Tonight we're going to look at
three texts of scripture. We're going to begin in Proverbs
chapter 3, verse 5. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. Are you there? Did you see it? If you lean to your own understanding,
you're not trusting Him. If you trust Him, you can't lean
to your own understanding. Trust in the Lord with all thine
heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy
ways in all thy ways acknowledge him,
trust him, and he shall direct thy paths. Two tremendous verses of scripture,
so full of meaning, so full of instruction, So full of encouragement. But a question must be answered. Is it really safe and wise to
trust him? Is it really safe and wise to
trust the Lord? To trust the Lord Jesus Christ? To trust the triune Jehovah? To trust our God? to trust him
in all things, to trust him for everything,
to trust him in all circumstances, to trust him with all your heart. Now, is that really smart? Is
that really smart? I recall shortly after God saved
me, I was just 16 years old, not quite 17. We had a neighbor,
Ed Sturgis. I'm sure I've told you this or
something like it before. He was much older than I, older
than my own parents. But he and I had a fairly good
relationship. I don't have any idea what kind
of government agent he was. He was some kind of government
agent. The fellow down the road from us was a Alcohol, tobacco,
and firearms agent, but he was something I never knew what it
was. Maybe if he told me he'd have to shoot me, I don't know.
I had no idea what kind of agent he was, but I'd known him all
my life, all my life. And I went over to talk to him. He's sitting out his front yard,
and I wasn't trying to butt and hold him, get him to make a profession
of faith or anything kind of, just telling him what God had
done for me. Told him how God had saved me by his grace. He looked at me and gave me a
warning. He gave me a warning, and he
was serious. Now, this man never warned me
about drugs or drunkenness or smoking or adultery or fornication
or theft or anything else. Of all the things he knew I was
involved with, never warned me about any of it. Never even warned
me not to get caught. He never gave me any kind of
warning at all. Whatever you do is all right with me. But
he gave me a warning this day. He said, now Don, son, you don't
want to go over deep in on this thing. You don't want to become unreasonable here. You don't
want to become too heavenly minded to be of any earthly good. Well, I've never gone over the
deep end, but I can't tell you how much I wish God would let
me. Trusting Him. Radically. Radically. That's what I'm calling for.
For you and me. Radical faith in the Son of God. Real faith in Christ Jesus. This I know. Faith in Christ, faith in Christ
is nothing less than the willing, voluntary, deliberate surrender
of my life to Him, to His rule, to His dominion as my Lord, my
God, and my Savior. It is trusting Christ alone for
my salvation, by all means. It is trusting Christ alone as
my sin-atoning sacrifice, absolutely. Faith in Him is trusting Christ
alone as all my acceptance, my righteousness before God, Him
alone to keep me in His grace and bring me to glory. But Christ
the Lord is more than a fire escape from hell. And faith in
Christ is something more than trusting him to take me to heaven
when I die and give me life everlasting in glory. We often speak of the
Lord saving our souls, but that's not the language of scripture.
The Son of God did not die at Calvary to save anyone's soul. He did not save anybody's soul,
but rather Christ is our Savior and our Redeemer, and He has
saved His people, body, soul, and spirit. He saves the entire
man, and He demands the entire man. He will have all of you,
or He will damn all of you. There's nothing in between. He
will be Lord of all, or Lord of nothing at all. You will surrender
all to Him or nothing surrendered to Him. The Lord Jesus demands
that we trust Him, trust Him with the rule and the government
of our lives. What does that mean? That we
commit ourselves to Him, that we consecrate ourselves to Him,
that we devote our lives to Him, to Him alone. Turn to Matthew the 8th chapter.
