A Cure for Anxious Care

Now let's turn in our Bibles
to the book of 1 Peter again, chapter 5. I think it would be worthwhile
for all of us at the very beginning of this message to commit to
memory this text. It's very brief and very easy
to learn, ought to be underscored in our Bibles, ought to be referred
to frequently, casting, 1 Peter 5, 7. casting all your care upon
him, for he careth for you." Now, there are some things that
we profess to believe, which we have not experienced,
and therefore we are depriving ourselves of great blessings.
This is one of those texts. Another is Romans 8.28, and we
know And we do know this, and we're convinced of it. And I
think everybody here would say, I believe it, that all things
work together for good to them who love God, to them who are
the called according to His purpose. But this is one of those texts
that we believe. You believe this, I believe this.
But the fact that we are not enjoying the blessings of it
is because we haven't, as Barnett used to say, got the doctrine
out of our heads into our hearts. And that's what we must do. We
must get the doctrine out of our heads into our hearts. We
must bring the doctrine down to daily experience, the reality
of heart. Now, I think I can give you two
illustrations of this. Thomas, the apostle, believed
that Jesus Christ was sent of God. He believed that Jesus Christ
was God. He was taught that. He respected
the doctrine. I think he believed the doctrine.
But there came a day when Thomas came to a full realization of
the deity of Christ. You remember our Lord was crucified,
and he rose from the grave, and he appeared to some of them,
and Thomas wasn't there. And when they told Thomas the
Lord is risen, he said, I will not believe, except I put my
hand in the nail prints and thrust my hand into the scar in his
side. Well, our Lord appeared to the
disciples on another occasion, and Thomas was then present,
and he said, Thomas, reach hither thy hand and touch my hand, and
reach hither thy hand and put it into my sight, and be not
faithless, but believing. And at that time, Thomas came
to a full realization. of what he had believed in his
head for a long time, that Jesus Christ was God. For he fell,
it doesn't say he did what Christ told him to do. It didn't say
he touched his hand or he touched his side, but it did say he fell
on his face and he cried, my Lord and my God. The full realization
of it, the reality of it dawned upon him. And that's when he
really believed it. That's when he entered into it.
Now he understood it, he believed it, he professed it, but at that
moment he actually entered into the reality and the realization
in his heart that Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, was both God
and Lord. All right, take Peter. Now I
want you to turn to this one in Acts chapter 10. You remember
our Lord had told the disciples about other nations believing. He told them, he said, This gospel
shall be preached in all nations. He told them to go into all the
world and preach the gospel to every creature. He told them
these things. These Jews, and they always felt that the Gentiles
were outsiders, that they were strangers, that they were aliens,
but yet Christ taught them differently. And he taught them that there
would be believers from every nation. He taught them that the
Gentiles would hear and embrace and believe the gospel. And I
believe Peter believed that. He believed his Lord, but he
didn't come to a full realization of it until right here in Acts
chapter 10. In the 10th chapter of Acts, verse 34, when Peter
went down and preached to Cornelius, and the Spirit of God fell upon
those people, and they came to knowledge of the gospel, Peter
said, look at Acts 10, 34, then Peter opened his mouth and said,
Of a truth I perceive, And God's no respecter of persons. But
in every nation, he that feareth him and worketh righteousness
is accepted with him. The word which God sent unto
the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ, he's Lord
of all. Peter finally realized it. He
finally experienced it. How many years had it been? Our
Lord had instructed him, our Lord had taught him, our Lord
had catechized him, our Lord had indoctrinated him, He had
given assent to these things and mental agreement to them.
And if you'd have sat down and talked to him, he probably would
have told you, yes, this is so. But here he finally came to a
full realization. He got the doctrine, as Roth
said, out of his head into his heart. And he finally realized,
of a truth, he said, of a truth, I see that God is no respecter
of persons. So we need not be critical of
these men. I've heard preachers preach pretty harshly and critically
of the Apostle Peter when Paul had to withstand him to the face
and when God had to correct him for saying, I won't eat anything
that's unclean and all these different things. We may be critical
of them, but we shouldn't be when we realize how little of
the promises and precepts of God's Word are in a full operation
in our own hearts, or we believe them. I'm sure we agree with
them, I'm sure we consent to them. I'm sure if anybody said,
do you believe the Bible? We'd say, well sure we believe
the Bible. Do you believe verse 7 of 1 Peter 5? I sure do. Casting
all your care on Him. But now, believing it and experiencing
it is a white horse of another color. And that's, I want experience.
