On that final day. Amen. Do you believe this
morning? Hallelujah. So good to see you in the
house of the Lord. If you have your Bibles, you
turn with me to John's Gospel, the 18th chapter.
John's Gospel, chapter 18. So good to see you
in the house of the Lord this morning. I hope
and trust that today is just not a check -the
-box day, just because it's Sunday. But I pray
and trust that you've come to experience and
to encounter the most holy God, and that His
Word enable you to go another mile. empower you
in victory for another day. For it's day by day.
Amen? Old songwriter penned it well, one day
at a time, sweet Jesus. That's all that I'm asking
from you. Teach me, right? As we're getting ready
to read our text in our... prayer as we'll pray
over. Remember Brother Matthew Geislinger. We
thought yesterday the initial report might have
been a heart attack. They had to fly him to Erlanger.
Turns out it was a massive stroke. And last word,
I hadn't gotten an update this morning yet, but
his last word, he was still in an induced coma
last night. So let's remember, Brother Matthew
and Sister Linda, that the Lord move in a mighty
way. Amen? And encourage and strengthen them.
Matthew's Gospel, chapter 18. I want to read
at verse 36. Start at verse 36. To give you just
a little background as we start in here, Jesus
is before Pilate. This is nearing his crucifixion
and the punishment of sin that would be put on
him for us. And this is part of that encounter
with Pilate. Jesus answered, my kingdom is not
of this world. If my kingdom were of this world,
then would my servants fight. That I should not
be delivered to the Jews. But now is my kingdom
not from hence. Pilate therefore said unto him,
Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest
that I am, or you say correctly. To this end
was I born. And for this cause came I into the
world, that I should bear witness unto the truth.
Everyone that is of the truth heareth my voice.
Pilate said unto him, What is truth? And when
he had said this, he went out again unto the
Jews and said unto them, I find in him no fault.
At all. With the help of the Lord for a little
while this morning, I want to preach on this
thought. The absolute in the midst of chaos.
The absolute in the midst of chaos. Father, I
love you today. I thank you for the power of
your word. Lord, I need your help this morning.
I need your touch. Touch this flesh. Touch my
spirit, Lord. It is so willing to be obedient
to you. Touch my tongue as I stand as orator
of your truth. I ask, Father, that as I surrender
myself to you, use me as you see fit. And over
this household of faith, I pray, Father God,
that we that have ears to hear would hear what
the Spirit said to the church. We'll be quick
to praise you for it all. In the mighty name
of Jesus, amen and amen. You can be seated. The
absolute in the midst of chaos. A few years ago,
pollster George Gallup said, the problem is not
that Americans don't believe. It's that they
believe everything. So therewith, we find in
extreme cases in any given church on a weekly
basis, church goers. Who believes in everything
from channeling. And even born again Christians
who daily consult their horoscopes. To see how
their day is going to go. Ghosts and goblins
and everything else. Church goers, born again
believers who actually believe in luck. I'm about
to bust a few bubbles. No such thing as luck.
I had a good Baptist brother teach me that one
day as we were riding to work. He taught me that
lesson that if God is sovereign and you're one
of his, then you're blessed and favored. Has
nothing to do with accident. God blesses you
intentionally. And so therefore if there's no
such thing as good luck, then there's no bad
luck. Jesus said they hated me and they're going
to hate you. He said in this world it's going
to rain on the just and it's going to rain on
the unjust. Everybody's going to get a little
wet. So it's not bad luck. Because you got wet.
It's not bad luck because one tree took out half
the transportation of one family. Not bad luck
because a storm blew a tree over and the tree
landed on the cars. Got nothing to do with luck.
Just happened to be the way the wind was blowing,
Brother Henry. That's just the way the wind was
blowing. Right? But on any given Sunday in any
given congregation, we... we have these belief
systems at work. The question is, how can we
as a church help folk discern what is of God
and what is not? That's the whole jest. Spiritual
warfare is by and large a battle for the mind.
