Paul Washer Testifies to How God Always Provides

well again it is a tremendous privilege for me to to be here with you and today do something that I rarely ever do there is a great need especially for young ministers to realize that the promises of the New Testament are for today and that that God works in a magnificent and powerful way to those who by his grace believe him when I was converted at the University of Texas at the age of 21 a man came up to me as I've said many times and put several books in my hand one of those books was the autobiography of George Mueller and I was absolutely astounded at that little volume and I read it and reread it and reread it and I thought it was the most marvelous thing but at the same time I thought it was a simple thing I thought it was reasonable it seemed to me to be reasonable and I want to share some testimonies this hour regarding that and then talk about some promises that we should press into but there's always a danger in doing this of being lifted up with pride and such but I feel that it there's a need to hear that our God is a living God and some of you young men who are so keen and so interested in being theologically sound need to understand you can reduce God down to a proposition and its intellectual death and and God will raise up a man and use him whose theology and knowledge is not as pristine as yours if his heart is there and he's believing God and so I started off in the way that I knew of George Mueller doing it as you know he was quite a he was quite a rascal before he was converted he was a horrible young man the only thing I've ever beat George Mueller at his sin I was horrible beyond all description horrible a terrible the worst of sinners self-centered wicked egotistical vain horrible I hurt people I didn't care a liar the greatest liar you could have ever known you would have founded me I lied just for the fun of lying and and I was converted the undergraduate library the University of Texas and I received these books and I read Mueller and it seemed to agree with what I the little I had read in the Bible and and I began to think well I'll practice this and I know I made a lot of useful things in the name of the Lord that I did that was probably just raw zeal I remember that we had a big citywide campaign that was coming up and and I felt like the Lord had laid on my heart to give away the money I had for that summers meals to give away all that money to the to that particular endeavor and to trust God and and what happened was for some reason my friends were working as waiters and a lady just heard that I was that that ran the business heard that I was living with these boys and that I hadn't found work yet and and she sent a meal home every day for three months well there was one day she didn't because my friend left it on the table may God be his judge but for three months everyday a meal and a meal unlike I could have purchased with my own funds and then begin to just live and seek to do that to make the needs known to God alone and and then to go off to Peru after seminary went out through just a small local church dear group of brethren in Illinois who have always been a support and a help to me Waldo Baptist Church and and went out to Peru and the missionaries used to the Peruvian pastors used to laugh whenever I would preach at their churches they take up an offering because they said I was the only missionary that was actually poorer than they were but God met every need all the time and and as God began to work in the ministry I began to see indigenous missionaries men that lived on $75 a month and it started 15 20 churches men of whom the world is not worthy many of them uneducated unshaven mountain men and that God just gloriously was using in his power and and I felt that the Lord wanted us to start a mission that would that would biblically help support the indigenous church without interfering with the work that God was doing but rather promote it not to make them dependent but to stand alongside with them as a brother and so we began heartcry and I began to think immediately you know I had very little funds for myself but along the way God had been training me to believe him I remember my third year in Peru and the the we had outgrown the little building we were in the church that that we had started and and there was this place that they wanted 750 dollars a month to rent it that's fortune in Peru but we were working with children who were out on the street because of the war and had no place to take them when they were were sick and our church had no place to go and there was no so I went I looked at this place and I thought well that's twice really the support of what I was receiving and so I gathered together these missionaries who I knew were very godly and I had them all go with me to look at the building and I was sure that they would all say that it's nonsense and every one of them that walked in that building said this just seems like the place that God would have you to be so I borrowed a pair of dress pants from a Peruvian friend of mine went and met with the lawyers and then I had a day in which I had to have a certain amount of money in and and I didn't have it and and the night before this missionary who I know he's from he's from Georgia he's back here now he had very little money himself he said he and his family were in there / nightly prayer meeting and God had laid it on all their hearts to give the money that he was saving up for a roof to give it all to me and it was the exact amount needed to pay the guarantee so I went and I signed the papers and I paid the guarantee and then I walked out and in the reality of what I had done I'd