But in John chapter 13 in verse
7, now this verse of scripture is one that I think describes
and would give us considerable insight into the Christian life,
into what's going on with us in this world, what's going on
concerning the work of our Lord Jesus Christ, in the lives of
his people. He that hath begun a good work
in you will perform that work until the day of Jesus Christ.
God is doing something in his people. It is God which worketh
in you both to will and do of his good pleasure. It is God
that's working in his people. Now, many, many times we're dismayed. We're quite frustrated because
we do not and cannot explain what's going on in our lives. The Lord Jesus said, what I do
thou knowest not now. What I do you do not know, you
do not understand. It's hid from you now. You do
not know what I'm doing. You're not able to enter in to
all that I'm doing and able to understand what all these things
are about that's in your life. But he said, Thou shalt know
hereafter. There's coming a time when dark
providences will be cleared. There's coming a time, in due
time, when providences of God that now escape us as far as
understanding what's going on in our lives, when they're going
to be made clear and we're going to know what the Lord is doing.
How many times have you seen or known some terribly painful
and traumatic, almost devastating thing, and thought to yourself,
what good can possibly come of this? How can this work for my
good? How can this situation that has
come into my life, it is so difficult to understand, how can it possibly
be for my good? How will this benefit anyone?
How will anybody benefit from what's happening in my life? Well, can this be honoring to
God? Can this thing that has fallen
out to me, this situation that's come up, and these problems that
I have, the difficulties that I deal with in my life, can these
ever be honoring to God? We know that our Heavenly Father
is too wise to err. He's too good to do wrong. He's
too holy not to do right. He is too strong to ever fail. And we wonder what will ever
become of these situations. We know that God is in control,
yet when tragedies come, close to home, we cannot escape asking,
why did this happen to me? Why did this situation come up?
How is it that this thing could have come into my life? We may
not openly say it, but in frustration, perhaps even in anger and resentment,
we ask, God, what are you doing? What are you doing? Why did you
take this one out of my life? Why did you allow the things
to befall me that have befallen me in my life? Well, this God
that is gracious, this God we worship, this God that is merciful,
He gives us an answer. to our astonishment, to our confusion,
and our unbelief. He says, what I do thou knowest
not now, but thou shalt know hereafter. Now, beloved, when
Jacob awoke from his dream, in Genesis 28 and 16, he said, surely
the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not. Surely the Lord
is in this place, but I was dumber than a post, I knew it not. How many times do you suppose
in our lives, when various things are going on, when the storm
is raging, and we're on life's fitful sea, as the song said,
whenever the Lord was with us, And we knew it not. We didn't
know what was going on. We couldn't understand all that
was going on. But God was with us, and we knew
it not. Beloved, what the Lord is doing,
I want to emphasize that. What the Lord is doing, you know
not now. God is with you many, many times
when you don't think He is. The Lord is working in situations
that you don't think God would ever use. He's using those situations
to bring you to the place that He wants you to be. God is working
in the lives of His people, don't you ever doubt it. Now, when
Samson's strength was gone, we're told in Judges 16 and 20, he
wished not that the Lord was departed from him. Here's old
Samson and his strength, his hair has been cut, his strength
has departed from him and he didn't know that the Lord was
gone. So we have here the Lord's coming
and the Lord's going. Jacob said the Lord's in this
place, I didn't know it. Samson said the Lord was with
me and he didn't know it when he left. He didn't know. He didn't
know what was going on. He didn't understand what was
happening. Now then, what is said of God's
presence and the absence of God, His comings and goings, may also
be said of His doing. What I do, says the Lord Jesus,
thou knowest not now. You don't know now. God moves
in a mysterious way, the poet said, his wonders to perform. He plants his footstep in the
sea and rides up on the storm. Jacob cried, he says, all these
things are against me, in Genesis 42 and 36. And this was because
he did not know what God was doing. He did not know what the
Lord was doing when Joseph went into slavery and when his sons
went over to Egypt. He didn't know that God was planning
miraculously to save the entire family from famine. He didn't
know what was going on. And so he said, everything that's
happening is against me. And how many times have you said
that? And beloved, I believe that in the wisdom of God, that
his works are so calculated in our lives. as the Lord's people,
that we are made, all of us, to feel that way many, many times. We're made to feel that the providence
of God is against us, that the hand of the Lord is against us. We'll have more to say about
that in a moment. Now then, Joseph's path of experience. Remember Joseph was sold into
slavery? And his experience never seemed
to match God's promise of grace until he was on the throne in
Egypt and his family was saved. Until Joseph was exalted. Jacob didn't understand until
that time. And Joseph went through prison
and the Bible says that the word of the Lord tried him. God told
him about how his brothers in a dream how his brothers were
going to bow down to him. Joseph was greatly tried. It
looked like that the hand of God was against him, that God
had lied to him, that God had deceived him, that God had led
him to believe things that was never going to happen. And he
believed that, and he was tried greatly. But the Lord revealed
himself, exalted old Joseph to the throne in Egypt, and old
Jacob lived to see the day when the wagons were coming, when
the wagons of blessing was coming. He lived to see the day when
he saw that God knew what he was doing all along the way.
