GOD'S CHESS GAME!--You Can't, But He Can!                DO 1951                   6/85

         1. GOD DOESN'T WANT YOU TO TRY TO PRETEND TO BE SOMETHING OR AIM TO BE SOMETHING THAT YOU'RE NOT & YOU COULDN'T POSSIBLY BE!--However, He teaches in His Word that almost anybody can be almost anything--by faith if it's according to His will!--If you have even a little seed of faith no bigger than one of those little mustard seed grains!
         2. SO ANYBODY CAN BE SOMEBODY, OR SOMEBODY CAN BE ANYBODY!--Because with God nothing's impossible & all things are possible to him that believeth! (Luk.1:37; Mark 9:23) I was thinking about how the church makes idols out of its Saints. They idolise the great men & women & heroes of the Bible, the Patriarchs & the Prophets, & they exalt'm so high to such an elevation that they deliberately make it impossible to attain such a status!--Because they don't want to have to be like that!
         3. THEY PUT HEAVEN SO FAR AWAY & SO OUT OF REACH, you're not even supposed to try to think what it's like or understand it. They want to keep it so far away that absolutely only the perfect, only the Saints, only the best people are ever going to make it anyhow. "So what's the use of trying? You might as well give up & live like the Devil because that's more fun anyhow." That's their idea.--Because they give the Devil credit for all the things that are fun, like sex & eating. The church wants to make all those things out of reach so you'll feel like there's no use trying to be like that or trying to attain that, so they won't have to. It's an excuse for their own state & lack of power & gifts & saintliness & good works, saying it's impossible for normal people, therefore you couldn't expect to find such power & gifts in the average church or even a whole denomination.
         4. AND ONE OF THE BIGGEST LIES THE DEVIL TELLS THEM IS, "YOU CAN'T BE THAT WAY BECAUSE YOU'RE SO WICKED & SO EVIL & so sinful & you make mistakes & you do things wrong, therefore you cannot be good & bad at the same time!" Well, the Lord said, "There is none righteous, no, not one. For all have sinned & come short of the glory of God!" (Rom.3:10,23) So that includes whom?--Not only you & me, but the Saints & the Prophets & the Apostles & the Patriarchs & the Angels & the whole works except God Himself!
         5. I'M SURE THE DEVIL TELLS SOME OF OUR PEOPLE, "WELL, YOU'LL NEVER AMOUNT TO ANYTHING, you'll never be anybody, because look at all the mistakes you make & look at the faults you have & look at the drawbacks you have." Some people are more subject to that than others. Quit listening to the Devil! That isn't so!
         6. THERE WAS NEVER HARDLY ANY MORE WICKED MAN THAN KING DAVID, & LOOK WHAT A SAINT HE FINALLY BECAME! He wasn't too saintly to begin with, but he sort of grew into it by learning a lot of lessons & making a Hell of a lot of mistakes & committing a terrible lot of sins & being an awful sinner!
         7. THE WHOLE IDEA OF THIS GREAT DEMONSTRATION THAT GOD HAS DONE, is to show that He can save you in spite of everything!--That He can make you useful & do something with you in spite of all your faults & all your shortcomings! He can use you! Even the fact that you're as bad as you are & you still accomplish something for God is to God's glory, because it gives all the glory to Jesus!
         8. NOW, DOESN'T THAT GIVE YOU SOME HOPE? When the Devil keeps reminding you of your faults & your mistakes & your shortcomings, it helps remind you that you can't make it, you're no good, you're a sinner, you're wicked & evil at heart.--If it weren't for God & His grace & His goodness in you & His Salvation in you, you'd never make it!
