VanRyn, Carroll: Month Of Meetings-1996-10 ~ Isaiah 26

Turn, if you would, to Isaiah chapter twenty six. Isaiah chapter twenty six. Um, one of the hardest things of doing what Elliot and I and others do is, um, saying goodbye. It's always nice to come, but it's not always so easy to go. And, um, eh, we were with the Sand Sisters the other day, and we were saying that, um, that hymn says, with friends on earth we meet with gladness, while swift the moments fly, but ever comes the thought of sadness that we must say goodbye. We'll never say goodbye in heaven. We'll never say goodbye, for in that land of joy and song, we'll never say goodbye. And, um, and our brother Bill Davis was with us, and he had them sing, um, uh, Grace Be With You Till We Meet Again. Is that it? Grace Be With You Till We Meet again. God be with you till we meet again. I've sung that all my life, but I, I, I couldn't remember. But anyway, we'll say that to you. Until we see you again, if the Lord be not come, we're, we're due back November of next year. So depending on how you feel about me, you can either look with anticipation or with fear, because I'm coming back in November if the Lord does. Isaiah chapter twenty six verse three: Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee because he trusteth in thee. We've been talking a great deal about, uh, Christmas nineteen ninety six, and I would just like this evening to think a little bit about, uh, nineteen ninety seven. and I thought this was a, uh, could give you some thoughts that you could carry with you throughout the year, if the Lord be not come. Often in my quiet moments, I'm amazed at the person of the Lord Jesus Christ and his past work at Calvary and his present work as our high priest in glory, our advocate in heaven. I think of the fact that the scripture tells us Satan stands in God's presence and accuses the brethren night and day, and it says then that Jesus Christ the righteous steps up and, and takes our place. Jesus Christ the righteous. Why does it mention that he's Jesus Christ the righteous? Because we're not righteous. When we're accused, we, we deserve what Satan says of us, but the Lord Jesus steps up and says, yes, but I paid the price for their sins. So we have this advocate in glory that speaks for us, and one day soon, the scripture tells us, he's going to come to take us to be with him, to give us a new spiritual body like unto his, a body without sin, without any vestige of sin, and then he's going to take us to be in that glorified atmosphere with him and be worthy of being his bride. Now, perhaps you're here and you've never taken the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal savior. I'm sorry that most of what I have to say tonight does not apply to you. I'm sorry that you will not be able to fully understand it. If you don't know Christ as your savior, a great deal of what thrills me will not thrill you. You cannot understand unless you know Christ in many of these cases. But I'm happy to say that you can know these things yourself. You can be a part of the family. It's still the day of grace. God wants you to be saved. God sent his son, as we've been remembering, that you might be saved. And I have to tell you honestly that my prayer is that what you hear, or when you hear what we have in Christ, those of us that know him as our personal savior, it'll make you want it as well. And the things that, uh, I speak should cheer your heart as a Christian. Remember in Hebrews ten twenty five it says, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is, and so, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the day approaching. The word exhorting there is like standing at the finish line of the hundred-yard dash and cheering the person on. Come on, come on. And you and I are to do that in the day in which we live. We're to encourage one another, to exhort one another from the word of God and encourage. And we want to do that for you tonight. But I wouldn't be upset if you're here unsaved and we made you a little jealous of what we have in the Lord Jesus Christ. We have the greatest gift you can have in having Christ as a savior. We pray that as you hear these thoughts tonight, that, that you'll be blessed with them. Let me read the verse just once more. Thou will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee because he trusteth in thee. Now, what we're going to tell you won't be anything new. We're going to give you a great deal of scripture this evening. I think it was J. B. Nicholson, Jr. who told of a young man who got up in a meeting, and he quoted this particular verse, but instead of saying, thou will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed in thee, he said, he will keep him in pers- perfect peace whose mind is pinned on me. And then he gave this illustration. He said, if you take a piece of elastic, like the women use in, in, in sewing clothes and so forth, if you pinned it to your lapel on your coat and you gave your little boy the other end of it and said, now you can take it where you want, and he'd twist it around the tables and around the chairs and into the other room, when he let it loose, it would snap back to you. Why? Because it was pinned on you. And the thought of that is that if our mind is pinned on the Lord, it may wander into the activities of the day. It may even wander into lusts and desires that we should not have, but the moment we think of him, it snaps right back to the war- the Lord. Why? Because our mind is pinned on the Lord Jesus Christ, the one who loved us and gave himself for us. So these are my thoughts then. For the year nineteen seventy— nineteen ninety seven, I should say, we're going to quote the verse and give you some thoughts concerning the verse. It begins by saying, thou, thou wilt keep him in perfect peace. Thou. And