I'm sure that Moses was terribly confused when he announced that
God had sent him to deliver Israel and Israel turned against him
because their sorrows was increased. I'm sure that old Moses said,
what's going on here? The Lord said I was to deliver
Israel. out of Egypt, but the people
won't even listen to me. They won't have anything to do
with me. They turn a deaf ear to me. Their sorrows are increased. What's God doing? One hand he
says, I'm going to deliver these people, and you're the instrument.
And then he increases their sorrow, allows their sorrow to increase.
and the people turn against the very instrument that God was
going to use to deliver them. Well, the Bible says in Psalm
77, verse 13 and 19, that thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary, thy way is in the seas, thy paths
in the great waters, and thy footsteps are not known. That's
in Psalm 77. Then also in Psalm 36 and 6,
it says, Thy judgments are a great deep. Thy judgments are a great
deep. Sometimes God's providence appears
to contradict His promises. Sometimes his act of mercy and
grace in providence look and feel like acts of wrath and judgment. Is that not true? Sometimes it
seems that way. Sometimes God appears to be favorable
to the wicked and angry with the righteous. That's the way
it seems. Sometimes it looks, you look
out, and the wicked are prospering. The wicked seemingly get along
in this world, and those who preach error and those who deceive
the people have the means and the ability to go on and to promote
their cause, where those that are preaching the gospel, they
seemingly have limited means. and limited abilities to spread
the truth of God's grace. It seems like God sometimes is
favorable to the wicked, angry, or the righteous. Many, many
things in this world are confusing to me as a child of God. Very,
very confusing. He often seems to lift me up
with one hand and cast me down with the other. He appears to
heal me with one hand and then he wounds me with the other.
This seems to be my experience. But this should not surprise
us as the Lord's people. He told us plainly, what I do
thou knowest not now. What I'm doing you don't know
now. You can't figure it out. And there's a reason for it.
This is the reason that I offer at this time in this message,
our Lord will not let any child of God in this world, be you
of little faith or be you of strong faith, our Lord will not
let any child of God in this world live by sight. He won't do it. He'll never allow
you to live by sight. You're never going to see the
way. You're never going to understand all that's going on in your life. My friend, somebody says, well
I think I have a pretty good understanding of what's going
on in my life. Well, if you really knew all that was going on in
your life right now, you'd have a whole lot larger fits of unbelief
than what you do have. You really would. But the Lord
will not allow us to walk by sight. We walk by faith. God's people walk by what they
believe. They live by what they believe.
