1 00:00:00,270 --> 00:00:03,530 The Bible has much to say about thorns 2 00:00:03,530 --> 00:00:07,990 and thistles and briars and brambles. 3 00:00:08,750 --> 00:00:13,030 Over 20 words are used to name 200 4 00:00:13,030 --> 00:00:17,510 varieties of prickly shrubs that grew in Bible 5 00:00:17,510 --> 00:00:18,010 countries. 6 00:00:18,950 --> 00:00:21,330 We have plenty of them over here. 7 00:00:22,230 --> 00:00:25,830 We've been scratched and irritated and lacerated and 8 00:00:25,830 --> 00:00:27,410 torn, and if you grew up in the 9 00:00:27,410 --> 00:00:31,509 country, you have probably wondered why such pesky 10 00:00:31,509 --> 00:00:36,270 pests, along with other things like mosquitoes, were 11 00:00:36,270 --> 00:00:37,930 ever created to start with. 12 00:00:38,630 --> 00:00:40,350 That's one thing I want to figure out 13 00:00:40,350 --> 00:00:42,870 hereafter, what was the idea in a mosquito? 14 00:00:47,000 --> 00:00:50,620 Thorns and thistles are symbols of troubles and 15 00:00:50,620 --> 00:00:52,860 trials and testings and tribulations. 16 00:00:53,620 --> 00:00:55,600 And some of us have had so much 17 00:00:55,600 --> 00:00:57,340 of all that that we feel like we 18 00:00:57,340 --> 00:00:59,840 can identify with Burr Rabbit, who was born 19 00:00:59,840 --> 00:01:01,280 and bred in a briar patch. 20 00:01:02,040 --> 00:01:04,580 The Bible gives us light on this subject 21 00:01:04,580 --> 00:01:06,960 and a lot of information about thorns and 22 00:01:06,960 --> 00:01:10,480 thistles and their significance, and I think to 23 00:01:10,480 --> 00:01:12,260 look at it a moment will help us 24 00:01:12,260 --> 00:01:15,160 with some of these prickly problems of our 25 00:01:15,160 --> 00:01:18,620 existence and what the old word means that 26 00:01:18,620 --> 00:01:22,300 we sometimes use is, grasp firmly the nettle. 27 00:01:23,600 --> 00:01:26,440 When some difficult thing has to be handled, 28 00:01:26,560 --> 00:01:29,940 when you grasp a nettle, don't fool around 29 00:01:29,940 --> 00:01:32,680 with it, grip it in your hand, it 30 00:01:32,680 --> 00:01:33,720 won't hurt as much. 31 00:01:34,320 --> 00:01:36,280 And that's true with other problems, too. 32 00:01:36,860 --> 00:01:39,220 We get a start way back in Genesis 33 00:01:39,220 --> 00:01:40,560 at the very beginning. 34 00:01:41,900 --> 00:01:44,220 God put Adam and Eve in the garden, 35 00:01:44,820 --> 00:01:47,660 and it was beautiful, and every prospect was 36 00:01:47,660 --> 00:01:50,540 pleasing, and not even man was vile then. 37 00:01:51,320 --> 00:01:54,760 It wasn't chaos, it was cosmos then, but 38 00:01:54,760 --> 00:01:55,620 the devil came. 39 00:01:56,340 --> 00:01:58,460 And as I said yesterday, Adam and Eve 40 00:01:58,460 --> 00:02:00,180 ate us out of house and home, and 41 00:02:00,180 --> 00:02:02,860 God said to Adam, now you've got to 42 00:02:02,860 --> 00:02:03,500 go to work. 43 00:02:04,180 --> 00:02:08,400 In the third chapter, verse 18, well, verse 44 00:02:08,400 --> 00:02:11,920 17 really, unto Adam he said, Because thou 45 00:02:11,920 --> 00:02:14,080 hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, 46 00:02:14,160 --> 00:02:15,740 and hast eaten of the tree of which 47 00:02:15,740 --> 00:02:18,120 I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat 48 00:02:18,120 --> 00:02:20,080 of it, cursed is the ground for thy 49 00:02:20,080 --> 00:02:22,460 sake, in sorrow shalt thou eat of it 50 00:02:22,460 --> 00:02:25,700 all the days of thy life, thorns also, 51 00:02:26,700 --> 00:02:29,440 and thistles shall it bring forth to thee, 52 00:02:29,440 --> 00:02:30,880 and thou shalt eat the herb of the 53 00:02:30,880 --> 00:02:33,480 field, in the sweat of thy face shalt 54 00:02:33,480 --> 00:02:35,320 thou eat bread, till thou return unto the 55 00:02:35,320 --> 00:02:37,120 ground, for out of it was thou taken, 56 00:02:37,780 --> 00:02:40,240 for thus thou art, and unto thus shalt 57 00:02:40,240 --> 00:02:41,140 thou return. 58 00:02:41,860 --> 00:02:45,360 And it's been that way ever since, thorns 59 00:02:45,360 --> 00:02:49,180 and thistles, and they represent trouble and heartache 60 00:02:49,180 --> 00:02:51,340 and pain and sorrow and sin. 61 00:02:52,580 --> 00:02:55,520 The natural world has to contend with briars 62 00:02:55,520 --> 00:02:57,920 and thistles and weeds and weather and bugs 63 00:02:57,920 --> 00:02:59,380 and beetles all the time. 64 00:03:00,360 --> 00:03:02,260 I watched some of the boys out in 65 00:03:02,260 --> 00:03:04,600 the boat this morning spraying some kind of 66 00:03:04,600 --> 00:03:08,680 solution for weed control in the lake. 67 00:03:09,560 --> 00:03:13,400 And the garden, if you don't stay close 68 00:03:13,400 --> 00:03:15,420 by and in it, the middle of it, 69 00:03:15,940 --> 00:03:18,520 that garden reverts in a few days back 70 00:03:18,520 --> 00:03:19,320 to briars. 71 00:03:19,460 --> 00:03:21,180 And if you neglect the battle a couple 72 00:03:21,180 --> 00:03:22,640 of days, you've lost the war. 73 00:03:23,260 --> 00:03:28,040 And that's true, alas, with children, because they're 74 00:03:28,040 --> 00:03:31,200 children of Adam to begin with, and there's 75 00:03:31,200 --> 00:03:34,040 an inclination toward evil, and you have to 76 00:03:34,040 --> 00:03:35,520 train them in the way they ought to 77 00:03:35,520 --> 00:03:38,080 go, for the human heart is deceitful and 78 00:03:38,080 --> 00:03:39,180 desperately wicked. 79 00:03:40,520 --> 00:03:43,540 And it's amazing how they will forget some 80 00:03:43,540 --> 00:03:45,720 good thing you tried to teach them, and 81 00:03:45,720 --> 00:03:48,580 then something that they heard they shouldn't have 82 00:03:48,580 --> 00:03:51,020 heard somewhere sticks. 83 00:03:51,020 --> 00:03:54,200 Now, I'm sure a lot of parents can 84 00:03:54,200 --> 00:03:56,380 testify to that here this morning. 85 00:03:57,560 --> 00:04:00,360 In Jeremiah 4.3 we're told, Break up 86 00:04:00,360 --> 00:04:03,520 your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns. 87 00:04:04,480 --> 00:04:06,040 Now, you know what fallow ground is. 88 00:04:06,120 --> 00:04:09,520 It is unproductive because it's undisturbed. 