Nothing is Everything

Introduction

Alright, good morning again. If you’re with us in the first hour, you know that we kind of set it up for our final hour, but I don’t want any of you that maybe missed the first hour to be left out. Hopefully you have the heavenly library with you, and I want you to take down the book of 2 Chronicles, go to chapter 20. Alright, and let me just give you a quick refresher of what we talked about in our first hour this morning together. We looked at a story from the Old Testament that is truly a fascinating story. The story really shows us how weak and feeble we are at times. In fact, even back in this day and age, when you look back in the days of King Jehoshaphat, you see that those people understood what we feel, and that is sometimes you have enemies all around you and you just don’t know what to do.

And if you look at this story, even beyond just that kind of uh, you know, enemy scenario or a country realized problem scenario and put it into practical life. There’s probably many of you here, and maybe even many of you here right now that are dealing with situations in your life where you’re like, I don’t know what to do. I don’t know what to do. I don’t know how to handle this. I don’t know how to handle this challenge, I don’t know how to handle this frustration, I don’t know how to handle this dilemma, I don’t handle this scenario. I just don’t know what to do. Well, I want you to grasp and understand that that’s exactly how the Lord wanted Jehoshaphat and the people to feel because it was only then, when they were truly humbled, could he work for them.

What you find in the story is you find that these nations are bearing down on the southern kingdom of Judah, and they’re coming from East of the Dead Sea, and they’re from Ammon and Mount Zeir and the Moabites, and they’ve all formed this coalition together, and they’re coming to attack. And they’re they’re coming in a very unconventional way, instead of just coming straight from the north across the Jordan River. They’ve decided to come in from the south. It’s going to be kind of a sneak attack, and they’re going to work their way up through the valleys that are near the Dead Sea, and they’re going to come through this valley, and this valley is known as Baraka. But yet, it’s the enemy that’s really going to get the great surprise.

If you’re here in our first hour, you understood how the people are going to cry out to God, and God’s going to help them. 2 Chronicles chapter 20, let me just refresh our minds. I’ll begin reading in verse 10. 2 Chronicles 20 and in verse 10. All the people have gathered at the temple. Their king is before them. He’s called a great prayer and fast day. And now the king is leading them in prayer, and here’s what he says. 2 Chronicles 20, verse 10. And now, behold, he’s praying to God. And now behold the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Zir, whom you would not let Israel invade when they came up from the land of Egypt, and whom they avoided and did not destroy.

Behold, they reward us by coming to drive us out of your possession, which you’ve given us to inherit. Our God, will you not execute judgment on them? For we are powerless against this great horde that is coming against us. We do not know what to do. But our eyes are on you. A helpless scene indeed. We don’t know what to do, God. I got nothing. I don’t know what to do, and all the people have come to me for advice and counsel and leadership. I got nothing except to go to you. Well, in the following verse, we’re going to find that a man, a Levite, is going to stand to Haziel, and he’s going to deliver the message from God. And the message is this when you look down in verse 17.

You will not need to fight this battle. Stand firm. Hold your position. And see the salvation of the Lord on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid. Do not be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them. And the Lord will be with you. And that’s exactly what they did. They went out against this great horde, and they even put the singers up front. And as the singers began to sing, the enemy turned on one another. And there was a great victory. Well, what do I do with this story? I mean, it’s a fascinating story of deliverance, and it’s it’s kind of like one of those stories that you look in the Old Testament and you go, yeah, that’s nice. But am I really ever going to be in a situation like it’s kind of like the story of David and Goliath?

Man, that’s such a great story. You’re taught it ever since you’re a little kid, you know. There’s this big huge giant that comes out, and you’ve got to fight him, you know. Most of us look at that and go, I can’t relate to that. Now, if you were my size, you could, but most people can’t. You know? You have somebody that gets up and just insults you in front of 200 people. What do you do? You know? But we look at stories like that and we go, that’s nice, but when am I ever going to be having to fight a giant? Or when am I going to be in a situation like that? I get it, I get it, I get it. That’s great. I saw how God delivered them, but but here’s my enemy.