I'm sorry, Mark the 8th chapter. Mark chapter 8. Faith is raising the white flag
of surrender to the Son of God in the city of Mansoul. Now here
is why you do not believe Him if you don't. Here's the reason
you do not trust him if you don't. There's something you won't bow
to him. There's something you won't surrender
to him. There's something you won't lay
down at his feet. There's something somewhere,
some point, where you still hold your shotgun on your territory
and say to the Son of God, keep out, this is mine. That's what
unbelief amounts to. It's rebellion. It is man saying,
I will be my own Lord. I will be the master of my life. God, keep out! And He will. He will. Mark chapter 8, verse
34. When He called the people unto
Him with His disciples also, He said unto them, Whosoever
will come after Me... You know that's talking about
faith, isn't it? That's what it's talking about in religion,
faith. It's not talking about some better, stronger, higher
form of faith. It's talking about faith. Whosoever
will come after me, let him deny himself. The word is say no to
himself and say no about himself. Let him deny himself and pick
up his cross willingly, deliberately. I'm going to pick this up. That's it. Pick up his cross. Take up his cross. He's got a
broke finger, cut his finger off with a chainsaw or something.
Well, that's my cross. I have to carry that. No, that's
not it. That's not it. It is to willingly pick up the
cause of Christ, knowing the cost. Then pick up his cross
and follow me. How do you know this is what
that means? Look at the next verse. For whosoever will save
his life shall lose it. Whosoever shall lose his life
for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it. For 16
years, I held on to my life. Nobody going to tell me what
to do. Nobody going to rule me. Nobody. Nobody going to have
dominion over me. Doesn't matter what it costs,
doesn't matter what it hurts, doesn't matter who it hurts. Nobody gonna rule
me. Ask anybody who knew me. I hung
on to my life. I hung on to my, I'll do what
I will with me. You stay away. Number one person
to whom I spoke such language was God Almighty. I'll be my
master. I'll be my savior. I'll be my
Lord. I'll be my king. Don't need you. Don't need you. I would have
been perfectly happy, perfectly happy to trust him to keep me
out of hell. I wanted that, but not to leave
my life in his hands. No, sir. And I want to tell you
something, Darvin, I struggle with this every day. Because Don Fortner still wants
to be master of his life. And he keeps insisting on being
boss. And at last, He graciously forced me. And He still graciously
forces me to surrender, to lose my life to Him. And if you lose
your life to Him, you'll save it forever. When I was 22 years old, I went
out to Appomattox, Virginia to preach in a Bible conference.
went to visit Appomattox Courthouse. It's the place where General
Lee surrendered to General Grant at the end of the Civil War.
It was there that they signed terms of surrender. And there's
a picture hanging on the wall, or at least there was then, in
Appomattox Courthouse. I've never been back, so I don't
know whether it's still there or not. I've been back to Appomattox,
but not to the courthouse. That picture was a sobering sight. The Confederate soldiers were
standing on both sides of the road leading over into Appomattox
Courthouse. Just far back as you can see,
these ragtag, worn-out uniforms on the backs of worn-out men
standing on both sides. They'd been fighting the armies
of the Union all these years, and now they're standing there,
but standing there completely broken, completely humbled. They've taken their powder horns
and their sabers and their rifles and stacked everything at their
feet. And they're standing at attention
while General Grant and the Union Army rides into Appomattox Courthouse. That's the only way they could
surrender. Absolute surrender. These are
the terms. But we insist, insist all you
want to. Ain't gonna happen. You either
stack arms and surrender or the war goes on till you're dead.
One of the two. One of the two. That's what Christ
demands. Absolute surrender. I'm calling
for you and me to give up ourselves to Christ. To believe on the
Son of God, to acknowledge that where he is locked, stock and
barrel, from this day forward, he is alone. I'm calling for
you and for me to devote our lives, our entire lives, to Jesus
Christ. All your family, all your time,
all your talents, all your abilities, all your money, all your possessions,
everything, everything. Devoted all to the service of
his kingdom, his glory, his cause. Acknowledging that you have no
claim to anything for yourself. You have no right to use anything
for yourself. You don't even have a right to
have a thought of your own. you're his. Every time I have
the privilege of baptizing a newborn baby in the kingdom of God, silently,
I endeavor earnestly to declare to myself what I've declared
to that believer. By this act, buried with Christ
in the watery grave, I confess my faith in his substitutionary
sacrifice as my redeemer, I died with him. I'm buried with him. I'm risen with him. And in that
same act, I pledge my allegiance to him. I'm crucified with Christ. Blessed Savior, I'm yours, lock,
stock, and barrel. I'm dead to this world, alive
unto God, Perhaps you think, well, Pastor,
that sounds great. It seems to be the right thing
to do, but it's just not practical. It's just not reasonable. Surely
the Lord doesn't expect me to totally give up myself to Him. Surely He doesn't expect anyone
to trust Him absolutely. Surely not. Well, again, I ask
the question. Is it really safe? Is it really
wise to trust Him? And I'm going to tell you something.
