That's just chapter 15, and I
want to begin reading in verse 22. So Moses brought Israel from
the Red Sea. And they went out into the wilderness
of Shur. They went out into the wilderness
of Shur. And they went three days in the
wilderness and found no water. And when they came to Myra, They
could not drink of the waters of Myra, for they were bitter. Therefore the name of it is called
Myra, bitterness. And the people murmured against
Moses, saying, What shall we drink? And he cried unto the
Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree, which when he had cast
into the waters, the waters were made sweet. There he made for
them a statue. and an ordinance. And there he
proved them the waters of Myra." This congregation, the Jewish
congregation, a very, very large congregation, had just left the
Red Sea, here in chapter 15, where they had saw, for the most
part, their enemies drowned in the Red Sea. who were not drowned
were crushed and laid on the seashore. They just went through
the depths on dry land, and they come out here on the other side,
and the first time in the history of this great nation, the first
time in all the Bible, it is recorded that anyone ever sang. And they began to sing, we are
told here in verse 1, Then sang Moses and the children of Israel
this song unto the Lord, They spake, saying, I will sing unto
the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously. The horse and his
rider has he thrown into the sea. The Lord is my strength
and my song. He is become my salvation. He
is my God. I will prepare for him a habitation. He is my Father's God, and I
will exalt him. They sang here in verse 13, Thou
in thy mercy hast led forth thy people, which thou hast redeemed. Thou hast guided them in thy
strength unto thy holy habitation." And verse 17, look at the confidence
they have in the Lord their God. "...Thou shalt bring them in,
and plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance, in the
place, O Lord, which thou hast made for thee to dwell in, in
the sanctuary O Lord, which thy hands have established." Boy,
they rejoiced, didn't they? You know you and I ought to savor
victories. We ought to savor deliverances.
When the Lord blesses us, when He visits us, you and I ought
to savor that. I don't know how long they stayed
here at the Red Sea. I don't imagine very long. They
seemed to be in somewhat of a hurry, and probably rightfully so. But
I wonder sometime when they were out beginning in the desert if
they sometimes didn't think, why didn't we savor that victory
longer? Why didn't we stay there and
look at the dead carcasses of the Lord's enemy? Why didn't
we consider the mighty sea that He had just brought us through?
I don't know how long they stayed there, but they didn't seem to
savor this victory very long. Why do I say this? Why do I say
that you and I should savor the victories, the mountaintops? Because most of them are short-lived,
aren't they? Most of them are short-lived.
I'll tell you any more, it seems like when you're blessed. When
the Lord makes himself known to you in his kind providence,
or blesses your spirit with his presence, right on the heels
of that blessing follows trials, follows tribulations and afflictions. That's what he said there in
verse 22. And Moses brought Israel from
the Red Sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur.
And they were three days in the wilderness, and the Scripture
says, they found no water. They found no water. It changed
quick, didn't it? It changed quick. I was talking
with Clay Curtis down at the conference Friday night, and
Don was asking him how things were going. And he said, Don,
things are wonderful. He said, it seems like everything
is so easy now. It's easy to study. It's easy
to preach. And it seemed like the Lord's
blessing, and Don said, give it a few more days, it'll change.
He said, thanks Don, thanks Don. Isn't that the way it is? Isn't
that the way it is? We're blessed, we see our enemies
drownded in the Red Sea, and we're so happy, we're rejoicing,
but on the hills of that blessing, here comes the great, great trials. Your brother Bunyan said the
best time for a man to pray against future trials is when he's been
exceedingly blessed. And you know one thing I don't
notice here? I never noticed this in the whole
life of Israel. When they're blessed, when the
Lord visits them, you never find one single place where they pray
to be delivered from future trials. Here they sang and they rejoiced,
but nothing said, Lord, deliver us from temptation. Lord, deliver
us from evil. And yet didn't the Master teach
us to pray that? And brothers and sisters, the
best time to pray against evil times is when we are in the midst
of good times. I found that to be so. It's much
better to pray to be kept and delivered from temptations and
from evils than get deliverance once you're in those places.
