And the Lord said, Simon, Simon. Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath
desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for thee, that
thy faith fail not. And when thou art converted,
strengthens thy brethren. There's not a believer of significant
age who does not know the meaning of trouble, trouble, trouble,
trouble. Who does not know the meaning
of trouble and who will not have more trouble. I strongly resent the emphasis
in today's preaching, which is so popular, so many
men are engaged therein, which indicates that to be saved, to
know God, to be a child of God, is to be happy, carefree, prosperous,
healthy, without heartache, happy all the time, without trouble. And if troubles come, or tribulation
and trials, it's your fault. It's because your faith is not
strong enough, or you're not paying out enough, or you're
not giving enough, or you're not praying enough, or something's
a weakness on your part. That's not what our Lord indicates
here at all. He said, Simon, Simon, Satan
hath desired you to have you, that he may literally sit you
and weep. The people of God through the
ages, through the years, and the people of God now are people
who are acquainted with trouble. David used the word frequently.
He said in Psalm 38.6, I'm troubled. I'm troubled. I'm bowed down
greatly. I go mourning all the day. And
again in Psalm 31 9, he said, have mercy upon me, O God, for
I'm in trouble. My heart is heavy with grief. Every time I look at our precious
and new granddaughter, Paul Mindy's child, now almost four months
old. I think about Brother Scott Richardson
and Martha. Their first child was a little
girl, and she was six months old. You know how you can get
attached to one? Think how you're attached to
yours, and even yours now just a month old. And God took her. She died. And you know their hearts literally
were crushed, crushed. indescribably crushed. You can
imagine. You know how you would, how it
would affect you. And I could go on. I'm acquainted
with so many. Brother E.W. Johnson had a little
boy, ten years old, out delivering papers one day and a drunk driver
ran over him and slaughtered him. Killed him instantly. And I'm sure he could say with
David, my heart is heavy with grief. I'm devastated. And just recently, Darcy and
I were in a meeting and the pastor shared with us a tragedy that's
come into the home of one of the leading men of the church,
one of his right arms. And the family is devastated,
just devastated, just completely broken, broken. And some of you here, you've
experienced these things, some of you have good health one day
and wake up the next day and it's gone. Now that's not to
be taken lightly. And we who say, well, just trust
the Lord. Well, you hadn't been there.
You hadn't been there. Let's wait and see if you trust
the Lord. That's what Peter said in verse 33. Why? He said in
verse 33, Lord, I'm ready to go with you to prison and to
death. He said to him, I tell you, Peter,
the cock won't crow this day before And I shall three times
deny you even know me. This is what I suppose when trouble
and sorrow and what gave birth to this message was that experience
I recently had in which these dear friends related with a pastor
and I weep with them and for them and trying to share with
them in some of their heartaches. But what gave birth to this message,
I think, well, here in our own congregation are those who are
going through the valley. They're just, they're rowing
against the current, a strong current. Their hearts are like
lead. I know some of you have had to
put your parents in rest homes. I had to do that. Doris had to
do that. Take your dad down and, you know, fix his TV and fix
his bed and say, here's where you're going to live till you
die. That's hard. But think how hard it is on him. And who knows that I may experience
the same thing, who knows? When they take me down and we
smile about it, but wait a minute now, wait a minute. The instrument
of death is already prepared. The number of our months are
with God. And I'll tell you, this is what, where are we going
to find some help in these days, in these times of trouble? Some
of you got children that are actually killing you, breaking
your heart. Where are you going to find some
comfort? Where are we going to get some strength? Where are
we going to get some peace? Where are we going to find some
rest? I don't mean temporary peace and rest in this giddy,
foamy religion that they're putting off on us today. I'm talking
about a real place for your feet. A real place for your feet. A
real place to lie down in the green pastures beside the still
waters when the storm clouds are so heavy you can't see the
sun. And some of you younger people
may be sitting here saying, well, we don't know anything about
that. But you will. You will. You live long enough, you'll
cry one night all night long. You live long enough. I guarantee
it. God, our Lord said, in this world
you shall have tribulation. That's what you're going to have
it. All that would live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer. Suffer. The day is coming. It's not a very bright outlook,
Pastor, but a truthful one. Peter said over here in 1 Peter
4, he said, Beloved, 1 Peter 4 verse 12, Beloved, think it
not strange. This is not some strange, unaccountable
thing that's happening to you. These fiery trials, count it
not strange. Think it not strange concerning
the fiery trial which is to try you. As though some strange thing,
some unaccountable, unusual thing has happened to you, this is
in God's purpose. If you be without discipline
and correction and chastisement, you're not a son of God. I tell
you when a fella needs to be concerned is when nothing's happening. David described the unbeliever
that way. His eyes bug out with fatness.