Upon any basis of human reason, the answer is no. Upon any basis of human reason,
upon the basis of anything I know intuitively, on the basis of
everything I had been taught in every realm of life all my
life. No. No. It's not reasonable. It's not reasonable. But Martin
Luther made a tremendous statement one time. I read it years ago.
He said the first thing faith does is to knock the brains of
reason out. You can't obey Christ on the
basis of human reason, no matter how well reasoned out things
are. Listen to our Savior's word, Matthew chapter six. Turn there
if you will. Matthew chapter six. He calls
for us to believe God, to trust him. And this is how he reasons. He says, if your heavenly father
watches over and feeds the sparrow, don't you know he'll watch over
you and feed you? If he clothes the worthless lilies,
the wildflowers out in the field, those wildflowers that spring
up free out in the field, if he clothes those gorgeous things
out there, that first frost is going to be mowed down. If he
clothes those worthless lilies in the field, don't you think
he'll clothe you? Remember, He numbered the hairs
of your head. Before the world was, He counted
up and determined the hairs to be on your head at every stage
of your life, every day that you live. He numbered those before
you were born. Don't you think He'll take care
of you? What reason do you have to fear? Verse 31, Matthew 6.
Therefore, since all these things are so, take no thought, saying,
What shall we eat? Or what shall we drink? Or wherewithal
shall we be clothed? Now look at our Lord's reason.
For after all these things do your brothers and sisters of
the flesh, your neighbors and your mom and dad, your sons and
daughters, after all these things do the pagans, the idolaters
around you. That's all they live for. That's
all they live for. Oh, man, look what he's got.
Well, don't envy him. My soul, that's all he's got.
That's all he's got. Just what he can grasp at, man,
where'd it go? That's all he's got. Don't envy
him. After all these things, that's
what the Gentiles live for. For your heavenly Father knoweth
that you have need of these things. Your Father knows that you need
a place to live. And he knows you need food to
eat. And he knows you need clothes to wear. That is sufficient. But seek ye first. And the word
literally is seek this alone. Seek this to the exclusion of
everything else. How do you know that? Colossians chapter 3, set
your affection. It doesn't say affections, does
it, darling? Set your affection. Set your one love on things above
where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Seek ye first to
the exclusion of everything else, the kingdom of God and his righteousness
and all these things. place to live, food to eat, clothes
to wear, shall be added to you. Take, therefore, no thought for
tomorrow, for tomorrow shall take thought for the things of
itself." Don't worry about tomorrow. Isn't it amazing he said that?
Do you know all the things I've ever worried about in my life?
I can tell you right now everything I've ever worried about in my
life. Everything. Tomorrow. I have never worried about this
morning. I've never worried about yesterday. I've never worried
about a year ago. Only thing I've ever worried
about is what hadn't happened. What I think might happen. What
I think might possibly happen. Well, no, I don't really think
it might possibly happen. I don't think it's likely. But it could! Ha! What do I do? Take no thought for tomorrow.
You might not be here. And when tomorrow gets here,
you'll have plenty to be concerned about, sufficient to the days
of evil thereof. Can we really be expected so
to trust Christ? I'm telling you, We've read it
in the book, and I'm going to show it to you again. Faith in
Christ is never perfect. But true faith trusts Christ
with everything. True faith trusts Christ entirely. True faith trusts Christ with
the totality of your being. Trust Him in all things, surrendering
all things to his dominion. Brother Don, if I trust Christ
like that, if I commit my whole life to him, how can I live in
this world? What's going to happen to my
business? How can I provide for my family? How can I take care
of my responsibilities if I allow nothing to keep me from worshiping
him? obeying Him, doing His will. Is that really smart? Let's look
in the book and see. Exodus chapter 34. The Lord God
commanded His people in the Old Testament. He commanded every
male Israelite to leave his land, his herds, his fields, his business,
his home, and leave his wife and his children, if need be,
leave them at home three times every year and make his way to
Jerusalem. Now remember, remember this is
talking about many, many, many thousands of years ago, 4,000
years ago, 4,000 years ago, they didn't have email or cell phone.