signed my name and to something that costed more than well twice the monthly support and that month God tripled our support without any man ever knowing it and never once did we miss and so God began to train I remember one time praying for two weeks for Bibles Bibles Bibles Bibles and a man came back from the state's a missionary by the name of a Johnson his last name Johnson and he goes you're Paul washer and I said yes he calls me on the phone he said do you know anybody in Kansas City and I said no I don't know anyone in Kansas City and he said well someone in Kansas City walked up to me and gave me $1,000 and said to give it to Paul washer for Bibles and so God God is real but you see one of the great problems one of the great problems is that unless you cut yourself off from the arm of the flesh you'll never see God word unless you cut yourself off from the arm of the flesh will never see God work and so God began to train and and so we began to support missionaries I remember laying awake at night in my bed thinking how on earth am I going to get a hundred and fifty dollars required this month to help this indigenous pastor missionary that we're supporting and God never once failed and it's been many many years now of doing this and there's only been every with George Muller every month here every year so he he would give a report from his journal and I never felt the freedom to do that until about two years ago when when the Lord one day I walked in the office and I felt it just so impressed of the Lord get out your notebook and began to write because what you write that I want you to let other people know about and so I'm going to read from the journal that's over about two months period the last few months have been the leanest of our ministry since June we have lived every day from hand to mouth several times Darren John and I have not received our salaries in spite of this hardship all the men and women in the field have received their support without exception and we in the United States have never lacked food or sufficient funds to pay our bills praise God for His faithfulness and now sit here in my office it's 9:00 a.m. and I began to write the account of our struggles in the faithfulness of God it is mid month and none of our workers have been paid Darren John and I have passed another week without receiving our salaries $700 came in this weekend also I received a hundred and fifty dollars for preaching in a conference in Lexington Kentucky I will preach to a mission of Mexican immigrants this afternoon I usually receive fifty dollars from them I am encouraged this morning by promised in second King 7 November 21st on Wednesday the 19th 3317 dollars was deposited after paying certain bills that were due we remained with two thousand six hundred and thirty eight dollars on Thursday we received twelve hundred and forty seven two dollars today we received three hundred and fifty in the mail thirteen hundred that came through an anonymous donor who left the money in my truck and a hundred dollars was given by a staff worker this leaves us with a total of five thousand six hundred and thirty five dollars we will not pay the u.s. staff this week since not a single missionary on the field is yet to be paid never has there been such lack in the mission November 24th I came into the office this morning and Darren informed me that there were certain expenses totally 1994 dollars that were paid last week but had not been recorded therefore we begin the day with three thousand six hundred and forty dollars instead of five thousand six hundred and thirty five this was a great discouragement but we have regained our composure and looked to God once again this is Gideon's coal this army is too large all human possibility has to be destroyed so that the victory will be ascribed to God alone God has taken away from us even the little strength we thought we had we have nothing to hope in but him we have seven days before the end of the month and not a single missionary has been paid mission giving usually goes down in December because of the Christmas holidays we have no reason to hope at all in the flesh God alone can save us on Saturday the 22nd 524 dollars came through the mail I also found a check for $50 in my Spanish Bible that came from preaching in the Mexican mission in Mayfield Kentucky three weeks ago self-pity resentment and grumbling are all crouched at the door and their desire is to have us I pray that God might give us grace to overcome I am looking forward to deliverance we'll call a prayer meeting in a few minutes we grew we drew great strength from our morning prayers but but gathered together at lunch for the same by his good spirit we were encouraged to trust the Lord I felt peace that this would not be our end but that God would be our helper in the final hour our greatest desire is for God to make a name for himself through our inability the 4:15 I went to the mailbox and was excited to find it full of envelopes I soon discovered that only one was or heartcry it was from a donor who I did not recognize I opened the envelope expecting a donation of 25 or 30 dollars but to my surprise it was a check for 3000 I oughta bust out for joy while still in the church hide I met with Darren and John for prayers of Thanksgiving to our God who's helped us this day the first thing tomorrow morning we will set about paying the missionaries from Peru it matters little to us that we still lack funds to pay missionaries in 14 countries God has helped us today and given us hope to trust in him we deposited November 25th we deposited six thousand eight hundred and fifty seven dollars in our account today which gave us a total of seven thousand