somewhere in this
book? where God commanded John Bunyan to go preach the gospel. That wasn't what he was talking
about. He was talking about something God had clearly made known to
him. Something God had clearly made
known to him. So that when the Lord God makes
known to you, or makes known to me, That which He would have
us do, it is our responsibility to hear His voice by His Spirit
in our souls. The moral requirements of God's
law revealed to men by the light of nature and revealed to men
in the Word are things that are God's precepts. The ceremonial
law given in the scriptures, given to the children of Israel
with the establishment of the Passover, were things that God
required the children of Israel to fulfill, to maintain as his
precepts of worship, because these things pointed to the coming
of our Lord Jesus Christ and redemption by him. Now since
Christ has come and fulfilled the requirements and types of
the moral and ceremonial law, we are not under the law. We're
not to live by the law or strive to find acceptance with God by
the law. But we do have a commandment from God. Turn to 1 John chapter
3. Let me show you. It is the revealed will of God. It is the revealed will of God
that all men believe on His Son. John chapter 3 verse 23, this
is His commandment that we should believe on the name of His Son
Jesus Christ and love one another as He gave us commandment. Now
because no man is capable of fulfilling the righteousness
of God revealed in the Law, Christ fulfilled the Law in the place
of sin for men. And now Sinners fulfill the law
by believing on God's Son. We establish the law by faith
in Christ. God requires perfect righteousness
and perfect satisfaction. Here it is, Jesus Christ the
Lord. And we offer God that which God
himself has provided and there is therefore now no condemnation
to them that are in Christ Jesus. to them who walk not after the
flesh, but after the Spirit. This is what God requires and
commands of all men. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, hear me, hear me. You whose
hearts are yet enmity against God, you who yet walk in darkness
and love it, you, you who yet live with your fist in God's
face and refuse to bow to Him, down to God's throne and believe
God's Son else you perish and there's no hope for your soul
but to believe Him. Second, it is the desire of every
believer, the desire of every heaven-born soul to obey the
will of God in His holy pleasure. A loving child, a loving child
wants to do more than just please mom and dad by doing what they
require. That child wants to please mom
and dad. There's a big difference. There's
a big difference in wanting to do what they require. and wanting
to please them, wanting to please them. I don't pretend to be anyone
who knows anything at all about parenting, and I don't give much
advice or counsel concerning it. I tell folks all the time
I just had one child, and he was a girl, so I don't qualify
as a parent. But I say to parents all the
time, have a newborn baby. I'm certain. I said it to Billy
when Molly was born. I had no idea. And any of you
others who had children born, said it to you as well. If somehow,
if somehow, in God's good providence, by God's grace, you can instill
in that child a desire to please you. Oh, that's gonna save a
lot of pain. That's gonna save a lot of pain.
A loving child desires to please. It's parents. A loving wife wants
more than just doing what her husband requires her to do. She
wants to please her husband in all things. And the believer
wants to do the will of God. That is to say, we seek that
which pleases Him. Is that true or not? There are some things revealed
in this book that please God. He has showed thee, O man, what
is good. What doth the Lord require of
thee but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with
thy God? To do justly is to trust the
Lord Jesus. Come to God on the basis of justice
satisfied through the obedience and death of His Son. To love
mercy is to love God's Son. Christ is mercy. It is to love
the mercy of God in Christ. Aren't you thankful that God
is great in mercy? And to walk humbly with God is to walk on this earth knowing
who you are, and whose you are, knowing who it is that makes
you to differ from another, knowing that you've been bought with
a price, knowing that you belong to God, knowing that we are made
one with Christ and one in Christ, each having the mind of Christ,
esteeming other better than themselves. And there are some things revealed
in the Scriptures that clearly displeased God. Turn to Ephesians
chapter 4 for a minute. Ephesians 4. Look at verse 17. Paul's writing to
folks just like you and me in the Gentile world in the town
of Ephesus. Ephesus was a, it was a strange
place. It was a strange place. Sort
of like New York City. Maybe San Francisco. Maybe Charlotte,
North Carolina. Maybe Danville, Kentucky on a
smaller version. A huge city of wealth and commerce. And they had religion everywhere. All the Gentiles, they were as
religious as Southerners who live in the Bible Belt. I mean,
they were religious as all get out. And they had great temples. A great temple to Diana. that
goddess of the heathen, that hideous goddess of the heathen
of the Gentiles. And part of their religion involved
the practice of fornication. Part of their religion, it was
so common to them that it was a part of their religious practice.
