are and only they in truth confide. Fear Him, ye say, and let Him
win. Have no fear, fear Him. When He is near, His joy abides. He'll make you all His kids. Thank you very. Well. Right. Well. It's a gift. All right back to our. Text on thirty four and read
one verse with some. 34, read verse 12, which will
serve as a sprinkle or a verse text. What man or woman or young person
is he that desireth life and loveth many days, that he may
see good? Or, in other words, is there
anyone that desireth life, and loveth many days, that he may
see good. The title of this message is,
based on that, Living the Good Life. Living the Good Life. Now most people, they hear that. You know, I'd get a big crowd
had I announced that on the radio. But it's not what most would
think. Most people think of physical
health and material wealth as being the good life. That's not
the case here at all. God's Word plainly says, vanity
of vanities. All flesh, that is anything we
derive or hope to derive happiness from, or lasting value from,
that is flesh. No fleshly thing or feeling,
a feeling can give lasting, true peace and happiness. And happiness
is what all human beings crave, isn't it? want and seek happiness
and do everything they can to obtain it. Yet, there is no real
or lasting happiness. There cannot be, there will not
be any real or lasting happiness, now listen to me, outside of
the will of the Lord. outside of being in the will
of the Lord. Now, that especially applies,
well, it can only apply to believers. But this is who this is for tonight.
This is written to believers. It says in verse 9, ye his saints. See that? O fear the Lord, ye
his saints. So, if you're interested in living
the good life, Stay with me, all right? He says, I want to
teach you. Come, I want to teach you. David of the Lord says through
David. All right. Now, I'm going to
say this one time, all right? And I'm not going to say it again.
I'm not going to keep saying it. This is not talking about
doing anything or anything to be saved. This is to those who
have been. Say, by God's grace, regenerated
by his spirit. And these are things that accompany
salvation. And these exhortations, or these
commands, these approved rebukes and exhortations and encouragements
that he gives us are things to help us, to instruct us as children. He says, come, you children. Does that sound familiar? That
ought to sound real familiar. This is the Father speaking to
his children, telling us how to live a good life. I just say
it, and I'm not going to say it again. Well, I am, all right.
But it's not talking about doing anything for salvation. You know
that. I don't have to keep clarifying
it. All right. Okay, David begins. The Lord, through David, said,
I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually
be in my mouth. I will bless the Lord at all
times. His praise shall be always on my lip. A miserable, unhappy,
melancholy, depressed, or even lonely believer is a contradiction. That's a contradiction. And what's
behind all of that is not circumstances, but unbelief. That's the root
of it all. David was no stranger to loneliness,
to deprivation, that is, being without, to enemies, his whole
life. To family troubles, he was no
stranger. David says, and we'll praise
the Lord continually, by his grace. If we, all of us, were more thankful
You'd be more happy. You know? If we were more thankful,
if we were more thoughtful of others rather than thinking only
of ourselves, we'd be more happy. You would. That's just so. We get down when
we get self-centered. And we get depressed and melancholy
when we're thinking only of our own troubles. That's just a fact. And we feed off of our own sorrow. I remember, I remember as a child,
when my parents got after me or something was wrong, I remember
going in and I remember looking in the mirror. I was crying or
something. It made me cry worse. Did you
ever do that? See myself cry? Oh, I'm so sorry
for myself. Anybody do that with me? That's
where we hadn't changed much. David said, I will bless by his
grace, I will bless the Lord at all times. He sang that song
in the morning, when morning gilds the sky, my heart awakening
cries. Do we have reason to bless the
Lord? If we wake up in the morning,
we ought to say, I'm not in hell. I'm not in a wheelchair. I'm
not in a third world country. My child is dying of starvation. And on and on we could go to.
May Jesus Christ be praised. And the day would begin very
well. The day would begin on a good
note. And I just believe God will see
to it that you have a good day. I just believe that. He'll honor those that honor
his son. Let's forgive him, pray. Verse 2, My soul shall make her
boast in the Lord. The humble, that is those of
meek and lowly and humble sinners, shall hear of me boasting in
the Lord and my deliverance and so forth and be glad. See, David
was an example. People were watching him. How
about us? Anybody watch? You better believe.
