You know this world is full of preachers, but just a few were chosen. Stay tuned for Treasured Heritage, a preaching program spotlighting those servants who have gone on to glory. Isaiah 5417 says, this is the heritage of the servants of the Lord. And now, Treasured Heritage. I would like for you to take the Word of God, please, and turn with me to the Gospel according to Luke. If you have your Bible open to the 12th chapter of the Gospel according to Luke, we'll begin reading there in just a moment, in Luke chapter 12. I gave a message earlier today about how God is expecting something from us. But can you imagine that we can deal with the subject that we expect something from God? I'm going to read a verse to you in just a moment that is unimaginable. So we have to get a little preparation for it so that we understand it's God's business to care for his own children. And we give him glory for that. and I want you to hear it carefully. I want to encourage you to take the time at your own leisure to read slowly and deliberately through the entire 12th chapter of the gospel according to Luke. There is so much going on in it. And right in the middle of it, we find the Lord Jesus instructing his followers. In the last verses of the 11th chapter, the Bible says, and he said these things unto them. And as he said it, the scribes and Pharisees began to urge him vehemently and provoke him to speak of many things. Now, I wish I had a greater understanding of that verse. that his enemies were pressuring him, laying weight for him, and seeking to catch something out of his mouth that they might accuse him. And that's why I want to encourage you to read the 12th chapter and let the Lord speak to your heart. Because the chapter 12 verse 1 begins, In the meantime, when they were gathered together, an innumerable multitude of people, insomuch that they trod one upon another, he began to say unto his disciples, First of all, beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. Now there's such language here to describe the innumerable host of people who gathered, and what Christ says to his own followers stirs the whole thing up. For there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed, neither hidden that shall not be known. Therefore, whatsoever ye have spoken in darkness, shall be heard in the light, and that which ye have spoken in the ear in closets shall be proclaimed upon the housetops." I don't know how it could become more intense. In my mind's eye, I'm trying to imagine the antagonism that's building against Jesus, the proclamations they're making, And as the closing verses of the 11th chapter say, they're doing everything they can to provoke him and to urge him, even using the word vehemently, they're trying to provoke him. And when Jesus says, therefore, whatsoever ye have spoken in darkness shall be heard in the light, and that which ye have spoken in the ear, in closets, shall be proclaimed upon the housetops. You know that's stirring them up. And I say unto you, my friends, be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I have forewarned you, whom you fear, fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell, yea, I say unto you, fear him." He's trying to help his disciples and his followers because there's such an intense feeling of antagonism against what he's doing and against what he's saying. He knows his followers are greatly disturbed by what's happening. And he's saying then, you don't have to be afraid of them. You don't have to be afraid of men. You don't have to fear men. And the Word of God says in verse 5, I will forewarn you whom you shall fear. Fear him, which after he is killed hath power to cast into hell. Yea, I say unto you, fear him. And they illustrated with this expression, are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God? I want you to know God cares for you. He's looking out for you. Even with this intense feelings that are being expressed in antagonism against us, I want you to know that God still knows and he cares. But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore. Ye are of more value than many sparrows. God knows all the sparrows. He knows the hairs of your head. You don't have to live in fear. Also I say unto you, whosoever shall confess me before men him shall the Son of Man also confess before the angels of God. But he that denieth me before men shall be denied before the angels of God." Think of the audience there. He says, you have people here with such antagonism and hatred against me. but I want you to know you're gonna be in the presence of angels confessing me. Also I say unto you, whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the son of man also confess before the angels of God. But he that denieth me before men shall be denied before the angels of God. And whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him. But unto him that blasphemeth against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven. And when they bring you into the synagogues and unto the magistrates, and powers, take ye no thought how or what thing ye shall answer, or what ye shall say. For the Holy Ghost shall teach you in the same hour what you ought to say." Right in the middle of all of that, someone interrupts the intensity of what he's saying. And one of the company said unto him, master, speak to my brother. And he divided the inheritance with me. And he said unto him, man, who made me a judge or a divider over you? And he said to them, take heed and beware of covetous, for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth." And he told this amazing story, given in parabolic form, and he made a parable unto them, saying, the ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully. And he thought within himself, saying, what shall I do? Because I have no room where to bestow my fruits. And he said, this will I do, I will pull down my barns and build greater. And there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years. Take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee. Then who shall those things be which thou hast provided? