God's Way is Perfect

[0:00] Amen. Great to have everybody looking forward to a great conference this week. Hopefully you've put that on your schedule and your calendar.

[0:11] And so we're looking forward to a great kickoff here this morning. As we're going to have Brother David Sorensen come and from all the way up far north up in Duluth, Minnesota.

[0:22] You know, they came down here to get the warm weather, right? And but I know Duluth is a beautiful place. And and the Lord sent them there many years ago and started a church there in the city of Duluth.

[0:37] And God is blessed. And and Brother Sorensen has also wrote many books and talked about this issue of the text and and the things of the scripture. And so we're going to have him come preach here this morning.

[0:50] And Sunday school hour is really going to be the kickoff for the conference. But just look forward to get your Bibles out, get ready to go here this morning as we have Brother Sorensen come and preach God's word to us here this morning.

[1:07] Well, I'm delighted to be with you here at Plains Baptist Church in Lincoln, Nebraska. The pastor said we're from Duluth, Minnesota. My sweet Pam, my wife Pam is here.

[1:17] I've been married 54 years and I'll say more about that in a moment. But Duluth is not the end of the world. But you can see it from there.

[1:30] Up on Lake Superior, not Canada. But the pastor said there 35, almost 36 years ago to start an independent Baptist church there in Duluth.

[1:40] And I stepped out of the pastorate about eight years ago and have been traveling the country ever since from Florida to Alaska, from San Diego to...

[1:52] And so we've seen much of the country. But delighted to be here today. As the pastor mentioned, we do have a book table back there.

[2:04] And I'd like to just talk about a few of the things here this morning. In each service, we'll mention a few of the books. On the back of the table there is an independent Baptist commentary.

[2:18] It's what this church believes. Most Bible commentaries are written by Presbyterians or Lutherans or Reformed. Very few have been written by independent Baptists.

[2:29] But there is an independent Baptist commentary back there. It's written on a level that will help the pastor. It's written on a level that will help the people in the pew. And we have people all over America by them.

[2:40] And I'd encourage you to look it over. It's a commentary that teaches a six-day literal creation, baptism by immersion, pre-tribulation rapture, the local church, and it's what we believe.

[2:57] But anyway, they're on sale back there, ladies. By the way, ladies, everything on the table is on sale. And that's the truth. I mean, if you go online or go on Amazon or whatever, you'll find the prices are considerably higher.

[3:12] And if you buy something back there today, you don't have to pay the freight, the shipping, which sometimes is substantial for the commentary. But anyway, that's available in hardbound. It's also on CD-ROM.

[3:24] These are not cassette tapes. These are flash drives. We have a flash drive A and a flash drive C that you can use on your computer. About five, six years ago, I sat down and wrote a book entitled Winning People to Christ.

[3:41] I've been privileged over the years to be part of several great soul-winning churches. One was the Old Fourth Baptist Church up in Minneapolis, and the other was my father's church.

[3:51] He pastored there in central Illinois. And both those churches reached attendances well over 1,000. And it was based on just old-fashioned Bible evangelism and soul-winning.

[4:03] It's been my experience that God's people have a desire to witness and tell others about Christ, but often aren't exactly sure how to do it, how to break the ice, how to get into the gospel. Well, this book explains how to do it step by step.

[4:16] My wife said it's her favorite book of those which I have written. And most of what I have written over the years has been Christian-oriented, theologically oriented, and this is sort of a little bit, but a book entitled Empowered by the Devil, The Rise and Fall of Adolf Hitler.

[4:31] I guess if I have one hobby, it's just World War II. I love to read books on it. And several years ago, I decided to write a book about Hitler. And the thesis of the book is that he was demon-possessed.

[4:43] And there's historical basis for that, as well as scriptural basis. And if you have any interest in World War II and the overview of the war, you'll find it an easy read and a fascinating read.

[4:59] So anyway, so much for the commercial. Let's get on with the program today. But take your Bible this morning. By the way, as the pastor said, in the next hour, we're going to get into the matter of the textual issue and the Bible translation issue in earnest.