They do not live by what they see. What you see is temporal,
and those things that are unseen are eternal. And God deals with
the unseen. And you and I are not going to
see the way. He demands and deserves that
we walk by faith. God demands it, that you trust
Him, that you believe Him, and He's not going to show you all
He's doing. He's going to demand that you
trust Him in your life, that you believe that He's at work. Yet He gives us this blessed
promise, to assure and comfort our troubled hearts, but thou
shalt know hereafter. You're gonna know one of these
days. The Lord's gonna reveal it. The Lord's gonna make it
known. The Lord's gonna show you. In God's time, everything's
gonna be cleared up, and we'll know what God has done, what
God has purposed. It'll all be cleared up. There's
a blessed passage of Scripture found in the book of Romans chapter
11. If you have your Bible, would you please turn there with me?
Romans chapter 11. Now I wanna read verse 33 down
through verse 36. These are great verses. Listen
to them. Oh, the depth of the riches,
both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God. How unsearchable are
his judgments and his ways past finding out. For who hath known
the mind of the Lord, or who hath been his counselor, or who
hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto
him again. For of him, through him, and
to him, are all things to whom be glory forever, amen. Now this passage of scripture
that we read out of the 13th chapter of the Gospel of John,
verse seven, is a verse of scripture that I had not considered or
looked at for a number of years. The last time that I used this
verse of scripture was in July, July the 15th of 1978, in a Sunday
evening service. Brother Randy and Barbara was
getting ready to move over to Oregon. They'd been transferred
over there. And I preached on a Sunday evening
from this text of scripture, not this message, but a message
maybe along these lines. What I do thou knowest not now,
but thou shalt know hereafter. And in the almost 19 years that's
followed that, The Lord took them over there. We didn't understand
their going in the first place. And I don't suppose they did
either, although it was in the line of duty. And then the Lord
brought them back. And in that time, while their
daughter's growing up and married and moved from home, and Randy's
retired, how life has changed, how life has changed indeed for
that family. But I just thought about that
when I looked at this text. beginning to put together this
message that that's the last time that I looked at this and
I thought well that's that's amazing the things that happened
right there and how we didn't understand at the time neither
they nor we but the Lord now has revealed it he made known
in his time what purpose he had in that situation now I want
you to turn back with me to John chapter 6 There's a companion
passage of scripture here that I want us to consider and some
things that I want us to look at that will establish our faith
in regards to the things that we've just said this morning.
And I want you to listen carefully. I'll not keep you too long. But
I want you to get what we have to say here. Now in the setting
here, our Lord Jesus is with his disciples, and they saw his
miracles, which he did on them that were diseased. And Jesus
went up into a mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples.
And the Passover, a feast of the Jews, was nigh. And when
Jesus then lifted up his eyes and saw great company coming
to him, he saith unto Philip, he asked Philip a question. And
I want you to see here how that, what we read out of John 13 in
verse seven, how it works out here in these verses. And he
asked Philip, he says, Quince, shall we buy bread that these
may eat? Where are we gonna get bread
to feed this multitude that have come out to listen to me preach? And this he said in verse six,
to prove him, for he himself knew what he would do. Now, the
Holy Spirit has been pleased to give us verse six, that we
might understand something about the divinity of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, when we look at this, we
might ask, and somebody might infer, and men are liable to
think very little of the Lord Jesus Christ and say, well, surely
he was not God. If he was to ask Philip, Where
are we going to buy bread that these may eat? If he's God, surely
he would know the answer. Well, Philip did not know that
God or that Jesus had asked him this to prove him, to test his
faith, to try his faith. Here's a situation that has appeared.
There's a great need. 5,000 people are hungry. There's
a great need. And Philip, what are we gonna
do about it? Where are we gonna buy bread
for all of these to eat? And the Holy Spirit gives us
insight here into the fact that our Lord, He is indeed God. Our
Lord Jesus Christ is very much God. And this He said to prove
Him. He said, this question is to
prove you, Philip. because he himself knew what
he would do. Jesus knew exactly what he was
going to do, but Philip didn't know what he was going to do,
and nobody else on the place, nobody else on the ground, 5,000
hungry people, 12 disciples, and nobody knew what he was going
to do, but he himself. Isn't that amazing? Nobody knew
what was going to happen. Nobody understood that this was
for the glory of God. Nobody understood that Jesus
was about to reveal his power, that he was about to demonstrate
the fact that he had power over all things, and that he could
do exactly as he purposed and willed to do. Surely somebody
said that Jesus could not be almighty and be embarrassed.