And if the enemy can control the mind of the
believer, he can control them. He controls us
through emotional situations. Some emotions run
high. Some folks' emotions run low. But he can
determine a lot of our behavior or how we will
react by what we believe. And he plays against
the belief. We just sung it. Do we believe? You
do know that the spiritual struggle is for the
same instruments in this world. God desires to
use you for good, and the devil desires to use
you for evil. God's plan is to bless you. The
enemy's plan is to destroy you. That's it. It's
that simple. It's not complicated. It's very
simple. So spiritual warfare is a battle for
the control of the mind. The seals figured this
out in their training. I preach a message every
great once in a while when the Lord moves on
me. I had a bell on a pole, and I preached, don't
ring the bell. Don't ring the bell. There's a
motto during Hell Week that if you don't mind,
it doesn't matter. Isn't that the truth? Things
that you don't mind get disrupted. It doesn't
matter. But things that you have thought over,
things that you are really concerned about, if
the devil goes to messing in that, he's got you
all blown up. So we must take great care. Understanding
we live in an age of spiritual deception. To
deceive simply means to mislead by falsehood
or to lead in error. to delude. It comes from
two different directions. It'll either be concealment
or misrepresentation of the truth. Isn't that
the way Eve fell? There was a misrepresentation
of the truth. There was a half -truth that the
enemy gave to her, right? You're surely not going
to die. God didn't really mean that. You're not
going to die. I mean, surely he wouldn't do that
to you. Go ahead and take a bite. You know, and...
The deception set in, oh, well, okay, I'm not
going to die. But not only did she die, but now
the rest of us. Because it is appointed unto
man once to die, then to face the judgment. Remember?
So when we understand this concealment of truth
or misrepresentation of truth. Two types of deceptions.
There's satanic deception from the one who is
the father of all lies. He is a liar. You understand
that, right? He's not a liar. He is a liar. You
understand that a half -truth is still a whole
lie. That's where the deception comes in. The
devil feeds you enough to get you to bite and
to play on his deception. And his deception,
if we're not careful, ends up destroying our
very lives and our very faith and our very hope
and our very trust. Psalm 36 and 2 says, For
in his own eyes he flatters himself so much,
too much to deceit or hate his sin. If we're
not careful, there's this self -deception. The
enemy, the father of all lies, who is the one
who comes out with satanic deception, then if
we're not very careful, we deceive ourselves.
We get so flattery in our own eyes. And what
was it Paul wrote, said a man not to think more
highly of himself than he ought to, right? Unless
that pride brings him down. Well, we know that
the pride of life and the lust of the flesh,
what it works in our life. Amen. Pride goeth
before fall, the haughty spirit before destruction.
And the two of these work out this form of witchcraft
in our lives, and because it is an allusion to
truth. Now, I know it's slow this morning, and
hopefully it'll pick up as we gather a little
momentum. Understanding Galatians 6 and 3 declares
it, if anyone thinks he's something when he's
nothing, he deceives himself. James put it this
way, be you doers of the word and not hearers
only, deceiving your own selves. We go around
blaming the devil for a lot of stuff that's not
his fault. You've heard the little funny about
the man passing the devil by the side of the
road. He's sitting on the stump crying. He said,
well, what are you crying about, devil? He said,
well, they blame me for everything. Everything
that transpires in a negative form in our life
is not always the devil's fault. At some point
in your life, you got a man up or woman up, hike
your britches up and look in the mirror and say,
you done that. Hello. I know that hurts. We don't
like to admit that one. I don't. But there's
times I have to look at myself and really get
right because it's the man in the mirror's fault.
I've deceived myself. And many times we deceive
ourselves and the enemy has nothing to do with
it. He don't even have to sow the seed. Our flesh
will sometimes sow the seed of its own. And then
we end up caught in deception. And ourselves
deceive. Like this deception. If a man say he
has no sin, he better be careful. Right? If he
says he's without sin, we deceive ourselves.
And the truth is not in us. You know, the man
that says, well, you know, I'm perfect. I'm sinless.
I won't look at him and say, well, no, you just
gave one. Well, what? You lied. You just told
a big one. And last I checked, lying is a sin.
So you can't say that. Because the way I read
the book, there's a place for liars. All liars
have their place where? In the lake afar. What
my preacher used to say. Far is hotter than fire.
Guarantee you. The way he preached it, it sure
felt like it. The answer to deception is to walk
in truth. We must walk in truth. And I think
Pilate poses a great question that is still going
through. We still see the argument today. It's
still debated on this very stage of life that
you and I are living in. What is truth? And Pilate
poses that question to Jesus himself. This question
echoing through the ages of time. Listen to this.
