Who's feeding you today? Do you think you're feeding yourself? Do you think simply because you've got a bank account and because you can go down to the grocery store, do you think you're feeding yourself today? Do you think all these things are you're doing today? Am I not the one doing this for you now? So why be anxious about it? Well, I want to talk to you tonight, and of course, you realize that we're still in this idea about the wiles of the devil and what the devil uses to try to disrupt us and cause us difficulties as Christians. And so I introduced this morning to you the idea of being discouraged and the things that make us discouraged. And one of the things that makes us discouraged is we see a lack of advancement, progress in our own lives. And then we see a lack of advancement of progress in the church in general and people that are around us and people that are claimed to be Christians and love the Lord. We see a barrier. We don't see much progress. And then and then there's the the possibility that we are becoming weary and well doing. It feels like, you know, that there are none. I mean, we kind of feel like Elijah, you know, the I and I alone. left. And the Lord says, no, I've got resources that you don't know of, and you shouldn't be complaining. Now get up and go do what I tell you to do. Don't be complaining. See, you don't know what God has. You don't know what's on the next corner. You don't know what's over the horizon. It's like what Elisha, the one who who came after Elijah. Elijah, you remember the prayer he prayed for his servant, Lord, open his eyes that he might see the host of heaven. So he was afraid that they were outnumbered because there was an army there coming down to kill the prophet. And the servant was afraid. And he said, Lord, open his eyes. And he saw a host of heaven. He thought they were out and that that he and the prophet was outnumbered. In reality, the ones that stood against them was outnumbered. by God. You know, it used to be said, God and me makes a majority. No, God makes a majority, whether you or not. I mean, you join Him or you don't join Him, He makes the majority. And so often, you know, we think, we're weary because we think we're the ones that are pulling this along. And then sometimes, you know, we faint and always the possibility of fainting, always that we're going to fail, that we're going to drop, we're going to give up. I remember one poet said, Don't let me change my heart. What a wonderful line. Don't let me change my heart. Keep me set apart from all the plans they do pursue. And this world pursuing plans, aren't they? They're pursuing, even this very hour, this very day, this day that is the Lord's day, the day that the Lord has laid claim on. We have forsaken that day, and the world is going about doing what they purpose to do. But every plan to be known to man, he's unconcerned, because he's got plans of his own to set up his throne when he returns. And so here we are. We're not deluded. We're not. We are not people who have been tricked. We are not people that are just pretending in a sky God to try to help us get through these days that are tough. No, my friend, we are the children of the living God who have been birthed twice. You realize if you're birthed twice, you'll die once. If you're birthed once, you'll die twice. But we have been twice born of God, twice born of Christ, who lighteth every man that cometh into the world and who brings salvation to those who believe, brings salvation through the power of the Spirit to all, who would call upon Him in faith. And so we indeed sometimes become weary and are afraid we'll faint. And so that's why we must continue to ask the Lord to give us strength that we do not faint, that we do not fail and fall in the day of adversity, but that we stand firm with God and for God. But there are, and that's in general, you know, the idea that what can discourage us, but there are specific things, a more, as it were, if you could just tighten up the microscope just a little bit and you could see even further into this great general idea of being depressed or discouraged is the idea of worry and anxiety. I'll be honest with you, I never would have thought about this had Dr. Lloyd-Jones not covered it in his commentary, but when I saw him covering it in his commentary, I said, this is a wonderful, wonderful thing that we should consider as a congregation, the idea of worrying and being anxious. Because we do live in a day that seems as if that everything's becoming unglued. And we do live in a day when it seems as if there is more danger out there for our children than has ever had been. That's not true. Every age has its difficulties and its problems, and every generation. There have been times and periods in the earth that's more brutal than the time we're in in America, more decadent than the time we're in. more pornographic than the times that we are in, more, you know, sexual promiscuity, more open than we have today. I mean, we're beginning to move into some of these areas to where we will be about as bad as some other generations that went before us. But but not quite. We still I mean, we have not yet gotten to the to the point of Sodom. We surely have not gotten to the point of Gomorrah yet, though we surely are beginning to favor them. We're beginning to have a little flavor of what they are, but