four hundred ninety seven we wired the support to the missionaries in Peru paid our phone bills and have a remainder of one hundred and eighty dollars even though we do not have the necessary funds to finish out the month we saw the need to take on two or three more missionaries in Peru and help some of our veteran missionaries with their very needs much time has passed since we last took on new missionaries in Peru but in our hour of greatest need God leads us to believe him four more missionaries God always seems to ask more from us when we have less to give so that his great supply and loving-kindness might be revealed twice today we met for prayer we are waiting for the mail which usually arrives around 3:30 at the moment we have a hundred and eighty dollars and six days remaining to provide support for the rest of our missionaries in 14 countries I just received the mail in the mailbox there was not one letter for heart cry we must continue to wait for God's deliverance we will pray when Darin returns from sending the money to Peru we have nothing but his presence but it is enough November 26 today the heart cry staff is going to celebrate Thanksgiving together and we have much to be thankful for this morning Darin John and I gathered for prayer it was one of the best times of prayer that we have ever had I felt led that God would send someone to us before the mail arrived who would give - a gift to the mission at midday a brother from Kentucky came to the office and gave us $15 it was a great confirmation to all of us that God had heard our prayers and that he was with us at 1:30 we met again for a time of prayer I felt a great impression that God was asking someone somewhere to do something and whether out of fear or lack of faith they were struggling was submitting to the Lord after time of prayer the burden was lifted at 2:45 Darrin brought me the mail praise the Lord we received an additional one thousand three hundred ninety-five dollars it was enough to pay the missionaries in Siberia Ukraine and India after wiring the money we finished the day with forty dollars and 44 cents there were four days left in the month of November the staff will miss another paycheck this week but we have food and our bills are paid like the oil in the widows jar God has stretched our resources and kept the destroyer at bay we will meet again at 3:00 p.m. for prayer Darrin just came in and asked if we could send 30 extra dollars to the missionary in Siberia this will help him buy more firewood his family warm I agreed we now have 10 dollars and 44 cents in our account praise the Lord what a privilege he's granted us yesterday was Thanksgiving and the mail was not delivered today I knew that we would receive two days worth of mail and support I was hoping that there would be more support because of this we received a hundred and seventy five dollars we now have a hundred and eighty five dollars in hand we need sixty times this amount just to pay our men in the field for this month we have two more days we must take guard against doubt despair and self-pity tomorrow as another day we'll look to God November 29 220 dollars arrived in the mail today we now have a total of 500 400 and 5 dollars tomorrow is Sunday and there will be no mail monday is the 1st of December most of the missionaries have not been paid and the staff has only been paid twice during the entire month we are in dire straits we have made our need known to no one we wait upon the Lord our greatest interest is his glory I cannot see how our fall would bring encouragement to the Saints but I do see how it would justify the carnal they will say that we were foolish and proud to have believed that a ministry could prosper without making its needs known to anyone but God many young believers have been encouraged to trust God because of his dealings with us it would have been better to have never started than to be the cause of their unbelief God we deserve to fail but please do not let us fail your glory is at stake oh god please get a name for yourself I preach to the Mexican mission this morning November 30th but once again they forgot to give the promised support of gas money I was informed this evening that someone gave 150 dollars to the mission in the morning service we now have five hundred and fifty five dollars tomorrow is the 1st of December and we have yet to pay most of the men for November this has happened only a few times in the history of our mission and never when the amount needed was so great I can hardly bear to ask the staff to go another week without their salaries I know that they will do it willingly even joyfully we are in the greatest need since our beginning we will wait upon the Lord and see what tomorrow will bring we have no reason to hope in the flesh if help comes it will come from the Lord I spoke with my pastor today he knows all our troubles and would cut off his right arm to help us he knows that the Lord has pressed upon us the prohibition to make our needs known even to our own church I know that every person in our church would come to our aid if they knew there was such a problem I even know that several people throughout the country and they would gladly meet our every need with one donation but the purpose of our mission is depend on the Lord alone he is our patron if he wants this mission to continue he is faithful and able to let his people know if he does not help us then we should not be helped although we recognize that God has had his hand upon us we know that he does not need us if the heart cry missionary society parishes tomorrow it will not hinder God's great work on the earth December 1st when I arrived this morning Darren told me that