our Savior did for us on Calvary, and look forward to someday seeing Him face to face and thanking Him for that wonderful love. Thank you, Benson, for that ministry of music, and Mrs. Schor, and we'll dismiss the young ones to go to their class. And the rest of us, please, Psalm 81 in our Bible, Psalm chapter 81 is where we are this morning. And so I'd like to introduce this message just by looking through it as we get started, just considering a few short things as we get to the main part of what we'd like to look at. But this morning, Psalm 81, the book of Psalms, is the Hebrew songbook. And so this was songs that were written, a lot of them were written by King David. In this case, it's written by a man named Asaph, the songwriter of this one. And so, It says in verse one, So even this morning we have enjoyed worshiping God in music, and that is a precious part of what God's given to us to do, and it's biblical. As we see right here, in this text as it speaks about sing loudly unto God. Sing aloud unto the Lord our strength. It says, sing joyfully unto God. It says, make a joyful noise unto God. And then it speaks about instruments. You know, there's some churches today, and I don't really understand this, they don't practice, you know, having instruments in the worship of God. And yet it's very biblical as we go back, especially we see here in the Old Testament, they've got the harp, the timbrel, and we'll see in the next verse, the trumpet. And so verse three, blow up the trumpet in the new moon. And the time appointed on our solemn feast day, for this was a statute for Israel and a law of the God of Jacob. And so God had ordained days for worship. In our case, the main day is the Lord's day, where we honor our Lord. But they had special feast days back then that were God-ordained feast days. They ended at the coming of Christ. They were fulfilled in Christ. But one of those was the Passover, and that's likely what it's speaking about here. And so it says in verse five, this he ordained in Joseph for a testimony when he went out through the land of Egypt, where I heard a language that I understood not. You might be puzzled a bit as you read this I ordained in Joseph. Who's it speaking about? It's speaking about the children of Israel. They were the descendants of Joseph. In Egypt, they would have been known as his descendants, and so it's a reference to the Jews. The language that was not understood emphasizes that Egypt was not the people of God. Not that God could not understand their language, but rather that it was a foreign language emphasizing that aspect of it. And number six, removed his shoulder from the burden, his hands were delivered from the pots. And we understand that Israel was in bondage in Egypt. They were enslaved there from the time of Joseph. They began to grow until the Pharaoh looked at them and thought, they're getting more powerful than we are. He put them into We know the story of the exodus and what took place to make that possible as God heard the cries of his people. And he answered at the burning bush by raising up Moses as a deliverer that he would send to go before Pharaoh. And then we understand the stories of the ten plagues and how the first nine take place and Pharaoh would harden his heart and harden his heart. until the death of the firstborn, and that Passover, the blood on the doorpost, and that taking place, and then Egypt wailing because of the deaths of these children, and them pushing the children of Israel out of Egypt with their blessing, as it were, and all the wealth of Egypt going out with them. We know the story of God destroying the Egyptian army at the Red Sea as God just finishes off this enemy of Israel. And then verse seven. Thou callest in trouble, and I delivered thee. I answered thee in the secret place of thunder. I proved thee at the waters of Meribah. Again, referencing the fact they cried out to God. God sent a deliverer. God met them in that place of thunder. That's a reference to Mount Sinai. And then God testing them in the wilderness and how he proved them as he did with his people. And so Asaph, as a historian, he's recounting with Israel some of the ways that they had seen God at work in their lives. And sadly, the history doesn't end there, but continues into our consideration this morning. And why it's sad is that the sad failure of Israel is what's gonna be dealt with despite the fact that God desired to do great things with them. And what I want to emphasize this morning is that Israel never fulfilled their God-given potential. In other words, what could have been. I mean, wouldn't you love to read an Old Testament story that just has an awesome ending, and some of them do, of men in faith in God, trusting in God, obeying God, pleasing God, but so often, it's not the case, especially as you read about Israel. God could have made her so much more than she was, but she refused to obtain, again, that God-given potential. Potential is having or showing the capacity to develop into something in the future. It could be a product, and there are many products that I suppose people come up with and they think, ah, this is a great product, but for a product to really take off, it has to find the right environment. They've got to obtain funding to be able to maybe put together prototypes or to put together an assembly line or something like that, so they're looking for the right investors to participate in that. They're looking for a CEO that would come and be a dynamic person that could lead that company to great prosperity. They need the right economic environment. COVID-19 has proven to be a good environment for some products, I suppose, if they had to do with the medical field. And then a horrific environment for other things that at another time might have succeeded but they never reached their potential even though they could have because of what environment they were in. I want to remind us as we get started today that God is the right environment for us. that with God and being in God, I can reach a potential that is a God-given potential. And I praise God this morning, as we already talked about in Sunday school, I look at our church this morning and I see great potential for God. I see what God could potentially do in all of our lives is if we stay with God, stick with God, get into some of these understandings of what it takes to reach our God-given potential, that God has great plans and a great desire to work in our life. And so I wanna encourage us today to obtain your God-given potential. And just to ask that question, do you