89 00:04:09,960 --> 00:04:12,060 Churches get like that sometimes. 90 00:04:13,340 --> 00:04:15,519 Christians get like that, and the plow needs 91 00:04:15,519 --> 00:04:16,339 to be put in. 92 00:04:16,339 --> 00:04:19,380 To use another figure, we're settled on our 93 00:04:19,380 --> 00:04:21,680 leaves and have not been emptied from vessel 94 00:04:21,680 --> 00:04:22,120 to vessel. 95 00:04:22,300 --> 00:04:24,940 Revival churns up the people and empties the 96 00:04:24,940 --> 00:04:26,360 church from one vessel to another. 97 00:04:28,020 --> 00:04:31,140 I really wonder whether it is possible to 98 00:04:31,140 --> 00:04:34,880 have a deep revival in a shallow generation, 99 00:04:36,930 --> 00:04:39,270 because our Lord told us that the soil 100 00:04:39,270 --> 00:04:40,650 has a lot to do with it. 101 00:04:40,890 --> 00:04:42,670 And he told us about that type of 102 00:04:42,670 --> 00:04:46,210 soil, thorny soil, that represents, he said, People 103 00:04:46,210 --> 00:04:48,330 who hear the word and anon with joy 104 00:04:48,330 --> 00:04:51,630 receive it, but have no depth and no 105 00:04:51,630 --> 00:04:51,990 root. 106 00:04:52,830 --> 00:04:54,430 Now, they come down to church aisles every 107 00:04:54,430 --> 00:04:55,950 Sunday with a smile on their faces. 108 00:04:56,010 --> 00:04:56,970 What are you going to do? 109 00:04:57,090 --> 00:05:01,190 They say, Well, I accept, yes, I believe. 110 00:05:01,710 --> 00:05:04,490 But the first wind of persecution blows some 111 00:05:04,490 --> 00:05:05,110 of them over. 112 00:05:06,370 --> 00:05:06,850 Shallow. 113 00:05:07,350 --> 00:05:09,370 Somebody asked a pastor the other day, How 114 00:05:09,370 --> 00:05:10,550 large is your pastor? 115 00:05:10,550 --> 00:05:12,870 And he said, It's twenty-five miles wide 116 00:05:12,870 --> 00:05:14,070 and one inch deep. 117 00:05:16,050 --> 00:05:18,570 And that's just about the situation in some 118 00:05:18,570 --> 00:05:19,850 of our churches today. 119 00:05:22,210 --> 00:05:24,890 I preached for five years in the First 120 00:05:24,890 --> 00:05:26,890 Baptist Church of Charleston, South Carolina. 121 00:05:27,650 --> 00:05:30,170 They have a wonderful military college there, the 122 00:05:30,170 --> 00:05:30,510 Citadel. 123 00:05:31,650 --> 00:05:34,230 And I gave the baccalaureate once and conducted 124 00:05:34,230 --> 00:05:35,650 chaplain a number of times. 125 00:05:35,650 --> 00:05:38,730 And old General Summerall, who fought beside MacArthur 126 00:05:38,730 --> 00:05:41,790 in World War I, was a commandant. 127 00:05:42,390 --> 00:05:44,010 He was a great soldier and, I think, 128 00:05:44,030 --> 00:05:44,590 a Christian. 129 00:05:45,090 --> 00:05:46,170 He was an old soldier. 130 00:05:46,990 --> 00:05:49,310 And I remember that one time after I 131 00:05:49,310 --> 00:05:50,490 had talked, we marched out. 132 00:05:50,550 --> 00:05:52,050 And you don't often get to march with 133 00:05:52,050 --> 00:05:53,270 a sure enough general. 134 00:05:54,130 --> 00:05:56,030 So I tried to keep step the best 135 00:05:56,030 --> 00:05:56,490 I could. 136 00:05:57,110 --> 00:05:58,270 We got out there and he took my 137 00:05:58,270 --> 00:05:59,610 hand and said, Thank you. 138 00:06:00,490 --> 00:06:02,990 You get under these boys' hides. 139 00:06:03,970 --> 00:06:05,190 And that's all he said. 140 00:06:05,530 --> 00:06:06,850 Because he never did say much. 141 00:06:07,630 --> 00:06:09,970 And I took that as a compliment because, 142 00:06:10,190 --> 00:06:12,690 my soul, we need preaching today that gets 143 00:06:12,690 --> 00:06:14,410 under the hide and breaks up the fallow 144 00:06:14,410 --> 00:06:14,690 ground. 145 00:06:14,730 --> 00:06:16,570 Because if we don't break up that fallow 146 00:06:16,570 --> 00:06:17,550 ground, we're going to have a lot of 147 00:06:17,550 --> 00:06:17,970 thorns. 148 00:06:18,770 --> 00:06:20,490 You go over to the New Testament and 149 00:06:20,490 --> 00:06:22,170 there's more about that in Matthew 13. 150 00:06:22,870 --> 00:06:24,830 Some of the seed fell among thorns. 151 00:06:25,410 --> 00:06:27,670 Verse 7, And the thorns sprung up and 152 00:06:27,670 --> 00:06:28,350 choked them. 153 00:06:28,350 --> 00:06:30,890 And then in the interpretation in verse 22, 154 00:06:31,470 --> 00:06:33,970 He also that received seed among the thorns 155 00:06:33,970 --> 00:06:36,090 is he that heareth the word, and the 156 00:06:36,090 --> 00:06:38,310 care of this world, and the deceitfulness of 157 00:06:38,310 --> 00:06:41,430 riches choked the word, and he becometh unfruitful. 158 00:06:41,730 --> 00:06:46,270 That's what happens when we don't really heed 159 00:06:46,270 --> 00:06:48,310 the word of God and do something about 160 00:06:48,310 --> 00:06:48,530 it. 161 00:06:51,690 --> 00:06:55,690 Now, this old earth is degenerating. 162 00:06:56,770 --> 00:06:59,110 The evolutionists tell us that man came up 163 00:06:59,110 --> 00:07:03,630 through fetishism, and totemism, and polytheism, and monotheism. 164 00:07:03,830 --> 00:07:05,370 We're on our way up to a knowledge 165 00:07:05,370 --> 00:07:05,970 of God. 166 00:07:06,030 --> 00:07:07,910 But the Bible says man started with a 167 00:07:07,910 --> 00:07:09,910 knowledge of God and been going down ever 168 00:07:09,910 --> 00:07:10,270 since. 169 00:07:10,350 --> 00:07:11,230 That's not evolution. 170 00:07:11,370 --> 00:07:12,250 That's devolution. 171 00:07:13,890 --> 00:07:16,090 Burbank might be able to turn a wild 172 00:07:16,090 --> 00:07:18,290 rose into an American beauty, and he might 173 00:07:18,290 --> 00:07:20,210 be able to make crab apples fit to 174 00:07:20,210 --> 00:07:20,430 eat. 175 00:07:20,490 --> 00:07:21,650 But that's not evolution. 176 00:07:21,650 --> 00:07:25,030 That's just restoration back to what they were. 177 00:07:25,890 --> 00:07:27,530 We're living in a world of thorns and 178 00:07:27,530 --> 00:07:30,890 thistles physically, and naturally, morally, spiritually. 