The book of Joshua spans the
history of the nation of Israel from the death of Moses to the
beginning of the time of the judges who reigned over Israel. It is a declaration of God's
great acts for Israel. It is a declaration of God's
faithfulness to his people. It is a picture of a man who
was God's faithful servant. And as such, this man Joshua
is an imminent picture and type of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let's
begin reading in chapter 1. I want us to read several sections
and then I'll try to show you what I believe the Lord has taught
me from this passage. Now after the death of Moses,
the servant of God, it came to pass that the Lord spake unto
Joshua, the son of Nun, Moses' minister, Moses' servant, saying,
Moses, my servant, is dead. Now therefore, arise, go over
this Jordan, thou and all this people, unto the land which I
do give to them, even to the children of Israel. Every place
that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given
unto you, as I said to Moses. From the wilderness and this
Lebanon, Even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all
the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea toward the
going down of the sun, shall be your coast. There shall not
any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life. As I was with Moses, so will
I be with thee. I will not fail thee, nor forsake
thee. Be strong and of good courage,
for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the
land which I swear unto their fathers to give them. Only be
thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do
according to all the law which Moses my servant commanded thee.
Turn not from it to the right hand, nor to the left, that thou
mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest. This book of the
law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate
therein day and night. that thou mayest observe to do
according to all that is written therein. For then thou shalt
make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. Have not I commanded thee? Be
strong and of good courage. Be not afraid, neither be thou
dismayed, for the Lord thy God is with thee, whithersoever thou
goest.' Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, pass
through the host, and command the people, saying, Prepare you
victuals, for within three days you shall pass over this Jordan,
to go in to possess the land which the Lord your God giveth
you to possess it." Look at chapter 21. God said, Be of good courage,
I'm going to give you the land. I promised it, I'll be with you,
now don't be afraid. Chapter 21, verse 43. And the Lord God gave unto Israel
all the land which he sware to give unto their fathers, and
they possessed it and dwelt therein. And the Lord gave them rest round
about according to all that he sware unto their fathers, and
there stood not a man of all their enemies before them. The
Lord delivered all their enemies into their hand. There failed
not aught of any good thing which the Lord had spoken unto the
house of Israel all came to pass." Chapter 23, verse 14. And behold, this day I am going
the way of all the earth. And you know in all your hearts
and in all your souls that not one thing hath failed of all
the good things which the Lord your God spake concerning you. all are come to pass unto you,
not one thing hath failed thereof. Now one more passage, chapter
24, verse 29. And it came to pass after these
things, that Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord,
died, his work was done, being a hundred and ten years old,
and they buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnath-shirah,
which is in Mount Ephraim, on the north side of the hill of
Gesh. And Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all
the days of the elders that overlived Joshua, and which had known all
the works of the Lord that he had done for Israel. By divine
order, Joshua assumed the government of the nation when Moses had
died. The children of Israel were now
under Joshua's hand because God put them under his hand. Joshua
was appointed by God to bring them into the land of Canaan,
and he did. Now, there's a good bit of debate
among the folks who come in on this book of the Bible, and some
say that this can't possibly be talking about our inheritance
in everlasting glory because there were still enemies in the
land when Joshua left and they still had struggles in the land
and so on. Others say, no, this is clearly
a picture of everlasting glory in Christ Jesus, God giving us
that promised inheritance he promised us in Christ before
the world was. I say yes to both. This is a picture, both of our
experience of grace coming into the possession of life and faith
in Jesus Christ the Lord. And it is a picture of our experience
of grace in its consummation when we shall at last possess
heavenly glory. The message of the book is set
before us in Joshua's name. Now this is what his name means,
and it will tell you what the book is all about. His name means
Jehovah is salvation. Jehovah is salvation. His name is the same as that
name given to our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, in his incarnation. Turn over to Matthew 1.21. Let's
look at it one more time, a very familiar text. The message of
the book is just this, Jesus saves. Jehovah, God incarnate,
is our Savior. The Greek name Jesus is exactly
the same as the Hebrew name Joshua. In fact, in Acts chapter 7, where
Stephen describes the history of Israel, he calls Joshua by
the name Jesus. Throughout the book of Joshua,
then, Joshua stands before us as a magnificent type of the
Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior, as Jehovah's righteous servant.