A lot of people watch that, fellow believers, people in the world,
our children watch that, listen to it. And he said, My soul, I'm going
to praise the Lord, and my soul will make her boast in the Lord,
and they'll hear and be glad. Verse 3, O magnify, and he exhorts
her, O magnify the Lord with me. Every one of us in here,
surely everyone in here has got reason. to magnify that is extoll
and honor and sing the praises of our everyone in here. If after
this message, you're not smiling and praising from the heart,
I, well, no, I have faith. This is God's Word. It'll never
fail. Magnify the Lord. That's why we're here tonight.
Brother Marvin and I were talking on the phone today. And he brought
up, he was taken with it. John said, I was in the Spirit
on the Lord's Day. And he and I began to talk about
the Lord's Day. How that there's a day, two days
actually. Set aside the Lord's Day. What
do we do on the Lord's Day? Well, we come to praise the Lord.
We come to worship the Lord. Let me stay at home, that is,
me and my troubles and my sorrows and myself. Get rid of self and
come to the Lord instead. To give Him praise and honor
and glory and thanks and worship Him. That's why we're here. That's why we're here. And this
is for our health. This is for our health. We're
talking about living a good life. That's what we're talking about. All right, verse 3, he says,
Let us exalt his name together. I sought the Lord, and he heard
me, and delivered me from all my fears. What fears, David?
Name one. All my fears. I sought the Lord,
and he heard me, and delivered me. Barnard told the story about
somebody that came to him and said, Brother Barnard, I've been
seeking the Lord for twenty years and haven't found any. He said,
You haven't been seeking the Lord. Weigh on that. David says, I
sought the Lord and He heard me and delivered me. Those that
seek the Lord will be found. You'll be found of them, Scripture
says. Magnify the Lord with me. Let us exalt his name together.
He delivered me. I sought the Lord and he delivered
me. Verse 5 says, let me just a second here. Seeking the Lord
is not a one time thing that we do years ago and then we coast
on through life based upon that profession. It's a daily thing.
It's a seeking the Lord is a way of life. We're talking about
living a good life every time. There's nothing good but God
so this is a godly life. In God's will. Seek the Lord. Seek the Lord. It's not a one
time thing it's a way of life. Seeking the Lord. We seek his
mercy. We need it every day. We seek
his grace. Do we ever need his grace for
everything you name something we don't need his graceful. We
seek his truth. All men are liars. We'll deceive
ourselves if he doesn't teach us the truth. We seek his truth. We seek his will. If we take
one step outside of the Lord's will, it'll be a bad step. It'll
be a bad move. We seek his presence. We need
his presence. I need thee every hour. Temptations
lose their power when thou art nigh. We seek his presence. How
often? It better be daily. We seek his
wisdom. Lord, I'm ignorant. I'm foolish. Give me wisdom that comes from
above. Just seeking the Lord is a way of life. It's a daily
way of life. It's not a one-time thing. David
sought the Lord and sought the Lord. And so, and so. And he heard. How often you love
that song, one of four, don't you believe? Right, and he heard
they cried and he heard they cried and he delivered. Keep
seeking the Lord verse five. They looked unto him and were
lightened, that is, God's people humble, meek, the lowly, the
seekers, God's seekers were lightened. And that means the Enlightenment. Their eyes were open to the truth.
They were lightened. The burden. Cast your care on the Lord. That's
what it means to seek the Lord. You'll be lightened. Your burden
will be lifted. And you'll not be ashamed. Their
faces were not ashamed. You seek the Lord and He'll hear
you. He'll have you. He'll hear you. He'll have an
audience with you. You hear you. He's never turned
anybody away, no matter how sinful. Seek the Lord. And you'll not
be ashamed. He'll not turn you away and say,
you know good, done great. No, never, never. Never. And you'll not be ashamed. You'll come guilty, and you'll
go away unburdened with that guilt. Come guilty. You're not ashamed. There's six
this poor man cried now David the circumstances of this song
did you read up there underneath. Some of you may already know
this was when David acted like a man. After he acted like a man you
know the story I'm not going to go into it. He was ashamed
of himself. Don't you know he was absolutely
ashamed of himself for bringing reproach on his Lord for being
so full of unbelief and acted like an unbelieving madman. And yet the Lord had mercy on
him and delivered him in spite of all that. And he said, this
poor man, this poor excuse for a man. Boy, David said that. How about me? You reckon he'll
hear me, this poor fellow? Sure will. This poor man cried,
and the Lord heard him. The Lord heard him and saved
him out of all his trouble. All his trouble, verse 7, the
angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and
delivereth them. It says he saved him from all
his trouble. And it says the angel of the
Lord encampeth round about. I believe that's the Holy Spirit.