179 00:07:31,410 --> 00:07:34,850 When God created the earth, the original blueprints 180 00:07:34,850 --> 00:07:38,090 did not include sin, and sickness, and disease, 181 00:07:38,370 --> 00:07:41,110 and death, and bloodshed, and wars, and earthquakes, 182 00:07:41,590 --> 00:07:43,730 and disasters, and floods, and tornadoes. 183 00:07:44,450 --> 00:07:46,950 God didn't have that in the original plan. 184 00:07:48,030 --> 00:07:50,150 Now, the weather is beautiful when it behaves. 185 00:07:50,150 --> 00:07:52,650 But sometimes it misbehaves. 186 00:07:53,310 --> 00:07:55,410 And this spring of 77 over the country 187 00:07:55,410 --> 00:07:57,050 gave us an illustration of that. 188 00:07:58,130 --> 00:08:01,390 I preached along the Gulf Coast way back 189 00:08:01,390 --> 00:08:05,870 when Camille, that awful, awful hurricane hit the 190 00:08:05,870 --> 00:08:06,270 coast. 191 00:08:06,690 --> 00:08:08,470 Never forget what the people said. 192 00:08:09,010 --> 00:08:10,550 They said next morning you couldn't hear a 193 00:08:10,550 --> 00:08:11,210 bird singing. 194 00:08:11,330 --> 00:08:12,510 People talked in whispers. 195 00:08:13,170 --> 00:08:14,950 One man said everything I had in this 196 00:08:14,950 --> 00:08:16,030 world just disappeared. 197 00:08:16,150 --> 00:08:16,930 I don't know where it went. 198 00:08:18,370 --> 00:08:20,970 Now, God didn't plan that in the original 199 00:08:20,970 --> 00:08:21,790 blueprints. 200 00:08:23,290 --> 00:08:25,850 The Bible doesn't explain how God began. 201 00:08:25,990 --> 00:08:27,650 It starts in the beginning, God. 202 00:08:28,670 --> 00:08:31,150 It doesn't explain the problem of evil in 203 00:08:31,150 --> 00:08:32,309 the beginning, the serpent. 204 00:08:32,470 --> 00:08:33,370 That's what you have. 205 00:08:34,150 --> 00:08:36,289 When man listened to the devil instead of 206 00:08:36,289 --> 00:08:38,169 to God, God said from here on you 207 00:08:38,169 --> 00:08:39,210 sweat it out. 208 00:08:39,990 --> 00:08:40,909 I just read it. 209 00:08:41,510 --> 00:08:43,950 We invent machines to get out of work. 210 00:08:44,050 --> 00:08:45,830 We're headed for a three-day work week, 211 00:08:45,950 --> 00:08:46,370 I guess. 212 00:08:46,370 --> 00:08:48,150 Although God said work six. 213 00:08:48,770 --> 00:08:50,370 We're still under the sentence. 214 00:08:51,010 --> 00:08:52,070 We try to escape. 215 00:08:52,250 --> 00:08:54,090 We get all tangled up in thorns and 216 00:08:54,090 --> 00:08:57,470 thistles, the invisible and the visible kind. 217 00:08:58,170 --> 00:08:59,210 I get amused. 218 00:08:59,370 --> 00:09:00,830 I'm in Florida a lot in the winter 219 00:09:00,830 --> 00:09:02,690 and I watch all these folks come in, 220 00:09:02,770 --> 00:09:04,150 you know, trying to get away from it 221 00:09:04,150 --> 00:09:04,470 all. 222 00:09:04,810 --> 00:09:06,230 They got it all with them. 223 00:09:08,680 --> 00:09:12,080 They got all the furniture they can lug 224 00:09:12,080 --> 00:09:14,160 and the wife and the kids and the 225 00:09:14,160 --> 00:09:14,600 dog. 226 00:09:14,600 --> 00:09:17,560 I watch them unload one morning, load up 227 00:09:17,560 --> 00:09:18,220 next morning. 228 00:09:18,820 --> 00:09:20,340 I don't call that a vacation. 229 00:09:20,840 --> 00:09:21,960 They didn't get away from it. 230 00:09:22,440 --> 00:09:24,200 They've got it right there with them. 231 00:09:24,760 --> 00:09:26,440 And we're trying to get away, but the 232 00:09:26,440 --> 00:09:31,340 whole creation groans and travails together, waiting for 233 00:09:31,340 --> 00:09:33,980 the redemption and manifestation of the sons of 234 00:09:33,980 --> 00:09:34,320 God. 235 00:09:35,420 --> 00:09:36,700 I'm a birdwatcher. 236 00:09:36,760 --> 00:09:38,020 I make no apologies. 237 00:09:38,360 --> 00:09:40,900 John Stott of England is a birdwatcher. 238 00:09:40,900 --> 00:09:42,000 He preached the other Sunday. 239 00:09:42,280 --> 00:09:44,340 They say in his church on consider the 240 00:09:44,340 --> 00:09:45,140 fowls of the air. 241 00:09:45,220 --> 00:09:47,240 And he said that means watch birds. 242 00:09:48,400 --> 00:09:49,580 Well, it does. 243 00:09:49,700 --> 00:09:50,620 And I watch them. 244 00:09:51,180 --> 00:09:52,860 And my favorite's the wood thrush. 245 00:09:52,960 --> 00:09:54,720 And I've stood many a time in the 246 00:09:54,720 --> 00:09:57,160 late afternoon and listened to that flutist. 247 00:09:57,360 --> 00:09:59,560 He's the flutist among the birds. 248 00:10:00,320 --> 00:10:00,580 Hello. 249 00:10:02,200 --> 00:10:03,860 Who was it the other day said if 250 00:10:03,860 --> 00:10:06,300 a man seven feet tall came along blowing 251 00:10:06,300 --> 00:10:08,180 a flute, what would you say? 252 00:10:08,180 --> 00:10:09,700 And the other fellow said I'd call that 253 00:10:09,700 --> 00:10:10,540 highfalutin. 254 00:10:11,660 --> 00:10:14,640 Well, the wood thrush does a lot of 255 00:10:14,640 --> 00:10:15,320 highfalutin. 256 00:10:15,860 --> 00:10:17,200 And I love it. 257 00:10:17,260 --> 00:10:18,080 And I love it. 258 00:10:18,680 --> 00:10:21,780 And yet, you know, beloved, sometimes as I 259 00:10:21,780 --> 00:10:23,620 listen to that and to others of the 260 00:10:23,620 --> 00:10:28,220 songsters that God has given us, I can't 261 00:10:28,220 --> 00:10:30,580 prove it, and you can't disprove it. 262 00:10:30,640 --> 00:10:34,740 I could quote Dr. Robertson, the great Greek 263 00:10:34,740 --> 00:10:35,100 scholar. 264 00:10:35,100 --> 00:10:39,500 I could quote some of our hymn writers, 265 00:10:39,720 --> 00:10:40,700 old John Keeble. 266 00:10:40,860 --> 00:10:43,160 I could quote him and Goethe, the German 267 00:10:43,160 --> 00:10:43,660 writer. 268 00:10:43,820 --> 00:10:45,480 We're all just saying it. 269 00:10:45,600 --> 00:10:49,180 But I have a feeling, you have a 270 00:10:49,180 --> 00:10:51,720 sense of something there that you can't quite 271 00:10:51,720 --> 00:10:55,360 describe, a longing on the part of a 272 00:10:55,360 --> 00:10:59,320 creation under the reign of tooth and claw, 273 00:11:00,480 --> 00:11:03,900 a longing for something out on the edge 274 00:11:03,900 --> 00:11:05,080 of the Sahara Desert. 