He has no trouble, there are no bands in their death. They
prosper, everything they touch turns to gold. That's when you
better be careful. God's leaving you alone. But
he said in verse 13, but rejoice. Now that's what I want to find
out. How can I rejoice? Rejoice inasmuch as you are partakers
of Christ's sufferings. that when his glory shall be
revealed, when all this is over, that you may be glad also then
with exceeding joy." Disappointment we're going to experience. Sickness,
pain. Some of you don't know what it
is to have a full night's sleep. And I'll tell you when you wake
at two and three o'clock in the morning, those hours are long,
aren't they? You're so lonely? We're going to bury some good
friends. We're going to bury some that
are awfully beloved to us. You stand and watch them lower
that body in the grave, and actually the impact is not felt there.
That's not when they... Even when they come to you and
say, so-and-so's dead. Somebody says, well, he's taken
it awful good. Hadn't dawned on him yet. Isn't that correct? Some of you know that. Hadn't
come through yet. And even when you put the body
in the tomb, and all the friends around the house, they say, well,
he's holding up so well. She's doing so well. Hadn't dawned
on him yet. Wait till everybody's gone. And that's the strangest
thing. Everybody comes when the death
has occurred, and then everybody's gone. And then it's empty. We
need, I believe, to come afterwards more than then to visit and to
console and to comfort and spread our attention and maybe our flowers
out over a period of time. It all comes in at once and the
person, and you say, well, he's just doing fine. Yeah, but it's
the reality of it's not there yet. It's when a few days have
passed and that place is so empty. That's when you wish somebody
would come by or the florist would drop a rose by or something,
you know. But these things, and actually, and I say this, secondly, The older we get, the more trouble
we encounter. Did you know that? A good example
of that is Abraham, whose greatest, hardest, most severe trials were
reserved for his old age. And these trials involve, actually
the more people you love, the more tears you're going to shed.
The more people with whom you're involved. the more friends and
loved ones, and the more lives you touch, the more trouble and
trials, because their troubles are your troubles, and their
trials are your trials. And these trials are not only
outward, they're inward trials. Not only flesh, but spirit. Not
only family, but friends. And when your life touches, the
more people you touch, the more people you love, the more troubles
you have. You know when the woman, you
remember David Estrada's message here years ago, I never will
forget it. But he said this Canaanite woman
came to Christ and she said, Lord have mercy upon me. You
remember that message? Have mercy upon me. What anything
wrong with her? Her daughter was sick. And what
she was saying, Lord have mercy on me. Her troubles are my troubles.
Her hurt is my hurt. Her sickness is my sickness.
And if you're having mercy on her, you're going to have mercy
on me. Now this accounts, now listen
to this, thirdly, and this explains, and I'm going to say this and
some of you are going to perk up and say that's the very thing
running through my mind. What I'm saying is the more people
you love, the more people you care for, with whom you're for
whom your heart beats. The more tears you're going to
have, the more trouble you're going to have. Their trouble
is your trouble. And this accounts for individualism. This accounts
for a person retreating. This accounts for isolationism.
This accounts for withdrawal. Explains it. That'll say, well,
I don't, I just don't want, I just can't take any more trouble.
I can't take any more conflict. I can't take any more struggles
and trials and tears. I just can't be involved anymore.