And being such, he is an example of what you and I, who serve
our God, ought to be. Look here in Matthew 121. She
shall bring forth the Son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus. The word is Jehovah is salvation. Call his name Jesus, Savior,
for he shall save his people from their sins. As you know,
the Lord Jesus Christ came here as our Savior as Jehovah's servant. He came to save us and in order
to save us he became obedient unto the Father in all things
and willingly submitted himself to the will of God for the glory
of God and the saving of our people. And so our Savior as
well as Joshua sets before us an example of what it is to serve
our God in this world. Now hear me and hear me well.
If we are God's people If we are born of God, if we've experienced
the grace of God, if we have faith in Christ, we are his servants. The life of the believer is a
life of willing, voluntary servitude to the will and glory of God. That's what faith is. It is the
giving up of my life to the rule, dominion, will, and glory of
Christ. That's what it is to believe
on the Son of God. Not only is it trusting him to
save us, but it is acting upon that trust. The Lord God promised
Joshua, I will give you this inheritance. Now act like you
believe me. And he did. And the Lord God
Almighty promises to believing sinners, I will bring you into
glory. You're mine. I'll never leave
you nor forsake you. I've put away your sins. I've
made you righteous. I've accepted you and it's not
going to change. Heavenly glory shall be yours, now act upon
that confidence you have in me. Live before me doing my will. Yes, it is important, as we read
the book of Joshua, to see the exact fulfillment of divine prophecy. We read it earlier. The Lord
God gave the children of Israel exactly what he promised Abraham
in the covenant he would give them. Everything. Nothing left
out. that ought to silence forever.
It doesn't do it, but ought to silence forever these prophecy
mania nuts who go about trying to interpret history by Israel
taking possession of a certain piece of property. God gave Israel
the land back here in the book of Joshua. We see the fulfillment
of prophecy. That's important. We delight
to see and find comfort in the fact that this book sets before
us a picture of our God's faithfulness in all things. He gave the land
of Canaan to Israel according to his promise. God always keeps
his word. Oh, I wish I could believe that.
God is as good as his word. He does exactly what he has purposed
to do, exactly what he has sworn to do. We see the justice of
God in punishing the Canaanites for their idolatry, their rebellion,
and their sin. After repeated warnings of his
impending wrath, he finally wets his holy sword and destroys them. How wondrous are the displays
of God's faithfulness to his people, exercising tender care,
constantly protecting them, providing for them, driving out their enemies,
establishing them in the land, and of his matchless, wondrous
love. Though they were a murmuring,
rebelling, complaining Though they were a people who throughout
this book, as they did in the preceding five books, they were
a people who constantly failed and stumbled and fell. They were
a people upheld by the hand of God. He is gracious and merciful. Oh, how merciful Jesus Christ,
our God and Savior, is to his falling, faltering people in
this world. But the primary thing to be observed
here, the primary thing to be seen in the book of Joshua, is
not Joshua, but rather the Lord Jesus of whom Joshua was a title.
As a matter of fact, you will find that Joshua constantly throughout
this book turns our eyes away from himself to God. He constantly
does so. He doesn't seek any recognition
for himself, but rather sets up monuments for the glory of
God and sets the people to serve the Lord God. And we know that
this was the intent of God the Holy Spirit in giving us this
book because in Hebrews chapter 4 he specifically tells us that
Joshua was raised up to be a type of Christ who brings us at last
into the possession of heavenly glory. Now, we've already seen
that his name, Joshua, means Jehovah is salvation. But Joshua
is a type of Christ in many ways. Let me just call your attention
to a few things, and then I want to show you some practical things
that we can apply to our day-by-day lives. Joshua was Moses' servant. He was Moses' minister. That
means he was Moses' servant. He came and worked and served
and labored under Moses' direction all the days of his life until
Moses was dead. And so the Lord Jesus Christ,
being made of a woman, was made under the law to redeem them
that were under the law. And by his obedience to the law,
the Lord Jesus Christ served the law in all things, obeying
every jot and tittle of the law. More than that, Joshua succeeded
Moses. He took his place. Moses died,
because Moses could not bring Israel into the land. Moses could
not give salvation. The law could do nothing to give
us rest. But Joshua succeeds Moses, having
obeyed Moses, now Joshua takes over. And the Lord Jesus Christ
has fully obeyed God's holy law, has fully brought in righteousness,
has fully satisfied justice, and now he takes over and brings
us into the land of rest, giving us faith in himself, and shall
at last bring us into heavenly glory. As Joshua gave Israel
what Moses never could, God's promised covenant blessings,
so Christ gives us what the law never could, God's everlasting
salvation. as Joshua was the governor of
Israel, the commander of their armies by divine appointment,
a position for which he was well qualified, qualified with wisdom,
integrity, courage, such things as God alone could give him,
giving him faith. So the Lord Jesus Christ is the
King of saints. He is our leader and the commander
of the people. He's called the captain of our
salvation. That means just this, Jesus Christ
the Lord has fought our battles for us. And he has won the victory. He has conquered our enemies,
so thoroughly conquered them, that the scripture says in Romans
8, we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. That's
a tremendous statement. I recall when I was a 19-year-old
boy sitting on the hearth of Brother Harry Graham's family
room, and we had read that passage and were talking about it And
he said, Do you know what that means, son? I said, I reckon
it means he's whipped our enemies. He said, That's what it means.