Well, no, the Lord Jesus was not embarrassed. Embarrassment
is inconsistent with omnipotence. Beloved, sometimes I feel like
that maybe I'm going to be embarrassed, and sometimes maybe God is too,
with my situation, with my failures and all, that maybe the Lord
will be embarrassed. But embarrassment, remember this,
is inconsistent with omnipotence. The Lord was not going to be
embarrassed if just 5,000 people needed to eat. He had a way of
providing the need. He had a way of doing it. Now,
why should Jesus consult with Philip if he knew all things?
Well, it was, as we said, to prove Philip. Now, the Lord Jesus
knows everything. Jesus was not asking information
or taking counsel with Philip. He didn't want Philip to multiply
bread, but he wanted to multiply Philip's faith. Take heed then,
brethren, remember the glory of your Lord. can glorify himself in that situation,
bring great glory to himself, and many times he allows situations
to come that way just so he can demonstrate and glorify himself. So take heed, brethren. Learn
here that we, being very apt to make mistakes concerning the
Lord Jesus Christ, need daily that the Spirit of God would
interpret to us what the Lord Jesus Christ is about, interpret
His motives into our hearts. We cannot know Christ but by
the Spirit. We need the Holy Spirit to lead
us and to guide us and to enable us to be content and enable us
to believe and trust our God. The Spirit of God must come to
each one of us personally and direct us and lead us into the
knowledge of Christ. The Bible says He takes the things
of Christ and He shows them unto us. You cannot understand Jesus
apart from the operation and work of the Spirit of God going
on in your life. Therefore, do not think that
you can just take up the Bible and imagine that all at once
you're going to understand everything that's in the book and understand
everything that God's doing in your life, but begin to pray
that God will be pleased to enable you to sit at the feet of the
Lord Jesus Christ and await that hour when He's pleased to reveal
to your heart his will and his purpose. Now all through the
Bible, the Bible teaches us that we're dependent creatures, that
we're dependent upon the Lord. The Bible teaches us that we're
blind, that we're blind as God's people. There are none as blind
as the servants of God. Anyone who thinks that they're
the master of their ship. Anyone who thinks that they control
their lives and everything that happens to them in this life
is self-deceived. No one controls his or her life. We're dependent upon our God. We are creatures that are dependent
upon God. Another thing we learn from this
text is that our Lord has always a reason for everything that
He does. He always has a reason. You may
question that, but the Lord does have a reason. This, beloved,
is a very worthy reason. There is a very worthy reason
for all he does. Even the reason for asking this
question of Philip. There was a needs be. There was
a needs be. Philip, where are we going to
get all this bread? It was to test Philip. And we've
mentioned that. This he said to prove him. How
many questions are we asked by the Lord in our lives. How many
times have you heard the question come to you? What are you going
to do in this situation? What are you going to do about
this problem you've got? What are you going to do about
the problem your son or your daughter has? What are you going
to do about the monetary situation in the life of your family? What
are you going to do about your life and where it's going? What
are you going to do about it? How are you going to handle it?
Well, do you think that these questions just come out of the
sky? As a child of God, these questions come from the Lord,
and they come to you to prove you and to test you to see just
what you're going to say, and to see whether or not you're
going to believe God or not. Now, sovereignty is absolute. I said God was proving Philip,
and I said that God has a worthy reason for all He does. Sovereignty
is absolute, but beloved, it is never observed. It is never,
never observed. God is sovereign and he has a
purpose in everything he does. There's always a justifiable
cause for all that God does in the kingdom of grace. And your
present trouble, in all probability, you have
a problem maybe today. You'd be an exception if you
didn't have a problem today that you didn't know the answer to.