[5:14] And every night this week, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday night, you don't want to miss any of these because they kind of build. If you hear just one message, you're not going to get the whole picture. But if you hear the whole series, you'll have a much, much broader understanding of why we use the King James Bible.

[5:32] And there are very principled and doctrinal reasons for that. But in this hour today, I'd like, we'll just preach from the Word this morning. Turn with me to Psalm chapter 18 and verse 30.

[5:45] Psalm chapter 18 and verse 30 this morning. One verse. In my opinion, Psalm 18 is one of the mountain peak chapters in the book of Psalms.

[5:59] Psalm 18 and verse 30. As for God, His way is perfect. The Word of the Lord is tried.

[6:11] He is a buckler to all those that trust in Him. Father, this morning as we look to Your Word again at this hour, I would ask that Your name be glorified, Your Word magnified, and the Savior lifted up.

[6:26] Father, bless Your people, and may this be an encouragement and a help to them. And I ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, Psalm 18, as I mentioned, I believe is one of the mountain peak Psalms and the Word of God.

[6:40] It was penned by David in his latter years. And in the text before us here today, David reflects back, number one, on God's perfect way, number two, on God's proven Word, and number three, on God's protective work.

[6:54] And the principles that were effective 3,000 years ago are still in force to this day. And so let's look at here a little bit more closely this morning.

[7:04] Number one is God's perfect way. As for God, His way is perfect. Now, I believe that God's way of salvation is perfect. It's simple and it's complete.

[7:17] It's faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ, trusting in our Lord Jesus Christ. There's nothing complicated about it. Turning to and trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ.

[7:30] Now, there are several very popular myths that proliferate across the land. They're certainly true in Duluth. I suspect they're true here in Nebraska and really all over the world.

[7:41] The devil is very effective in promoting his lies. But one myth that perpetuates is that baptism has something to do with getting saved. That's true up in our town.

[7:52] I think it's true probably for many people here in your town. There are variations of that, several flavors of that. Some think that baptism washes away original sin. Some people think that baptized enters a person into a covenant with God.

[8:06] Others think that we're saved by getting baptized. When we were building our church building there in Duluth, Minnesota years ago, the men of the church largely built the building.

[8:17] They'd come at about 4 o'clock in the afternoon or thereabouts in the summertime. And we'd worked till dark. And the neighbor from across the street walked over to see what was going on. And he said, Boy, you Baptists are a bunch of eager beavers.

[8:30] But, so I started to talk to him. His name was Bill. And I said, Hey, Bill, let me ask you something. If you died today, do you know for sure you'd go to heaven? He said, Oh, yes, my pastor told me I took care of that when I got baptized.

[8:42] How sad. How tragic. And that man has since passed on. And if all he is trusting then and now was his baptism, folks, he's not in heaven, I'll tell you that.

[8:53] It's a sad thing. But there are untold millions that are going to be in hell who thought they were going to heaven because they got baptized. But it's a myth. It's a fallacy of the devil.

[9:04] Another myth that proliferates and the devil promotes it all the time is that by being a good guy or being a good gal, being a good person, God will accept that when you get to heaven someday.

[9:19] Up in Minnesota, a little slogan about being Minnesota nice. I guess the idea is to be nice to your neighbor and nice to everybody else. And, in fact, there's a store in the Minneapolis International Airport.

[9:33] There's a mall right in the middle of the airport and one of the stores in the mall is Minnesota nice. Well, I'm not against being Minnesota nice. I think that's a good thing. The folks being Minnesota nice will never get you to heaven.

[9:44] Or Nebraska nice. Our church is located about three miles from the state of Wisconsin and a quantity, the folks in our church come from Wisconsin. And I'll say, look, us folks here in Minnesota are Minnesota nice.

[9:57] I don't know about you guys from Wisconsin. But being a nice person will never get you to heaven. Being a good guy or a good gal will never get you to heaven. Having water sprinkled on your head will never get you to heaven.

[10:10] Folks, I am Baptist born and Baptist bred. When I die, I'll be Baptist dead. But all the baptistry water in all the world never washed away one sin and never saved one person.