1. He Used Fear Wisely

My enemy is family. My enemy is a challenge with character. My enemy is my past. My enemy is this neighbor. My enemy is this. We have those challenges in our life. And here’s what the story is teaching us. Whatever your enemy is, whatever your challenge is, God says this is the formula. And Jehoshaphat shows us the formula of deliverance. So what do we see? What are lessons that we can learn here? Well, let’s look at the influence of King Jehoshaphat. The first thing that he does, and he does very well, is he he used fear wisely. When you go back and you look, when the news first comes to him, and he’s told that there’s this great horde coming and the enemy is coming, he immediately says, Let’s pray.

Let’s pray. I mean, oh, wouldn’t it be great if we had leaders today who would say, all right, here’s what we’re gonna do as a nation. We’re gonna pray. In fact, we’re gonna fast. And we’re gonna throw ourselves on the mercy of God. What’s very interesting is that Jehoshaphat will really put his fear in the right place. Tim and Gobby are here this morning. They can attest to this. When Cheryl and I moved to Melbourne, we moved and I began working with Channel 9, and we had a three month old baby. What were we thinking? And we got over there and I’m doing the news thing and ended up helping with the church, and then eventually we not only had Jill, we had Gray, and I I had no idea what to do.

And it was clear. It was pretty clear. What do you do? And then, and I’m trying to adjust, and I’m trying to read all the books and this, that, and the other, you know, what to do when you’re dead, this, this, that, and the other. And of course, my wife, she’s the consummate professional. She’s got it all figured out, and she’s just got this bumbling husband around. But I can remember going in, especially to Jill’s bedroom. And the first thing you kind of do when you’re in that early stages of parenthood is every time my child was asleep, I I would freak out because I’d start looking at them. Are they breathing?

Oh, there’s a breath. Oh, that’s good. That’s good. And you had that trepidation. And then I can remember the first time that I had to take care of her by myself. What do I do now? And da-da-da-da-da. And every single day was new. By the time you get to the second one, you’re like, here, went a bobble. How about a coke? Just take a coke. You’re good. You know. But I can remember taking a knee beside her bed and just praying, dear God, help me. Don’t let me mess this up. You’ve not just given me a baby. Given me a soul.

For this child. Well, there’s some fear there. What do I do? Well, I want you to look at the life of Jehoshaphat. Because what Jehoshaphat does is he says this. Notice verse 6. You go all the way back to the beginning of this, and you’ll notice where Jehoshaphat’s true fear is. He says, Oh Lord, God of our fathers, are you not the God in heaven? You rule over the kingdom of the nations. In your hand are power and might, so that none, none is able to withstand you. I want you to grasp and understand that the very first thing Jehoshaphat does, and this is so powerful, and we got to get this into our thick skulls, is he doesn’t fear the horde more than he fears God.

He doesn’t fear the enemy more than he fears Jehovah. And he puts his fear in the right place. And he uses fear wisely. One of the things we’re going to talk to you about tomorrow night as we continue this series and we talk about being more spiritually minded. I want to show you some really neat stuff that comes from Navy SEAL training. All right. Trust me, we’re not going to go all military tomorrow night. You know, it’s kind of a man thing, I know Navy SEAL. But nonetheless, it is one of the things we talked about at camp this past year is that how how SEALs are trained to use fear. Fear is not your enemy, fear is your friend. That adrenaline makes you act, it makes you move.

It recognizes danger. And God gave us that emotion for a very, very, very good reason. There are times in our life that we need to be fearful and we need to straighten up and recognize danger comes and danger is coming because fear makes you move. Fear changes things. Whatever was going on in your life that you thought was so important, when that element of fear comes, everything changes, right?