of course, that thou is the Lord himself. He promised, you remember, in John ten twenty seven, peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you, not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. He promised to give you and I personal peace. He's promised to give us many special blessings, and then he's promised to take us safe home to glory. It's the Lord that has made the promises to you. Thou will keep him in perfect peace. The writer Isaiah says, thou. In Matthew eight verses one to three we read, when he was come down from the mountain, a great multitude followed him, and behold, there came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And Jesus put forth his hand and touched him, saying, I will. Be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. I want you to note the man said to him, if thou wilt, if thou wilt. It was not a question of God's ability. It was a question of God's willingness, if thou wilt. And you and I that know Christ as our savior, many times throughout the year nineteen ninety seven, if the Lord be not come, we'll worry about something because we do not trust God's ability and God's willingness to do it. Oh, we trust his ability, he's able. But do we trust his willingness to do that which we ask? Oftentimes in prayer, we miss the answer for our prayers because we not only ask the Lord for what we want, but we give him the prescription of how to solve the problem. And when he doesn't solve it in that way, we miss the answer to our prayer. And as a result of that, we feel that the Lord did not answer the prayer. You remember when Mary and Martha prayed for their brother Lazarus, they sent that simple message, behold, he who now loveth is sick. They didn't tell the Lord what to do about it. They were disappointed, of course, when he did not come and Lazarus died, they thought that it would bring him hurry along to Lazarus. And when he came, they said, if thou hadst been here, our brother had not died. But the Lord did answer their prayer, didn't he? He answered the desire of their heart, for when he came, he raised Lazarus from the dead. And the Lord knows more about what you need than what you realize you need, so tell him the need and trust him to could bring the answer that'll be a blessing to you. Thou wilt, if thou wilt, the Lord says, I will. And this man believed in the Lord. He said, if thou wilt, and it's interesting, it says he came and worshiped, and he said, Lord, he said, Lord. You remember, that's what, um, the Apostle Paul said in the Damascus mo- road. Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? It's what the thief said on the cross. Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. You see, if you want to be blessed, you have to trust the Lord. You have to realize that he's the Lord. You're not the Lord. He's the Lord. And so you come, and you own him as such, and the Lord blesses. And you know, the Lord did a wonderful thing when he healed this leper. It says he touched the leper. In those days, when you had leprosy, you hung a bell around your neck, and you stood out in a field, and you rang that bell when anybody came near you at all and said, unclean, unclean. That was the law. You were separated from everyone that you loved. They couldn't come near you. You could leave food, but they couldn't come right to you to leave the food. And this man was out in the field, and he prayed to the Lord, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And the Lord came and touched him. You see, he not only healed him of the leprosy, but he welcomed him back into fellowship with others. And that's what the Lord does to us. You see, when we're in our sins, we're separated from fellowship with the Father. We're separated from fellowship with Christ. But when Christ heals us, he welcomes us back into the fellowship. He touched the leper, and the Lord said, I will. He still says, I will, to all who come to him for cleansing. He says in Isaiah one eighteen, come now and let us reason together. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. You see, you and I can be saved and blessed by God. He welcomes us, whether we're righteous, that's what it speaks of when it says, though your sins be as scarlet. He welcomes us, and he welcomes us though they be red like crimson, which would be the sins of a great sinner. He says, if thou wilt. The Lord's will is always for our ultimate blessing. It's here more often, if we but dare to believe, when we say, if thou wilt, the Lord will say, I will. God loves you when you put your trust in him. You're one of his children, and all of us love to do for our children. Sometimes we ask things that are not for our good, and our parents here have to say no. But when he can, he will say, I will. And it comes from a walk by faith. The more you walk in the presence of the Lord, the more he can answer your prayers, because the more they're in fellowship with his will for you. The better you know him, the more you're going to ask that which is really according to God's will. Vance Havner said, if you see a Bible that's falling apart, it probably belongs to someone who isn't. Because you and I, as we look at the scriptures, we see God's will for our life, and we see the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Matthew twenty in verse thirty nine says, and he went a little farther, and he fell on his face and prayed, saying, oh my father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt. As you know, this was in the garden just a short time before our Lord was taken by those who would falsely accuse him and ultimately crucify him. And yet the Lord was always subject to the Lord- Father's will. He didn't ask to be kept from the cross. That was not the prayer. In John twelve twenty seven he says, now is my soul troubled, and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour, but