I don't want to just believe Romans 8, 28. I don't want to
just believe John 3, 16. I don't want to just believe
1 Peter 5, 7. I want to live 1 Peter 5, 7.
And I'm not going to be able to claim the blessings or enter
into the rest and enjoy the benefits just believing it, just giving
consent and assent to it. I'm going to have to get it down
here and put it in practice. And that's what we're going to
talk about tonight. Now, I realize that no one precept contains
the whole of the believer's duty. Nobody can turn to one verse
of Scripture and say, now this, the believer's whole duty is
expressed here. But I'll tell you this, here's
a verse that comes awful close to it. This verse comes awful
close to containing all that I need to do, casting all my
care on Him. Why, you can take that for salvation,
Cast all my burdens and my sins and my guilt on Christ. You can
take that for sanctification, casting my life, my ambitions,
my plans on Christ. Casting my soul, my heart, my
mind, submission to His will, casting my family, my job, my
income, my friends, this church, all on Him. Casting all your
care on Him, all your care, casting it on Him. He cares for you. It just about comes close to
containing all of the believer's duty, the whole of the believer's
duty. Now, I have three points tonight that I want us to consider.
And the first one is one we need to start with and one we need
to deal with, anxious care. Anxious care, worry, fretting,
murmuring, finding fault with God's providence. is sinful. It's sinful. Now, we may not
look on it as such, and most people don't, but it's definitely
dishonoring to God and sinful for his children to be continually
living in a state of anxiety and a state of worry and a state
of fear. It's sinful. We talk about murder
and adultery and lying and stealing and blasphemy and all of these
things being sin, but this is sin too. It's sin to constantly
be fretting and worrying and complaining about God's providence.
Now, here's the reason. I'll give you four reasons. First
of all, anxious care. When I'm filled with anxiety
and anxious care, I am really imagining that I am wiser than
God. Now, that's exactly what I'm
imagining. When I'm worried and filled with anxious care, I am
imagining that I am wiser than God. I'm saying, God, I could
plan my life a little better than you do. If my life was in
my hands, I wouldn't have brought this to pass. I wouldn't have
let this happen. I wouldn't have let something
else take place. If you'd let me steer this ship, if you'd
let me chart the course, if you'd let me plan the route, I believe,
God, that I could do a little better job than you're doing.
Now that's exactly what we're saying. When we're wringing our
hands and when we're fretting and worrying and finding fault
with the way God has planned and purposed our lives, then
we're saying we're wiser than God. And that's sinful. God is
all wise. And the route that he chooses
and the course that he charts and the direction that he takes
us is for our good and for his glory. I'll tell you another
reason why anxious care is sinful. It not only imagines that I'm
wiser than God, but it also puts a question mark on God's love. When I am worrying and fretting
and filled with anxious care, I am really saying that God doesn't
love me, or he wouldn't put me in this situation. I suppose
our lack of Love makes us suspicious of God's love. But do you know
someone said one time, we will commit ourselves to a person
in proportion as we're convinced of that person's love. Now you
think about that a moment. We will commit ourselves to another
person in proportion as we're convinced of his love. Now take,
for example, a child. If a little boy came in here
tonight, he was lost, and he wandered in here. He doesn't
know me, and I reach out to get him. He screams and turns away
from me. Or Bob reaches out to get him. He turns away from me.
But suppose he's from Arlington and he knows Cecil, and Cecil
lives next door to him. And Cecil's the only one here
he knows. He'll go to Cecil. He'll go to him reluctantly.