someone had given $100 in the Sunday evening service we now have six hundred and fifty five dollars I was thinking again about how the mission where I preached on Sundays had failed to provide the promised gas money for the last three weeks there are wonderful believers and would do all in their power to help me it seems that the Lord has made them forget he is drying up every well dug by human hands that he alone may be our only fountain I feel like Hagar she and her boy were sent away because he was not the child of the Covenant when the water that she was carrying was gone she laid her boy under a bush and sat a bow shot away because she could not bear to watch him die I do not feel God's presence I feel like I have been sent into the desert as one who is not a child of the promise all our resources are spent I want to lay the mission down and run away for I cannot bear to see it die Satan tempts me to anger and grumbling but who am I to speak a word against the Lord I have not been worthy of even the least of all his mercies he has shown me throughout the years even if he slays me even if he abandons me to hell even then he would be worthy of praise he has already done more for me than I could ever deserve in a thousand lifetimes a service I will trust in him regardless of the outcome I know these things god is good wise and powerful and our circumstances are not the result of some defect in God this trial is ordained with perfect wisdom by an absolutely sovereign God who has promised to do us good for the sake of Christ he works all things together for our good even this the story of Hagar and Ishmael ends in a great salvation wrought by God if he opened a fountain in the desert for an idolatrous pagan who would whose child would grow up to be a persecutor of God's people will he not help us his children although there are many daily tasks to be accomplished today the priority of our heart will be to pray and wait upon the Lord I went to the mailbox this afternoon and found an envelope containing two hundred and eighty-seven dollars this brings our total to 942 December to today was a good day our families came to church to take pictures for December issue of heartcry magazine we were filled with joy to watch our children and to play with him how the Lord has blessed us I went to the mailbox today and found envelopes containing 612 dollars I had hoped to send support to more men today but it was not God's will we met this afternoon to pray and to discuss what the Lord would have us to do we know that we are able always to trust him but we do not know what he would have us to do since John is not a US citizen he must continue to be supported by the mission Darrin and I have the possibility of looking for work elsewhere we determined to wait upon the Lord to the end of the week if funds do not come then we will look for work we prayed John was the last to pray at the end of his prayer he asked the Lord to open gobby's womb that she might conceive he knows sooner closed his prayer with a men than gobby came into the door with tears in her Aizen announced that the doctor said she was pregnant what a tremendous blessing the news could not have come at a better time for two reasons first it showed us that God answers prayer secondly John's financial resources are almost depleted and yet his financial needs will be greater than ever what an opportunity for God to get a name for himself this is morning Chardo called December 3rd my wife about the medical bills for the birth of our son Evan to our astonishment they were all paid by someone who wish to remain anonymous we had told no one of our bills we do not have the faintest idea who God used to bless us it is a great encouragement for all of us at the mission God is able to tell others of our needs I went to the mailbox today and was blessed by the Lord's kindness the donations total twenty five hundred dollars and we now have thirty-one hundred dollars for the missionaries one dear family that sponsored us for years with a thousand dollars a month sent two thousand for November Anderson this is not the first time that the Lord has directed them to give when it was most needed another blessing came from the Mexican mission that had not given any gas money for three weeks they sent 150 dollars which was given to the mission at 5:00 p.m. Daren left to make a deposit we were able by God's good grace to male support to Benin Ghana and Nigeria I received a letter today Forman estos icould es he sent photos of the construction of our new church in via Salvador it was truly a blessing to see all the people gathered inside the new building a few months ago we gave our last thousand dollars so that the construction could continue might have seemed foolish to many but seeing the people gathered in that simple building in order to hear the gospel is reward enough December 5th this morning I went to the doctor for blood work it seems I'm going to have to have more operations we were greatly blessed today the Lord provided two thousand seven hundred and seventy dollars through the mail and someone gave John twenty dollars which he gave to the mission our total is thirty one hundred and forty six dollars Darrin was able to to send the support to Zambia we closed the day with seventeen hundred dollars we lack nearly forty seven hundred dollars to play the missionaries in Romania Darrin John and I will not be paid again this week but the Lord has seen our need a dear family in the church sent groceries to the office today and gave each of us a Walmart card to buy more groceries in the end we will have more supplies in our home than if we had been paid our salaries God never has given us a reason to doubt his