Thank you, Pastor. These times with you folks in
Sylacauga always go so very rapidly. I hope you know how much Shelby
and I thank God for making you part of our lives and for giving
us opportunity to be with you again. Thank you for your kindness
and hospitality. You're invited, of course, to
join us at conference again in September. I suggest you all
load up and come, because your pastor's not going to be here
that Sunday. He'll be preaching for us. So y'all can all come
up to the conference in September, and we'll get to see you again.
And if I don't see you then, the Lord willing, we'll see you
next September here. And if not, we'll see you in
a better place a little while later. Let's turn together again
to Leviticus chapter 25. Leviticus chapter 25. The year of Jubilee was established
by God at the very time when God gave his law at Mount Sinai. At the very time God gave that
law which brings all men into bondage, that law by which all
men are cursed, that law by which all are justly damned, God proclaimed
a year of jubilee, a year of jubilee proclaiming redemption
through Christ Jesus the Lord. The blowing of the jubilee trumpet
represented and portrayed the preaching of the gospel of our
Lord Jesus Christ and the accomplishment of redemption by his grace. The
jubilee trumpet sounded, atonement finished, freedom given by the
merits of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what it typified. It spoke
of a Sabbath, a blessed, blessed Sabbath, a Sabbath that we can't
begin to comprehend here. The Sabbath day in the Old Testament,
I hope you understand this, I hope you will come to understand it
more and more with every passing day, was never intended to be
just a day, one day in seven, in which men and women lived
in austerity and worshiped God. That was never God's intention
in giving the Sabbath. It was never intended for Gentiles
to obey it. Read the book of God again. You
will never once find the law addressed to anyone except Israelites. Indeed, the whole word of God
is addressed to those who are God's Israel, those who are the
Israel of God, God's elect. And all of the carnal ordinances
of the Old Testament, that's how Paul refers to the law, carnal
ordinances. Fleshly ordinances. All those
ordinances of the flesh, every event of the Old Testament was
written and brought to pass by God to give us a picture, a word
of instruction with regard to things spiritual in the life
of faith in Jesus Christ our Lord. Whatsoever things were
written aforetime, Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 10, were
written for our learning and our admonition that we, through
patience and comfort of the scriptures, might have hope. This jubilee
portrays the Sabbath of faith. Sinners come to Christ and quit
working. Sinners come to Christ and quit
working. Sinners, believing on the Son
of God, quit trying to do something to make themselves righteous,
holy, and accepted with God Almighty. My father, whose funeral I preached
several years ago, was in our home once many years ago in Danville
and got ready to leave, and he said to me, Son, I hope someday
before I die to make up to God for all I've done. And with broken heart, I said
to him, Dad, I hope you'll quit trying. He never did. You can't make up to God. You can't make up to God. Christ did for us. And sinners
believing on the Son of God offer to God that which God alone accepts,
Jesus Christ's blood and his righteousness. And this stands
me in good stead with the Holy God forever. We are accepted
in the beloved. All these blessings of grace
and glory portrayed in the Jubilee, portraying God's salvation in
this world and in the world to come are free gifts of His grace
in Jesus Christ by God Almighty, who hath made us accepted in
the beloved, who hath saved us and called us with an holy calling,
not according to his works, but according to his own purpose
and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world
began. These are blessings of grace
bestowed upon sinners in Christ from eternity so that we're declared
to be justified and sanctified and glorified in the purpose
of God before the world began. You mean, Brother Don, this was
done in eternity? That's what the book says. It
was done in eternity. In time, we come to experience
these things in the exercise of God's grace, in the operations
of his grace, in our own salvation. But the work was finished from
the foundation of the world. They are made manifest by the
appearing of the great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ, who
hath brought life and immortality to light by the gospel. But they
were done in eternity and bestowed upon us in time and experience
through the blood of our Lord Jesus. Turn to Ephesians 1. Hold
your hands in Leviticus 25 and turn to Ephesians 1. Look at
this very, very familiar passage of Scripture again. The Apostle
speaks beginning in verse 3 and begins one long sentence that
goes all the way through verse 14. And there's a reason why
it's given in one long sentence. It's all one wonderful subject. Paul is talking to us about God's
free salvation. Look what he says in verse 3.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Speak
well of God. Bless God. Eulogize God. Praise God, the Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, who hath. Do you see that word? Hath. past tense, at one time, blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. Now that's a secret. Fourteen
times in this first chapter of Ephesians, the Apostle Paul writes
by divine inspiration and tells us that all the blessings of
grace All the knowledge of God, all salvation, all redemption,
all our inheritance, all things are in Christ. In Christ. In Him. In Him. These blessings
were all given to us from eternity. Now, most people these days think
somehow that we are saved and then we start getting good stuff,
as if God's salvation weren't the good stuff. And we start
getting to, you know, spiritual experiences and speaking in tongues
and rolling in the aisle and clapping your hands and shaking
your fanny and acting like a fool in church. No, the blessings
were all given to us in Christ, in eternity. In eternity. Bestowed on us in Christ, before
the world began, in assurity, who by his merit, as the lamb
slain from the foundation of the world, was accepted of God
as our substitute, and we in him. Now watch this. How did
he do that? According as. according as he
hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world.
