Cantwell, Eric: God’s Will ~ Romans 8

Two verses to start this morning. Uh, Romans eight, we'll look at some familiar verses, uh, verses that should be very encouraging to us. Um, Romans eight twenty eight. Eight twenty eight. It's probably one that, uh, you have memorized, but it's good to just turn to it, and we can read it together as we begin the message. Paul writing to the Roman church, the churches at Rome. And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to his purpose. And then Ro- uh, Philippians two and thirteen, two and thirteen, Paul writing, as led by the Spirit, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to do for his good pleasure. Let's look to the Lord in a word of prayer. Father, we thank you for this day that you've given us to come together, to hear your voice through your word. We thank you that you've given us your word, that we might learn those things that we can apply in our lives. We thank you that you have not left us orphans. You desire to teach us so that we might understand your will. And Father, we just thank you for your grace and mercy. We ask for the Spirit's help today for the speaker and for the hearer, and we just pray that those things that are said that are profitable, Father, would remain, and those that are not would fall to the ground. And we just thank you that, again, that you work all these things out according to your sovereignty and your wisdom. And we pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. So, I'm pinch hitting, as Allison said today. That's, that's a, that's an appropriate phrase. Um, so we've, we're, we're, we're gonna take on a very, uh, uh, simple subject today, the will of God. Um, actually not a simple subject, obviously, but something that the Lord would have us to know. Um, in Romans eight, in this section that we started in, um, in fact, a few verses earlier, uh, the Apostle Paul reminds us that at times we don't know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit gives help to us, the Spirit of God, that is. And then we see in Romans eight twenty eight that God is working. He is working. I just want to emphasize that. God is working. You know, we need to be reminded of that, uh, because, you know, the, the, the world that we live in, uh, outside of, of this, uh, friendly auditorium, uh, which does not, not know the Lord Jesus Christ, of course, and that, that, that is most of the people that we will meet and come into contact with, those who do not live by faith, um, they, they, they don't have the worldview that we do, and we need to be encouraged ourselves as Christians to have the view that God is, as, as we, we say at times, in control. Amen? God is working, he is planning, he is leading, he is guiding, all these things. So we, uh, so while the circumstances of life vary, and we understand that, and we'll, and we'll look at some, and what I'd like to do again is look at some real application here of those who've gone before us, that God has given us some of their stories so that we might have encouragement, we might have hope, and that we might have a, a better understanding in, in, in our day, you know, the age in which we live now, the twenty first century. So God, again, is, is planning. You know, I think of verses, uh, uh, and I'll just read a few again if you're taking notes, uh, just, just to encourage us in these things. But, but when I say to you that God is working and God is planning, uh, it, it, it's- it- it should seem fundamental, but I know for myself, in the pace of life, in the busyness of life, we- we may lose sight of that because we're always planning, right? We're always making plans to do this and to do that, and to go here and to go there, and to- and to speak to this person and that person and so forth. We're- we're always doing that, and at times we may forget, right, that there's a g- a great God over us who's very much interested in all that, that we're doing. We belong to him. He cares for us, and so he, so he would certainly, uh, uh, want us to seek his will continually. And we think of this verse, Psalm thirty three eleven, for example. Uh, the counsel of the Lord stands forever. The plans of his heart to all generations, to all generations. Proverbs sixteen nine says, a man's heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps. The Lord directs his steps. That's very encouraging. You know, all throughout the, uh, the Bible, we see the Lord working and planning. Um, even in Deuteronomy eight two, again, we understand this, uh, this, this verse in the Old Testament, and it reads, and you shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness. You know, I just, I just kind of take that as a little microcosm, right? We know the nation of Israel, God's own people, right? He raised them up. He, he promised that from Abraham he would raise a people for his name that would glorify him, and, and he did that, amen? He accomplished that. He raised them up, and he, and he, and he led them out of bondage in Egypt. And he has done the same thing for us, those who know him by faith, he has done that for us. He has brought us out of sin, as it were, taken us out of of the old man, the old nature, and given us a new nature. He has done this marvelous supernatural work, and he will lead us as well. And he led his people, the nation of Israel, a a rebellious, stubborn, and stiff-necked