think right now that you're on track to reach that? Do you feel like you're gonna absolutely, I mean, that's the desire of your heart, you're saying, by God's grace, I'm gonna obtain that, or would you think, you know, I might end up like Israel? I might be somebody that I could have done so much for God, I could have been so much for God, but I never really reached that God-given potential. And so let's ask the Spirit of God to help us as we come to the Word of God and consider these thoughts this morning. Father, I thank you. for the desire that you have for the lives of those that I see this morning in front of me. And Father, I pray for them. I pray Spirit of God encourage them. I pray Spirit of God strengthen them. And Father, I thank you that when you look at us, that your desire is good, that your desire is to really, everything that was for Israel, for your people, that you have a great desire, as we'll see even in this text, to really help us to be everything that we could potentially be. Yeah, Father, so many things that maybe come into our lives keep us from obtaining that which you desire. And so Father, as we examine that in light of what took place with Israel, may the Spirit of God instruct us, may the Spirit of God give us insight into our own lives. And Father, we desire very much the blessing of God upon this time. And Father, I'm thankful already for the grace of God that you've given to us this morning and this sweet time that we had in your Word in Sunday school and I trust in the children's Sunday school class as well. And Father, we just ask for that continuation of your blessing. and pray that the Spirit of God would give Mrs. Shore wisdom as she administers the word to the hearts of her young audience this morning. Father, I pray that you'd speak to them. And Father, for us, as we come into this place and this sanctuary that we have, this auditorium, this place of the house of God, may, Father, our sole purpose today to be to meet with you. And Father, as I've recently been reminded through listening to another preacher preach that he often challenges his church to consider, as they sit under the preaching of the Word of God, to consider the judgment seat of Christ. to look at their life in light of that moment of standing before Jesus. Even so, Father, may that be our consideration this morning. Father, that we can honestly say, you know, my desire is to be right with God. My desire is to be so right that someday I'll not be ashamed before him at his coming, I'll not be ashamed to enter into that place because by the grace of God, I live my life in light of that eternal reality. And so Father, I pray, would you help me as I speak? I can't speak without your enablement. We can't listen without the same. And so Father, we pray for both by the grace of God. It's in Christ's name I pray, amen. And so if you wanna obtain your God-given potential, we're gonna look at four things this morning that might help us with that. And the first is listen to God, okay? If you want to obtain your potential for God, then listen to God. You know, I'm glad that you're at church this morning. Church is a great place to listen to God. As the word of God is brought out and set before us and considered, it's a great place for God to speak through the preaching of the word of God, through the red word of God. And so that's a great thing. We're here, I trust, this morning to do that. This past week, as we took out our Bible, we had personal devotions and we opened up the word of God and we looked into it. Again, it's a great place for God to speak and for God to instruct us. If we took out the Bible with our family, with our kids and opened it up or with our spouse and consider it, again, it's a great place to hear from God. There ought to be in our hearts this morning a desire to hear from God, that God would indeed speak to us. And so as we look at this text, God wants you to listen to him because God wants your audience. God wants you to be present to hear what he has to say. And so he says in verse eight, he says, God wasn't speaking to Egypt, God wasn't speaking to some foreign people, God was speaking to His people, hear O my people, and I will testify unto thee. God had something very specific that He wanted them to be there before Him to hear what He had to say. Think about if God in heaven wanted to tell you something, shouldn't you want to hear? I mean, should there be a desire in your hearts to hear from Him? If I'm away from my wife on a trip or something like that, there's nothing I want more than to pick up the phone and to speak with her. And if you think about that as a spouse, you think back to those time when you were dating as well and you've got that relationship and you've got that love for that person, there's just an intense desire to hear from them. I remember my wife and I would date at Bob Jones. At Bob Jones, I was a grad student, she was undergrad. The only place that we could meet on campus by the laws of the university was at the dating parlor, the DP as it was called. We sit there on sofas and speak with each other and we get there and then I remember, you know, close at 10 o'clock and I'd go back to my dorm. and sometimes I'd pick up the phone and I'd call my wife's dorm to speak with her. Sometimes I'd write a letter to send to her. I didn't call her room to speak, and I know you understand this, to speak to her roommates. I didn't write a letter to her roommates. I wanted to speak to her, I wanted to write her something because I loved her. It's amazing today to think about the love that God has for his people that He desires to speak to us. That God desires to say to us, listen, listen up, I want your audience, I wanna speak to you, I wanna communicate to you because you're my people and I have something that I desire to testify unto thee. Hear, O my people, and I will testify unto thee. And so God wants you to listen to Him because God wants your audience, but God wants you to listen to Him because God wants your attention. It says, O Israel, if, Thou wilt hearken unto me. You know, if is a small word that's packed full of potential, right? I mean, God desires to speak. He wants their audience, but he says to them, if you're gonna hearken unto me. The word hearken means to hear intelligently. To hearken, to hear intelligently. You know, sometimes you might listen to a conversation and you might think, you know, I'm not sure that they're listening intelligently. My sister tells a story. She had the privilege of being an only child after my brother and I graduated from high