You mean God only blesses people according to his election? Well,
let's see it again. According as he hath chosen us
in him before the foundation of the world. All the blessings
of grace flow to sinners freely according to God's eternal purpose
of grace in election. Well, I don't like election.
You will if you ever get in on it. Election is God's eternal
purpose to save a people. It is God's eternal choice of
a people unto salvation. He chose us that we should be
holy and without blame before him in love. Now, somebody says
he chose us. Election is unto holiness. That's
so we'd live a good, holy life. Now, that's a wonderful aspiration. And believers are men and women
whose lives are altered by God's grace and walk before God in
righteousness, but not our own. Not our own. We walk before God
in the righteousness of another, and that one is the Lord, our
righteousness. Jehovah said, can you? The Lord
Jesus Christ, our Redeemer. He chose us that we should be
holy and without blame before him. Holy and without blame before
him. Imagine that. Here we are in
Christ, holy and without blame before God. Oh, pastor, I'd give anything
if I could know that. Would you trust God's son? Would
you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ? If God will give you
faith, if right now you will cast your soul on him, you stand
before God holy and without blame forever before God and nothing
can ever change it. Not even you, not even you. This was done from eternity.
This was done from eternity in love. Anytime I read this portion
of scripture, I have difficulty whether I read those two words
at the end of the verse or at the beginning of the next verse.
I read it both ways. He had chosen us in Him that
we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, in
love having predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to Himself. Oh, predestination is a hard
doctrine. No, God said it was a loving doctrine. In love, having
predestinated us to himself. to the adoption of children to
himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the
praise of his glory, now watch this, wherein he hath made us
accepted, not acceptable, accepted, not made it possible for us to
be accepted, wherein he hath made us accepted from eternity,
in election, in predestination, in love, in his son, the beloved. in whom we have redemption through
his blood, even the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches
of his grace. Now all of that being said, understand
this. These free gifts of grace bestowed
upon sinners in Jesus Christ freely through his blood are
bestowed upon sinners according to the demands of God's holy
law. Grace reigns through righteousness
unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. In other words, it
is a right thing for God to save every sinner for whom Christ
died. It is a right thing. Your conscience
Your conscience is the echo of God's law written on your heart
from creation. The reason why most religious
people, the vast majority of religious people, have no peace
with God. have no real confidence with
God. They come to lay on the deathbed and they know they're
about to draw their last breath and they seek refuge, but their
refuge of lies crumbles before them. It's because they have
a refuge that will not satisfy the conscience, the law of God
written on your heart. Christ is a refuge that satisfies
my conscience. He's everything God demands. He's everything God demands. God's law cannot demand more
than I have in Christ Jesus the Lord. Look at Romans chapter
three. Romans chapter three, verse 24. Paul says, by divine inspiration,
we are justified freely. Freely your pastor read that
word frankly freely The same word is translated without a
cause and our Savior says they hated me without a cause justified
without a cause Justified without any reason in us without any
calls in us without any basis in us justified freely by his
grace But that's not all it says justified freely by his grace
through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Justified, justified. What does that mean? We like to make little cliches
and say things and we'll say justified, just as if I'd never
said. That's not it, that's not it. Justified means I never did. He blotted out our transgressions.