It means more than that. It means he's so whipped them that they're
never going to get up again. More than conquerors. It's one
thing to conquer, but it's another thing to conquer so thoroughly
that there's no fight left in the enemy. And I'm telling you
that Jesus Christ, our mighty Joshua, has defeated sin, Satan,
death, and hell as our representative, and they shall never rise up
with power against us. Oh, wiggle and roar they do,
but power they do not have. More than that, like Joshua,
our Savior is fully qualified as a man to be the captain of
our salvation. He has, by his obedience, proved
himself perfect. He is that one upon whom God
poured out his Spirit without measure. He is bold, courageous,
mighty, and pure, and so he is able to save. And then all the
various things that Joshua did, recorded in this book, his mighty
deeds, they're not given to show us something imminent and great
about Joshua. Not that. As a matter of fact,
wherever the Holy Spirit refers to Joshua, taking the walls of
Jericho, that's all it says, and doesn't even call him by
name. So it's not that Joshua stands out as some imminent great
man. Joshua was a fellow who put his britches on just like
I do, one leg at a time. And he was a fellow who stumbled
and fell just like I did going out the door here the other day.
He's just a man. But he was a man God Almighty
used for the saving of his people, displaying the greatness and
glory of Christ in his deeds. Let me show you. He brought Israel
through the Jordan River. I kind of like what John Gill
said, he said that's a picture of baptism, believer's baptism.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. He that
believeth and is baptized shall be saved. And the believer goes
with Christ, being led by Christ through the watery grave, symbolically
testifying of the gospel, and now rises to walk with him in
the newness of life. It is also a picture of our Lord
Jesus leading us by the hand and carrying us through the rivers
of woe, when at last death comes and he carries us home to glory.
Joshua came in and took Jericho and destroyed that wicked city.
But he came in and took Jericho, having in mind all the while
the salvation of a worthless harlot named Rahab and her house. And so our Lord Jesus Christ
had from eternity the salvation of worthless sinners like us
on his heart, even before he made this world. And when this
world is destroyed, like Rahab's house would not fall, our house
being built on the rock, Christ Jesus, shall not fall." Joshua
received the Gibeonites, Israel's sworn enemies. He received the
Gibeonites, and it was a foolish thing on his part to do so. Because
the Lord God made it clear that it was. But after all, God worked
it for good to Israel. And the Lord Jesus Christ takes
to his bosom his sworn enemies, and makes us his friends, and
makes with us a covenant of peace. Joshua conquered the kings of
the Canaanites, and Christ conquered our spiritual enemies, as I've
already mentioned. And Joshua brought Israel into the land,
and he divided it to them by lot, exactly according to the
word of God, each one receiving his portion of the inheritance.
Now, no type is perfect. The Lord Jesus Christ will bring
us at last to possess the inheritance promised for us before the foundation
of the world, prepared for us before the world began, and he
will give it to us in utter fullness, so that every believer possesses
his inheritance as one with Christ, possessing all things in him.