He'll go to him very shyly, he'll go to him cautiously, but he
will go to him. But suppose his daddy's sitting
over there. Oh, I tell you, he'll look at me and scream, he'll
look at Bob and turn away, look at Cecil with some suspicion,
he'll just run to his daddy. He's convinced. See, in proportion,
as that child is convinced of a person's care and love, he'll
commit himself. And that's true of us too. We
commit ourselves to a person in proportion as we trust that
person, and we'll trust that person in proportion as we think
he loves us. And that's true of God. And the
reason we worry and fret, and the reason we are filled with
so much concern and anxiety, we're really putting a question
mark on the Father's love, Cecil. That's what we're doing. We're
saying, God doesn't love me. God doesn't love me. Anxious
care is a sin because it's imagining that I'm wiser than God. It's
putting a question mark on God's love. And then thirdly, anxious
care weakens me for usefulness in God's kingdom. Anxious care
weakens me for usefulness in God's kingdom. Now this is especially
true of preachers and teachers. It makes them ineffective. It
makes them ineffective. When preachers and teachers and
church leaders are concerned about their welfare and about
their problems and about their concerns and about their families,
then they become totally ineffective in the master service. I'll illustrate
that for you. Suppose that I am in the furniture
business. I've got a huge furniture business
and back here a huge furniture warehouse. And my warehouse man
comes to work on Monday morning. And he's back in the warehouse,
and I go back there, and he's got a piece of furniture on his
back. I said, where'd that come from? He said, that's from my
house. I brought that from home this morning. You see, boss,
he said, I'm bloated down with family care and household care
and concern, and I've got to carry this around with me all
day. Now, I'll do my best to do your work, and I'll carry
your chairs around, your sofas and your beds, but I'm going
to have to carry this that belongs to me around too." I said, you
can't do both. You're going to have to lay your
care down if you're going to work in my house, in my warehouse. You're going to have to lay your
furniture down if you're going to care mine. You're going to have to
lay your concern down if you're going to bear mine, and this
is true. The more I'm caring about with me my cares and my
concern, the less effective I'm going to be in God's kingdom
bearing the concern and care of my Lord. That's what makes
me ineffective. If I stand up before you tonight
and preach and my heart is burdened down and broken because of my
own problems and my own trials, I'm not going to be able to present
to you the message God has for you. If I come here tonight and I
care about how I appear to you, or how I appeal to you, or how
my message sounds to you, or how I come across to you, or
whether or not I'm going to make a good salary next week, or whether
or not I'm going to impress someone, or whether or not I, I, I, if
I've got my concern on me, I can't have God's concern. I can't minister
for the glory of God. And this is one of the reasons
why many ministers are totally ineffective. They're carrying
around household furniture. They're carrying around their
own burdens, they're carrying around their own concern and
cares, and they haven't gotten to God yet, they don't have room,
they don't have the strength, they don't have the time, they
don't have the mind left, nor the heart left to carry that
which is so important. It all has to be left outside.
And if we're going to be effective witnesses and effective teachers
and leaders and preachers, we're going to have to just lay aside,
we're going to have to cast our care on him that we might be
effectively used in his kingdom to bear the burdens of those
to whom we minister and to carry the load of those to whom we
minister. Fourthly, anxious care and worry,
fourthly, is a great sin because it damages my Christian witness. Now, I know our lives may be
clean, spotless, We just might be the most honest and moral
people in town. We don't do this and we don't
do that and we don't do the other. We go to church on Sunday, we
carry our Bibles, we read our Bible, we stand for what's right.
But if we have a sad and a miserable countenance, and a sad and a
miserable attitude and spirit, and we're constantly pressing, We're going to be a poor testimony
to God's mercy and a poor testimony to God's grace. Somebody said,
well, who would want to be a Christian if you're going to be that miserable?
Who would want to believe on Jesus Christ if he's not sufficient
to give his people joy? If he's not sufficient to give
his people strength? If he's not able to sustain his
people in time of trouble, why do I want him? That's the impression
that we give this world. If our attitudes and our spirits
are unaffected by God's grace and God's mercy, and we carry
about a sad and miserable countenance, and we're always fretting and
filled with care and worry over our trials, how can we be an
effective witness for Christ? It's a sin. It's a sin. Now that's all there is to it,
anxious care and fretting and worrying. is a sin. Now the second
point that I want us to consider is this. What is the cure for
this sort of thing? What is the cure for anxious
care? The scripture gives it to us
here in just one verse. Casting all your care upon him. That's the cure for anxious care. What a privilege. What a privilege
to cast all my care on Him. What a blessed invitation to
cast all my care upon Him. What a sweet relief just to cast
it all on Him. Take your burden to the Lord
and leave it there. Fools rush in where angels fear
to tread, but I've never hesitated. I'm going to name about five
or six areas tonight where we have the most problems. Let's
turn first of all to Matthew 6. Matthew chapter 6. I'm going to deal with, oh, about
five or six areas where we need to practice this, casting our
care on Him. The first area is this, the care
for daily bread. The care for daily bread. Look
at Matthew chapter 6. Now, some of us, and this may
be true to someone here tonight, and if I can help you and help
myself, then I will, but some of us have spent much time in
concern and care about material things, about what we shall eat
and what we shall drink and what we shall wear, who's going to
take care of me when I get old, what about my house and what
about my food, And all of these other things, we worry about
them, we're filled with anxiety over them. Well, listen to the
Lord. In Matthew 6, verse 25, listen to what He said. Therefore
I say unto you, take no thought for your life what you shall
eat, or what you shall drink, nor yet for your body what you
shall put on. Is not the life more than meat,
and the body than raiment? Behold, the fowls are there,
they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns,
yet your Heavenly Father feedeth them? Are you not much better
than they? Which of you, by taking thought,
can add one cubit or one year to his life? Then why do you
take thought for clothing? Look at the lilies of the field,
how they grow. They toil not, neither do they spin, and yet
I say unto you, even Solomon in all his glory was never arrayed
like one of these. Wherefore if God so clothe the
grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into
the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?