[10:21] But these are myths of the devil that are perpetrated, falsehoods that people foolishly believe. Salvation is simple and it's complete.

[10:33] It's perfect. Trusting in Jesus Christ. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.

[10:44] But as many as received him, to them give you the power to become the sons of God even to them that believe on his name. For by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves.

[10:55] It is the gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast. Praise God. It's just trusting Jesus Christ. Turning to him and trusting him. By the way, I was telling the pastor just to digress here for just a moment.

[11:12] I've had voice problems. In fact, the meeting I was to have with you last year was because I couldn't talk. That's kind of tough for a preacher. And I've been to four ear, nose, throat specialists.

[11:27] One speech specialist. One oncologist. And they couldn't figure out what was my voice problems. Well, some of them we were getting kind of close. But I'll tell you, I stumbled onto something that helps me, folks.

[11:39] It's medicine. It's powerful medicine. I hold it here in my hand right here today. And I kid you not, this is not a joke. This stuff helps. And A&W root beer.

[11:50] I'm not a big fan of A&W. I don't drink a lot of it. But you'll see me now during these services take a sip of A&W root beer. And my voice is starting to crack a little bit already.

[12:01] It'll loosen me up. But, so anyway, get that out of my system. But God's way of salvation is perfect.

[12:13] Praise the Lord for that. But not only that, I believe God's way of living is perfect. In Titus chapter 2 and verse 11, we read, For the grace of God that bringeth salvation teaches us that denying ungodly lusts we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world.

[12:33] That pretty well sums up the Christian life. To live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world. I'm going to take a sip of my medicine here.

[12:55] To lead a godly life. To lead a righteous life. To lead a sober, separated life.

[13:06] That we should live soberly, righteously, and godly. Churches today, Christians today, are afflicted with the foolishness of alcohol.

[13:19] Oh, it used to be preachers preached again. A hundred years ago, Billy Sunday was going up and down the land preaching about the demon in the bottle of alcohol.

[13:29] And churches for a long time kind of condoned it. There are churches today, I'm talking about evangelical, and the particularly reformed churches in America today, they're not going to condone alcohol, they promote it.

[13:45] And I could tell you stories which I won't get into here today. That we should live soberly. I started my college career years ago in a secular university in central Illinois, Bradley University, and I was majoring in electrical engineering.

[14:02] That's a long story how I got from there to where I'm at today. But, sat in a chemistry class, and there was a professor from India by Dr. Singh, S-I-N-G-H.

[14:17] And in the course of that year of chemistry, we got into organic chemistry, and that leads to chemically the type of alcohols, and there are several different types of alcohol chemically.

[14:28] and one is methyl alcohol and another is ethyl alcohol. Methyl alcohol is what we used to call wood alcohol. You buy it in the grocery, or not the grocery store, the hardware store for industrial cleaning purposes.

[14:43] But, methyl alcohol, you drink that, the professor said, you'll be either dead in the morning or blind by morning. Terrible poison. Ethyl alcohol is what's found in beverage alcohol.

[14:57] Hand goes up in the back of the room, a secular university. Dr. Singh, why is methyl alcohol a deadly poison and ethyl alcohol is not?

[15:09] I'll never forget what he said. He said, students, they are both poison. One just works faster than the other. To live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world.

[15:25] And as David looked back over 70 years of his life, he reflected that God's way is perfect. But not only that, God's will is perfect.

[15:41] As for God, his way is perfect. His way of salvation is perfect. His way of Christian living is perfect. His will for our lives is perfect.

[15:51] God's will. And what's the next two words?

[16:04] Perfect will of God. The perfect will of God. His way is perfect for our lives. Young people here today, never be afraid of God's will.

[16:16] I've been around the ministry my entire life. My dad was a pastor for 50 years and I've been in the ministry now for over 50 years. But I've watched Christian young people over the years and I think I may have been in this once upon a time, but afraid of God's will.

[16:32] And the devil comes and says, why, if you surrender to God's will, God may send you to be a missionary to outer Mongolia or Uzbekistan. Well, maybe, but probably not.