Don't bring me any more bad news. I'm just going to retreat to
my backyard and sit under the tree and make out like ain't
nobody living in this world but me and my wife. Now, and I understand. I understand. But that's not God's
way. And that's not God's grace. But
I understand that. I understand how that an individual
can become so burdened with other people's burdens as well as his
own and other people's troubles and trials and sorrows and heartache
that he just wants to go off somewhere like a hermit and get
away from the telephone or away from any bad news or any contact
or any touching of anyone else, just don't tell me anymore. But
that's not God's way. I want you to turn to a scripture
in Galatians 6. That's not the way of the family
of God. That's just not it. That's the
easy way out. And that's what the flesh sometimes
wants. We just want to withdraw. We want to go into isolationism.
We want to retreat, we just want to be left alone and leave others
alone, not be involved in their difficulties. But here's what
he said in Galatians 6, verse 1, Brethren, although a man be overtaken with
a fall, you which are spiritual, you restore such a one in the
spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. Now here's the verse I'm getting
to. Bear ye one another's burdens. Carry, help carry the burden.
Volunteer to share the load. And so fulfill the law of Christ. What's the law of Christ? The
royal law of Christ. Love one another as I love you.
That's his law. You love one. I'm sure glad he
didn't retreat from me in my troubles. He not only, listen,
he not only became involved in my troubles and sorrows and sins,
but he bore them. numbered with the transgressors,
identified with me in all my troubles. He came down here,
the scripture says, and subjected himself to the temptation and
trials. There's not a trial that I can
bear, that he hadn't borne. Not a temptation I can encounter. He doesn't encounter without
sin. This is not the way. It's just
not the way. I have to remind myself, this
is not the way. It's not. Retreat is not the
way. Withdrawal is not the way. Isolationism is not it. No matter how it hurts and no
matter how many sleepless nights you have, get back in there and
get involved. Put your arm around that brother
and lift him. Weep with him. Pray with him.
Talk with him. Get in there and get... Look
at Romans 15. Cephas is not saying the same thing. Romans 15. The answer is not to go out and
sit in your backyard by yourself and forget and let the world
go by. That's not God's way. His way is given right here.
Romans 15.1. We then that are strong ought
to bear the infirmities of the weak and not to please ourselves. Let every one of us please his
neighbor for his good edification. For even Christ pleased not himself,
but as it is written, the reproaches of them that reproach thee fell
on me. For whatsoever things were written
aforetime were written for our learning now, that we through
patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope." Here's the
command over here in Isaiah 40. Here's the command of our Lord
in Isaiah 40. This is what he says. He says
here in Isaiah 40, comfort my people. Isaiah 40 verse 1, he
says, comfort ye, twice, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably. Give my
people some hope, some encouragement, some comfort. Now then, where
do we find it? This is what I'm saying. You've gone through some of the
things that we go through and you go through them with us.
Where do you find your comfort? I'm not setting myself up as
an example by any means at all, by any stretch of the imagination.
But I do know I have some peace. I do know I have some rest and
some comfort and some peace and it's genuine, it's real. I don't
know how I'll bear up under the next problem now. Don't hold
me to that now. Let's don't make any boats of
what we're going to do. Let's don't do like Simon. Well,
I'll go to the death. I don't know. I don't know. But
I'm saying His grace has brought me safe thus far. His grace will
lead me home. But here's where I... Now, I
don't find it where the world gives it. No, sir. I know there's
people making a living sitting behind a desk giving this kind
of advice right here that I'm fixing to give you or tell you
about. $50 a sitting, 30 minutes, something like that. They'll
tell you this, think positively. PMA, positive mental attitude.
Think positively. Things will get better. They
may not. I don't know. They may and they
may not. You may think positively and
they may not get any better. So I've got to have something
better than that. Here's another fella says this, the world says
this, you can do it, you can make it. You can make it! My Lord says without me you can
do nothing. Without me you can do nothing.
All you'll do is spin your wheels. Without me you can do nothing.