         9. IT'S ALL GOTTA BE A MIRACLE OF THE GRACE OF GOD! Your work for the Lord, your daily tasks for the Lord, your thoughts & your love for Him & for others & unselfishness & sacrifice & a life of service, all of it is a miracle of God! What is the verse?--"Faith which worketh by Love!" (Gal.5:6) It's God's work! You have the faith that God is going to do it through you. I know, Lord, that I can't do it! The Devil loves to convince you to say, "I'm too wicked, sinful, sexy & carnal, I make too many mistakes. I'm nobody, look, I'm not doing anything to speak of. Nobody wants me, everybody hates me, I'm going to go out in the garden & eat worms!" Why don't you slap him in the face with it like Jesus did with the Scriptures? "It is not I that live, but Christ that liveth in me! And the life I now live, I live by the grace of God!"
         10. "OF COURSE, DEVIL, YOU DAMNED SATAN, OF COURSE I'M NO GOOD, of course I can't do anything right, of course I make a Hell of a lot of mistakes & I'm wicked & sinful & sexy & all the rest, & I'd be a lot worse if it weren't for God!" But praise God, how am I going to make it?--I'm not, I'll never make it, but God will make it in me! "It is not I that live, but Christ that liveth in me! Ye shall have that mind in you which is also in Christ Jesus!" (Gal.2:20; Phil.2:5)--Amen? Do you understand? That's what it's all about! "For where sin doth abound, grace doth much more abound!" (Rom.5:20)
         11. WHY DO YOU THINK THE LORD LETS YOU MAKE THESE MISTAKES? Why do you think God let Adam & Eve fall prey to temptation & fall in the Garden? Haven't I preached to you about this before? What do you think it's all about?--To prove that you need God!--To prove that you can't do it on your own! And what does that do?--That glorifies the Lord!
         12. DOESN'T IT MAKE YOU PRAISE & THANK THE LORD THAT YOU DO ANYTHING RIGHT? Doesn't it make you praise & thank the Lord that you can do anything for the Lord, that you're here at least serving the Lord full time whatever you're doing? Doesn't it make you thank the Lord that you're saved?
         13. SO DO YOU GET THE POINT? THIS IS WHAT IT'S ALL ABOUT, THAT IT'S ALL FOR THE GLORY OF GOD! Of course you can't do it, you can't save yourself, you can't live a Christian life, you can't be good, you can't do anything without Jesus! He Himself said, "Without Me ye are nothing!" (John 15:5)--Nothing! But the church doctrine is, "I can do most of it with just a little help from God." Some churches even preach, "God does most of it, plus a little help from you."
         14. I WANT TO TELL YOU RIGHT NOW, GOD DOES IT ALL, FOR WITHOUT HIM YOU'RE NOTHING, YOU COULDN'T DO A THING! But the churches don't like that doctrine & they don't want it to be preached or practiced that God can do it through you, therefore you can do it, therefore you ought to do it, therefore it is your duty & obligation to do it! Because you don't have to do it, God will do it through you!
         15. (SINGS:) "AND I'LL GIVE ALL THE GLORY TO JESUS, & TELL OF HIS LOVE, HIS WONDERFUL LOVE! I'll give all the glory to Jesus, & tell of His wonderful Love!" Hallelujah! TTL! Isn't it wonderful you can just trust the Lord & not worry? You worrywarts, quit worrying! Trust the Lord, He's going to do it! Of course you can't do it, but the Lord will do it! I've had to tell almost everybody I work with that at some time or other, "Stop it, quit worrying about it! Of course you can't do it, the Lord is going to do it!"
         16. ANOTHER THING YOU DON'T HAVE TO DO, YOU DON'T HAVE TO HAVE THE FAITH FOR THINGS YOU DON'T HAVE TO DO! Don't worry about not being a prophet or prophetess or a great preacher or a teacher or something you don't have to be, just worry about being a good cook or a good editor or a good secretary or a good maintenance man, good housekeeper, a good businessman, good young person, good childcare worker, good teacher, good business manager, good personnel director, good flunky in all things, etc.!