In all probability, everyone sitting here has something that's
mystifying in their life. Something that they just can't
get the handle on. Something that's going on, but
they don't understand why. They don't understand the reason
or the meaning for it. but it's going on nevertheless
well God has a purpose in your present trial and that purpose
is certain that it will be revealed and God is wise and his purpose
is wise and it's kind and God will reveal it and you would
approve of God's dealing with your life excuse me just a moment
you would agree with God's dealing in your life if you were as wise
as he was All you would need to be is have the wisdom of God
and you would agree the way the Lord's dealing with you is the
right way. This is right. What He's doing
is right. If you knew the end from the beginning as He does,
if you knew how it was all going to work out in the end, you'd
say God's right. God is right. And the only reason
why you don't know now is because you're a child of God, a dear
child of God, dear to the heart of God, but God would have you
to cling to Him and walk by faith. He'd have you to trust Him, to
trust Him, to trust Him, and never leave off believing Him. You must be tested. God does
not give faith or love or hope or any grace without meaning
to prove it. Every grain of faith that's God-given
will be tested. Man, when he goes out here and
builds a bridge, builds a road, builds a building, it's tested. It's always tested. God puts
a grain of faith in your soul. He's going to try it. He's going
to test it. You're going to know that this
came from God. He's going to prove your faith.
He's going to try your soul. So all God makes is for a purpose,
and it will be tested. Well, here's a question then,
with a purpose. He would prove Him in several
points. Number one, He would prove Philip's
faith. He didn't want food of Philip, but he wanted Philip
to believe him. Now, how would Philip answer
the Lord Jesus if he would have been strong in faith that day?
What would he have said to the Lord Jesus? How are we going
to buy bread for all these people? What would he have said if he'd
been strong in faith? Well, he would say, there's no
need to buy bread because you're greater than Moses, and under
Moses the people were fed with manna from heaven. And you're
greater than Moses, and so there's no problem. You can supply the
need. You can supply the need. You're
God in flesh, and you can do anything. You have all power.
It's all been given to you in heaven and on earth, and you
can do whatever is necessary. Not only that, he could have
said, man shall not live by bread alone. You can refresh these
people without visible bread. It's not necessary that they
have a loaf of bread. It's not, you can refresh these
people by the word. You can speak the word and all
these people have energy enough to get back home. They can listen
attentively to the message and then walk all the way back home
and they'll not be any worse for it. Now Philip could have
said that. He could have said that because the Bible says It
is written, by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of
God shall men live. And God could have spoke the
word, and they could have been refreshed, and they could have
went back without ever having eaten a meal. So his faith failed,
did it not? His faith failed, mine has many
times. One, two, three, we strike out. We do. Why is this? What are you going to do about
that? And we begin to be frustrated and we begin to think of some
human crutch we can find to lean on and we begin to figure this
and figure that and look at our little bank account and look
at this and look at that and look at the shelves and see what
we got in stock. And beloved, we strike out. We
fail. because we just do not understand
that what we need is to trust God and wait on Him to open up
the way and to provide the needs. So his faith failed, his inability. Well, where are we going to buy
bread that all these can eat? That's all he can think about.
Ain't no place around here to get it. Not only that, but we
don't have enough money to buy it if there was a place to buy
it. We haven't got the money to buy
enough bread to feed 5,000 people. Well, I believe he loved the
Lord Jesus, and I believe he was honest. He could have said,
well, I don't care. I don't want any part of this.
But no, he tried every way he could because he tried to figure
out something. And you know we're the same way. We don't want the
Lord's cause to suffer. We love the Lord's people. We
love the cause of Christ. And we want to see the Lord's
work prosper. God's people go forward in the
faith. We want to see the hand of the
Lord. We don't want to be unbelieving. We want to trust God. And we
want to see the Lord's way. But there's times when we say,
well, I just wonder maybe I should just back out of this altogether.
And maybe go and do something that I know how to do. Maybe
get away from some of this test and some of this trial. Have
to wait on the Lord and pray every day and trust God. Maybe
we should go back to the world. My, my, my, my friend, we have
all this temptation. But old Phillip, he said, I love
the Lord Jesus. I love him and I'll try to work
this out with him. I'll try to figure out something.
And we all do that. Well, Nanny was sympathetic.