people. Those aren't my words. Those, those are the words of scripture. He led them through the wilderness, and, and he will lead us who know him, who follow him, through this wilderness in which we live. He will do this, and we, and we need to really stand on this and rely on this, especially when the, when the storms of life assail and the winds howl and, and, and, and the water comes into the boat, so to speak, and we start to lose, uh, a little bit of our, perhaps even our faith and even our confidence in a great God who has done so much for us. So, so we'll look at s- trying to piece some of these things together this morning so that as we leave here today, again, we have this great confidence that no matter what the circumstances of our life may be now, today, this very present hour, within your family, within your job situation, uh, within your th- th- the families of your children or your grandchildren, or even our Chapel family, a- as as as we are even here today. What what as we are connected together, God is working, and he is leading, and he is guiding, and, and, and he has not left us alone. He would not have us to be alone. So these are, these are some of the thoughts that the Lord has given me in, uh, since, uh, seven thirty when I, when I received the call from our dear brother, uh, saying that he would not, uh, be able to speak today. So again, the will of God. Um, and, and this is something that we, we think about in our own lives, you know, and we've heard it said. I mean, we ask the question, wh- which, which way do I go? What should I do? Where does the Lord want me to be in a certain situation? Ha- where, what jo- how does he want to lead me in my job or my vocation or my service, or, or even my evangelism? All these things, h- how should, how should I think about these things, right? All very practical questions that we have, uh, uh, continually, I think, in our lives, knowing the will of God. Well, one thing that we read in First Thessalonians, which really kind of helps, uh, helps settle the matter, uh, in in many ways. It's just one verse of many that that speak to this, but this is the will of God for you, your sanctification. All right, it's your sanctification. We know that God's will is that we be conformed to the image of his son, that we be like the Lord Jesus. So when we say, well, what is the will of God in, in any situation? The will of God is not for me to reveal the flesh, to display the, the, the, the works of the flesh. The will of God is for me to d- is to display the fruits of the spirit, to be more like the Lord Jesus. And so that's, so that's an axiom that we can always rely on. We can stand on that verse. We can, we can say that's a sort of a headstone or a capstone, that we would be sanctified, that we would be separated. We even in the verse in Romans eight where we, where we started, it says in Romans eight that for whom he, verse twenty nine for whom he foreknew, he predestined to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. So we might say in, in Romans eight twenty nine, again, a very, a very important verse for us as Christians, that we would be conformed to the image of his son. So surely, as we learn more about Jesus, as we read of him in the word and we become acquainted with him, his, his ways, his character, his holiness, his sanctification, his separation, his gentleness, his mercy, all those things that the Lord Jesus displayed continually. That is God the Father's will for us in our day, in our, in our very day, that we, that we be like the Lord in all things. Um, we, we, and he, and, and we may, we may l- you may say, well, you know, Brother Eric, that's a very, uh, that's, we can read that. It's really hard, maybe, to put our arms around that, that that's what he's doing, that he's actually working daily to do that, but we take this by faith that that's what he's doing. He is, he is working to chip away those things, as it were, that, that are of the flesh, that, that don't please God. You know, who was it? John the Baptist who said, who said of the Lord, he must increase. Amen? I must decrease. So, you know, even in that sense, we think of John the Baptist, the prophet of God, used mightily, uh, himself. Um, we think of just that short phrase, and, you know, that might be really another way of saying, if you will, being conformed. You know, we can sort of picture that, that he must increase. In a sense, obviously, he meant that about his ministry, right? He was fading away, in a sense, right, the the ministry that John the Baptist had, uh, that God had for John the Baptist, the baptism of repentance. He would be the one who would be the forerunner. He would sort of fade away, in a sense. Jesus would take center stage, and for three or so years, he would preach the gospel of the kingdom. He would preach and teach in the area. So in that sense, literally, we would say John the Baptist took us, w- was taking a step back. But isn't it true also, and this is the wonderful thing about the word of God, it's true also for us individually, right? The Lord must increase. The, the manifestations of the Spirit must increase in our lives. We should be more like him today, let's say, than we were five years ago or ten years ago, or what, or, or whatever the case may be, deter- depending upon how old you are. I'm looking at Danny here. I can't go