school. We went off to college and she was there with just mom and dad. She has a story about riding in the back of the car with mom and dad. Dad had had two appointments that day. He had a doctor's appointment for his heart. He'd also had an appointment at the vet because the dog had gotten fleas and things like that. Mom asked about the doctor's appointment, and that's what she's thinking about, and she says to Dad, she says, how'd the appointment go? And Dad's thinking about the veterinary appointment, and Dad says, well, it went really well. And she said, well, what did the doctor recommend? Did he recommend anything? He said, well, he recommended sprinkling some powder around the bed. Mom's like, okay, sprinkle some powder around the bed. How does that help your heart? Well, my sister's in the back, and she's getting it. My sister is listening intelligently, but there was some wires that were crossed there. You know that happens sometimes, doesn't it? Yes, men, especially, I suppose, if our wife is saying something. You know, sometimes we hear, but we aren't hearkening. We're not really listening intelligently. So be careful. She might say, did you hear what I said? And you say, yes. And then she asked that question, what did I say? Watch out. It's not going to be very good, possibly, if you weren't listening, hearkening. You know, how would we know today if we're hearkening to God? How would I evaluate that in my life? Wouldn't I evaluate that by if I respond correctly to do as God says? That God, I'm really listening to you this morning. I really am engaged in listening intelligently because God, as the Spirit of God speaks to my heart. I'm gonna step out and do that. Psalm 119, 32 says, I will run the way of thy commandments when thou shalt enlarge my heart. David just said to God, God, I've got my running shoes on. I am just here, God, to listen to you. God, whatever you say, as soon as you say it, God, it's gonna happen. Listen, that ought to be our heart this morning as we come to church, that we ought to come with an appetite. As we go to the word of God in our personal devotion time, that ought to be with an appetite to say to God, God, whatever you say, God, I'm listening. I think Israel, as we look at Israel, Israel did not obtain the potential of what God had for them because they weren't listening. This morning, if we want to obtain our God-given potential, then listen to God. Come in audience, but come and hearken. And then secondly, love God. Love God. You know, loving God is the greatest commandment that God has given to mankind. There's nothing that excels this commandment, though the second is likened to it, but the Bible says in Matthew 22, 35, then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind I just think about that statement. I think you know love the Lord thy God with all thy heart with all thy soul and with all thy mind You know it's not hard to recognize somebody that's in love is it? You ever seen somebody like that? I had a roommate back when I was in college. I was in love, but it was later, and he fell in love first, and I was a freshman, and I mean, I'm watching him as he comes in, and he gets back from the DP. He sits down. He gets out a mirror, a little mirror, and he gets out pipe cleaners that are different colored. It's kind of curious. I'm kind of watching what he's doing. And he starts to mold those together. And he's making some creation for his love. He was engaged, he had a fiance. So he'd get that creation done, and then he'd take out a pen and he'd start to write some words, poetry. He's laboring, he's sweating, he's trying to get it just right. And I'm looking at him thinking, man, you've got it bad. You know, he is in love, and you could just, I mean, you read him like a book, you talk about somebody that is wearing his heart on his sleeve, you just look at him and say, that guy has a bad case of love for that young lady. Now praise God, that's a great thing, in that right relationship, that he had that affection for her. You know, does anyone suspect that you love God? Does anyone read your life like a book and say, there's just something about them, they have an affection for God. They care about the things of God, they care about the interest of God, they care about the word of God. 1 Corinthians 8.3 says, but if any man love God, the same is known of him. In other words, if I love God with all my heart and soul and mind and strength, other people ought to suspect it. Other people ought to look at that and say, I see that in your life. And so as we think about loving God from our text here, love God above all else. Love him above all else. It says in verse nine, there shall no strange God be in thee. No idolatry. You know, in Asaph's day, that was more evident maybe than in our day. Because an idol was something that was wood. It was an idol that was something that was metal or stone that the person took and they shaped. Maybe they got the idea from some foreign nation that had that idol as their idol and they thought that that idol had special power and special ability. You could ask the question, why did they need that? Why did they want that idol? They had Jehovah God. They had the God that did all these great things. Why did they have that idol? Well, obviously there was something about that idol that they looked at and they thought, I need that. I need that. Maybe there's some lack in their life. They thought God's not meeting my need. This idol will meet my need and I need that. You know, I suspect today that our church doesn't have idols. I did, we knocked on doors yesterday and actually one of the doors that we knocked on had some, I think Hindu or something like that. Things going on up on the top of the the door entryway and then down along the ground there were some things I looked at and I think that's idolatry. Well, I don't suspect that in our church. I don't think that there's anybody in our church that would have an idol like that. Maybe a visitor or something might come to our church and they might have idols like that. But we might have some things in our life that we feel that we need that are against God. Some way that we feel God's not meeting my needs, and so I've got this in my life, I know God's against this, and maybe even that thing has been something that exalts itself above God. That's what an idol is. Idol is something that takes the place of God in somebody's life. And so, you know, relationships could become idols. God disapproves, it might be a young person in their life, they're a Christian young person, and