275 00:11:05,260 --> 00:11:07,180 Two men were trying to sleep one night, 276 00:11:07,340 --> 00:11:08,060 and they couldn't. 277 00:11:08,180 --> 00:11:11,200 One couldn't because of an unearthly sound. 278 00:11:12,300 --> 00:11:13,700 And he woke up there and said, What 279 00:11:13,700 --> 00:11:14,400 is that? 280 00:11:15,280 --> 00:11:18,540 The other said, That's the desert sighing. 281 00:11:18,780 --> 00:11:20,980 And that's a pretty good description. 282 00:11:22,020 --> 00:11:24,640 We're living in a creation that's sighing. 283 00:11:25,500 --> 00:11:28,160 And after Adam and Eve disobeyed God, he 284 00:11:28,160 --> 00:11:31,240 started a new plan of redemption for humanity 285 00:11:31,240 --> 00:11:33,240 and for the whole creation, called out the 286 00:11:33,240 --> 00:11:35,200 Hebrew nation to be the channel through which 287 00:11:35,200 --> 00:11:36,300 the Savior would come. 288 00:11:36,780 --> 00:11:38,980 And then he led them into the promised 289 00:11:38,980 --> 00:11:41,000 land, and when they had conquered much of 290 00:11:41,000 --> 00:11:42,840 it and settled, he gave them a warning 291 00:11:42,840 --> 00:11:43,880 about thorns. 292 00:11:45,360 --> 00:11:48,900 Said in Numbers 33, If you don't drive 293 00:11:48,900 --> 00:11:51,040 out the inhabitants of the land from before 294 00:11:51,040 --> 00:11:53,120 you, then it shall come to pass that 295 00:11:53,120 --> 00:11:55,340 those which you let remain of them shall 296 00:11:55,340 --> 00:11:57,840 be pricks in your eyes and thorns in 297 00:11:57,840 --> 00:12:00,000 your sides and shall vex you in the 298 00:12:00,000 --> 00:12:00,960 land wherein you dwell. 299 00:12:01,060 --> 00:12:03,580 And Joshua says almost the same thing. 300 00:12:03,780 --> 00:12:05,840 If ye do in any wise go back 301 00:12:05,840 --> 00:12:07,820 and cleave unto the remnant of those nations, 302 00:12:08,980 --> 00:12:11,300 even these which remain among you shall make 303 00:12:11,300 --> 00:12:13,260 marriages with them and go in unto them. 304 00:12:13,360 --> 00:12:15,000 And they to you know for a certainty 305 00:12:15,000 --> 00:12:17,640 that the Lord your God will no more 306 00:12:17,640 --> 00:12:19,720 drive out any of these nations from before 307 00:12:19,720 --> 00:12:22,020 you, but they shall be snares and traps 308 00:12:22,020 --> 00:12:24,080 unto you and scourges in your eyes and 309 00:12:24,080 --> 00:12:26,880 thorns in your eyes until ye perish from 310 00:12:26,880 --> 00:12:28,680 off the good land which the Lord your 311 00:12:28,680 --> 00:12:29,720 God giveth thee. 312 00:12:30,080 --> 00:12:32,680 Now there's the second of the thorns, the 313 00:12:32,680 --> 00:12:35,000 thorns of the Canaanites, and we still have 314 00:12:35,000 --> 00:12:35,260 them. 315 00:12:35,780 --> 00:12:38,440 It's amazing how the Jews have retained their 316 00:12:38,440 --> 00:12:40,340 identity through all these centuries. 317 00:12:40,560 --> 00:12:42,720 You find them everywhere, and they've never been 318 00:12:42,720 --> 00:12:43,360 assimilated. 319 00:12:43,560 --> 00:12:46,520 We Christians are a chosen generation, a royal 320 00:12:46,520 --> 00:12:47,960 priesthood, a holy people. 321 00:12:47,960 --> 00:12:50,840 And Jesus came first to the low sheep 322 00:12:50,840 --> 00:12:52,380 of the house of Israel, and his own 323 00:12:52,380 --> 00:12:53,360 received him not. 324 00:12:53,800 --> 00:12:55,920 But he came to us too, and as 325 00:12:55,920 --> 00:12:57,780 many as received him, to them gave he 326 00:12:57,780 --> 00:13:00,060 power to become the sons of God, even 327 00:13:00,060 --> 00:13:01,680 to them that believe on his name. 328 00:13:01,900 --> 00:13:04,860 The only race questioned with God is the 329 00:13:04,860 --> 00:13:06,600 once-born and the twice-born. 330 00:13:06,720 --> 00:13:08,440 That's the only races there are in the 331 00:13:08,440 --> 00:13:09,780 sight of Almighty God. 332 00:13:10,420 --> 00:13:13,000 And we are told to be careful about 333 00:13:13,000 --> 00:13:16,140 these Canaanites, the wrong company. 334 00:13:16,760 --> 00:13:19,280 God wants his people to be different and 335 00:13:19,280 --> 00:13:22,440 distinct and separate from the world, not necessarily 336 00:13:22,440 --> 00:13:25,760 always physical separation, because as 1 Corinthians 6 337 00:13:25,760 --> 00:13:28,040 .10 says, you'd have to leave the world. 338 00:13:28,460 --> 00:13:30,980 John 17 in the high priestly prayer of 339 00:13:30,980 --> 00:13:34,560 our Lord tells us, we've been saved out 340 00:13:34,560 --> 00:13:36,280 of the world, we're still in the world, 341 00:13:36,380 --> 00:13:37,680 but we're not of the world. 342 00:13:38,060 --> 00:13:39,640 But we've been saved out of the world 343 00:13:39,640 --> 00:13:41,380 to go right back into the world, to 344 00:13:41,380 --> 00:13:43,380 win other people out of the world, and 345 00:13:43,380 --> 00:13:45,140 that's the only business we have in this 346 00:13:45,140 --> 00:13:45,400 world. 347 00:13:46,440 --> 00:13:50,660 That's the setup, association but not assimilation. 348 00:13:51,340 --> 00:13:56,020 Don't get meshed and merged into the fabric 349 00:13:56,020 --> 00:13:57,320 of this age. 350 00:13:57,420 --> 00:14:00,000 Romans 12.2, one of the translations says, 351 00:14:00,340 --> 00:14:03,000 don't let this world squeeze you into its 352 00:14:03,000 --> 00:14:03,460 mold. 353 00:14:03,860 --> 00:14:05,920 That's what's going on today in the professing 354 00:14:05,920 --> 00:14:06,300 church. 355 00:14:06,420 --> 00:14:08,600 It's being taken over by the world and 356 00:14:08,600 --> 00:14:10,740 will end in the Babylon of Revelation and 357 00:14:10,740 --> 00:14:11,600 the world church. 358 00:14:11,940 --> 00:14:13,840 We must watch the company we keep. 359 00:14:13,940 --> 00:14:16,160 Evil communications corrupt good manners. 360 00:14:16,520 --> 00:14:18,260 Birds of a feather flock together. 