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God. Now can you imagine what's happening? We're introduced in the opening part of the chapter with this multitude of vehement people, all of them antagonistically doing everything they can against Jesus. And in the midst of that, the Lord Jesus is trying to teach his disciples the great issues of life, the threats coming from the crowd, seem life-threatening, but he says to them, these are not the people to fear. You and I have a tendency to fear the people that we should be not fearing. These are not the people to fear. They can put you to death, but that's all they can do. They can't cast you into hell. And the Lord explained that. But he said, you want to be rich toward God, verse 21. And he said to his disciples, therefore I say unto you, take no thought for your life what you shall eat, neither for the body what you shall put on. The life is more than meat, and the body is more than raiment. Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which neither have storehouse, nor barn, and God feedeth them, how much more are you better than the fowls?" God wants to remind us, doesn't he, which of you with taking thought can add to his stature one cubit. If you then be not able to do that thing which is least, why take your thought for the rest? Consider the lilies, how they grow. They toll not, they spin not, yet I say unto you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed as one of these. If then God so clothed the grass which is today in the field, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, how much more will He clothe you? Oh, you of little faith. And seek not ye what ye shall eat or what you shall drink, neither be of doubtful mind, That's a verse that we need to ask God to give us faith to truly believe. For all these things do the nations of the world seek after. And your Father knoweth that you have need of these things. But rather seek ye the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added unto you. Fear not, little flock. for it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." You ever stop and think about what God wants to give us? I feel compelled to read this. Sell that you have, give alms. Provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not. Where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth. Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." What amazing instruction he gives. I want you to take the time with methodical minds to read and soak this in. Start with the two verses closing the 11th chapter, then we come to verse 35, 36, and 37. Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning, and ye yourselves, like unto men that wait for their Lord. When he will return from the wedding, that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately. He's coming. And I take this 37th text and I pray God will use it as a tremendous illustration of the Lord's care for us. Blessed are those servants whom the Lord, when he cometh, shall find watching. Verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself and make them to sit down to meet, and will come forth and serve them." I want you to get this image in your mind. The Lord Jesus is speaking of himself. It is unimaginable that Christ himself is kneeling down, preparing his garments in a certain way, so he's free to serve us. And we have an appointment not just to meet him, to allow him to have his will in our lives, but to live our lives in such a way that we can Be ready for him to do for us what he desires to do. I don't know about you. I really don't. I think we rush so much and hurry through things that we don't get these biblical glimpses of Christ and his desire to help us. But this is the Lord Jesus himself. Imagine someone that you have great respect for, someone of all power, coming and saying, what can I do for you? And then kneeling down, girding himself, taking his garment, reaching between his legs and pulling up his garment and fixing a garment within his waistband so that his arms are free to do anything he needs to do. for you. And the Lord Jesus says, I want you to see this picture of me. You have an appointment to let me do this for you. I think all the time we are wondering, where's God? Why doesn't God show up? And all the time God is working, saying to us, I want to meet you. I want to guard myself. I want to take every effort to help you with any needs you have, to meet your need. If I didn't read this in the Bible, if I didn't read this in scripture, if I didn't find it in the context of what I just read to you, I wouldn't believe it's here. That the God of heaven and earth, the creator God who spoke the world into existence, wants to take the time to minister to us, to minister to you, to