I believe, well, I know it is. He dwells with his people. Spirit
of Christ, and delivereth them out of all their troubles. Now,
it's not saying that they'll never have any, that all their
troubles are gone. It means all the trouble they
get into, they're going to continually get into trouble. A man that
is born of woman is a few days and what? Full of trouble. But it says the Lord, who is
faithful, who is merciful, who is gracious, whose compassions
fail not, delivereth out of all of them, no matter what kind
of trouble. All of them. Now, he says the
fear of the Lord here, doesn't he? He says this, an angel encampeth
round about them that fear him. Verse 9, there's no want to them
that fear him. Verse 11, I'll teach you the
fear of the Lord. This is the characteristic of
all true believers. This is the chief characteristic.
Fear the Lord. It's the beginning of wisdom.
You know that. This is the principal attitude of true believers. This
is what governs everything they do and say. This is what all
other characteristics come from. Fear the Lord. Humility comes
from the fear of the Lord. You really know who God is. Delight
yourself. Don't be proud. Love. You know who God is. You believe he loves you. This
holy and righteous God, the judge of the universe, whose face is
against the wicked, yet he spared you. You'll love him for that. Mercy. Do you realize what mercy
God has shown to you? God who shouldn't have shown
mercy, yet has, to make you merciful. And on and on. Fear the Lord.
This is the very beginning. And this is through all the Psalms.
Anyone who's read the Psalms have noticed this about the Psalms.
Throughout the Psalms, it talks about the fear of the Lord, the
fear of the Lord, the fear of the Lord. David was a man after
God's own heart, and he constantly was talking about the fear of
the Lord. That's what Mary said, didn't you, John, in Luke 150.
His mercy is upon them that fear him from generation to generation.
That is, God's people never quit. True people always fear him.
That's the characteristic. And you know that it's what characterizes
this religious generation is no fear. No fear. Well, fear the Lord. Oh, fear the Lord. Fear the Lord. The angel of the Lord encampeth
round. Oh, taste and see, verse 8. Look at this, verse 8. Taste
and see that the Lord is good. Taste and see that the Lord is
good. And blessed is the man that trusteth
in him. Read on. He says, Oh, fear the
Lord, his saints. There's no want to them that
fear him, no lack, no lack to them that fear him. And in a
moment, he's going to tell us what this fear is. He said, taste
and see. That song, I don't know if you
caught it, but it said, prove the Lord, prove him. That's an
old term that means Take him at his word and see
him. Prove him. He'll prove to you that what
he says is true. Oh, fear the Lord. Eat his saints. There's no want to them that
fear. Taste and see that the Lord is good. Taste and see. You know, everything else, everything
else, it doesn't matter what it is, is going to eventually
leave a bitter taste in our mouth. You know what? That goes for relationships.
No matter how dear and precious they may be, at some point they
will leave a bitter taste in our mouth. Not this relationship. Husbands will disappoint. Wives
will disappoint. Parents will disappoint. Children
will grieve. The Lord never grieves. It's
always the same, yesterday, today, the whole taste of the city,
that the Lord is good. Oh, blessed, truly blessed is
the man that trusted the Lord. Old Brother Jack James used to
say, we don't have to leave the sovereignty of God. We really trusted in the Lord.
Our Lord said, if you have the faith of a rainbow mustard seed,
you can save this mountain from being cast into the sea. A tree,
a sycamine tree, a huge old tree could be plucked up. Oh, blessed is the man that really
trusts in Him, that is, casts his care and believes God and
acts upon God's Word. Talk about living a good life. Verse 9, O fear the Lord, ye
his saints. Fear the Lord. There's no want
to them that fear him. There's no want, no lack to them
that fear him. And I can ask every person in
here, no matter how old, what the Lord asked his disciples.