You harness the fear correctly, and it becomes a great asset. Follow with me, if you will, some scripture that attests to this fact. And how fear is a good thing. Go to the Psalms. Psalms 11. Psalms 111, verse 10, the psalmist says, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. A good understanding have all those who do his commandments. Psalm 112, verse 11. Praise the Lord. Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who delights greatly in his commandments. Psalm 145, verse 19. He will fulfill the desire of those who fear him. He also will hear their cry and save them. Jump to the Proverbs. Proverbs 14 verse 26. Proverbs 14, 26, in the fear of the Lord there is strong confidence. Now that almost sounds like an oxymoron, doesn’t it?

In fear there is strong confidence. Oh, yeah, yeah. When your fear is in the Lord. In the fear of the Lord is strong confidence, and his children will have a place of refuge. And then Proverbs 29, verse 25. The fear of man brings a snare. But whoever trusts in the Lord will be safe. Do you remember the story of Jesus with his disciples in the boat? We kind of mentioned that this morning. Do you remember what happened when Jesus got up and what he did? You remember that story? Remember? They were all afraid. They think they’re going to die. They wake up. Jesus, Jesus, you got to get up, you got to get up, we’re going to die, we’re going to die. We need you to help Bellwater.

Get out, get up, get up, get up. And Jesus goes, What are you doing? And he goes, peace. Do you remember the reaction of the disciples after he calmed the sea and everything calmed down? Did they go, Oh, well, that’s great. You can go back to bed now. We’re good. You remember what the text tells us? They were even more afraid. Who does that? We thought the winds and the waves, you just said peace and they what? What? They were no longer scared of wind and waves again. They had Jesus with them, but now they’re more scared of Jesus. And that’s our Lord’s point. Listen to what Jehoshaphat is teaching all of us with his powerful example. Do not fear the one who can destroy the body, but fear the one who can destroy both the body and the soul in hell.

2. He United the People With His Humility

That was the line of Jesus to his disciples. God says, if you want to fear anybody, fear me. Fear me. But it’s not some just trepidation fear. It’s a fear out of respect. And Jehoshaphat uses fear wisely. He uses it to his advantage, and he has a healthy fear of the Lord. The second thing that you see in Jehoshaphat, and this is oh so powerful, is he actually united the people with his humility? Now, I want you to think about something. I want you to think about what if. What if? What if tomorrow morning when you got up that every every news channel was talking about an enemy that was coming in or a great calamity that was headed our way, and every newspaper had this going on, no matter where you went, whatever you turned to, whatever social media, warning, warning, here it comes, here it comes, here it comes.

And what’s the president saying? What’s the Congress saying? What’s Congress saying? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Do you know? Do you know what people would immediately start doing? You do. What was the very first thing we would say? Whose fault is this?

All right, who wasn’t on the watchtower? Who let it in? Oh, who caused this? Well, it’s not my fault. It must have been this party over here. No, it wasn’t my fault. It was this party here. Oh, it was this person over here. That’s exactly what we do, isn’t it? In fact, in fact, isn’t our nation right now fighting over just how to protest? We’re not even talking about the real problem. No, you did this, you did that, you can’t do this, you’re making me do that. That’s what we do. That’s what we do. And every time there’s a big challenge in our life, nobody’s gonna say, Oh, okay, you’re right. This one’s on me. Nobody does that. Everybody goes, that’s your fault. Well, it has to be you guys over there.

You voted for him. Oh, isn’t it interesting when the news came to Jehoshaphat? Jehoshaphat didn’t blame anybody.

He didn’t pull in the generals going, all right, fellas, this is what I’ve hired you to do. What’s going on? He didn’t turn to the priest and the Levite and said, Now, weren’t you supposed to be praying? Let’s just come on. He didn’t turn to the people and say, All right, how bad do you really want it? You’re going to have to fight because I’m not going to do it all for you. Come on.