minister to me. Maybe this will help you. I want you to take your Bible and turn to the book of Romans just for a moment. Just let some of these words from the book of Romans speak to your heart. And let's just read just a bit. The Bible says in Romans chapter eight, And verse 28, and we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Verse 30, Romans 8, moreover, Whom he did predestinate, them he also called. And whom he called, them he also justified. And whom he justified, them he also glorified. Now notice the progression here. They're called according to his purpose. He knows all things. All foreknowledge belongs to God. He predestinated, He gave us this position in Him, and whom He did predestinate, then He also called, and whom He called, then He also justified, and whom He justified, then He also glorified. So He set the stage. What shall we then say to these things? What are you going to say? You say, Oh, excuse me. Excuse me, please. Excuse me. You're gonna say, Oh, my God. Such attention I'm getting from the Lord God Almighty. What shall we say? What shall we say? Well, I don't even think we get to the point of even saying because we get so busy doing what we think we ought to do for the Lord, we have forgotten entirely what God wants to do for us. The God of heaven and earth who gave himself, who became a man without ceasing to be God, who laid down his life who purchased my salvation, who became sin for me, he who knew no sin, that I might be made the righteous of God in him. He is designed that he ministers to me. Some of you haven't had God ministering to you, but the longing heart of God is longing to minister to you. So Paul, right here to the Romans, When we read this, what shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? I want you to lift this from this portion of scripture and take it to the conversation Christ is having with his disciples in the 12th chapter of Romans, when every bloodthirsty, hungry, The lost hypocrite would like nothing more than to destroy Jesus and destroy all followers of Jesus. And Jesus breathed to all his followers and said, don't worry about them. Don't get your mind set on them. The worst they could ever do to you is kill you. They can't cast you into hell. They hate me, and as long as they hate me, the Lord Jesus says, they will hate you. If you ever get to the point where you think the world doesn't hate the Lord, it has not set itself against God, and because of that, against God's children, you're just wrong. So the questions are asked. May the Lord by his spirit minister to our hearts. I need this. What shall we? What should we then say to these things? If God before us who could be against us? He that spared not his own son. We read that so quickly. But think what God did to his own son. We quote the verse and teach it to children, 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. The scene of the crucifixion, the hatred, the animosity, the vehement attitude, the vulgarity outlandish things done to the Son of God. If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him Not some other engine, not some other person, not some other power. Where do you get what you need? Straight from Jesus. How shall he, not with him also, freely, I love that word, freely give us all things? And so we shout. We shout, who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea, rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God. who also maketh intercession for us? Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long. We are counted as sheep for the slaughter, nay, in all things. We are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities no powers, no things present, no things to come, no height, no depth, or any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God. Thank you, Jesus. Which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. There's nothing that God wouldn't provide for his own dear child. And I know that to be true, because if he gave us his own son to bleed and die for our sin, he will not withhold any good thing we need anytime we need it. And with the crowd and the anger The vehement behavior, the Bible says in Luke chapter 12, Jesus knows the end and he takes his disciples to the end and he says, don't fret, don't worry, don't bow beneath the world's pressure. If God before us, Who can be against us? I wish I had words to really tell you what is in my heart. I wish I had something I could bring from my own personal study and talk to you about these things God has spoken to me about. Of course, when the Lord treats you, he treats you like a little child and he brings his loving arm around you and he says, you're gonna be all right. Everything's gonna be fine. Just trust me, believe me. I'm for you. I thank God I can do things for him, but I rejoice forevermore in what he allows. me to experience what he does for me, what he does for me. I want to shout, I love him. I love him because he first loved me and he purchased my salvation on Calvary's tree. Will all excuse me. with all, excuse me, with all the hellishness that we have to face in the world. God is for us. He's taking care of us. He's proven, He's proven His love. I can't say anything more. Who's gonna preach the Bible and never compromise at all? Who's gonna give their heart and soul to spread the gospel? We appreciate you listening to Treasured Heritage. Tune in at the same time every weekday to hear God's Word.