we've not yet gotten there. But still, there's a lot of worry and anxiety because it is us. We're the ones today, we're the ones that are facing these issues today, and we're the ones that have to raise our children. We're the ones that have to send them out in this world. And you know, and one thing, you know, I've always prayed for my children, for those whom they would marry. But the thing that dawned on me and I never really considered was that all of a sudden, here's someone in my family that I didn't raise, someone that I don't even know how they were raised or what kind of influences they had. And here they are in my family, and they are a parent of my grandchildren. and see and see, all of a sudden, you know, you begin to say, well, wonder what will happen. Not only that, not only in their particular families, but what's going to happen when they themselves have to go out and find someone, the mayor? Or what happens when they leave you and they have to go out and find the church? They have to go out and find someone who will carry on the preaching of the Word of God. And what we hear from young people, what we hear from young people that go out from this church and go into other places, when they come back, what we are hearing from them is that it is hard to find out there. And in fact, we've got young people coming back saying, man, it is a wonderful place that we have here. It is a wonderful place because here There are people that love the Lord and who serve God, and the Word is preached, and no one is kicking up a fuss and angry about the truth that's preached from this pulpit, and they're going out into other places and finding that not to be so. And so it's a sense of worry for us, a sense of anxiety, not to mention, you know, the way of the world, not to mention the economy. Do you realize that we're living in an economic time that is as bad as any time has ever been in my life. You see, I've gone, I mean, there have been what they call recessions. A recession is when your neighbor loses his job. A depression is when you do. But we've lived in depressions. You know, I've heard and I've watched news. I've been kind of interested in these kind of things all my life. But I've never been in a situation, an economic situation, where they are talking about, I'm talking about the news media, people that know are talking about a worldwide collapse of the economic system. I never thought I would live to see the day when America is in danger of becoming something totally different than any of us had ever thought it would be. You look back, I am an old movie buff. I don't know, I think maybe the older I get, the more sentimental I'm becoming. And so I'll watch the, and I can't stand commercials. So about the only channel that doesn't have a commercial is this Turner, and I don't like him, but I'm glad he's got a movie channel, Turner Movie Channel. So they're showing all these movies without commercials, commercial free. And you look back at all these people and these situations and these movies that always hold out this great hope for America, this great hope for the future. You know, the idea of, and they lived happily ever after. It's always been a myth, but they had expectations. Our forefathers believed that they lived They believed it with all their heart. They lived in an exceptional country. That there was never a country like the United States of America in the history of the world, not in its founding, not in its constitution, not in its freedoms, not in its In its ingenuity and its aggressiveness and its integrity, never before has there been a nation like this wonderful nation that God has given to us. And now we see it falling to pieces before our eyes. And it makes us anxious and worried. What about the job? What about my job next week? What about, you know, what about the jobs of the people of the church? What about, you know, will they be able to have enough money to even pay to carry on the work of this church? You know, so anxieties and worries that... Well, then the devil rushes in, you see. The devil tries to use that to change your heart, you see. And they're telling us, oh, well, your retirement system I mean, you've saved all this money, but it's going to be useless. You've got all this money in retirement, and yet when you go to cash it in, there won't be anybody there to buy it. And the Social Security system is going to fall to pieces. I was reading a statistic the other day. I'm preaching against worry and anxiety, in case y'all are wondering. But I read a statistic the other day that when Social Security started, 165 workers supported one retiree. Today, two. Can you add, run those numbers out? Has the baby boomers, has the baby boomers Has that bubble made it in yet? Just the leading edge. And if it's two to one now, what is it going to be then? One to two. You see, they set the Social Security age. The first guy that started this was a German, Bismarck, in 1886, I believe it was. He started this and he set the retirement age at 70, which is kind of interesting because in 1886, the average age of a man was in his late 50s. Smart guy, clever. Take the money and nobody would ever have to, you'd never have to Well, when Franklin Delano Roosevelt started the Social Security system and his administration started the Social Security system, Congress obviously voted for it, but when they