You see these things may give you temporary relief. They may
give you a false foundation for comfort. But I've got to have
something stronger than Here's another thing, a man gave me
a book one time to read. He said, now this is good, this
will help you. You know what the title was? I'm Okay, You're
Okay. When I looked at it, I thought, I'm not okay. You're certainly not okay. There's
none good, no not one. There's none righteous. This
thing of human dignity and ego is not going to help me. I know
I'm not okay. I just know that. And I know
none of us okay. I know we've sinned and come
short of the glory of God. I know that we've offended our
holy God. I know by all rights we ought
to be sent to hell tonight with our shoes on, like chorus songs. Well, I get real sick and the
world says, we'll find a cure. We're going to find a cure. We're
going to whip that disease. We're going to do it. We're going
to do it. Yeah, you're going to make me well so I'll die of
something else down the road. Isn't that right? We've conquered
this disease and that disease, here's another one springs up
here and there. Man's going to die, I'm going
to die. I'm almost 60 years old, my life is six-sevenths gone.
God says three-scoring ten. And if more than that, by the
providence of God. They used to talk about living
on borrowed time. It's freely given time, it's the grace of
God, but that's not law. We're on the shady side, some
of us, aren't we? That's right, let's face it. Now if you're
going to find your peace and rest in the fact they'll find
a cure down the road somewhere, we're going to die. We're going
to die. And I'd like to approach that
day with a sincere rest in Christ and peace in Christ. Wouldn't
you? That won't work. The world says, know thyself.
Here's the big thing today. Study the behavior patterns of
the past. Find out what happened when I
was six years old, and blame it on that, or seven. Find out
what my mother and father divorced, and it's all their fault that
I'm like I am. May have had some effect on me, but my problem
started from the inside, not the outside. Sit around and analyze
one another. Sit around in a circle and analyze
one another, and compare yourselves with other people. That won't
do. That may give you a, you may whistle going home, but you'll
be awake the next night. You see, these things are not
the answer. If you're a believer, and if
I'm a believer, and if we would have real soul comfort, heart
comfort, if we would find true peace, it's like John Newton
said, if I can come here to this place, content with beholding
his face, my all to his pleasure resigned, no changes of season
or place would make any change in my mind. While blessed with a sense of
his love, a palace, a toy would appear, and prisons, now prisons,
no danger of us going to prisons, but a hospital room in a sense
is a prison. Sometimes homes can be prisons,
other places. And prisons would palaces prove
if he would dwell with me there. Paul came to this place. I have
learned in whatsoever state I am to be content. Now there's some
reason for that. There's a reason why John Newton
could say a prison would be a palace with Christ there. There's some
reason that Paul could say whatever state I'm in, I'm content. There's
some reason Paul could say this. When he was in trouble, that
thorn in the flesh, I don't know what it was, but he said, God
gave it to me. You know what he said? God gave
it to me. Lest I be exalted above measure, God gave it to me. He
said, I know how to abound and I know how to be a base. And
when he was in prison, he said, I'm a prisoner of Jesus Christ.