Was it a wistful desire to know what no one could
tell him? Was it a philosophical... Philosophical
cynicism. I'll get it out. Baby, that wasn't
that funny. I'm plowing up here. I'm hooked up
double trace and I've got a furrow going. And
I'm trying to get going, so don't be laughing
at me down there. That brought more joy to me
than you'll know. Pilate's question, cynicism
concerning the problem. To know true the depths
of knowledge? Is that what his inquiry was about?
Was it a response of indifference to anything
so impractical as abstract thought? The question,
what is truth? As Pilate poses to he who is the
truth. Was it an irrational irritation to Jesus'
response? Did he feel slighted by how Jesus responded
to him? Only time and eternity is going to tell
us what the question really was because he didn't
even give Jesus time to answer. As we read the
text, he just turns around and walks out. As
though he is having this deep self -reflective
moment. Pilate, who is respected, his authority,
his power. People feared Pilate's word. Was it
a response from the conversation at breakfast
with his wife? Honey, have nothing to do with
this just man. I had a dream about him last night.
Let him be. Leave him alone. Free him. Was it?
that type of irritation that his wife would dare
so to question his judgment. And then Jesus is
standing before him. He said, are you a king?
Well, you say rightly, right? He tells him, my
kingdom's not of this world. If my kingdom was
of this world, then my servants would fight.
I think we could draw a little something from
that right there. We are passive in this world
right now because our Savior came, our King came,
and he was passive. We were passive and should
remain passive as possible. We should do our
level best to love those who are the unlovable.
But Jesus said, if my kingdom were of this world,
my folk would get their dander reared up, and
it'd be on like donkey kong. It's what Jesus
is saying. He's saying, if this was my kingdom,
my people would be. empowered by me, and they
would rise up and fight. Because Matthew put
it this way, the kingdom suffereth violence,
and the violent take it by force. When we begin
to understand the inclination of Jesus is this,
right now, if this was my kingdom, then it would
be mine, and my people would fight for it, and
the victory would be mine. I'd have loved if
it had just went on a little bit further. Oh,
Pilate, there is a day coming when I shall return.
There'll be an army with me and we'll be riding
on the white steeds of victory. I'll have my
sword in my hand and the word of truth will come
out. You want to know what truth is, Pilate?
You will see it one day when I return and then
my people will fight. But right now we're in
passive mode as we are endeavoring to witness
to the love of God. and the love of a Savior
who is confronted. who gives his petition forward
that I should not be delivered. It is now, you
say correctly, I am come this very time into
this world that I should bear witness unto the
truth. Everyone that is of the truth heareth
my voice. The absolute in an age of chaos is
the fact of absolute truth. And I'm here to tell
you today in the world and the culture in which
we are living in, Truth is at a premium. Amen.
Truth is at a premium. We see it on newscasts.
We see it day in and day out. There's these fact
checkers. Amen. Everybody wants to be a fact
checker. Can I tell you all facts are not always
truth? But truth is always true. Hallelujah.
You can configure facts and you can come up with
any truth that you want to end up with because
in our culture and in our society, Webster says
truth is simply this, a conformity to fact or
reality. The Bible speaks to the issue of truth.
Listen to what the Word of God says in Isaiah
59, 14, and 15. Truth has stumbled in the streets.
Honesty cannot enter. Truth is nowhere to be
found. Again, in Jeremiah 7, 728, truth has perished.
It has vanished from their lips. In Daniel 8
and 12, truth was thrown to the ground. And we
hear and understand it, 2 Timothy 2, 3 and 7,
always learning but never able to come to the
knowledge of the truth. That is the world in
which you and I are living in. People want to
subtract themselves and draw away from what is
truly absolute truth. In our world, there's only
one. an absolute truth, and that is Christ himself.
There is no other. There is no standard whereby
to measure truth by unless it is measured by
Christ himself. In a world that is filled with
different types and definitions of what truth
really is, there is several different ways that
people see truth. One is truth is objective.
Objective truth is what exists and can be proved.