there's an unsaved person that they want to be friends with, they know that they really shouldn't. How can two walk together except they be agreed? What fellowship have righteousness with unrighteousness? They know they shouldn't, but maybe there's an affection, a romantic affection or something like that, or maybe just a friendship, and that's pulling them away from God. What's an idol? It's something that they've allowed into their life that is against God. And it's taking the place of God. God says, you know, God has authority over these things, but now this idol has come up into their life and they're getting direction from that friend instead of getting direction from God. Activities can become idols, especially something God disapproves of. God's against that, maybe going to that place or doing that thing, and yet there's an affection for that, there's a sense of maybe I need this in my life, I've gotta have this in my life, and so that person is going there despite they know that God's against that. And again, it's taking the place of God, it's usurped authority from God. Entertainment can be idolatrous. God disapproves, but I gotta see that show. I gotta know what all my friends are talking about. I gotta know what is happening. And so I justify this in my life, but God disapproves and I bow down to that and I yield to that rather than to God. Music can be idolatrous if God disapproves, but it's a controlling power. I love that music. I love that sound and I've got to have that my life I know God's against it, but I keep that in my life in that again. It's an idol. It takes the place of God Appetites can be idolatrous God disapproves, but my flesh wants it anyway, and so rather than yield to God I yield to that thing and so God just says here Israel, Israel, I want to work with you. Israel, I want you to reach your God-given potential, okay? And so I say to you, listen to me, hearken unto me, I want to tell you something. And he says, love God above all else. No idols. And so in our life, again, we wanna reach that potential for God, we need to examine our heart and say, is there anything of which God disapproves that has usurped the place of God? And deal with that. Praise God, God is able to deliver us from idols. 2 Corinthians 10 verse four says, for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalted itself against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. God has given us all things that pertain unto life and godliness through the knowledge of him that has called us to glory and virtue, and God has absolutely given us that power. As we read James O'Fraser's biography recently as a family, he speaks about the Lisu people in northern China. And they were idolatrous people. And as they got saved, one of the things that they had to do, they had to look at that idol shelf that was so important to their family, so important to their fear and their anxiety. And they worried that, you know, what's going to happen? What are the demons going to do if we deal with this? But the spirit of God speaking in their heart saying, no idols, they took those shelves and they would destroy those and obey God. You know, again, in New Testament Christianity, in a Christian nation where we don't have physical idols, Excuse my voice. We need to examine our life and say, is there anything like that? God says, get rid of that. I wanna reach my potential for God. Okay, I'm gonna deal with those things that take God's place. And so love God above all else. And then worship God exclusively, exclusively. Sorry, again. Neither shalt thou worship any strange God. To worship is to bow down to or to revere, to venerate. It's like what you see in India or some nation like I talked about there in Northern China. It's that bowing down before that, prostrating yourself before that, giving worship to that thing. Again, we've got to choose in our hearts what are we gonna worship? Are we gonna worship God or are we gonna worship something else? Matthew 6, 24 says, No man can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon." You know, some people want to worship sport. They wanna worship that team. I mean, they're just all into it. It consumes their life, it's a passion. Now, I would say this, I don't know of that situation like that in our congregation, but just by way of example, it's something that they're living their life for. And I mean, it affects their moods. You ever seen somebody that is really a fanatic when it comes to sport and their team loses? I mean, they are just low, you know, and if their team wins, maybe they're on the cloud nine. but that to them is what they live for. Sunday is not about the Lord, it's not about getting in the house of God, it's not about worshiping God, it's about the sport that's gonna be on the telly in the afternoon and what's gonna take place there and their mind is consumed with that instead of consumed with God. Other people could worship materialism, you know, controls their happiness, their finance, their debt even, they're in debt, they're enslaved to it because they've gotta have these things and they're bowing down to those things. All the things that we already talked about, music or sin addiction, entertainment, activities, there's not room to love God because that again is something that consumes me. They say, maybe I can't be happy without that. I can't give that up, I can't step away from that. You know, again, do you wanna reach God's potential for your life? Do you want to be somebody that is really achieves for God and for God's glory? Then we must be somebody that looks at our life and say, by God's grace, I don't want anything in my life that's controlling me. I don't want anything that I bow down to, that I serve. God says to do this, but I can't do that because I've got to serve this instead of serving God. James Stewart, we're reading his biography just now as a family in our evening devotions, but James Stewart, growing up in Glasgow at the age of 14, was on the youth international football team. He was a gifted center forward. He was seeking to be the best center forward ever, you know, and he's seeking out kicking with his right leg and his left leg with equal power. But on the football pitch, the Spirit of God spoke to his heart. He came under such conviction that he said, every time I ran towards the goal, I felt like I was running towards hell. He said to God, as soon as the whistle blows, God, I give my life to you. James Stewart not only got saved, but he walked away from a career in football. He turned his back on his idol. I remember the