Did he care about the people? I don't know whether he cared
about them 5,000 people or not, whether old Phillip did. God
seldom uses a man that's got a hard heart and a cold heart. I believe Philip was concerned
about these people, but he struck out. Well, there was no question
with the Lord Jesus. He knew. He always does. Just bear with me. We do not
know how. He knows all about our case and
will bring us through. He knows just what it will take,
how many fish, how many loaves. He knows what it's going to take.
He does. He knew what he would do. He
meant to do something. We say something must be done.
But the Lord Jesus was going to do something. He was. He was
going to do something. He was in no hurry. He is never
before his time and he's never late. He's never late. How he
was going to do it. What made that kid that morning
get up and put those five barley loaves and fishes into that basket
and bring it out there into that crowd that morning. What do you
suppose was motivating that lad that morning when he got up?
What do you suppose that would cause him to do this? Well, I
believe the master told him to do it. I believe the Lord Jesus
said, you get that basket, you put them five barley loaves and
them fish in that basket, and you go on off with this bunch
out here. I believe the Lord directed him.
He wasn't there by no accident. Somebody said, well, one of the
disciples said there's, Andrew it was, Simon Peter's brother
said, there's a lad here, not by accident. There's a lad here,
he didn't say that. But I'm telling you, he wasn't
there by accident. I'm telling you, God sent him there. The
Master led him there. Two small fishes, but what are
they among so many? What are they among so many? He did it... as one who knew
exactly what he was going to do, you see, what he was going
to do here, the most natural way really, and this happens
all the time in our life, wheat in the ground and fish in the
sea, fish in the water, wheat in the ground. God does things
in a natural sort of way, orderly way, joyful way, and in a plentiful
way. Baskets left over. Somebody said
there was one each for the head waiters. One basket left over
for each of the head waiters in that crowd of 5,000 people. You see, the Lord knew exactly
what he was going to do. and he knew how to do it. And there
ought to be, now this is my last point and I want you to get this,
there ought to be no questions of a doubtful character left
in our hearts and our minds as to how God's going to bring us
through. How we're going to be able to
bear our present burden and how we're going to get out of the
mess and how we're going to get out of the fix that we're in.
We ought not have any questions of a doubtful character about
that. You see what I'm saying? I'm saying that while you're
frustrated, confused, and unknowing, I'm saying our Lord, He knows
exactly what He'll do. He knows how He's going to do
it. He knows the day and the hour of the glad words coming
to your heart, sister. He knows, brother, your test,
your trial, and how things are with you. He knows what you need
to hear. He knows what needs to be said
to your heart to make you joyful. He knows what you need, and He's
gonna do it. He's gonna do it, I'm telling
you. And the next question is this, how shall God provide for
His church? Should be no doubtful, no doubtful
character, concerning that question left in our minds. How's the
Lord going to provide? What will we ever do for means
and money? Somebody said, what are we going
to do? How are we going to do it? Somebody said, what will
we do for a preacher in years to come? When the preacher gets
old and passes from this life, as he most surely will. What
are we going to do for a preacher? I believe the day will come and
the hour will come when you people will ask that question in your
mind. What are we going to do? What are we going to do? Well,
the Lord knows what He's going to do. He already does. But before
He does it, You'll probably ask the question a time or two in
your heart and maybe even publicly you'll get up somebody will here
and say what are we going to do? What are we going to do?
How are we going to go about this? Well, the Lord knows what
he's going to do. He already does. He knows how
he's going to work it out. He knows the young man. He knows,
listen, you know, everybody has their plan. Everybody has their
ideas in life and we must or lose our sanity, but God will
direct our steps. What's the Word of God say? Well,
the lot is cast into the lap, but the Lord is the one that
determines the outcome of it. The Lord is the one. You say,
well, I've got my mind set. And the Lord may just change
your mind. Who knows what He might do? And I'll just tell
you this. Don't have doubt in your heart
about what God's going to do about His church. It's His! It's
His work, and He'll take care of it. He'll take care of it.
You trust the Lord, and you lean on the Lord, and you believe
God. Okay, and then how shall the Lord ever gather together
in one all of these people? How is this that the Lord has
a people that's more numerous than the sand of the seashore?