Have you lacked anything? He was with them three years.
And provided they didn't work a job. One hour. Three years. You realize that they did not
hit a lick. Of work that is to earn their
bread for three and a half years. And they didn't take up a collection.
They didn't go to door to door and ask for handouts, no sir.
And at the end of those three and a half years, the Lord said,
while I was with you, did you like anything? Did you miss a
meal? Did you go without clothes? What
about shelter? How about us? Like anything? Oh no want to them there's no
lack of him that fear him if the Lord is your shepherd. You're one of his sheep you shall
not. I've told you this before but
it's a good illustration the animals on my little in my little
kingdom have never lacked for anything they come to my little
kingdom they've come to a good place. I'm sure. They tell other animals. In fact,
I'm sure that Abner tells other dogs. If Paul were your master,
you'd never want for anything. Food, shelter, companionship,
comfort, affection, protection, you'd never want for anything.
Well, if the Lord, we're talking about the Lord of heaven and
earth, is your shepherd, You shall not walk. And David said
in Psalm 71, I believe it is, 70, Psalm 70, he said, Now I
am old. David was 70 when he wrote that.
I am old. And I've been young. Now listen
to this. And David was about 16 years
old when Samuel came to him and crowned him king. So that's 54
years ago. He said I'm old I've been young
and I'm now I'm old yet I have never. Seen the righteous person. Or you see making. The game now we're talking about
how we worry about paying the next bill. I mean you've got a house Just
be thankful you got a bill. Huh? Thankful you got a mortgage
payment. Right? Now I don't know how I'm
going to make this next payment. Have you made the previous 28
or 30? Be thankful you got one. Some people don't have one. Wish
they had one. Isn't that right? Or any bill
for that matter. We have most of the bills of
our making. Yeah, he pays all of them. I was thinking back with guilt
and shame, just yesterday, thinking back with guilt and shame of
my dad, how my dad bailed me out constantly when I was a boy. Constantly. Paying for things
I broke. How about you Rick? Did your
dad bail you out? Constantly. Because of my stupidity
and recklessness and all that. Yet I go to him and say, clutch
when I don't know why they make those things weak. You know what
I mean, Samuel? Clutches. Stand. Tire. Back tire. Tires didn't
last back then very long, did they? Dad, my tires are gone.
I did it. You just fork it out. How much more? You're having
me talk. How much more? There's no want for them to fear
him. That's all he requires, is fear. Fear. Fear. He says, look at this, verse
10, and he backs this up. He says, now, young lions do
like and suffer hunger. What does that mean? It means
the most violent, aggressive, strongest, the king of the jungle,
of his own power and fierceness, Only the strong survive, people
say. Only the strong survive. Dog eat dog. That's not so. Only the weak do. The meek shall inherit the earth.
I don't care what the world says. But he says the strongest animal
in the jungle will go without food. It might die. not one of
God's little lambs." Now, listen to this. He says, "...the strong
and the king of the jungle may go hungry." Strong as he is,
as fierce as he is, able to go out and fend for himself, he
might die, but not one little lamb. Notice the word thing is in italics. That means it wasn't in the original.
I prefer to read it without it, although that's true, isn't it? Good thing, whatever is a good
thing, you have it. Your father will see to it. But
good, we're talking about living a good life here. Lord, fear God, fearing Lord,
seekers shall not want no lack, no lack in Christ. Listen. He says they that seek the Lord
shall not want. It is the Lord you seek. You remember when those people
came and said, sir, we would see Jesus. And the Lord said,
I don't have any place to lay my head. You remember that? He said, we
want to follow you, Lord. He said, I don't have a place
to lay my head. I don't have a home. Do you follow me? Yeah, because
it's you we want. We want you. Does that make sense? They just seek the Lord. Seek
ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. All these
things. Attitude. If Christ is truly
all, now here's where it begins, living a good life. If Christ
is all, You have it all. In this, though, Brother Scott's
the one that said this. He said, if Christ is all you
got, then he's all. The only thing lasting. If Christ
is truly all, then you have it all. Let me
give you an example, a very good example. As you know you know he gives
his account and. Second Corinthians I believe
it is. We talked about what all he went through remember that.