They didn't have trains or airplanes or automobiles. They would literally
leave their families, their lives, their business, they'd leave
everything, their herds, all they possessed and walk to Jerusalem
three times a year to spend a week there worshiping God. Can you imagine their pagan Gentile
neighbors watching them? Man, these folks who They worship
this God they call Jehovah. I've been watching them. Have
you noticed every year, every year, they go up to a Bible conference
at Jerusalem and they spend a week up yonder. Have you ever seen
such foolish people? Such crazy people. They don't
even hire guards to stay around the place. And I've been marking
the calendar. Now fellas, if we want to, if
we want to, They're going to leave. They're going to leave
a couple of days in advance, but they're going to be gone.
They're going to be gone from Sunday to Sunday. And there's
nothing to prevent us. There's nobody stopping us. We
can go in and take everything they got. We won't even have
to fire a shot. We can take everything they've
got. What's stopping us? Their lays. Their lays. The Jews
might reasonably fear they would do so. except for one thing,
Exodus 34, verses 23 and 24. Thrice in the year shall all
your men and children appear before the Lord God, the God
of Israel. The Lord God, the only God there
is, He is the God of Israel. Three times in the year you come
up here before me. Four, that is you come on and
come confidently, for this reason I will cast out the nations before
thee, and enlarge thy borders. Now watch this. I wish you could
find a way to underline this with such bold strokes that every
time you opened your Bibles you'd see it. Neither shall any man
desire thy land. When thou shalt go up to appear
before the Lord, the God, thy God, thrice in the year. Come on, worship me. Come on
and do what I've commanded you. Come on and obey my will. And
as you do, you've got nothing to be concerned about. Nobody's
going to even want what you've got. Nobody's even going to want
it. Let him want it. I have often
been asked over the years, don't you worry about your wife and
daughter out on that hill out there by themselves when you're
on the other side of the country, the other side of the world?
And I respond this way. I probably would if I were doing
something else. But no, I don't. No, I don't. How come? God sent me here. I'm doing his business for his
honor. His name's at stake. I'm not
concerned. I'm not concerned. Look at Leviticus
25. We have a similar passage. Here in Leviticus 25, verses
1 through 7, the Lord didn't just command that they come up
once a year for a week. But here, he commands that they
come up and lay aside their ground for a year. During the sabbatical year, they
weren't allowed to gather their crops. Those crops that had come
up from the previous year, you leave them laying right in the
ground. No, you can't go dig potatoes
out of there, even the volunteers. No, no, if you got some tomatoes
that popped up from the seed, you leave them right there. You
got some corn that came up, leave it right there. Don't pick your
blackberries, don't pick your grapes, don't touch a thing.
Leave it in the field. They were not only commanded
not to gather their crops from the previous year, they weren't
allowed to sow their crops that year. Now this is what that means. They were required every Sabbath
year Sabbath year, once every 50 years they were required,
or once every 7 years required to let the ground lie. And trust
God to provide everything miraculously for 3 years. For 3 years. Read it. Verse 18,
Wherefore ye shall do all my statutes, and ye shall worship
me, You shall keep my judgments, and do them, and ye shall dwell
in the land in safety. And the land shall yield her
fruit, and ye shall eat your field, and dwell therein in safety. And if ye will say, if ye will
say, What shall we eat the seventh year? Behold, we shall not sow,
nor gather in our increase. Then I will command my blessing
upon you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth fruit for
three years. And ye shall sow in the eighth
year, and eat yet of old fruit until the ninth year. Until her
fruits come in, ye shall eat of the old store. Now here, the
Lord God gives His people assurance that they would lose nothing Lose nothing by obeying Him. Lose nothing by worshiping Him. Lose nothing by heeding His Word. Lose nothing. In fact, they would
gain much. Look at these three things God
promised. He promised them safety. Ye shall dwell in the land in
safety. The word means secure, but it
means more than that. It means more than that. It means
secure with confidence. Several years ago, Shelby and
I flew up to somewhere in the Northeast. I forgot where it
was. I was going to preach. And this lady was sitting right in
front of us, and she was scared to death. She was scared to death. They started the engine. She reached back and took Shelby's
hand and said, have you ever flown before? And Shelby said, yeah. And it
was obvious she was scared. Shelby tried to calm her down.