started the Social Security system, the average age, he set the retirement age at 65 because the average age of a man in America was 63. They never expected anybody to draw this. They surely never expected Social Security to be paying for two decades the green fees for baby boomers. So we can go play golf. Now you kids, y'all get up and go to work now and pay that Social Security, pay 40% tax so I can go to the golf course. Y'all don't mind that, do you? But I don't play golf. So the ice cream parlor. You know, or maybe some fall event on Saturday afternoon or something like that, you see. It's enough to make you anxious about things. Am I going to have enough to retire? But see, here's the thing. I'm not sure God's ever meant for us to retire. That's a whole other issue, and I surely don't want to get in that. I stay in enough trouble anyway. But here's the thing, you see. It was a good idea until greed got in the way. And everything that we've depended upon, everything that we've put our stock in, has fallen to pieces. Even though the Bible teaches us that we shouldn't trust the arm of the flesh, or as the hymn writer wrote, put no confidence in princes, nor O man, for help depend, for he shall die, the dust returning, and his purposes shall end." Worry, anxiety in every area. Now, what causes us to worry? Well, I think the first thing that causes us to worry is the cares of this world. It's kind of like the story of Martha, Mary and Martha. The Sisters of Lazarus, the 10th chapter of Luke. You remember the story? Remember Martha was about, you know, she was running about fixing the food and cleaning up and came to the Lord, which I thought this was always very interesting every time I've read this story. I thought it was very interesting that she began to complain and then came to the Lord and said, Lord, make my sister help me. Because, I mean, I shouldn't be surprised with that because that's just the way we are. Well, see, nobody asked you, Martha, to fix us anything. Nobody wanted it. But you wanted to do it, see? I mean, you're that kind of person. You wanted to do it. But yet, the more you were working in there, the angrier you got, because your sister was in there sitting at the feet of Jesus learning, and you were in here rattling pots and pans. Jesus never tells you what you want to hear. You notice that? She just knew that Jesus was going to be fair. And she just knew that Jesus was going to say to her, you're doing a good job, Martha. You are fixing this. Mary, get in there and help your sister. That's what she thought Jesus was going to say. And Jesus said, listen, Mary chose the greater part. Now, is there anything wrong with cooking and cleaning? But you see, there are these people that that's what they have to do. Everything has to be right, everything has to be in order, everything has to be put. And of course, we kind of look upon such traits as being traits that are noble. But they can be destructive to you because you're giving too much to the cares of the world. It's just like the parable of the sower, right? Jesus said the sower went forth to sow. And so, they were casting out the seeds and some of the seeds fell in the thorns and the thistles. And they sprang up and began to grow and began to put a root down and began to compete in the soil for the nutrients and for the space. As it is in a fallen world, the thorns and the thistles and the briars and the weeds grow much better than that which can give you food. And so it's choked out by the cares of this world. Wouldn't it be horrible in the name of doing right to be so preoccupied with getting it right? that you miss the right. So the cares of this world, you see, choke you out. Because Jesus talks about this too in Luke 21 when he gives this prophecy, you know. He's given prophecy about the end of the world and he begins to to speak to his generation, and I guess we could start over in the 34th verse. This would be Luke 21, 34. Here's what the Lord says. Take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness and cares of this life And so that day cometh upon you unawares. But you can be so full of the things of the world and of the cares of this life that you're missing the fact that there is a judgment coming at the end of the world. And these are the people of God. These are not the heathen. These are the people of God who are, you know, that Jesus is speaking to, telling them to beware because judgment is coming. The cares of this world begins to choke out. How do we guard ourselves against this? How do we guard ourselves against allowing the cares of this world to destroy us or to rob us? Or to have Satan come in, you see, and use these things, this anxiety, this worry, to say to you that you are not a child of God. That you don't know Christ. And then on the other hand, if you leave something undone, you see, if you don't give yourself to this thing, then He'll say, look how sloven you are. Would Christ love such a person that's so disorganized and would bring things to your mind like cleanliness is next to godliness and God wants order. Let everything be done decently and ordered. Then you're so caught up and wrapped up by these cares of the world that you miss seeing in Christ. I'm sorry, the devil doesn't doesn't want you to know Christ. He doesn't want you to have an understanding of him. He he will always substitute. He