And Bill, the Gentiles didn't think anything more of it than
we do today. I mean, you'll go home tonight,
generally television, you'll watch it for an hour before you
go to bed. Truth or not? Truth or not? Sit down and watch it with your
little children and raise them up to watch it. Well, it's nothing
to be concerned about. Well, let's read what Paul says
here, what God says here. Ephesians 4 verse 17, This I
say therefore, brethren, and testify in the Lord, that ye
henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity
of their minds, in the utter, meaningless, insensibility, stupidity
of their empty minds. Having the understanding darkened,
being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance
that's in them because of the blindness of their heart, who
being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness
to work all uncleanness with greediness But you have not so
learned Christ. You didn't learn that from God.
You didn't learn that from God. You've not so learned Christ.
If so be that you've heard him and have been taught by him as
the truth is in Jesus. That you put off concerning the
former conversation, the former manner of life, the old man.
Put this off. Say no to the flesh. which is
corrupt according to the deceitful lust. And be renewed in the spirit
of your mind and put on the new man, which after God is created
in righteousness and true holiness. Wherefore, putting away lying,
speak every man the truth with his neighbor. For we are members
one of another. Be angry and sin not. Let not
the sun go down upon your wrath. Don't seethe and you steal. Neither
give place to the devil, let him the stole steal no more,
but rather let him labor working with his hands that which is
good. And labor working with his hands for this purpose, that
he may give to him that needeth, that no corrupt communication
proceed out of your mouth." What's that talking about? Oh, fellas,
they cuss and care. Now, don't do that. Don't do
that. I wrote to William F. Buckley
years ago when he was still alive, and I said, you demonstrate the
weakness of your argument when you've got to swear to make it
sound good. If you've got to cuss to make
yourself sound powerful, you don't have much of an argument.
Don't talk like that. But that's not what it's talking
about here. That is not what it's talking about here. Let
no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which
is good to the use of edifying. That it may minister grace to
the hearers. And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God whereby you're
sealed under the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath
and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you.
That's what he's talking about. That's corrupt communication.
Bitterness, anger, wrath, clamor, evil speaking, yakking, yakking,
yakking, yakking, yakking about other people. Let that be put
away from you with all malice because that's where it all comes
from. and be kind one to another, forgiving one another, even as
God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. God, give me grace
not to dishonor your name or offend you in word, in deed,
or in thought. Give me grace not to offend your
children, not to bring reproach on your
name or your gospel, or grieve your spirit. And yet I'm fully
aware of the fact that the only way a sinful man can please God,
the only way you women, sinful women that you are, can please
God is by faith in His Son. Seek in all things to walk with
God, trusting Christ, leaning on Christ, He alone is the Lord
our righteousness, and yet ever seeking while you walk on this
earth to walk in His likeness in all things. Not to get a good impression before
men. Not to give men a good reason to talk good about you. Just for God's honor. That's
all. Just for God's glory. Wouldn't
you like to do that, Don? Just live for God. I don't want to talk about it. Doing that that pleases God just
because you want to. Third, we're assured in this
book that all things obey God's secret will, His eternal purpose,
His eternal decree. I'm not going to spend much time
with this. We know that God has predestined
everything that comes to pass. There's no question at all concerning
that. He makes it plain, makes it clear in His Word. That's
as plain as the nose on your face. You don't have to guess
about it. You don't have to search about it. Our God's in the heavens.
He hath done whatsoever He hath pleased. Our God is incomparable to anything
being called God. He says, this is how I separate
myself, I am God, declaring the end from the beginning, and from
ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying my counsel
shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure. God, in the scriptures, such
detailed prophecies, such detailed prophecies that you could by
calculation know exactly from the day the Jews were taken captive
into Babylon the day that they would be sent back to Jerusalem
to rebuild the Temple. All you had to do was get a calculator
and you could figure it out. He gave precise prophecy of exactly
what would happen. God sent Israel into Egypt. He
gave precise prophecy of how long they'd be there, what would
happen to them there, and when they'd come out of there. Precise
prophecy. You didn't have to guess about it. God's prophecies
in Scripture were given with such precision as to say to the
whole world, now if you want to laugh at this book, if you
want to laugh at God, then show me how this is going to come
to pass. How are you going to overcome
this? Oh, well, lots of folks make prophecies. I'll tell you
what you do. I'll tell you what you do. You find me even one prophecy
written by one man at any period of time throughout history that
gave an exact year, an exact date, an exact way, an exact
place, and it came to pass even a week before it happened. I'll
give you $100, find me one. There's not any. Men gasp at things. And silly,
silly men, oh, they get so bent out of shape. Men would rather
jump off a cliff and believe a lie than believe the truth
of God. They'd rather do anything than believe God. I've never watched one of the
programs. I've seen a few introductions about this Nostradamus fellow.