Read Jeremiah 50 verse 20. God says, go look for them. They
can't be found. I blotted them out. Justified. You've got your bulletin. You'll
notice I didn't happen to look closely. I left mine down there.
I think Pat does this. But here's ours. See this right
here? Back years ago, long time ago,
before we had computers, Shelby, I'd write the bulletins out,
and Shelby would type them. And then she'd type them out,
she'd take a ruler, a straight edge, and lay it down here, and
she'd cut countless spaces from where it was all kind of jumbled
up. And then she'd go back and retype
it. and space it out. It's called justifying the right-hand
margin. Now you just hit that little
button and it goes, psst, and it's justified. It's justified. What's that mean? This margin
and this margin are now exactly the same. You've got exactly
the same space from here and same space from here. The lines
are exactly the same. This is it. Anthony, isn't it? There's God's holy law. There's
God's perfection. There's God's righteousness.
There's God's justice. There I am in Christ Jesus. You got that? Justified freely
by his grace through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus, whom
God has set forth, watch this now, to be a propitiation. God set him forth from eternity.
God set him forth in the gospel. God set him forth in the fullness
of time to redeem them that were under the law, to be a propitiation,
a justice satisfying. a wrath-pacifying sacrifice through
faith in his blood. We have in our consciences sprinkled
with the blood of Christ. As we believe on the Son of God,
our consciences say, that's enough! Because God said, that's enough. For the remission of sins that
are past, I'm sorry, to declare his righteousness for the remission
of sins that are past through the forbearance of God. To declare,
I say it this time, God's righteousness. God's righteousness. I'll tell
you what you do. I don't normally recommend that
you listen to heretics. But on your way home, turn your
radio on. Any religious station you want
to. Any religious station you want to. Turn your radio on.
Or when you get home tonight and you want to waste some time
and get mad and stay woke up, turn one of those fools on on
television. Any of them you want to. Any of them you want to.
And listen for them to tell you something about righteousness.
I'm talking about God's righteousness. Find me one. They talk about
God's love and your love for God. It sounds so sweet. Smile
like a possum eating briars. What's his name? Osteen, fella,
out in Houston. He's worse than his daddy was. I was doing an interview one
night with Larry King. And Larry asked him about sin.
He said, Larry, we don't talk about things like that. We just talked about love. Ain't
it sweet? There's no reason for you to
have the slightest notion that God loves you. There's no reason for you to
have the slightest notion that God loves you. The wrath of God's
on you. You meet God, you're going to
hell. There's no reason for you to have the slightest notion
God loves you. This book never says to men in general, God loves
you. Nowhere. Nowhere. The love of
God can't be known except in Christ. And there's no reason
for you to suspect God loves you unless you believe on his
son. He that believeth not the son
of God, the wrath of God abideth on him. He declares his righteousness
that God might be just and the justifier of him which believeth
in Jesus. Now this is what I'm saying to
you. Neither the blessings of grace we enjoy now in the experience
of grace, nor the blessings of our God that will be bestowed
upon us in heavenly glory, depend upon us in any way. They are
not determined by us in any way. They are not conditioned upon
anything we do. But rather, these things are
altogether the gift of God's free grace in His Son by blood
atonement. That's it, that's it. Salvation
is of the Lord. It's God's doing, not yours.