In the physicality. It's what can be proven by
science in this world. It's objective. There's
normative truth. Normative truth is what we or
as a group of people agree to be truth. It becomes
normative. It's the normal standard of what truth
is. We see that all around us, don't we? People
deceive themselves into what is truth. And if
they get somebody to agree with them, it becomes
the standard whereby they live. But that's not
the standard whereby we'll be judged. And could
I not preach right there for just a minute, but
that'll come later maybe. That is not normative
truth, objective truth. These are not the truth
whereby we will be judged. There's subjective
truth. Truth that is how the individual sees
or experiences the world. In other words, it
would be like to say today is a good day for
me. It may not be a good day for everybody, but
the truth of the matter is it's a good day. And
your life may be falling apart. There may be
trees on your young 'uns' cars. Hello? They may
be balled up in a ditch somewhere in an accident.
That's not a good day. It's perspective. It is
perspective. It's subjective. It's how we see
it and how it applies to the moment in which
we're living. There's a complex truth. Complex
truth recognizes the validity of all things and
all those truths and allows you to focus on the
one that is most useful at any given time. That's
a pretty complex idea, isn't it? We can just
vary our concept of what truth really is. And
how truth affects our lives. But then there's
the absolute truth, a statement that is true
at all times and in all places. It is something
that is always true no matter what the circumstances.
Can I tell you? That's Jesus Christ. That's who
that is. He said he was the truth. Amen. John's
Gospel, I am the way, the truth, and the life.
And what that word truth in the Greek actually
means, the state of not being hidden, the state
of being. Being evident, it means reality. When
Jesus declares, I am the way, he says, I am the
reality. I am the unhidden one. I am the matter
of fact of life. I am the way of it all. I am
the truth of it all. And when we live in a culture
that is so divided and there's so many more evidences
of what people and how they define truth that
I don't have time to get into it. But I guarantee
you, if I could go through all the definitions,
I'd find yours in the middle of it somewhere.
But as a blood -bought, born -to -be, Again,
Holy Ghost feels sanctified child of God. There
is only one measure for you and I, and that is
the measurement of the absolute of the reality
that Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and
the living and the essence of what life is all
about. That's why you have to be careful with
fact and truth. Facts were Goliath was over nine
feet tall. But the truth was, he's going down.
Hello? The facts were, David's a little ruddy
redhead boy. Holly's got the sling and five stones
headed at him wide open. The facts were that
Philistine was a mighty warrior. The facts were
the whole army said, we're just going to send
one guy, and if you can beat him, we'll bow.
That's pretty confident if you ask me. Amen.
That's very confident in the ability of the man
that you're sending out there. And the fact was
Goliath had never been defeated. That was a fact.
But the truth is he had never faced David either.
Hallelujah. The truth of the matter is David
is going, and he's hearing the threatenings.
He goes in defense. of the name of the Lord.
He has got, can I tell you something this morning?
If you are going in the name of the Lord your
God, the Lord your God will fight your battle.
And the truth is, when it's all said and done,
you'll be holding the sword of your enemy and
your foot will be on him and his head will be
in your hand. My God, it's time that we understand
the absolute to the truth that belongs to the
child of the living God. God is on your side.
And if God be for you, The truth is, who can
be against you? The fact is, the world's set
against you. But the truth is, it doesn't matter.
For greater is he that's in you than he that
is in this world. That's the truth. Right? So
facts present themselves. But I don't live by
fact. I live by faith. And the truth of the matter
is, faith cometh by hearing, and hearing come
by a Gideon Bible left in a hotel room drawer.
It comes by the word of the living God. It comes
by the word of the living God. And John declared
it this way. In the beginning was the word, the
logos. Hallelujah. In the beginning was the word,
the written, the substantiated, the truth of
the Lord God Almighty. In the beginning was the
word and the word, the rhema. Hallelujah. That
fresh daily morsel that comes from that manna
that comes every day. The logos. My God, I'm
about to give you a revelation today. If you
want to be victorious. in your life. Hear the
declaration of these three little words. It is
written. Hallelujah. The absolute truth is declared
in the word of the living God. I'm getting too
old for that. I used to say fat and old, but
I'm not as fat as I was. Hallelujah. Is written.
The absolute has been declared. Truth. Reality.
The unhidden fact. Is Christ. The truth of the
word of God. Fact says the enemy is coming against
you. But truth says no weapon formed against
you. Shall prosper. Huh? Facts say disease is
riddling my body. The truth says by his stripes
you are healed. And let me just go ahead and
clarify something today. He can heal me now or
he can hear me over yonder. Either way, I'm going
to get healed. Either way, he might as well just
wait and heal me when I get over there. Because
if he heals me of a debilitating disease right
now one day, another one's going to hit me. And
this old body's going to have to give it up.