Brethren, some of you have been through some hard times. I lived
during the Depression. I was a small boy then, six,
seven, eight, nine, ten years old. Things were tough. My parents had it tough, but
you know, I don't imagine there's any of us here, though we've
worried and fretted and been concerned, we've had a job and
then lost it and wondered how we were going to make ends meet,
what we're going to eat next week, how we're going to pay
this bill and that bill, somehow it's always been taken care of
by God's grace. I don't imagine many of us here
have missed too many meals, have we? I don't imagine we've known
many cold days. I don't imagine we've done without
very much, have we? David said, I am old, I've been
young, I've never seen the seed of God begging bread. So all
of these anxious years that we've spent and hours and days arguing
and worrying and fretting and fuming over finances and material
things and food and clothing and shelter have been nothing
but sinful, wasted moments. God's provided for us. He's provided
abundantly for us. He's provided over-abundantly,
hasn't He? Well, and I'm ashamed, and you
ought to be ashamed. God says He'd take care of us,
and in that area, we need to cast our care on Him. I don't
mean to get... Now, people go to extremes. Everybody says, well, the man
said, you don't need to worry. If God wants you to work, you'll
work. If God wants you to eat, you'll eat. But the man didn't
say that. I'm talking about anxious care. I'm talking about concern
to the point of worry and sinful worry. That's what I'm talking
about. Being distressed and finding fault with the providence of
God. And the care needs to be laid on Christ. And let us rejoice
in Him. What's the second point? The
care of our children. Blessed be our children. How
we love them. They are still the heritage of
the Lord. I've heard people say, well,
I sure don't want to raise any kids in this day. Well, yeah,
but they're still the heritage of the Lord. They're still what
a blessing they are. But what concern and what anguish
they can cause. When they're growing up, we're
so anxious, aren't we? We're so troubled. We weep. We
cry. Will they do well? Will they
honor God? Will they believe on Christ? Will they be saved?
Will they bring disgrace on the name they bear? Will they break
my heart? A believer must have concern
for his children. He must have care for his children. We must teach them the gospel.
We must take them to the house of God when they're still with
us. We pray for them. We set for them a good example
of righteousness and godliness and honesty and integrity. But
then you know what you ought to do and I ought to do? Take
them to the Lord and leave them there. That's right. Just take them to Him. We may
see them converted in our lifetime, we may not. They may be brought
to Christ after we're gone. Brother Barnett's daughter was.
I remember Paul Robb, bless his heart. He'd preach on how to
be free from worry, and then he'd worry. His daughter, his
only daughter, just broke his heart. How she broke his heart.
He never lived to see her come to know God. In fact, she was
37 or 38 years old before she wrote me and said she'd obtained
mercy. That she's listening to her daddy's sermon. Never listened
to him while he's living, but she listened to him after he's
dead. So, who knows? God may be pleased, but if he's
not, he's still God. And we must take them. Have you
done what you can? Have you prayed for them? Have
you taught them the gospel? Have you taken them to the house
of God? That's all you can do. Now just commit them to Him.
Cast your care. Your children are your cares.