character or his promises I have been young and now I am old yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his descendants begging for bread what grace he declares the wicked righteous by the blood of his dear son he prepares good deeds for them by his sovereign will he empowers them by his Spirit and then he rewards them for what they have done as if they had done it what grace what marvelous grace in such grace we will wait upon him I would rather be a beggar in the courts of God than to sit in the seats of the mighty in the greatest halls of this present age I would be the weakest of all his children that I might see greater portions of his grace I would be the most incompetent that I might see greater measures of his strength I would be the most helpless that his strong arms might carry me I would be the most destitute that his right hand might feed me at noon Darrin paid thirty three dollars worth of bills he also discovered that a check for one hundred and fifty dollars that we received yesterday was not signed and must be returned we lack four thousand dollars December eight six hundred and fifty five dollars came in over the weekend and fifteen hundred came in the mail today after paying bills we have three thousand dollars December ninth only two checks came in today one for fifty dollars and the other for four thousand dollars praise God that gives us a total of eight thousand seven hundred dollars after paying Romanians several bills that were due we were left with six hundred and forty four dollars the support for November hasn't been paid we received a total of three thousand dollars today December 10th December 11th we received fourteen hundred and sixty-two dollars December 12th today seven hundred and forty-five dollars was divided up among the staff to pay all our due bills no donation came in today but we were also notified that a thousand dollars more was in the bank than what we thought we end the day with five thousand dollars December 15 three hundred and forty dollars came in and I received two hundred dollars two hundred and fifty dollars for preaching to services in New Hampshire this Derek this morning Darrin made a deposit December sixteenth nineteen hundred dollars came in today through the mail today we paid for the printing of our magazine as well as missionaries December 18th three hundred and twenty five dollars came in yesterday through the mail and three hundred and fifty eight today today again twelve hundred dollars was divided up among the staff to pay more bills December nineteenth three hundred dollars came in today through the mail we made a deposit of nine hundred and eighty three dollars in the afternoon and anonymous donors donor sent us one hundred and eighty dollars December 24th there was twelve hundred dollars worth of donations in Saturday's mail December 22nd fifteen hundred and twenty-five dollars came in the mail today December 23rd yesterday an additional hundred and ten dollars was sent to my house and twelve hundred and thirty-six dollars came in the mail December 28th thirteen thousand three hundred eleven dollars came in today we paid everyone for the month of December and have six thousand dollars in surplus you can trust God you can trust God don't you hear me you don't have to go into debt you can trust God if God has called you to do something why run to men why tell them why raise support from them why speak great things about yourself so that they might give if God has called you he will provide every one of your needs according to his riches in glory and if as we hear these evangelists on television if you don't support our ministry we're going down then go down if God's in it he will hold you up I want to speak for a moment about Matthew chapter 7 it says ask verse 7 ask and it will be given to you seek and you will find knock and it will be open to you for everyone who asks receives and he who fought he who seeks finds and to him who knocks it will be open so many young people and so many older people come to me discouraged about this verse it just doesn't work I pray and I ask and God doesn't answer it would surely this can't mean what it says and then all the theologians come and say well of course it means exactly what it says but only in regard to God's will and of course we know God doesn't will anything for anybody nowadays this is a promise and it is true you must understand the context but it is true this promise is not for those who seek to promote advance or preserve self this promise is not for those who seek to promote our advance or even preserve you understand what I mean by that God if you can get glory for yourself that I be destroyed it is not about self-preservation it is not about the promotion of self this promise is for those who seek God's glory and God's will above all other things this promise is for those who recognize their utter weakness to attain such a heavenly ambition and this promise is those who by faith lay hold of the promises of God and persevere until God comes down the promises belong to those with the right passion let me give you a few verses Matthew 6:9 pray then in this way our Father who is in heaven hallowed be thy name your kingdom come your will be done you see all these silly little things being said about prosperity today God wants to prosper you and he wants to give you our Mercedes in a nice home God wants you to go out there and name it and claim it and blab it and grab it and get it all for yourself let me tell you how it really works everything in our life as a Christian is within the Kingdom of Heaven the kingdom of God's dear son the mentality of those who pray correctly is this God if you can get glory for yourself