And Job, when they came to Job, and I don't know anything about
this, but here this man sitting here, a wealthy, influential,
powerful, healthy family man. And they came to him one at a
time telling him, this is gone, that's gone, the other's gone,
now your whole family's gone. And all of his friends were gone,
everything was gone, then his health was gone. And he said,
well, the Lord gave and the Lord had taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
Now, my friends, I know that's our theology. And I know that's
what we believe. But I'll tell you this. Actually,
when that takes place, being able to save it, now it takes
the grace of God, being able to save that. In death's dark valley, David
said, Do I walk through the valley of the shadow of death? I will fear no evil, thou art
with me." Now what, where are we going to find that? Well,
turn to Malachi. Now I'm going to give you a verse
of Scripture. Malachi, the last book in the Old Testament. I
believe this is where it is. I believe it is for me, and it
has served that purpose. Confidence and faith in two things. In Malachi chapter 3 verse 6,
for I am the Lord, I change not. Therefore you sons of Jacob are
not consumed. You know my rest and confidence
and hope in whatever difficult situation, trial, heartache,
dark valley, whatever, is the unchanging God and His unchanging
grace. I believe that's it. I believe
that's where you feed, that's where your soul feeds, that's
where your mind and heart and emotions and faith and everything
feeds. It's not on yourself. It's on
God, the unchanging God and his unchanging grace. If I can come
to believe that. If I can come to believe that,
whether it's sunshine or shadow, whether it's day or night, whether
it's gladness or sorrow, whether it's health or sickness, whether
it's success or failure, if I can believe that in all things, God
never changes, never changes, and His grace toward me never
changes, never changes. It never changes. Now, here are
three things from this. First of all, the unchanging
God. He said, for I am the Lord. I am. I am. Not I was or I will
be. I am. I am indicates this. There is no change. I am always
the same. God is always the same in his
attributes. Was he all wise? He is now all
wise. The judge of the earth will do
right. He's going to do right by his church and by his people
and by you. God will do right. He's all wise. He never changes. Was he just
and holy? He still is. He still is. Was he merciful? He still is.
God moves in mysterious ways his wonders to perform. He plants
his footsteps on the sea. He rides upon the storm. Ye fearful saints, fresh courage
take. The clouds you so much dread
are big with blessings and mercy, and they'll break with blessings
on your head. The bud may have a bitter taste,
but sweet will be the flower." Isn't that what he said? God's
unchanging in His wisdom, unchanging in His holiness, unchanging in
His mercy, unchanging in His love. He said, I've drawn you
with an everlasting love, an unchanging love. Having loved
His own, He loved them to the end. It doesn't matter if you're in
the happiest situation imaginable. God loves you in Christ with
an infinite love. Or if you're bowed down with
the greatest burden and sorrow that's ever entered your life,
God's love is the same. His love is the same. And that's what our Lord said,
but Peter, Satan hath desired thee to sift thee as wheat. And
let me tell you something. And just drop this in here. I
hear these preachers on television and everywhere else always talking
about the devil so lightly. Tell the old devil to go on back
to hell. The old devil did this. Just resist the old devil. Just
tell him to get away from God's property. Now, let me tell you
something. There's a good possibility hadn't anybody in here, those
preachers either, ever encountered Satan personally himself. Now,
he might have sent, as Tim James says, one of his third-rated
little demons to pick on you a little bit, but you never met
him. Because I'm going to tell you something. that nobody can
handle him but the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm telling you the truth.
I'm not just whistling now. I'm telling you the truth. You
don't want to deal with Satan. Joe dealt with him. You know
what happened, don't you? Peter dealt with him. You know what
happened, don't you? Peter acted like an unsaved man. And there's
one fellow behind that whole thing. That's Satan. He can do
it. The angel Michael. Encountered Satan in a dispute
over the body of Moses. And you know Michael's reaction?
He said the Lord rebuked me. Satan, I don't want anything
to do with you. And let me tell you, I'm saying
this as truthfully as I can and plainly as I can. Don't speak
lightly of Satan. Our Lord taught his disciples
to pray. And in my class this morning,
I quoted that prayer, and it's just 19 seconds long. We timed
it. It took me 19 seconds. And do
you know, amid all of that, and you take concise and complete,
that prayer of our Lord, he gave a whole sentence to this, deliver
us from Satan. You say, where does it say that?
Deliver us from evil. That's the evil one. It's exactly
what he's telling us. Let him try me. Don't let him. I tell you this about Satan,
and I know that don't inquire too much into demons, you may
find one. But don't do this, don't ignore them. Don't mess
with them and don't inquire into them, don't look for them, but
don't ignore them. But turn your case over to your
lawyer, to your mediator. to your captain, to your defender,
turn it over to him, and don't you try to fight that battle.
Turn it over to him. That's right. Turn it over to
him. Now, Satan is the evil one, and
I'll tell you this, but God is unchanging in His mercy and in
His purpose. He's unchanging in His wisdom. Listen, turn to Romans 11. This
is the thing that gives you hope and strength and comfort. Romans
11, look at verse 29. God's unchanging in His purpose.