[16:45] But whatever God's will is, it's perfect. God doesn't call everyone to the ministry. But whatever God has for you, it's perfect.

[16:58] I grew up as a preacher's kid. In fact, my grandfather was a preacher. I guess that makes me not only a PK, but a grand PK. And sadly, when I was a senior in high school and an upperclassman in high school, the last thing I wanted to do was go into the ministry.

[17:15] I was a rebellious teenager. In fact, I wasn't even saved at that point in life. And in high school, they required us, went to a large public high school there in central Illinois.

[17:27] And they required us to take a class called vocations. Boy, that sounds like an exciting class. And it was to try and expose us to career paths and professions and job opportunities and so forth.

[17:38] And we took a test one day, a proficiency test, to try and figure out what kind of job or profession or work we might be interested in. Well, folks, on my test or on my list, I mean, it was below zero going into the ministry.

[17:53] Last thing I ever wanted to do. You say, well, wow, you've been in the ministry now for over 50 years. Man, it must be really tough doing something you didn't want to do. Wrong. Because you see, folks, when I got saved and God showed me his perfect will, I've never been happier.

[18:06] Now, I'm not saying that God's going to put you in the ministry. That's not the point. The point is, whatever God's will is for your life, it'll be good and acceptable and perfect.

[18:19] God's will is perfect. And so, number one this morning is God's perfect way. Number two this morning is God's proven word.

[18:30] Notice again in the text, as for God, his way is perfect. The word of the Lord is tried. The word of the Lord is tried. That means it's been tested.

[18:41] It's been proven over the years. It's been attacked endlessly. But the Bible just stands. Old Swedish immigrant to America over 100 years ago penned the song The Bible Stands, by the way, Heldor Lillin, this was his name, The Bible Stands Like a Rock Undaunted Through the Raging Storms of Time.

[19:01] Its pages burn with a truth eternal and they glow with a light sublime. Folks, the Bible stands to this day. It's been attacked endlessly. The Romans burned it.

[19:13] The Popes banned it. William Tyndale committed the crime of putting the Bible into print in the English language and he was burned at the stake for the crime of printing the Bible in English.

[19:26] There's a book back there, I'll tell you about it later on. A picture of William Tyndale being burned at the stake. The devil has attacked the word of God across the ages. The communists outlawed it.

[19:39] Back in the era of the Soviet Union, there was what they called the underground church. Of course, the Soviet Union was a completely communistic state, an atheistic state.

[19:52] Christianity was outlawed. The Bible was outlawed. Outlawed. And of course, producing the Bible was above all things outlawed in the Soviet Union. Nevertheless, in the underground church, there would be folks sitting way up in an attic or in a basement and pecking away on a typewriter.

[20:11] You couldn't say, what's a typewriter? But pecking away on a typewriter to make mimeograph stencils, to run off pages of the Bible.

[20:22] Now, you old-timers here know about mimeograph machines. Fifty years ago, probably even not that long ago, but fifty years ago, all church literature was done on mimeograph machines. And you'd put this filmy stencil in a typewriter and you'd type whatever you wanted to type.

[20:39] We used to employ a church secretary which you'd spend all day Thursday morning typing up the church bulletin. And it was tedious work.

[20:49] It was crude printing in the mimeograph machine. There was paste ink. It was literally like axle grease. And you put this coarse paper in the machine and you turn the crank. Ka-chunk, ka-chunk, ka-chunk.

[21:01] And if you really had a high-tech church, you had an electric machine and it goes ka-chunk, ka-chunk, ka-chunk. But here were brethren sitting up in an attic or in a basement, whatever, typing away on an ancient old typewriter to mimeograph off several pages of the Word of God.

[21:18] And in due season, the KGB caught up with them and they were sent to gulags in Siberia for the rest of their life for the crime of printing the Bible a page or two in the Soviet Union.

[21:30] And yet the Bible stands. It just continues. Down through the ages. It just continues. The liberals have questioned and denied it.

[21:41] The Supreme Court kicked it out of the public schools. I am old enough to remember when that happened, by the way. Charles Darwin denied it. The French philosopher Voltaire said that the day was coming when the only place you'll find a Bible is in a museum.