for this cause came I unto this hour. Paul says in Galatians three B and four A, our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world according to the will of God and our Father. He asked that you and I might ask. He wasn't asking that God might reveal him, he was asking so that you and I would understand that there was no other way in which we could be saved except his death on the cross. For when he prayed, if it be possible, there was no sound from heaven at all. It was not possible for us to be blessed other than in the death of Christ. And so we see that our Lord was willing to be subject to the Father's will. When there was no other way, he said, not as I will, but as thou wilt. David in Psalm sixteen eleven says, thou will show me the path of life in thy presence, a fullness of joy at thy right hand, there are pleasures forevermore. And then the third word, thou will keep. David says in Psalm seventeen in verse eight, in a prayer of David, keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings. And in Psalm nineteen eleven he says, for he shall give his angels charge over thee to keep thee in all thy ways. As it, as you know, is quoted in Luke chapter four in verse ten when Satan, remember, he tempted the Lord Jesus. He took him up on the pinnacle of the temple and said unto them, unto him, unto the Lord, if thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence, for it is written, he shall give his angels charge over thee to keep thee. In Psalm one twenty seven one and two it says, except the Lord build a house, they labor in vain that build it, except the Lord keep the city. The watchman white waketh but in vain. It is vain for you to rise up early and to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows, for so he giveth his beloved sleep. You and I can rest knowing that we have a God who's taking care of us. The little boy, he said he could always go to sleep because he had learned in Sunday school, he who keepeth Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps. But he was taught that God neither slumbers or sleeps, and he figured if God's going to be awake, then he can go to sleep, because God will take care of it. And that's the promise that you and I have, that God will care for these things. In Luke eight fifteen, where our Lord is explaining to the disciples the sowing of the seed in the hearts of men, he says, for that on the good ground are they which, in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it and bring forth fruit with patience. It is said about our testimony and our fruit bearing for him. You can't preach it like it is if you don't believe it like it was. And the thing is that when we learn the things of God, we keep them in our hearts, and they're a blessing to us in providing fruit for Christ. Luke eleven twenty three, but he said, yea, rather blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it. It's been suggested that God does not furnish us with a detailed roadmap on our journey through this world. A tra- a traveler in Africa complained to his guide, there is no road, there is no path in this jungle. We've lost our way. To which the guide replied, there is no way. I am the way. I am the way. And our Lord has said exactly that. I am the way. Follow me. You don't need to know the way when you know him, because he will keep you and guide you as you go through life. Thou will keep him, it says. There are many others that speak of our Lord's keeping. Let me mention just two or three more. In two Timothy one twelve, Paul writing to Timothy says, for the which cause I also suffered these things. Nevertheless, I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that he's able to keep that which I've committed unto him against that day. In Jude twenty four and twenty five he says, now unto him that's able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God, our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen. In Revelation three ten it says, because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation which shall come upon all the earth to try them that dwell upon the earth. The Lord there is speaking, of course, of the tribulation period. You and I are going to be taken home before the tribulation period. No matter what anybody else tells you, that's what the word of God says. Not what I say, but it's what the word of God says. He said he's going to keep us out of the hour of temptation. That definitely speaks of the tribulation period. So you and I are going to be kept by him in that occasion as well. And then it says, thou will keep him in perfect. That's the fourth word, in perfect peace. Psalm eighteen thirty thirty two says, as for God, his way is perfect. The word of the Lord is tried. He's a buckler to all those that trust in him. For who is God, save the Lord? Who is the rock, save our God? It is God that girdeth me with strength and maketh my way perfect. On the cross, the Lord said, it is finished. That means it has been made perfect. He perfected it. He perfected the work. It's once and forever done. The prophet David in Psalm nineteen seven can say the lo- law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. You see, I can't get you to change your, your heart, but if I can get you to change your mind, God will change your heart. You see, the law of the Lord is perfect, it says, converting the soul. And David goes on to say in verse seven, the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. Matthew five forty eight says, be therefore perfect, even as your Father, which is in heaven, is perfect. And we want to explain that. It implies here full development. It implies growth as a mature child in the family of God. You and I are to grow day by day. You know, um, Vance Havner said that sometimes in the audience you have