back too far because he'd be in the, in the, in the cradle. But, uh, in terms of, uh, in terms of our, our, our lives, our practical lives, we should be increasing in these things. And so h- how do we do that? Well, I want to look at a few examples just from scripture. Um, actually, before I do that, I just want to, um, affirm a couple of things that, that, that I'd taken, we'd taken note of. Again, the Lord in control, right? The Lord in his sovereignty, God leading and guiding in all these things. We find in scripture these, these, these phrases, and I just, just even close your eyes or open your eyes, just think about, again, the power of God and his working. We find in scripture God saying, I will redeem. And we talked about that this morning, didn't we, in the Lord's Supper. I will redeem. We have a God who redeems, and for that we should be thankful. He says, I will destroy. God destroys. He, he will destroy the wicked. He will destroy that which is in opposition to him. He is, he is just. He kills, he makes alive. So is our God. And, and, and, and he is to be, he is to be feared and, and revered in that sense. He says, I will keep my covenant. That should encourage us, amen? God will, will keep his word. He, he, his promises are yes and amen. Not so with man. But God, again, w- who cannot lie. He cannot lie. Again, how different he is than man. God says, I will establish you. I will make of you a great nation. And we think of the context, of course, in which a lot of this is said. I will judge, I will lead, I will harden, I will show you. All these things God does. So, you know, we, we as Christians, we need to have this perspective that God is active, that he is, that he is not distant, that he is not disengaged, right? Again, the world would have us to believe that. Those that we talk to that don't know the Lord Jesus, that don't have this, this biblical view, would think that it's the world centers around man and man's plans, man's ideas. But, but the reality is, right, God is over everything, planning, guiding, leading, bringing everything to, to, to an end that will glorify him, that will ultimately glorify him. He, he is doing all of these things. Uh, and then, and then this last one that's very encouraging to us, I will be with you. I will be with you, or I will not leave you nor forsake you. All, all these things, again, the I wills, so to speak, you know, that, that only God can really, I will. I mean, we may say that I will do such and such a thing, I will do this, I will do that, and we may follow through, and we do, and praise God for that. We should, our yes should be yes, and our no should be no. Amen? But we know that we fail at times, but not so with God. When he says, I will do this, it will happen. It will happen, and we need to take great confidence in that, great inventory, great stock in, in, in believing that. You know, when he, you know, when we say that, uh, uh, when he says, cast your cares upon me, for I care for you, or when we cast our cares upon him, when we, when we have this idea that God cares for us. Again, are we going in for that? Do we really, every moment of every day, do we recognize that we, there's a God, an unseen God in the heavens who cares for us, who genuinely cares for our, for our interests, for our comings and goings, for our obedience, for our behaviors, for our actions. He cares very much for us that we do those things that are right in his sight. And so again, just, just trying to, this morning, to expand not just your view, but my own. Amen? Because he is the speaker. I- I'm under the same conviction that you are. Do I have a small view of God, or do I have a very large view that God is working, leading, and guiding? And so, I just want to look at a few examples of this, um, and again, you just can, can really just sit back and think of it, most of you in this audience having good understanding of some of these things in the Word. If I think of the life of Joseph, I was just talking with Brother Tom a week or so ago about, about this. In fact, he brought this to my mind. He- Tom Antonelli had mentioned, he said, Eric, I'm reading in Genesis about the life of Joseph. And it just encouraged me because I really hadn't, I hadn't really looked at that portion of Genesis in a while. And so I s- and, and so isn't that the wonderful thing about fellowship? You know, you might be in a certain place in the word, maybe very different from where I am, and so when we get together, and and and isn't it sometimes the case a a brother or sister will say, well, what are you reading these days? That's a great, you know, that's a great question, is- isn't it? What are you reading these days? And to my shame, sometimes I'm saying, ah, well, I, you know, I don't, I don't know if I have something to offer. You know, okay, maybe a verse or so. I mean, I asked my sons, uh, uh, last night when they got home from camp, what did you memorize? Give me a verse. And isn't it something that just a verse can speak to your spirit and encourage you mightily? Amen? Just a promise from God, a word from the Lord, from f- spoken from an eight-year-old or a seven-year-old, can just immediately enliven you, enrichen you to remember, wow, yes, it's true, Jesus cares for me. He is omniscient, he is omnipotent, he he is all that the Bible says that he is. And we need that, don't we? And as we