[21:57] Well, today, Voltaire's house is in the Bible Society and the Prince of Bibles there. The Bible stands. Lenin laughed at it.

[22:10] But they're all gone. The Bible stands. I'm going to say that means tested. Tested. And found true. Every archaeological find in the Middle East has verified the history and the details of the Bible.

[22:25] The Dead Sea Scrolls have verified the Old Testament text. And incidentally, there are more copies of the Bible. I'll take that a step further. There are more copies of the King James Bible that have been printed than any other book in history.

[22:43] In fact, there are more copies of the King James Bible that have been printed over the last 400 and some years than all the other Bible translations put together. We'll get into that particularly on Wednesday night.

[22:56] God's hand of blessing on the King James Bible. In Psalm 12, 6, we read, the words of the Lord are pure words as silver tried in a furnace of earth seven times.

[23:08] Now, I am told that the ancients would, in smelting silver, would take the silver ore, put it into a crucible, apply intense heat underneath it, which would melt the ore into a liquid state, and then the refiner would take a tool and draw off the slag, the impurities.

[23:29] And then it would be allowed to cool down to a solid state. And then it would be reheated once again to a molten state, to a liquid state, and more impurities would float to the surface.

[23:42] And the refiner would draw them off, draw the slag off, allow it to cool down again, and it'd go through that process seven times. And after seven times, it was considered pure silver or pure gold.

[23:55] And you read in the Bible about fine silver or fine gold. It means refined, highly refined. It was a symbol of purity. And the words of the Lord are pure words, as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.

[24:13] God's word is truth to this day. And it changes lives to this day. Let me tell you a little story. Ten years ago, or thereabout, a young woman wandered into the evening service there at North Star Baptist Church in Duluth.

[24:32] My wife was in the nursery that night. And she had two little kids tagging along with her that she was going to put in the nursery. And she was rough.

[24:42] She had tattoos. And my wife said to her, what brought you here to North Star Baptist Church? She said, I'm just looking for a church that would accept me. Well, this young lady, her name was Samantha, had grown up in a Christian home, but utterly and went off about as deep into sin as a young woman can go.

[25:06] Her boyfriend was in prison. He was, his name was Tyrone. He was the number two gang leader in the street gangs of the city of Minneapolis and St. Paul.

[25:18] A bad dude. And he went to prison, so she went to Chicago and was walking the streets of Chicago. Wandered into a homeless mission, fell on her knees, and cried out to God to save her.

[25:35] And when Samantha got saved, folks, she got saved. She went back to Minnesota. Her boyfriend in prison had telephone privileges. She got on the telephone and led Tyrone to Christ.

[25:46] And then for the next ensuing, however many days, months, I don't know the exact time, they did Bible study together by telephone every day. And Tyrone got out of prison one day and she had moved to Duluth to get out of the gang world in the Twin Cities and brought him to church that Wednesday night.

[26:06] That first Wednesday he was out of prison. He walked in and he later looked around and said to me, what am I doing in this church of all these white people? He's a black man. She's an American Indian, by the way.

[26:18] But I want to tell you something, folks. And by the way, they got married in prison of all places. But I want to tell you something. When Tyrone and Samantha Walker got saved, they got saved.

[26:28] And today, he's a preacher of the gospel. A powerful preacher of the gospel. He's starting a church as I speak in Trenton, New Jersey out on the East Coast today.

[26:41] And he's a good preacher. He's probably one of the most aggressive soul winners I've ever met. The word of God changes lives. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation.

[26:54] The word of the Lord is tried. The word of the Lord is proven. It changes lives. And I could tell you numerous stories along those lines.

[27:06] I'll tell you one more in just a second here. Here. Back last spring, the Walkers just went to New Jersey in the 1st of July.

[27:21] And they already, I think they had 37 people in church here this week in their new church that started. But before they left Duluth, back in April, Tyrone was witnessing to people and he came across a fellow who was an American Indian of the Ojibwe tribe there in northeastern Minnesota.

[27:39] The guy's name is Vince Merrill. And I know this story because he got up later in church and gave his testimony.