361 00:14:18,720 --> 00:14:20,720 That woman who wanted to look over a 362 00:14:20,720 --> 00:14:23,280 coal mine and see what it was like 363 00:14:23,280 --> 00:14:25,460 down there and wearing a white dress was 364 00:14:25,460 --> 00:14:27,360 told by the man at the entrance, better 365 00:14:27,360 --> 00:14:29,240 not wear that, what's to hinder me? 366 00:14:29,380 --> 00:14:31,600 She said, nothing to hinder you from wearing 367 00:14:31,600 --> 00:14:33,300 one down, but a lot to hinder you 368 00:14:33,300 --> 00:14:34,700 from wearing one back out. 369 00:14:35,260 --> 00:14:37,580 And so when you get into this world 370 00:14:37,580 --> 00:14:40,400 and yield to it, watch it, watch it. 371 00:14:41,220 --> 00:14:45,180 2 Corinthians 6, 14 to 18 lists all 372 00:14:45,180 --> 00:14:47,460 those things we're not to team up with 373 00:14:47,460 --> 00:14:50,540 and ends up what contoured, and that's the 374 00:14:50,540 --> 00:14:53,880 Latinish word for the musical term in the 375 00:14:53,880 --> 00:14:55,380 original for symphony. 376 00:14:55,880 --> 00:14:58,920 What symphony hath Christ and Belial? 377 00:14:59,020 --> 00:14:59,500 None. 378 00:14:59,720 --> 00:15:01,000 They don't harmonize. 379 00:15:01,660 --> 00:15:03,560 Teddy Roosevelt was a great American. 380 00:15:03,560 --> 00:15:06,060 And during World War I, he spoke of 381 00:15:06,060 --> 00:15:09,260 German Americans as hyphenated Americans. 382 00:15:09,860 --> 00:15:12,040 And he said, if you're an American in 383 00:15:12,040 --> 00:15:14,220 something else, you're not an American. 384 00:15:14,600 --> 00:15:16,980 He said, this is not a polyglot boarding 385 00:15:16,980 --> 00:15:17,960 house over here. 386 00:15:18,160 --> 00:15:19,400 That's a great statement. 387 00:15:19,720 --> 00:15:21,620 But we have some hyphenated Christians. 388 00:15:21,800 --> 00:15:24,380 We call them worldly Christians, which is a 389 00:15:24,380 --> 00:15:24,940 misnomer. 390 00:15:25,360 --> 00:15:27,100 Billy Sunday used to say, you might as 391 00:15:27,100 --> 00:15:28,720 well talk about a heavenly devil. 392 00:15:29,500 --> 00:15:31,780 A worldly Christian is a hyphenated sort of 393 00:15:31,780 --> 00:15:32,300 a character. 394 00:15:32,300 --> 00:15:34,300 The friend of the world is the enemy 395 00:15:34,300 --> 00:15:34,960 of God. 396 00:15:36,200 --> 00:15:40,720 There's another thorn, and you've already anticipated me, 397 00:15:40,800 --> 00:15:43,800 I'm sure, in 2 Corinthians 12, Paul's thorn 398 00:15:43,800 --> 00:15:44,820 in the flesh. 399 00:15:44,900 --> 00:15:45,460 What was it? 400 00:15:45,480 --> 00:15:46,120 I don't know. 401 00:15:46,500 --> 00:15:47,320 It might have been yours. 402 00:15:47,440 --> 00:15:48,240 It might have been mine. 403 00:15:48,340 --> 00:15:49,360 I'm glad I don't know. 404 00:15:49,700 --> 00:15:50,900 Maybe it was eye trouble. 405 00:15:51,220 --> 00:15:53,320 It was an affliction that God wouldn't take 406 00:15:53,320 --> 00:15:53,720 away. 407 00:15:54,180 --> 00:15:56,220 And the great preacher who had healed others 408 00:15:56,220 --> 00:15:58,860 was not delivered himself of whatever plague or 409 00:15:58,860 --> 00:16:01,740 infirmity of body, mind, or spirit it was. 410 00:16:02,660 --> 00:16:04,340 But he understood it. 411 00:16:04,480 --> 00:16:06,820 He called it the messenger of Satan. 412 00:16:07,260 --> 00:16:09,520 I believe in giving the devil his due 413 00:16:09,520 --> 00:16:10,820 about this sort of thing. 414 00:16:11,340 --> 00:16:13,880 He gloried in infirmity, but he did not 415 00:16:13,880 --> 00:16:15,540 glorify the infirmity. 416 00:16:15,640 --> 00:16:17,080 Let's get that thing straight. 417 00:16:17,520 --> 00:16:20,820 Jesus said, this woman whom Satan hath bound, 418 00:16:21,160 --> 00:16:22,440 that's the right origin. 419 00:16:23,040 --> 00:16:25,260 And Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, I meant 420 00:16:25,260 --> 00:16:26,420 to visit you folks. 421 00:16:26,420 --> 00:16:28,640 He didn't say, like we preachers do so 422 00:16:28,640 --> 00:16:32,580 nicely sometimes, I was providentially detained. 423 00:16:33,160 --> 00:16:34,040 He didn't say that. 424 00:16:34,100 --> 00:16:35,600 He said the devil hindered me. 425 00:16:37,100 --> 00:16:38,520 And that's what happened. 426 00:16:39,620 --> 00:16:43,320 God permits Satan to afflict Job, but don't 427 00:16:43,320 --> 00:16:44,240 blame God. 428 00:16:45,500 --> 00:16:48,020 Sickness, disease, and death, and all our other 429 00:16:48,020 --> 00:16:51,200 thorns are of the devil, if you trace 430 00:16:51,200 --> 00:16:52,360 them far enough back. 431 00:16:52,360 --> 00:16:56,100 But God can overrule him and glorify himself, 432 00:16:56,260 --> 00:16:57,800 as he did with Lazarus. 433 00:16:57,900 --> 00:17:00,060 And as our Lord said to Peter, when 434 00:17:00,060 --> 00:17:02,320 he spoke of what death he should, by 435 00:17:02,320 --> 00:17:04,180 what death he should glorify God. 436 00:17:05,400 --> 00:17:09,020 Sometimes God sharpens the axe on the devil's 437 00:17:09,020 --> 00:17:09,960 grindstone. 438 00:17:10,760 --> 00:17:12,780 But it takes this whole world to make 439 00:17:12,780 --> 00:17:14,740 the kind of characters God wants to make 440 00:17:14,740 --> 00:17:16,400 out of us while he conforms us to 441 00:17:16,400 --> 00:17:17,319 the image of his Son. 442 00:17:17,560 --> 00:17:19,440 You can't sharpen an axe on a pound 443 00:17:19,440 --> 00:17:19,920 of butter. 444 00:17:19,920 --> 00:17:21,839 It takes a grindstone. 445 00:17:23,099 --> 00:17:25,780 Some of the greatest saints have made their 446 00:17:25,780 --> 00:17:28,320 way through this world with afflicted bodies and 447 00:17:28,320 --> 00:17:32,300 tortured minds, and sometimes home problems and financial 448 00:17:32,300 --> 00:17:35,860 distress and tragic circumstances, and our little pat 449 00:17:35,860 --> 00:17:38,880 answers don't explain it. 450 00:17:39,720 --> 00:17:42,260 Sometimes awful things happen to the children of 451 00:17:42,260 --> 00:17:42,660 God. 452 00:17:43,100 --> 00:17:45,140 I'm getting tired of this new gospel of 453 00:17:45,140 --> 00:17:46,400 prosperity I'm hearing. 454 00:17:47,240 --> 00:17:49,300 Be a Christian, you'll be a millionaire. 