I read a little bit about him years ago. And somebody was talking
about him, one of the leaders coming up to the program
years ago. And he said, Nostradamus made a prophecy about the World
Trade Centers being bombed on 9-11. I thought, boy, I want
to hear this. 500 years ago, he said in the 20th
century, there's going to be a great fire in the earth. Oh, isn't that wondrous? Isn't that amazing? I'll make
a prophecy just like that. In 2016, There's going to be a great fire
in California. I promise. I know it's going
to happen. How do you know? It's happened
every year I've been on this earth. It's happened every year
I've been. And I'm pretty safe in saying
it's going to happen next year. But to say there's going to be
a fire parking lot at Grace Baptist Church 2734 Old Stanford Road,
Danville, Kentucky at midnight on October the 6th, 2016 right
underneath the telephone pole. Now let's see that happen. How's
that? That's how God's prophecies are
detailed. How's that? How can you be sure? How can you be sure? How can
you be sure of any promise of God? Any promise? any promise
in this book. How can you be sure of any prophecy
concerning our Lord's coming, judgment, resurrection, heaven,
hell, eternity? How can you be sure? You can
be sure because our God is in the heavens and he hath done
whatsoever he hath pleased. He is God declaring the end from
the beginning. He is God who says my counsel
shall stand and I will do all my pleasure. And His will, His
pleasure, His purpose is the arrangement of all things for
the saving of His elect, for the glory of His name. Now, with
regard to God's purpose, let us understand that God wills
whatever comes to pass. This was God's will. I'd love
to hear somebody Stand up and say that and say it with conviction
when some tragedy happens. This is God's will. This is God's
will. If it wasn't God's will, it wouldn't
happen. My dear friend, David Coleman, what you and your family
are going through right now is God's will. It is God's will. It is God's will. If it wasn't
God's will, it wouldn't happen. If it wasn't God's will, it would
not take place. God acts voluntarily in everything
he does. Nothing constrains him. He does
what He will for His people. And understand this, God does
in providence only that which He willed from eternity. Oh,
that helps. That helps. God doesn't just
step in in providence, oh, wait a minute, let me stop this thing
and go back and do this. No, no, no, no, no. What's happening
now is what God willed from eternity. And God's purpose, His will,
includes everything. Everything. The good and the
evil. So, Brother Don, how are you
going to rationalize this? How are you going to give us
some logical explanation of this? Let me tell you something you
need to learn. This book, The Word of God, was
not written to confirm our reasoning. It was not written to confirm
what you think. It was not written to confirm
our thinking. It was written to correct it. It was written to correct our
reasoning. To correct our thinking. To correct our logic. And the
scriptures speak clearly. Every man is responsible for
what he does. Judas Iscariot is responsible
for his betrayal. The Son of God said, the Son
of Man goeth as it was written of him, but woe unto him by whom
the Son of Man is betrayed. Better for him if he had never
been born. What a statement. What a statement. Judas gonna kiss me on my cheek
and betrayed me for 30 pieces of silver just like God ordained
before the world was and he's gonna do it because he hates
man and He's fully responsible for it and he's gonna go to hell
as a result of it and he's gonna do so only Fulfilling the will
of God The will of God His eternal purpose
of predestination is altogether like himself eternal, immutable,
sovereign, unconditional, effectual, irresistible, wise, holy, and
good. Now, let me ask a question. Is
it possible for a believer to miss the will of God? Yes, it is. Yes, it is. With regard to God's
revealed will, his precept, his pleasure, a believer often disobeys
and is out of the will of God. Any act of sin, unbelief, disobedience,
any act of movement or decision contrary to the direction
of God the Holy Spirit, yes, sir. David was out of God's will
when he took Bathsheba. He was out of God's will. He
couldn't expect God's blessing. David was out of God's will when
he brought the ark of God up first out of the house of Obed-Edom,
hoping to establish a place of worship because it didn't bring
the way God said do it. Elimelech was out of God's will. He was disobedient to God when
he took his riches and fled Bethlehem Judah, holding on to his wealth
while his brethren perished starving. He was out of God's will, no
question about it. David's actions with regard to
Uriah the Hittite, we're told, displeased the Lord. Yes. Yes, believers are often out
of God's will. But even that is the accomplishing
of God's purpose. Our Savior came through Bathsheba. Our Savior came through the daughter-in-law
of that man, Elimelech, Ruth the Voivodes into this world.