All his life what he went through. It's hard what things that he
can do what. Well it was all in in the end
his life was coming to an end. He knew it he knew he was going
to die for preaching the truth. And he was standing one time
in the court before a group of the scripture says so it's the
acts twenty six that a group of his wife Bernice came in with
great pop. And show. Listen to this. They
all they came in and all their pomp and show and all the attendance
and all their service in this golden palace, you know, their
train and all the fans and the grapes or whatever they fed them. And, you know, just everything
at his disposal. Walked up and sat on his big
ivory throne and his wife beside him and everybody clamoring for
his attention and for his favor. I know, I know, King of Grip,
I spoke, he spoke. And they sat on that throne and
looked down and they brought in a prisoner with his hands
in shackles and his feet in shackles, a poor little bald-headed fellow
with eye affliction. He was poorly dressed. Brought
him in there and they said, they're going to do him a favor. We will
hear your case. Who's rich here? Who's the happy
one here? Who's the blessed one here? Who's
living a good life? For one, it's about to end. It's
all about to end. It's A-double-L about to end.
Every bit of it. For another, it's just beginning. And yet in that poor, poverty-stricken
circumstance, God's sovereign Well, he stands there and says,
I'm just happy to tell you my story. And in the end, he said,
Grippa, Grippa, I would that you and everybody that hears
me were just like I am, except for these chains. And I'm sure Grippa, well, he
did almost He persuaded me, how can this man have such contentment? How can this man be happy at
times like this? What does he have I don't have?
Christ, that's what. John Newton wrote this wonderful
hymn, content with beholding his face, my all to his pleasure
resigned. No change of season or place
would make any change in my mind. While blessed with a sense of
his love, a palace, a toy would appear, and prisons would palaces
prove if the Lord Jesus would dwell with me. That's living a good life. We don't have many days. He says,
he says, come, you children. Verse 11, hearken unto me, listen
to me, I'll teach you the fear of the Lord. We're talking about
the fear of the Lord that will regulate everything. Fear of
the Lord. And what man, what person is
he that desireth life? What kind of life? Well, eternal
life. Our Lord called it abundant life
fellowship. I know what these fools out there
are saying. They got it all wrong. These
religious fools talk about abundant life fellowship. They name their
little buildings by that, abundant life heretical center, fellowship. What they mean, Brother Henry,
is all your troubles in this life will be over if you give
me all your money. All your, you'll be healthy and wealthy
and so, that's what they mean by that. Abundant life. That's
not abundant life. Because if your life consists
only of things and people, that's not much of a life. Because those
things, you're going to lose them all. You're going to lose
them all. All of them. You never lose anything. When
you lose your life, you gain real life. It has just started. When this life is over, that abundant life has just started. Good days, man doesn't have many. He says he wants to see good
ones. What man is he that desires life and loveth many days, that
he may see good? We don't have many days. You
want to make the best out of what you've got? All right, here
it is. Stay with me. I've got five minutes
to deal with these verses. Isn't that awful? Would you give
me seven minutes? Keep your tongue from evil and
your lips from speaking guile. You want to have a good day?
You want tomorrow to be a good day?
Wake up and say, May Jesus Christ be praised. I mean, say it. Thank you, Lord, for saving my
soul. Thank you, Lord. Try it. Prove
it. And then don't say much after
that. say that and then say that and
then shut your mouth the rest of the day and you'll have a
good day unless it's something good unless you can say something
good because this is one of the chief causes of our trouble isn't
it and that what James wrote a whole chapter about this thing
right here what a lit a great matter a little fire can get
ourselves in we brother kelly get ourselves in trouble. The
Lord, faithful as he is, gets us out. The lie here is a big
part of our trouble. So wake up in the morning, praise the Lord, and then shut
your mouth. Read on. Depart from evil and
do good. Now, do I have to qualify all
this? I've already done that. I'm talking
to the saints here. I'm talking to God's children.
Are you with me? Depart from evil. What kind of
evil? Come on now. We're not stupid. If it seems evil, it is. Right? We're very apparently. Do good. What's good? Come on now. Here's a good definition of evil
and good. Evil is whatever is not according
to God's word. That means ungodly. Whatever
is not in keeping with God's principles, God has set forth.