There is, according to the word, the truth, the
absolute of God, there is a sickness unto death.
Unless it's the rapture, honey, me and you going
by the way of the grave. I just soon we all go
together. I just soon we hear the horn and come
running out the door. Hallelujah. I just soon
to hear my ride blow for me and I go out to meet
him. Hallelujah. I just soon it be that way.
But the truth is we're not all going there. way.
The truth is that some of us are going to go
by the way of the grave. But the fact says this.
We may be dead, but the truth says we're going
to live again. The truth says the trump shall
sound. The archangel's going to shout. And then
those who are dead in Christ, they shall rise.
And those who are alive and remain shall be changed.
And together. That's the truth. Facts say it
looks like the devil's winning. Look at your
own family. Look at your own lives. Facts are
pretty clear. Everybody wants to be a statistician
these days. Right? I love the term they're using
on the news now for fact checkers. They call
them receipts. I got to look at it and I said,
well, that ain't a receipt. Then I thought, well,
yeah, that's a receipt, all right. Huh? Fact
checkers. But when the truth comes down, everything
is measured not by the fact, but it's measured
by the truth. And thus for mine and your lives
as well. Facts look pretty damning in our lives,
don't they? The reason I keep picking on Henry
back there is they, them and the Cross family,
they've had a rough, they've had a rough week.
Garrett totaled his truck. Well, he didn't. He
got totaled. Storm comes through, blows a big
tree down on two and a half of the three cars
at Malachi and Emma's. Get a phone call from
my mama and her voice is breaking up. Pastor,
you got to pray. Yeah, we're going to pray. Amen?
The fact is they're destroyed. The truth is they
got insurance. They still going to have to pay.
The truth of the matter is when we go through
those obstacles and circumstances like that,
yes, we're devastated. Ken's been through a pretty
rough one. He and Sister Rita, they was going
to revival the other night. Got rear -ended and
told to read his car. The other morning after
one of these towed stranglers during the night,
the temperature was about right. It was so foggy
the other Thursday morning. I believe it was
Thursday. It was so foggy you couldn't hardly
see up Eureka Road. And how many know that these
fine folks have been paving our road? Yep, Jesus.
That's a fact. But I'm going to tell you the
truth of the matter. Some other time. I better
just stay on track. Truth of the matter is, that's
not even blacktop. What that stuff is. We had
a perfectly good road. Can I just vent just a
moment? I hate the devil. That's the truth. That's
the fact and the truth together. Ken's coming
down to help mow the churchyard the other morning.
Foggy. Ran right into a lady parked in the paving
traffic. No warning. Dense fog. Flaggers way
up the road. No caution light. Ran plumb all
over him. Told his truck. But the truth is. Nobody
was hurt. Nobody was hurt. That's the truth.
For the Lord's on our side. He goes before us.
He prepares a way before us. But then it don't
always work out so good. The fact is, Brother
Matthews at Erlanger and I see you. That's the
truth and a fact. But the truth of the matter
is, if God so wills, in the next 30 seconds,
they'll have to let him out. If God so wills,
that's the truth. That is the truth because the
absolute is this. By his stripes, we are healed.
And no weapon that is formed against us shall
prosper. And any tongue that raises itself up
against you, it shall be cast down. And if you'll
go back up a few verses and read, you'll know
why. Because the Lord in his word declares that
he owns the forges. He owns the smiths. You've
got to get a good clear picture of that. It doesn't
matter if the enemy is trying to forge a weapon
against you or not. God owns it, hallelujah.
And he says it will not prosper. And if he declares
it, honey, hold on for the ride. Christ is the
absolute truth. And absolute truth is all that
sets us at liberty. You shall know the truth.
And the truth shall what? If you're not free,
get a little truth. If you're bound up, get a
little truth. If the devil is exercising victory
over your life, then that's your fault. You've
been deceived. How so, pastor? Because greater
is he. I've just told you that. The truth is
greater. Not less than, but greater than. He
that is in you than he that is in this world.