Yes. God's purpose is always accomplished,
even when we're disobedient to his revealed will. That fact
doesn't lessen our responsibility to any degree, but it does give
us reason to adore our God. Oh my God, how thankful I am
that my disobedience never alters your purpose. That my unbelief never staggers
your purpose. That my hand never stops your
hand. Another question. How can I know the will of God? How can I know the will of God? Eric and Cody just graduated
from college. And you want to know what's God's will for me.
And I'll do the best I can to teach you from this book. But
if we spent the next six months together, 24 hours a day, Eric,
I'd never attempt to tell you what God's will is for you. I
wouldn't do it. I wouldn't do it. Our granddaughter,
you know, looking about going to college. I wrote to her just
this week while she was gone and encouraged her to seek God's
will in this matter. How can I know the will of God? I almost said, how can I know
the will of God for my life? But that's too big. How can I
know the will of God right now? This, understand, no one knows
God's will for you, but you. No one knows God's will for you,
but you. Paul said, immediately I conferred
not with flesh and blood. God told Abraham to offer up
his son Isaac on Mount Moriah. Just exactly how far do you reckon
he would have gotten on his trip to Mariah, if he'd have gone
home and discussed that with Sarah. Just how far do you reckon he'd
have gotten? No, no. God spoke to Abraham, not Sarah.
God told Abraham what Abraham was to do, not Sarah. No one
knows God's will for you but you. Second, know this. God reveals his will to his people
in three ways. And I'm not speaking with any
dogmatism. I'm not speaking asserting things. Somebody got something
more to say about this, I'm sure there's lots more to be said.
This I know from my experience of what I read in this book.
God reveals his will by his word. If your actions are contrary
to God's revelation, you'd be sure you misunderstood God's
intention for you. if you think that's God's will.
I don't care. I don't care what it is. If your
actions are contrary to God's revelation, that's not God's
will. But God reveals his will by his word and by his spirit
directing us as we seek to walk in the paths of light, righteousness,
and truth. And he reveals his will to us
by his providence, by his providence. We're so deaf, so blind, so hard
of hearing, so stubborn, so obstinate that I said, well, we'd never
say like Gideon did. Lord, wet the fleece. And they
said, Lord, dry the fleece. I wouldn't do that. I wouldn't
ask God for a sign. Well, I don't either, but I sure
do look for them. I sure do look for them. I look
for them all the time because we've got two choices to make.
And I can't do but one. Lord, which would you have me
to do? I've got two places to go and I can't go but one. Lord,
where would you have me to go? I've got two things to prepare
to preach, but I can't preach but one. Lord, what's your word?
What direction do you have me to go? And God in his providence
with his spirit and his word sweetly, graciously constrains
us to walk in his will. You see, our problem with doing
God's will really is not that we don't know God's will. That's
seldom our problem. I won't speak for you. I'll speak
for God. In these 48 years of my life in grace, in the knowledge
of my Redeemer, I can't think of a single time
In any circumstance, I didn't almost immediately know God's
will. Almost immediately. What I had
struggled with was willingness to obey God's will. And I'd call
it not knowing His will. Can you relate to what I'm saying? The fact is, God will reveal
His will to all who truly seek His will in faith. I don't have any question. I
said this, Cody, just a few weeks ago. If you seek God's will,
He'll show you His will. No question in my mind. No question
at all. And I'm not going to do anything
to interfere. I'm not going to do anything to interfere. You
seek God's will, He'll show you His will. And He'll give you
grace to walk in His will, regardless of cost or consequence. All right,
let's wrap this up. I'll come back to it another
day. Proverbs chapter 3. Proverbs chapter 3. I don't know a thing on this
earth about Ben Carson and his religion. I know absolutely nothing
at all about it. I've not looked it up, and if
you know something bad about it, please don't tell me. I heard him, somebody
ask him about his favorite scripture passage, and this is what he
quoted. And if he's true, if he's being
sincere, if he's honest, oh man, I should like to see that man
go somewhere. Proverbs chapter three, verse five. Trust in the Lord with all thine
heart. And lean not unto thine own understanding. You can't possibly do both. It's impossible to trust the
Lord and lean to your own understanding. You can't do it. Not at your
age, Fred, not at mine. You can't do it. You can't do
it. You either trust the Lord or
you lean to your own understanding. Trust in the Lord with the whole
of your being and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all
thy ways, acknowledge Him. In everything you do, in every
choice you make, In every action, in every decision, in every relationship
of life, bow to God your Savior. And He, can you read it out loud with
me? I'm telling every one of you. He, come on, He shall direct
thy paths. And I found God to be as good
as His word. Amen.