Our Master said, pray like this, lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil. We don't find that prayer here,
do we? You know what that prayer acknowledges. Deliver us from
evil. It acknowledges that there's
evil in this world. There's evil all around us. There's
evil in us. There's evil outside of us. Deliver
us from evil. This is not a safe world. This
is not a good world. This is a perverted world. This
is a dark time and a dark generation. It confesses this also, that
we can't deliver ourselves. Deliver us. Lord, You deliver
us. It acknowledges that only the
Lord can deliver us. It also acknowledges this, our
dependency upon Him. I don't know what's on tomorrow,
and you don't either, but I know this, the Lord knows. The Lord
knows. And only he can deliver us from
the evil that's coming in the days ahead. One of the best times
to pray against bad times is in the good times. And we especially
learn that in this case here in the 15th chapter of Exodus,
to pray against future evils and trials and temptation. Because
when things start going downhill, boy, they can go downhill fast.
We can be on the top one day, and I mean on the bottom the
next day. We're told here in verse 22, they found no water. They came to this wilderness
of Shur. That was a huge wilderness. And
the word itself means wall. A wall. They came up against
this wall, and they found no water to dwell in. They found
no water to drink. But it didn't stop there. They
journeyed for two days more, and when they found water, the
scripture says here, it was so bitter that they couldn't drink
it. Boy, it had gone downhill. They
had hit a wall, hadn't they? They had hit a wall. And I tell
you this much, they're not going to get past this place until
some deliverance comes. You ever hit a place like that?
This is why it's so important. that you and I believe what we
profess. Boy, we can sing the victory,
can't we? We can boast the horse and his
rider. He's thrown into the sea. The
Lord has become my salvation. The Lord is my strength. Well, time is going to tell.
Time is going to tell, isn't it? That's what I say. I think sometimes when the Lord
speaks to us, When you and I hear something and we say we've received
it, we best get it down deep in our hearts. Because somewhere
or another we're going to hit a wall. And that wall is going
to prove whether we believe what we profess or not. Boy, these
people here in verse 13 and verse 17, they profess some pretty
high doctrine. Look here again in verse 13 how
he said this. Thou in thy mercy hast led forth
the people which thou hast redeemed. Thou hast guided them in thy
strength unto thy holy habitation." They hadn't got there yet. But
they spoke as if it was already finished. Did you notice that?
You know where they were headed? They were headed to the land
of Canaan. They had just begun that journey. And he says he
has led them, he's led us into the holy habitation. And then
they told of his faithfulness and how they professed it down
there in verse 17. You shall bring them in. It's
good it's done, Lord. You'll do it. You're faithful.