Get it in your head, child of God. You are the
victor. And the victory we have is because of
the victory that Christ has won and proclaimed
for us. Thus, death holds us in the grave, but
truth says, oh, grave, where is? Oh, death, where's
your sting? Where is it? It's lost. It's swallowed
up. Look, look, look, look, look. I've told you.
This world is the devil's best shot to get you.
And if you get it fixed in your mind that the
absolute truth overrides the chaos that he causes
in this world and the confusion that goes on
around you, if you get it in your head, he clarifies
every situation. We get... I preached too long.
Too late now. We fail to adhere to the truth.
And we allow chaos to ensue in our minds, thusly
our lives. Yeah. And we allow the confusion.
In the beginning, God created the heavens and
the earth, right? According to the book, the
earth was void and without form. And the Holy
Ghost was there. And then God said. Okay? From
that statement to where you sit today, God has
said it all. There is no calamity in your life
what the absolute truth of God's word does not
prescribe a remedy for. We get so hung up on
the carnal. We get so hung up on the fleshly
part of this life that we fail to remember we
are in this world. But you, according to the
truth, are not of this world. And the only affections
that this world can set on you is what you allow
to remain on this flesh. But if you'll allow
your spirit to rise up in you. And let your mind
be as the word declares. Let this mind be in
you that was also in Christ Jesus. Hallelujah.
If you can get the mind of he who is in you that
is greater. If you can understand that this ailment,
this calamity that's coming against me is all.
The devil's got. And every day, like I told you
a while ago, there's an addition of grace that
is a proportion to you and I every single day.
God doesn't have to move the problem. He doesn't
have to run the devil off. He doesn't have to
heal you now because the truth is it's all going
to come to pass. Hallelujah. It's all going to
come to pass. So devil, and he has, and he continues
to take his best shot. And he will continue to
take his best shot. Why? Because that is his
main modus operandi, to steal, to kill, and to
destroy. But that's not what my mind is focused
on. My mind is focused on the absolute of the
truth. Jesus said that I have come that you might
have life and that you might have it more abundantly.
In the middle of the chaos, there's an abundance
of joy. In the middle of all hell breaking loose,
there's a peace that comes from on high that
passes. all the understanding. There's a resolve
that sets in that lets you know that because
you are his and he is yours my God the devil
has no control over you. Absolute in the midst
of chaos. Just a show of hands if you'll be honest.
How many of you got a little chaos going on?
Hmm, I think I might have preached the right
one today. We got some chaos going on. We got
the devil on a rampage. But you need to understand,
though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after
the flesh. But the weapons of our warfare are
mighty through God. to the, come on, say it with
me, to the pulling down of strongholds and taking
into captivity every thought that exalts itself
against the knowledge of God. Amen. I love it
when Paul wrote to that church at Ephesus and
he said, brethren, when you've having done all
to stand, go ahead and stand and I'll know to
quit. When you've having done all to stand, Stand
therefore. I'm going to give you a little water's
parallel. Son, when you get on your feet, don't
let him knock you down. When you get up, you
stand up and you stay up. Amen. I feel like Job
sometime when Job had gone through the whirlwind
of life. Amen. And he's on his face and then
out of the whirlwind of life, out of the chaos
of life, he hears a voice that says, Job, stand
up like a man. I've got something that I want
to tell you. Job had been through hell. Can I
tell you? Amen. He lost everything that he owned.
He was a rich man. Now he's a pauper. Amen? He
had a great family. He had ten children. And
in one fell accident, it wasn't an accident,
it was an onslaught of the enemy. On one fell
afternoon, all ten of his children were taken
from him. Job had a loving wife, a very supporting
wife. And in that day, overwhelmed by the grief
and sorrow, she looked at Job. And I owe her
an apology one of these days. And the Lord's
willing, I'll give it to her. I give her a hard
time. something? I haven't birthed from these
loins ten children. Hello? I had carried ten
children in this body, and I don't care what
the lefties say today. Ain't no man going to
have no baby. Well, we might pass a kidney stone,
which is equivalent. No, it's not ten pounds.
It's a meteor. Where you at, brethren? So she's
looking at her husband overwhelmed. She loves
Job. And I wonder about her question, about like
Pilate's question. I used to think I knew what
her question was, but no. No, I've had to recant
on that and back up on my theology just a little
bit. She said, Job, honey, we've lost everything.