No, he actually shows great humility. And he actually had the courage to stand in front of all the people and say, I gotta be honest with you, folks. I got nothing. I don’t know. And isn’t it interesting to see? Not one person in the story, not one person went, made you king, and this is what we get. No, because his humility led him to his knees, and everybody else followed.

Let’s think about this. Parents.

How often have you had a little struggle in your household? Maybe it’s a kid who’s acting up and maybe being a little rebellious and this, that, and the other, and you’re trying to find a solution. What do I got to do with this? And then eventually, here’s what happens. Well, it’s your son. Acts just like you. Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. You were the one that said, give him the car. You were the one that. And then pretty soon, pretty soon you’re not focused on the problem. Now what are you doing? Fighting one another.

Two business partners are struggling with the business, and eventually, you know, the money’s not coming through, and bets are going this, that and the other. What do they do? You were the one that said buy it. No, you were the one that goes to this. You start fighting. In so many aspects of our life, when there’s turmoil, we fail to recognize and understand who the real enemy is. Hold your place in 2 Chronicles, and I want you to go to Ephesians 6. Ephesians chapter 6. You know this passage of scripture, I’m sure, if you’ve been to church in any amount of time. Those of you that haven’t, uh Ephesians chapter 6 is a beautiful description of what is sometimes referred to as the armor of the Lord.

And what you have is is a very uh symbolic but yet powerful illustration of this is a warrior of the Lord. He’s he’s got the a belt of truth, he’s got a helmet of salvation, he carries the sword of the spirit, da-da-da-da. But before Paul shares that illustration, he says, this is the enemy. And the enemy is not your spouse, the enemy is not Congress, the enemy is not the teacher, the enemy is not everybody else that may be annoying you or causing frustration in your life. He goes, No, no, here’s the enemy. Ephesians 6 verse 12. We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of darkness in this age, against the spiritual host of wickedness in the heavenly places.

Jesus will say in John 10 and in verse 10, it is the thief that is wanting to come in and steal and kill. It is that great liar, Jesus will describe him of that murderer of old. He says, Your enemy’s Satan. That’s your enemy. The enemy is not your spouse. The enemy is not all these other things around you. And here’s the point. Here’s the point. You can’t beat him. You can’t. You can’t beat Satan. Because why? He’s already beat you. He’s already beat you. Every single one of us has been defeated and have been enticed. That roaring lion is Peter describes him. He’s devoured all of us. He’s got all of us. You can’t beat him. And that person that may be irritating us, that person that has wronged us, that person that is even hurting us, they’re not the real enemy.

Don’t throw your spears at them. Don’t throw your insults at them. Don’t throw all your angst against them. They have simply been caught by the enemy. So here’s what Jehoshaphat shows us.

You want to defeat this enemy?

You do it with humility.

In fact, isn’t this what Jesus, isn’t this what Jesus wanted more than anything else from his disciples? Remember he was in that upper room and he was praying for them? He said, Lord, keep them humble. Don’t take them out of this world. They need to be in here, but you’ve got to keep them together and help them to see unity and help them to work together and help them to see that they aren’t the enemy. You know what’s sad is sometimes this ugly reality even reels itself, rears its head in churches, doesn’t it? Whose fault is it? Who let them in? Who didn’t do that? You didn’t preach enough. Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da. And we fail to remember who the real enemy is. Notice what Jehoshaphat does is by showing his humility.

3. He Valued the Messengers of God

He unified the nation. They all came to pray, they all came to fast, and he brought the synergy to unite the people to seek the Lord. The third thing is he valued the messengers of God. Now, this may sound I’m a preacher. Of course I’m going to throw this one in there. But all I want you to see is he’s changed now. If you remember back in that story with Ahab, he didn’t value the message of God. Well, that’s all changed now. Well, when Jehaziel stands up and shares the message, Jehoshaphat goes, Yes. Yes. I’ve got to listen to the one who is spiritual. And this is something that we really got to teach our children. Oh, if we could only teach our children this. Children, children, please listen to your parents when they implore you to listen to those who are wise spiritually.