will always substitute good for best. Must be careful to know. And so one of the things to meet such a temptation, to meet this worry and anxiety, is first of all, to recognize that it is coming to you from the devil himself. And second of all, that you must reprimand yourself. You must always be preaching to yourself. Which leads to the next point, self-discipline. You see, it's the right proportion. You have to get these things into the right proportion. Surely God would not have you as a mother. And as a wife, he would not have you neglect the things that he's called you to. The Bible says that that that the older women should teach the younger women to be lovers of husbands and lovers of children and the keepers of the home. That's what God said. That's not what Brother Kerry is saying. That's surely not what the feminists are saying. But that's not what I'm saying. That's what God is saying. So you want to be a person who honors the Lord and who loves God? You want to be a woman that does such things? Then you must give yourself to these things. You must be busy. Because an idle mind is, this is not scripture, but it's true, isn't the devil's workshop. If you're not giving yourself, see the Bible talks about women who going from house to house, these younger women going from house to house, they become wanton, they give themselves unto the Lord, but then they become wanton, they become and anxious about their life. And so they go from house to house, busy bodies, stirring up things. And the Lord says, don't do that. Marry and be a keeper at the home. Marry and give yourself to the things of God. And yet there has to be a proportion to those things that you give yourself to such things. You give yourself to such to such a perfectionism that you can never relax, you can never be happy, you can never honor the Lord, you can never settle and sit and enjoy the peace that God has given to you. Because here's the thing, God has called us to peace. Always. Always called us to peace. She says, if the unbelieving spouse leaves you, then let him leave. If the unbelieving spouse leaves you, then let her leave. You see, a brother or sister is not bound in such cases. But the Lord has called us to peace. Blessed are the peacemakers. Life's about peace. What is the Christian life? It is about a peace that passeth understanding. It's not about being uptight and always in a tither and always angry because things are not going the right way. See, I must preach to myself continuously about this. Because things begin to aggravate me. Things begin to get on my nerves. I'll tell you, if things are not right, if the thing doesn't work right, or if I'm trying to fix it and it doesn't go right, you know, I have a tendency to be angry at it and to beat it with a hammer. Then it doesn't go right. Trust me. Kick it with your foot. Got a gas can that's got a big den inside of it. I kept it to remind me of my own stupidity. You preach to yourself about this. There's got to be a balance. See, there's times when you can push the thing aside and have a teaching moment with your children. You see, so we must continuously have discipline. See, the difference between an unbeliever and a believer is control. An unbeliever's life is disordered. An unbeliever has no control over his life. He's either led along by the prince of the power of the air, or he's led along by his own lust, or by both. In the name of freedom, he's in bondage. I want to be free. I want free expression. I can tell you what, I remember when Ceausescu was overthrown in the 80s and I think it was in the late 80s in Romania. Some of y'all who are a little older remember that. And he was so oppressive. He was so oppressive to them and he wanted, he had in his mind this great grand scheme that Romania would become this great nation. And so he wouldn't allow the women to have abortions because he didn't want Romanians to be aborted. He wanted them to grow and want to become a mighty and strong people. Now, he was a despot, he was a horrible dictator, but that's what that's what he wanted for Romania. They were under such oppression and such bondage, and remember when it fell, here's what they did. They had a trial. They put Ceaușescu and his wife on trial, found them guilty, took them out the back and shot them. And then outlawed capital punishment. Now they were free. Now Romania was free. And you know what happened? Women lined up for 10 blocks to get an abortion. 10 blocks to kill their baby. One released from one oppression. revealed the true oppression they were on. Sin. See, so the unbeliever is always disordered in his living. But the believer is one who has had an ordered life. The Spirit of God comes in and orders the life of the believer. So in self-discipline, what order doesn't just simply mean that you get everything straight. But what it means is that you get the proper proportional balance in your life. The other thing that causes us to worry and have anxieties, the fear of the future, Jesus warns us against this in the eternal mountain. He says, take no thought of tomorrow, what you shall eat and what you shall drink. Now, that's not absolute. He's not saying absolutely that you have no thinking about these things. But what he's saying, don't have anxious worrying about this. I have to talk to myself all the time about this. What happens if I get too old? My