Now, let me give you a very brief look at this man and this book,
and I pray that God will be pleased to teach us by him. Number one,
Joshua was a man prepared by God for the work God would have
him to do. I just caught Skip's eye. You're
God's, and I'm His. You're His servant, and I'm His
servant. And this is what that means. God has something for
you to do, and He's got something for me to do. Sometimes our time of preparation
is what we think is our time of service, and sometimes our
time of service is what we think is our time of uselessness. But
I'm telling you, whatever it is that God Almighty has for
you to do as his servant. He prepares you for that service
and for that place. And he prepares that service
and that place specifically for you. Let me show you. Moses was
called of God, ordained of God before he was ever born to be
a deliverer for Israel. It was ordained of God that Moses
serve him for 40 years. Do you know how long he was preparing
to serve him? 80 years. For 80 years. Joshua was at least
most of his life, as a young man, in preparation for the service
of God. This man Joshua was prepared
to serve Israel just as the Lord Jesus was prepared. The Son of
God was as a man. Now please understand, I'm talking
about our Lord's manhood. As a man, he was in preparation. in preparation for his work for
30 years. And his work was accomplished
in three. Now, I know all the while he was serving God, all
the while he was obedient to God, but the Lord was preparing
him for 30 years for that day when he came and made his appearing,
first proclaiming the gospel of God's grace as a preacher
and the servant of our God. Joshua was prepared by God and
prepared with specific means. God's ways are not our ways,
ever. His thoughts are not our thoughts,
ever. I only have one child. I don't
qualify as a father, don't pretend to. I don't give much advice
to fathers. But I tell you what I did, and
I suspect it's what you fathers have done. I tried my best throughout
her life to protect that girl from hurt. That's what fathers
do. Try your best to keep them from
hurting. Keep them from hurting. And then you turn around and
inflict a good bit of hurt on them. If you love them, you make
them mine. You see to it. You want to keep
them from being hurt and getting hurt, and yet you realize that
they've got to hurt to grow. They've got to hurt to grow. And God taught Joshua to be his
servant, and God teaches us to be his servants by the things
that we suffer at his hands. Let me show you some scripture.
Look in Exodus chapter 3. Exodus 3. Joshua, his history
begins back here as a slave in Egypt. Suffering from the hands
of a pagan king who knew not God and feared not God. And this
is where it begins, Exodus 3, verse 7. The Lord said, I have
surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt,
and I have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters,
for I know their sorrows. That's where Joshua's life began,
in the midst of sorrow, in slavery, in servitude. You see, in the
kingdom of God, no one rises to a place of usefulness without
being brought down with sorrow. No one is ever exalted without
being amazed. No one ever is used of God who
doesn't learn to be a servant by that which he suffers. We
are told concerning those who walked with our Lord on the road
to Emmaus, we trusted that it had been he which should have
redeemed Israel, and beside this today is the third day since
these things were done which he suffered, which he suffered
by the hands of wicked men." Look at Hebrews chapter 5. Let me show you this concerning
our Redeemer. Verse 8. Though he were a son,
now don't forget that, Jesus Christ our Savior is God Almighty. And as God Almighty, he never
learned anything, acquired anything, or forgot anything. He is God
Almighty. But this one who is God the Son
assumed our nature, a real man. Now listen to what Scripture
says about him as a man like us. Though he were a son, yet
learned he obedience by the things which he suffered. I just read a little while ago,
I don't know who said this, but there's a quotation I read, somebody
said, experience is a hard teacher because it causes us to experience
first and then learn the lesson. And this is exactly the case
with our life as believers in this world. We learn obedience
by the things we suffer just like our Master did. Read on,
verse 9. And being made perfect, that is, being made complete
as a mediator, being made complete as a man by learning obedience
through suffering, he became author of eternal salvation unto
all them that obey him, called of God and high priest after
the order of Melchizedek. Now look at 1 Peter 1. Peter is talking about the prophets
concerning the suffering of our Lord. or what manner of time
the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it
testified beforehand the suffering of Christ," and now watch this,
"...and the glory that should follow." His path to glory, his
path of obedience as God's servant was a path of suffering marked
out by the hand of his Father through which he entered into
glory. Now look in chapter 4 verse 13. rejoice inasmuch as you are partakers
of Christ's sufferings, that when his glory shall be revealed,
you may be glad also with exceeding joy." Now, Larry, that clearly
is talking about us being partakers of his sufferings, because when
he suffered the wrath of God, we did. But read the context. It's talking about us being made
partakers of his sufferings in our day-by-day experience. Another
buddy read this back here in the office, 1 Peter 5, verse
10. The God of all grace, who hath called you to his eternal
glory by Christ Jesus. After that you suffered a little
while. Make you perfect, establish, strengthen, settle you. I'll
show you something else by which Joshua learned to serve God. Read about Joshua in the book
of Numbers. God prepares people to serve
him by teaching them to serve him and serve his appointed authority
where he puts them. I have never personally known,
I've never known this, I've never personally known a man to faithfully
serve as a pastor in a congregation. who did not first learn something
about serving as a member of a congregation and being faithful.