a two hundred and fifty pound, uh, baby still drinking milk. Well, if you've been saved for years, you could be two hundred and fifty pounds just saved, but if you're saved for years, you need to grow in the things of God. You need to learn more from the word of God. And God says that he'll teach you. He'll teach you these things as you study his word. As you look into the word, the spirit will guide you in these things. Remember in Matthew chapter nineteen, this young man came to the Lord, and he asked the Lord, good master, what must I do that I may in- inherit eternal life? And the Lord said, if thou will be perfect. The Lord said to him, go sell all that thou hast and give to the poor. He didn't say, go sell it and give it to me. That's what the pastors today would say, many of them, go sell what you have and bring it here. But he said, go sell all that you have and give it to the poor. The Lord was not interested in his money. What the Lord was interested in was his heart. The Lord says you can't serve God and mammon. You can't serve God and riches. Doesn't mean you can't have riches, but you can't serve riches. And, uh, it says in, you remember that the love of money is the root of all evil. And God says, if you want to be perfect, then you have to trust me. You can't trust in riches, you need to trust in me. And that's what the Lord was telling this man. He was telling him, fix your heart upon me. Thou will keep him in perfect peace. In James one seventeen it says, every good and every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. And we would suggest, as in Matthew five forty eight, that it speaks of the fi- that the Father's kindness is the point here in question. Every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father of lights. God is kind to you and I, not because we deserve it, because he loves us. Second Corinthians twelve nine, you remember the Apostle Paul said, for this one thing I besought him thrice that he might depart from me. And he said, my grace is s- sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, would I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. God said, as you've heard so many times, God said to him, listen, Paul, it's not your strength and my strength, it's my strength and your weakness. And when you and I learn to rest in him, that's when we're able to use God's power in blessing to others. Thou will keep him in perfect peace. Our God does everything perfect. In two Timothy chapter three verses fifteen to seventeen, Paul, in speaking to Timothy, says, and that from a child I was known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make me wise unto salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, throw- thoroughly furnished unto all good works. You and I would say that the man of God would be complete, mature. I don't know if you ever thought about it, but there is no other book in the world that can equip you, no other library of books in the world that can equip you as this library, these sixty six books found in the Bible, to prepare you to walk with God through this world, to prepare you to do well in this world from a natural point of view, to prepare you for heaven, to prepare you to be able to walk with Christ when you get to heaven. That's what this book will do for you. It will make you complete and mature. It prepares us for eternity, and only this book could make us perfect in that way. That's what it says. It will make you perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. Then it says, thou will keep him in perfect peace. And peace is the fifth word. Psalm four eight says, I will both lay me down in peace and sleep, for thou, Lord, only makest me to dwell in safety. Psalm twenty nine eleven, the Lord will give strength unto his people, the Lord will bless his people with peace. Psalm eighty five. I will hear what God the Lord will speak, for he will speak peace unto his people and to his saints mercy and truth are met together. Righteousness and peace have kissed each other. It has been said that when a man is no longer afraid, when he's prepared to welcome whatever comes, because as he sees it as the will and appointment of the loving Father, he has at peace. When you and I can look at whatever circumstance and accept it is from God, then we have peace. As the Lord said in John twenty seven, uh, verse fourteen, I mean chapter fourteen, verse twenty seven, peace I leave with you. We mentioned that already. My peace I give unto you, not as the world giveth, give I unto you. It was the peace that he had when he walked here. It's my peace. That's what I'm going to give to you. And those of us who will trust in him as he trusted in the Father will have that peace as we go through this. John sixteen thirty three says, these things that I have spoken unto you, that in me you might have peace. In the world you shall have tribulo- tribulation. Be of good cheer, he says, I have overcome the world. I will keep him in perfect peace. Remember in the night of his resurrection, when his disciples were locked in the room for fear of the Jews, he appeared unto them and he said, peace be unto you. Romans five one says, therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God. And there it's speaking of the peace that we have because our sins have been forgiven. There's no, therefore, no condemnation to them. We have peace with God, it says. And then we re-read in Philippians four, six, and seven: be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God, and the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. So we can have peace with God because our sins are forgiven and forgotten, and we can have peace of God because he's promised to care for us every day as we go through this life, and he's given us a watch line or a, a red phone or whatever you want to call it, so