Man, when they started taxiing down the runway, I felt so sorry
for Shelby. Her arthritic hands, that girl
was just squeezing them like a vice. And she was bawling.
I mean, she was just bawling. And she finally got calmed down,
started to land. Same thing all over again. And
you know, Shelby wasn't upset. She wasn't scared. That girl's
fear didn't cause her any fear. She was just perfectly calm,
just like normal, sitting there. Well, we're going to land, or
we're going to crash, one or two, whatever it is. It's going
to be all right. God's in control. And you know, that girl or that
woman sitting in front of her was just as safe as Shelby was,
but she hadn't a clue that she was. She was terrified. This is what our Lord said. He
said, not only is no evil going to happen to you, You're not
even going to think it might. Oh, God, give me that kind of
faith. Give me that kind of faith. You'll
not experience any evil or fear it. He promised these people
plenty. You shall eat your fill. You remember what Paul told the
Philippians? My God shall supply all your need. according to his
riches in glory by Christ Jesus. And then he promised that they
would not lack any provisions during that year, nor in the
year that they sowed, nor in the year that they reaped. He
said, I will command the land and it will bring forth fruit
for three years. A standing miracle in the land
of Israel. A miracle of divine providence. The Lord God said, watch it.
Watch the heathen stand back and laugh at you, and watch the
heathen stand back and scratch their chins and say, how'd they
get that? How'd they make that? Well, they didn't plan anything.
They didn't work for it. They just worship God. And look at them, they're getting
fat. Look at them. They got plenty to wear. Look
at them. Their herds are all producing
plenty. How's that happen? God said he'd
do it. Our Lord Jesus performed a mighty
miracle. He took five loaves. Now when he says five loaves,
he's not talking about five butternut loaves of bread. He's talking
about five pieces of bread. Five loaves. And two fish. Two little crappie of bream.
Oh, let's go ahead and make them huge bass. Make them big fish. Let's make them big loaves. They had 20,000 people with them.
Some of them sat down. Sat down. Sat down in rows of
50. Y'all hungry, are you? And he broke the loaves and fish,
and broke the loaves and fish, and broke the loaves and fish,
and broke the loaves and fish, and broke the loaves, broke the
loaves and fish. They kept reaching in there,
getting more fish. Well, he couldn't do that. There's
only five loaves. Only two pieces of fish. Well, let's see. 20,000 people ate. And they said,
oh, that was good. And they took up 12 baskets full
when they got done. You don't really believe that,
do you? You know what I really do? I've been watching him do
it for 42 years. Been watching him do it for 42
years. I've been eating the loaves and
eating the fish. All this is intended to be an
encouragement to you and me to put everything at his feet. cast
all our care on him and believe him. Let me make five statements
from what we've read and I'll be done. Number one, obedience
arises from faith. The Lord said, you should do
all my statutes. And we have, we have, if we're
Christ, we have, we're his. We keep His commandments, believing
the Son of God. Faith in Christ is offering to
God that which God requires, no more and no less. Look at
verse 55, the very last verse in this chapter. The Lord God
calls for obedience, and the basis for the obedience is His
doing. That's it. unto me the children
of Israel are servants they are my servants whom I brought forth
out of the land of Egypt I'm the Lord your God now all these
things he's commanded all these things that Rex reached
to every aspect of your life that lady sitting beside you
those babies you had with you this morning reaches to every
aspect of your life. That job you're going to tomorrow
reaches to every aspect of your life. And He calls for us, laid all at His feet, laid all
at His feet. Come worship me. Come obey me. Come follow me. For one reason, I bought you. You're mine. You're not your own. You're bought
with a price. So glorify God in your body and
in your spirits, which are God's. Well, I've got all these things
that for which I'm responsible. I've got to take care of. They're
not yours. They're his. Cast everything
at his feet. I know what I'm asking. I know
what God demands. I know what I'm telling you.