455 00:17:51,200 --> 00:17:52,980 Every Christian a millionaire. 456 00:17:56,480 --> 00:17:58,880 I don't buy that. 457 00:18:00,240 --> 00:18:03,300 Make a positive affirmation every morning before breakfast, 458 00:18:03,440 --> 00:18:05,200 and you'll be president of the company before 459 00:18:05,200 --> 00:18:05,700 you're 40. 460 00:18:06,660 --> 00:18:09,080 There was a young man from Kilpican whose 461 00:18:09,080 --> 00:18:10,960 nose was as red as a beacon, but 462 00:18:10,960 --> 00:18:13,700 by saying it's white 30 times day and 463 00:18:13,700 --> 00:18:16,020 night, he cured it and died an archdeacon. 464 00:18:16,440 --> 00:18:18,020 I don't believe that sort of business. 465 00:18:18,960 --> 00:18:20,620 I heard something else in my Bible. 466 00:18:22,710 --> 00:18:24,890 God didn't say to John the Baptist, Now, 467 00:18:24,950 --> 00:18:26,650 John, you've been faithful to me, and I'm 468 00:18:26,650 --> 00:18:27,430 going to reward you. 469 00:18:27,530 --> 00:18:28,770 I'm going to give you a good old 470 00:18:28,770 --> 00:18:29,650 age retirement. 471 00:18:30,470 --> 00:18:31,790 He sat in the jail waiting to have 472 00:18:31,790 --> 00:18:33,690 his head chopped off, and another one in 473 00:18:33,690 --> 00:18:36,450 the same predicament later on was Paul. 474 00:18:37,010 --> 00:18:38,970 God didn't say, Now, we're going to get 475 00:18:38,970 --> 00:18:41,290 you a villa out on the Riviera somewhere 476 00:18:41,290 --> 00:18:43,730 and let you write your memoirs. 477 00:18:46,030 --> 00:18:47,690 It didn't work out that way. 478 00:18:48,650 --> 00:18:51,470 I know Hebrews 11 lists a great many 479 00:18:51,470 --> 00:18:54,930 wonderful folks who marched over all obstacles, but 480 00:18:54,930 --> 00:18:56,130 right in the middle of it all it 481 00:18:56,130 --> 00:18:59,450 says, And others, and some of them were 482 00:18:59,450 --> 00:19:02,670 sown asunder, and that's a rough way to 483 00:19:02,670 --> 00:19:03,570 leave this world. 484 00:19:05,850 --> 00:19:08,990 We have a great Presbyterian preacher down my 485 00:19:08,990 --> 00:19:13,190 way, the very first Presbyterian church in Chattanooga, 486 00:19:13,910 --> 00:19:16,870 Dr. Ben Haden, a great preacher. 487 00:19:17,670 --> 00:19:20,190 The other Sunday I sat there, and I 488 00:19:20,190 --> 00:19:21,970 get him on Sunday morning when I'm home 489 00:19:21,970 --> 00:19:23,170 and television. 490 00:19:24,790 --> 00:19:27,770 He told something that Donald Gray Barnhouse told 491 00:19:27,770 --> 00:19:28,130 him. 492 00:19:28,890 --> 00:19:31,710 Dr. Barnhouse was somewhere for a conference, and 493 00:19:31,710 --> 00:19:35,250 the young pastor and his wife were expecting 494 00:19:35,250 --> 00:19:39,210 their first child, and they had some good 495 00:19:39,210 --> 00:19:42,150 -natured bantering through the week as the time 496 00:19:42,150 --> 00:19:42,870 drew near. 497 00:19:43,730 --> 00:19:46,050 About Friday night, I think it was, Dr. 498 00:19:46,110 --> 00:19:48,010 Barnhouse said, The preacher didn't get there, and 499 00:19:48,010 --> 00:19:52,650 I knew what that meant, and I went 500 00:19:52,650 --> 00:19:53,810 ahead and took over the meeting. 501 00:19:54,630 --> 00:19:56,970 He said right at the close of my 502 00:19:56,970 --> 00:19:58,570 message, I saw him slip in and sit 503 00:19:58,570 --> 00:19:59,170 at the back. 504 00:20:00,610 --> 00:20:03,030 He came down, and I never saw such 505 00:20:03,030 --> 00:20:05,110 a picture of dejection and misery. 506 00:20:05,690 --> 00:20:07,470 In all my heart. 507 00:20:08,330 --> 00:20:11,810 And he said, Doctor, we are the parents 508 00:20:11,810 --> 00:20:15,910 of a mongoloid child, and my wife doesn't 509 00:20:15,910 --> 00:20:18,910 know it yet, and what on earth am 510 00:20:18,910 --> 00:20:19,670 I going to say? 511 00:20:20,930 --> 00:20:23,170 And the doctor helped him as much as 512 00:20:23,170 --> 00:20:23,650 he could. 513 00:20:23,990 --> 00:20:25,850 He went to the hospital and told her, 514 00:20:25,950 --> 00:20:28,110 and she went to pieces momentarily, but she 515 00:20:28,110 --> 00:20:28,970 was a real Christian. 516 00:20:29,590 --> 00:20:30,370 She came out of it. 517 00:20:30,370 --> 00:20:32,390 She said, I'm going to call up Mother 518 00:20:32,390 --> 00:20:35,590 and tell her that God has given us 519 00:20:35,590 --> 00:20:37,490 a mongoloid child. 520 00:20:38,470 --> 00:20:41,210 She put the call in, and the switchboard 521 00:20:41,210 --> 00:20:43,910 operator was a hard-boiled character. 522 00:20:44,630 --> 00:20:48,930 This woman didn't have any faith in Jesus 523 00:20:48,930 --> 00:20:49,410 Christ. 524 00:20:49,610 --> 00:20:51,050 She heard it, of course. 525 00:20:51,130 --> 00:20:52,030 She got the connection. 526 00:20:52,270 --> 00:20:53,630 She knew what had happened. 527 00:20:54,490 --> 00:20:56,450 Now, she said to a friend, we'll see 528 00:20:56,450 --> 00:20:57,910 whether this thing works or not. 529 00:20:58,990 --> 00:21:01,070 We'll see about this religion business. 530 00:21:02,270 --> 00:21:06,190 And when Mother answered, this Mother said, Mama, 531 00:21:06,530 --> 00:21:09,570 God has given us a mongoloid child. 532 00:21:10,150 --> 00:21:13,710 And then she went on with her testimony. 533 00:21:16,160 --> 00:21:18,360 Next Sunday, the young preacher got up to 534 00:21:18,360 --> 00:21:20,200 preach and gave his message. 535 00:21:21,120 --> 00:21:23,440 Then came down, gave an invitation, dropped his 536 00:21:23,440 --> 00:21:23,700 head. 537 00:21:23,800 --> 00:21:27,500 He didn't really think many folks would come. 538 00:21:28,960 --> 00:21:32,040 When he opened his eyes, there stood the 539 00:21:32,040 --> 00:21:33,060 telephone operator. 540 00:21:35,470 --> 00:21:37,210 She had seen it work. 541 00:21:38,730 --> 00:21:41,290 And whatever it was that could do that, 542 00:21:42,370 --> 00:21:42,890 she wanted. 543 00:21:44,070 --> 00:21:46,550 Well, sometimes God works it out that way. 544 00:21:47,470 --> 00:21:49,610 Paul went from height to depth and then 545 00:21:49,610 --> 00:21:52,150 stopped midway on the happy medium. 