         17. THE CHURCH HAS TWO HORRIBLE FALSE CONTRADICTORY DOCTRINES! One doctrine says you can't be that good, you can't be a Saint, you can't be anything or anybody or do anything or be a prophet or teacher or whatever God wants you to be, "I can't, it's impossible, I'm not good enough!"--But on the other hand they say, "I've got to be good enough to go to Heaven, so I've got to try to be good enough to make that at least." Isn't that ridiculous? It's inconsistent, it's contradictory, it's confusing! Both are the Devil's own doctrines, that you've got to be good to go to Heaven, & yet you can't be good enough to be anything or do anything.
         18. BUT YOU CAN IN CHRIST! With the help of Jesus you can be anything, do anything, go anywhere & be anybody God wants you to be! You're not to try to be somebody you're not & somebody that He doesn't want you to be, because that's not your job, everybody has their place & their job. Don't try to be me. I'm just a little instrument in His hand, that's all. I just move whichever way He moves me like a person on a chess board. Chess pieces have no will of their own, God has even given us a will, but the only thing we have to do & continue to have to do is to yield that will to Him, simply to choose to do it by obeying.
         19. SO WHEN THE GOD OF THE CHESS BOARD PICKS UP A CHESS PIECE & MOVES IT TO A NEW SQUARE, the chess piece doesn't argue about it, it doesn't protest, it doesn't try to keep the Chess Player from doing it! It doesn't say, "No, I don't want to go to that space, I'd like to stay here. No, I want to go over to that space over there!" Why worry?--You're in the hands of the Player & He's going to put you wherever He wants you to be & you should just trust the Lord. God just has to move you around where He needs you the most at any given time. The only decision you have to make is to be yielded!
         20. DON'T WORRY ABOUT WHAT YOU CAN BE OR CAN'T BE OR WILL BE OR WON'T BE, LIKE I DID FOR NEARLY 50 YEARS! I was worrying about what I should be when all the time I was being exactly what God wanted me to be & learning all the things God wanted me to learn! I spent half my life worrying about what I was going to be some day. Isn't that what most young people do? They spend nearly half their lives worrying about, "What am I going to be? What am I going to do?"
         21. JUST BE WHAT GOD WANTS YOU TO BE! The only decision you have to make & the only choice you need to make is to choose to do God's will & to be yielded in the hand of the great Player of this tremendous Game! Simply yield to His moves & let Him do the thinking & the choosing. He can see the whole game! He can see the whole board, He sees all the pieces. You've got very limited vision, very limited power, there's only so far He can even move you according to the rules of the game.
         22. WHAT CAN I MORE SAY? "REST IN THE LORD & DO GOOD! Trust in the Lord, lean not to thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, & He shall direct Thy paths. Ye shall hear a voice beside thee saying, This is the way, walk ye in it!" (Psa.37:3; Pro.3:5,6; Isa.30:21) Now when you have a guide & you're going down a path, he doesn't tell you what you're going to do before you get to the turn or before you get to the fork in the path, He waits to tell you what to do when you get to the point where you need to know!
         23. DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT! GOD IS THE PLAYER! YOU'RE JUST THE PIECE, HIS PIECE, & ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS YIELD TO THE LORD! All you have to do is what God tells you to do. And He won't even make you do it by yourself, He'll reach down & take ahold of you & move you where He wants you to go. So don't worry about whether you're going to be able to move or not, or whether you're able to go or not, or do that or not, God will do it, He'll just take ahold of you & move you! PTL? Hallelujah? TYJ?
         24. SO OF COURSE YOU CAN'T--BUT YOU CAN! Of course you can't do it, but you can with His help!--You can't, but He can! Praise God? So therefore, although you can't, you can with His help!
         25. SO THANK GOD THAT YOU'RE JUST YIELDED TO WHATEVER THE LORD WANTS TO DO WITH YOU & wherever He wants to move you & whatever job He wants to tell you to do! Doesn't that really relieve you & make you feel better? You don't have to make the choice or decision or anything about it, just let God do it! Just let go & let God! Amen? PTL? TTL? Hallelujah!