That's evil. Good is whatever is in keeping with God's word. Evil is whatever is ungodly.
Good is whatever is godly, like God, like Christ. Good is whatever
is like Christ. Would you say that Job was one
of the most blessed men ever to live on the planet? Wouldn't
you? I would. Before and after his
trouble. Why would you say that? Why was
he one of the most blessed men? The Lord said this about Joe
God said this about Joe. To say right before he. Said
have you considered my servant Joe there's none like him. He
said he's one that fear of God. And it's true of evil. None like it. Nancy can I say
this God was proud of me. Why? He fears me. And that makes
him a true evil. It means hate it and avoid it. Want to live a good life? Depart
from evil and do good. Find something good to do and
do it. What's good? Surely you can find
something. I know we're rotten, but find
something good and do it. Seek peace. Look at this. Seek
peace and pursue it. Seek peace. Want to live the
good life? Seek peace. Be a peacemaker.
Pursue it. Go after it. Blessed are the peacemakers.
What does that mean? Reconcilers. That means those
that go after peace. Not those that harbor a grudge.
Not those that stir up strife and discord, those that want
to make peace. Seek peace. Pursue it. You'll be happier for it. Uh-huh. Old James, he wrote a
whole chapter about this, didn't he? Remember, listen, I was going
to have you read five or six verses, but my time is gone.
James said this, listen, he says, If you have bitter envy and strife
in your hearts, that's lying against the truth. This wisdom,
this is devilish and sensual, that is selfish. Where envy and
strife is, is confusion in every evil word. Anything bad will
come up with envy and strife. But wisdom that's from above
is pure and peaceable. This is a good description of
Christ, isn't it? Who is wisdom from pure, peaceable, gentle,
easy to be entreated, full of mercy. good fruit without partiality
and without hypocrisy and the fruit of righteousness is shown
in peace of them that make peace. Blessed are the peacemakers,
the Lord said. They're going to have peace. I'm going to make
sure they have peace. But those that don't are not
going to have any peace. The Lord won't let them have
peace as long as they're stirring things up. As long as they've
got envy and strife and bitterness and harboring a grudge and jealous
and this and that and the other, God's not going to let them have
peace. Seek peace and pursue it. The eyes of the Lord, verse 15,
are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry. The eyes of the Lord. Verse 16
says the face of the Lord is against them that do evil. Cut
off the remembrance of them from the earth. God set his face like
a plant. He's going to cut them off. His eyes are upon the righteous. His ears open unto their cry. God's people are righteous in
Christ. You know that. He is our righteousness. As he is, so are we. in this
world. In the eyes of the Lord, it's
like a father, like a faithful father watching his child. That's
what this means. Like a faithful father watching
his child. You know that in every letter
to the churches in the Revelation, he begins every letter like this.
I know your works. Doesn't it? I know your works. Like a father watching his child. And you know it's not meritorious.
I'm not going to say that. But like a father watching his
child. Like you keep your eye on it, watching it. Especially
when they're real young, you know, you're watching them to
see if they've learned anything. See how they're going to react
to this measure. And his ear I like the you know
like this to is there is here is open unto their cry. Like
a father watching over his children to correct and watching what
they do and so forth and his ear is open to their cry because
if. Children that they are they're
going to fail right in his eyesight. Right before his eyes. They're
going to fail miserably. I thought about Peter. Bless his heart. And I mean that. Bless his heart. Peter. So full
of brag and boast, you know, and then when, in the end, according
to the Lord's will, but yet Peter was a coward and denied the Lord
that bought him. The Lord that did so much for
him. He denied perfect love. My, my. How could he do that?
And when he was denied the Lord for the third time you know what
happened. So the Lord looked at him. And he went out and wept bitterly. Who's the weeper and what's he
saying and what would he say you reckon what was what was
his real what was he doing crying to the Lord for mercy. Lord how
could I. Lord have mercy on me. Lord don't
leave me alone. Lord don't cast me off. Lord
help me. Lord help me. His eye was watching him, watching
him fail, watching him deny the Lord, watching him sin miserably,
watching him and all his Foolishness watching him and Peter saw that
he was watching him. And he started crying. And the
Lord heard him. One of the first things the Lord
said when he arose, He said, You go tell my disciples. And don't
forget to tell Peter. He's feeling mighty low right
now. And when the Lord, when they saw him on the shore, who
was the first one to dive out of the boat? Come on, Peter, do you love me?