go through life, again, with all the challenges and difficulties of the circumstances that we face. But, uh, surely the brother Tom, as I was saying, was mentioning to me about Joseph, and he was identifying with the struggles of Joseph. All of the difficulties. Again, few of us have been sold into slavery here, amen? And few of us have had our siblings hate us enough that they would do that. Now, I know, again, sibling rivalry, I've seen it, I've been a part of it, okay? We can understand sibling, uh, rivalry, but, uh, not so much to the extent of Joseph's life, where they would take him, put him in a pit, and ha- almost have him left for dead and be sold into slavery. But as man planned, right, and as man worked out their, their evil deeds, who's over, who's over this? Planning as well. Amen? He's planning. He's guiding. So Joseph's there in the pit thinking, boy, I'm not really appreciated here, and he wasn't. And so he gets taken down to Egypt, becomes again part of the house, as God would have it, part of the house of Pharaoh and Potiphar and one of his officers. He would have, he would be esteemed, he would sh- again, he would have favor there. Again, that's God's doing. Amen. Joseph was obedient. He w- he he did the will of the Lord. He was faithful. He was faithful. And so me- you know, really, there's something for us in this, that we would be faithful in the circumstances of life. Whatever the challenging circumstances are, Lord, just have me to be faithful, not to doubt, not to exhibit the flesh, but just to walk in the, in the, in the straight paths that you would have for me. I think we could say that Joseph did that. I think we could say that. And then, lo and behold, there he is. It isn't as if, well, that's the rest of the story, right? It's not the rest of the story. In fact, it was just the beginning, because there, lo and behold, he is seduced. He, he, he, obviously Potiphar's wife has eyes for him. Joseph knows that's not according to the will of God, right? That is not according to separation, not according to to holy sanctification. So he does what is right in God's sight, again, but from the worldly sense, she gets one up on him, and she lies, and he's back in jail. Again, circumstances. So again, he is down, right? He is potentially discouraged. He is not where he wants to be. Man has has acted in a way that would cause him hardship, difficulty, and that and that we can identify with that in our own lives, the difficult things that may come to pass because of perhaps people that don't like us, don't like that we're Christians, don't like that we're honest, what have you. All those things can happen. False report, false witness. Our Lord Jesus was a victim of a false report, amen? He was a victim of that, as Joseph was. And that's why s- in many ways, the Lord Je- again, Joseph's life, you know, mirrored in in in so many different ways, if you will, or or was a was a picture of the life of Christ. And that's why we have that. You know, we have these, these accounts in the Old Testament that, that, that remind us again of the virtue of the Lord Jesus, of, of, of, of the struggles, if you will, of the Lord Jesus, and how it's possible that even as, as Jesus was able to be above those circumstances, not fall into sin. He could not sin. Even in, even in the case of Joseph, we see one, right, who seemed to be able to obey the Lord in all of these challenging circumstances. And, and even at the end, again, in Genesis fifty, it's a wonderful verse. It just gives us a lot of encouragement. It tells us much, again, about the sovereignty of God. But in Genesis fifty, at the end of Joseph's life, when again, when he was able to get out of prison, when he was able to help keep his people alive, show himself to his brothers, again, save them from famine, all those things. He could say this in Genesis fifty twenty. again, a verse that it should be very precious to us, almost a hallmark verse. Joseph speaking again to to to to his brothers. He says, verse verse twenty, but as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is to this day, to save many people alive. So that was, so that that's, that's an account that we could say in Joseph's life. Now, again, we want to be clear with this, relative to the circumstances and things that occur. The overarching principle that we want to take from scripture, again, is that we would make decisions that are pleasing to God in accordance with his will. And I think, again, we would, we would see in Joseph's life that, that he did that. Now, now, dear ones, we may make decisions in our lives that, that are not pleasing to God, and that there are circumstances for those negative consequences, right? We, there, there are many examples of this, uh, from, from very young, the decisions of young people to those in their early twenties, to those that are much older. We can make decisions relative to relationships, to how we, uh, how we control our eye gate and what we look at, what, what the lusts of our eyes are, the lusts of our heart. We can make decisions that have negative consequences and bring us into hardship and difficulty. Amen? We can understand that, right? We can do that. And again, in those situations, we would say that that is not according to the will of God. We would repent, trust the Lord, and have him continue to lead us along. Now, we may have