God doesn't make you faithful over great things first. He makes
you faithful over a few things first, and then over greater
things later. Joshua served God all those 40
years of wandering under Moses, and he was very careful to protect
Moses' name, Moses' reputation, and do Moses' will. The Lord
Jesus And the same way, came here and he said, here's my ear,
you open it. I want everybody to know I've
come to do your will, oh my God. When he was in Gethsemane, in
the midst of unfathomable agony, as he anticipated
the worst of his suffering, being made sin for us. The Son of God
said, not my will, your will be done. And he set his face
like a flint and went up to Calvary and bore our sins in his own
body on the tree. As the leader of Israel's army
in the wilderness under Moses, he followed Moses and now he
is made himself to be the one that men follow. And he learned
to be God's servant by patience. Let me just read some scripture
to you. Turn with me to the Psalms first. I'll tell you a little secret
about me. And I'll tell you a little secret
about you too. I am by nature a terribly impatient
man. If I see something I want done,
I want to do, I want it now. Right now. Right now. You too. That's our nature. One of the greatest weaknesses
of our nature that brings us into more trouble, perhaps, than
anything else, impatience. Joshua had gone in to spy out
the land. He and Caleb came back with a
report, and they said, boys, God's going to give us this land.
It's ours. All we've got to do is just walk
over there and take it. It's ours. And 40 years later, he goes in
and takes it. He waited for 40 long years. And you know what he did all
that time? He patiently waited on God. Now, wait a minute. Wait a minute.
No. Yep. For 40 years, he waited. I don't mean he, well, the Lord's
going to give it to us. He's going to give it to us.
I'll sit back and wait. No. For 40 years, he served God in
this wilderness under Moses, looking all the time over yonder
at that land. He said, it's going to be mine
soon. God's going to give it to us. It's going to be ours.
He promised he would. Look here in Psalm 27. Hear the
counsel of God, children of God, if we would serve him. Wait on
the Lord. Psalm 27, 14. Wait on the Lord. Be of good courage, he shall
strengthen your heart. Wait, I say, on the Lord." I often have preachers call me
up and ask me, I have a dear friend who has been talking to
me recently, what do I do about this? And I said, I don't know whether
I can do it or not, but I know what you ought to do. Know what
you ought to do. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. How's that going to work anything
out? When you try to work it out, you're going to make a mess
of it. That's how it's going to be. Wait on God. He'll take care of it.
Wait on God. Children of God. Make it your
business, particularly in this business of walking in this world
with God for His glory. Just wait. God will take care
of it. God will take care of it. You
don't have to fight your battles. God will fight them. You don't
have to make a way for yourself. God will. Preachers, young men
are persuaded to go surrender to full-time Christian service
and then start figuring out a way to put yourself in it. Don't
do it. Wait, God knows where you are. He knows what he's doing,
just wait. Look in Psalm 37, verse 7. Rest in the Lord and wait patiently
for him. Fret not thyself because of him
who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked
devices to pass. Don't let those things bother
you. God's still in control. Verse 34. Wait on the Lord and
keep his way, and he shall teach thee to inherit the land. When the wicked are cut off,
thou shalt see it." Now one more passage, look at Lamentations
3. Lamentations 3. It is a good thing that a man
should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the
Lord. Verse 26. It's a good thing that
a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the
Lord. Oh, that's a good thing. That's
a good thing. Well, preachers, is that talking
about salvation from our troubles or salvation in grace? Yeah,
that's what it's talking about. thing for a sinner to do. Believing
God's word is fall down at the throne of grace. Plead for mercy
and wait. Wait at his throne. If you look
long enough, you'll find some preacher who'll give you something
short of it. But if you wait at his throne,
you won't get anything short of it. Wait. God saves those
who wait on him. Your life's been snarled in trouble.
You've got difficulties. These folks going over to battle,
Maurice going up there going to kiss his boys goodbye tomorrow.