Cast them on the Lord. He cares for you. Commit them
to Christ. And be not overly anxious. All
right, the third point. You men listen to me a minute
now. And that is the care of your business and your job. If any man here tonight can say
that he's a businessman, And he has people in his employ,
he has debts, he has responsibilities, he has deadlines to meet, he
has production to meet, and he has no care. He's a rare specimen. He may rise and come finish this
sermon. But I don't believe there's such
a man. And I'll tell you this, he could probably walk all the
way around the world and never meet another one. But we are
to cast this care on the Lord too. Now let me ask you, Mr.
Spurgeon made this comment along this line, I just jotted it down
like he said it. He was preaching to a business
group one time, to his men, and he said, have you been faithful
to your work? Have you been faithful to your
responsibility? Have you given fair treatment
to those who work for you and who work with you? Have you given
good service to people who come to your business? Have you served
to the best of your ability? What more can you do? If you walk the floor all night,
will it make the thief who works for you honest? If you walk the
floor and weep all night, will it make the loafer work? If you
walk the floor and worry all night, will it make the cheat
pay up? If you weep and fret, will it raise or lower prices?
If you weep and fret and are filled with anxious care, will
it make the problems down at the plant go away? No, you say. Then don't do it. Then don't
do it. Cast your care on the Lord. If
you can say, I've done all that I know to do, I have given all
that I'm able to give, I have tried as hard as I can try, I
will just take this burden to the Lord and leave it there."
And he said, here's the key, leave it there. But he said,
usually when we take our burdens to the Lord, we have two hands.
And with one of them, we hand it to Him, and with the other,
we take it back. That's us, isn't it? We got two
hands. We take our burden to the Lord,
and we hand it to Him with one hand, and take it back with the
other. Leave it there. Leave it there. Now, if we can
say we haven't worked and we haven't tried and we haven't
given good service and so forth, well, we've got a reason to worry,
but our greatest sin there is not worry but cheating. That's
our greatest sin there, not working, not giving our best, one as great
as the other. But leave it there. All right? Then here's the fourth area,
and that is the care and concern and anxious fretting over past
sins. Now, I don't usually agree with
a psychiatrist. I don't usually agree with them
at all. I think they approach problems from the wrong angle.
But here's one point at which I agree with them. Every book
I've ever read on psychology and psychiatry and all of these
things and how to have a sound mind and all these other things,
nearly all of them do say this, and with this I am in agreement.
And that is, when they contend Not the only cause, but the chief
cause of anxiety and worry is guilt feelings. Now that's what
they say. They say that's the chief cause.
Isn't that right, Becky, when you studied that in school? The
chief cause of anxiety and turmoil within the spirit. I'm not talking
about the spiritual self now. I'm not talking about worrying
over eating and worrying over your job. The chief cause of spiritual
worry and spiritual anxiety and relationship with God, the chief
cause of a disruption of it and a separation is a feeling of
guilt. Guilt over past sins. Well, let
me ask you this. Where are your sins? Where are
your sins? The scripture says this. The
scripture says they're blotted out. The Word of God says that
my past sins don't even exist. That's what God says, Chuck.
They're blotted out. He says my sins are cast into
the depths of the sea. I'd be mighty foolish to go out
there and keep trying to dig them up, wouldn't I? Dig them
up. And they're cast behind God's back, and He says, I remember
them no more. I don't even remember them. That's
what God said. And if we confess our sins, he's
faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from
all unrighteousness. I don't know why we are intent
on bearing what Christ has already borne. I don't know why we're
intent on going back and getting our sins and reminding God of
them when he said he's forgotten them. I don't know why we're
intent on living in the past When Paul said, forgetting those
things which are behind, I pressed forward. My sins are forgiven. They're all put away. They're
under the blood of Christ. They don't even exist. And for
me to sit around with anxiety and worry and fret and fear and
doubt over past sins, when God says, their sins will I remember
no more, in Christ we're holy. In Christ, we're perfect. In
Christ, we're without blame. That's what God's Word says.
Our sins are put away. And then the fifth area that
causes us anxiety, accept God's promise. Lay hold upon God's
Word. Believe God. They don't exist. All right? The fifth area where we have
anxiety and care is present infirmities. Now, my brethren, I must put
a careful watch on my tongue. I must put a careful watch on
my heart. I must put a careful watch on
my conduct and avoid all appearance of evil. But I refuse, absolutely
refuse, to go into a state of remorse and anxiety trying to
accomplish in the flesh an impossible goal. perfection. God's Word says, He remembereth
our frame. He knows where it does. And brother,
I know it too. They are infirmities. Listen
to Paul. Turn to Romans 6. The Apostle Paul didn't let himself
go into a fit of anxiety and mourning and grieving. Romans
chapter 7, over his present infirmities, In Romans 7, listen to this verse
18, I know that in me, that is, in my flesh dwelleth no good
thing. I know that. Do you know that?