And we see in this 25th chapter of Leviticus, in this year of
Jubilee, all debts were immediately canceled. The sinner believing
on Christ is free of all debt. All who had been in bondage are
set free. The sinner given faith in Christ
is a captive brought out of his prison by the grace of God. In
the year of Jubilee, every man who had lost his inheritance,
even by his own fault, was given his inheritance again. And that
which we lost in Christ, our lost in Adam, the sinner gains
in Christ doubled over again. And the children of Israel, all
the children of Israel who had been banished because of their
own foolishness, who had been brought into bondage and slavery,
who had lost everything, exiled from their families because of
foolishness, are now brought home to their families and fully
restored, like the prodigal coming home to his father. And the sinner,
believing on Christ, Do you know what it is to be
an outsider in your own house? Do you know what it is to feel
unfit for the company of your own family? I do. I really do. Oh. Unfit to be around sisters. unfit to be around family, unfit
for common company, banished, exiled, unfit for God. But the sinner, believing on
Christ, God falls on his neck and kisses him and says, welcome
home, son. He's accepted, immediately restored,
reconciled to God with all the privileges of sonship so that
now we call God our father. and the children of Israel in
the year of Jubilee kept a year-long Sabbath. That's exactly what
Christ has done for us in salvation. That's exactly what we shall
enjoy in heavenly glory because he redeemed us with his precious
blood at Calvary. Oh, poor souls, you who yet labor
in the bondage of sin and guilt, You who yet labor without peace
before God, heavy laden under the dominion of sin, hear Jubilee's
glad sound. Redemption is finished and go
free. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. Now, let's look at verses 23
and 24. After giving the Jubilee law,
After declaring what was to be done in the year of Jubilee,
the Lord God explains the reasons why he gave such specific strict
laws about this great year of liberation. The Lord established
this Jubilee, this year of Jubilee, for the children of Israel as
a perpetual reminder, a perpetual reminder, that they were strangers
and sojourners together with him in this world. Verse 23,
the land shall not be sold forever. Do you reckon God cares about
a piece of ground? No. But this land of Canaan represented
our heavenly inheritance with Christ Jesus. It belonged to
God. Can't be sold forever. You may
lose it for seven years, or for 49 years, but on the 50th year,
you get it back. You may lose it for the life
of a man, but on the 50th year, you get it back. The land shall
not be sold forever, for the land is mine. For ye are strangers
and sojourners with me. Now there's my subject this morning,
strangers and sojourners with God. And in all the land of your
possession, ye shall grant a redemption for the land. The land's going
to return by a grant of redemption. And then he mentions the law
of the kinsmen redeemer in verses 25, 26, 27, and 28, and continues
talking about houses and lands, verse 29. If a man sell a dwelling house
in a walled city, then he may redeem it within a whole year
after it's sold. Within a full year, he may redeem
it. If you have a house inside the
city limits, you got a house in the city, city circled by
a wall. You got a house in there, then
you can buy it and sell it as you will. You can buy it and
sell it whenever you want to. Read verse 30. And if it be not
redeemed within the space of a full year, then the house that
is in the walled city shall be established forever to him, that
man that bought it in the first place, established throughout
his generations. In other words, it can pass from
one family to the other, no repercussions. It shall not go out in the jubilee.
That man doesn't have anything to do with jubilee. Verse 31,
but the houses of the villages The little country houses, little
country cottage, you know where poor farmers live. The place
out in the country. The houses in the villages which
have no wall round about them, watch this, shall be counted
as the fields of the country. Those houses out there on the
farmland, they're counted with the land itself. They're counted
with the land itself. they may be redeemed, and they
shall go out in the Jubilee. Notwithstanding the cities of
the Levites and the houses of the cities of their possession,
may the Levites redeem at any time. And if a man purchased
the Levites, then the house that was sold and the city of his
possession shall go out in the year of Jubilee. For the houses
of the cities of the Levites are their possession among the
children of Israel. But the field and the suburbs
of their cities may not be sold, for it is their perpetual possession. Now, as a ceremonial institution,
the year of Jubilee completes the picture of the Sabbath day.
Rest it. Come unto me, all you that labor
and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. The Jubilee, the 50th
year Sabbath, portrays our salvation, not just here. It portrays our
consummate salvation in heaven's everlasting glory. The trump
of God shall sound, and the dead in Christ shall arise, and Jubilee
begins. Though God commanded it, there's
no record anywhere in this book that the children of Israel ever
observed the Jubilee. It portrays that Sabbath that
is yet to come in heaven's glory in the new creation. God's promise
here was to those who were strangers and sojourners with him of a
better Sabbath that is beyond this veil of tears. In verse
23, the Lord states emphatically, the land shall not be sold forever. Why? Why? Why did God give this
command? What was its purpose? It was
just this. The land of Canaan represents
our heavenly inheritance. The houses in the walled city,
no matter how beautiful they might be, no matter how costly,
no matter how attractive, no matter how appealing, you drive
down the road, your boy, I sure would like to have one of these
days, I'm going to live in that house. That's where I want to live. That's
what I want. It's what everybody wants, are
just the works of men's hands. And they're going to crumble.