Obedience to Christ is always costly. I'm not trying to sell
you on Jesus. I'm not trying to get a profession
of faith out of you. I'm not going to deal deceitfully
with your soul. You follow Christ, it will cost
you. It will cost you today and tomorrow and the rest of your
life. Obedience to Christ is always
costly. It always causes problems. It'll
cause problems with family and friends. It always requires that
we make choices, choices that are often painful, but God still
requires it. And as he calls for us to obey
him, he promises that he will take care of every problem that
arises because of obedience. He'll do it. Number two, our
greatest danger. That which is most likely to
keep us from obedience is worldliness. Now, when I speak of worldliness,
Ron, I'm not talking about wearing a mustache or not wearing one.
I'm not talking about going to the movies or not going to the
movies. I'm not talking about having a television in your house
and not having a television. I'm not talking about whether
you dress in the latest fashion or whether you wear buttoned
up blue jeans. No, no. I'm talking about loving
the world. Love not the world. These are
the things that are in the world. If any man loved the world, the
love of the Father is not in him. Don't love it. Our Lord
Jesus speaks of the care of the world, the care of this world,
the deceitfulness of riches, the care. God gave us one child, and I
just had the one child, but I had the same care for that one child
you do for a multitude. How are you going to take care
of her? How are you going to feed her? How are you going to clothe her?
How are you going to educate her? How are you going to protect
her? Make sure she's not raised like
a hermit somewhere and she gets to do things and enjoy life.
How are you going to do all those things? The care of this world. I'll tell you what I watch men
and women do all the time. I watch men and women all the
time sacrifice what they know God
would have them to be and do for the care of this world. And our Lord warns it will choke
out the influence of his word, the care of this world. That
one thing, Sam Wall, those two children need. You've seen to
it, they have it thus far. And I'm sure sometimes they don't
want you to. They need to worship God. If that means they don't
get to go to this, don't get to do that, that's all right.
That's all right. They need the Redeemer. They
need Him. They don't need anything else.
They need Him. Oh, the danger of the care of
this world. Turn to Ecclesiastes, let me
show you something. Chapter 3, verse 10,
I've seen the travail which God hath given to the sons of men. I take travail to mean painful
difficulty, don't you? Ecclesiastes 3.10, I've seen
the travail God has given given to the sons of men to be exercised
in it, to be pressed in it. He hath made everything beautiful
in his time. Also, he hath set the world in
their heart. Why did he do that? So that no
man can find out the work that God maketh. from the beginning
to the end. Oh, God, don't set the world
in my heart. I pray he won't set the world
in your heart. Third, the Lord God makes a promise and pledges
his providence to protect and provide for us as we seek to
worship, serve and honor him in this world. He said, The land
will yield her fruit. You'll eat to your fill and you'll
dwell therein in safety. I will command my blessing upon
you. Our Lord Jesus in Matthew 6 and
in Luke 12 has these words from our God in mind when he tells
us to seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. Your heavenly Father knoweth
You have need of these things. Yet, how often we're overcome
by the fear of losing money, losing friends, losing the good
opinion of family, or some little toy if we devote ourselves to
Christ's cause. How little we credit God's faithfulness. God forgive me. He who spared
not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall
he not with him also freely give us all things? Number four, our
greatest hindrance, our greatest hindrance, mine
and yours, fear. How often, David, Have you, well,
I'll take it back. Have you ever been in a situation,
really, you're faced with two decisions, got something you
gotta do, that you didn't know what was right? Anybody? When have you ever been
faced with choices you didn't know what you really ought to
do? I'm talking about really know what you ought to do. I
can't remember a time Nor do I believe I've ever had such
a time. I have often tried to make myself think I didn't know
what was right. I knew what God's will was. I
knew what God's will was. I know what this book says. I
knew what God required. I knew what I ought to do. But
there's something that always creeps in. If ye shall say, fear, fear. How's she going to
react? How's he going to react? What's
my daughter going to think? What are my unbelieving neighbors
going to think? If I worship God rather than working today,
I might not be able to meet all my bills at the end of the month. If I support the cause of Christ
with my money, I take what I've got in my hand here and give
it to the missionary, how am I going to buy groceries tomorrow?