[27:50] He said, I was a confirmed Satanist. He has, to this day, 666 tattooed on his face. But Tyrone led Vince to Christ.

[28:05] And today, he never misses a service. I mean, Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, he's there every time the door is open, wearing a suit and tie.

[28:17] American Indian, Satanist, the folks, when he got saved, he got saved by the power of the Word of God. The Word of the Lord is tried. It remains to this day.

[28:30] Hitler's Mein Kampf has come and gone. Marx das Kapital has come and gone. Mao's little red book has come and gone. Back in 1964, Chairman Mao Tse-Tung of the Communist Chinese Party printed up a little book called The Sayings of Chairman Mao.

[28:48] It wasn't a big book, just a little red book. It had a red cover on it. The Chinese communists printed one billion copies. And they proclaimed it was the most published book in history, which is not true because the King James Bible is.

[29:02] But the point I'm making is how many here today have ever heard of Mao's little red book? One, two, all right? Maybe three. Not many people have even heard of it.

[29:14] A billion copies were printed. And that was only 60 years ago. But folks, the Word of God just remains to this day. It just continues.

[29:26] It's tried. It's proven. And in the English language, the English manifestation of the Word of God of the King James Bible.

[29:37] We're going to be getting into this in the next several sessions, and so make sure you don't miss that. But the Bible is absolute truth. Jesus said, Thy Word is truth.

[29:49] Folks, you hold in your hand absolute truth. You're not going to get truth on the evening news tomorrow night, I'll tell you that. You're not going to find much truth out on the internet. But folks, in your hand today is God's Word.

[30:00] It's true. It's absolute truth. Thy Word is truth. And so, number one this morning, God's perfect way. Number two this morning, God's proven Word.

[30:13] But number three this morning, God's protective work. Notice in the text here again, let's read the verse again. Psalm 1830. As for God, His way is perfect.

[30:24] The Word of the Lord is tried. He is a buckler to all those that trust in Him. You say, Preacher, what in the world is a buckler?

[30:34] Well, I will confess, it's older technology. In fact, it's really old technology. But frankly, it was just a type of shield. A buckler was a smaller type of shield that literally buckled on the forearm.

[30:48] It was round. Sometimes they called it a target. And wherever the forearm of the soldier went, that shield went. And so a soldier in battle might out of the corner of his eye, seeing an arrow incoming up with his arm, and the shield deflected it.

[31:03] Or might see the enemy bringing the blow of his sword down up with his arm, and the shield protected him. But notice it says, He is a buckler. He is a shield to all those that trust in Him.

[31:16] You recall that God said to Abraham back there in Genesis 15, I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward. Folks, He's our shield to this day.

[31:29] Particularly as we are in the center of His will. You recall there in Ephesians 6 and verse 16 where the apostle said, take the shield of faith. Well, faith is trust. Trust is faith.

[31:41] He is a buckler to all those that trust in Him. Now that begins first with our salvation. When we turn to Christ and trust in Him, He becomes our salvation.

[31:56] Protecting us from the judgment of God and the wrath of God. But folks, as we begin to go down the pathway of the Christian life, there are problems, as you know. Somebody penned the song years ago, It's not an easy road.

[32:08] We're traveling to heaven. That's true. And if you've been saved for any length of time, you know there are troubles. And the devil will see to that and sin sees to that. But we can trust Him for His protective work, for His protective care.

[32:25] Trust Him for guidance. Making decisions in life. Go to Him and seek His face. In all thy ways, acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths.

[32:36] The idea there in acknowledges seeking His face, look to Him. In all thy ways, acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths. Trust Him for strength. The Lord is the strength of my life.

[32:49] They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. Trust Him for crises that come in life. And crises do come. It may be medical crises.

[33:01] It may be financial crises. It may be family problems, employment troubles. There are problems in life. But folks, we can go to Him and seek His help for His protective care all through the Christian life.

[33:16] Four and a half, I guess, it's getting closer to five years ago now. I went to the doctor. He had a lump on my neck. And he says, I'm sending you to an oncologist.