No matter how attractive the edifice, it's worthless before
God. God says you can do with it whatever
you want to. It's just filthy rags in my sight. That's what your righteousnesses
are. But the gift of God and those houses that were counted
with the land, that belongs to God. That may be redeemed. For you see, the gifts and callings
of God are without repentance. And these things can never be
destroyed, neither by the fierceness of our enemies, nor by our own
foolishness. The gifts of God can never be
destroyed, neither by the fierceness of hell, nor by our own foolishness. If any man be in Christ, he's
a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold,
all things are become new, and it'll never be messed up. Never be messed up? You can't
mar God's righteousness. You can't mar God's salvation. You can't mess up God's record. This is what God's given us in
Christ. I know that whatsoever God doeth, Solomon said, it shall
be forever. Nothing can be put to it, nor
anything taken from it. Now let me ask you, Todd, did
God save you or did you have something to do with it? You can't put anything to it.
Not one featherweight piece. And you can't take anything from
it. But man you said that didn't
ring your bell your quackers broke You can't add to it and
you can't take from it. This is God's work He doeth it
this way that men should fear before him now look at verse
29 and 30 again Lord makes this specific exception with regard
to houses in the country and houses in the land Like the land
itself, these houses in the country, these houses of the Levites belonged
to the Lord forever, perpetually His, because the land of Canaan
was the heritage of redemption and grace. By a covenant of redemption,
we're told in verse 24. Now, go back to verse 23 again. Here the Lord ascribes another
reason why the land was not to be sold forever. The land shall
not be sold forever, for the land is mine. And here's the
second reason. For ye are strangers and sojourners. But bless God, that's not all
it says. Ye are strangers and sojourners with me. So long as the children of Israel
walked through the land of Canaan, All those years, all those years,
they dwelt in tents. Then they'd build houses out
in the country. But God says, you're strangers here. You're
strangers here. God gave them the land for possession,
but he said, you're strangers here. You're strangers here.
Because that land represents another land. represents our
heavenly glory. And all the while they were in
this world, walking through the land of Canaan, though they possessed
the land by right as God's covenant people, as long as they walked
on the earth, Larry, they were strangers and sojourners. Strangers and sojourners. So
it is with you and I who are in Christ, As we walk through
this world, possessing God's salvation and God's grace, being
possessors of that inheritance which we have obtained, which
was predestinated for us from eternity, we already have it.
It's ours in Christ. Ephesians 111. Yet, while we
walk in this world as the sons of God, we are strangers and
sojourners. This particular description of
God's people is found only here in Leviticus 25, and one other
time in Psalm 39. You don't need to turn there,
but listen. The psalmist says, hear my prayer,
O Lord, and give ear unto my cry. Hold not thy peace at my
tears. Groanings, which can't be uttered.
For I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers
were. Now, turn to 2 Corinthians chapter
4. Let me show you what I'm talking
about. You and I who believe are pilgrims. Pilgrims, sojourners passing
through this world. Some of you are old enough to
remember I'm not. You remember the Great Depression?
You remember how hobos traveled? I've only seen pictures and I've
seen it in the movies. They usually had a stick with
a little piece of cloth of some kind that wrapped up everything
they had. They could put it all on the end of a stick and travel
across the country. That's all they had. They just moved from
one place to the other and never were comfortable anywhere. Just
moved from one place to the other and never were comfortable anywhere.
2 Corinthians chapter 4, verse 18. Here we have no abiding city. Here everything is temporary. Everything in that land to which
we're going is permanent and eternal. 2 Corinthians 4, 18. We look not at the things which
are seen. We look not at the things which
are seen. The word doesn't mean we don't
see the things that are seen. Our Savior said, look unto me
and be you saved. That means put all your confidence
in me, trust me. We don't lean on things that
are seen. We don't seek after things that
are seen. We don't place confidence in
things that are seen. We look not at things that are
seen, But things which are unseen, things which are not seen. For
the things which are seen are temporal. Temporal. Every relationship here, just
temporary. Every son, just temporary. Every
daughter, just temporary. Every husband, just temporary. Every wife, just temporary. And all those other meaningless
things, like your house, and your retirement, and your job,
and your car, and your stuff. Just temporary. Just temporary. We look not at things which are
temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. For we know. that if our earthly
house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building
of God, a house not made with hands in the heavens. Abraham,
we're told in Hebrews 11, sojourned to the land to promise it. And
I don't suggest, don't imply, don't think God's people are
all poor folks. Matter of fact, I'm inclined
to think otherwise. God's people live comfortably
for the most part. Some of them are very wealthy.