He said, I've purposed it, I'll bring it to pass. I've spoken
it, I'll fulfill it. Look at verse 29. For the gifts
and calling of God are without change. Repentance is change.
And God says they're without change. Let me tell you something.
He given you in Christ the gift of life, He'll never take it
back. Has He called you to repentance, and called you to faith, and
called you to Christ, and called you to lean on Christ, and called
you to believe? He'll never take it back. Nobody's
ever lost that's been saved. That's foolishness to talk that
way. See, salvation, wages of sin is death, but the gift of
God's eternal life. And God's gifts are without change.
Now a lot of people have got religion and lost it. A lot of
people made professions and denied them. A lot of people have walked
in and out and walked right back out. A lot of people have gone
into the pulpit and then quit. But nobody's ever received the
gift of life and the calling of the Holy Ghost and ever turned
away from it. That's what it is, without change.
That's what he said, this is our comfort in Malachi. That's
the reason I turn. I am the Lord. You change, change
and decay in all around I see. Oh, thou that changest not. I'm
the Lord. I am, he said. I am. I am. I don't change, God said. There were changes in his attributes
and there were changes in his purposes. Our Lord Jesus Christ
said, all that my Father giveth me will come to me. and Him that
cometh to me, I didn't know why I was cast out. I came down from
heaven, not to do my will, but the will of Him that sent me.
This is the will of Him that sent me, that of all He had given
me, I'll lose nothing. I don't change. Everything changes,
you say, everything but God. Everybody changes but God. I
don't change. He's unchanging in His way of
salvation. It's always been Christ, it's
Christ now, it'll always be Christ. whether it's in the garden, or
whether it's in this dispensation of judges, or dispensation of
types, or dispensation of the incarnation of the Lord himself,
or a millennium, or whatever. He never changes. It's always
Christ. So Peter, Satan hath desired
you. What an announcement. But I'll tell you, Lord, I'll
take him on. He said, cock won't crow tonight till you've denied
you even know me. But I've prayed for you. And boy, there's where
you can hang your hat. There's where you can sit down
in peace. I've prayed for you. I've prayed
for you. I've prayed for you that your
faith does not fail. And this is where I pray for
you. I hope you pray for me. There's no way in the world for
our prayers to prevent the visitation of trouble and trial and heartache
and sorrow. It's coming. It's the way of
all flesh. But I pray that in this conflict,
don't quit. Don't quit. Don't lay down the
banner. Don't turn away. We're not of
them, Paul said, to turn back. We are of them that believe to
the saving of the soul. It's the hand of God. It's the
Lord. Eli said it's the Lord. But Eli, your boys, two of them
are going to die, but it's the Lord. But judgment's best in
your house, but it's the Lord. Let him do what seemeth good
to him. Huh? Can you say that? I know it's
difficult, but it's still so. It's the Lord. Now here's the
next thing. He said, I'm the Lord, I change
not. Now who are the people that benefit
from this fact that God doesn't change? It's the sons of Jacob.
Sons of Jacob. I wonder why he used sons of
Jacob there. He's certainly not talking about
sons of Jacob by natural generation, is he? Well, we know that's not
true. Let me read you a scripture over
here in the book of Galatians, chapter 3, verse 8. Listen to this. He's not talking
about those folks that are Jews by natural generation. But he
says in Genesis chapter 3, or Galatians chapter 3 verse 7,
Know ye therefore that they which are of faith the same are the
children of Abraham. Who are the sons of Jacob? They
are the sons of God by faith. But not only that, watch this
now, let me give you three or four things here to help you. I am the Lord, I change not. Therefore you sons of Jacob.
Who are the sons of Jacob? Well, sons of Jacob are sons
of election. That's why some people despise
election, but he said Jacob have a love, he shall have a hate.