and you can advance your kingdom through prospering me in any measure in any way then so be it but dear God if your kingdom will advance and your name will be glorified through me being ground to powder then so be it this is not a prayer for you it is a prayer for him it's asking about him and asking about the advancement of his kingdom it's another passage and it says Matthew 6:21 through 24 for where your treasure is there is your heart will be also the eye is the lamp of the body so then if your eye is clear your whole body will be full of light but if your eye is bad your whole body will be full of darkness if then the light that is in you is darkness how great is that darkness no one can serve two masters for either he will hate the one and love the other or he will be devoted to one and despise the other you cannot serve God and wealth you cannot serve God and anything else the problem is with the eye because the eye reveals the passion of the heart the treasure of the heart I don't need to read your heart I only need to look at your eye - what is your eye gazing what is the goal of your life and I want you to know something that even the greatest goals of life can be nothing more than idolatry nothing more than idolatry ministry is one of the greatest idols in Christianity becoming a success in ministry is a putrid horrid abominable Idol to become a big person an important person one who speaks at a conference the charismatic s' they have their heroes their guys who can shake out their coat and make people fall down Southern Baptists they have their heroes your success in the ministry how because you've got the biggest number of people and the biggest budget and the most baptisms and then the reform guys they have their heroes they all have really big heads with really big brains that know a lot of things everyone seems to be trying to be a hero or to get into the inner circle the eye is focused on one thing I loved Whitfield no movement began with Whitfield because when he was dying he said let me die and let my name die with me just cry what are you got to judge your motives you've got to look at those motives and ask yourself why are you doing this most men study the Bible to get a good sermon and get a good sermon so that they can get an open door study the Bible to know God you pray that God's kingdom might be advanced some of you young men you've been praying Oh God use me God use me what you ought to be praying is Oh God use my roommate let me carry his bags all the days of my life God will give anything to those who ask him if their heart is set on this view Matthew 6:33 but seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you go on to first Corinthians whatever you do whether the most menial task of eating and drinking do it all for the glory of God and the whole idea is this the full thrust of your life is to be only one thing that God be glorified that the kingdom of Christ advanced once you step into that realm if your heart is truly there to seek first only the kingdom than anything you ask with that passion in that direction he will give it to you anything that is necessary for the name of God to be glorified anything that is necessary for the kingdom of God to advance is yours absolutely everything and anything the promise belongs to those were the right passion and the promise belongs to the weak the promise belongs to the weak young men you will heartily agree that you can do nothing of yourself you don't know it all what that means it's going to take so many decades of all your strength being destroyed you have no idea what it means even those of us who are older and even those who've been in the ministry longer than I've been alive it's a process of learning what does God do God does such a work of destruction in our lives he says I will cleanse you in Ezekiel in the new covenant I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and all your idols he will break apart all those cisterns that you make that can't hold water he will smash them and smash them and smash them until you're left out early destitute of everything but God that is of course if you're God's man if you're not God's man he'll give you the desires of your heart and that's the most terrifying thing you could ever imagine the Pharisees they wanted to receive glory from men jesus said that God gave them their reward in full and then they went to hell the most terrifying thing young man is that God will give you the desires of your heart is our big ministry popularity among people all men speak well of you God will give it to you but it won't be blessing it'll be judgment ending and condemnation you must be weak you must be weak the life of Peter is such an example of this Lord though all men betray you though all men deny you that all men turned their back on you I will die with you it was so necessary for that to crow it was so necessary for Peter to fail if that had not occurred I don't believe he could have ever been filled with the Holy Spirit he had to rely I am a betrayer I am nothing some men will say yes but they'll still hold on to this they'll say yes I am weak and I can do nothing without him but they still hold on to this idea I have enough piety to be used of God you do not it is even forsaking whatever known piety you think you have and realize that God works because God has ordained to work and to take the weakest of men to do the greatest of things your problem is not that you don't know enough your problem is not that you're not gifted enough your problem is you're too strong you're just too strong also the promise belongs to those who lay hold of the promises of God lay hold of the promises of God grab a hold of them and