story of Duncan Campbell and Duncan Campbell was a piper and he played his pipes at a lot of dances and things like that. And so the pipes to him were associated with his old lifestyle that was against God. And when he got saved, he walked away from his pipes. And so there could be things in our life that we look at and say, I want to reach my God-given potential. I really want to live for God. Well, listen to God and God is saying no idols. Don't bow down to them. Stop yielding to those things instead of yielding to God. And so if you want to obtain your God-given potential, Listen to God and love God. And then the third thing this morning, learn to trust God. Learn to trust God. You think about Israel again, you think, why are you worshiping idols? You have seen God do incredible things and God has done all this amazing stuff in your life. But I just think in Israel, there was a fear in their heart that came in. It was an unrational fear that they felt like God's not gonna meet my need. And they forgot about what God had done. And so they corrupted themselves very quickly and turned away from God because they didn't learn to trust God. Remember the story there, Exodus chapter 32, they've just gotten through the Red Sea and God's giving them the law in Mount Sinai, but Moses is taking a long time up there on the mount. The Bible says, And Aaron said unto them, break off the golden earrings which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me. And all the people break off the golden earrings, which were in their ears, and they brought them unto Aaron, and he received them at their hand, and he fashioned it with a graving tool. After he had made it a molten calf, and they said, these be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. Verse eight, God says to Moses, the people have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them. They have made them a molten calf and have worshiped it and have sacrificed thereunto and said, these be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. Again, you read that and you think, how could that be? How could they not recognize? Well, guess what? They'd never learned to trust God. They never learned to recognize what God had done and what God was willing to do. And so let's think about that this morning. Learn what God has done. Learn what God has done. It says in verse 10, I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt. You know, how many of you got brought out of the land of Egypt as a nation? None of us, right? But if you're saved this morning, God has spiritually brought you up out of the land of Egypt. God has delivered you from the damnation of your sin and hell. God has delivered you from the bondage of your sin. He's done that gloriously through the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 1.23 says, being born again. not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. God reached down, not with corruptible seed, but incorruptible, the perfect person, Jesus Christ, the living word that died on the cross for your sin and didn't stay in the grave, but rose from the dead. And by a power that he alone possesses, brought you to conviction of your sin to the point where you understood your need for a savior, where you cried out in faith, trusting in the finished work of Christ on the cross and his resurrection from the dead. And God brought you out of the land of Egypt. God set you free. If that's your testimony, if you've experienced that, John 5, 24, truly, truly, I say unto you, he that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life. Who did that glorious work? God. John Newton, his story is a neat story as far as conversion. John Newton is the author of the great hymn, probably the most well-known hymn ever, Amazing Grace. John Newton was a slave ship owner. John Newton had a godly mom, but she passed away when he was seven years old, and he lived a wicked youth and a wicked life, but it came to a date that he remembered for the rest of his life, which was the 10th of March, 1748. And on that day, John Newton would celebrate that day every year because that was the day that God took him from death unto life. That's the day that John Newton got saved. He was in a physical storm on the sea. And the story goes, when the ship went plunging down into the trough of the sea, few on board expected her to come up again. The hold was rapidly filling with water. As Newton hurried to his place at the pumps, he said to the captain, if this will not do, the Lord have mercy upon us. His own words startled him. Mercy? He said to himself in astonishment. Mercy? Mercy? What mercy can there be for me? This was the first desire I had breathed for mercy for many years. About six in the evening, the hold was free from water, and then came a gleam of hope. I thought I saw the hand of God displayed in our favor. I began to pray. I could not utter the prayer of faith. I could not draw near to a reconciled God and call him Father. My prayer for mercy was like the cry of the ravens. which yet the Lord does not disdain to hear. In the gospel, says Newton, I saw at least a pared venture of hope, but on every other side, I was surrounded with black, unfathomable despair. On the pared venture of hope, Newton staked everything. He sought mercy, and he found it. And so he could write, amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I'm found. Was blind, but now I see. I confess this this morning, I do not understand the mystery of how God works in the heart of a man to bring him to saving faith. Any more than I understand the mystery of how God worked to deliver Israel out of Egypt. How did God get Pharaoh to let him go? How did he orchestrate the evacuation? but they were his people, and he set them free, and he was their God. You know, for us, why would we turn to idolatry? Why would we turn to that? We ought to love God, and in that love, we learn and we look and go, I love God because look at what God has done. The world's not gonna satisfy. The world's not going to meet my needs. Those idols that I bow down to them, I think I need them, my flesh craves them, but they do not satisfy. But Christ satisfies. Praise God. If God has done that work in your life, you ought to look forward and say, God's going to keep doing it. God's going to keep working. Philippians 1.6, Paul said this, being confident of this very thing that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. If I can look back and say, look at what God's done, then I ought to look ahead and say, look at what God's going to do. And that's the second part. Learn