Keep sharing good news without ads.
Source: https://www.sermonindex.net/speakers/norman-crawford/he-cares-for-you/
Philippians chapter 4 and verse 6. I'd like to go back to verse 4 because we need the connection. Philippians 4, begin at verse 4,. Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice. Let your moderation, your forbearance be known unto all men.
The Lord is at hand. You can interpret that as being that the Lord's coming is at hand, and that is certainly true. But this is really the Lord's presence is near. The Lord is at hand. Be careful for nothing.
Be full of care for nothing. But in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your request be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
Second Corinthians chapter 7, verse 12,. Wherefore, though I wrote unto you, I did it not for his cause that had done the wrong, nor for his cause that had suffered wrong, but that, and this is the expression I want you to notice, that our care for you in the sight of God might appear unto you.
Our care of you in the sight of God. First Peter chapter 5, for the final reading. I'm only reading three passages. I'm going to refer to a number of others. First Peter chapter 5, verse 5,. Likewise ye younger, submit yourselves unto the older elder.
May all of you be subject one to another and be clothed with humility. For God resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore unto the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time.
Now this is the verse, I'd like you to remember, care upon him, for he careth for you. I've been very impressed with a word of four letters. Care. C-A-R-E. I would have to tell you that I've never tried to speak on this subject and never hardly have thought about it before, but I've been deeply impressed with a little word of four letters that has such a wide meaning.
In fact, it has two very opposite meanings. There's care in a bad sense, and I want to try to tell you about that first. And then there is care in an excellent sense, a wonderful sense, and I want to try to tell you about that.
Now, in a bad sense, I don't very much, if we can worry without sinning, I know sometimes we're not very much in a confessing mood when we say we're worried. But isn't it true that our worry is a lack of trust?
Isn't it so that we are not casting our care on him if we are carrying it on our own back? Therefore, actually, worry and care are something that beset us. All of us, all of us have this problem. Anxiety, weighted down with burden.
In fact, in the Bible, it is the opposite of contentment. It brings doubts and fears. In fact, the Lord in Luke 21 speaks of the cares of this life. And I think you're well aware of the parable of the sower.
I don't know of any passage in the Bible where care appears as so serious as in that parable, which says that the seed is choked with cares and linked with those cares, of course, are riches and pleasures.
So actually, the preaching of the gospel is hindered by this kind of care, this burden, this stress, this anxiety, these problems that people have to face in this world. Actually, what we read in Philippians 4 says to be full of care for nothing.
I was reminded of the words of Paul to Timothy in 2nd Timothy chapter 2. He said, No man that woreth entangleth himself. That's a strong word. Entangleth himself for the affairs of this life. So when we are burdened down with care, we have become entangled.
We have been hindered. And of course, our joy has been taken away and our delight in the Lord and in his word. So Hebrews 13 is very clear in this subject. It says, Be content with such things as you have.
And then the verse that J .D. just quoted in prayer is what follows. It says, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. So we're to be content with what God has given us. What has he given us? Himself.
His presence. That's actually the meaning of what we read tonight. The Lord is at hand. He never fails. He's never absent. He's never at a distance. He is always near. The Lord is at hand. I'm thinking now when I think of care in a bad sense, I'm thinking of a passage that you've likely already been thinking about.
It's in Luke's Gospel chapter 10. Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things. Full of care. Dear Martha. And of course, we we always contrast her with her sister. You know, there's something that touches me very deeply.
In John's Gospel, chapter 11 and verse 5, this is what we read. Now, Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. Oh, you thought that Martha was the one who was always on the outside. Oh, no, no, not true.
Martha is loved by the Lord Jesus. And can I say this to us? We need it. We who have so many burdens and worries and cares, the Lord knows all about it and he loves us. As we sang tonight in that opening hymn, even me, but an amazing fact that he could love the likes of me.
So care can be a great burden. It can be a great problem. It can be a lack of faith. It can be a lack of trust and it will rob us of joy and peace and rest and assurance. So be full of care for nothing.
And this is a verse that often comes to me in everything. Sometimes people say, maybe this is too small to bring to the Lord. And then we go to the other side and we say, maybe this is too great. No, nothing is too small to bring to him.
A dear man that I knew very, very well, he moved to San Diego. Maybe some of you will guess who I'm speaking about. He's gone to heaven long ago, but he said to me one day, I don't know if this is right or not, but he said, I work in a shop and I have to go out on jobs all the time.
And he said, I like to wear my hat when I go out. And he said, I quite often have trouble finding it. And so I just stop and say to the Lord, please help me find my hat. He said, you think that's right?
And I said, I'm sure the Lord hears every cry of his creatures. He knows our weakness. He knows our frailty. And I must say that I have to ask the Lord to remind me of quite a few things lately. So it isn't too small and it isn't too great in everything, everything by prayer and supplication.
And don't forget this with Thanksgiving. Let your request be made known unto God and the peace of God, which passeth all understanding shall garrison your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Now, I think we all need that verse.
I think we all should apply it to ourselves and our own experience in everything. Even Brenda Losey tomorrow morning, in everything by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving. Let your request be made known unto God.
Now, I want to try to speak to you about care in a good sense. Surprising that this little word has such a varied meaning, because we read in 2nd Corinthians 7 of Paul saying that he had care for the saints in the sight of God.
I wonder what that means in the sight of God. It meant that the very source of his care was the heart of God. You see, the reason that we have such a love for other believers is because they are loved of God.