You're mighty to do it. You shall bring us in, and you're
going to plant us in that good land that flows with milk and
honey. Yeah. Yeah, He's going to do
it. That's what they sang, wasn't
it? Boy, they were rejoicing in that. We'd better make sure we believe
what we profess. Because I'm telling you, we're
going to come up against a wall. Do you believe that God in Heaven
has an eternal purpose? Do you profess that He has included
you in that purpose? That He foreknew you and He has
glorified you in His own purpose and mine already? Do you profess
to believe that? And that purpose cannot be changed? Do you profess that? That's wonderful. The Scripture teaches that. But
you know something? Your faith in that is going to
be tested. You don't profess something that high without it
being tried in your soul. Do you believe you are saved
by the intercessions of the Lord Jesus Christ? That every day
of your life, because the Son of God lives at the right hand
of His Father, you are saved to the uttermost? Do you believe
that? Do you believe His intercessions
brings you in before His Father and meets your needs and hears
your requests? Is that what you profess? That's
what I profess. I tell you what, you better get
that down in your heart because your faith in that is going to
be tried. Your faith in that is going to be tried. Do you
confess the love of God in Jesus Christ? that you are loved by
Him as wonderful as it is and seems that you are loved when
they never lasted in love? Do you believe that? That there
never was a time when God in heaven, the triune God, did not
love you? That He loves you now and will
never cease to love you? And nothing will ever separate
you from that love? Do you profess such a high and
glorious truth? Well, I tell you what, if you
do, somewhere or another you're going to get up against the wall,
and the faith of that is going to be tested. Do you profess God is working
all things for your good? Do you profess that? That everything in His secret
but mighty providence, He's working and arranging it out, though
He's doing it so secretly, behind the scenes, yet everything is
working for your good? You profess that. I profess that. I tell you, there's going to
be a wall you're not going to hit. And the faith of that is going
to be tried. You and I are going to come up
against our Shur, and we're going to prove whether
the things that we professed when we were standing on the
banks of the Red Sea, we still believe when we hit
a wall. It's easy to profess when you're
standing there and the enemies are dead before your eyes. But
boy, when you get out in the wilderness of Shur, The faith
of it is proved then. I don't want to be a pantomimer. I don't want to ad-lib. I don't
want somebody else to be singing the song and me just moving my
lips. I want to know the song myself,
don't you? Don't you imagine there was a bunch of these singing
this song, but they weren't singing? They didn't really know the song.
They didn't know the tune. I want to know the song, don't
you? The horse and his rider, the Lord has cast into the sea.
He's my salvation. He's my strength. I want to know
the tune to that. I want to sing it. Why? Because
I'm going to come out and hit a wall. And boy, I want to know
that what I sung about, I know in my heart. I know in my heart. I was talking with Wimmel Warta.
Most of you know Wimmel. I saw her at the conference Friday
night, and I heard she'd been sick. And I asked her, I said,
Wimmel, are you sick? And she's up in her 80s. Dear, dear child of God. And
she said, I'm dying. I've got cancer. It's all in
me. She said, there's nothing they
can do. I'm dying. Man, that's a wall, ain't it?
Man, that's a wall. She's come into her shore. What do you know about death,
women? Well, she said she knew this. Jesus Christ was the resurrection
and the life. And those who believe in Him,
though they were dead, yet shall they live. And the one who lives
and believes in Him shall never die." Time, a few more days,
is going to prove if she believes that in her heart. And a few more days is going
to prove where I believe it and where you believe it. You and
I profess some high things, don't we? Boy, we profess some great
doctrines, don't we? the sovereignty of God in the
Lord Jesus Christ. But I tell you, we don't profess
those things. You don't profess great truths
concerning God and concerning the Son of God, but He doesn't
put you to the test to prove to you whether or not you believe
what you profess. It seems to me that only those
who profess the truth, only their faith is tried and tested in
those truths. You better watch what you profess.
I'm telling you, you better watch what you profess. You better
be careful about professing openly and boldly. You better be careful. Because I'm telling you, whatever
you profess, it's going to be put to the test. You're coming
up against your wall. Thou shalt bring them in and
plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance. You shall
do it. Yes, he shall. Right after he
brings you through that desert of slime pits and serpents and
scorching heat. After he's tried you sore. After
he's fed you with manna for forty years. Yes, he's bringing you
in, but not until he's tried you and proved you. Hit a wall, didn't they? They
hit a wall. There is a blessing here in verse
22 and verse 23. The Scripture says here in verse
22, So Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea, and they came to
Myra. Moses brought them. Moses was
leading them. Well, of course Moses was leading
them as an instrument of God. But who was really leading these
people? Let's look behind the scenes just a minute and see
who's leading these people because I'm telling you what, when you
hit your brick wall, when you hit your wall, when you hit your
shoreline, and you get yourself in trouble, and you can't get
past the well of Myra, something's going to have to happen. And
you wonder, what in the world am I doing here? How did I get
here at this place? You're going to want to know
who brought you there. And look what he says in chapter 13. And
look in verse 17. Look in verse 17 of chapter 13. And it came to pass when Pharaoh
had let the people go, that God led them. I thought it was Moses. Moses was just an instrument.