what God has done, but learn what God has promised to do. I'm the Lord thy God, verse 10, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt. Open thy mouth wide. and I will fill it. Have you ever watched a baby bird? We've got some starlings and things like that out in the back, and it's kind of gross, you know. They're like, ah, ah, ah, and the mom comes over, you know, and burps in their mouth or whatever. I'm sorry to be too gross, but open thy mouth wide and I will fill it, right? That bird has, that parent, when that mouth is open, there's this, I think it's a natural reaction, you know, that they have. They can't help but get over there and fill their mouth. And God says, open your mouth wide and I will fill it. God just says, look to me. I want to meet your need. I want to provide for you. I want to satisfy you with everything that you need. I am come, the Bible says, John 10, verse 10, the thief cometh not but for to steal and to kill and to destroy, and that's the devil and that's those idols. I am come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly. That's God's desire. And so if I wanna reach my God-given potential, I gotta learn to trust God. I gotta look back at what God has done in my life and say, God set me free from my sin, He's given me new hope, and He has promised me, open thy mouth wide and I will fill it. He desires to do great things for us. And then finally, this morning, Let God have his way. Listen to God, love God, learn to trust God, and then let God have his way. The hymn by Cyrus Nussbaum says this, let him have his way with thee. Would you live for Jesus and be always pure and good? Would you walk with him within the narrow road? Would you have him bear your burden, carry all your load? Let him have his way with thee. His power can make you what you ought to be. His blood can cleanse your heart and make you free. His love can fill your soul and you will see to his best for him to have his way with thee. If Israel had just let God be God, we're going to look at it, God would have done great things. But instead Israel didn't let God have his way. What about us this morning? We've got a choice. We can either, again, look at these things and say, well, I need my idols, so I'm gonna keep my idols. Or we can look up to God and say, God, I just want you to have your way with me. So what does that look like? Well, let him lead you, let him lead you. Look at verse 11, it says, but my people would not hearken. They wouldn't listen intelligently to my voice. And Israel would none of me. They say to God, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na. They said to God, I don't wanna listen. They said to God, I don't want anything to do with you, and it's a very sad position that Israel found themselves in, and children sometimes can do this to parents. They have godly parents, they have good parents. They grow up in the house, and the parents desire to meet their needs, but they don't wanna listen to their parents. They don't wanna be around their parents. They wanna get away as quick as they can from their parents, and it's just a contradiction of understanding, because they are the ones that are gonna bless them. but instead they turn their back on them. You know, this morning, in your heart, is there anything like that, where you just go to God, God, I don't wanna hear it, I don't wanna hear it. And God's saying, hey, listen, listen intelligently, I don't wanna hear it. Is there anything in your heart that says, I don't really want that much to do with God? I've got my idols. That's where Israel was. Israel couldn't reach their potential because they're pushing God away. And so this morning you want to reach your God-given potential, let God have his way, and so let him lead you. And then let him overrule you, overrule you. It says, so I gave them up unto their own hearts' lusts, and they walked in their own counsel. They said to God, forget you, and God said, so be it. It's a very sad thing that, I mean, God desired them, God desired to work in their life, but they just pushed God away to the point God said, okay, okay. They had their desires, their things that they wanted, and they got to eat the filth that they wanted to eat. They were given up to their own heart's lust, and the Bible says in James 1.15, then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin, and sin when it is finished bringeth forth death. And if God steps back and says, okay, have your sin, then understand this, what you get is death. I'm a dog owner. As a dog owner, I need to know some things about dogs. Dogs cannot eat chocolate. Now, they'd like to eat chocolate. I don't doubt, but our dog, Duchess, if you said, you know, Duchess, want some chocolate? She'd say, I want some chocolate. I bet she'd crave chocolate. I bet if you had it out on the counter, she might even snitch some chocolate. But the thing is, if a dog eats chocolate, it's death. Their kidneys can't handle it. If I remember correctly, something like that could lead very quickly to their death. If they get chocolate in them, you gotta take them to the vet, and they gotta pump their stomach, get that out of them. Why? Because that kills them. God in his grace is saying, no, no, no, don't go there, don't go there, don't go there, don't go there, that's death, that's death, that's death. And somebody's pursuing that, saying, I don't want God, I want my idolatry, I want my things. And God says, that's death. And you say, I forget God, and God says, okay. He gave them up to their own desires. They got to eat the filth that they wanted to eat, very sadly. Moses was wiser than that, praise God. Moses could have had all the lust of Egypt, he could have had all the wickedness of Egypt, but he chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. We gotta be like Moses and say, I don't wanna be like the children of Israel. They got their own heart's lust. I wanna be like Moses that looked at that lust and said, no, I don't want that, I want what God wants. And so let him overrule you. Let him come to you and say, careful, that's death, that's death, and respond, say, okay, God, I yield. And normally, I'm sorry, I don't normally have my phone vibrate. There we go. All right, so they got to eat the filth that they wanted to eat. They got to plan their own way. Notice what it says. It says they walked in whose counsel? They walked in their own counsel. Instead of God saying, hey, this is the way, walk in it, they got to choose their own way. You know, the Bible says there is a way which seemeth right unto