do not let them go until God does exactly what he's promised Matthew 11:12 from the days of John the Baptist until now the Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence and violent men take it by force listen to this the Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence and violent men take it by force now in light of Luke 16:16 it seems best to interpret this passage to mean this the kingdom presses ahead relentlessly and only the relentless pressed their way into it the men that are used of God if I could only have two words to describe them the women that are used of God if I could only have two words to describe them they are the passionate weak they are the violently desperate they're not the type of men who say yes with this John Wayne I'll do it mentality I'll press in there until I get in there no they are men that come the reality of such weakness in such desperation like a starving man without food they know they must do everything within their means to press into that because there's no other place for salvation there's no other place of hope there's no other deliverance just there and they're desperate because of their weakness they're violent because of their need they have no other place to go I want to read to you for some theologians in the past some beautiful things that researched first of all John Calvin writes the meaning therefore is a vast assembly of men is now collected as if men were rushing violently to forward to seize the kingdom of God for aroused by the voice of one man John the Baptist they come together in crowds and receive not only with eagerness but with fervent impulsiveness the grace which is offered to them let us also learn from these words what is the true nature and operation of faith it leads me not only to give cold and indifferent assent when God speaks but to cherish warm affection toward him and to rush forward as if it were with a violent struggle how many of you believe God how many of you are desperate enough and believe God enough and want enough to enter in with a desperate struggle to grab ahold and wrestle with God as Jacob wrestled with God and came out limping and broken the problem in the church today is not too much passion problem is we don't have any at least about the right things John Gill writes that this text refers first of all to publicans and harlots and Gentile sinners who might be thought to be a sort of intruders into the kingdom I love that here you have this circle of people they're total outcasts and they ought to be they're total outcasts for them to even come close to anything that mentioned God people would look at them and say you don't have part with this you don't belong here look at who you are but in their desperation and their need when one door of grace flies open they run at it like wild men and they don't care if everyone else says you don't belong here their desperate need of salvation causes them to run to God in hope and to grab a hold of him and he goes on he says secondly two persons powerfully wrought upon under the Ministry of the gospel who were under violent apprehensions of wrath and vengeance for their lost and undone state and condition by nature people had been who had been awakened to what they were before a holy God who were who were in fear of the wrath of God full of apprehension and dread and see again one window of grace thrown open and they fight with all their might to make it through there he goes on and he says in three two those who were violently in love with Christ and eagerly desirous of salvation by him and communion with him and had their affections set upon the things of another world these having the gospel preached to them greedily catched at it and embraced it they were maddened people emboldened and maddened with love who realized that absolutely everything in this world is a sickening stupid vanity and the only thing that matters is the kingdom of Christ and doing the will of God and entering in matthew henry writes they who will have an interest in the great salvation are carried out toward it with strong desires will have it upon any terms and not think them hard nor quit their hold without a blessing what an amazing statement they won't complain they won't think it hard they won't they won't be murmuring about the time they'll lay hold of a promise of God and they will not let go of it until it's fulfilled the kingdom of heaven was never intended to indulge the ease of trifle errs but to be the rest of them that labor it is a blessed sight oh that we could see a greater number not with angry contention thrusting others out of the kingdom of heaven but with a holy contention thrusting themselves into it finally John Trapp says men are resolved to have it whatever pains or perils they pass through as God's Israel violently invaded and overran the promised land so do his elect lay hold on the promised inheritance this true treasure hitherto hidden is now discovered and exposed to all that have a mind to it though God would have his servants content with the least of his mercies yet not satisfied with the greatest things in world for their portion since they are born to better what does he mean if you are a child of God you have been given a new nature you have been recreated in the image of God and true righteousness and holiness nothing that this world could ever throw at you ought to be able to take away your joy and nothing this world could ever promise you ought to be able to give you joy why you are of a higher nature you were created for the heavenlies for the things of God nothing on this earth will ever please you and what should that cause you to do it should cause you to rush forward like a madman