[33:31] I went to the oncologist and they ran a series of tests and PET scans and he said, you have cancer. In fact, after the PET scan, he said, you have stage four cancer.

[33:43] And my wife saw the scans. We saw them. I mean, I was full of cancer. And without going into a long story here today, I believe in James chapter five, verses 14, 15, and 16.

[33:56] Is any sick, let them call for the elders of the church and let them anoint them with oil. And the prayer of faith shall save the sick. And I asked the pastor and the deacons of the church to pray over me publicly and ask God's healing.

[34:08] I went back to the oncologist here a couple weeks later and they did another PET scan and the doctor said, it's gone. I said, well, I know what happened, doc. I said, the church has prayed for me according to James chapter five.

[34:22] He said, whatever you're doing, keep on doing it. Now, I understand that it may not be God's will to heal every single person who has cancer. I understand that.

[34:33] And I know some very wonderful godly people have died of cancer. But my point simply is that we can go to him for help in trouble and seek his protective care when the crises of life come.

[34:46] In Psalm chapter 91 and verse one, there we read, he that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

[34:59] I have a whole sermon on those several verses. But the essence of it is that when we are in the center of God's will, we're under the shadow of his protective care. The story there is of the tabernacle and the Holy of Holies and the pillar of smoke came up by day, it cast a shadow.

[35:18] And the only time you were near that shadow is when you were near the tabernacle. near the presence of God. And the point simply is that the closer we are to God and our lives and our walk and his will, folks, he is there to protect us.

[35:35] In Psalm 84 and verse 13, O Lord of hosts, blessed is the man that, what's the next word? Trusteth in thee.

[35:45] God protects and blesses those who trust him. Psalm 91, 11, For he shall give his angels charge over thee to keep thee in all thy ways, lest thou cast thy foot against a stone.

[36:01] We have a guardian angel. And I'm looking forward someday to meeting my guardian angel when I get to heaven. I think I've given him a run for the money over the years. But God takes care of his people.

[36:16] He is a buckler, a shield to all those that trust in him. And so here today, David looked back over his life, 70 years.

[36:31] His life was long and rich with battles and victories, with adventures and conquests. But he came to the conclusion that God's way is perfect, God's word is proven, and God takes care that is protects his people.

[36:52] And folks, that was true 3,000 years ago. It's still true today. God's way is perfect. His way of salvation is perfect. His way of living is perfect. His will is perfect.

[37:03] And his word has been proven, it's been tried and tested down through the course of time and it still stands. And he protects his people. Well, praise God for that.

[37:17] His way is perfect. Let's stand, please. Our heads are bowed, our eyes are closed, no one is looking about. Now, I'm a guest preacher here today.

[37:27] I've only met a few of you. Maybe you're a visitor here today. Maybe you're listening online today. and you're not sure where you stand before God.

[37:44] I was a preacher's kid. I went to church for 20 years of my life in a fundamental Baptist church and I wasn't saved. And that's a long story I won't get into here.

[37:55] But one day I turned to Christ and trusted him and made sure of it. And maybe you're here today, you're not sure if you're saved. You're not sure if you're on your way to heaven. You can pray right now something like this, silently, but sincerely pray something like this.

[38:13] Dear Lord Jesus, I know that I'm a sinner. Please save me. Now, the Bible says, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

[38:29] the Bible says, him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. Just repeating words after the preacher doesn't mean anything. But folks, if it comes from your heart and you sincerely cry out to God, the Bible says thou shall be saved.

[38:44] And so let me repeat that little prayer one more time. If that's what's in your heart, you pray it sincerely, though silently in this room. Dear Lord Jesus, I know that I'm a sinner.

[38:56] please save me. I now trust you. With heads bowed, eyes closed, no one looking about, is there someone in this room who just a moment ago to the best of your ability, silently, but very sincerely prayed and asked Christ to save you?

[39:12] Would you slip your hand up high enough that I can see it? I will not point you out. I will not embarrass you. I'll pray for you. But then Christian here today, are you living God's perfect way of living soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world?

[39:32] Are you in his word on a regular basis? Are you trusting him for his help?