If I worship God rather than spend the evening in frivolity
with my family or friends, what are they going to think of me
if I don't act like they do? If I give my money to support the
gospel, how can I wisely and prudently expect to provide for
my family? Oh, Mama and Daddy drove all
the way from Tennessee to visit with me. They know we go to church
on Sunday morning. They know that. They know we
go back on Sunday night, but they don't give a flip about
God. So I believe I'll stay here with them. I know I ought to
go down and worship God, but how can I influence them if I
walk off and leave them? Go to hell with them if you want to,
but you're not going to influence them for a good stay with them.
You've made decisions a number of times, haven't you? Just sorry. That's just the way it is. Just
the way it is. Let me show you an example. Turn to Jeremiah
chapter 38. Zedekiah was a whining, wimpish
king in Judah. And Jeremiah told him to obey
God. He said, you obey God and he'll
keep you. Jeremiah 38, verse 17. Jeremiah
said to Zedekiah, thus saith the Lord, the God of hosts, the
God of Israel, if thou will assuredly go forth to the king of Babylon's
princes. Then shall thy soul live, and
this city shall not be burned with fire, and thou shalt live
in thine house. Zedekiah, do what I'm telling
you now, and Jerusalem won't be destroyed. Do what I'm telling
you, and the kingdom will not be destroyed. Do what I'm telling
you, God's house will not be burned to the ground. But if
thou wilt not go forth to the king of Babylon's princes, you
fine and wimpish sissy, Then shall this city be given to the
hand of the Chaldeans, and they shall burn it with fire, and
thou shalt not escape out of their hand. And Zedekiah the
king said unto Jeremiah, I'm afraid. I'm afraid of the Jews. I'm afraid of the Jews that have
already fallen out to the Babylonians, to the Chaldeans. They might
deliver me. into their hand and then they'll
laugh at me. Oh, I don't want anybody laughing
at me. This man's the king! He's the king! And I don't want anybody laughing
at me. Poor Zedekiah. Look at chapter
39. Here's the result. In the eleventh
year of his reign, he put out the king of Babylon put out Zedekiah's
eyes, bound him with chains, carried him to Babylon, burned
the king's house, burned the houses of the people, broke down
the walls of Jerusalem, destroyed everything. Why? Because Zedekiah feared to believe
God. That's all. The whole nation
go to captivity for 70 years because their king feared to
believe God. One more statement, verse 21,
Leviticus 25. The Lord God says, I will command
my blessing upon you. Do you remember when our Lord
asked his disciples, he said, when I sent you out to preach
the gospel, and I commanded you not to carry any money in your
pocket, and I told you don't take two coats with you, don't
take two pairs of shoes, don't take but one walking stick in
your hand, and I commanded you Don't you go from door to door.
Don't you go from house to house begging folks. Don't you do it.
Don't you do it. Don't you go poor mouthing God. Don't you go walking around with
your hands stuck out hoping folks would help you along doing my
bidding. I sent you out with nothing and told you to go preach
my gospel. Lacked ye anything? Lacked ye anything? Lacked ye
anything? Anything. My wife helps me so much in this
regard. She's a whole lot better than I am at this. She says, look what God dropped out of the sky. Just dropped it out of heaven,
here it is. For 42 years. I've been doing what I've done
here to this day. Resolutely determined not to
entangle myself with the affairs of this world. Resolutely determined,
God help me, God help me, to commit everything to you. And you know what I've lacked? Nothing, Lord. Nothing. Nothing. I've never yet, not
in 42 years, I have never yet put my hand to do anything for
the glory of God. Put my hand to do anything in
obedience to Christ. Not one time in 42 years. when I had no idea how it could
be done. I mean, not a notion, not a hint. How are we gonna do this? I don't
know. I don't know. Not one time what God didn't
supply the need. Not one time. Not one time in
42 years have I had a need God didn't supply. Why shouldn't I believe him?
Why shouldn't you? Amen.