we can get an immediate presence to the Lord. We can get his attention immediately because he tells us, be anxious for nothing, but at everything by prayer and supplication. Let me know what it is you need. Romans eight six, for to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. It comes from being in fellowship with the Lord in our walk in his will. Remember, Elijah was in the place where God told him to be, and the ravens had been commanded to feed him there. They'd commanded him to feed him there, where God told him to go, not somewhere else, but there. Where God guides, he provides. He's not responsible for our peace or our expenses on places not on the schedule. He doesn't foot the bill when we leave his itinerary. The peace is in him. When we're walking in the light as he is in the light, when we're doing what Enoch did, he walked with God, then you and I are absolutely assured of the peace. When we don't have the peace, it's because one of us is moved, either God or us, and I can tell you which one it is. God hasn't moved. God's exactly where he's always been. God does not tell us we, all we want to know about everything, but he tells us everything we need to know. That's a wonderful thing. If you can't get it from the word of God and prayer, God probably doesn't want you to know. So get on with your, your life. Thou will keep him in perfect peace. Sixthly, it says, whose mind, whose mind is stayed on thee. What's the first great commandment of God? It says, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. Thou will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee because he trusteth in thee. The story is told of a martyr who was fastened to a stake to be burned, and the executioner who was to set the fire expressed his sorrow at having to do so. And the martyr answers, do not trouble yourself over me, for I'm at peace with my God. Come and lay your hand on my heart and feel my heart. And when he did, he said, you notice that my heart beats quietly. And then he said to this man, now lay your hand on your own heart and see if you're more troubled than I am, and then go your way, and instead of pitying me, pity yourself. You and I that know Christ, our hearts are at peace with God. It's a wonderful thing. If you're here unsaved, you don't know Christ as your personal savior, your heart is not at peace with God. You're not happy about God. You're not happy about the fact that we so often say, the Lord's coming is nigh. The Lord could come today. You're really not happy about that. You remember the little boy who, whose mother told him that she had made these cookies for the party and said, don't take any of those cookies. And when she left, he helped himself. He had two cookies. He'd had three, but he only had two hands, so he had two cookies. Now, ask him the question, do you love your mother? And he'd say, yes. Are you sure you love your mother? Yes, I love my mother. You really love your mother? Yes. And if right then, the mother came in the door with a cookie half eaten and a whole one in the other hand. Then ask him the question, do you love her appearing? You see, you and I, we love God as Christians, but do we love his appearing? Are we living our lives in a way that's pleasing to him? And if you're here outside of Christ, would you like Christ to come today? Would you really like for him to appear today? He's going to come sometime, but this man, this man knew where he was going. He knew he was going to heaven, this martyr, and so his heart was at peace. And I may sin, and I may make mistakes, but my heart is at peace regarding the coming again of the Lord. If the Lord came today, I know exactly where I'm going, and so does every other saint of God. And it's a wonderful thing to know. Acts seventeen eleven says, these were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so. Received it with readiness of mind. They were willing to take what God had to say. Second Timothy one seven, for God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. You see, no matter what comes to the one whose mind is in fellowship with the mind of Christ, and thus has the mind of Christ, the things of Christ will give that person power for their life, and it will give them peace. Because you and I are prepared to live for him. When we went down into baptism, we died with him, and now we're prepared to live for him, as Galatians tells us. I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live. Because we died, we're ready to live. So the truth is, the man who's prepared to die is the man who's prepared to live. The one who's prepared to die to Christ, go down into baptism, is the person who's prepared to live. You may have done it and made a profession and not really meant it, but if you mean it, you're prepared to live for him. And then it says, whose mind seventhly is stayed on thee. Psalm one hundred nineteen fifty five and fifty six says, I have remembered thy name, O Lord, in the night and have kept thy law. This I had because I kept thy precepts. In John fifteen, the Lord said to his disciples, abide in me. I'm the vine, you're the branches. He that abideth in me and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit. For without me you can do nothing. If you keep my commandments, you shall abide in my love. I mentioned to you last week that you and I, as individuals, many times we say, what I'm going to do as best I can is I'm going to live my life for Christ. But that isn't what Christ said. Christ said, let me live my life through you. In other words, he said, I'm the vine, you're the branches. You don't get any nourishment unless you get it from me. So let me live my life through you. You want to produce fruit for me? You want to live for me? You want people to realize you're one of my children? Let me live my life through you. And