A humanist? Who was really leading them?
God led them, not through the way of the land of the Philistines,
although that was the nearest way, and probably the smoothest
way. For God said, let's perhaps,
let's preadventure the people repent when they see war and
return back to Egypt. That was the near way, probably
a better road. But God knew something these
people didn't know. It was the most dangerous way.
And if they'd have went the other way, the way that appealed to
flesh, they wouldn't have made it. They'd have turned back unto
Egypt. The way God brings His people
to heaven is sometimes hard. It's sometimes a way of bitterness
and burden. And it's usually the longest
way, but it's the safest way. It's the safest way for them.
What would they do it in this wilderness of sure? God let them
die. Maybe they knew this. I don't
know. Maybe they even profess to believe it, I don't know.
But the one thing they did not realize, this was the best way. It was the best way. We often
say, God leaves His little children alone. Don't we sing that? Some
through the waters, some through the floods, some through the
fire, but all through the blood. Some through great sorrow, but
God gives His own. And we sing that. And sometimes
we have our heads bowed and our countenances fallen and our hearts
are sad about it all. But if God is leading us, isn't
that the safest and best way for us? Yes, but it hurts. It's full of sorrow. And we've
hit this wall. But who brought you there? God brought you there. It's easy
to say that. And it's easy to believe that.
until you learn, and the wilderness is sure. That's why we need to
be established in these things before we get there. Look in Job chapter 23. I want
you to hold Exodus 15. Look over in Job chapter 23. Job 23. And look here, we'll
begin in verse 1. Look at this. And Job answered
and said, Job 23.1, Even today is my complaint bitter. My stroke
is heavier than my groaning. Oh, that I knew where I might
find him, that I might come even to his seat. I would order my
cause before him, and fill my mouth with arguments. I would
know the words which he would answer me, and understand what
he would say unto me. Will he plead against me with
his great power? No, but he will put strength
in me. There the righteous might dispute
with him, plead with him. So should I be delivered forever
from my judge. Behold, I go forward, but he
is not there. And backward, but I can't find
him, I can't perceive him. On the left hand where he works,
I know he works, but I can't behold him. He hides himself
on the right hand, but I can't see him. But he knows the way
that I take. When he has tried me, I shall
come forth as gold. He knows the way that I take."
What is that way, Joe? What is your way of led you?
Well, let's see. I lost all my children. Lost all my servants. They're
all dead. Lost all my possessions, all
my cattle and my camels and donkeys. Lost my health. He knows the way that I take. Well, you think about it, Job.
He knows. He knows. Verse 11. When he has tried me
in the last part of verse 10, I shall come forth. My foot hath helped his steps. His way have I kept, and not
slipped. Well, here's something that Job
knew. He said, He not only knows the way that I take, but the
way that I take is His way. Is that what He said? In verse
11, My foot hath held His steps, His ways have I kept. His ways. Who brought Job here
into this way? You say, well, the devil did.
Well, I tell you, brothers and sisters, if I believed that the
devil did what he did to Job without the Lord approving of
it, it would scare me to death. Who was the author of all this?
Was it not God? Did not God determine what Satan
could do? Did He not give him permission
what to do? Did He not bind him as to how
much he could do? Job said, this is your way. And
when you have tried me, you shall bring me forth like gold. This
is your purpose in all of this. Look what he said over in the
same chapter, and look over in verse 14. While he's in his troubles,
look at this. While he's lost his children,
while he's afflicted with boils, when he's lost his property,
for he performeth the thing That is appointed for me. He's there at God's appointment.
And look what he said in verse 13. I mean, you and I might as
well. We can complain about His way. We can murmur about His way.