The reason we have such a care for fellow believers is because God says, casting all your care upon him. He cares for you. He cares. I wonder what that means. He cares. It's a tender love. It's a gracious, merciful kindness to us that he watches our every step and knows our every need before we ever express it.
Casting. What does that mean? I've been thinking about that today. In fact, for the last few days, casting seems like a strong word, doesn't it? Here you have this burden upon you, this load, this weight that is sinking you down, and you're to cast it, throw it from you, and cast it upon the Lord.
Casting all your care upon him, for he cares for you. You know, I've been impressed with the story of the Samaritan in recent days. It's amazing to me how things that are so familiar in the new life and have for you a totally new meaning in your heart.
And I've enjoyed something about the Good Samaritan that you've probably enjoyed for years, and I never thought of it before. When that man came along and found the beaten, wounded man, nearly dead, lying in the ditch, he lifted him, he bound up his wounds, he set him on his own horse.
Now listen, he did all that. Picked him up, dressed his wounds, set him on his horse. What is the next word that it says? It says he took care of him. Is that added or is that a covering term for all he has already done?
No, I think it's added. He took care of him. I don't know the extent of that. I don't know just in what measure he took care of him after he was on his way. I just know it says it. He took care of him.
Oh, he has taken care of us, hasn't he? I don't think one of us here tonight, not the youngest believer or the oldest believer, can ever question his care. He has taken care of us. Along our journey, every step of the way, we have known his loving, tender, gracious care.
I thank God every day for his mercy, because I don't deserve any of it. But oh, thank God that his care is a loving care. It's the care of his tender heart. I enjoyed this very much that the Lord is on the cross, nailed, thorn crowned, marred and bleeding, and there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother.
And he turned to that beloved disciple. We believe it was John who wrote the gospel. He turned to that disciple and he introduced his mother to him as his own mother. And that disciple took her onto his own home.
Can you think of that? The Lord suffering on Calvary, crucified, dying in agony and blood. And what's he doing? He's caring for his own mother. I think there's a great lesson in that for us. I was talking to a man today who was telling me about a family gathering that he had last Saturday, and he said, we had family members present that we haven't seen for 10 years.
And he said, oh, it's wonderful to get together. Yes, it is. Don't ever underestimate the importance of the link in a family. It's very important. God made us this way. God gave us loved ones to care for.
And he gave us the great example of how to care. He cared even for his mother as he was suffering there on Calvary. What a tender care that was. And he knew who to commend her to and who would truly care for her.
Now, Paul writes to the Philippians and says, your care of me has flourished. And I know this is a reality. I know this about God's people. I know this about God's assemblies. And I know it from the depth of my being.
They have a loving care. They truly care. This is genuine. This is something that's almost totally absent in the world of the ungodly around us. But between the people of God, there is a link. There is a joining together in the Lord that is not like anything else in this world.
Men form lodges and clubs and organizations to try to make brotherhood. And it's a miserable failure. What we have in an assembly, what we have among God's people is truly a care for one another. Thank God for it.
A tender, loving care for other believers. And very specially, we pray for those who are in special need, as we've been doing tonight. This dear man, Willie, I don't know if I should explain this or not, but maybe most of you know this.
Don't be too hard on the U .S. government in this case, because you see, before Willie was saved, he was in all kinds of trouble. He had actually been brought up in a Christian home, but he had gotten very far away.
And dear Willie would be the first one to tell you, and he has told me this with his own lips. He said, the reason I'm having such difficulty is because of my behavior before I was saved. And he said, of course, the courts don't recognize the fact that I've been born again.
No, they fail to understand that. He's a new man. But surely, he has learned not only the goodness of God, but he has learned the love and kindness of God's people, because across this land and really around the world, Willie has been prayed for on a regular basis.
We have prayed for Willie in our home time and time and time again. And so have you. So keep praying. It would be a wonderful thing, really. I'm not saying this is God's answer, but it seems like a very logical one that if he could come to Hermosillo, Mexico, and be a help in the work there, it would be a blessing to the work and to him and to his dear wife, who would be near enough to be able to come to Hermosillo as a visitor.
Now, I have something else before me. Before I go to 1 Peter 5, let me tell you about something that is very genuine in the New Testament. In 1 Timothy 3, we have a man and his own house and he's taking care of his family.
And then the exact same language is used for taking care of the Church of God. There are those who have on their heart a special care for the Church of God. I thank God for them. You see, without elders, you cannot have an assembly.
You know that, don't you? It's impossible to have an assembly without elders. We have elders. They are my elders as well as your elders, and they have in their hearts placed a care for God's people, a care for the assembly, a care for the testimony.
Thank God for it. It's genuine and real. And they take care. They take care of the Church of God. Now, let me finish with this comforting text that I've quoted several times already. Casting, thrusting from you, putting it away, casting all, not some, not a few things, casting all your care upon Him.
Why? He cares. Isn't that touching that He is willing to bear our care? The burden that we feel, the anxiety, the load, the things that to us weight us down, He says, cast it on me. Cast it on me. And He bore the great burden of our sins on Calvary.
He bore the tremendous load of our guilt, and now He's willing to bear the load of our care. Casting all your care upon Him, for He cares. He genuinely cares. He lovingly cares. He will never cease to care.
And that's, to me, what I think is perhaps one of the greatest truths in the Bible. I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.