A. P. Gibbs said, to bide means to stay put. It means to stay put in his love, to rest in you. This is a day when we're so busy doing everything that many times we no have no time to be anything. Even in the things of the Lord, we're often so occupied with the activity that we have no time to know God. And then eighthly, because he trusteth in thee. David trusted. He could say in the twenty third Psalm, yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. And as we mentioned before, the valley of the shadow of death is just this life. Yea, though I walk through this life, I will not fear. And Job had lost everything. Remember when Satan desired to test Job, the Lord allowed it. He lost everything, his whole family other than his wife, everything he owned in this world, all his cattle, all his houses. But in the thirteenth chapter, in the fifteenth verse, he says, though he slay me, yet will I trust him. The highest lesson God wants to teach us is to trust him regardless. And every- if everything in life made sense to our understanding, there would be absolutely no need of faith. It's because we do not understand that we trust God. The Lord does not say there is no storm, but what he does say, I'm here, do not toss and fret, just trust me in the storms of life. Psalm one hundred and 2, they that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but abideth forever. As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about his people from henceforth and forever. So you and I have covered all of the words of the verse. Thou will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee because he trusteth in thee. And finally, just one thought. You remember Moses said to the Lord when the Lord had told him now that he was going to leave him, the Lord said, I'm going to leave you, and and and now you're going to assume the leadership. My presence is going to be no longer with the angels will be here, but my presence is going to be no longer with you. We find that in Exodus chapter thirty three. And uh, and you remember Moses said to him that uh, he that he wanted his presence to go with him. And the Lord's answer was to Moses, my presence shall go with thee, and I will give you rest. Moses, no doubt, felt lonely as a leader. Even though he was surrounded by many people, he needed one to talk to, to understand his fears, to understand his problems. And that's what you and I have. That's the promise of the Lord. We can come into his presence, and we can talk with him about anything. We can converse anything, and when we do, as suggested in Philippians four, six, and seven, we get a peace about it. We don't always get what we ask for, but we have a peace about the fact that we've shared it with God. One of the problems of being a preacher, one of the problems of being an elder in the assembly, is oftentimes you really have no one that you feel that you can share things with. Because people say, well, if you got that problem, then what about me? And so you have no one to share it with. But the blessing is that we have the Lord to share it with. Every one of us can go into his presence, and we can talk to him about the things that we need to know. Moses said in verse fifteen, if thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence. Moses believed that, that safety does not consist in the absence of danger, but in the presence of God. And that's my encouragement to you in nineteen ninety seven. Walk with the Lord. Take him with you. Study him, learn of him, and you'll find that thou will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee, because he trusteth in thee. You and I live in a world with a great many problems, and many of them we can do nothing about, but we can have a heart of peace if we trust in the one who can do something about them and will when it's necessary. May God bless you. We thank you again for the privilege of being with you during this time, and we ask that the Lord would bless you, give you a good, joyous holiday season, and bless you in the year that lies ahead, if the Lord be not come. Carry on for him. Give your lives to him. That's where the joy is. That's where the satisfaction is. It's not in the things of this world. They're all going to pass away. I may have told you this. Rob Lindstedt said he went to a friend's house, and a friend showed him a desk that they had seen together, cost three thousand or four thousand dollars, a beautiful desk. And Rob said, I have to admit I was a little jealous, a little envious of him. When he showed me the desk, he said, Rob, what do you think of it? And Rob said, I told him, boy, will that burn. It was all wood. Boy, will that burn. Well, everything's going to pass away except our relationship with Christ. And so keep your heart fixed in him. It'll bless you in the year nineteen ninety seven. Our God and Father, we thank thee for the privilege of again looking into thy precious word. We thank thee for the many promises that we read today, this evening. Promises that thou will keep us, that thou will give us peace, that thou will perfect us, and all of these wonderful things. We ask our God and Father that thou would impress upon us the privilege, as nineteen ninety six comes to a close, of having lived another year with thee, walking alongside and caring for us. May we learn to walk with thee as thou dost walk with us. We now commend each one in this room into thy care. Thou knowest every need of every heart. Should there be one here who's never put their trust in Christ, may this be the most wonderful Christmas of their life when they turn to him and take him as their savior, whom to know is life eternal. And so now we commend ourselves to thee for the balance of the evening and for the night of rest and the morrow that follows as the thy son be not come, giving thanks in his name. Amen.