consequences that still remain, but again, God will lead us through those life's circumstances as well. He does all that. So sometimes there are circumstances that just impact us, they affect us, they come out of nowhere. You know, just, uh, just, uh, recently, um, in fact, if not last night, just becoming aware of, uh, and you can think of this in so many s- uh, examples. Think of that young girl, Bethany Hamilton, the young surfer out in Hawaii several years back. Thirteen-year-old girl, Christian family, surfing like she does quite often in, in the waters off the coast. Shark comes upon her, comes up on her, and bites her arm off. She's saved. She's alive. But she, she questions like we would, we can imagine any of us m- might have this question, parent or child, as she, as she looked at her family, as she's recuperating with one less arm. What is, what is the good in this circumstance? As, as, as, as a Christian, she's asking, she, she might ask the question, she might say, well, listen, Brother Eric just preached recently, God works all things together for good. And so one might ask, what is the good in that circumstance? It's an open, honest question from a thirteen-year-old or anyone else. Well, she goes on, continues to trust and, and, and to live her life, and, and they're hard questions, hard answers, but she ha- God gave her strength, courage. She continued to trust him, make right decisions, carry on. And again, she's leading her life now with one less arm, but still trusting in a sovereign God who is above these circumstances, these things that impact. You know, when Johnny Erickson Tada, as a young sixteen-year-old in the Chesapeake in Maryland in the late sixties, was swimming with her friends and carousing there off the dock in some sh- in a shallow area and dove in headfirst, she misjudged the depth of the water. It resulted in paralysis, arms and legs. She, she, so she cannot do the normal things that we do, like feed yourself and other, and other things that are, that we, that we just take for granted. And she has, again, God has led her through that circumstance, and he has used her for his glory, and she has continued to have faith, and she has abided, and she has remained. Again, just just two perhaps known, uh, uh, circumstances, but you but you understand what I'm saying here in terms of, in terms of the examples that we can look at in scripture and elsewhere, where the circumstances seem to go against. They seem to be hard. Out of nowhere, they sort of invade you. And yet, even in those circumstances, God leads, God guides, he cares. He has not left them. You know, I think of, um, uh, I think of Job. Again, you know, we we we could think of of his life. Uh, we can think of the conversations that God has with Satan. I mean, we marvel at it. We're s- we sort of recoil at it, don't we? We, we, we kind of read that and we say, I w- I hope that doesn't happen in my case. You know, we, we sort of look at that in a, in a sense, and we sort of marvel at God's sovereignty, his power, his ability to relinquish, if you will, some degree of his, uh, to allow Satan to have an attack, an in with Job. And we read the rest of the chapters, and again, we we we sort of come back at the end and we say, wow, God is sovereign. He blessed Job more at the end than he had at the beginning. He does all things well. Who can who who can say that God does anything amiss? Right? We can't, we can't say that. And, and, and God gives us all these examples. He gives us the book of Job. He gives us the life of Joseph and, and, and, and many other, and many other accounts, uh, for us, again, to marvel and to, and to appreciate him. Just want one more example, perhaps, in, in Genesis twenty four. Again, I hope this isn't, I hope these accounts are encouraging. Um, I think we can learn much from the lives of, of Christians in, in the Bible, men of, men and women of faith, and also outside, as, as we, as we see those that have lived their lives well for the glory of the Lord. But in Genesis twenty four, in Genesis twenty we read, we read this account. Now Abraham, verse one, was old, well advanced in age, and the Lord had blessed Abraham in all things. So Abraham said to the oldest servant of his house, who ruled over all that he had, please put your hand under my thigh, and I will make you swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you will not take a wife from my son, from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell, but you shall go to my country and to my kindred and take a wife for my son Isaac. And the servant said to him, perhaps the woman will not be willing to follow me to this land. Must I take your son back to the land from which you came? Let me just stop there. That's a perfect verse, isn't it? And we, I could see myself saying that, amen? In other words, A- in other words, Ab- Abraham, I'm your servant. I'm pleased to be in your, i- in your, in your company, pleased to serve you, but this is a tall order. I mean, this is really something else you're asking me to do here. I mean, what if she won't come back? Let's see what Abraham says. But Abraham says to him, beware that you do not take my son back there. The Lord God of heaven, who took me from my father's house and from the land of my kindred, and who spoke to me and swore to me, saying, to your descendants I will give you this