546 00:21:52,810 --> 00:21:54,510 And the most important thing in your life 547 00:21:54,510 --> 00:21:57,470 is not a trip to third heaven, nor 548 00:21:57,470 --> 00:21:59,610 even deliverance from a thorn in the flesh 549 00:21:59,610 --> 00:22:02,030 if you had it, but learning that God's 550 00:22:02,030 --> 00:22:04,330 grace is sufficient when we're weak or strong, 551 00:22:04,650 --> 00:22:08,030 when we've exhausted our store of endurance, when 552 00:22:08,030 --> 00:22:10,370 our strength fails ere the day is half 553 00:22:10,370 --> 00:22:12,690 done, when we reach the end of our 554 00:22:12,690 --> 00:22:16,470 hoarded resources, our Father's love has only begun. 555 00:22:16,930 --> 00:22:18,230 His love has no limit. 556 00:22:18,270 --> 00:22:19,710 His grace has no measure. 557 00:22:19,830 --> 00:22:22,670 His power, no boundary known unto men. 558 00:22:22,670 --> 00:22:25,510 For out of his infinite riches in Jesus 559 00:22:25,510 --> 00:22:28,530 he giveth and giveth and giveth again. 560 00:22:28,890 --> 00:22:31,310 It's worth a thorn in the flesh sometimes 561 00:22:31,310 --> 00:22:32,370 to learn that. 562 00:22:33,630 --> 00:22:36,190 And sometimes that's the only way some folks 563 00:22:36,190 --> 00:22:36,630 are learning. 564 00:22:38,290 --> 00:22:41,410 But there's one other thorn reference, and I 565 00:22:41,410 --> 00:22:44,250 think you have already preceded me there. 566 00:22:46,780 --> 00:22:49,020 Is there no deliverance from the thorns of 567 00:22:49,020 --> 00:22:51,380 creation and the thorns of Canaan and the 568 00:22:51,380 --> 00:22:52,460 thorns of the Christian? 569 00:22:53,580 --> 00:22:54,260 Yes. 570 00:22:55,100 --> 00:23:01,080 Because I read in Mark 15 and John 571 00:23:01,080 --> 00:23:07,100 19 of a crown of thorns, and when 572 00:23:07,100 --> 00:23:11,900 those soldiers jammed it down over the already 573 00:23:11,900 --> 00:23:17,040 bleeding head of my Lord, little did they 574 00:23:17,040 --> 00:23:19,680 know what it meant, any more than Caiaphas 575 00:23:19,680 --> 00:23:22,040 did when he made that strange prophecy when 576 00:23:22,040 --> 00:23:25,420 God momentarily restored inspiration to him and he 577 00:23:25,420 --> 00:23:28,360 prophesied the gathering of the nations. 578 00:23:30,080 --> 00:23:33,300 But that crown of thorns is emblematic and 579 00:23:33,300 --> 00:23:35,760 symbolic of all thorns of all time. 580 00:23:36,600 --> 00:23:39,380 Thorny creation ruined the sin in an evil 581 00:23:39,380 --> 00:23:42,560 society like the Canaanites, and thorns in the 582 00:23:42,560 --> 00:23:44,580 flesh that torment the people of God, it 583 00:23:44,580 --> 00:23:46,800 all laid on him. 584 00:23:47,660 --> 00:23:50,020 And one day he who wore a crown 585 00:23:50,020 --> 00:23:52,180 of thorns will return with a crown of 586 00:23:52,180 --> 00:23:52,760 triumph. 587 00:23:53,260 --> 00:23:55,440 Our redemption draweth nigh. 588 00:23:55,960 --> 00:23:57,980 Creation shall be redeemed. 589 00:23:58,460 --> 00:24:00,260 The original beauty restored. 590 00:24:00,800 --> 00:24:02,260 You say, I don't see it now. 591 00:24:02,340 --> 00:24:03,180 No, you don't. 592 00:24:03,700 --> 00:24:04,420 It's coming. 593 00:24:05,720 --> 00:24:08,500 Some of you could use a new body. 594 00:24:11,660 --> 00:24:13,400 I can look at you and tell that 595 00:24:13,400 --> 00:24:16,420 the original equipment is showing signs of wear 596 00:24:16,420 --> 00:24:17,060 and tear. 597 00:24:20,780 --> 00:24:23,480 Looking at me through your trifocals, you've got 598 00:24:23,480 --> 00:24:25,120 your teeth in your pocket, maybe. 599 00:24:29,470 --> 00:24:31,250 You know what I think of when I 600 00:24:31,250 --> 00:24:32,950 look in the mirror, the verse that hits 601 00:24:32,950 --> 00:24:33,250 me? 602 00:24:33,450 --> 00:24:36,070 It doth not yet appear what we shall 603 00:24:36,070 --> 00:24:36,290 be. 604 00:24:40,800 --> 00:24:43,320 But don't get too blue about it if 605 00:24:43,320 --> 00:24:44,320 you know the Lord. 606 00:24:44,480 --> 00:24:46,200 You know one thing that sort of amuses 607 00:24:46,200 --> 00:24:48,680 me, and it often is a serious word, 608 00:24:48,820 --> 00:24:50,380 but you'll understand. 609 00:24:50,720 --> 00:24:54,260 When people talk about a terminal ailment, I 610 00:24:54,260 --> 00:24:56,180 say, well, bless my soul, we've all got 611 00:24:56,180 --> 00:24:56,380 it. 612 00:24:57,360 --> 00:24:59,620 We're going to terminate, aren't we, one of 613 00:24:59,620 --> 00:25:00,240 these days? 614 00:25:00,940 --> 00:25:03,480 And a fellow with a terminal ailment, he 615 00:25:03,480 --> 00:25:04,900 may last longer than we do. 616 00:25:04,940 --> 00:25:06,780 What do you mean a terminal ailment? 617 00:25:07,860 --> 00:25:10,620 Some things are certain and sure, but beyond 618 00:25:10,620 --> 00:25:12,000 that there's something better. 619 00:25:13,760 --> 00:25:16,360 Remember that God has an original purpose. 620 00:25:16,780 --> 00:25:20,340 The purpose of God, and that's what Romans 621 00:25:20,340 --> 00:25:21,800 8.28 is all about. 622 00:25:21,800 --> 00:25:23,660 Some folks never get any further than we 623 00:25:23,660 --> 00:25:25,460 know that all things work together for good, 624 00:25:25,560 --> 00:25:26,960 and then some get a little further to 625 00:25:26,960 --> 00:25:27,900 them that love God. 626 00:25:28,200 --> 00:25:29,980 And they never get through to the cold 627 00:25:29,980 --> 00:25:31,640 according to His purpose. 628 00:25:32,420 --> 00:25:34,140 If you're not in on the purpose, you're 629 00:25:34,140 --> 00:25:35,700 not in on anything else. 630 00:25:36,520 --> 00:25:38,260 And His purpose is a book with three 631 00:25:38,260 --> 00:25:41,040 chapters, His original purpose, His present purpose, and 632 00:25:41,040 --> 00:25:41,820 His future purpose. 633 00:25:42,180 --> 00:25:43,760 And we're in the middle of the book, 634 00:25:43,800 --> 00:25:45,540 and you don't judge any book but the 635 00:25:45,540 --> 00:25:46,440 middle of the book. 636 00:25:47,040 --> 00:25:48,980 You can't form a decent opinion of it, 637 00:25:48,980 --> 00:25:50,800 and if you get discouraged over the way 638 00:25:50,800 --> 00:25:52,880 things are going with you, cheer up, sister, 639 00:25:53,060 --> 00:25:53,320 brother. 