We can rebel and buck against it. But you know, in the ultimate
conclusion, there's not anything really you can do about it. You
might as well just accept that he's brought you here and submit and rest in him and wait
for him to deliver you. Because look what he said. He
is of one mind and who can turn him? Job complained, he cried,
he pleaded, but did that turn God? No, sir. and what his soul
desireth, even that he does." Well, sometimes you and I, in
the midst of our deserts and our wildernesses, we hit a wall,
and what's one of the first things we start doing? If we don't do
it immediately, it's not long, we start getting down on ourselves,
piling up guilt. This is all my fault. I shouldn't
have been here anyway. If I hadn't have did this, if
I hadn't have did that, I wouldn't be in a place like this. I'm
here and I've got myself in a mess and everybody around me in a
mess because I did this. What would you have done different?
Well, I don't really know, but it's my fault. Sometimes, instead
of just pawing up the guilt and blaming ourselves and looking
like old mules, what we should realize is this, over and above
everything else, We're where we are because God in heaven
has led us to that place. You can spend all the time blaming
yourself, and you can spend all the time watering in your guilt
if you want to. But I'm telling you, child of
God, you're where you are, as difficult as it may seem, because
God has led you. You remember one time when the
Lord told His disciples to get in a ship and go on the other
side of the sea? That's exactly what He said with
them. He constrained them to get in
the ship and go to the other side. Out in the middle of that
lake, they hit a storm. And they rode to get through
it, but they were stuck. They hit a wall. And you know
what they said? We perish! We're going to die
out here! You know what they forgot? Who
told them to go there? Who led them to that place? Where
are you in your Christian life? You hit a wall? Let me tell you
who brought you to that place. He brought you there to show
you mercy. He brought you there to teach you something. He brought
you there to reveal more of the gospel of Christ to you. He brought
you there to correct you. He has a purpose in bringing
you there. Submit to Him and believe Him
and wait upon Him. He brought you there. He brought
you there. I will lead the blind by way
that they know not. I will lead them in paths that
they have not known. I will make darkness light before
them. I will make the crooked ways
straight before them. These things will I do." Who
is leading the way? Who is it that guides with his
unseen sovereign hand? I do, he said. I do. I do. And I'm telling you sometimes,
He can put us against a wall. He can put us against a wall. Back here in our text, here's
one thing we don't want to do. Here's one thing we don't want
to do. Look in chapter 15 and look in verse 24. And the people murmured, murmured. Ain't that a strange word? Murr, murr. I wish we could get
something started here. The next time somebody starts
complaining, we ought to get this started. Gil, you'd be a
good one to get this started. When somebody starts complaining
about something and groaning, just say murr, murr. Oh, just things ain't going right.
Just what in the world is happening? Murr, murr. That's an awful sounding. We're sounding like an old sick
cow down there. Murr, murr. Don't we murr, murr a lot? We don't want to do that. We
don't want to do that. In verse 24b, here's what they
were murr, murring about. What shall we drink? Now, you
watch this. They're going to drink of the
same water that was too bitter to drink
before. The Lord is going to do something
for these people. He's going to do something to
this water. He's going to make it sweet. And the water before
that was too bitter to drink, they're going to drink of it.
And it's going to be sweet. Sweet water. Pleasant water. Some says this was brackish water
that was coming up from the ocean. May have been. Oh, salty brackish
water. I don't know what kind of water
it was, but it's too bitter to drink. What is water? Water is
necessary for our life, isn't it? You can't live in this world
without water. Man, our bodies are made up of
a large percentage of water. We drink it. We wash in it. We
clean with it. We cool with it. Water is a necessary
part of our life. And there are things in our life
that are as necessary as this water. But like this water, sometimes
they get bitter. Sometimes they get bitter. How's
your marriage? How's your marriage doing? Do
you ever have any trouble with your marriage? You ever get against
a wall? You know, some people just give
up on it. Haven't they? Don't matter anymore. I can't
take it anymore. It's got bitter. I had a dear, dear friend of
mine. Him and his wife just went their
separate ways. I can't drink that water anymore.