Peter, do you love me? My, my, the Lord, his ears open
to their cry, and because he's near, that's why, verse 18, or
verse 17, the righteous cry, and the Lord heareth and delivereth
them out of all their troubles. All of them, they're delivered. If you're in Christ, he'll deliver
you out of all your troubles, all of them. You're going to
have a lot of them. The Lord is nigh unto them that
are of a broken heart. He's near. He's very near. You draw nigh unto God in all
your sin and brokenness. Don't you like that? James said
that right after rebuking us. And he saith that such as be
of a contrite spirit, that is true repentance. Didn't come
to call the righteous but sinners. To what? We often leave that off, don't
we? He didn't come to call the righteous
but sinners. To what? Repentance. That means change. That's what that means. I say this such as be of a contrite
heart, genuine, true contrition. An old, it's not a Puritan word
at all, it's biblical. Contrition. Kneeling there in
deep contrition. Contrite. Broken. Wanting to
change. Wanting help. He said, verse
19, many are the afflictions of the righteous, many. The Lord said so. He said, you
must, you must, you must, you must, you must, you must, through
much, much, much tribulation, enter the kingdom of heaven.
Why? Why, Lord? Why does that have to be this
way? Because this is not the good life. walking with me, no matter how
bad things are, you're still living the good life. Life more abundant. Many are
afflicted, but the Lord delivers him out of them all. This too
shall pass. He keepeth all his bones, not
one of them is broken. Where'd that come from? Who is the righteous Christ? Who are his bones? That's his
body. He's the head or the body. Not
one of them will be broken. Broken, when you break a bone,
when you break a bone, it means separated. We call it a compound
fracture. It's not a crack. We're talking
about a separation. Not one of Christ's bones shall
be broken, separated from the body. Out of joint? And what happened to Christ on
the cross was no accident. It was by design, based on the
scripture, wasn't it? When the soldier came by and
how they finally killed crucified prisoners was to break their
legs so that they'd suffocate. They'd take an iron bar and really
burst, crush their legs so they couldn't hold themselves up and
they would appreciate it. And he was dead already. The
Lord wouldn't let him. You know how cruel soldiers are
so it's a wonder he didn't do it anyway. I wouldn't let you
touch. My beloved. His bones are out of joint but.
They'll connect. We get out of joint. I think we're cut off I'm cut
off. That can't be. That can't be. Man, this is good news to me.
And verse 21, evil shall slay the wicked. Count on it. This
is why he says for us, depart from it, because it's going to
come down on the head of all those who practice it. It's going
to slay them. Yes, it is. The Proverbs, I've
been reading those a lot lately, says that if they're dug, you're
going to fall into them soon. And they that hate the righteous,
that is anybody that has anything against God's people. Christ said, you hate me, they
hate me, they're going to hate you. And it's really not them
they hate, it's me, Christ said. They hate the righteous, they're
going to be guilty someday. Guilty, desolate, alone, for
the Lord. But the Lord, he redeemeth the
soul of his servant. And none of them. None of them. There it is again. None of them. I keep saying that. None. That
trust in him. Cast all their care on him. That
really believe him. And look to him. None of them. None of them will be broken. Bruised yet. Broken, no. Downcast
yet. Cut off, no. Temporarily without, yes. Lacking? No. Temporarily unhappy? Yes. Really
blessed? Yes. Living a good life. Want to live
a good life? Come. I'll teach you. Now read that
again for yourself. Go back and read it for yourself. Ask the Lord not to let you forget
it. All right, stand with me. Our Father, thank you for your
word. Again, we say it's the greatest
gift known to man. Without it, we're in darkness
even as others. Without it, we will fall and
fail and fall headlong over the cliff to destruction. There's
a way that seems right to us, and it's all wrong. It's all
wrong. The Lord teach us, guide us,
lead us, direct us, keep us, watch over us, restrain us, constrain
us by your grace, dear Lord. Thank you for your word. In Christ's name, amen. You're
dismissed. Okay.