And what do you do? What do you do? What do you do? There ain't but
one thing you can do. Now, but one thing you can do,
you can't do anything about the situation, you can't do anything
about the circumstance, you can't do anything about that man or
that man or that nation or that nation. What you can do is bow
before God and wait, wait, wait, quietly. Quietly, did you say? Yes, quietly. How? Believing
God. Boys, God's going to give us
this thing. He said he would. He said he
would. I'll wait on it. I'll wait on it. Now, let me
tell you something about this man's character. He was a man
who believed God. A man who heard God's words and
said, don't you depart from what I told Moses neither to the right
hand nor to the left, and he didn't. In chapter 5, before
the battle of Jericho, we see Joshua walking alone at night
in front of the walls, and suddenly he's confronted with the pre-incarnate
Christ, and he ended up flat on his face before God. And I'll
tell you something. A man who is flat on his face
before God, Rex, will never be flat on his face before man.
He's flat on his face before God, and we find him in just
that position again. After his failure at A.I., he's
flat on his face again. If he had been flat on his face
beforehand, there wouldn't have been any failure. He was a man
of great courage because he believed God. Like Christ Jesus the Lord,
this man believed God and walked before him with confidence. Courageous,
courageous. Omar Bradley, that famous general,
defined courage this way. He said, it is the capacity to
perform properly even when scared half to death. That's a pretty
good description. David said, what time I'm afraid,
I'll trust in thee. Now, I might be interjecting
my own personality into Joshua's, but I suspect before every battle
that man was torn inside with fear, torn inside with fear. But he believed God. And believing
God in the face of fear, he did what he knew was right, and God
honored him. But he didn't always do what
was right. He about always sought God's will. He about always did
what he did because he sought God's will, God's direction,
called on God for strength. And as he did, he walked through
the land of Canaan and took this place and that, and slew this
king and that, and took possession of this city and that. But he
didn't seek God's will before he went to Ai, and he came away
humbled. And he didn't seek God's will
before he made a covenant with the Gibeonites, and he came away
broken. But he was still God's servant.
You see, faithfulness, faithfulness in a man or woman in any area
of life is not to be judged by this act. or that, but by the
tenor of their lives. And you know what the Israelites
did? After this man who had failed
at Ai and failed with Gibeon, you know what they did? They
followed him just like they did across the Jordan, just like
they did taking Jericho, because he faithfully served their souls
and faithfully served God's glory. This man Joshua, being a man
of like our Savior, being God's servant like our Savior, was
humbled before God. And it was that very humility
that made him the man he was. Now let me show you what this
book teaches us again about God our Savior, and I'll wrap this
up. Of course, I've already shown you that it talks about our God's
faithfulness. What a faithful, faithful God he is. Great is
thy faithfulness. The message of the book is clear.
God has a people whom he's determined to save. He sent our great Joshua
to save them, and save them he shall. He will bring his own
at last into glory, and along the way he proves himself What word do I want to use? I
want to say personal, but that's used so much. Folks talk about
your personal Savior. I don't mean that. I mean He
is God who is a person. God incarnate is God who is touched
with the feeling of our infirmities. Go through this book and read
it. Twenty-four chapters, we see God caring for providing
for, forgiving, supplying his people. This God, touched with
the feeling of our infirmities, our great Savior, is God who
always does what he says he'll do. You can count on him. You can count on him. You see,
a faithful man's that way. I'll embarrass Lindsay a little
bit. I tell folks, about Loyal Lindsey. What kind of man he
is? I've known him 23 years. Man,
you can doggone count on him. What kind of man he is? That's
what faithfulness is. But he's just a man. He's just
a man. He may make it to Lexington in
the morning, may not. He may make it home tonight, may not,
because he doesn't control anything. He's just a man. He's just a
man. Not our God. What he has swore, he will perform,
and nothing going to hinder him. And this great, gracious, never
failing God will see us through. When God has purposed for Skip
Gladfelter to do something, when God has put it in your hands
to do something, I'm talking about God, not me, God Almighty. When God Almighty has sent you
to do something, He'll seek to it that you get the job done.
God Almighty has put me in this work, He'll seek to it the work's
done. Sent Lance Heller down to Papua New Guinea and Walter
and Cody down to the Merida of Mexico and our brethren in the
Ivory Coast. No, it's too big. Too big for me? Yeah. That doesn't
take much. Too big for them? Yeah. Too big
for you? Certainly. Too big for God? Not the whole world and all of
hell. He will do His good pleasure
even with such things as we are. Amen.