How's things on your job? Boy, you've got to work. You can't just quit work, can
you? Wouldn't you like to sometimes? Coal workers? The foul language? You hate to go in anymore? Do
you ever get to that place? When I worked at a steel mill
years ago, there's times I stayed out in my vehicle and prayed
a while before I went in. It got so bad. Water's getting
bitter on your job. What about kids? What about raising
your kids? A lot of people, their kids are
such a blessing when they're young, and they start growing
up, and they get hateful, and they're mouthy, and you want
to choke them. When they go outside, you want
to change the locks on the door. You ever get family life? You
ever have a family life that becomes so burdensome, you just
don't enjoy it anymore? Bruce, I'm not there to bless
God for you. I'm glad for you. I'm so happy for you. But I tell
you, other people have got there. Things that's necessary in our
life. You've got to raise your children.
You've got to love your spouse. You've got to work. If a man
won't work, neither should he eat. There's things in life that's
necessary. But oh my soul, sometimes how
just living in this world, the daily grind of it all. can become so burdensome and
so bitter that you'd like to just get out of it if you could.
Jeremiah said, Oh, I wish there was a group of wayfaring men
over there in the wilderness. I'd just get out of this mess
and I'd go over there and tap out with those fellas. I was out just north of Yuma,
Arizona one time, me and my daddy and my brother-in-law. And right
on the edge of a desert-looking place, there was this beautiful,
huge creek. And it was clear and cold, running
right down the edge of that desert. And there was green lawns and
a big golf course. And I've often thought about
that since then. I thought, man, I'd love to get
me a camper and move just north of Yuma, Arizona, and just get
out of all of this. Give me a shotgun to kill the
snakes and just sit there and take it easy and let the world
go by." But you can't do that. You can't do that, can you? No. They had to drink this water. But I tell you, they couldn't
drink it. It was too bitter. It was too bitter. Moses, in verse 25, cried unto
the Lord. He was such a tender man, wasn't
he? The Bible says he was exceeding meek. You know what trials will
do for us. You know what afflictions will
do for us. If God puts His grace in our hearts, He'll tender us. He'll make us gracious. We'll
pray and we'll seek the Lord when we get in trouble. Lord,
help us! Lord, give me mercy to help in
my time of need. If he don't put grace in our
affliction, it will harden our hearts. David said, it was good for me
that I was afflicted because God brought grace with me. But
Pharaoh's afflictions hardened his heart. He cried unto the Lord, and here
in verse 25, look at this, He showed him a tree. Now what do you think of when
you think of a tree? Don't you think of the cross?
Isn't the cross often spoke of as a tree? Christ has redeemed
us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us, for
it's written Cursed is everyone who hangeth on a tree. He bare our sins in his own body
on the tree." What is this tree? It's the cross. It's symbolic
of Christ bearing the curse in our stead upon the cross of Calvary. Christ and Him crucified. The
tree of life. Is that not who He is? The tree
of life. And he's there in the midst of
heaven, John said. And the leaves of that tree are
for the healing of the nations. Healing. The Lord showed him a tree. That tree was there all the time.
The Lord planted it there. It was there before they ever
left Egypt. But he couldn't see it. It has
to be shown unto you. Brothers and sisters, Jesus Christ
lived and died 2,000 years ago. And He's already purged our sins. He did it by Himself upon the
cross. He reconciled us to God by His
death. He's already did that. It's finished. It's accomplished. But we can't
see it, can we? We can't see it. And that's our
whole problem in our afflictions. We get against the wall. We get
full of sorrow. And we can't go any farther.