That these are the people that you long to hear their counsel, that you want to hear what they value. But that’s only going to happen when that’s who we value. When that’s what we show them. You know, there’s something that it never ceased to make me. Cheryl and I have been lived, we lived in quite a few places now. I grew up in Texas. She lived in North Alabama, and we’ve lived down in the Melbourne area. Then we went back to Alabama, now we’re back here. And it’s amazing. It’s amazing how every culture is so different, but the children fall in line with the culture. All right? Let me show you how this works. I grew up in West Texas. Alright? So how’s everybody dressed in Texas?

Well, they all wear boots. And I was just saying, I mean the girls wore boots. It was a pretty good look, you know. You had your boots on, and then your Levi’s has man, that was a good look. Man, I thought that was really cool. All the girls wore boots and they love to ride around in trucks. You know, if it was a truck and had dirt on it, the girls love. I mean, that was a chick magnet there, a girl in trucks, man. And it’s like, oh, no, that’s cool, you know. But then I came down to Florida and I was like, oh, there’s no trucks or boots anywhere. Oh, no, no, that was a little different. But here’s what’s kind of interesting. In West Texas, you everybody cheered for Texas Tech.

Terrible team. Never one. Forgive me if you’re from. You get down to Florida and everybody liked the gators. You know. Or y’all got UCF, but y’all don’t even go to the games. Send your coach to us. We’ll take him. All right. We need him. Where we are. But here everybody liked, they would go fishing. You know, it was just different. Then we moved to Hueytown, and this is where it really got weird.

You know what teenage girls love to do more than anything else? And that little car? They love to go hunting. And you would be sending pictures of a sweet little, sweet little 13-year-old girl with a deer with his tongue hanging out, going, What? Well, why is it different? Why is it like that? Because children value what their parents value. They do. They’re influence. In fact, all of us are like that. Whoever is our domineering influence, that’s what’s going to influence us. I want you to see what Jehoshaphat does with these people. He says, here’s who I admire. Here, I may be your king. I may be the guy in charge. Here’s who I admire. This man of God over here. This man who is a descendant of Asaph.

This man who is sharing the message of God, and we’re going to listen to him. Notice verse 17. Verse 17. You do not need to fight this battle. Stand firm. Hold your position. See the salvation of the Lord on your behalf, oh Judah in Jerusalem. Do not be afraid. Do not be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them, and the Lord will be with you. Jehoshaphat goes, that’s our guy. And I’m going to do what he says. And it wasn’t because Jehazael was just some great guy. But he was simply sharing the message of God. And that’s what I’m going to do, says Jehoshaphat. What does God have to say about? What would my elder had said about? What about the elder’s wife? Let me go talk to them.

4. He Makes Peace With the Plan

What would they have to say about this situation? I need advice, and I’m going to go to those who trust the Lord. And the people followed him. And you remember the story. I mean, they they they not only followed him, they said, We’re going to send the singers out front. Let them go first. We’re going to double down. You’ll notice he makes peace with the plan. God never said how it’s going to play out. God just said, here’s the plan. You ready? Trust me. Trust me. And go. Just go. I said, trust me. And what you see and what you hear in the song is that’s exactly what the people do. Hold your place here and go to Psalms 107. Psalms 107. I’ve mentioned this little song before.

You find it. It comes from the chief musician Asaph, who worked with David and wrote many of the Psalms. But but this phrase give thanks to life. And really what you find in this passage is you find this is the plan. This is the great plan. And in Psalms 107, notice what it says. It says, Let the redeemed say so. In fact, some of you may even have that as as the title of this. But this Psalm is about the deliverance of God, about his steadfast love. And here’s how it begins. Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. For his steadfast love endures forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so. Whom he has redeemed for trouble. Well, what’s the point of this?