young men listen to me I have seen so many young men and they are so pretty and so proper they dot every I and cross every T and they speak well and they they they're not oh never a bull in a china shop they never make a mistake they're quaint and clean and pretty and easy and not dangerous at all and then I see a young man come along he's like a bull in a china shop he's a raving madman a lunatic someone ought to lock him in jail for three years so he doesn't hurt anybody but there's a passion there there's a fire they're not content I don't want morality I don't want to just look nice I don't want to be churchy I don't want to be religious and most of all I never want to be civilized I want God and I'll have him or I'll die show me your glory Moses wasn't a dumb man he knew what that meant it's almost as though Moses were saying I know it will kill me it's just give me one glimpse and let me die we say just give me one glimpse and let me alone it's pressing in now I want to finish by saying one other thing that is so extremely important do you have any idea how many promises are in the Bible for you I would dare say now you do understand don't you that if it is a promise in the Bible it is the will of God I hope you understand that do you have any idea how many promises for godliness there are do you have any idea how many promises where God says I will let you see me I will let you know me if you seek me I would not a wagering man but I'd bet everything I have that there are more promises there are more promises in the Bible with regard to you growing and grace and overcoming sin and being used of God and trampling on serpents and every other sort of thing there are enough promises there that if a man were to pray only over those promises 24 hours a day he would have to live 10,000 lifetimes to win them to avail himself of them do you understand what I'm saying take all the promises of God all of them that you find Old Testament New Testament write them down the ones that talk about godliness and God being with you and God helping you and God strengthening the week and God showing himself to men and God doing mighty things and you get down and you wrestle with them all the days of your life and if you ask about those promises you will receive if you seek those promises you will find and if you knock on the door of those promises it will be open to you but the problem is we want other things than the promises we want a comfortable life you want to be able to minister we want all sorts of things and God has other plans higher plans greater plans to make you conform to the image of his son and then to use you as a treasure as a focal point as an illustration of just how good he is to take you throughout all of eternity and lavish upon you greater and greater demonstrations of His goodness he has such plans for you you have such meager pitiful plans for yourself young men find those promises get down on your knees until you've availed yourself of them take them one at a time wrestle with them cry out to God God you said if I seek you I find you you said that I seek you I seek you and persevere wrestle with a holy boldness such timid men such timid men and how easy we forget those of us who know about three weeks ago I'd been wrestling with something for many many years just not seeming to make much progress in that area of my life then one night about 1:00 in the morning woke up and you know what older men listen to me you really don't need to learn anything else what you need to do is remember what you've forgotten and it was like get up and go out and struggle and scream and cry out to the Lord until he gives you victory over this thing next morning a young man that I wanted to help he said brother Paul you're looking kind of bad this morning would you didn't get much sleep last night and I said in the words of Keith Greene one sleepless night of anguish prayer I triumphed over sin one battle in God's holy war he promised me to win for so many things that pick at you like those Canaanites in the land drive them out take God's promises and try from a brother Paul I have this one sin I can't overcome then fast and pray and drive it out grab a hold of Grace avail yourself of promises be sick of a thing the problem is at first you're sick of the thing and then you begin to be able to live with the thing and then the thing becomes a part of your life young men warriors and radical Christians aren't those who listen to contemporary music and wear t-shirts with verses on the back and it's not necessarily those of those who hit the streets going door-to-door you give me one man will take the promises of God and fight through them on his knees and the darkness when no one else is around everything else will fall in place there is nothing there is absolutely nothing in your life that cannot be overcome through wrestling and prayer and believing and availing yourself of the promises of God let's pray father I come before you and ask you Lord you are a good God you are very good God you have given us mighty promises and you've given us your spirit oh lord help us to take possession of the land to drive out those Canaanite sins and idols take possession of the land to fight the good fight of faith to lay hold of that for which we have been laid hold of to be conformed to the image of Christ and never be content but with a holy ambition to pursue your glory in Jesus name Amen

Channel: I'll Be Honest

Views: 329,271

Rating: 4.8797927 out of 5

Keywords: paul, washer, heartcry, 2005, conference, god, provides, trust, faith, jesus, christ, matthew

Id: r8OR61p-gbU

Length: 58min 42sec (3522 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 19 2011