man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. Oh, there's plenty of people like that today. They live in life large. They're living life their way. They know for sure they've got it. They're going there. But the path that they're on, it's not the way of life. It's not the way of hope. It's not the way of peace. It's not the way of joy. It's not the way of satisfaction. It's the way of death. But they have said to God, God, I'm gonna walk this way. The Pharisees, the Bible says about the Pharisees, the false preachers that were kind of preaching what they wanted to preach and not what God wanted to preach. Jesus said, let them alone, they be blind, leaders of the blind, and if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch. Now don't be deceived this morning. If in your heart you say to God, God, forget you, I wanna go my own way, do not think this, I have arrived, do not think I have achieved, do not think it's gonna go great. Understand this, it's gonna be death and it's gonna be quick death. And so what do I need? I ought to be somebody that says to God, God, I'm scared to get my own way. I'm scared to seek my own desires. God, please guard me from that lust. Guard me from that sin. Set me free from that. It's a path of death. God, I don't want that. I want your way. And God, I don't want my own understanding because I mess up. I'm so wrong. The ways of man are not of man. It's of God and God directs the path. And I pray, oh God, God, just lead me. let him overrule you, let him lead you. And then third, let him help you, let God have his way, let him lead you, let him overrule you, let him help you. Verse 13 says, oh that my people had hearkened unto me and Israel had walked in my ways. Don't think this today that God, when God turns his back on Israel, that God went, well, that's great. I'm so sick of them. I'm so tired of them. I'm just so ready to be done with them. Never think that God turns from a prodigal son and says, hey, that's great. I'm so excited that I don't have to deal with them anymore. You see the hard cry of a loving parent for a wayward child and this cry from God as God cries out, oh, that my people Israel had hearkened unto me. Why? Because they would have reached their God-given potential. God desires that. I would say to us this morning, look, God wants you to succeed. God wants you to achieve. God wants you to have the best life you could possibly have, the best marriage you could possibly have, the best family you could possibly have, the best church we could possibly have, the best opportunities that you could possibly have. God is absolutely not against anybody this morning. God is for you. That's why God says, here's the way, walk ye in it. It's the path of life. God desires to bless. He desires to help. Jeremiah 29, verse 11, he says, for I know the thoughts that I think towards you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Israel, in that case, I didn't put you into the Babylonian captivity to destroy you. I put you there for your benefit because I got to get a hold of your heart, get you back to a place of faith in me, and then by the grace that I possess, I'm going to bring you into the land again. It's an expected end. Okay, there's going to be chastening. There's going to be tough times you go through. Man, if this is of God, this is horrible. God doesn't willingly afflict the children of men, but yes, God will sometimes lead us down a tough path because it's the best path. I'll tell you this, I don't like closed doors. We've been praying seriously for a year and a half and really for six or seven years for property, for our church. I don't like closed doors. but I accept closed doors and I thank God for closed doors. And I know this, that God's plan for our church is far better than anything I could possibly conceive. And I promise you this, God's plan for your family is far better than anything that you could possibly think of. God's plan for you and your walk with God is far better than anything you can conceive if you'll trust him. Let him lead you, let him guide you, let him help you. Why? Because he's going to deliver you. Notice what, and I just want to point out these truths about verse 14. He will deliver you presently. I should soon have subdued their enemies. Why were they in idolatry? They're scared of their enemies. Oh, we got to have some help here. What are we going to get? Get our idols. We need our idols. And instead of staying in dependence upon God and trusting God to take care of it, God would have taken care of it presently. Satan says, God's not meeting your needs. You need it now, it's gotta happen now. God's not gonna meet it soon. Well, listen, you don't know. You don't know how long it's gonna be. Don't despair, don't think, well, it's gonna be another year, it's gonna be another two years. You oughta, by faith, say, but God could do it now. And I'm just gonna trust God. I confess as pastor, I don't know when God's gonna allow us either to get this land that we desire or some other land that we desire, but I believe it could be soon. That could be presently. That happened earlier. Enter bird, exit bird. That's twice today. All right, he'll deliver you presently. He'll deliver you powerfully. I should soon have subdued their enemies and turned my hand against their adversaries. Listen, God was gonna do it in power. They're gonna get their idols. Are the idols gonna do anything? No. but God would powerfully have eradicated their enemies. All those things that they looked at, oh man, these are big things, and I need my idols. God would have taken care of those things powerfully. He would have taken care of them presently and personally. Verse 15, personally, the haters of the Lord should have submitted themselves unto him. They would have bowed to God, not to Israel, but to God, and God would have personally done that. It's a wonderful thing to walk with God and to say, you know, as a church, again, with regard to the land or to whatever, God did that. God did that. Say to our kids, God did that. Say to the future church, listen, God did that. Powerfully, presently, personally. Let him deliver you. He will. He will establish you. It says, but their time should have endured forever. It's being about Israel. Israel could have been strong and they could have succeeded if they let God secure them. We're reading in our devotions, we read about Jeroboam. Jeroboam, the one that took the throne after Solomon over Israel. God said to Jeroboam, Jeroboam, if you'll follow me, I'll establish you like I did David. Instead, Jeroboam set up idols. His offspring