Abraham was filthy rich. Abraham was filthy rich, and
he was a man of great faith. But Abraham lived in tents all
his life. I mean, he'd go from one place
to another and pitch a tent. Now, I grant it was some more
kind of a tent, but it was a tent. It's just a tent. How come? Because
he was looking for a city whose builder and maker is God. He had his eyes set on eternity. Set your affection on things
above, not on things on the earth. You see, God's people are strangers
in this world. A stranger is a person who's
away from home. away from his homeland. A sojourner
is one who is moving through one place to another. I left
home. When did we leave home? Wednesday
afternoon. And I was on my way down to this place called Sylacauga,
Alabama. And I passed through lots of
things. And do you know how much attention I paid to it? Not much. If I happen to see a beautiful
overlook, you know, get up on a high mountain and look over
at a valley, I don't even pause for those things anymore. Sometimes
I do, but not often. Used to be I'd just pull up to
the side of the road and take a look. Man, that's beautiful to behold. But
I never thought about staying overnight on one of those overlooks.
Never. Well, I might have a time or
two when I had her with me and we was courting, you know. Never
thought about just parking there all night long. No. Never thought
about it. Never thought about it. Going
on somewhere else. Going on somewhere else. And
we got down here past his house and unloaded the car and moved
in. But, you know, he's got pictures
of New River Gorge all over that house. And I was there all the
time they were building New River Gorge Bridge. I moved to West
Virginia when they started it, and I moved out when they finished
it. And it's a nice place to look at, but he loves that thing.
I mean, he likes New River Gorge Bridge. It's something else to
look at. But that's where he was raised. That's where he was
raised. They're pretty pictures. I'm
glad he gave us one, but I don't pay much attention to them. I'm
a stranger here. This afternoon, I'm headed somewhere
else. You know where I'm going? I'm
going home. I'm going home. And when I get
home, I don't care if I get home at seven o'clock or midnight
or two o'clock in the morning. I'll tell you what I'll do when
I get home. I'll sit down in that big blue easy chair, kick
up the recliner and do nothing. I'll just rest cause there, man,
it's comfortable. I travel a lot, and my friends
do everything they can like you do, make me comfortable wherever
I go. But to travel into a foreign country, go down to Mexico, you
know Mexicans eat strange stuff. It all tastes like fire. Strange
stuff. I get along all right, but I
can't wait to get home and have a bologna sandwich, or an egg
sandwich, or some grits and eggs. Everything here is uncomfortable
for the sojourner. Everything uncomfortable. There's nothing in this world
comfortable to God's pilgrims. Nothing. Not the nation, not
the school systems, not the politics, not the house, Nothing that gives us ease and
peace. Nothing in which we find serenity.
We're strangers and sojourners here. Because we're looking for
a city. I'm but a stranger here, the
hymn writer says. Heaven is my home. Earth, it's
a desert drear. Heaven is my home. Dangers and
sorrows stand. Ram me on every hand. Heaven
is my fatherland. Heaven is my home. I've had the
privilege of burying a good many friends in recent months. I was
talking to a preacher recently. He said, that's such a tough
thing. No, not preaching a believer's
funeral. That's not tough. I'm honored by that and look
forward to it. Look forward to it. That's not tough. We've got
a good many friends who've gone before us. Most of our families
already go. Most of the family's already
in glory. Our elder brother's there. Our father's there. Our
inheritance is there. And bless God, soon we shall
be there. A stranger is one who never quite
fits in with the crowd around him. It gets long, all right. He has to. But it never quite
fits in because he doesn't know them and they don't know him. The world knoweth us not because
it knew him not. But we're not just strangers
and sojourners. Brother Larry, we're strangers and sojourners
with God. Is that what the text says? With God. No reason to feel sorry for yourself
and no reason for anybody to feel sorry for us. The Lord God says, ye are strangers
and sojourners with me. That means that we're always
under his constant care. Always the objects of his constant
attention. Always under his watchful eye. Always under his protection. Never a time otherwise. Never
a time otherwise. Rejoice. Turn to Philippians
4. Let me show you this. Philippians chapter 4. You can quote it,
but I want you to look at it. Verse four. Rejoice in the Lord
always. Again, I say rejoice. Now watch
this. Let your moderation be known
to all men. Give you what that word means?