land. He will send his angel before you, and you shall take a wife. For my son, from there. So we look at this, and we think to ourselves, praise God for the faith of Abraham, amen? Do, do we have this kind of faith, the Lord God of heaven? Could we say this when we get into these sort of circumstances of life where, where we're at a crossroads or a decision needs to be made, or there's something really major that we're looking at? I mean, could we bow our heads and say, the Lord God of heaven, who called me, who saved me, who redeemed me, who made himself strong on my behalf, who reached down when I wasn't even looking for him, who shed his mercy upon me, him, that same one, he will bring it to pass. His promises that he's made to me will come true, especially if these are promises that he's already given. Remember, Abraham is basing his faith on a promise that God has already supplied. So he's not hoping in hope. He's, he's not praying for something amiss. He is praying, he is acting according to something with knowledge, and we can do the same. We have many promises in the word of God when we pray wisely, when we pray intelligently, things that God has already given us, we're on solid ground, amen? Very solid ground. And so we look at this. He says, again, he he he made this promise, and he will do it. And verse eight, but he says, and if the woman is not willing to follow you, then you will be released from this oath only do not take my son back there. So again, he's, if, if it doesn't happen, then we'll, we'll go in this direction. This isn't a case of Abraham sort of playing two sides of the coin. He's a man of faith. He has declared what he has declared, but he wants to give his servant, again, the right understanding. Listen, it's not like you need to drag someone back here against their will, amen? So that's what he says. And the story continues. The servant goes forward, and what's the verse that I want, the verse, the verse that I wanted to look at was, uh, there it is. It's, it's, it's in, in verse twenty seven. I would, just for the sake of time, dear ones, we're not going to read the rest of this. We know that he comes to the house of Rebekah. He, he, he sees her. He he has a prayer of faith. He wonders a- at Rebekah, and then, and then verse twenty six, This servant, the man bows down his head, and he worships the Lord, because he's he's now recognizing that perhaps this woman is the one for for Isaac. Verse twenty seven, and he says, blessed be the Lord God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken his mercy and his truth towards my master. As for me, being on the way, the Lord led me to the house of my master's brethren. So again, we see the servant is a man of faith. He, he, he, he prays. He understands, again, that his, his, his master Abraham has given him a virtuous task to find a bride for the son Isaac, the favored son. And, and, and, and he says that, again, for blessed be the Lord God of my master, who has not forsaken his mercy and his truth. Just love these terms that come out in prayer. Mercy and truth, mercy and truth. And I, and we love this phrase. Harold Young, you know, quotes this, uh, quite regularly, as he would say. As for me, being on the way the Lord led me. Again, we just can't help but think about this as, as we lead our lives in the way of truth, in the way of faith, in the way of compassion, in the way of doing those things that are pleasing to God. As we do that, as we, as we be, as we're obedient to him, he continues to lead us and to guide us, to make our path straight and to keep our, our feet firm on a firm foundation. All these things, all these things the Lord does. It's a wonderful, again, dear ones, when we read these Old Testament stories, and perhaps one of the, uh, uh, great, uh, byproducts of this message is get into the Old Testament as well. Nothing wrong with the New Testament, but we see these wonderful accounts, old and new, of the Lord dealing with people like you and me. Humans living their lives, struggling, wondering, which way should we go? What fork in the road should I take? Will God bring it to pass? All these questions that we, that we have at different times. What about these circumstances of life, the difficulties? When we think of Daniel, and we think of Shad- Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, we know the story well. And we think of their faithfulness in a heathen world, in a pagan world, in an idolatrous world like we live in. Men of faith. And they came into a hardship. They came into a difficult circumstance, and they were, they were thrown into a fiery furnace, and their lives were, were about to be extinguished, but they stood firm. They didn't back down. They didn't compromise. They didn't justify. They didn't come up with, with some other explanation for this. They continued to, to be faithful to the God that who, who had loved them and who had carried them all the way through. And so perhaps that's the message for us this morning, that we, that whatever the circumstances that we're going through in life, whatever the hardship may be, God cares for you, and his eyes are upon you for good because you're his son or you're his, you're his daughter. You know, even in that, um, account, we know in Daniel, and I, uh, I should be able to find it quicker than I, than I am now, but in that account, we know that, I want to read the verse because it's, it's, it's a precious verse, and here it is. Daniel three sixteen and seventeen. Just, just mark those verses down and go back and look at the story again. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. Actually, let me read verse fifteen for connection, because our time is almost up. If you're ready at that time and you hear the, the sound of the horn, Daniel three fifteen, flute, harp, lyre, and psaltery in symphony with all kinds of music, and you fall down and worship the image which I have made, good. But if you do not worship, you will be cast immediately into the midst of a burning, fiery furnace. And who is the God who will deliver you from my hands? Imagine Nebuchadnezzar, a very powerful king at that time, the most powerful king that had ever lived in terms of his reach, the stretch of his kingdom, quite large, King Nebuchadnezzar. So he could say to these three Jewish men of faith, who will deliver you from my hands? Again, three men, a point in time, quite a difficult circumstance, we would agree, right? Quite a difficult circumstance. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, verse sixteen, answered and said to the king, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, but if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up. Men of faith, men of faith, not knowing the future. We don't know the future of today or the next hour, if you will, or or the next week, as far as what the circumstances will be with us in our lives, our situations, our comings and goings, with our friends, at work, whatever the situation may be, we have no foreknowledge. But we, we would agree with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, would we not? While we don't have knowledge of particular circumstances, we do have this knowledge. God is on the throne, and he is in the heavens, and he has given us his will, he has given us his word, he has given us his promises, he has told us about who he is, what he likes, and what he doesn't like, what he approves of, and what he doesn't approve of. We have this in the word. And in even in this case, Shadrach and Meshach and Abednego could know that they were not to worship false gods. They were not to bow down to false idols. That is something that God was very clear with, and they were not going to compromise. So whether they burned themselves to ashes in that furnace, or whether they were s- God saw them through it, either way, God was still sovereign. And again, we're so thankful for the rest of this, to know that in this particular situation, um, the men that threw Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego into the furnace, the furnace was so hot that they died. But again, in this particular matter, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego survived, and it says in verse twenty five, look, I see four men loose walking in the midst of fire, and they are not hurt. And the fourth is like the Son of God. So could it be said of us, dear ones, that there is a f- there is another that walks with us in the circumstances? And so lest we fear, lest we tremble, think of the, of the words of the Lord, do not be afraid. Let not your heart be troubled. So while circumstances may be, again, very challenging in our lives, let us continue on in a heart of faith as an individual, as a member of your f- nuclear family, as a member of our chapel family. Let not your heart be d- troubled, nor let it be afraid. The Lord is with you. Father, we thank you for your love. We thank you for your grace. We thank you for your many promises that you give us. We thank you for all of the word of God that reminds us over and over and over again that you care for us, that you love us, and that you're with us in all of the circumstances. Father, we know that some of the circumstances are very hard, very challenging. Father, we know that that that that some live and some die, some, uh, s- some are wealthy and some are poor, some struggle mightily in this earthly s- scene. Our God, we think of, of even as I, as I pray this prayer, I think of the rich man in Lazarus, the beggar, as, as the Lord Jesus told in that parable, who, who, who lay at the gate of the rich man and, and wished to have crumbs that would fall from his table. How tough was his life? And our God, we thank thee that we find in that story that when he died, that he was taken to Abraham's bosom and the rich man to Hades, to hell. Father, we we acknowledge that our lives are but a vapor. Help each one of us to realize that. Lord, there we from the very youngest of us in the room to the very oldest, our lives are but a vapor in thy sight. Lord, help us to do that which is pleasing to thee in our lives. Help us to walk in straight paths, trusting thee, knowing that you care for us and that you are working all things according to the counsel of your own will. You do plan, you do lead, you do guide, our God, and we don't doubt you in this. Lord, increase our faith so that we might lead lives pleasing to thee. We thank you for your love and grace. We thank you for all the accounts of which we've read. We thank you for the life of Daniel, Joseph, Abraham, his servant, and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and so many others. Lord, help us to have a, a portion of their faith, and we'll give thee thanks in Jesus' name. Amen.