The Word of God testifies that God is going to make his people
willing in the day of his power. He's going to save his elect.
He's going to bring them from the north, the south, the east,
and the west. He's going to bring them all together and the angels
are going forth and going to gather together all of his elect
and they're all going to be taken to glory. How is God going to
do that? How can he do it? Well, we told
you last week that the Lord will just go out into the world and
cut out his people, and he'll do it. He'll do it in spite of
everything, and let the Armenians laugh and cough at what we preach
and what we believe and what the Word of God teaches, and
let men in our day and time say, well, it'll never happen, but
it will happen. The Lord will not fail, neither
will he be discouraged. The Lord will have his people.
He'll gather together in one all of his people, that one being
Christ. All of his people. See, he put
all of his people in him from eternity. I'll have to grease
my jaws, sure as the world, to get them to work. But anyway,
the Lord has put his people in Christ in old eternity, and as
sure as he put them in him, he will gather them together in
his Son. They'll come to a living faith
in Christ. He'll do it. He'll do it. Don't doubt it.
Believe it. Trust God. And that's why when
you have opportunity to testify, Tell somebody about the Lord
Jesus and what He's done for you. Open your mouth. Tell it! The Lord's using His people in
that purpose. And so open your mouth. And then
you may have this question and you may wonder about this. How
shall He save me? How's He gonna save me? How in
the world can He save me? Well, I'll tell you this. The
Lord saved me one day. He saved me one time. I've been
saved once. I've been delivered many, many
times, but I was saved once. S-A-V-E-D. Saved. And I'll tell
you this, the Lord can save. Christ can save. The Bible says,
Mike quoted it this morning, Jesus has been given power over
all flesh. that He might give eternal life
to as many as the Father has given to Him. He's got power
to save you. He will save those who believe.
And I de-double-dare you to ask the Lord Jesus, the one we are
preaching to you today, this one who is God. I asked you this
morning. I challenge you to ask Him to
save you. You don't think He can? You don't
think he can? I'll tell you he can. He can. He can save you. You ask him
to and you'll come in here shortly. You'll come in here shortly and
you'll say, I want to tell you people something. I want to tell
you the Lord's done something for me. The Lord saved me. You
say, well I don't know how in the world he could ever do that.
I don't know how he could ever do that. I don't think that's
possible. Well, My friend, the Lord Jesus fed 5,000 hungry people
with five barley loaves and two fish, and so He certainly can
save you. That wouldn't be any problem
for Him. He can do it for you what you need to have done for
you. And I tell you, go ask Him, and I'm sure that He can do it. I'm sure He can. Father, in the
name of Jesus, We thank you that we've been privileged to be here
together this morning. We thank you for your word. We
thank you for these precious truths of the word that we've
been able to study with your people. We've been hindered and
somewhat frustrated as we tried to speak, but yet we know we
had your message, and we know your messages went forth, and
we ask that you'll use it. And we ask that you will bless
your people, lift them up and encourage them, and in spite
of all that seems to be going awry in their lives, may they
trust as never before and lay themselves down before the Lord
and have an old-fashioned weeping prayer meeting where they give
up themselves anew at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ and
believing in their hearts that assures their alive and breathing
that the Lord is at work in their lives and may they praise you
and glorify you and await the day and the hour when the mighty
hand of God will lift them up and when they'll be shown the
way of the Lord most clearly. God bless this people and encourage
this people and Lord grant us a heart wherein we can believe
you and trust you as we ought. And Father, forgive us. Forgive
us for those days and for those hours when we were full of unbelief,
and where we didn't trust you as we ought, and where we struck
out like old Philip, and we just didn't have grasp. Things came upon us and caught
us unawares, and we've sinned many times, our Father, in unbelief. Forgive us, forgive us, and bless
us now to believe and to honor your name. Encourage this church,
supply its needs, save the children, save all of those who are lost,
Give us a clear view of what we're to do. We ask it and beg
it in the name of Jesus. For His sake, Amen.