memory goes and I can't preach anymore. Will I have enough money to retire? Will I have enough money to retire? I don't have to grace my children enough that they would take care of me. Maybe I should start treating them nicer. But what about, you know, what about the next businessmen? What about the people at the church? What about, you know, fear of the future? I have to again remind myself, the Lord said, look, I'm not going to leave you for sake. The Lord, I have to preach myself to the Lord. You know, the Lord reminds me again that who's feeding you today? You think you're feeding yourself? You think simply because you've got a bank account and because you can go down to the grocery store, do you think you're feeding yourself today? Do you think that you're keeping yourself healthy today? Do you think all these things are you're doing today? Am I not the one doing this for you now? So why be anxious about the future? Actually, it's really isn't it? Isn't it sinful? Isn't it really? Something that exposes a lack of faith. Doesn't it really expose unbelief? See, why is it that we can believe that the Lord is going to take us from here to heaven? That the Lord is going to reach down in our grave and put it all back together and raise it, raise our body, that He's going to usher us into heaven, to an existence that we can only contemplate through the Word, that none of us has ever experienced. We think that He's going to fold this world up like a vesture, like a garment. He's going to put everything back the way it should be. And he can't get a plate of food to my table tomorrow? You see, these things, do we really believe them? Do we really believe in this? Or are we just saying this? Is it just a hope? Is it just a fond wish? Is it just something we trust might be true, but we really can't believe it can be true? Oh, preacher, I don't believe that. I've put my whole life into these things. when the trumpet of the Lord shall sound and time shall be no more, and the morning breaks eternal bright and fair, when all the chosen ones shall be gathered on the other shore, when the rolled is called up yonder." I'll be there. Not, I hope I'm going to be there. Oh, I'm not really sure, maybe. Do you reckon God could get me there? But you see, when it comes down to it, we can believe that, but what about now? You see, the Christian life is a now thing. Take no thought of tomorrow, what you shall eat or what you shall drink. Have you seen the birds? They do not sow and they do not reap. But God takes care of them. And are you not greater than two birds, two that are sold for a farthing? Have you seen the lilies of the valley? Solomon and all of his glorious array was not so clothed as these. If God knows how to take care of birds and flowers, does He not know how to take care of the one that He sent His Son for? who bled and died for their soul. You see, the Christian life is to believe now. Satan comes in and he begins to undo us, trip us up, to put negative thoughts in our mind, and then stands there and accuses us as being unbelievers and unfaithful. And then thirdly, here's the thing. God has not given us a spirit of fear, has he? But then what about guidance? What about God guiding me? How is He going to lead me? And not only that, how is He going to answer my prayers? See, we're worried. Am I making the right decision? Did I do the right thing? You know, we've messed up so much in our lives. We've messed up so much. that we doubt ourselves. And yet, you know, but God, I need You to lead me. Well, how does He do that? We get all anxious about God. Am I making the right decision? You see, in the Christian life, that is, the modern church has put so much stock on decision, so much stock on Choice. Oh, well, the reason this person is in the problem they're in is because of poor choices. Well, that's true. But how many poor choices did you ever make? Have you ever made a poor choice that God got you out of? A poor choice that you made that God had to deliver you? And saying, here's Satan coming in here. Yeah, you think this is of the Lord? You think this is a thing you ought to do? You see? Are you sure? How many other people thought they knew? How many other people believed it was right? Look how many other people have fallen and failed. And then you get all anxious and worried about it. And then Satan comes and says, what kind of Christian are you? He's so devil. so hateful, so pretentious. What will we do then? Well, the Bible says that we should be careful or be anxious for nothing, but pray about everything. Trust the Lord. You see, He guides us through His Word. You see, there's much of life that you don't have to wait for some kind of impression of the Spirit. much in life that He's taught you to do already. Read His Word and to follow it. He uses means. Occasionally, He does a miracle, but that's why we call them miracles because they're occasional. But most often, most often, He uses means. He uses His Word. He uses the advice some wise person? Yes, the Bible says old women should teach young women, old men should teach young men. You think God discounts experience? No. So study the Word, immerse yourself in it, pray, and follow the promptings of the Lord. Stop being anxious and worried. It will do nothing to solve your issues and your problems. It will just give Satan a weapon to beat you with. Let's pray. you