Let everybody give this an amen. Let everybody make this their mantra for life. Let everybody make this their song. And notice how it ends at the very end, the final verse of the Psalm. Whoever is wise, whoever is wise, let him attend to all of these things and let him consider the steadfast love of the Lord. I want you to listen to what Jehoshaphat heard in this Psalm. I want you to listen to what the people heard in this Psalm. They heard God say, I love you. Trust me. Trust me. I love you more than you can ever imagine. Trust me. I love you more than you can ever fathom or love anybody else. Trust me. And here’s the plan. Go. I got to confess to you.

As a former news reporter, I would have a very difficult time with that. Alright, you’re telling us all to go out there, and they’re going to be coming up from the ballet, and there’s three armies, and we’re not even going to one. And you want us to go out there and do what? I just want you to go out there and stand and hold firm. I’m sorry. I need a little bit more information. Well, I’m going to get this, says God. Okay, that’s great. How? How? You told us don’t fight, okay? How? How’s this going to go? God said, trust me.

Trust me. I mentioned earlier, I’ve been at the homes of families who have endured great losses. Who literally have cried out, What do I do?

And I’ve learned through my years of preaching that sometimes words just aren’t going to be sufficient. You just hush and hug. That’s all you can do. But some of the most powerful people in my life. Who have truly had some of the greatest influence on the life of me and my wife and my children? Are those people who pressed on and didn’t know how they were going to survive, how they were going to endure. But they just continued to go.

And what you actually see in their life is this story playing out.

Remember, they’re all scared. They’re standing in that courtyard. They’re standing before the temple of God and they’re shaking and they’re crying with their families. But yet when the when the man of God stood up and said, This is the plan, and Jehoshaphat goes, that’s the plan. Did you notice their countenance changed? I’m sure deep down they were still a little bit scared, but they left that city early in the morning and they went out to that valley, and they stood.

5. He Gathers All the Spoils of Grace

Because sometimes the greatest peace is just found in having a plan. And God says, here’s the plan. I love you. I love you. Hear me, Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Believe in the Lord your God, and he will establish you. Believe his prophets, says Jehoshaphat, verse 20, and you will succeed. There’s your plan. And then the last thing, and this is what’s so neat in the story, is he gathers all the spoils of grace. Whatever was left behind by all these others, they went and picked it up. They didn’t leave any of it. And the text tells us it took them days to bring it all in. What grace that God had provided. They went from having nothing to now they literally have what? Everything.

Everything. And they went and they gathered it and they picked it up and they didn’t leave any of those spoils on the ground. Can I share something with you? Can I share something? Do you know what happens? Do you know what happens? And every single vehicle that leaves this church building every Sunday, every vehicle that has an elder and an elder’s wife in it, or a preacher’s in a preacher. Do you know what happens in that car? You know, you what you know the first thing that they do when they get in that car, you know what they start talking about? Anybody know? The first thing they do happens every time, happens in my car every time. The very first thing I get in the car and I’ll go, Well, where were they this morning?

I I know they were there. I just talked to them this past week, but they were like, I don’t know. I didn’t see them there. I’m trying to encourage them. Why weren’t they there? Well, who wasn’t there? Oh, why weren’t they there? Oh, and then they weren’t there. Oh, and then I saw them there, and everything. And the very first thing you do is you look at all the things you don’t have. Yeah? Did I just indict you? That’s human nature.

That’s part of always seeking that one lost sheep and always trying to nurture a soul. But but here’s what I want you to all grasp. And this is so important in all of us and every aspect of our life. Don’t count everything you don’t have. It will depress you and it’ll make you want to ram your head in a wall. Sometimes just gather the spoils of grace that are all around you. Have you ever just looked around this room at all the grace and the spoils that are here? And I’m saying that in a good way. All the souls here that love the Lord, all the children here who are healthy and with godly parents, all the people who are fighting on, even though there’s great challenges in their life who inspire us and move us, all the biblical knowledge, all the counsel, all the goodness, all the heart in the service of the Lord that’s all around us.