God chose Jacob. He said, the children being not
yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose
of God according to election might stand. It was said unto
her, the elder shall serve the younger, as it is written, Jacob
have a love, Esau have a hate. So you can take comfort in God's
unchanging purpose because you are a son of election. Secondly,
you're a son by a special act of God. Your birthright, how'd
Jacob get his birthright? Jacob got the birthright, how'd
he get it? Well it wasn't his by natural
means. It wasn't his because he deserved
it, his brother deserved it. It's his because God gave it
to him. And that's why you're where you
are, God gave it to you. Don't ever lose that, don't ever,
don't ever Don't ever compromise that. Your birthright, now Esau
deserved it. Esau was in line for it, but
Esau didn't get it. God gave it to Jacob by a special
decree, an act of God. And that's how you got your birthright.
Well, Jacob was not only a son of election and a son by a special
act of God, but he was a son of trial, too. Did you know that?
He had to flee from home. Jacob's whole life was a life
of trouble. I wish you'd read it sometime. Old Jacob fled,
had to flee from home, had to live out there in the wilderness.
He got his eye on a girl he wanted to marry, and her father cheated
her out of him. He had to work 14 years to marry her. And then, oh, his daughter Diana
caused him great grief, great sorrow. And then his boys, oh,
he had 12 sons and he had 12 troubles. Oh, my, my, my. What a trial he had with those
boys. They brought embarrassment to
him and trouble to him and warfare. And then his brother, his brother
despised him and went after him at every turn. His was a lot,
but he was a son of God. God changed his name, didn't
he, to Israel. Israel. And that's another thing
about sons of Jacob, they have a new name. They're sons of election,
they're sons by a special act of God, they're sons of trial,
and they're sons with a new name. But not only that, the sons of
Jacob have special revelations. They've seen some things nobody
else has seen. One night old Jacob He's lying
down, made him, he was running from his brother and he made
pillars out of some rocks. And he's lying there going to
sleep and God opened heaven and let him see the redemptive work
of Christ. He saw the angels of God ascending
and descending on that ladder to glory. This is true. He saw this. God revealed it
to him. And when he got up from that, he called that place the
house of God. God gave him a special revelation. That's right, Jacob
was a son of special revelation. And you've seen some blessing
in your eyes, they've seen some things the world hasn't seen.
Tell you something else, Jacob wrestled with the Lord too. He
wrestled with God. He wrestled with the Lord. The
Lord wrestled with him too. And the Lord crippled him, he
touched him and left his mark on him. Jacob was never the same
after that night he wrestled with God. Tell you something
else, God gave him some demonstrations of his providence, took one of
his sons from home and put him on the throne in Egypt. And old
Jacob sitting down there in his land, 70 of them, about to start
He looked up one day, and I'm telling you, here come the wagons.
Did you ever hear a sermon on that? Jacob saw the wagons. And
here come the wagons just loaded down with corn and wheat and
barley. Joseph had sent it. God sent
it. And that's us sons of Jacob. We've seen some trials and troubles,
but we've seen some wagons too. Loaded down with God's good things.
All right, let me give you this text one more time. Malachi 3,
6. He said, I am the Lord. I don't change. Therefore, you
sons of Jacob, you sons of Jacob, sons of election, sons by special
act of God, sons of trial, sons of trouble, sons of special revelation,
you're not consumed. Now, brethren, there are two
ways to be consumed. Two ways to be consumed. We can
be consumed on earth, and in eternity. What are you talking about there,
Pastor? Well, this is what I'm saying. Our Lord said to Peter,
He said, I prayed for you that your faith fail not, that you
be not consumed by your troubles. Your faith is greater than your
troubles. Greater is He that's in you than he that's in the
world. This is what I want. I'm not asking God to deliver
us from trouble. Not totally, because that's got
to come, but what I'm asking is that God strengthen our faith
and our confidence and our hope and our dedication to Christ. You're not going to be consumed
if you're one of his sons. How are people consumed? Well,
sometimes we're left ourselves and we're consumed by our sinful
passions and desires. We don't want to be consumed
with that. given over to sinful things. Drunkenness, adultery,
hatred, maliciousness, given over. Don't want you to consume
with yourself. And then there's another thing,
being consumed with false religion and tradition. Many people are.