For to will is present with me, how to perform it, that which
is good I find not, the good that I would I do not, but the
evil which I would not do, that I do now. If I do that I would
not, it's no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
I find then a law that when I would do good, evil is present. Will
you have that trouble? Is evil present with you? Are you going to allow yourself
to get into a state of anxiety and doubt and fear because it's
true of you what is true of every human being? It's true of you
what is true of every man of God? It's true of you what is
true of every servant of the Lord? He knows our frame. He remembers that we're dust.
I delight in the law of God after the inward man, but I see another
law in my members. And I'm not going to go into
a state of anxiety because God doesn't take that law out. He'll
take it out when I die, and that's the only time. That's when I'll
be done with temptations and done with all of these infirmities
and done with this flesh and done with this weakness. But
I'll tell you this, I'm not going to deprive myself of the joy
and the blessings and the benefits of forgiveness by worrying over
present infirmities. And you're very foolish to do
it. Accept yourself for what you are. Face what you are. That's what Paul's doing here.
He's facing what he is, who he is. He's facing the fact that
he has an enemy dwelling within him. He has a sinful nature,
it's there, it cannot be denied, it must be dealt with, it must
be faced, and it's warring against the law of my mind. But he says
in verse 25, I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord that the
victory is mine already. And one day as I have been delivered
from the penalty of sin, and from the power of sin, and from
the practice of sin, I will be delivered from the very presence
of sin. So I'm giving you some very good advice. Turn to Philippians
3 verse 12 a moment. You say, well man, you've given
us an excuse for sin. I'm not any such thing. No believer
needs an excuse for sin. No believer justifies his sin.
He recognizes it, but he doesn't justify it. He admits it, but
he doesn't justify it. He confesses it, but he doesn't
justify it. I'm simply facing things as they
are. I'm not perfect and you're not.
And we're not going to be on this earth. Not as long as we've
got eyes that see, and minds that think, and hearts that imagine,
and souls that are filled with things they shouldn't be filled
with. But Paul says in Philippians 3, verse 12, "...not as though
I had already attained, either were already perfect. I'm not,
but I follow after, if that I may lay hold on that for which I
have been laid hold of Christ Jesus." Brethren, I count not
myself to have arrived, to have apprehended, but this one thing
I do, forgetting those things which are behind, I reach forth
unto those things which are before, and I press towards the mark
of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Now,
let's be honest. We're people. We've got to forgive
one another. We've got to bear one another's
burdens. We've got to love, cover the
multitude of infirmities. We've got to pray for one another.
For brother, be overtaken in a fault, restore such a one,
considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. But we're human
beings, and you're not going to be anything else but a human
being until they put you in the ground, and then God raises you,
and when God raises you, He'll raise you immortal, incorruptible,
in strength and glory and power, and then you'll be done with
sin. But until then, Don't go out tomorrow and because a thought
crosses your mind it shouldn't get in a state of anxiety, in
a morbid state, well I'm not saved and God doesn't love me.
Brother, God does love you. He loved you before you ever
loved Him. He loved you when you were an enemy. He loved you
when you were unclean. He loved you when you were in
rebellion. He loved you when you was the
greatest traitor in His kingdom. He loves you now. And He loves
you with a perfect love. Eternal, infinite love. And you
may be the weakest of his child, but he loves the weakest of his
child just as much as he loves the strong one. And just face
this thing. You have infirmities, and you're
going to keep having them. And as you get older, you'll
have that many more. As the circumference of life
and understanding grows, you meet more darkness. And your
trials will increase, and your problems will increase, and your
frustrations will increase, and all these things as you grow
older. Life becomes more complicated because it touches more areas.
But just face the thing. He knows your dust. Don't try
to be anything else. He knows your frame. He knows
your sinfulness and your weakness. And God loves you. And He sent
His Son to die for. That's why I need a mediator.