It's only used one other time in the entire Bible. And the
one place where that word is used is translated gentleness,
where Paul speaks of the gentleness of Christ. Let your gentleness
be known unto all men. Don't let anything here ruffle
you. Don't let anything here get your
cockles up. Don't let anything here disturb you too much. I don't much like that devil
we've got in the White House right now. And I chose my words
deliberately, and I hope he hears it. He's a rogue. He's a wretch.
I didn't vote for him, and I won't vote for him tomorrow. I'm like
that fella, my shoe or anything else, but not him. Nothing else.
I don't much like it. I wish he weren't there. But
I try not to get too disturbed by it. My father still sits on
the throne. He doesn't. My father still rules
this universe. He doesn't. My father still determines
what I eat. He doesn't. My father still governs
the land. He doesn't. Let your moderation
be known to all men. Don't get too disturbed about
anything. Well, I had to go to the cemetery today. Let your
moderation be known to all men. Well, my son left home in a huff
today. I don't know if we'll ever see
him again. Let your moderation be known to all men. What? The Lord's at hand. God's by you. You understand
that? But we know the Lord's with us all the time. God's at your elbow. God's at
your elbow. The Lord's at hand. The Lord's
at hand. I'll be walking along, and if
Shelby starts to stumble, I reach and grab her arm. It'd be better
if I was holding it all the time, wouldn't it? So she's always got the comfortable
grip of my hand around her arm. The Lord's at hand. And he always has his firm grip
on you. The Lord's at hand. So what was
it you said bothered you? What was so bad about today?
What was it you said disturbed you? you just can't live with? What
is you just can't live without? Let your moderation be known
to all men, the Lord's at hand. Be careful for nothing. Don't
fret about a thing. But in everything by prayer and
supplication. Now hold on, that's not all it
says, is it? In everything by prayer and supplication with
thanksgiving. Let your request be made known
unto God. 1 Corinthians chapter 5, in everything
give thanks. For this, this, whatever it is
that you experience today, my brother, Whatever it is that
you experience tonight, my sister, whatever it is that you presently
experience, this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning
you. This is God's will just for you. The Lord who performeth all things
for me has reason to expect that I should ever let my prayers
and supplications with thanksgiving be known to him. This is his
will. Oh, brother Don, how can you
give thanks when you're crying? This is God's will. I don't promise
you things don't hurt. I'm not gonna stand here and
lie to you. I don't promise you you don't feel pain. I don't
promise you that you don't feel things like anybody else does.
Sometimes, Larry, we're feeling more acutely than anybody else
can because we understand this is our Father's doing. This is
our Father's doing. This is the will of God in Christ
Jesus concerning you. I often write to or call and
visit with friends in bereavement. in great sickness. I said to
one of our ladies just the other night, sitting right there, three
or four rows back from the front, she's dying with cancer, Joyce
Montgomery. I said, I love you, lady. And I wouldn't do this to you
for anything. And I wouldn't. I wouldn't afflict you with that
disease. I wouldn't have you die like you're going to die.
I wouldn't do it. I wouldn't do it. But he who
loves you infinitely better than I can or can even imagine has
done this for you. Understand that? Understand that? Let your moderation be known
to all men. Be careful for nothing. and everything give thanks. That
your prayers and requests be made known to God with thanksgiving. Let your requests be made known
to God and the peace of God, the peace of God, which passeth
all understanding. You can't get that in a psychiatrist's
couch and you can't get it from a pill bottle. You get it from
walking with God. The peace of God that passeth
understanding shall keep. The word means guard. Shall sit as a sentinel to guard
your hearts. Shall keep your hearts and minds
through Christ Jesus. Now, we've got another problem.
Worse than the troubles we face without. Worse than domestic
trouble. Worse than family trouble. Worse than sickness. We've got
a thing called sin, with which we as sojourners in this world
must constantly contend. Turn to John chapter 13. I'll wrap this up. John chapter
13, verse 36. This is the night before our
Lord's crucifixion. Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord,
whither goest thou? And Jesus answered him, Whither
I go, thou canst not follow me now, but thou shalt follow me
afterwards. Peter said to him, Lord, why
can't I follow you now? I will lay down my life for thy
sake. That's a pretty good statement. And don't judge Peter too harshly.