Our Lord said of the Pharisees, leave them alone. They're consumed
with their tradition. I run into people like that.
They sit and listen to me preach. They're on television. They say,
you're preaching the word, but I've always gone to this church.
My mother and daddy went to this church, and down here, and I
just don't intend to leave it. We're all right. We're consumed
with our tradition. And some people are consumed
with self-righteousness and self-importance. Just consumed with it, eaten
up with it, just destroyed by it. And we can be consumed with
covetousness. And that's a danger in our day.
You all know it. We've got too much of this world's
good. We've got too much. I have. We don't lack for anything. We
don't have a hungry moment. We don't have a cold moment. We're cool in the summer and
warm in the winter and comfortable and live in luxury. And if we
don't live in the best of luxury, we've got to start griping. Like
I said the other day, we want a job and then we gripe because
we have to go to work. Let's don't be consumed with
greed and covetousness. Let's hold these things with
a loose grip so God can take them out without breaking your
fingers now. Because He'll do it. If He has to break them,
He'll break them. But we're not going to
be consumed. And here's another thing. A preacher's
wife, that's my wife the other day, said, give me some advice
about how to be a good postured wife and all that, and that's
why she got around to this question. She said, does Brother Mahan
ever get in periods of depression? Well, Doc said, I don't know
that he ever has. Now, let me say, I don't know
that I won't, but thus far I haven't, because that's to be consumed,
isn't it? That's to be consumed with depression. That's to be consumed with self-love,
isn't it? And it's to be consumed with
this murmuring against God's providence, isn't it? Let's hope
we don't be consumed with depression. And there's just one way out
of all of this, being consumed with sinful passions, or with
religious tradition, or with self-righteousness, or personal
importance, or covetousness and greed, or depression and grief.
I know a dear lady whose son was killed, and she's never changed
anything in that room since he left it. a quarter of a century
ago. That's being consumed with grief. Go in there and put some flowers
in there and clean it out. Paint the walls and change it.
God's on the throne. My son may be in the grave, but
God's not dead. God's on the throne. Is that
clear what I'm saying? Let's don't be consumed. You
can be consumed on this earth. You needn't keep talking about
Alchondor and judgment and eternity. People get consumed right here.
Right here. Consumed with just young people. Some of our young people just
let her rip. Let her go. Turn over to your
drugs and dope and drink and passions and desires. Just let
her go. Do your thing. Oh no. Oh no. No sir. I am the Lord, I change not."
And you say, well, I'd never do that. You know why? I am the
Lord, I change not. That's exactly right. That's
the reason. You say you preach so carefully about making commitments
and preach so carefully about saying what you will do or won't
do and so forth. I'll tell you why. There's just
one reason why I don't hit the road right now, and that's I
am the Lord, I change not. That's it. That's it, Lord. That's
the only reason. You needn't be so high and mighty
and look down on folks and say, I'll never do that! Only because
I am the Lord, I change not. Well, I'll tell you, if grief
comes into my life, I can handle it. Why? I am the Lord, I change
not. Therefore, you sons of Jacob,
you sons of election, You sons of grace, you sons of mercy,
you're not consumed. That's the only reason, John,
that you've held up under your trials is his grace. We brag
on you and we love you, but it's by his grace, isn't it? I am
what I am by the grace of God. I'm thankful for the grace God
gives a man, and I rejoice in the grace he has. But don't ever
forget where it came from. Don't ever forget. Don't make
God teach us lessons the hard way. If we'll learn them in heart
from the Word, we won't have to learn them down at the cemetery
maybe. Maybe we won't have to learn
them down at the prison. Maybe we can learn them in heart
from the Word. Be stripped and shut up and broken
and realize that this is my source of hope and life and mercy and
strength and peace and rest. I am the Lord. I change nothing. Therefore you sons of Jacob are
not conceived.