And I'm just not going to get down about it. I don't think
God wants me to. I think I'm robbing myself of
a blessing by not laying hold upon his kindness and his mercy
and his grace and his forgiveness at all times. All right, the
sixth area. Will I hold out? That's the remaining
area there, the care of perseverance, remaining faithful to the gospel. Will I die in the faith? Well,
I'll tell you this, that just shall live by faith. He shall
start life by faith, He shall continue life by faith, and He
shall complete it by faith. If Christ holds me, I'll be held.
If He doesn't defeat Satan, I can't. If He keeps me, I'll be kept.
He began the work, He must finish it. So I, just like I came to
Him the first moment to be my Redeemer, I'm looking to Him
right now to be my Redeemer. And when I come to die, I'll
look to Him to be my Redeemer. That'll be my hope. that Christ
died for my sins. Old C.A. Tinley, that black preacher
from Philadelphia, wrote these great words years ago. If the
world from you withhold of its silver and its gold, and you
have to get along with meager fare, just remember in God's
Word how he feeds the little birds and takes its burden to
the Lord and leaves it there. Cast your care on him. When your
body suffers pain, and your health you can't regain. Just remember,
God in heaven answers prayer. Jesus knows the pain you feel.
He can save and He can heal, so take your burden to the Lord.
Leave it there. When your enemies assail and
your heart begins to fail and your soul is almost sinking in
despair, He'll make a way for you and He'll lead you safely
through. Take your burden to the Lord
and leave it there. And when your youthful days are
gone, An old age is stealing on and your body bends beneath
the weight of care. He'll never leave you then. He'll
go with you to the end. Take your burden to the Lord
and leave it there. The cure for anxious care is
casting that care on Him. It doesn't say you're not going
to have care. The cure for anxious care is not to be without it,
it's to take it where it ought to be. You see what I'm saying? You're going to have the care.
You're going to have the problems. You're going to have the trials.
You're going to have these things, the infirmities. They're there.
They're built in by Adam's sin in human nature. But the cure
for anxious care is to get that burden off your back and put
it on the back of him who loves you. Why? Here's the last point.
The certain and sweet reason for taking your cares and burden
to the Lord and leaving them there is He cares for you. God, he said, if God so clothed
the lily, will he not much more clothe you? He said, you know, if your son
asks a bread, would you give him a stone? If he asks for a
fish, would you slip him a poisonous snake? Well now, if you being
evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more
shall the Father give good gifts to them that ask him? I'm ashamed of myself when I
fret and worry and doubt the infinite love of God." Doubt
yourself, okay. Doubt me, that's all right too.
Doubt all men, but don't doubt God. That's folly. If He spared not His own Son
but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him freely
give us all things? God gave His Son for me. So I've
got care, let's face it, I've got the care of of jobs and business
and family and children and present infirmities and all of these
things. They're there, they're real,
they're genuine. A man's living in an air castle that doesn't
admit them. He's living in a phony world, going around saying happy
all the time, that's foolishness. But the thing for me to do is
take my care and my burdens and my guilt and my fear and my uncertainty
and just take it to the Lord. come away without it. He'll take
care. He cares for me. He loves me. He loves me. Oh, if we can forgive,
how much infinitely does He forgive? If we know a little bit about
love, how much more infinitely does He love? How much more? And He loves us. He loves us. And we're as clean and pure.
He said, though your sins be as scarlet, I'll make them white
as snow. in Christ. I'm under the blood,
under the blood of Jesus, safe in the shepherd's fold. Our Father,
we need this message so desperately, not as a doctrine, but as an
experience. Not in our heads, but we need
it in our hearts. Oh, may it be so plain. May it
be in the hands of the Holy Spirit applied to our hearts. Free from
the law, O happy condition, Jesus is bled and there's remission.
Cursed by the law and bruised by the fall, Christ hath redeemed
me once for all. I'm his and he's mine by faith,
not because of anything I've done. I have nothing to give,
nothing to contribute. I have to cling to Christ by
faith. If I'm regarded in any way at any time, in myself, damnation
will be my goal. But when I can trust Christ and
believe on him, rest in him, receive from him all that he
gives, I'm saved eternally. For thy glory and thy praise.
Make this a special message to each of us and help us to benefit
for your glory, to enjoy the blessed privileges of children
of God. In Christ's name, amen.

A Cure for Anxious Care

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A Cure for Anxious Care

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