640 00:25:53,980 --> 00:25:55,560 It's the middle of the book. 641 00:25:56,400 --> 00:25:58,360 You can't decide things by that. 642 00:25:59,200 --> 00:26:01,920 Keep your eyes on the eastern sky, and 643 00:26:01,920 --> 00:26:03,520 I think that ought to be written out 644 00:26:03,520 --> 00:26:08,770 with a capital E, the middle eastern sky, 645 00:26:09,270 --> 00:26:12,670 for your redemption groweth nigh. 646 00:26:13,270 --> 00:26:14,730 God's going to keep His word. 647 00:26:15,290 --> 00:26:17,530 And one of these days, instead of the 648 00:26:17,530 --> 00:26:21,670 thorn shall come up the fir tree, and 649 00:26:21,670 --> 00:26:23,370 instead of the briar shall come up the 650 00:26:23,370 --> 00:26:25,910 myrtle tree, when He comes back. 651 00:26:26,330 --> 00:26:28,090 In the meantime, we ought to taste the 652 00:26:28,090 --> 00:26:30,410 powers of the age that is to come. 653 00:26:31,430 --> 00:26:33,830 Now, nothing's ever lost if you're in the 654 00:26:33,830 --> 00:26:34,470 will of God. 655 00:26:34,970 --> 00:26:37,570 Even your tears are in His bottle, Psalm 656 00:26:37,570 --> 00:26:38,550 56a. 657 00:26:38,650 --> 00:26:40,250 Did you know God is in the bottling 658 00:26:40,250 --> 00:26:40,770 business? 659 00:26:41,770 --> 00:26:46,750 A lady down in St. Petersburg, a newspaper 660 00:26:46,750 --> 00:26:49,210 writer in one of the papers, a religion 661 00:26:49,210 --> 00:26:51,110 writer, she told me that her eyes were 662 00:26:51,110 --> 00:26:53,470 damaged some time ago in a TV studio 663 00:26:53,470 --> 00:26:56,410 by overexposure to the bright light, and she 664 00:26:56,410 --> 00:26:57,830 went to the eye doctor and he said, 665 00:26:57,930 --> 00:26:59,910 Do you know what the best eye medicine 666 00:26:59,910 --> 00:27:00,510 is? 667 00:27:01,190 --> 00:27:02,150 It's tears. 668 00:27:04,680 --> 00:27:08,120 He said no scientist and no doctor has 669 00:27:08,120 --> 00:27:11,380 ever been able to come up with an 670 00:27:11,380 --> 00:27:17,140 exact match for tears. 671 00:27:17,960 --> 00:27:19,660 And you see a lot of things through 672 00:27:19,660 --> 00:27:21,160 them that you don't see otherwise. 673 00:27:22,020 --> 00:27:25,880 Our Lord says that two sparrows are sold 674 00:27:25,880 --> 00:27:33,400 for one farthing, and five sparrows for two 675 00:27:33,400 --> 00:27:34,080 farthings. 676 00:27:34,740 --> 00:27:37,040 When you spend two farthings, you get an 677 00:27:37,040 --> 00:27:39,920 odd sparrow, and you just throw him in. 678 00:27:40,700 --> 00:27:42,520 And yet the Lord says God knows about 679 00:27:42,520 --> 00:27:43,060 him too. 680 00:27:43,840 --> 00:27:45,360 I got interested in that the other day, 681 00:27:45,500 --> 00:27:47,640 the God of the odd sparrow. 682 00:27:48,760 --> 00:27:50,580 If you think you don't amount to much, 683 00:27:50,700 --> 00:27:52,220 think of the little girls that lay in 684 00:27:52,220 --> 00:27:54,780 the children's hospital, and one of them was 685 00:27:54,780 --> 00:27:55,920 little Amy and Annie. 686 00:27:56,380 --> 00:27:58,400 And Amy said, I ought to pray, but 687 00:27:58,400 --> 00:28:00,840 does God even know I'm here with all 688 00:28:00,840 --> 00:28:02,340 these beds full of people? 689 00:28:03,580 --> 00:28:06,480 And Annie said, put out your arms and 690 00:28:06,480 --> 00:28:08,840 leave them on the outside of the bed, 691 00:28:08,940 --> 00:28:11,360 and then when you pray, make it very 692 00:28:11,360 --> 00:28:14,500 plain to God that I'm the little girl 693 00:28:14,500 --> 00:28:17,180 with my hands out on the counterpane. 694 00:28:18,040 --> 00:28:21,020 Well, that's a precious thing, but does Jesus 695 00:28:21,020 --> 00:28:21,520 care? 696 00:28:21,680 --> 00:28:22,500 Yes, he does. 697 00:28:24,800 --> 00:28:26,660 And when some people say there's too many 698 00:28:26,660 --> 00:28:28,680 beds in the ward and God's got a 699 00:28:28,680 --> 00:28:31,820 trillion worlds to look after, he couldn't be 700 00:28:31,820 --> 00:28:32,500 bothered with me. 701 00:28:32,500 --> 00:28:34,040 If you think God's too great, listen, friend, 702 00:28:34,100 --> 00:28:35,360 you're making him too little. 703 00:28:37,590 --> 00:28:40,470 If he's infinite, it all depends on that. 704 00:28:40,530 --> 00:28:42,610 If he's infinite, if he knows everything, he's 705 00:28:42,610 --> 00:28:45,630 all-powerful and present everywhere, that ends it. 706 00:28:46,070 --> 00:28:49,210 He can handle anything, everything, everywhere. 707 00:28:50,670 --> 00:28:53,290 And so that's why my Lord came to 708 00:28:53,290 --> 00:28:55,830 deal with the thorns of creation and the 709 00:28:55,830 --> 00:28:58,050 thorns of Canaan and the thorns of the 710 00:28:58,050 --> 00:28:58,450 Christian. 711 00:28:58,850 --> 00:29:01,270 Because of the thorns of Calvary and what 712 00:29:01,270 --> 00:29:03,310 they mean, he's taken care of all the 713 00:29:03,310 --> 00:29:03,670 thorns. 714 00:29:04,730 --> 00:29:07,330 And I know nothing that we could do 715 00:29:07,330 --> 00:29:10,150 better than to sing in our hearts, King 716 00:29:10,150 --> 00:29:12,670 of my life, I crown thee now, thine 717 00:29:12,670 --> 00:29:15,630 shall the glory be, lest I forget thy 718 00:29:15,630 --> 00:29:17,430 thorn-crowned brow. 719 00:29:18,050 --> 00:29:19,010 Lead me to Calvary. 720 00:29:19,090 --> 00:29:21,250 And I want you to make this benediction 721 00:29:21,250 --> 00:29:25,390 a song right now, one verse of that 722 00:29:25,390 --> 00:29:26,770 other precious song. 723 00:29:27,710 --> 00:29:30,950 I love thee because thou hast first loved 724 00:29:30,950 --> 00:29:35,530 me and purchased my pardon on Calvary's tree. 725 00:29:36,410 --> 00:29:39,090 I love thee for wearing the thorns on 726 00:29:39,090 --> 00:29:39,870 thy brow. 727 00:29:40,810 --> 00:29:44,250 If ever I loved thee, thy Jesus is 728 00:29:44,250 --> 00:29:44,510 now.