Get it. Don’t let it get away. Pull all of it in. You need all of it in your life. It’s a treasure. It’s a valuable treasure. Don’t make your life all about what you don’t have. Look at what God has provided all around you. Be able to see the blessings. Be able to see the victories. Be able to see the rewards. Jehoshaphat went from nothing to everything. And there’s a powerful spiritual principle here. You can’t manufacture your own victory. The victory comes from the grace of God and what he has provided. That’s why we’re even told as those who work in the kingdom of God, you can plant and you can water, but only God can give the increase. And that applies in every aspect of our lives.

If after two days they went, you know, I kind of got enough. Let’s just go on back. I’m sick of carrying all this. You’d have gone, what? God gave it to you. What are you doing? Go get it. Well, there’s a great application to all of us there. What are you doing? Go get it. All the Bible study opportunities, all the assembly time opportunities, all the service opportunities, all the grace opportunities, all the spiritual knowledge opportunities. Go get it. It’s been given to you by God. Go to the valley of Baraka, the valley of blessing. And pull it all in. In verses 27 to 30, back at our story. Here’s how the story ends. And then they and Jerusalem and Jehoshaphat at their head. They returned to Jerusalem with joy, for the Lord had made them rejoice over their enemies.

They came to Jerusalem with harps and lears and trumpets to the house of the Lord. And the fear of God came upon all the kingdoms of the countries when they heard that the Lord had fought against the enemies of Israel. And so the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet. For God gave him rest all around.

Conclusion

Who was the victor here? The people. Jehoshaphat? No. It’s God. This is the message of the Bible, folks. Like so many other powerful examples in Scripture, this is the story is about God. A God who is longing and yearning to work in our lives, but he can only do it when we’re humble enough to say.

Help me. Guide me. Teach me. Save me. A couple of years ago, a good friend of ours who I worked with when I was in Dotha. In fact, I worked a lot with his son. And in fact, his son was the second person I ever baptized, Adrian. But now many years later, this fellow, his name was Billy, was imagine Charlotte. Billy had never become a Christian. He was opposed to it. He lived his own life, did his own thing, and literally lived his own life.

But now just merely weeks away from dying, infected with cancer. He was interested in God’s word. And one of the elders by the name of John Haley went and was studying with him, spending time with him and talking, and they’d got to a point really in their studies and in Billy’s life where Billy recognized he needed to have his sins washed in Jesus Christ. He knew that Jesus was his Savior. And he knew that this is what he needed to do, but he couldn’t do it.

He’s like, man, you know this is what you need to do. What’s holding you up? What’s the deal here? And this is what Billy said. He said, How can I? How can I, at the end of my life, having always refused to listen to my God, always being surrounded by his grace and goodness. How can I, at the end of my life, when I have nothing to give him at all? How can I accept this now? John got a big smile on his face. And he looked at Billy and he said, That’s it. Billy, that’s it. That’s every one of us. There’s nothing you can do. There’s nothing you can give. There’s nothing that you have. That’s what grace is all about. Sit back. And watch the work of the Lord.

Isn’t that the story of the Bible, folks?

He was baptized. For the first time in experience peace. And he passed away a short time later. I don’t know where you are in your spiritual journey. But I want you to listen to the story of Jerusalem. Sometimes life is not about what you have. It’s truly about what you don’t have. And if you think you can bring anything to God of value that deserves his respect, or you can’t. You got nothing. But it’s only when we have that humility that he can really work for us and change our lives. Have it all together and know what you’re going to do and how you’re going to live. No. He said, Come unto me, all ye who are weary and heavy laden. Recognize the grip of sin.

Who recognize the enemy? I’ll give you rest. And if that’s what you’re seeking this morning, we have a Lord who’s ready to give you everything. If you will but come while we stand and sing.