He did. He did. But he needed some starch taken
out of it. The master said, Jesus answered
him, wilt thou lay down thy life for my sake? Verily, verily,
I say unto thee, the cock shall not crow. Thou hast denied me
thrice. He said, Peter, before the sun
rises in the morning, you're going to hear a rooster crow
twice. And before you hear the second crow, you're going to
deny me three times. Now read right on, just as though
there were no chapter or verse division. Read right on. This is the master's next word
to him. Let not your heart be troubled. Stop bothering yourself. Can you imagine how distraught
Peter must have been? Peter, you said you're going
to die for me. You're going to lay down your
life for me. Before sunrise tomorrow, you're going to deny me three
times. Can you imagine how distraught he must have been? The master
said, stop it, Peter. Stop it. Let not your heart be
troubled. You believe in God, believe also
in me. In my Father's house are many
mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to
prepare a place specifically for you. And if I go and prepare
a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself
that where I am, there you may be also. Turn the mic up. We'll come back
to this. God's people in the tenor of
their lives by God's providence and by God's grace are restrained
usually from great acts of evil by which we give the enemies
of God occasion to blaspheme and by which we bring shame and
reproach upon ourselves and the gospel we profess. Sometimes
you will find a man of great faith like Noah in a drunken
stupor. Sometimes you will find a righteous
lot in bed with his daughter. Sometimes you will find a man
after God's own heart committing adultery and murder to cover
his tracks. Those are just facts. Those are
just facts. That's not commonly so. In the
common tenor of their lives, in all how we ought to thank
God with every breath that's so, he keeps us from doing what
we want to do by nature. And it's only God who keeps us.
So no need to stretch your suspenders and pop your suspenders as if
you had something to do with it. Only God. But believers recognize
that inwardly, things are not as they appear outwardly. I'm not what you think I am. I'm not what I show you I am. I'm certainly not what that lady
thinks I am. I'm just not. The wise man said
in Proverbs 24, 16, a just man falleth seven times a day. Reckon why he said seven times?
Why seven times? Any of you, it's only, what is
it, 10 after 12 here? That's early hitting the day.
How many of you have only fallen seven times today? Why do you say seven times? Seven
is the number of completion, the number of totality. The just
man falls all the time. Joe, our lives are just one perpetual,
continual fall. Just one constant fall, one horrid
mass of sin and iniquity. And the wicked, they're anxious
to watch, like ham. Come here, boys, let me show
you what that is really like. I knew old Don Fort was like
that. That's what I was expecting. Now everybody's gonna know it.
I'm gonna tell them. Listen to this word from Micah. Micah chapter
7, verse 8. Rejoice not against me, O mine
enemy, if I fall. That's not what it says, Lord.
He said, when I fall. When I fall, I shall arise. When I sit in darkness, the Lord
shall be light unto me. Even in the midst of my falling
and failure and sin, still God, the holy Lord God, the triune
Jehovah, declares to his Israel, Ye are strangers and sojourners
with me. I'll never leave you nor forsake
you. Your pastor preached on that
text recently. I'll never, no never, no never leave you. I'll
never, no never, no never forsake you. I believe God wants us to
understand I'll never leave you nor forsake you. Do you remember
what happened to Peter? He failed, just like the Lord
said he would. He denied the master, just like
the master said he would. Three times, finally cussed like
a sailor and said, I don't know him. I don't know the man. And Peter heard that cock crow
and went out and wept bitterly. And he said to the other disciples,
fellas, it's all over with me. It's all over with me. I'm going
back to fishing. I'm going back where I was when
first he called me. I don't know anything about God,
his Christ, or his salvation. I'm going fishing. And the Lord
arose from the dead. And those women came to the tomb,
and they heard the angel speak. And the angel said, go tell his
disciples that he'll meet them like he said he would, by Galilee. And they start to take off, and
they'd say, wait, wait, wait, wait. And Peter, be sure to tell
Peter nothing's changed. He's still a stranger and sojourner
with me. Amen.