And our whole problem is we can't see the cross. We can't see the cross. If the
Lord would just open our hearts and let us see the cross, all
we see is our disappointment. All we see is our losses and
our crosses, and our poor minds are wrapped up in our trouble,
until finally, in our frustration, Oh Lord, help me. And then what
do we see? We see something that was there
all along. Something that was so near, but
we couldn't see it. What is it? The cross of our
Lord Jesus Christ. I tell you, you and I shouldn't
be too tough on lost people. Tell them the truth. They need
to hear the truth. But I tell you, don't get mad
at them. They don't stop getting mad at them. They can't see. And you and I can't either, unless
He opens our hearts. And it's not just a one-time
deal. He's always having to open our hearts. The seeing eye is
of the Lord. He's shown him a tree. But something
else here. He not only showed him this tree,
but he said there in verse 25 that he cast the tree into the
midst of the waters. He cast the tree into the midst
of the waters. And the waters were made sweet. By just casting this tree in
the midst of the water, it's made sweet. You know what our
trouble is when we get in trouble. You know what we begin to think
when we get against the wall? God must be mad at me. Ain't
that what we think? Well, He's left me. He probably
even hates me. I just wonder if I'm ever reconciled
to God. We begin to have all these hard
thoughts of God and all these doubts. But when we see the cross, it
changes everything, doesn't it? It changes everything when we
see the cross, because the cross lets us know God is not angry
with us. God is not mad at us. God is
not frustrated. He's a Father to us. And instead
of being angry and refusing to meet our need, He has met the
greatest need we could ever have. He's purged our sins. He's put
away our sins and took them as far as the east is from the west. Isn't that half the battle won?
That's the whole battle won, isn't it? Then the cares of this
life, then the weights of this life, the bitterness of this
life, it turns sweet. Even my job becomes easier. I
can love my spouse better. I can be more patient and instructive
with my children. Because I've seen the cross,
and the cross tells me everything is fine. It's fine. It's fine with God. And if it's
fine with Him, if things are right with Him, it makes these
other things right. Old dear brother Scott Richardson
say, I've not heard any bad news since I heard the good news.
Isn't that so? When we see the cross, oh, when
we see the cross upon which the Prince of Glory died, everything
becomes sweeter. The song that we just sang this
morning, This is My Father's World. The birds, their carols
rise. The morning light, the lily white,
declares their Maker's praise. This is My Father's World. He
shines in all that's fair. In the rustling grass, I hear
Him pass. He speaks to me everywhere."
That's the cross. That's the cross. We even see
it in nature, living in this world. Everywhere we look, the
clouds and the grass and the trees. and the rain and the snow
and the heat and the cold and the season. We look at it differently
because now we see the cross. This is my Father's world. And
when sin seems to reign and abound and seems to spread and devour
everything around it, we sing this. This is still my Father's
world. And let me never forget Though
the wrong seems oft so strong, he is the ruler yet. Sin is abounding,
but grace did much more abound. This is my Father's world. The
battle is not yet won. Just because you're against the
wall, that's no sign the battle has been lost. The battle is
not yet won. Jesus who died shall be satisfied,
and heaven and earth be one. If my brother forsake me, if
friends betray me, the Lord will take me up. Who have I in heaven? but thee. Oh, when the cares of this life
seem to weight you down and to become bitter, and physically
and mentally you're worn and you're tired, you can sing this,
In Jesus I found a sweet rest from trouble, from toil, and
from care. In Him I am happy and blessed. Do you believe the cross could
sweeten your life that much? I'm telling you it can. Just
bring the cross right down in the midst of where you live,
and you see if it don't sweeten everything. It will sweeten everything. Listen to this in closing. Isaiah
46, I have borne you from the belly, I have carried you from
the womb, And even to your old age I am He. And even to your
gray hairs will I carry you. I have made you. I will bear
you. Even I will carry you and deliver
you." Bring the cross down into your
daily life, and you will see how it will sweeten your home, That will sweeten your work,
sweeten all your relationships. It will sweeten you. God bless
His Word. Let's pray.