were destroyed. Why? Because he didn't trust God to establish him. Now listen, I look at our families here this morning, and I pray, God, give us strong families. Give us families that are gonna stand. God can do that. But it has to be people that say, God, I'm gonna let you have your way. I'm gonna let you have your way in our life, in my family. He will deliver you, he will establish you, and then lastly, He will satisfy you. Verse 16, it says, He should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat and with honey out of the rock should I have satisfied thee. You know, the wheat is a picture of what they needed. They had to have food, they had to have provision. And God says, look, I would have provided for you. But then they say to God, God, but we have things that are beyond, okay, needs, but their desires, their wants and things like that. And God says, with honey out of the rock would I have satisfied thee. And the thing is for us as a church and as families and individuals, God does not this morning just desire to meet your needs. God desires to satisfy your wants. Delight yourself also in the Lord and he will give thee the desires of thy heart. How? I let him have his way. Israel, again, they never reached their God-given potential. Why? Because they didn't let God have his way. George Muller, great man of God, from Germany and then over into England, Bristol, England. Muller was born in Kroppenstadt, a village near Halberstadt, in the kingdom of Prussia. In 1810, the Muller family moved to nearby Heimersleben, where Muller's father was appointed a collector of taxes. His early life was not marked by righteousness. On the contrary, he was a thief, a liar, a gambler. By the age of 10, Mueller was stealing government money from his father. While his mother was dying, he, at 14 years of age, was playing cards with friends and drinking. While in seminary at the University of Hell in Germany, Mueller described his status as one of wicked behavior and unrepentant spirit. Then he says, despite my sinful lifestyle and cold heart, God had mercy on me. I was as careless as ever. I had no Bible, and had not read any scripture for years. I seldom went to church, and out of custom only, I took the Lord's Supper twice a year. I never heard the gospel preached. Nobody told me that Jesus meant for Christians, by the help of God, to live according to the holy scriptures. And so, if you think about Mueller's life, it's all for self, it's all for sin, it's all for idols, and it's all for destruction. He's not gonna reach his God-given potential. If he stays on that track, his life is wasted. But Mueller attended a prayer meeting in a private home in 1825, which so moved him that a swift transformation began in his behavior. He says, I have no doubt that God began a work of grace in me. He got saved. Even though I scarcely had any knowledge of who God truly was, that evening was the turning point in my life. If I were to say today who reached their God-given potential, and I listed a bunch of names, and George Mueller was there, I think everybody that knows George Mueller and his faith ministry with the orphans down in Bristol and the great work that he did for modern missions and supporting missions, that we look at the man and that we bow, in a sense, in our heart before him and say, man, that guy achieved for God. How? He was on a path that would have destroyed his life, never reaching his God-given potential. But God got a hold of his heart, and he turned, and he followed God. And it's exactly what we're considering this morning. Israel never reached their God-given potential, but you could say about Mueller that he listened to God, he loved God, he learned to trust God, he let God have his way, and so he reached it. And so for us this morning, my prayer would be, I look at our church and I say, dear God, help us to see every single person, every single family, reach their God-given potential. How's that possible? Well, will you listen to God? Will you keep your ears open if the Spirit of God speaks? Will you respond intelligently to God? Will you love God exclusively, saying, you know, God, I'm gonna worship you. No idols in my life. If there's an idol in my life, God, I'm gonna deal with that idol. And then learn to trust God. Look at what God's done. And look at the promises of God and say, you know, God's got a good plan. I don't need my idols. I don't need to follow my way. God's got it. He's got a good plan for me. And then just say to God, God, I want you to have your way in my life. I need you to deliver me. I need you to direct me. I need you to help me. And put ourselves in that place where God can work. And so let's bow our heads in prayer just now. And as you bow your head, just before we pray, just let me ask the question this way. Are you on track to reach your God-given potential? And if not, would you just say to God, God, I wanna listen to you. God, I wanna love you. God, I wanna trust you. I want you to have your way. Maybe there's something specific the Spirit of God's putting his finger on saying, you know, this is something in your life that needs to change. Maybe you need to get saved. Maybe you need to follow the Lord and believers baptism or church membership or get involved serving God, get a priority for God and get in a position of faith, maybe as a family or personal devotion or other things like that. And if God's spoken to you, I just encourage you to let God have his way. Let's pray. Father, I pray that the Spirit of God would help us to truly reach our God-given potential. I think this is a very sad psalm. God, as you look at Israel, say, Israel, Israel, oh, that my people had hearkened unto me. I should soon have done these things. But Father, they didn't listen. They didn't love you. They didn't learn to trust you. And they didn't let you have your way in their life. And Father, very sadly, there could be somebody here this morning, that's the same thing. That if they're honest, they say, you know, I'm not listening to God. I don't love God. I'm not learning to trust God. And I'm not letting God have his way. But Father, that's the path of death. And I pray they get off that path. I pray that they would obey the gospel if they need to, or they'd get right with God and say, you know, all for Jesus, all for Jesus, let my feet run in his way. And I pray for that. And so Father, as we stand and sing the hymn of invitation, may we do business with God in our hearts. It's in Christ's name I pray, amen. We are going to stand and sing that hymn, let him have his way with thee.