Baby, we buried my children. Every single one
of them. What else is there to live for? What
else is there to go on? Somebody, you may even
be questioning, the devil telling you this stuff
now, what do you got to go forward about? Why
do you keep going to church anyway? You know
he's going to preach an hour every Sunday. You
know he's going to. Best hope we get a break
when somebody else preaches, but not with him.
He's up this Sunday, and you know he won't stop
at 12. So why do you keep going? Hopefully it's
because you know that there's some absolutes
going to be declared and that you're going to
get victory over that lying voice. Job, the fact
was all that stuff happened. That's a fact. The
bottom line was they were broke. Camels gone,
donkeys gone, sheep gone, everything gone. Character
is all that they had left. Honey, why don't we
just turn our back on God? That curse God, that's
a real hard old English phrase. Honey, why don't
we just turn our back on God? Why don't we just
quit God? It seems as though he's quit on us.
Why do you keep serving him, honey? I don't know
if I can. How can you keep on going? How can
you do it? And Job looks at her with tears in
his eyes, no doubt. He says, honey. How can we
accept good at the hand of God? Put in little
waters parallel right here. How can we only accept
the good? And then when the little bad comes
our way, we want to tuck tail and run. Shouldn't
we be able to take the bad with the good? And
the Bible says that in all of this, Job did not
sin against God with his mouth. Oh, it would
be a good place for some of us to keep our mouths
shut, wouldn't it? He did not sin against God,
but he fell to the ground. Eat up with boils
on his body. Sores. Honey. Come on down here
and let's praise God together. The Lord giveth
and the Lord taketh away. But, but, blessed be
the name of the Lord. The absolute truth, honey,
is this. One day, the skin worms are going to
devour my old body. But I'm going to tell you
something, darling. With these eyes, with these
two eyes right here, one of these days, I know
my Redeemer lives and I shall see him. That is
the truth. Father, I love you today. I thank
you, Lord, for your help and your hope. For your
help and your hope, Lord. I'm going to see him
one day, church. I'm going to see him with these
two eyes. I've made up my mind. But Terry, I've
made it up. Now, I've made it up. She can tell
you and them young 'uns can tell you. When dad
gets his mind made up, you're not going to change
it. Maybe I've made up my mind now. Come too
far. Been through too much. Trusted him through
too many things. Not to trust him for the rest.
I've made up my mind. Some of you need to hear
that this morning. We don't know what it's going
to look like. Amen? Who knows? I guarantee you
if you were to ask Job how it would have ended
up, it wouldn't have been like what he had. The
facts are he lost it all. But the truth is, When
God got finished with him out of that whirlwind,
when he told him to stand up, he looked at Job
and said, now where were you at during the chaos
of the cosmos when I said, let there be? Where
were you, son, when I told the ocean and I drew
a little line around the continents and I said,
that's it? That's it. You might get a big wave
every once in a while, but the body remains.
This is it. Where were you when I scooped the
mountains? Where were you when I breathe and
the stars are in the sky? Man's wisdom and his
finite wisdom searches out consolations as far
as we can power up microscopes. If it's another
thousand years before the Lord comes back and
they keep getting stronger and stronger microscopes
to see further and further, you know what they're
going to find? More of the same. They'll just
see into the expanse of God. More stars, more
constellations. I don't know if there's life
on another planet. If God wants there to be,
guess what? There is. And if he made them in
his likeness and his image, they're distant cousins.
That's all I know. Chaos. The truth declares
this. By the time old Job died, he was wealthier
than he was before he lost it all. Double, Scripture
says. And Sister Job was blessed to bear ten
more children. And them daughters, from what
I read, were something else. They were something
to look at. If you read the book, they were beautiful.
Don't you know that that blessed sister, Jo,
she got 10 more children. Somebody says, well,
why didn't she get 20? Because she already had
20. 10 are waiting. 10 are waiting. And 10 are
living. That's 20. How do you know that? Because
see, in Job's day, Job offered up sacrifices
and covered his own children. He made sure they
were covered. I wish we could do that today.
Oh, I wish I could do that today. But see, fortunately
today, we all have the opportunity to have our
own selves redeemed by the absolute truth. Father,
I love you and I thank you. I'll keep ambling
if you don't help me close it. If you're here
this morning and you need some absolute truth
in the midst of your chaos, just come and join
me in this altar.